I’ve Reloaded the Save File! [Transmigration] 51

51: Confrontation

While the personal guards were searching, Zuo Wuyi and the other two quietly approached and exchanged information.

“Eldest Senior Sister hasn’t come back yet. She might have discovered something. What we need to do now is to stall for time,” Zuo Wuyi said. “Even if you did as I said and got the city lord to agree to our request for now, things might not develop as you think.”

Mo Xiao had previously thought that since the city lord was willing to send people to her, he probably intended to handle the matter impartially. Whether he would punish Gongsun Qiu or not, he would definitely make him hand over Xiao Que.

Zuo Wuyi’s thoughts were a little different from Mo Xiao’s. She believed that the city lord’s nature was hard to change. As long as their attitude softened, he would definitely favor his nephew.

To put it bluntly, if his punishment was to lock Gongsun Qiu up for ten or twenty years, then the moment they left, the city lord might just let him out.

When it came to seeing through people’s hearts, Mo Xiao admitted that she was no match for Zuo Wuyi. Since she had a different idea, Mo Xiao simply followed Zuo Wuyi’s line of thought.

The personal guards’ search was a bit slow. After about two quarters of an hour, they had finally finished searching and returned empty-handed.

“Perfected Yunmu, we did not find any trace of your friend. Why don’t we go to another place to continue the search?” the personal guard captain asked.

“Are you sure you’ve searched every nook and cranny?” Mo Xiao asked. “For example, warehouses, servants’ rooms, secret rooms, water dungeons, have you looked for them?”

“This…” The personal guard captain was in a difficult position. It was fine to search the warehouses and servants’ quarters, but places like secret rooms and water dungeons were hard to find. How were they supposed to search them?

“What’s wrong? Is there any difficulty?” Mo Xiao asked. “Is there any place here that the city lord’s personal guards are not allowed to search?”

“Could it be that those places are hiding the culprit, so they’re blocking the search?” Zuo Wuyi chimed in from the side.

“That’s not it. It’s just that we didn’t find any secret rooms or water dungeons…” The expression on the personal guard captain’s face was a little difficult. “So we can’t search.”

“So you’re unwilling to tell us where the secret rooms and water dungeons are,” Zuo Wuyi very naturally misinterpreted the captain’s meaning and looked at the steward with a questioning tone. “Why won’t you tell us where the secret rooms and water dungeons are?”

A simple search would definitely not find anyone. What they had to do now was to be unreasonable and stall for time.

“…” The steward really had a belly full of complaints. Who would voluntarily open their secret rooms and water dungeons when someone was searching? Were their brains filled with water?

“My lord, our mansion does not have any secret rooms or water dungeons,” The steward managed his facial expression and squeezed out an extremely forced smile. “The only place that has not been searched is my young master’s cultivation room.”

“If you really want to investigate, why don’t you wait until my young master has finished cultivating and then go in to check?” the steward said.

Just now, during the search, the steward had also received a message. He needed to stall for as long as possible, until the young master sent someone to invite the city lord over.

“How long does he need to cultivate?” Mo Xiao asked. Wasn’t this a pillow sent to a sleepy person?

“At most, it won’t exceed an hour,” the steward replied. An hour was enough time to go to and from the City Lord’s Mansion once.

Mo Xiao nodded. “Alright, then bring some tea and snacks. We’ll wait here.”

And so, the two groups, which should have been at loggerheads, quieted down. One provided tea and snacks, and the other enjoyed them. If anyone didn’t know the situation, they would probably think that Mo Xiao was a visiting guest.

The steward was waiting, waiting for the people he had sent to finish what they had to do. As long as there were no witnesses, the moment the city lord arrived, they could turn the tables and accuse Mo Xiao and the others of trespassing and acting in the city lord’s name, attempting to rob and murder.

Mo Xiao was also waiting, waiting for the city lord to show up, and for her Eldest Senior Sister to figure out the details of the Gongsun Mansion. Once Yun Yu found evidence in the Gongsun Mansion and the city lord did not show up, they would have a very suitable reason to draw their swords.

In the end, it was the city lord who couldn’t stand it anymore. He knew that dragging things out would only make it more difficult for him to handle. So, after less than half an hour, he appeared with his own people.

“Where is Gongsun Qiu? Hurry up and call him out!” After hearing the personal guard captain’s report, the city lord’s face darkened.

The steward looked troubled. “City Lord, our young master is cultivating. If he is…”

“You, go and bring him out. I have something to ask him!” The city lord ignored the steward’s words and directly assigned his confidant.

“Yes,” The confidant accepted the order and brought another person back after a short while.

“Uncle, what do you want with me? I’m cultivating,” Gongsun Qiu wore a simple white robe, and his aura was a little chaotic, looking as if his cultivation had been interrupted.

“Where were you this morning?” the city lord asked with a frown, very dissatisfied with Gongsun Qiu’s form of address.

What a fool. I’ve already sent my confidant to tell him what to do. Why is he still so nonchalant? Does he think I won’t do anything to him?

