Su Baiwan was a shrewd man. Upon hearing his son's words, he narrowed his eyes and immediately became happy, asking with curiosity who wanted to deal with them.
Su Jiamei, however, shook his head like a rattle drum.
"I don't know. Even if I did, I couldn't say. Their background is too great; we can't afford to offend them."
Su Jiamei leaned close to his father with a mysterious expression.
Su Baiwan thought he was coming closer to tell him the truth. Instead, he got only these words, immediately enraging him. He smacked Su Jiamei on the head.
"You goddamn turtle son, I'll beat you to death."
Su Jiamei rolled his eyes, "Old man, who are you calling a turtle son… you're not cursing yourself."
Su Baiwan was so angry he wanted to hit Su Jiamei again.
But suddenly he heard him say, "Ah, I just remembered. Last time, Magistrate Huang's yamen runner in Yizhou Prefecture was completely messed with by someone surnamed Shen. Magistrate Huang is the most protective of his own, isn't he? Have the old butler go and give them a heads-up. If you can find an excuse to seal their shops, wouldn't that solve it?"
Since they couldn't cut off their supply source, they would cut off their roots. To pull the rug out from under them, sealing their shops. Then they'd see how they sold their goods.
Su Baiwan narrowed his eyes, and a smile spread across his plump face. He beckoned Su Guan Jia forward, instructed him thus, and waved him away.
And so, on the afternoon of the seventh day, Su Xiaoqi and Shen Yun had already packed everything. The carriage was also hired, and the driver was Li Shushao, who, after a long period of practice, had become quite adept. He also served as Shen Yun's attendant. Su Xiaoqi had wanted to find another servant from the estate's workers for him. But Shen Yun refused, saying that not everyone yearned for distant places like Li Shushao. Su Xiaoqi had Supervisor Li ask everyone one by one, and indeed, most people were unwilling to leave their hometowns. As for the maidservant, Su Xiaoqi brought Guo'er. Before leaving, she had also asked Yan Zhi's sister, Er Niu, to change her name to Mo Dai and stay by Madam Zhao's side, to prevent her from being too overworked. Everything was ready, only lacking the east wind.
Then, they heard a shocking piece of news. The Tian Xia Liang Cang was sealed by the government.
"Sealed? Why?" Su Xiaoqi exclaimed.
The person who came was Xiao Si, who was asked by Xiao Yi to rush over. Shen Yun held Su Xiaoqi's cold, sweaty hand and said, "If you want to know why, why not go and see? We're not leaving until tomorrow anyway."
Su Xiaoqi nodded. There was no other way now. The group arrived at Tian Xia Liang Cang. The main gate was already sealed with official tape. A crowd had gathered in the open space in front of the shop. Everyone was discussing the matter heatedly. Therefore, Su Xiaoqi and Shen Yun did not have to expend much effort to hear the whole story. It turned out that the government suspected them of mixing sand into their rice, so they sealed it and arrested Xiao Yi, who was in charge of the shop, and threw him in jail.
Su Xiaoqi frowned as she listened. The rice in the granary all came from her space; there was no better quality rice. So mixing sand was impossible. However, "If you want to condemn someone, you can always find a pretext." Su Xiaoqi understood and had a guess. It was probably the Su family at work again. She already knew that Su Jiamei had been sent out by Su Baiwan with money, so this revenge play seemed fitting. The more it was like this, the more Su Xiaoqi disliked the Su family, and the more she disliked Su Jiamei. Truly annoying, like a fly.
Seeing Su Xiaoqi's brows furrowed, her face filled with bitterness, Shen Yun said, "Leave it to me."
"No, that won't do! You're leaving for the capital tomorrow. Nothing can go wrong at this time." No matter what, Su Xiaoqi wanted Shen Yun to follow the original plot.
"You don't trust me?" Shen Yun raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry, it won't take long, just about fifteen minutes."
Su Xiaoqi didn't understand how Shen Yun would resolve this, but now, besides trusting Shen Yun, she really couldn't think of any other way in the short term. So she followed Shen Yun's instructions and waited with Guo'er while Shen Yun took Xiao Si to the county office. He didn't take the usual route and went directly into the back hall of the county office, easily meeting Huang Liangsheng.
"Oh, isn't this Scholar Shen? What brings you to my office?"
"Tomorrow, your student is about to depart, so I've come specifically to pay my respects to Lord Huang." Shen Yun was polite and refined.
