Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 75 I know this imperial envoy!
Who were those five people being held captive if not his steward and Zhao Jiu and the others he sent to release the sluice gate at Luokou?!
Is this some kind of ghost?

The steward clearly stayed in his study all night, and Zhao Jiu and the others clearly obeyed orders and returned to their lodgings. How did they all end up in the hands of these scoundrels?
"Brother Zhou, what's wrong?" Guo Yi looked at him with concern. "Didn't you sleep all night? Are you feeling unwell? Should we go back first?"

"No! No, no, I can do it!"

Zhou Sheng struggled to steady himself and bravely walked inside.

The five most important people are being held here right now, how can he go back?

Even if it means vomiting blood, I'll stay here and cure these scoundrels!
Upon entering the courtroom, he first scanned Lu Jia and his group, then bowed to the prefect: "Your Honor, these unruly people are utterly fabricating lies and slandering us! I have no grudge against the people of Shawan..."

"The imperial envoy has arrived!"

As soon as Zhou Sheng finished speaking, Guo Yi's attendants behind him shouted.

Lu Jia and Liu Xiyu were kneeling at the very front of everyone, watching Zhou Sheng's grand performance with cold eyes, when they were quite surprised to hear that the imperial envoy had arrived.

The imperial envoy had been in Tanzhou for several months, and Lu Jia had never seen him show his face. In addition, she had seen him in the capital in her previous life when he returned to report for duty. She had long thought that he was just a lackey of Yan's party who came to make a show of things, and she could not expect him to do anything!
She hadn't seen that corrupt official in Shawan all night, but now he's here. Could it be that he's here to back up Zhou Sheng?

This is broken.

Even with a thousand schemes, she couldn't overcome the power and influence of the official. She couldn't very well use the Lu family's jade to show off again, could she? That wouldn't work either; this corrupt official was a member of Yan's faction, practically in cahoots with her treacherous father. Could a piece of jade fool him?

Lu Jia stared intently at the doorway.

At this moment, a group of people walked in, with a young official in a red robe leading the way.

Upon seeing this person, Lu Jia's eyes widened, and she blinked several times.

With the prefect repeatedly calling out "Your Excellency the Imperial Envoy," he was absolutely certain that this person was indeed the Imperial Envoy!

But she knew this person!
Isn't this the eldest grandson of Academician Guo of the Hanlin Academy?

How could it be him, the imperial envoy?
In her previous life, the imperial envoy she had met in Tanzhou was clearly Zhang He, that fat man with a big head and big ears—a genuine henchman of the Yan family!
What's wrong here?
She straightened up abruptly. While everyone else was focused on the current lawsuit, she was completely confused by this unexpected turn of events!

"Lord Zhou's words are reasonable. What else do you have to say? If they are baseless, I will order the use of the rod to deter others!"

At this moment, the prefect slammed his hand on the table. Lu Jia looked up and saw that Guo Yi had already sat down, his face tense as he scanned the area below.

That's right, it's him!

Lu Jia remembered him because his wife was very shrewish and didn't get along with Lu Ying at all. Perhaps it was related to this, but three years later, Guo Yi was also killed by the Yan family, and his entire family met a terrible end. His wife drowned in the moat and wasn't discovered until three days later.

That being said, the imperial envoy wasn't Zhang He, but someone from the Guo family—that's good news!

Surely, any official who was killed by a treacherous minister couldn't have been a really bad one?
The Guo family, in particular, is a family of integrity!

Their fathers were all upright and virtuous men!
Could Guo Yi be spoiled?

Now that she's here, Lu Jia has no choice but to take a gamble!

She took out the confession Qin Zhou had given her, straightened her back, and held it high: "Your Excellency, I have here a confession from a servant of the Zhou family. Please take a look at whether Zhou Sheng did it or not!"

Guo Yi turned his gaze to her.

Or perhaps they had already seen her. After all, it was hard not to notice that there were two women leading such a large group of merchants and commoners, and one of them was a young girl.

The confession was handed over, and Guo Yi politely deferred to the prefect for a while before finally turning it over. Below, Zhou Sheng was so nervous he didn't know where to look!

They arrested people, and they still have confessions?!
Just as he was at a loss, Guo Yi sighed from above: "Lord Zhou, oh Lord Zhou."

His words immediately changed the expressions of both Zhou Sheng and the prefect.

"Did you personally confess and sign this statement?" Guo Yi asked the five men below, holding up the statement. "Tell the truth. If you utter a single falsehood, you will be beaten!"

"Yes! We recruited them! We confessed to it ourselves!..."

The sight before him utterly astonished Zhou Sheng! These were all his trusted confidants!
They wouldn't be allowed to handle such confidential and life-threatening matters unless they were trusted confidants. How come they confessed without even a single exchange?
And they even admit that the confessions held by these troublemakers are true?
Have they lost their minds?!

He lunged forward, his face contorted, shouting, "Open your dog eyes and look at me! Who am I?!"

The five men looked at him, then all lowered their heads, sobbing and crying, "Master, spare our lives..."

Zhou Sheng's internal organs were all dragged to the bottom by their crying.

What does this mean? Does it mean they admitted it? They recognized him as their master, and they confessed?

“This is definitely a trap!” Zhou Sheng pointed at them, then turned to Guo Yi, who was frowning and sighing with disappointment, and the dumbfounded prefect on the stage, and said, “Your Excellency the Imperial Envoy can testify that my steward was clearly in my residence last night. He changed like this in the blink of an eye. He must have been framed and coerced into giving a false testimony!”

Guo Yi said, "Yes, I did see Steward Zhou last night. Then I ask you, where did you capture them?"

"It's in Luokou Town!"

Lu Jia answered loudly, just as Qin Zhou had instructed.

"What nonsense!"

Zhou Sheng roared. If he was captured in Luokou, were the four people he saw this morning, Zhao Jiu and the others, ghosts?
"How can you be so sure I'm talking nonsense?" Lu Jia retorted. "Were you with them all night? Weren't you with the Imperial Envoy last night?"
"Since you weren't with them, how can you prove they didn't do the bad things? If they didn't go to Luokou and Shawan, then I ask you, why were your trusted confidants, Lord Zhou, captured by us?"

Zhou Sheng was speechless.

"Report!"

At this moment, a guard came from outside the door, quickly walked to Guo Yi's side, and whispered in his ear.

Guo Yi said, "Send it!"

Immediately afterwards, two people walked in from outside.

But it turned out to be He Qu and Tang Yu.

The two men knelt on the ground, holding a bundle of documents high: "My lord! We are guards hired by the Xie family. We just found a bundle of documents outside the Zhou residence. It contains the recent rainfall situation in Shawan County, the river transport map of Luokou Town and Shawan, and the flow rate of the Xiangjiang River during the flood season in previous years!"
"Furthermore, we also happened to run into some servants from the Zhou family, and according to their account..."

"Wait!"

Now it was Guo Yi's turn to be dumbfounded. He leaned halfway out, staring at the two people on the ground: "Who did you two just say you were?"

He and Tang blinked their four eyes: "Miss Xie's bodyguard."

(End of this chapter)