Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 240 Your Aunt's Kindness (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
As night deepened, Lu Jia arrived at Yanzi Hutong. Upon getting out of bed, he first sent Changfu to gather several guards to go to the Lu residence.

Qiu Niang, who had long heard of her arrival, lingered in the courtyard waiting. After she finished giving her instructions, she said, "He Qu has also arrived with his men, but Young Master Shen has not yet come. In my opinion, since the Jiang family has lost power, we don't need so many guards here. You can take them all back without any problem."

She already knew about Madam Lu's life through Changfu. Previously, Madam Jiang had been so domineering that Lu Jia had refused to return to the mansion for more than ten years. This time, the Yan family had also been brought into the picture. Although everyone knew that striking at Madam Jiang would inevitably involve the Yan family, the fact that the Yan family had directly attacked Madam Lu made things different.

Lu Jia laughed and said, "It's not that bad, Mother. Don't worry." Then she asked, "Where is He Quren?"

"Girl, I'm right here!"

Just then, He Qu came over with four guards from the Grand Commandant's office.

"Miss, the young master sent me to deliver a message. Because the Minister has been ordering the Ministry of Revenue to audit the accounts these past few days, the young master is unable to leave at the moment. Therefore, he sent us here to be at your service. He will come back after the matters at the Ministry are settled."

Lu Jia nodded in realization: "I see."

Based on Lu Jie's past practices, on days like when Madam Jiang returns to the mansion, regardless of how she is treated afterward, he will always make an appearance by coming back to visit her.

However, after taking over the Ministry of Revenue, auditing the accounts was necessary, so this excuse for absence was sufficient.

As Shen Qingzhou was serving as a secretary in the Ministry of Revenue, he couldn't afford to leave his post, given his direct involvement in the important affairs of the government.

After thinking for a moment, she said, "I'm fine here for now..."

"Miss!"

Before the words were finished, Dawn's voice rang out urgently at the door: "Miss! The Jiang family has sent people to the Shuntian Prefecture prison!"

"Why are you here too?" Qiu Niang was immediately surprised to see her.

Fuxiao didn't have time to reply much. After a hurried bow, she rushed to Lu Jia, panting, and said, "Jiang has sent someone with prepared food to the prison to see Guo Lu! After receiving the news, Granny Qing sent me to deliver the message and has also sent someone to follow them. They are already on their way. Please tell me what to do next, Miss!"

These words made Qiu Niang and the others all look at Lu Jia: "Jiang Shi wants to silence them?"

Lu Jia remained calm and walked into the house with a cold smile: "She's more anxious than I expected."

After sitting down inside, she looked at He Qu and said, "I was planning to let you go back and rest on this cold day, but now you can't."

He Qu immediately straightened his back: "Men, go and arrest them right now!"

Lu Jia nodded: "Leave two people for me, and take the rest with you. Not only do you need to arrest the Jiang family's people, but you also need to find a way to bring Guo Lu over."

"Leave it to me!"

He Qu patted his chest and immediately obeyed orders.

Lu Jia then instructed the two guards who remained: "You two go to the Yan family and find out what Madam Yan did after returning from the Lu residence today."
"But don't dawdle, act as quickly as possible! Find out as much as you can, but it's okay if you don't find out anything. In short, it would be best if you could come back after He Qu and the others return."

"Yes!"

Lu Jia watched them leave, then asked Fu Xiao to sit down and handed her a cup of tea, as her hands and feet were freezing.

Guo Lu was originally sent to prison by Lu Jia through a scheme to force Jiang to take advantage of the Yan family. Now that Jiang has successfully returned to the mansion, she will naturally go looking for Guo Lu as soon as possible, either to save him or to kill him.

All of this was expected, so we were naturally prepared. If Jiang Shi still managed to get her way, what would happen? Qiu Niang sat down next to her, puzzled. "There's something I don't understand."

“My mother said.”

"This Jiang family member deserves to die. The Yan family can kill her if they want. Why do you still need to send people to protect her?"

Although Qiu Niang was just an ordinary citizen, she had witnessed the cruelty of officialdom and never thought that someone like Jiang Shi should be spared.

He couldn't understand Lu Jia's attitude.

Lu Jia laughed and said, "She really deserves to die. But she can't die tonight. I've let her run wild for so long, I have to get my money back before it's worth it."

By this time, the cause of Madam Lu's death had almost been revealed. Although Madam Jiang had not been involved, she was a direct beneficiary, not to mention that she was aware of the situation.

After she obtained the identity of Madam Lu, she tried to harm him several times. All these things made it impossible to keep her alive.

But wasn't the Yan family involved in this?

Even though the Yan family had something on Jiang Shi, Lu Jia had been thinking all the way there that no matter what she did, Jiang Shi would have no reason to hand it over to her, her mortal enemy. So she never even considered trying to seize the evidence.

The Yan family handled everything; we know what's going on. Does it matter whether they admit it or not?

Besides, would the Yan family just admit defeat when the evidence is presented to them?
Absolutely not!
Extraordinary people require extraordinary measures.

In short, Jiang must die, but Madam Yan must not be allowed to extricate herself so cleanly.

Looking at her calm and composed figure under the lamplight, Qiu Niang, though she hadn't explained herself clearly, noticed how she had remained perfectly composed despite the series of events that had rushed by. Her confidence inexplicably grew. She rose from the table, saying, "Then I'll go make you something to eat. I'll go stew some meat!"

Early spring in Yanjing is no warmer than the dead of winter, so eating something hot late at night is really heartwarming.

The waiting time wasn't long. Just as the sizzling hot meat broth landed in Lu Jia's hands, the commotion outside the door was heard.

"Miss, He Qu is back!"

The candlelight made the dawn's gaze shine brightly. "The person has been brought back!"

Lu Jia looked towards the entrance and saw He Qu leading his team into the courtyard. He put the men down at the gate and went inside first: "As you have entrusted me, Miss, Guo Lu is outside. Please give him your orders!"

Lu Jia got up and walked to the door. There, she saw two people kneeling and bound in the courtyard. One was a servant of Madam Jiang, and the other was Guo Lu, who was disheveled!

She asked, "How did you do that?"

He Qu chuckled: "Our men rushed to the gate of Shuntian Prefecture first and captured the guy who was delivering food. It turned out that Jiang originally intended to have him go to Shuntian Prefecture to bail people out, but later changed it to having him deliver food."

"So we simply took him to the Shuntian Prefecture government office and, under the pretext of the Jiang family's arrest, brought the Guo man out!"

Lu Jia glanced at him: "Well done. Let's go eat some meat."

After saying that, she walked into the courtyard, picked up the food box that the guard had brought back, took out a plate of still-warm snacks, and handed them to Guo Lu: "Your aunt made these especially for you. They look delicious. Eat them quickly."

Guo Lu raised his head with trembling hands; the face behind his disheveled hair was completely drained of color.