CHAPTER 236: CHAPTER 233: GREAT FURY

The shopkeeper’s expression stiffened slightly. After a moment, he forced himself to say, "I don’t know what means you used to blend in among them, I... didn’t notice."

Xie Liangchen interjected, "Some of the spinning threads you brought are indeed from our Chen Family Village, and I will return the Silver Coin to you. However, the ones picked out are not from the Chen Family Village. You mixed them in to defraud money and ruin the reputation of our Chen Family Village."

The shopkeeper glanced nervously at the woman from the embroidery workshop.

The woman opened her mouth, "Your words are unfounded."

Xie Liangchen said, "I’ve already sent someone to report to the government office, asking the officials to seek justice for us."

The woman had thought before that if the Chen Family Village refused to return the Silver Coin, they would take the matter to the government office, but she hadn’t expected the Chen Family Village to report it first.

Xie Liangchen continued, "Since there are so many people here, I’ll let everyone witness it."

Xie Liangchen took a thread tassel from Liu Erniang’s hand and said, "This is a thread tassel from Chen Family Village, transported to Xingzhou some time ago. Some might have seen or bought it from the shop. We have three grades of wool tassels—upper, middle, and lower. Chen Family Village was the first to introduce them. Our tassels are tied individually with a thread string, and the thread string used to tie the tassels is dyed by Chen Family Village itself, using a medicinal herb instead of common indigo."

As Xie Liangchen spoke, she asked Liu Erniang for a pair of scissors and cut the blue thread string used to tie the tassels, "The thread string is uniformly 3 inches and 3. Anyone who’s bought tassels can measure it themselves. If someone bought tassels from Chen Family Village but finds it inconsistent with my description, they can bring the tassel to the warehouse for us to examine carefully to see if it originated from Chen Family Village."

After Xie Liangchen finished speaking, the woman’s face from the embroidery workshop completely changed.

Liu Erniang stepped forward to assist, holding the tassels pretending to be from Chen Family Village. She cut the string tying the tassels, comparing the true and false strings side by side, and indeed, the lengths differed.

Chen Zhongdong brought a box filled with tassels from Chen Family Village. Xie Liangchen handed the scissors to Chen Zhongdong, asking him to cut open each thread string tying the tassels.

As long as it was the genuine goods from Chen Family Village, all thread strings were 3 inches and 3, making the inconsistency particularly obvious when laid together. The tassels Liu Erniang picked out, though tied with blue string, differed in length.

"What medicinal herb is used to dye the thread string?"

Someone in the crowd asked.

Xie Liangchen replied, "This matter involves Chen Family Village identifying its own goods. It is not convenient to disclose to the public. We ask for your understanding, but during the government office’s interrogation, I will clarify it to the officials to prove our innocence."

The woman from the embroidery workshop remained silent, and the onlookers turned their gazes towards those from the embroidery workshop.

The shopkeeper finally couldn’t help but say, "You planned this from the beginning, afraid someone would come around, so you made these preparations."

Xie Liangchen looked at the shopkeeper, "Our warehouse from Chen Family Village, besides Xingzhou, also reaches Qi State and Tan State. This shows how much merchandise we transport out from Zhenzhou. Moreover, once this matter is uncovered, everyone will compare the goods and thread strings in the future. Would we go to such great lengths just to cheat on this single transaction?"

While speaking, officials from the government came.

Xie Liangchen stepped forward to salute the officials, "I ask the officials to wait a moment, give me a little time, and I will go to the government office with the officials."

Xie Liangchen instructed Chen Zhongdong, "Bring all the remaining goods from our warehouse so the officials can inspect them."

Chen Zhongdong had people move the goods and also asked government officials to inspect the warehouse to ensure there were no hidden tassels. Only then did they order everyone to the government office.

Xie Liangchen left Mrs. Ge to watch over the warehouse, "Have someone guard it well to prevent anyone from sneaking in."

Mrs. Ge nodded, knowing this was to prevent anyone from secretly sending bad tassels into the warehouse; if caught red-handed, it would be truly difficult to clarify.

In the main hall of the Xingzhou government office, Xie Liangchen and the woman from the embroidery shop and the shopkeeper of the needlework shop each stated their case. The county magistrate asked the clerk to write up a dossier, and after both parties had read it, they pressed their fingerprints on it as evidence, leaving it in the government office. He instructed everyone to go back and wait for news. After further investigation, the officials would open the court again.

