The wicked mother-in-law doesn't try to whitewash herself; she only abuses her awful children.

Chapter 240 A Fabricated Relationship
The peach blossom desserts appealed to Prefect Yao.

Because at that time he was reading the letter while eating peach blossom desserts, which were a gift from his junior brother Lu Zhaoyang.

Moreover, he heard that Lu Zhaoyang's illness was showing signs of recovery precisely because of Widow Tong from Peach Blossom Dessert.

Subconsciously, Prefect Yao didn't quite believe that Widow Tong could concoct fake medicine that would ruin the crops.

Therefore, Prefect Yao did not rashly believe Senior Brother Zheng, who looked almost like a stranger, and urgently summoned his junior brother Lu Zhaoyang to his residence to inquire.

Just then, Lu Zhaoyang received good news from Lu San, the steward of Pingchuan County: using the medicine prepared by Tong Huaqiong, the ear rot disease in hundreds of acres of cornfields was completely eradicated, and the corn damaged by Xu Yong's fake medicine was also salvaged after being sprayed with the real medicine.

Lu Zhaoyang went to Prefect Yao's place and told his senior brother the whole story of the fake medicine incident in Yanguan Town.

When Prefect Yao learned that the medicine formulated by Tong Huaqiong had benefited the corn of the entire Pingchuan County, he was extremely excited.

Ningcheng's climate and soil are very suitable for growing corn.

However, for many years, corn has been plagued by ear rot, which has led to reduced yields every year.

Now that someone has developed a pesticide to cure ear rot, how could the prefect not be happy?

A golden harvest scene was already unfolding before his eyes.

To be on the safe side, Prefect Yao went to the Lu family's cornfield in Pingchuan County and found that the ear rot disease on the Lu family's corn had indeed been eradicated.

The vast expanse of green gauze billowing in the wind filled Prefect Yao with immense excitement.

Lu San explained to Prefect Yao and Lu Zhaoyang the whole story of how Xu Yong ruined the crops by concocting fake medicine and how Tong Huaqiong generously gave away the real medicine. Prefect Yao was puzzled as to why Scholar Zheng wanted to implicate Tong Huaqiong.

Lu San then revealed the entire relationship between the eldest daughter-in-law of the Zheng family and Xu Yong.

“Xu Yong is currently being tried at the county government office,” Lu San said.

So Prefect Yao and Lu Zhaoyang went straight to the Pingchuan County government office.

Lu Zhaoyang was very excited to meet Tong Huaqiong, and so was Prefect Yao.

How could Prefect Yao not be happy?

Tong Huaqiong was the one who could ensure a bumper corn harvest, which not only added to his political achievements as the prefect, but more importantly, it allowed the villagers in his jurisdiction to better fill their stomachs.

Prefect Yao is also an ambitious and driven young official, isn't he?

"Aunt Tong, how did you prepare this medicine?" Prefect Yao asked.

Tong Huaqiong then recounted the lie that Gu Jingzhe had told her about trying to prepare the medicine based on a prescription she had seen in a book.

Finally, he said, "Lord Yao, farmers always try to find ways to get a good harvest. Everyone makes compost and mixes medicines. I just stumbled upon this by chance, like that old Wang who made tofu while refining elixirs."

Tong Huaqiong meant that it was best not to ask for details, as it was purely a matter of luck.

Prefect Yao, Magistrate Liu, and Lu Zhaoyang all laughed when they heard this.

"Aunt Tong, you're so funny. Did you come up with that recipe for the pastries at your house? They smell so good, it's a pity I can't eat them. I gave all the ones you gave me to my senior brother last time." Lu Zhaoyang noticed that Tong Huaqiong didn't seem willing to talk much about how she discovered the pesticide recipe, so he changed the subject.

Tong Huaqiong saw Lu Zhaoyang again after more than half a year.

He was completely different from the man he was in spring; he had undergone a complete transformation.

Tong Huaqiong said, "I'm so happy to see that you've recovered. There are so many delicious foods in this world. As long as you can live a healthy life, what's wrong with not eating some pastries?"

The topic then veered off to how pesticide formulations were discovered.

Prefect Yao stopped pursuing the topic of pesticide formulas and began to inquire with concern about Magistrate Liu's actions regarding Xu Yong's manufacture of counterfeit pesticides that had damaged crops.

With Prefect Yao's concern, the case could not possibly be left unexamined.

Two days have passed since Zheng Juren sent his letter, but Prefect Yao has yet to reply.

He suspected that his junior brother might not respect him as his senior brother, since Prefect Yao came from a prominent family in Shengjing and his appointment as prefect in Ningcheng was merely a training opportunity.

