At night while lying in bed, Wang Shijing asked, “Wife, will Wei Hongwen really help the Empress do business?”

“Unless the Emperor abolishes the Empress he will have to consider it. Think about it. The Empress must be more than just good-looking to have the Emperor’s sole favor, right?”

“That’s for sure.”

“If the Empress did not have some skills, would the Emperor put the Empress in charge of such a profitable business? The Emperor trusts that the Empress is not greedy for this money and he also believes in his ability.  A man, a man who can fight, even if he becomes another man’s wife, he will not become a woman. He must have the ruthlessness inside that only a man can have. What’s more, his man is the Emperor. The most powerful man in the world.”

Wang Shijing nodded, “Well, just like my wife.” Shao Yunan pinched Wang Shijing’s face and said, “I’ve thought it through. If Wei Hongwen presses us with the status of the Hengyuan Marquis, I’ll sell him the tea and wine he wants, but the moment his back is turned I would run to cry to Big Brother. I don’t believe that the Emperor and the Empress would not be angry.”

“Definitely angry.”

“So, this Wei Hongwen is quite smart.”

“He just underestimated my wife.” Wang Shijing admired his wife’s intelligence to the core. Based on his wife’s background, even today’s Emperor was inferior to his wife. “Shijing, there’s something I want to trouble you with.” As soon as Shao Yunan spoke, Wang Shijing bit him on the face. “Talking to me about trouble?”

Shao Yunan smiled and kissed the other person’s mouth. “Good, I want you to do something for me.”

“Wherever the wife says.”

“Big Brother said that after the Yamen opens, he will organize manpower to buy tea in Yongxiu County, I want you to follow up on this matter. The number of ancient Qimen black tea here is estimated to not be too much, so I don’t want to waste any. The best Qimen black tea will come from us. If we let these unprofessional people pick it, I don’t know how much tea leaves will be wasted. I intend to make the Qimen black tea the highest-end tea this year.”

“Leave it to me.” Wang Shijing always felt there was very little he could help his wife with, so he was happy that he was assigned with more tasks. “You take Brother Guo with you. Brother Guo is also a scholar, so we can’t ask him to act as our housekeeper for life, it would be too much. If possible, in the future I want brother Guo to help us take charge of the tea picking, so things would be easier for us and give him a job that suits his identity more.”

“Leave it to me.” Shao Yunan and Wang Shijing were whispering in their room, while Elder Cen and Kang Rui were also in the room talking about things. Originally, Elder Cen was planning to make a trip to the capital after the New Year to meet his Senior Brother and fellow students, as well some of his students who were officials in the capital. But now he was even more sure that he needed to go. 

Kang Rui also made the decision to go with him. The purpose of Kang Rui’s trip to the capital was very straightforward, to meet with his father-in-law. Since the death of his wife, Kang Rui rarely went to the capital since it only brought out painful memories for him. Now, since he had a similar purpose to Elder Cen, he decided to make a trip himself.

Jiang Kangning wrote a letter to the capital from his guest room. At the same time, he wrote a letter to his Senior Brother, Zhuang Wenxue, the governor of Cainan Prefecture, in his personal capacity, asking the other party to purchase tea leaves around Cainan Prefecture, as he would send someone for technical support. At that time, if you didn’t know the right tea picking method, the leaves could go bad, so Jiang Kangning intended to send Wang Shijing over.

That night, many people could not sleep because of thinking about all kinds of things that were weighing on their minds, so only Shao Yunan and Wang Shijing had a good night’s sleep. In the space, the brightly colored goat’s milk fruits emitted a sweet fruity fragrance. While the branches of the ancient tea trees had already grown into small trees, producing new buds. Golden silk royal chrysanthemums and common chrysanthemums turned into a sea of gold. Tick-tock-tick, two drops of spiritual milk dripped into the bottle.

“Bang, Bang, Bang.”

“Shijing! Yunan! Are you guys up yet? Something happened.” Wang Shijing woke up with a start and sat up. Shao Yunan opened his eyes and asked with tears in his eyes, “What happened?”

“I’ll go check. It’s Brother Guo.” Wang Shijing quickly got out of bed, put on his robe, and quickly went out. Shao Yunan yawned and sat up, also pulling on his robe. Outside the door, Guo Ziyu quickly spoke as soon as he saw Wang Shijing. “Shijing, Zhao He came over and said that your two uncles from Guo and your mother’s family are here, and they want to see you and Yunan. They also know that magistrate Jiang is here, so they want to consult him. A lot of people already come from both sides.”

