Su Xiaoqi seized the most crucial witness the moment she appeared, completely controlling the situation.
She watched the scrawny man guarded by Shen Yun without haste, leisurely observing the old man.
I'll wait patiently for you, let's see what tricks you can pull.
The old man turned his head, looking around. The stout and thin men who had been chiming in earlier were already being watched.
The other people arranged to provide backup had long since disappeared when they sensed danger.
He finally understood that they had lost this time, failing to steal the chicken and ending up losing the rice.
"Ah, this leg is so badly injured, I'm afraid it's broken." Su Xiaoqi said as she gently manipulated it, causing the old man's wrinkled face to contort even more into a bitter gourd.
He couldn't bear it any longer and shouted, "I, I'll talk, I'll say everything."
Su Xiaoqi stepped back, looking at him blankly, "What do you want to say?"
Xiao Yi stepped forward and sternly questioned, "Did you conspire with others to deliberately use someone else's moldy rice to impersonate our shop's rice to deceive people, intending to frame us and ruin our shop's reputation?"
"Yes, yes, that's right, this moldy rice is not yours."
With the old man's confession, all worries vanished. He spoke fluently, like pouring beans from a bamboo tube, confessing all their schemes one by one in front of everyone.
He even identified the scrawny man and the stout man on the spot.
The stout and thin men's eyes bulged out in anger, pointing at him and cursing him for being incompetent and ruining everything.
Just then, the person who had reported to the authorities arrived with constables and saw the scene.
Framing, plotting against a competitor, there was nothing more to say. The evidence was conclusive, arrest them.
The constables arrived so quickly and acted so swiftly, but Su Xiaoqi didn't think the county magistrate had suddenly become a benevolent official.
She stopped the constables from taking the old man away and said, "Where did this moldy rice come from? You haven't explained it clearly."
"Yes, yes, it's from Su... Ah..." The old man was about to speak when a constable elbowed him in the stomach, causing him to cry out in pain.
Su Xiaoqi understood; there was only one grain shop with the surname Su in Mianzhou City.
She raised her eyes and scanned the crowd, her gaze suddenly sharpening. She indeed saw a familiar figure – Steward Su.
Su Xiaoqi understood; it seemed they were launching a full-scale attack on her.
Not only had they cut off her fish supply chain to restaurants and inns, but now they were not letting go of the grain shop.
Well done, she would accept the challenge.
Shen Yun followed her gaze and also saw Steward Su. He reached out and held her hand, signaling her not to act impulsively.
Even if the old man pointed to the Su family here and now, it wouldn't be of much use.
The Su family was a top influential family in Mianzhou City. Su Baiwan, Su Half-City, his titles were not given in vain.
Not to mention the charitable reputation he had accumulated among the populace over the years, he had also greased many palms in the government.
It was not advisable for them to confront the Su Family Grain Shop directly at this time. The constables took the three away.
The old man was dragged away, constantly crying and begging.
He said he knew nothing, that he was wrong, that he shouldn't have agreed to do bad things for a hundred coins. Doing bad things would bring retribution.
Xiao Yi cupped his hands in gratitude to the crowd who had spoken out righteously.
Not only that, but at Su Xiaoqi's instruction, he also gave a dou of rice to each of the people who had spoken favorably for Tianxia Liangcang earlier.
Those people were also sharp-witted. They immediately opened the rice bags in front of everyone, revealing the white, lustrous rice to everyone.
And they testified: "Look, this is the rice from Tianxia Liangcang. When I cook it, I can finish a pot of rice without any side dishes."
"Hahaha, Zhang San, you are quite the comedian."
With this laughter, the atmosphere immediately became harmonious.
Those who had been undecided and had doubted Tianxia Liangcang could only watch enviously as those who spoke the truth reaped rewards.
They were extremely resentful, secretly warning themselves to firmly maintain their stance in the future.
They must not be led astray by those with ulterior motives.
Thinking about it, if they had spoken based on their most direct impression of Tianxia Liangcang at that time, they would also have a share of this rice worth fifty coins now.
How infuriating.
Su Xiaoqi stood on the steps, looking at the various expressions on everyone's faces, smiling like a blooming flower.
She loved to see people regretting their actions.
Who told them to follow the crowd and not have their own opinions?
The Su family, in the main hall of Wan Jin Pavilion, was luxuriously decorated. A middle-aged man wearing a dark purple round-collared robe sat at the head of the table. His fair and plump face had small, bright eyes.
This was Su Baiwan, known as Su Half-City in Mianzhou City.
He held a porcelain teacup, caressed a red plum on it, and frowned displeasily at the steward who was bowing and speaking below him:
"Can't you even deal with a mere sixteen-year-old girl?"
"My lord, I failed. Please punish me."
Su Baiwan was furious. He casually threw the teacup down. Hearing the sound of porcelain shattering, he immediately remembered that he had bought it for two hundred taels of silver.
It was a set of four porcelain teacups. This one was broken, so it couldn't form a set and was unusable.
His heart sank. He glared at Steward Su and snorted coldly, "Failed, failed, isn't this not the first time?"
Steward Su's heart tightened. That was indeed the third time.
The first time, he lost his youngest son.
The second time, his eldest son was almost harmed.
The third time, he personally found outsiders and devised the plan.
Although it wasn't overly thorough, it wouldn't have been exposed so easily.
After all, once moldy rice appeared in any grain shop, it would definitely be a dead giveaway.
Which shop didn't have some old rice?
Therefore, he intended to strike down this new shop that had emerged and significantly impacted the business of the Su Family Grain Shop in one fell swoop.
For so many years, they had used such methods to suppress many newly opened grain shops, thus maintaining their dominant position.
But who would have thought that the other party already had countermeasures? Not to mention anything else, even the rice bags were stamped.
They suffered a crushing defeat the moment they clashed.
If only they had used their own rice bags for the frame-up.
But it was too late for regrets.
"Useless thing, hurry up and get the person out, and package a sum of silver for that old man Huang." Su Baiwan said angrily.
His Su Family Grain Shop had been operating in Mianzhou City for over twenty years.
Before his family prospered, his family had been in the grain business.
After a certain incident, he gained substantial capital and started various other businesses, gradually expanding the Su family's empire.
He bought estates, houses, and shops everywhere, which earned him the title of Su Half-City.
Now, a grain shop with the same surname Su had appeared, and what's more, this person was once his "daughter," whom he had inadvertently helped rise.
If he had known, he shouldn't have let Steward Su find her, even if he had to find a cat or a dog.
Su Baiwan clenched his fist heavily, burning with rage.