After letting the people from Chen Family Village go, the Xingzhou county magistrate went to the second hall, where Third Master Du had a grim expression. Upon seeing the county magistrate, he frowned, "Why didn’t you sentence Chen Family Village on the spot?"

During the trial in the main hall, Third Master Du wanted several times to rush forward and personally offer advice to the Xingzhou county magistrate.

Going through such trouble was meant to settle the case immediately.

Not even a show of force was put up, nor was anyone interrogated, and the people were simply released?

Third Master Du threw the teacup in his hand onto the table, "Tell me why?"

The Xingzhou county magistrate bowed, "Third Master, Chen Family Village was prepared in advance. The tassels’ thread strings are three feet three inches and are dyed with medicinal herbs. The tassels taken by the embroidery shop and the shop are indeed quite different from those of Chen Family Village. Many people witnessed it today, and if we were to judge Chen Family Village without clarity, it would be truly difficult to convince the public.

I suggested sending government officials to investigate further and calling them back to court another day to buy time. If there is any other evidence, it would be good to silence the people from Chen Family Village."

Du Yi suddenly stood up, staring fixedly at the Xingzhou county magistrate, his eyes seemingly about to burst with rage, "I think you’re not looking for evidence; you’re afraid of Song Xian."

The Xingzhou county magistrate swallowed a gulp; he indeed feared Song Xian. Xingzhou is about to open an Official Medicine Bureau, and Song Xian recently visited once. Sitting in the second hall of the government office, he gave him a cold glance, and the shirt on his back was immediately soaked with sweat.

Among the medical workers who came to help at the Xingzhou Official Medicine Bureau, two were from Zhenzhou. They mentioned Song Xian capturing and executing officials and dealing with the Hospital Director of the Imperial Hospital. A person who had even sent his own brother to be beheaded—what would the outcome be if he provoked him personally?

The Xingzhou county magistrate couldn’t express these in front of Du Yi and could only say, "I beg for your pardon, Third Master. After all, I am the father of Xingzhou... Even if I want to help Third Master, I need proof."

"Fine," Du Yi coldly said, "I will give you proof." This is not Sui State, so he must endure for a moment. However, the humiliation he suffered today, he would make Chen Family Village repay it twice over.

The Xingzhou county magistrate pretended not to see Du Yi’s anger, "Thank you, Third Master."

Du Yi came from Daming Prefecture to Xingzhou, thinking everything would go smoothly, but didn’t expect this outcome. Du Yi left the government office and mounted his horse. If this group dared to treat him with such disdain, if it were his elder brothers, they would perhaps not dare to behave like this.

Very well, let them see Third Master Du’s capabilities.

After Du Yi left the government office, he instructed his men, "Go to Cizhou, Mingzhou, and Daming Prefecture. Stir up the issues there and return all of Chen Family Village’s goods. Then mix bad tassels into other goods. With enough incidents like this, see how Chen Family Village argues."

This will be his evidence for the Xingzhou county magistrate. If the county magistrate dodges responsibility again, he would use his elder brother’s name card to pressure the magistrate, then see if the Xingzhou county magistrate fears the Military Governor or Commander Song Xian more.

...

Xie Liangchen returned to the warehouse.

Mrs. Ge and the others immediately gathered around, with Mrs. Ge grabbing Xie Liangchen’s hand, "How did it go? What did the government office say?"

Xie Liangchen replied, "The government officials still want to investigate and summon us back to court."

"How will they investigate further?" Mrs. Ge didn’t understand, "Didn’t the tassels we brought count? If this were in Zhenzhou, County Magistrate Qu would have already judged it clearly."

Xie Liangchen said, "The embroidery workshop and shop were well prepared."

Mrs. Ge widened her eyes, "Could it be that the government office was also bribed by them?"

Having bribed the government office and directed the embroidery workshop was Du San’s doing, which Xie Liangchen had anticipated long ago. The more Du San did, the clearer the traces he left. Perhaps this was the outcome Princess Jiahui was hoping for.

To make it easy for Chen Family Village and Song Xian to track down the Du Family.

The conflict has now emerged; to turn it into a deadlock requires the final step.

Xie Liangchen thought, as long as either someone from the Du Family or Chen Family Village dies, this enmity would be hard to resolve.

If someone from the Du Family dies, it should be Du Yi; if someone from Chen Family Village, the best choice would be herself.