Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 354 Meeting
After hearing Xie Chengrang's words, Xia Ziqiao did not rush into the Ministry of Justice, but instead ordered someone to inquire about the situation.

The two men stood aside, and before their servants could reply, they saw the officials from the Court of Judicial Review arriving.

Xia Ziqiao looked surprised.

Fortunately, he wasn't in the government office at the time, otherwise his father would probably have been impeached. After all, he held no official position, and his appearance at this time was clearly for the sake of the He family.

Xia Ziqiao said, "People from the Dali Temple have arrived... How... How could they be here so quickly?"

For a moment, he thought the Court of Judicial Review had come to take his father away, but then he realized that was not right. The Court of Judicial Review would not take the Minister of Justice away so easily.

Therefore, it must be for other officials.

Xie Chengrang shook his head inwardly. Instead of lamenting why the people had arrived so quickly, he should think about whether the Xia family would be caught red-handed. No wonder Minister Xia had never let Xia Ziqiao help with official business; Xia Ziqiao was far inferior to his elder brother.

If Xia Dalang hadn't been sent away from the capital, Xia Ziqiao wouldn't have had a chance to interfere in the Xia family's affairs.

Xie Chengrang asked in a deep voice, "Who were the people who arrested Guo Xiong and Guo Chuan?"

“Zheng Xu, the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice,” Xia Ziqiao said, “has been taken care of by my father since he entered officialdom, and we have a lot of contact. That’s why I thought of asking him to handle this matter, but who knew that something like this would happen.”

Xia Ziqiao complained that Zheng Xu was incompetent.

Seeing that Xia Ziqiao was going astray, Xie Chengrang immediately pointed out: "It's not Zheng Xu's fault. If Zheng Xu had a problem, it would have happened on the Bian River, not now."

Xia Ziqiao thought about it carefully and realized it was true: "Then... someone is eyeing the He family?"

Xie Chengrang nodded: "They set up the Bian River in advance, deliberately letting Zheng Xu capture the people smoothly. They must have evidence to prove that the Guo brothers were wronged."

"In this way, we can investigate Zheng Xu and others in turn."

Zheng Xu's reason for arresting the people was that he happened to encounter the Guo brothers' boat during his patrol. If nothing went wrong, this excuse would be enough to cover it up.

But things are different once something goes wrong. Whether Zheng Xu had dealings with the He family, how many people he brought that day, and whether he made any preparations beforehand—these questions simply cannot withstand scrutiny.

This explains why the Dali Temple would appear at this time.

This is certainly not the first time Zheng Xu has done something like this. Once he's in the Dali Temple, it's all over. An official like him will definitely be thoroughly investigated.

Xie Chengrang looked at Xia Ziqiao: "Now you should think about how to get Zheng Xu to take on all the responsibilities."

Xia Ziqiao took a deep breath: "Has it really come to this?"

It should have been arranged in advance, but now that something has gone wrong, they still cling to wishful thinking. Xia Ziqiao is truly useless. Xie Chengrang tried his best to calm himself down and advised Xia Ziqiao: "It would be good if it could be resolved smoothly, but we should also prepare for the worst."

"Even if someone seizes on this and won't let go, we must prevent this fire from spreading to the Xia family."

Xia Ziqiao pursed her lips: "Zheng Xu has two sons. I can send them to the Zheng clan."

Xie Chengrang said, "To be on the safe side, we should find a way to make a sum of money for the Zheng family first, and then promote a member of the Zheng family to come to the capital to pick up the two children."

This tells Zheng Xu that the future of the Zheng family is in the hands of the Xia family. If the two children are able to study in the future, they can be registered under the names of the rest of the Zheng family. With the help of the Xia family, they can also take the imperial examinations.

This was also a way of blackmailing Zheng Xu. If he revealed the Xia family's involvement, the Xia family would never forgive the Zheng clan. The money the Zheng clan had earned was definitely not clean money, and this would become leverage against them. Xia Ziqiao nodded: "I will immediately send someone to Zheng Xu to tell him that I have already invited his clansmen to Bianjing."

Xie Chengrang watched Xia Ziqiao go about her business. His eyes flickered slightly. He knew exactly what the Xia family was doing. Recently, there had been constant disputes on the Bian River, and the He family was determined to consolidate their position. This was something they had to do.

The business on the Bian River will be indispensable in the future; we absolutely cannot lose this piece of the pie.

However, Xie Chengrang focused more on the border market and the Xie family of Daming Prefecture, wanting to find out more information, so he did not ask too much about this matter.

Unexpectedly, a problem arose.

He told Xia Ziqiao that it shouldn't be Wang Yan's doing, because Wang Yan didn't have that much energy to deal with these things. Xu Huaiyi would handle the case, but Xu Huaiyi didn't have that much scheming and wouldn't have thought of setting up a trap first and then investigating the case.

But the people involved in this case are just these same people, yet it seems as if there's an invisible hand guiding these pawns across the river.

Everyone was in the most suitable position; it was simply impeccable.

Xie Chengrang had been thinking about this for a long time. It wouldn't be difficult to figure out who was behind it. He just needed to wait for the Guo brothers to come out of prison and see who they would work for in the future. Then everything would be clear.

The biggest benefit of this case, besides dealing with the Xia family, is winning over people's hearts and turning the Guo brothers into loyal servants, giving us a few more people willing to die for us.

……

Tang Xing and the others carefully protected the carriage.

After leaving the estate, Madam Xie did not go straight home, but wandered around the city, looking like a lady who had just come out of the inner quarters.

Who would have thought that the old lady had just gone through those things on the estate?

Even Tang Xing was still in a daze. What exactly had they been doing on the estate with the old lady? He seemed to have been too busy watching the commotion to notice the yamen runners appearing in the estate, and he was startled by their presence.

This heart-pounding experience... thinking about it carefully, it's actually quite thrilling.

Madam Xie was probably in a good mood, and she enjoyed her shopping.

The shop assistant moved a few more bolts of cloth onto the carriage. Tang Xing glanced at it and saw that the carriage was almost full. He wondered if he should rent another carriage when he saw someone carrying several boxes walking over.

Tang Xing didn't pay attention at first, but out of the corner of his eye he saw a figure slip onto the carriage under the cover of the "waiter".

Upon seeing this, Tang Xing immediately became alert, grabbed the stick at his waist, and rushed forward to grab the person.

A surge of ferocity and malevolence immediately rose within Tang Xing, who was poised to strike, raising a stick high in the air. But the man who boarded the vehicle paid no heed, calmly sitting down and then casually raising his head.

Their eyes met, and Tang Xing froze on the spot, staring blankly as the carriage curtain was lowered, gradually concealing the person's figure until... he could no longer see him.

Tang Xing slowly put down the stick, then rubbed his eyes. He couldn't have seen wrong, could he? The person who boarded the lady's carriage in the chaos was actually... actually his husband?

The lady stopped her carriage in the bustling city and didn't leave. Could it be that she was waiting for her husband?

Otherwise, how could his upright and honest husband, so pure and upright, have secretly boarded a woman's carriage? And with such self-righteousness?