Zheng, the scholar, somewhat regretted that he had called him "junior brother" repeatedly in the letter in an attempt to build a closer relationship.

He dared not send anyone to the main hall of the prefectural city, much less go to the prefectural city himself to deliver a formal invitation. If Junior Brother Yao truly did not wish to see him, wouldn't he lose all face and become a laughingstock?

Xu Zaohua hid in the house, using the excuse of having an upset stomach to avoid seeing her in-laws.

They knew nothing about the prefectural city.

Xu Zaohua naively believed that her father-in-law, as a scholar who had passed the imperial examinations, had great influence. She thought that if he sent the letter to the prefectural city, the prefect would surely beat the widow Tong to death with the fake medicine because of her father-in-law's influence.

She sat in the room waiting, waiting to see Tong Huaqiong speechless and to see Tong Huaqiong be detained.

She even asked someone to go to the prison to tell Xu Yong that the Zheng family had pleaded with the prefect to pin the crime of counterfeit medicine on Tong Huaqiong. He would only need to go through the motions in court, and he would be able to leave and return to Qinghewan soon.

Upon hearing this news, Xu Yong felt like a drowning man grabbing onto a piece of driftwood, clinging to a glimmer of hope.

During the court hearing and sentencing, they changed their story from attacking Xu Zaohua to attacking Tong Huaqiong.

The magistrate of Liu County even thought that Xu Yong had gone mad.

He didn't use torture!
Magistrate Liu found this strange; why had Xu Yong suddenly changed his mind?

Magistrate Liu concluded that there must be something fishy going on, so he ordered Xu Yong to be tortured.

Xu Yong thought Xu Zaohua's assurance was just a formality, but he didn't expect them to actually use weapons.

In desperation, he shouted, "Do you know the relationship between the Prefect and our Xu family's relative by marriage, Scholar Zheng? The Prefect already knows about this. If you dare to torture me, you'll be in for his punishment!"

Magistrate Liu: "."

When Prefect Yao, who was warmly concerned about the outcome of the fake medicine incident behind the county government office, learned the news, he was utterly speechless.

What does the Zheng family mean by this? Are they trying to sell fake medicine under their name?

He had only been in Ningcheng for two months since he came from Shengjing, and his senior brother, whom he had forgotten what he looked like, was interfering with Magistrate Liu's judgment in his name.
Prefect Yao was furious.

Aunt Tong is right. Xu Yong alone wouldn't have the audacity to prepare fake medicine. It's possible that the stranger, Scholar Zheng, was involved.

No need to ask, the Zheng family must have been involved in this fake medicine, and not only were they involved, they also turned around and framed Aunt Tong.

Prefect Yao was furious.

When Magistrate Liu saw Xu Yong implicating Prefect Yao, he ordered his yamen runners to give Xu Yong a severe beating.

"I've confessed everything, I've confessed everything."

Xu Yong then revealed to him in detail the matter of Xu Zaohua sending someone to tell him that the Zheng family had left and that Yao, the prefect, had connections with them.

Magistrate Liu was still wondering about the relationship between Prefect Yao and the Zheng family when Lu Zhaoyang whispered in his cousin's ear that the relationship between the Zheng family and Prefect Yao was that they had no connection.

Magistrate Liu was furious. The Zheng family was trying to pressure him by fabricating a relationship.

So he ordered someone to go to the Zheng family to summon Zheng, the scholar, for a court hearing.

Isn't his daughter-in-law pregnant?
Then let him come to court with us.

Magistrate Liu did not slander Scholar Zheng. Xu Yong, as the elder brother of Zheng's daughter-in-law, and Xu Zaohua, together caused the fake medicine scandal. Scholar Zheng, as Xu Zaohua's father-in-law, may also have been involved.

As a local official concerned with agriculture and sericulture, Magistrate Liu had to investigate the matter thoroughly.

He will not wrong any innocent person, nor will he let any lawbreaker or evildoer go unpunished.

When Zheng, the scholar, was summoned, the entire Zheng family thought they had misheard.

Zheng, a scholar who didn't even need to bow to officials, how could he possibly go to the court?

But the constables who came to arrest him said that even a prince is subject to the same law as a commoner, let alone a mere scholar.

The scholar Zheng asked him what crime he had committed, and the constable said that he was implicated in the fake medicine matter and needed to be brought to court to find out.

Given that Zheng was a scholar, the constables treated him with the dignity due to a scholar and did not tie him up; they simply let him follow them to the county government office.