Not sure if it was because of the frequent moves, but when Shen Yuning counted the days, she realized that she hadn't received a letter from Xuanzhi for a full five months. She felt uneasy. During an investigation with the Ministry of Justice, she met Second Brother Chen. She brazenly stepped forward to ask if they could find out information about the soldiers in Wuyun.
Second Brother Chen naturally agreed. He asked Shen Yuning the name of her adopted younger brother. When he heard that Xuanzhi's surname was Jiang, he was quite surprised.
Shen Yuning smiled and said, "He's from a collateral branch of the Jiang family."
Second Brother Chen nodded and didn't say much. "Don't worry. I'll ask someone later. All soldiers are recorded. If there are casualties..."
He didn't finish. If there were casualties, the names would naturally be sent back to each prefectural yamen and then passed down layer by layer.
Shen Yuning quickly said, "I know. If something happened, my hometown would send me a letter. Since there's no letter, of course he's okay. I think maybe he was delayed by the battle, or maybe my letters got lost while I was moving around."
However, Second Brother Chen inquired about Jiang Xuanzhi's information in the Ministry of War for a long time, but no one had ever heard of such a person in that battalion.
A friend of his in the Ministry of War who was familiar with him whispered when they couldn't find anything. "Maybe he never joined the army and just lied to his family?"
Second Brother Chen frowned and said, "But I heard from Yuning that she received subsidies from the court before and also received letters from Jiang Xuanzhi."
The friend pursed his lips. "Although the subsidies are allocated layer by layer, it mainly depends on the number of people reported by the local areas. There were nearly a million soldiers in the battle of Wuyun. It's possible that a few were missed."
Second Brother Chen just didn't want to tell Yuning, who was so eager for her adopted younger brother's safety. When he met Yuning again, he just said that he hadn't found anything yet.
Shen Yuning was even more anxious. She just wished she could find her disobedient younger brother and spank him.
In spring, Rongchang Commercial Firm opened three shops in the capital. They sold rouge, powder, silk flowers, and ornaments. They weren't very luxurious and mainly targeted middle - class customers.
Only then did Shen Fugui know that Shen Yuning had made an early agreement with the master of the Wan family. She had wanted to open other shops for a long time, but it just happened that they were in the capital now.
Meanwhile, there was progress in the case of Miss Cen. It turned out that Xue Yusong, the left - hand judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature, personally led a team to investigate in the northeast. At first, everyone in Bailuo Village had the same story, saying that Miss Cen had, under the guise of being an embroidery woman, instigated women to become prostitutes. After investigating for a few days with no results, when Xue Yusong was about to change the place to investigate, a young girl in Bailuo Village ran out and stopped Xue Yusong's carriage. She cried and begged the master to do justice for her.
It turned out that in their village for many years, the men were lazy, while the women went to the mountains to set up pink tents for prostitution to support their families. Generally, only married women who had given birth to sons for their families would do this. It was rare for unmarried girls to engage in such a business.
She had been targeted by the men in the village early on. She lost her virginity at the age of fourteen, so no one was willing to marry her. Then, just after turning fifteen, she was driven out by her family to earn money for them.
Even though Xue Yusong had seen a lot, he was still furious when he heard that an entire village was involved in such a thing. He repeatedly asked if the village head and the local magistrate didn't care.
But the girl was ignorant of these questions. She just sadly said that Miss Cen had pitied her and wanted to take her away, but was stopped by the villagers. Later, a rich old woman came from outside and made a plan for them. She promised that if they could trick Miss Cen into signing the deed, every family in the village would get one tael of silver...
Hearing this, Xue Yusong exchanged glances with his colleague and then asked, "Why didn't you say this when the yamen investigated before?"
The girl hesitated for a while. "I knew Miss Cen was a good person, but they threatened me, saying that if I told, they would massacre my family. They also said that the old woman's family was an official family. Even if I told, the government wouldn't believe me."
Xue Yusong asked, "Why are you telling me now?"
The girl lowered her head. "Later, a beautiful woman came to me and said that as long as I did as she said, I could save Miss Cen. She said that I just had to tell the truth when the high - ranking official from the capital came to investigate this matter. Sir, I'm not afraid of death, and I don't care about my family's life or death anymore. I'm just afraid that Miss Cen will be wronged. Miss Cen... is the only one in the world who has been kind to me..."
Xue Yusong's eyes were red. This ignorant girl was really too pitiful. It was precisely because her family was unworthy of being human that she remembered the kindness of a stranger.
He immediately made a decision. He ordered people to control the entire Bailuo Village and transferred manpower from the yamen. As for the official yamen in Cangfeng Town, he didn't trust a single one of them.
Since a crack had been opened in this case, the subsequent development was naturally much smoother.
While Xue Yusong was investigating the case, Xi'er closed the door of the Jiangnan Embroidery Workshop. She led nearly a hundred suffering embroidery women and came to the capital in grand style. They wrote a complaint and pleaded for Miss Cen.