“This morning? Of course I was cultivating. Where else could I be?” Gongsun Qiu still had a nonchalant look on his face. Anyway, he was lectured every few days. The worst that could happen was being grounded for a few days.

“Who can prove it for you?” The city lord’s tone was laced with displeasure. This time, he wasn’t pretending; he was really angry.

The city lord could let Gongsun Qiu run wild and turn a blind eye to what he did, but that didn’t mean that Gongsun Qiu could treat him with such an attitude.

It would be fine if it were at home, but now it was in public, in the presence of people from the Inquiring Dao Sect and his subordinates. If he couldn’t even manage a nephew, where would he put his face?

How could he have such a stupid nephew!

“Uncle, the guards and the steward can all testify for me about my cultivation,” Gongsun Qiu was not completely stupid. Seeing that the city lord was really angry, his attitude also became much more proper.

“If you don’t believe me, Uncle, you can go and investigate. Anyway, I didn’t leave the mansion this morning, or rather, I haven’t left this place at all today,” Gongsun Qiu stood up straight and said, his tone much more sincere.

“If I’m not mistaken, the guards and steward you speak of should all be from your Gongsun family, right?” Mo Xiao asked. “It doesn’t seem very credible for your own people to testify for you.”

“Then what do you want? Do I have to have an outsider monitor me at all times to serve as an alibi?” Gongsun Qiu retorted irritably.

“Don’t be rude! This is an elder of the Inquiring Dao Sect!” the city lord reprimanded. “Answer the elder’s question properly.”

Gongsun Qiu pouted. “Uncle, I was indeed at home, but there were no outsiders in my home. If the words of the guards and the steward cannot be used as evidence, then there’s nothing I can do.”

“Besides, before you came, Uncle, these people had already turned my mansion upside down and found nothing,” Gongsun Qiu added. “She said I was hiding someone. I’d like to say she’s deliberately slandering me!”

“I asked around. Many people saw the guards of the Gongsun Mansion abduct a young woman in the morning and bring her directly into your mansion,” Zuo Wuyi said. “How do you explain that? Would someone slander you for no reason?”

“Who said that? Where are they? I want to confront them face to face,” Gongsun Qiu asked, looking as if he was sure they couldn’t bring anyone over.

Zuo Wuyi raised an eyebrow. “We just casually asked some passersby. We don’t remember who they are.”

“Then your so-called witness is just one-sided. Do I have to believe whatever you say?” A smile appeared on Gongsun Qiu’s face. If he had known they had just casually asked, he wouldn’t have had to arrange for people to silence them.

“But…” Zuo Wuyi dragged out her voice, a slight smile on her lips. “I also know that sometimes people won’t believe one-sided words, so I specially made a record and had the person I questioned sign their name.”

“If this young master doesn’t believe what I say and insists on a face-to-face confrontation, you can just go and find them according to the names on it. With some time, you will definitely be able to find them,” Zuo Wuyi said with a smile.

Since I knew the person I was facing was not a good person, of course I had to prepare some evidence in advance.

If it weren’t for the fact that she had forged this testimony in advance, Zuo Wuyi would have wanted to directly use this testimony to pin the crime on Gongsun Qiu and then directly attack.

Seeing the testimony in Zuo Wuyi’s hand, Gongsun Qiu’s face changed. “These people must have a grudge against me…”

“Alright, since you said you’re not hiding anyone, then let me search thoroughly,” the city lord couldn’t help but interrupt Gongsun Qiu. “Let’s see if what you said is true or false.”

Has he lived for over two hundred years in vain? How can he not use his brain when he speaks! The more he says, the more mistakes he makes. Anyone can hear the problem in his words!

“Of course you can. You can search if you want, Uncle. Anyway, the innocent are innocent,” Gongsun Qiu’s IQ was briefly online for a while, and then he stopped talking.

The city lord planned to go through the motions and search the place, as a way of giving Mo Xiao and the others an explanation.

Of course, he would definitely find Xiao Que, but not now and not here, but in an hour, in a place not far away.

The city lord was very confident in this search. It took half an hour to finish, and during this time, he even invited Mo Xiao and the others to search together.

“City Lord, we did not find Miss Xiao Que,” the personal guard reported.

The city lord nodded and looked at Mo Xiao, offering a way out. “Since no one is here, why don’t we go and look nearby? Maybe the witness saw the wrong place.”

“They didn’t see wrong. The person is right here,” Before Mo Xiao could say anything, Yun Yu’s voice suddenly came out.

Then, Yun Yu’s figure appeared in everyone’s sight. And right behind her, there were two Nascent Soul stage cultivators with murderous looks on their faces, chasing after her relentlessly.

“Who are you?” The city lord’s brow twitched. It seemed that things had changed.

“City Lord, this is my senior sister,” Mo Xiao said.

Seeing the two Nascent Soul stage cultivators still chasing after Yun Yu, looking as if they had lost their minds, Mo Xiao directly drew her sword and rushed out.