Chapter 160: The Trap of Gambling

Under these circumstances, just this bow and arrow workshop would bring nearly 100,000 Gold Coins of net profit to the Stephen Family every year, it was a piece of fat meat. And most importantly, this business was very stable, had continued for hundreds of years, almost without setbacks.

For such a business, other families naturally drooled with envy. They had also tried to imitate, but unfortunately, the quality of the bows and arrows produced was always unsatisfactory. They could only occupy the low-end market that the Stephen Family didn’t want, such as civilian Mercenaries, Noble private armies and so on, these guys were stingier than one another, the profit was naturally far less rich than national procurement.

But improving the quality of bows and arrows was not a simple matter. The manufacture of bows and arrows, besides the craftsman’s skill, valued the treatment of the bow body and the quality of the adhesive glue the most. And the secrets of these two things had always been specially valued by the Stephen Family.

Outside the Imperial Capital, in the Stephen Family’s manor, there were two heavily guarded places, one specially produced adhesive glue, one specially treated bow bodies. Every step of these two processes had dedicated personnel responsible, and these people could only know one process, very few people knew all the processes, and they were strictly controlled by the Stephen Family. Spies from other families and forces couldn’t find out at all. So, for about 200 years, the Stephen Family had always been in a leading position in this field. But now, this leading position was broken, the reason was obviously an internal thief!

The Duchess certainly understood the seriousness of this matter, once the Formula for making bows and arrows was completely leaked, then the Stephen Family’s loss would not just be the 100,000 Gold Coins every year. This secret involving military combat power, once leaked to foreign countries, was equivalent to the major crime of colluding with the enemy country, even if the Stephen Family wouldn’t be brought down because of this, but if used by political enemies, the trouble would definitely be huge. Moreover, there was also the Royal Family’s interest in this, if His Majesty the Emperor lost hundreds of thousands of Gold Coins in income every year due to this leak, he would definitely go crazy!

Thinking of the serious consequences, the Duchess didn’t dare to neglect, hurriedly and angrily asked her son, “You tell me, is this true or not?”

“No, definitely not, I didn’t!” Pretty Boy obviously knew the problem was serious, would rather die than admit it.

The Duchess looked at him suspiciously, that guy hurriedly said, “Mother, I’m not a fool, how could I do such a thing?”

The Duchess frowned, finally chose to believe his words, turned her face to Fatty and said, “My Lord, he wouldn’t be that stupid, right? Did you wrong him?”

“I wronged his ass! I was also a bastard, because of the two vixens you sent, I stupidly handed over the workshop to this son of a bitch, not even a month, and he sold it!” Fatty cursed angrily.

The Duchess’s old face turned red from what Fatty said. Old Xie covered his mouth and laughed on the side, he understood, it turned out the Duchess, in order to make her son improve, deliberately prepared two beauties for the lecherous Fatty.

And Fatty wasn’t done, he then cursed at the guy lying on the ground, “Still dare to talk back until now, really don’t know whether you’re dead or alive. You don’t admit it, right? Fine, I’ll make you convinced!” After saying that, Fatty waved his hand at the Chief Steward.

The Chief Steward immediately walked to the back, not long after, brought out a well-dressed middle-aged man. Fatty then said, “This is one of the persons in charge of the bow and arrow workshop, now let him tell everyone what he saw!”

“I, I saw Young Master once stayed in the reference room where the Formula was stored for quite a long time!” That man said tremblingly.

“When was that, and exactly how long did he stay inside?” Fatty continued to ask.

“It was very late at night, I’m not sure exactly how long, but I estimate at least two or three hours!” That man said.

“How did you find out?” Fatty asked next.

“I am responsible for managing the reference room, knowing the things inside are very important, afraid of problems, so I often patrol at night, so, so I discovered this!” That man said somewhat fearfully.

“Sigh, don’t be afraid, you have done a meritorious service, and you are responsible for your work, I won’t punish you!” Fatty helplessly waved his hand and said, “Give him a reward of ten Gold Coins, let him go down!”

“Yes!” That man hurriedly bowed his head to thank, then turned around and went out.

Fatty then said to that Pretty Boy, “Did you hear that? You tell me, in the middle of the night not sleeping, what did you run into the reference room for?”

