C81 Part2

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"In the past three months, Lord Gan has been so thin.

Do you know what the reason is?

Did Lord Gan have any hidden illness?"

Shen Zhiyan asked gently and elegantly.

"My mother never talked about this matter.

Actually, I also thought my father had lost a lot of weight.

I have also asked my father if there have been a lot of things in the household department recently, and worried day and night about the cause of his poor appetite.

At first, my father said that the household department had a lot of things.

When I asked again and again, my father became impatient, and reprimanded me, saying not to intervene in the official affairs of the Ministry of Revenue."

Miss Gan said sadly, taking a look at the elegant and handsome man in charge of investigating the case.

"My sister is right.

I also asked my father.

My father also blasted me away impatiently and didn't let me ask anymore."

Young Master Gan continued.

Shen Zhiyan and Murong Ci looked at each other, and it seemed that it was these past three months that Lord Gan had taken the Opium Poppy.

She asked again:

"If Lord Gan had some tasks to do, who would he usually ask to do it?

Would it be a housekeeper?"

Young Master Gan replied:

"Not a housekeeper, but Wang Bo who has served my father for many years."

Shen Zhiyan asked him to bring Wang Bo here, saying that he wanted to make a routine inquiry.

Miss Gan asked anxiously:

"Master Shen, did my father die by poisoning?

How could he be poisoned for no reason? Was he murdered?"

He reassured:

"This case still needs to be investigated.

Until more evidence is found, this official will not jump to a conclusion.

Miss Gan can rest assured that the circumstances of the death of the Lord will be cleared."

Murong Ci suddenly remembered something and asked:

"By the way, Miss Gan, did your father have any hobbies?"

Miss Gan replied:

"My father had no hobby.

He'd just visit the bookstore occasionally and bought a few books, but my father has not been to the bookstore in the past three months."

Murong Ci nodded, and soon, Wang Bo was brought there.

※Wang Bo was not the honorific name given to him by the Gan Family, but his real name.

He was about sixty years old, more than ten years older than Lord Gan.

He was lean, with slightly rickety shoulders, gray beard, wrinkles on his face, but his eyes were still clear and he looked loyal.

※※(N.B.) In Chinese the kanji of "Bo(伯)" has a double meaning:

One is for the honorific of "Uncle",

the other is simply a name!

So in this case, as the author explained, this "Bo" is meant as a name, and not as the honorific of "Uncle", thus I didn't translate it as "Uncle Wang" but left it as it is, and how it's pronounced, "Wang Bo".

※※

He saluted everyone in the room, wiping tears in sorrow,

"Master died so miserably, please, you must find out the cause of his death."

Shen Zhiyan took him aside for questioning, and Murong Ci followed, understanding Zhiyan's intention—...

'He doesn't want the Gan family to know too much.'

"Wang Bo, what was unusual about Lord Gan in the past three months?"

Shen Zhiyan asked.

"Originally, this subordinate didn't know anything, but only happened to find out something half a month ago..."

Wang Bo stopped suddenly, thinking,

'This is the Master's secret....Should I really tell them about it?

Furthermore, the Master had recommended me not to reveal anything to anyone before his death...

This matter must not be announced, otherwise it will be a catastrophe!'

Murong Ci saw the hesitation and embarrassment in his eyes, and said:

"If you don't talk about it, your Master will die unjustly.

The secret that Lord Gan asked you to keep is the cause of his death.

If you don't want to reveal the true reason of Lord Gan's death to the public, you must tell what you know."

Wang Bo gritted his teeth and said,

"In the past three months, the Master had somehow become obsessed with smoking.

Every night after taking a shower, he had to smoke in the Study Room for an hour.

He asked this subordinate to guard outside the Study Room, to prevent anyone from entering the Study Room.

At first this subordinate didn't know that the Master was smoking a lot in the Study Room, but only later I discovered that he was getting thinner because of smoking."

He was in tears, raising his hand and wiping it away with his black sleeves,

"After this subordinate learned about it, I advised the Master not to smoke anymore, that it would break his body and bring disgrace to his family.

Even the errand of the Ministry of Revenue would be gone.

But the Master just didn't listen, and asked me his subordinate to leave him alone, that it was his own business, and also instructed this subordinate not to tell anyone."

"Do you know what kind of smoke that was?"

Murong Ci asked.

"This subordinate doesn't know, but I knew that smoking would kill him."

Wang Bo's tears flowed down again, soaking his wrinkles.

"When I was seven or eight years old, my grandfather died of smoking.

Decades ago, many people in Xiaoren rural village smoked heavily.

Once they started, they couldn't quit.

They all met death in the end.

That smoke paste was very expensive, and many people didn't hesitate to smash their fortunes and sell their stuff in order to get a hold of it.

Those people's sons and daughters even had to sell their houses, and the family went bankrupt.

In the end, the family was destroyed and the people died.

My Lord, smoking is a scourge, and if one person is killed by it, the whole family would be destroyed."

....

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END of CHAPTER 81 PART 2

.....................to be continued