Strange.
It was just too strange.
Zhang Qinhe had charged her with "passing off shoddy goods as high - quality ones, concealing and evading taxes, and falsifying accounts". However, from Xiao Jingnan's subsequent questioning, it was known that no one had gotten sick from drinking her wine.
This meant that the problem must lie in the account books.
Was there a mistake in the purchase ledger? Or an error in recording expenses and revenues? Or was there a problem during the reconciliation?
Li Wanming thought carefully and felt that there couldn't be a mistake anywhere.
The Li Family Winery had two stores. One was the main store on Changming Street, which was the newly opened store; the other was the branch store in Pingkangfang, the original old store.
The shopkeepers of these two stores were Cai Wei and Xiao Yingchu respectively.
Cai Wei was hot - tempered and decisive in doing things; Xiao Yingchu was gentle, modest, and diligent. Neither of them was the kind of person who would be negligent in the account books.
Moreover, although Li Wanming had focused on the academy for some time, she still checked the account books of both stores every five days.
She hadn't found any problems either.
What was unclear now was which store had the problem. Was it the old store? Or the new store? Or both...
As Li Wanming thought, she couldn't help but sigh.
It didn't matter whether it was the new store or the old store. No matter which one had a problem, as the store owner, she couldn't escape.
She squatted on the ground silently, frowning as she sized up everything in front of her.
Come to think of it, this wasn't the first time she had been in a cell.
Back then in Min, she had once been captured by bandits in the forest and almost became the bandit leader's wife... But that bandit leader was so unlucky that he was killed by his own subordinate before the wedding night.
"Time to eat!"
The jailer came over with a rice bucket, interrupting her train of thought.
Unknowingly, she had been locked up here for more than half an hour.
The jailer threw two steamed buns and half a plate of cabbage at the door of her cell, his tone impatient.
"What bad luck! Being assigned to guard the prison during the New Year!"
Li Wanming just glanced at the dark - yellow and sour - smelling steamed buns and cabbage through the wooden bars without taking them. Instead, she called out to the jailer, "Brother, could you tell me where the man who was locked up with me is now?"
"Where else could he be!" The jailer with a ferocious face spat. "Locked up in a cell on the other side!"
Li Wanming smiled carefully and said in a soft tone, "When can we get out? My case hasn't even gone to trial yet..."
"Go to trial?"
The jailer walked over and kicked the bars in front of Li Wanming, making the door rattle and a stinking cloud of dust rise.
"You're dreaming!"
"I've seen no less than a thousand or eight hundred such unscrupulous merchants like you! To tell you the truth, the officials just threw you in here when they came. It means your case doesn't need a trial! You can just be executed directly!"
Li Wanming wanted to ask something else, but the jailer ignored her and walked away cursing.
Hearing his words, Li Wanming's heart grew even heavier.
This jailer wasn't a professional one. He had been temporarily transferred here.
It seemed that her prediction was correct. The cell in the Ministry of Revenue wasn't a permanent institution and didn't often detain prisoners. Maybe she and Xiao Jingnan were the first two prisoners detained this year, which was why the jailer guarding them had to be transferred from elsewhere.
But if that was the case, it was bad...
This kind of cell was a temporary transfer institution, not a proper prison like those in the Ministry of Justice or the Supreme Court. It often meant incomplete procedures and lax supervision, which made it very easy to kill someone unjustly...
A chill ran down Li Wanming's spine, and she felt even colder.
She didn't believe the jailer's words of "just execute them directly", but she also keenly realized that someone seemed to want her dead.
When they were at the academy before, Xiao Jingnan had asked the vice - minister of the Ministry of Revenue if he could be arrested alone and Li Wanming be spared. But the other party had firmly refused.
Although in this dynasty, women were not prohibited from doing business or working outside, it was still a man - dominated society. Usually, men were regarded as the heads of the family, and it was a common practice to think that men should bear the responsibility when something went wrong.
But this Lord Zhang's attitude was very strange.
He refused Xiao Jingnan without hesitation and ordered Li Wanming to be tied up.
This meant that this whole thing was very likely aimed at her.
Li Wanming squatted in the corner, wracking her brains, but she couldn't figure out who she had offended so badly.
The princess?
No.
If the princess wanted to kill her, she had plenty of ways to do it and wouldn't use the knife of the Ministry of Revenue.
The Guo family?
No either.
The Guo family knew that there was the shadow of the Princess Chengping behind her and didn't dare to touch her.
Moreover, judging from Lord Zhang's attitude today, he seemed to know nothing about the forces behind her.
Then, the Sun family...?
No, it was even more impossible for the Sun family. They didn't have the ability.
On the other hand, Li Wanming felt that Xiao Jingnan's attitude today was also very strange.
According to his previous style of doing things, he would probably have started to sneer and make sarcastic remarks. He would have surely been eloquent, citing classics, and talked the other person dizzy, angry, and defeated.
But today... something was off.
Xiao Jingnan seemed to know from the start that the other party was not to be trifled with.
His attitude was very polite, even cautious.
He only asked a few necessary questions to get some information and didn't say a single unnecessary word.
Moreover, he told her to "be patient"...
Be patient?
Patient about what?
They had already been locked up in jail. What else could she do but be patient?
So this "be patient" didn't mean the ordinary kind. Xiao Jingnan probably meant for her to wait calmly and not be anxious.
But why?
If Xiao Jingnan had a way out, he wouldn't have let them be arrested. But if he didn't have a way, then why...
Li Wanming hugged her knees and squatted in the corner. For the first time, she felt so lost and helpless.
It was as if an invisible net was covering her eyes and slowly tightening, trying to strangle her. But she didn't even know where this net came from and had no way to break the deadlock.
And her husband still hadn't told her the truth...
She waved her hand wearily, driving away the image of Xiao Jingnan from her mind, and tried to analyze and solve the problem on her own.
After thinking for a while, she felt her head getting heavier and heavier.
The light outside the narrow window had dimmed. She didn't know what time it was.
The air was filled with a damp smell, and it felt like wearing a wet cotton - padded jacket on her body.
Li Wanming hugged herself tightly, and her legs were a bit stiff.
The matter was so complicated that there was no clue at all.
Alas, she had forgotten to tell Chuntao before going out to hurry to the Beijing Suburban Camp to ask Li Rusong and Yuan Jinqiu for help.
She could only count on Chuntao being smart enough to remember to go for help...