“I, I just wanted to see the information.” That kid still kept his mouth shut and said, “Since you handed over such a big family business to me, of course I have to be attentive, can’t let it go to waste, so I went in to secretly study a bit! Lest I get deceived by the people below because I don’t understand anything!”

“Bullshit!” Fatty heard this and almost fainted from anger, couldn’t help cursing, “Why didn’t you study openly, had to sneak around at night?”

“I wasn’t afraid of being seen by others, thinking I was ignorant and incompetent, so I chose such a quiet time!” Pretty Boy pretended to be aggrieved and said.

“Ha!” Fatty heard this and couldn’t help but laugh angrily, “I must admit, you bastard are good for nothing else, but your glib tongue is absolutely top-notch. But, don’t think you can fool me with just your mouth!” After saying that, he waved his hand again.

The Chief Steward immediately understood, immediately turned around and walked back, not long after, another middle-aged man was brought out.

“This one, you don’t recognize, right?” Fatty sneered, “Let me tell you, he is one of the persons in charge of the Augustus Family’s bow and arrow workshop, and also a nail I planted inside more than ten years ago! Now, tell this bastard what you know!”

“Yes!” That man was facing so many big shots for the first time, was somewhat afraid in his heart, so he said tremblingly, “A few days ago, the person in charge of the Augustus Family’s bow and arrow workshop suddenly called us for a meeting, in the meeting, he took out a complete set of bow and arrow manufacturing craft, much more sophisticated than the craft we master. The person in charge proudly told us at the time, that as long as we master the craft thoroughly, our bows and arrows would definitely not be worse than those made by the Stephen Family’s workshop! I felt something was wrong at the time, so I kept an eye out, secretly wrote down the part I was responsible for, originally wanted to come and report early, but as you know, the workshop that just got the Formula was very busy, I had no chance to come out, until yesterday I found a chance to report to you!”

“You did very well!” Fatty then said, “Your identity has been exposed, no need to go back, from now on work in our own workshop, I will heavily reward you separately! You go down first!”

“Thank you Family Head!” That man hurriedly bowed to thank, then turned around and left.

Fatty then gnashed his teeth and cursed, “The Formula he took out at that time was exactly the same as the family’s Formula, I knew it was leaked at that time! So I hurriedly investigated, first found out the fact that you kid quietly stayed in the reference room, then found out that you bastard lost 50,000 Gold Coins outside, but could still spend money lavishly, in just the banquet the day before yesterday, you took out 3000 Gold Coins on the spot. You son of a bitch, now tell me, where did your money come from?”

Hearing this, even the Duchess directly affirmed her son’s crime in her heart. After all, as Pretty Boy’s mother, no one knew his nature and financial situation better than her. To ask this guy to drink and play with women, he could stay up all night for several days in a row, but to ask him to study, even if you whipped him it would be difficult, how could such a thing possibly study those boring craft processes in the middle of the night in the reference room? That would only happen if the sun rose from the north.

As for the financial situation, she knew even better, her son usually couldn’t earn a penny, it was all her this mother giving money, how could she not know her son’s bottom line? Let alone 50,000, even 500 Gold Coins he couldn’t often have in his hand, definitely would spend it quickly, she gave hundreds at a time every time, just afraid he would spend it all, saying he could take out 3000 Gold Coins on the spot, that was simply impossible, there must be something fishy!

So the Duchess immediately pulled a long face, hatefully cursed, “Little brat, still not telling the truth now, do you want to implicate me to die with you? This matter is of great importance, it may even cause harm to national security, if you say it now there may still be a remedy, otherwise you are dead!”

Hearing this, Pretty Boy was also scared, hurriedly cried, “Mother, I was wrong, I’ll tell the truth, they forced me to do it!”

“Don’t give me bullshit, who are they exactly? What is going on? Tell me all clearly!” Fatty roared.

“Yes, it’s like this!” Pretty Boy had no choice, so he confessed everything he had done.

It turned out that a few months ago, this kid met a few Noble sons from other places at a banquet, they were dashing and generous, and also knew how to flatter, always could get various good things, making this kid greatly admire. In the end, a few people with similar smells gathered together, gambling and playing with women all day.

Under the temptation of these people, this kid’s gambling desire was completely aroused. It didn’t matter if he lost everything, they generously let this kid write IOUs, stimulated by the desire to win back, he couldn’t stop, lost tens of thousands in one breath. When the last few people asked him for the debt, this kid was dumbfounded on the spot.