Zhao Luochun was the eldest son of the Zhao family. If he were really sentenced to prison, it would be a great blow to the Zhao family.
Who would want to do business with the Zhao family when their eldest son was imprisoned for fraud?
So, as soon as the incident happened, Zhao Luoning went to the county magistrate immediately, hoping to settle the matter privately without a public trial.
However, unexpectedly, the problem lay with the county magistrate.
No one had expected that the county magistrate was about to be transferred. He had taken the Zhao family's money and promised not to imprison Zhao Luochun, but he had not finalized the case either. Instead, he left it to the new county magistrate.
Well, he took the money and left carefree, but the job was not done. Zhao Luochun still had to go to jail.
When Zhao Luoning rushed to the county yamen upon hearing the news, the place was already crowded with onlookers.
Zhao Luochun had been locked up for several hours and was terribly frightened. When he saw Zhao Luoning, he was like a drowning man grasping at a straw, shedding tears and snot.
Zhao Luoning could only comfort him first.
At this time, the gavel sounded, and a handsome young man in official robes in his early twenties walked out and took his seat on the main chair.
On the way here, Zhao Luoning had roughly learned about this new county magistrate.
He was a newly - appointed second - ranked scholar in the imperial examination, from Huangcheng, surnamed Ye and named Hua.
"Who is standing below the hall?"
Zhao Luoning knelt on both knees in front of the hall.
"I am a commoner surnamed Zhao. I am the younger brother of the defendant."
"During the period when Zhao Luochun was in charge of the Zhao family's tea house, he sold inferior tea as top - grade tea and deceived customers. Is this true?"
"It is true!"
As soon as these words were spoken, there was an uproar among the crowd.
The gavel was struck several times before the crowd quieted down. Ye Hua asked,
"So you admit that the Zhao family's tea house passed off inferior products as high - quality ones and deceived customers?"
"Your Honor, although our Zhao family's tea house sold inferior tea at a high price, this was not deception. It was just a misunderstanding."
"Oh?"
"Elder brother just took over the tea - house business recently and didn't know how to distinguish tea yet. He mistook inferior tea for good tea, which led to this misunderstanding. After I learned about this, I have already retrieved all the tea sold in that batch and compensated the buyers. Your Honor, if you don't believe me, you can ask them one by one."
The victims who had bought the fake tea were also below the hall. They began to plead for the Zhao family's tea house in a hubbub.
"We all believe that the Zhao family's tea house would never do such a immoral thing. We hope Your Honor will make a careful investigation."
It was really rare for the victims to plead and testify for the defendant.
Caixue and Feixing, who had rushed over to inquire, stood outside the county yamen. Hearing the crowd's pleas, they sneered.
"The amount of silver the customers spent on the fake tea, our young lady compensated them ten times. Now they wish our tea house would have more fake - tea incidents."
Since there were no plaintiffs, the Zhao family's tea house had handled the matter properly, and the consequences were not very serious. Considering that if the eldest son of the Zhao family had a criminal record, it would be difficult for the Zhao family to do business in the future, Ye Hua finally just imposed a symbolic fine and gave a warning.
Although they had finally managed to preserve the reputation of the Zhao family's tea house with great difficulty, Zhao Luochun's credibility was completely ruined.
Zhao Luochun looked at the disdainful or sympathetic looks from the people below the hall and felt as if he was nailed to the pillar of shame.
He stood up and announced publicly,
"Such things will never happen again, and I will no longer take over the tea - house business!"
As soon as these words were spoken, there was another uproar among the crowd.
Zhao Luoning wanted to stop him but it was too late. She could only pull Zhao Luochun out of the government office.
Zhao Luoning had prepared a carriage. She and Zhao Luochun sat inside the carriage, while Caixue and Feixing drove the horses outside.
"Elder brother, even if there are some problems with the tea - house, you don't have to cut off all your own paths with just one sentence."
Elder brother had always been like this, very opinionated and refused to listen to advice. He often caused troubles and left her to clean up the mess.
"You don't have to worry about me anymore. Since I dared to say that, I've already thought about taking the consequences."
Seeing that Zhao Luochun had said so, it was useless for her to complain.
Zhao Luoning didn't try to persuade him anymore. They just waited quietly until they returned to the Zhao Mansion.
Zhao Luoning only sent Zhao Luochun to the front gate of the mansion and didn't go in herself.
After all, there were still a lot of things waiting for her to handle in the tea house.
Zhao Luochun jumped out of the carriage, took two steps, then looked back at Zhao Luoning. After thinking for a while, he walked back, bowed his hands to Zhao Luoning and gave a big salute.
"Elder brother, what are you doing?"
"I've made you worry for all these years."
Zhao Luoning couldn't help it. Her eyes immediately welled up with tears.
She was used to Zhao Luochun's recklessness and causing troubles everywhere. His sudden apology made her very uncomfortable.
"Elder brother... Do you need me to accompany you in?"
"No. Every time I made a mistake before, you helped me deal with it. I couldn't manage the tea house well, but I can face this kind of thing."
After saying this, Zhao Luochun pursed his lips tightly. Just like a righteous man going to his death, he turned around and walked into the Zhao Mansion.
"Miss, is it really okay to let the eldest young master go back to the mansion alone?"
"This is his own choice. I should also let him grow up." Zhao Luoning watched Zhao Luochun's back disappear from sight and murmured, "Caixue, do you know? Just now, for the first time, I felt that I had an elder brother."
Caixue sighed. "Miss, you are just too kind. The eldest young master said he would take the consequences, but actually he just threw a difficult problem to you. Now that he said he wouldn't manage the tea house anymore, what will you do? Don't blame me for not reminding you. In at most two days, you must return to Zhaoming Temple. The second young master of the Ji family's people are coming to pick you up."
Yes, Zhao Luoning had hardly slept in the past few days. Even so, there was still not enough time.
She had to find someone to take over the tea - house quickly.
---
Zhao Luoning's carriage gradually disappeared around the corner. At a dark and easily overlooked corner outside the Zhao Mansion, a woman in a black cloak stood against the wall, looking in the direction where the carriage had left, her eyes full of grief.
Behind the woman, a man slowly approached.
"You came to see her again?"
"I've been guarding here for several days. I finally waited for her to come back, but she didn't get off the carriage. I still didn't see her."
"Do you miss her that much?"
The woman nodded with tears in her eyes.
The man sighed and said, "She is now the second young mistress of the Ji family. If you want to see her, you can only enter the Ji Mansion."
"Enter the Ji Mansion? Can I?"
"Yes. There is someone who can help you."
"Who?"
"Ji Shisu."
The woman looked reluctantly in the direction where the carriage had left. After thinking for a while, she still shook her head.
"He doesn't know me. He won't help me."
The man took off the cloak on the woman's head that covered her face.
The woman was like a frightened rabbit and quickly put the cloak back on, afraid that someone would see her face.
It wasn't because she was ugly. On the contrary, she was very beautiful, just as beautiful as Zhao Luoning.
Yes, the reason why she didn't want to take off the cloak here was not because she was shy.
It was because she looked exactly the same as Zhao Luoning, to the extent that she could pass for her.
The man looked at the woman's face. What a fascinating little face it was.
The man murmured,
"He will help you. I will also help you. I will help you get whatever you want."