So many women knelt in front of the Supreme Court of Judicature, and there were even more onlookers. Lord Yuan, the chief judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature, was so angry that he ran out regardless of his dignity. He pointed at Xi'er and scolded, "How dare you be so bold as to obstruct the court officials from handling the case? Do you believe that I'll arrest all of you?"
Xi'er was not afraid at all. She kowtowed three times and said loudly, "I used to live a miserable life. I worked like a beast for my natal and husband's families, was cruelly abandoned, and was bullied by many men. It was Lady Shen who saved me. She taught me how to manage the embroidery workshop and the shop and even handed half of her family business to me. How many of the embroidery women in our workshop have suffered like me and Miss Cen? You officials don't care. Why can't Lady Shen care about us?"
Lord Yuan was furious. "Aren't you ashamed? How dare you talk about such disgraceful things?"
Xi'er's tone was firm, and she looked directly at him. "The men are the ones who did the disgraceful things. I'm the victim. Why can't I talk about it? Those men who bullied me and other women are the ones who are shameless. We live and work uprightly. We earn our own living by our own ability. What's wrong with that? On the contrary, those men are so despicable. They dare to do it but dare not admit it. Such people should hide themselves and stay at home for the rest of their lives, ashamed to show their faces!"
The onlookers didn't expect this little woman to have such great courage. For a moment, it was completely silent. After a while, someone in the crowd shouted "Good", and then everyone followed suit and clapped vigorously for Xi'er.
Lord Yuan originally wanted to suppress this matter, but Imperial Censor Chen of the Censorate soon heard the news and rushed over. Seeing the situation, he signaled the common people to be quiet and then said,
"Don't worry. Judge Xue of the Supreme Court of Judicature has already led a team to the northeast to investigate this case. He will surely find out the truth."
Xi'er led the embroidery women and kowtowed to Imperial Censor Chen again. "Please, sir, do justice for us and for our Rongchang Commercial Firm. This time we came not only for Miss Cen but also for the Rongchang Commercial Firm."
After saying that, she held up the thick complaint paper in her hand. Imperial Censor Chen walked forward personally, took the complaint paper, and flipped through it. Only then did he find that on this complaint paper, the past of each embroidery woman present was clearly written, including all their hardships and how they were saved by Lady Shen's embroidery workshop.
Imperial Censor Chen only knew before that Shen Yuning had spoken up for the common people and had done a lot of things to stop the trafficking of women and children. But now looking at those complaint papers, he had mixed feelings. Each and every one of these was their blood and tears.
Xi'er added, "Sir, these are just some of the embroidery women in our workshop. There are still so many women in the world suffering all kinds of abuse. Lady Shen once told me that as long as we live, we should strive to expand the embroidery workshop and make sure that every poor woman in the Great Zhou has laws to rely on and a home to return to. Our embroidery workshop is their home."
Imperial Censor Chen took a deep breath. How could such a person and such a commercial firm do things like privately establishing female officials and instigating women to become prostitutes?
Two women beside Xi'er presented two thick account books. Xi'er said, "These are the account books of all the shops of the Rongchang Commercial Firm in the Jiangnan area for a year. Please, sir, examine them carefully."
Lord Yuan frowned and asked, "We're investigating a case. What do we need to examine your account books for?"
Xi'er ignored him, and Imperial Censor Chen ordered people to take the two account books.
After Imperial Censor Chen carefully examined the account books, he found that half of the embroidery workshops run by Shen Yuning hardly made any money, and the money earned by the other half was also invested by Shen Yuning in saving more women and children.
Lord Yuan also saw this and couldn't help but say, "Lord Chen, account books can be faked. Don't just look at the good - looking accounts. You don't know what's really going on behind the scenes."
Imperial Censor Chen glanced at him sideways. "Lord Yuan, I feel that you seem to have been targeting Lady Shen all the time. At first, I thought you were over - correcting to avoid suspicion because she was the granddaughter of your teacher, but now it seems that's not the case."
Lord Yuan avoided his gaze. "She's not a daughter of the Xue family, nor the granddaughter of my teacher."
Imperial Censor Chen didn't say much to him. He took the complaint paper, the account books, and the organized evidence and went into the palace to see the emperor.
When Shen Yuning heard from Second Brother Chen about the process of the case, saying that the Crown Prince Xue was almost done with the investigation and as soon as he returned to the capital, Miss Cen would be released, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Originally, because of the bad reputation, the three shops of the Rongchang Commercial Firm in the capital didn't have good business. But after Xi'er made such a scene in front of the Supreme Court of Judicature, the business of the commercial firm unexpectedly got better.
Especially since Xi'er didn't rush to take the people back. Instead, she rented a courtyard in the suburbs and lived there with the embroidery women. When she was free during the day, she would also go to the shop to help manage it.
Some common people recognized her as the woman who had led the appeal in front of the Supreme Court of Judicature. Her straightforward and unpretentious appearance made many people look at her courage in admiration.
Shen Yuning didn't notice this. She was buried in the small study at home every day, writing something. There were also thick case files beside her.
Weirui sat beside her aunt, counting on her fingers. She had heard on the street yesterday that General Zhu was returning in triumph and would be back in the capital soon. So would Brother Xuanzhi also come back? And did he know that their family was now in the capital?