Chapter 1269: Chapter 1271: You Should Know What to Do Now_1
"It’s you, Lord Ye, if you wanted to borrow money from our Governmental Office of Fushui, given our proximity to Mianyang, we might have been able to help. But we will never acknowledge this extortion with forged documents," the Principal Clerk of Fushui, clearly in cahoots with Peng Lide, understood immediately what Peng Lide meant as soon as he opened his mouth.
He firmly insisted the document was a fake.
The Archivist of Fushui also said, "Lord Ye, forging the seals of the governmental office and the higher administrative office is a grave crime, one that can easily cost you your head."
As soon as Peng Lide heard this, he got excited as if he had been injected with chicken blood, "Lord Ye, this forgery of official seals is a serious offense. Not to mention the suffering it will bring upon yourself, I’m afraid it might even implicate your family. I’ve heard that Lord Ye has a beloved wife and a pair of twin sons—such blessings should not be tarnished by knowingly breaking the law."
Ye Zi’an didn’t say a word, just watched to see what else these people could come up with.
So, Peng Lide said, "Lord Ye, we are colleagues, and we’ve had a good relationship these past years. Hurry up and tear up that document, and we’ll pretend we never saw it. You go back and destroy the seal, and this matter will be forgotten. That would truly uphold our comradery."
Actually, Peng Lide really couldn’t remember where Ye Zi’an could have possibly got the document from; he truly believed it could have been forged by Ye Zi’an.
"Tsk..." Ye Zi’an sneered, shook his head, walked straight up to Peng Lide, and placed the document in front of him, "Do you see clearly? This is your own handwriting, Peng Lide! Did you think I had you write the document by hand that day for no reason? It was to prevent you from denying it later!"
"Forging official seals? I, Ye Zi’an, am not that foolish!"
Peng Lide was all too familiar with his own handwriting and, upon seeing it, recognized that it was indeed his own, which sent him into a panic. He tried to grab it but was kicked away by Ye Zi’an.
"Ye Wu, show our Lord Peng the details of those thirty-three thousand taels of silver," said Ye Zi’an.
At that, Ye Wu pulled out a small booklet, which clearly recorded the tally of thirty-three thousand five hundred taels of silver, who received how much, and what they did with that silver.
"Can you see clearly?" Ye Zi’an spoke slowly, "If you can, you should know what to do next, right?"
Peng Lide panicked; that booklet was clear evidence of their embezzlement.
The people from the Governmental Office of Fushui were thrown into chaos.
It was the Archivist of Fushui who, with some composure, said, "Lord Ye, are you threatening us? Have you forgotten where you are standing?"
"However, if you hand over what you have nicely, we can still be good colleagues; otherwise..." the Principal Clerk of Fushui didn’t finish his sentence, but everyone present understood his implication.
This was the Governmental Office of Fushui, where they had plenty of manpower, while Ye Zi’an had only a couple of guards and a team of bailiffs, hardly a match for them.
Peng Lide even thought that Ye Zi’an must have a screw loose; how could he dare to come here with so few men, make threats, and intimidate them?
Isn’t he afraid of them turning the tables on him?
"Otherwise?" Ye Zi’an looked at him as one might look at an idiot, almost causing the Principal Clerk of Fushui to jump up in anger, "Don’t think you’re the only clever ones, knowing how to remove the ink from a written document. What you see is just a copy. Did you think I wouldn’t make several copies? If I don’t walk out of this governmental office today, within two days, all of you will have your heads chopped off and your families decimated."
"Ye Zi’an, don’t try to deceive us," snarled the Archivist of Fushui with a somewhat fierce smile.