Huang Liangsheng couldn't help but marvel at Shen Yun's appearance. This young man was so handsome and also well-educated. If he went to the capital, he might achieve great things. Huang Liangsheng suddenly regretted whether he should have acted against them. But he had been in Mianzhou City for several years and had always advanced and retreated with the Su family. Previously, because their two servants were caught red-handed, and someone important inquired about it, he had no choice but to not give them face. Later, an ignorant constable arrested the young master of the Su family. Because he was busy training the new courtesan from the red-light district, he didn't inquire about the matter, allowing him to suffer in prison for a while. It was only after receiving the silver notes from the Su family that he realized and released the person. But these events had already created cracks in their relationship. That's why, when the Su family's butler came with gifts and asked him to handle this matter, he agreed so readily. It was also to show goodwill to the Su family, to show that their alliance was still in place.
But he never expected that this Tian Xia Liang Cang was related to this recently appointed top scholar. If he had known earlier, he should have thought twice. As he pondered, he sized up Shen Yun and then saw a black round object, which Shen Yun had inadvertently revealed. Huang Liangsheng's eyes widened. That… that thing, he recognized it. Previously, the terrifying young heir of the Duke of Yu's mansion had also brought that thing to him, saying he was looking for a very important person. He had been very anxious, but unexpectedly, a few days later, he left. It was thought that the person had been found, and it had something to do with this Scholar Shen in front of him. The Duke of Yu's mansion… If his own old man found out that he had provoked them, he would probably be beaten even in his old age. He couldn't afford to offend them, couldn't afford to offend them, Huang Liangsheng was instantly frightened.
He was greedy for wealth and lust, but also afraid of death. People he couldn't afford to offend, he would never easily provoke. If Shen Yun were still the ordinary scholar from a fallen family, he would dare to kill him. But now his heart began to falter. He actually had a token from the new dignitary in the capital. He had already received news from his family in the Huang family that he should not provoke anyone related to him. Huang Liangsheng pretended not to see anything, but his attitude towards Shen Yun became increasingly polite.
"Scholar Shen is too polite. This official has prepared some small travel expenses. I hope you will accept them." He decided to pay to resolve the issue, even though it pained him, as he had provoked the wrong person. Shen Yun sneered inwardly, but his expression remained calm and composed.
"Lord Huang is too kind. My wife opened a grain shop, and we are not lacking in money," Shen Yun said directly. Then he started talking about the sealing of the grain shop. Shen Yun's speech was truly skillful. He didn't blame Huang Liangsheng for sealing his family's shop but said that someone must have acted maliciously behind the scenes again, as they had last time, misleading Lord Huang. Huang Liangsheng, hearing this convenient way out, quickly accepted it, directly admitting that he had followed the misguided words of others, which led to these disgraceful events. Shen Yun then continued, "Then, Lord Huang, what do you think…"
"Oh my, it was a misunderstanding. It's good that it's resolved, good that it's resolved." He agreed very readily. After all, he had done what he promised the Su family. But there was no need to risk his own future. Besides, his conflict with Shen Yun was not that deep. As for his incompetent son being dealt with, not only could they never find evidence, but thinking about it, it was his own fault. Moreover, that turtle son even dared to get involved with his own father's woman, so not dealing with him was already out of consideration for their father-son relationship. It was good that someone dealt with him now, so he would know his place. Of course, Huang Liangsheng had such thoughts only because the other party was Shen Yun. If it were anyone else who dared to discipline his son, even if it were just a suspicion, he would not let them off easily. It all depended on whether that person had the ability to deal with him. If they did, he would deal with them; if not, then so be it. After all, if he provoked someone he shouldn't have, everything he had obtained would be gone. But if he could protect everything, then his son would have everything, reputation, wealth, women… Shen Yun had not yet returned, but the crisis at Tian Xia Liang Cang was resolved. A group of people came up and tore down the seal. It had only been a little over an hour since it was posted. The crowd was amazed. They never expected this matter to pass so easily. With a look from Su Xiaoqi, Xiao Si immediately started influencing the crowd outside with Xiao Shi.
"That's why they say everything at Tian Xia Liang Cang is good. It's just that some people want to cause trouble."
"Exactly, it's normal for others to be jealous when business is good."
"If Tian Xia Liang Cang is ruined, some people's grain shops will sell at higher prices again."
This made everyone think of Su Ji Liang Pu. And so the news spread from one to ten, ten to a hundred, and fewer people went to Su Ji to buy grain. The Su family's actions were merely lifting a rock to drop it on their own feet.