Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 72: A Little Puppy with Someone Backing Him Up
"Now that you mention it, it all makes sense to me." Liu Xiyu also realized what was going on. "Previously, Su Mingxing controlled the Rice Market Association, forcing grain merchants to hoard goods and drive up rice prices, which made it impossible for many people to afford rice or grain."

"With Su Mingxing gone, rice prices have come down again. This has affected other people's interests!"

"They would rather squander so much fertile land and force ordinary people to die than lose their own profits!"

"The imperial envoy is still in Shawan, how dare they!"

The coffee table was slammed again, and no one knew how much force she used. A set of cups and saucers jumped up, rolled to the ground, and made a sharp, brittle sound.

Lu Jia felt that it was more than that.

In her recent efforts to deal with the Zhang family, she inadvertently brought Su Mingxing to light—Su Mingxing was insignificant in the grand scheme of things, yet he was connected to the Shawan Rice Market.

Yan, the traitor, acted swiftly in reforming river transport. With so many trade ports between the north and south, can anyone say they didn't profit from it?
Sending Su Mingxing to prison would disrupt the proper course of events.

The Yan family has extensive connections in various departments of the court, and it's possible that they have people in Tanzhou Prefecture.

Don't the people in charge of these matters want to set things right?

Don't you want to turn the tide and do everything in your power to complete the Yan family's orders?

So, in addition to ensuring that the rice market can continue to be profitable as before, it is also necessary to ensure that the Yan family's plans can be successfully realized, right?

Because of all this, they caused so many merchants to suffer losses, and forced her to close down the warehouses and shops she had worked so hard to acquire, and perhaps even lose some of her rice!

If the murderer is not caught, the people of Shawan will have to bear this loss for nothing!
Lu Jia has no choice but to shut her eyes and suffer this injustice in silence!

How could she accept this?
"We must find this person!"

"You are all here."

Just as Lu Jia was raging, a cough followed by panting came from the doorway.

Shen Qingzhou ran all night, covered in mud and water, and leaned against the door frame to look into the house.

"Brother Qin!"

Xie Yi and Li Chang reacted quickly and rushed forward with joy.

Lu Jia was stunned, staring at him with disheveled hair, dirty clothes, and an unhealthy complexion: "Where did you come from?"

Shen Qingzhou glanced down at herself, then looked at her less-than-tidy appearance and asked, "Is there any water?"

Lu Jia quickly called for the old accountant to bring tea!
Serve ginger tea!
He Qu and the others gathered around.

Shen Qingzhou held the tea in his hand, drank it all in one gulp, and then took a long breath: "I just got back, and as soon as I got back I saw bad guys causing trouble, releasing water all over the river."

Lu Jia said, "That's right! I want to skin him alive! But I still don't know who did it."

Looking at her, whom she hadn't seen for over a month, Shen Qingzhou suddenly thought of the little yellow dog that the Xie family had recently adopted. Although it was weak, it was still determined to protect the family.

"If we split into several groups, we might be able to find him."

"He Qu—take a few men to Tanzhou Prefecture and guard the Zhou family. Arrest all the Zhou family servants who had private contact with Zhou Sheng tonight and bring them out to wait for me."

"Yi-ge'er and Li Chang, find Tang Yu and have him take you to the county government office. Keep a close watch on the archives there."

“And you—” Shen Qingzhou looked back at Lu Jia, “Master, you and Master Liu should take stock of a group of merchants and common people who have suffered heavy losses and go to the Tanzhou Prefecture to file a complaint with the authorities.”

"Once you arrive, I will hand the person over to you so you can go inside and file your complaint."

Lu Jia asked in confusion, "Why the Zhou family?"

"He was a student of Liu Zheng, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works."

Lu Jia was speechless.

Liu Zheng was a relative of the Yan family.

Having once been the young mistress of the Yan family, she naturally knew about the relationship between Liu Jiang and the Yan family. Liu Zheng was definitely a member of the Yan faction!

It turns out that Zhou Sheng is Liu Zheng's student...

"Are you sure it's this person surnamed Zhou?" she asked.

Opening the sluice gates to flood fertile fields—if such a crime were proven, it would surely result in execution. Who would dare not do it discreetly?
Even if the imperial envoy had the Yan family as his backing, let alone the Yan family members themselves, they wouldn't dare to openly harm the people like this. How could Shen Qingzhou, who had just returned to Shawan, have so quickly identified the Zhou family?

"We'll be able to confirm it once we get to Tanzhou."

"..."

Liu Xiyu stepped forward: "But where are the river workers who went down into the river earlier? Since we are filing a complaint, we should bring them along to testify."

"Do not worry!"

At this moment, Xie Yi patted his chest and said, "He Qu had anticipated this and brought the river workers and several local merchants who were severely affected by the disaster along with him! They are a bit slower on their journeys, but they should be arriving soon!"

Lu Jia was speechless again.

He Qu is too experienced; do they have precognitive abilities?

How do they know what role these people can play?
“You guys are all awesome,” she said.

Shen Qingzhou took the ginger tea handed to him by the old accountant and drank it: "Just trying to make a living."

Lu Jia glanced at him.

……

The sky was already showing the first light of dawn, and after the downpour, the dark blue sky stretched endlessly.

Many torches were still lit on and around the dock, and the areas not illuminated by the lights were pitch black.

After Lu Jia and the others left, Shen Qingzhou also came out.

He followed the familiar old road into the county government office. Apart from the waterlogged courtyard after the heavy rain, the interior was still dry.

Fang Ling, the guard who had been sent back by Guo Yi to guard this place, gave him the secret signal and appeared to recount what had happened.

As Shen Qingzhou listened, he entered the room, took out a stack of documents that he had hidden beforehand, handed them to him, and then sneaked to the archives at the other end of the yamen.

There were only a few yamen runners guarding the place.

Fang Ling had previously stated that the county magistrate had sent He Qing to oversee the situation here, but the man was nowhere to be seen...

In any case, this made things easier for Shen Qingzhou.

He had already given Tang Yu and the others a secret signal, and then he quietly entered.

……

On the Zhou family's side, Zhou Sheng had been sitting with Guo Yi for more than two hours.

During those two hours, whenever Zhou Sheng tried to get up, Guo Yi immediately called him back.

The messenger outside peeked out several times, but he was unable to leave his seat.

It wasn't until Guo Yi himself couldn't hold it in any longer and needed to go to the outhouse that he finally managed to slip out, his heart pounding in the boiling oil.

"Master!" Before Zhou Sheng could even ask, the man said impatiently, "Shawan has been sealed off. I heard the flood has already submerged the entire Shawan county town!"

Zhou Sheng paused: "Is the news true?"

"The gates of Shawan are now tightly closed, and Magistrate Fang is staying close by, still directing everyone to retreat to the west!"

"What about our people?"

"They've all returned! The master instructed us that we absolutely mustn't fail, so they're all waiting outside to see him!"

"it is good!"

Zhou Sheng repeatedly exclaimed "good!" as if his heart had been fished out of boiling oil.

He turned his head and glanced behind him. Guo Yi hadn't come out yet, so he gritted his teeth, quickly crossed the courtyard, and left the yard.

(End of this chapter)