I support the army through farming and business.

Chapter 379 Discovered
Yang An's gaze darkened, and then the voice continued, "Mr. Hongru is also the dean of Hongshan Academy!"

People in the crowd whose children were studying at Hongshan Academy immediately panicked. With such a principal, was there any need for their children to study at Hongshan Academy?
If you don't learn the sage's wisdom, fine. But if you end up becoming a beast worse than a pig or a dog, then you might as well not learn it at all!

"Hongshan Academy must give us a satisfactory explanation for this matter, otherwise I will have my child switch to another academy!"

"I'll change too!"

"What happens to the tuition fees that have already been paid?"

"Of course we should refund it! It wasn't our child who did anything wrong, why shouldn't we get a refund!"

"If Hongshan Academy doesn't refund our tuition fees, we'll go there together and demand them!"

"Correct!"

Yang An took a deep breath and said loudly, "Please hear me out."

The crowd fell silent.

"Gentlemen, it was my fault for misjudging people and making bad friends, which has tarnished the reputation of Hongshan Academy. This is my fault."

"To preserve the reputation of Hongshan Academy, I have decided to resign from my position as the headmaster of Hongshan Academy. You can rest assured that you can leave your children to study at Hongshan Academy."

After Yang An finished speaking, he endured the excruciating pain in his heart and bowed deeply to everyone present.

Some people couldn't bear it, remembering the admiring look in their children's eyes when they mentioned Mr. Hongru, and said comfortingly, "You can't judge a book by its cover. Who knows if someone is a human or a devil? Mr. Hongru was also deceived by a villain!"

"Yes, yes, who hasn't been fooled by a few scoundrels in their life?"

"I've even been betrayed by my own brother! If even brothers are like this, what about friends!"

Seeing that the situation had turned around, the voice said again, "Mr. Hongru, you must be more discerning when making friends in the future, and never be fooled a second time!"

Getting scammed the first time is just bad luck, but getting scammed the second time is just plain stupid!

Yang An clenched his fingers. "I will remember your lessons." He turned to Min Zhuang and said, "My lord, I still need to investigate the murder of my servant, so I will take my leave now."

Seeing Min Zhuang nod, Yang An turned and left with his stewards, his back view looking rather disheveled.

"Disperse, everyone!" Min Zhuang dispersed the crowd of onlookers and led the yamen runners to escort Ming Jing back to the government office.

After the official sedan chair had gone far away, Mei Niang helped Yu Nu back to Qingyan Boat. After the doctor applied the medicine to Yu Nu, she patted her chest and sat down.

"You scared me to death! Did you see the look in Yang An's eyes?" Mei Niang's scalp tingled at the thought of Yang An's sinister gaze. "When are we going to escape Suzhou?"

Yu Nu shook her head, gently stroking the stray hairs at her temples with her bandaged fingers. "Escape? We won't escape."

"Don't we escape? The Yang family is all-powerful in Suzhou. If we offend the Yang family, how can we survive if we don't escape?"

“The Yang family is powerful, but after something like this happened, they won’t dare to attack us anytime soon. Otherwise, their reputation would be completely ruined.”

Mei Niang thought about it and agreed, but, "I wouldn't dare in the short term, but what about in the future?" She still had at least several decades to live!

Yu Nu chuckled lightly, "The future? The Yang family has no future."

Seeing that she couldn't get any information out of her, Mei Niang gave up. Anyway, she had the Jin family backing her up, so if anything happened, she would just push Yu Nu out to take the blame.

The Yang family ancestral home.

Bang! A purple aura rises from the east, a galloping horse leaps, and a glass cup shatters on the ground, scattering shards everywhere.

"What happened?" Yang An knelt on the ground. "Father, please calm down. I was caught off guard and was tricked."

Old Master Yang raised his hand and smashed another glass cup. "A momentary lapse in attention? I think you're far too arrogant!"

Thinking he had everything under control, he ended up tripping up with a courtesan, losing his position as the headmaster of Hongshan Academy and tarnishing the reputation of the Yang family.

If this weren't his most trusted son, he would have dragged him away and beaten him to death immediately!

Yang An let Old Master Yang scold him until he had vented his anger, then said, "Father, please calm down. I have already sent people to investigate, and we will definitely find out who is behind this."

Old Master Yang asked, panting heavily, "Not Tang Zhao?"

“My son doesn’t think so,” Yang An shook his head. “My son sent someone to inquire. Yu Nu came to Suzhou from Shu Prefecture two years ago. At that time, Tang Zhao was still in the Northwest and couldn’t reach her.”

“Since selling herself to Qingyan Boat, Yu Nu has been singing on the painted boat. Last night was the first time she attended a banquet.”

Old Master Yang frowned. If that were the case, then the person behind it all wouldn't be Tang Zhao.

"Moreover, Mingjing has always been cautious and has hidden his shameful fetishes very well. If his son had not accidentally discovered the body of a woman who had been tortured to death at the Ming family estate, he would probably have been kept in the dark."

"Since Tang Zhao came to Jiangnan, he has been busy with political reforms and has no time or manpower to investigate Ming Jing's hidden secrets."

To put it bluntly, while Mr. Ming'an's name may have some prestige among the students of Jiangnan, it is nothing compared to Tang Zhao's reputation.

What good was it for Tang Zhao to destroy Mingjing? It had absolutely no impact on the overall situation in Jiangnan.

Old Master Yang said, "If it weren't for Mingjing, you wouldn't have voluntarily resigned from your position as dean."

"But when the son steps down, the successor will still come from the four major families."

For Tang Zhao, as long as the headmaster of Hongshan Academy was a member of the four great families, it didn't matter who it was.

Old Master Yang took a sip of tea. "It seems that the person behind the scenes must come from one of the four great families."

"My son thinks so too, but there is no evidence yet. We can only be sure after the supervisor conducts a search."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the steward came in to report, "Master, Second Master, the body at the bottom of the river has been retrieved."

Old Master Yang said, "Bring it in."

The steward turned and went downstairs. A moment later, two servants carried up a corpse. The steward lifted the white cloth covering the corpse and said to Old Master Yang, "All the corpses at the bottom of the river are like this one, killed by an arrow to the heart."

Yang An turned his head and looked at the corpse of the Yang family steward for a moment, then suddenly reached out and pulled out the sharp arrow from the corpse, examining it carefully.

Old Master Yang was too old to see clearly, but he wasn't in a hurry. After his son finished looking at it, the steward wrapped the arrow in a handkerchief and brought it to his eyes. He carefully examined the barbed arrowhead and sneered, "As expected of someone from one of the four great families."

You can guard against anything, but it's hard to guard against a thief within your own family!
"Immediately send people to investigate Yan Fang thoroughly! I want to see who's really asking for trouble!"

If he wants to die, he'll grant his wish!

Inside the Jin family's old house, Jin Ge was pacing back and forth, looking anxious.

Why haven't the people sent out returned to report? Has something happened to them?
"Young Master!" a servant announced as he entered, "The Old Master requests your presence for a talk."

Jin Ge's face tightened. His grandfather was in poor health and had set a rule two years ago that he would not attend to any matters before 9:00 AM. Now, at only 1:15 AM, he had already summoned someone to speak with him.

Jin Ge's heart pounded wildly. Could it be that his grandfather had found out what he had done?