They've all separated, so what does it matter to me if they get poorer and poorer?

Chapter 322 Method
Xu Zhichun: "Madam Fan is stubborn, and I can't persuade her to change her mind. However, if the Qi family changes their mind, the matter will be resolved. I wonder if Officer Yu can help us?"

Officer Yu suddenly understood. He had been a little troubled, but now three, four, five, or six feasible methods flashed through his mind.

As a county constable, he certainly couldn't deal with the wife of the prefect, but dealing with a merchant family in a neighboring county would be much easier.

Anyone can play dirty tricks.

No wonder my sister-in-law came to me.

This is something that my sister-in-law really can't do on her own.

"I understand, sister-in-law, don't worry, it's nothing serious."

Xu Zhichun breathed a sigh of relief, nodded and smiled, "Then thank you very much! If there's anything I can do for you, Officer Yu, please feel free to ask. I hope this matter won't affect you."

As Xu Zhichun spoke, he took out three hundred taels of silver notes. "Captain Yu, take these first. If it's not enough, send me a message and I'll have Granny Qin send them over."

Officer Yu looked embarrassed, "That's enough, that's sufficient."

If he weren't usually short of money, he would never have taken this silver.

After finishing their business, Officer Yu tactfully took his leave.

A man and a woman alone together, their situation is awkward, and even if no outsiders know, it's not appropriate for them to stay together for too long.

After seeing off Constable Yu, Granny Qin Qing said with a worried expression, "I never expected that Madam Fan would be looking for Madam Fan about something like this. It's really too much!"

Granny Qin Qing, fearing that Xu Zhichun, being young and inexperienced, might be tempted by the Qi family's wealth and the fact that they had such a prominent official relative as the wife of a Tongzhi (a high-ranking official), slowly egged her on from the side: "The Qi family is truly shameless. They underestimate the Madam because she has no one to back her up and they bully others with their power. If they manage to coax the Madam into the family, not only will all the property she has worked so hard to build become theirs, but who knows how much profit they can gain by using the name of 'Merciful Madam'? When the Madam is no longer of any use, even if she 'dies of illness' in the inner quarters, who will know, and who will stand up for her? Even if she doesn't 'die of illness,' if they keep her under house arrest, she will be left with no one to turn to for help."

"Those kinds of families are truly ruthless and heartless!"

Xu Zhichun nodded in agreement: "That's what I think too, so I would never agree to this marriage even if it meant my death."

She didn't believe that the Qi family patriarch and madam would give in just because the eldest young master Qi was "insistent" and "deeply affectionate."

It's ridiculous! Young Master Qi is so "deeply in love," and if I don't agree, I'll be the one who's ungrateful!

Granny Qin breathed a sigh of relief but remained worried: "I wonder if Constable Yu is reliable or not."

Xu Zhichun smiled and said, "Snakes have their own paths and rats have their own ways. As for dealing with the Qi family, Chief Constable Yu should have a way."

If that didn't work, then she had no choice but to use the name of Madam Shanci to ask the prefect for help and request Magistrate Lu to mediate.

This would definitely lead to a complete breakdown in relations with Magistrate Fan and his wife. But there was no other way.

There is absolutely no way she would marry into the Qi family.

Putting aside her dislike for Young Master Qi, she simply couldn't accept that after entering the Qi family, her fate was not in her own hands and her life and death were entirely determined by others.

After much deliberation, Officer Yu decided it would be best to inform Liang Mingxuan about this matter.

Although Mingxuan is young, he is a promising young scholar highly regarded by the county magistrate, and he is very clever. Perhaps he has a better idea.

When Constable Yu approached Liang Mingxuan and told him about the matter, Liang Mingxuan's face tightened, and he was furious. "How dare the Qi family?"

His sister-in-law had been kind to their family, and he wouldn't object if she wanted to remarry. But if someone tried to force her to remarry, he would fight to the end. "Brother, don't be angry. Madam Xu has already devised a plan. She has secretly dealt with the Qi family. As long as the Qi family changes their minds, this matter will be over."

Liang Mingxuan's expression softened, and he chuckled, praising, "Sister-in-law is indeed clever; she could come up with such a good idea in such a hurry!"

Officer Yu nodded in agreement: "Yes, Madam Xu is very clever."

Liang Mingxuan thought for a moment, "Brother Yu, please help me delay the Qi family from coming to propose marriage for at least a month and a half. After a month and a half, I guarantee they will give up the idea. And no one will dare to mention this matter again."

Officer Yu was quite surprised: "Brother, do you have a better way?"

Liang Mingxuan: "It's hard to say right now. I'll tell Brother Yu when the time comes."

“Alright,” Officer Yu agreed readily without much thought. “It’s just a delay of a month or two, what’s so difficult about that?”

It's easy to cause trouble for the Qi family.

That young master of the Qi family isn't a very smart person; it would be too easy for him to scheme against.

Liang Mingxuan: "Thank you, Brother Yu. Please don't tell my sister-in-law that you came to see me."

"That's okay."

Under the covert machinations of Constable Yu, the news that the eldest son of the Qi family got into a fight with someone in a brothel over a woman, was beaten black and blue, had a limp, and was stripped of his outer robe, leaving him only in his undergarments and thrown on the street, spread like wildfire.

Every place has its good-for-nothing playboys, and it's normal for them to fight over girls in brothels, but it's rare to see one fight so violently.

Such scandalous gossip about wealthy families is naturally extremely attractive to ordinary people; who wouldn't love to read it? Even writers of short stories could be inspired by it to write 30,000 words at once.

With Officer Yu having bribed local thugs and hooligans to secretly fuel the flames, the matter quickly spread throughout the three neighboring counties.

When the Zeng family found out, they gloated and mocked him mercilessly.

The Qi family was furious and resentful. They hurriedly asked a doctor to treat their young master Qi's leg injury, while demanding that the local officials quickly arrest the murderer and punish him severely.

That murderer was despicable. Not only did he beat someone up, but he also spewed out arrogant words, saying things like, "The Qi family is nothing, daring to steal my woman," "Qi Ming's penis is as small as a toothpick, isn't he afraid of letting the beauty down?" "No wonder he was playing around with his ex-wife in the teahouse, he just can't stand not having some excitement, hahaha!" and so on. These kinds of things were spread by word of mouth in the streets and alleys, and people talked about them with great interest.

The Qi family is furious!

But how easy is it to catch a murderer? He wasn't even from this county; he took the huge sum of fifty taels of silver and ran away. He didn't even return to his hometown for the time being, but went off to live a carefree life elsewhere.

With this whole mess, the Qi family was too busy to take care of themselves, so the marriage proposal was naturally put on hold.

Moreover, with this matter at such a sensitive time, the Qi family wouldn't dare to propose marriage at all. Otherwise, Xu Zhichun could use this as a reason to reject her outright, and even if they invited Madam Fan to her again, it wouldn't make a difference.

Young Master Qi was both angry and resentful. He felt that he had been framed, but he had no evidence.

He even suspected that Xu Zhichun might have done it, but upon closer reflection, even if she was very capable, she was only a minor figure in Qingshan County and could not have done something so flawless.

But the more this happened, the more determined he became to marry her!
The news of this commotion quickly reached Xu Zhichun's ears, and Granny Qin Qing gloated, "What goes around comes around, they really deserve it."

Xu Zhichun smiled. "Even karma needs someone to carry it out. Officer Yu is really something."