Wang Shijing’s face turned cold. “I’ll go over. When Big Brother gets up you can let him know, there is no need to disturb his rest.” After saying that, Wang Shijing turned around and went back to his room.

Since he was inside the bedroom, Shao Yunan couldn’t hear what Wang Shijing and Guo Ziyu were saying, so as soon as Wang Shijing came in, Shao Yunan asked, “What’s wrong?” Wang Shijing took off his robe and started to change his clothes as he spoke. “Guo Zhaodi’s mother’s family and my mother’s side of the family came to see you and I. They also said they wanted to get a judgment from Big Brother, so I’ll go and meet them.”

“I finally know why the officials always like to say ‘tricksters’ in our costume dramas.” Shao Yunan lifted the quilt and prepared to get up. Wang Shijing bent down and held him still, “You can go back to sleep, I will go there alone.” Shao Yunan was worried. “What if the old woman and your relatives take this opportunity to push this on you? Seeing Guo Zhaodi’s character, her mother’s family is probably not much better.”

“Don’t worry. You are in charge of our family, so they will have to rely on you to agree or not. If it doesn’t work, I’ll ask someone to come back and call you.” Shao Yunan smiled. “Okay, when the time comes, I will come to rescue you.” After planting a kiss on Shao Yunan’s mouth, Wang Shijing went out.

Guo Zhaodi and Old Lady Wang’s families were both from Dashan Village. The two families were also large families in Dashan Village, but Guo Zhaodi’s family was more prosperous than Old Lady Wang’s family. Guo Zhaodi’s father and uncles all had wives and concubines, but before her, neither her own father nor her uncles could give birth to sons. After Guo Zhaodi was born, her own mother gave birth to a son, and even her uncles had sons one after another, so Guo Zhaodi was very favored in the entire Guo family.

Old Lady Wang had two brothers, Zhu Wencai and Zhu Wenhua. Zhu Wenhua was a child student and was a very high-profile figure in Dashan Village. He was also the patriarch of the Zhu clan in Dashan Village and all the children of the Zhu clan received reading lessons from him. 

Now, Old Lady Wang’s two brothers and the cousins ​​of the Zhu family come over, including Guo Zhaodi’s parents, brothers, sisters, brothers-in-law, cousins, ​​and uncles. However, the atmosphere between these two groups of people was a little off. If you look carefully, you could see that Zhu Wencai and Zhu Wenhua still had some scars on their faces.

At this time, the Wang family’s house was in a mess. Zhao Lizheng and the two brothers, Zhao Yuande and Zhao Yuanqing, Wang Wenhe, Wang Shuping, the elders of the Wang clan, Fourth Uncle Wang, and other Wang clan members, as well as the village people gathered outside Old Lady Wang’s house. Old Lady Wang sat on the ground howling, while Wang Dali hid in the corner without saying a word. Wang Zaizheng was crying in his uncle’s arms, while Wang Chunxiu hid in her room, not daring to come out.

Guo Zhaodi was locked up in jail, but the faint-hearted Old Lady Wang didn’t dare to tell Guo’s family about it, or even her own family the truth. Old Lady Wang thought that the distance between Xiushui Village and Dashan Village was too great for anyone in the Guo family to learn about it. When Guo Zhaodi gets out of prison, as her mother-in-law, she would not allow her to go back or at most she would give her some money to coax her. But unexpectedly, someone from Dashan Village went to the county town during the New Year and met someone from Xiushui Village. 

When the two villagers were chatting, they naturally learned about Old Lady Wang’s family situation, so when they returned to the village they told everyone the story of Guo Zhaodi being locked up in the county government prison and that Guo Zhaodi was sitting in the cell due to her mother-in-law, Old Lady Wang. Not only was Old Lady Wang not willing to spend money to redeem her, but Wang Zaizheng did not have enough to eat or warm clothes to wear now.

When Guo’s family heard this, they became angry. Guo Zhaodi’s father sent his son to the county town to inquire about the news and when he came back from the inquiry, he learned that his daughter was indeed in jail and had been locked up for more than three months already! The Wang family was bullying people too much! His daughter had been locked up for more than three months and the Wang family didn’t even tell them! In anger, the Guo family went to Old Lady Wang’s mother’s family, the Zhu family and beat up Zhu Wencai and Zhu Wenhua.

Edited by: Jaisland

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