Shen Yun had been gone for five days. When he returned, he was covered in dust. Without even changing his clothes, he rushed to inform Su Xiaoqi.
The symptoms of the citizens who had eaten the moldy rice had been controlled with the medicine prescribed from her formula.
Their bodies were slowly recovering.
"What about the Su family?" Su Xiaoqi asked with some urgency.
Shen Yun suddenly found himself at a loss for words.
He hesitated whether to tell Su Xiaoqi the truth.
Seeing his demeanor, Su Xiaoqi easily guessed, "Is the Su family alright?"
Shen Yun nodded and told her with some regret.
The Su family had been prepared.
After the incident with the moldy rice in Tongchuan County, they had quickly disposed of the moldy rice that had been stored in their warehouses.
He had foreseen this, but time waited for no one.
By the time he arrived with Prefect Du's men, the warehouse was already empty.
He wondered how so much grain had been transported away without anyone noticing.
At any rate, there was no evidence to prove that the moldy rice came from the Su family.
They had completely extricated themselves from the matter.
Su Xiaoqi was disappointed.
After all the arrangements, she hadn't expected the Su family to escape.
Shen Yun couldn't bear to see Su Xiaoqi so disappointed. He quietly told her that although the Su family had evaded Prefect Du's investigation this time, the county magistrate who colluded with him had finally been caught by Prefect Du with sufficient evidence and was arrested.
His official career was certainly over.
It could also be considered that a major tumor in Tongchuan County had been removed.
Moreover, under his arrangements, the matter had spread, and now most people in Bashu had heard of it.
Even if the Su family was safe for now, a fox would eventually reveal its tail.
She didn't need to worry too much.
Su Xiaoqi nodded, looking at the slight dust on Shen Yun's clean nose and the slight dark circles under his deep-set eyes.
One could imagine that he had been traveling back and forth these past few days and had not slept well.
Seeing how hard he had worked, Su Xiaoqi couldn't help but feel a pang of concern for him.
Her voice immediately softened:
"I've already written to Yiyi about this, and she will pass the message to Lord Du. Why did you have to make this trip?"
Du Yiyi had stayed at the Gu family in Mianzhou City for some time. After spending a few days with Su Xiaoqi, she was recalled by a letter from her mother.
Besides the antidote formula, Su Xiaoqi had also written a separate letter to Du Yiyi.
She had detailed the collusion between the Su family and the Tongchuan County Magistrate.
When she went to the Prefect's mansion, she knew that Lord Du was actively dealing with the Tongchuan County Magistrate.
However, he had been unable to find a good reason to do so.
"Lord Du also went to Tongchuan County. I went to see him directly. If the letter had to be routed through Yizhou Prefecture, it would have been a roundabout way."
In that case, the matter would not have been resolved in five days.
Su Xiaoqi thought about it and agreed. She didn't insist.
She merely asked if the Tongchuan County Magistrate, who had oppressed the people, had been arrested.
"Naturally. Lord Du had already been targeting him, and he committed a crime against the law while openly violating it. As a magistrate responsible for the people, his crime is compounded. Lord Du has arrested him and included his evidence in the memorial to the imperial court. Once the Ministry of Personnel issues the document and the Ministry of Punishments makes its judgment, he will lose his official position and be exiled three thousand li."
"That is for the best," Su Xiaoqi sighed.
However, she couldn't help but ask about the disaster relief grain in Tongchuan County, which was gone. What about now?
"My lady, you worry too much. Lord Du has already made arrangements."
Shen Yun said so, but in fact, it was a plan he had suggested to Du Wenqian.
He presented the grain supply contract signed between the Tongchuan County Magistrate and the Su family, thus demanding that the Su family provide the next fifty thousand piculs of disaster relief grain and ten thousand taels of silver for purchasing medicinal materials.
"Fifty thousand piculs of grain, ten thousand taels of silver…" Su Xiaoqi's eyes widened, then she burst into laughter and asked with a mischievous raise of her eyebrows:
"Will Su Baiwan agree?"
Shen Yun shook his head, "He has no choice."
This was also the main reason why the Su family was able to escape from this matter.
It was because Du Wenqian needed their grain and silver.
After all, after the famine, there was no one in the entire Bashu region who could match the Su family's strength in terms of grain.
Besides their shops spread across half of Mianzhou City, their estates and fields were also frighteningly numerous.
To say they had a thousand qing of fertile land would be an understatement.
Su Xiaoqi understood. She was somewhat unwilling but had to convince herself to let it go.
Instead of being unable to find evidence to deal with the Su family and leaving them hanging, it was better to get something tangible.
Shen Yun was unaccustomed to her letting go so quickly.
He had prepared a whole string of comforting words for her.
As a result, none of them were used, which made him feel a bit frustrated.
After finishing this matter, Shen Yun also brought up the incident of the two ponds of fish being poisoned last time.
"Zhao Guanggun, for some unknown reason, took all the blame and was sentenced to two years of penal servitude. Zhao Baoyi was found innocent and has been released."
Su Xiaoqi nodded. She had heard a little about this matter.
She heard that Zhao Xiaohua had spent money to visit Zhao Guanggun in the county jail and had worked hard to bail out her father.
Previously, she had been preoccupied with her own business and concerned about the moldy rice incident in Tongchuan County.
For a time, she had not paid attention to that matter. By the time she found out, it was already too late.
"Forget it, exchanging two ponds of fish for him to sit in prison for nearly a month is quite a fair deal."
Su Xiaoqi had not expected those dead fish to do anything to Zhao Baoyi.
However, this incident had shown her Zhao Xiaohua's capabilities.
She was just an ordinary village girl.
But upon careful consideration, it seemed that her shadow was present in every scheme targeting her.
In the beginning, it was in Zhao Family Village, where Zhao Haie colluded with Zhao Guanggun to scheme against her.
Then Zhao Haie made several more attempts later.
She was then sent to the county yamen's backyard by Shen Yun to become Magistrate Huang's concubine.
Now that Zhao Haie was no longer able to cause trouble, but soon, Zhao Xiaohua somehow got involved with Su Yurou.
Several times when Su Yurou confronted her, she had seen Zhao Xiaohua.
At first, Su Xiaoqi did not understand what Zhao Xiaohua was trying to do, but seeing how her eyes looked at Shen Yun and how she addressed him with excessive familiarity, she understood.
She was probably smitten with Shen Yun. She had been implicated by Shen Yun.
"Forget it. We are all from the same village. If he behaves himself in the future, that's fine. If he continues to cause trouble, I'm not someone to be easily bullied." Su Xiaoqi's face turned cold.
She was by no means a meek person, but she sometimes couldn't help but weigh the pros and cons.
If others insisted on targeting her, she would not always refrain from resisting.
Even a rabbit would bite when cornered, let alone a person.
The entire month of October was peaceful.
The Su family, perhaps struck by the previous moldy rice incident, had not recovered yet.
As a result, they didn't trouble Su Xiaoqi for a long time, and she enjoyed her freedom.
She quietly expanded her business, focusing solely on making money.
She was not someone who liked to pick fights.
Of course, sometimes, even if you don't look for trouble, others won't leave you alone, and sometimes trouble just finds its way to your door.