Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 96 is complete.

The Xie family servants cleaned up the broken porcelain and took it away.

Xie Chongjun had just sat down in his chair. If it weren't for his rivalry with Xie Yuyan, he probably wouldn't have cared about these past day or two. Even if he didn't seek out Prefect Liu, he could have had the county government send someone to Sanhe Village to investigate further.

Xie Yuyan couldn't wait. This woman had too many thoughts, and he still hadn't fully figured out how Xie Yuyan had framed Zhang Ge'er.

Especially... how could the constables have stumbled upon such an adultery? It would have taken a lot of chance to do so unless they knew Zhang Ge'er very well or had someone secretly following him all along.

Could there be spies planted by Xie Yuyan in this house?

Xie Chongjun immediately became suspicious and scanned his surroundings.

Seeing that the master's expression was becoming increasingly frightening, the steward stepped forward to persuade him: "Master, please calm down. The magistrate can't refuse; he will have to see you by tomorrow at the latest."

"Now that the Liu family has given us the information, they will definitely get involved."

The master was so angry that he lost his mind. Anyone in the family could get into trouble, but not the eldest master. No matter who was plotting this time, he had grasped the Xie family's weakness.

As darkness fell, it became clear that the county government could not send troops today. A large-scale operation at night would alarm the people, so it seemed he could only hope for tomorrow morning.

Xie Chongjun closed his eyes.

What can he do now?
"Bring all the servants from the master's house here."

The anger that was stuck in my chest had to be released, so I started with the people in the old man's house.

……

Xie Qi walked past the main house and the doorway, and as the sound of sticks hitting flesh came, heart-wrenching screams echoed throughout the courtyard.

Master Xie straightened his long robe and slightly curved his lips.

He had never dared to forget how Zi Yun's mother was tortured to death by the Xie family.

On a winter night, a person was washing all the dirty bedding by the well, his lips turning purple from the cold.

He fell ill after a busy night, developed a high fever the next day, and eventually suffocated to death with his mouth open but unable to breathe.

The imperial court forbids the killing of servants, but killing a person is not too easy.

Zi Yunniang stayed in the Xie family to take care of him, so she neither fought nor resisted, and when she was murdered, she didn't make a sound.

Even death felt so stifling.

So... this retribution is clearly not enough for the Xie family.

Seventh Master Xie twirled the fan in his hand, trying his best to cheer himself up, after all, there were many things to be happy about. Actually, he was also a little worried, wondering if his tenth sister could hold on.

After staying up all night, Xie Chongjun left the Xie family home at dawn and waited outside the county government office for more than two hours before finally seeing a clerk come out of the office.

Xie Chongjun was overjoyed; it seemed that Prefect Liu had given the order.

"Master Xie," the clerk bowed to Xie Chongjun, "would you like to see the magistrate first, or go to the prison to see the young master?"

Xie Chongjun was worried about his eldest son, but in this situation, he knew what was important. He gritted his teeth and said, "Let's go see the county magistrate."

We followed the clerk all the way to the second hall.

"Your Excellency," Xie Chongjun said without delay, taking out copper ore from his pocket and presenting it to Magistrate Wei, "this is a copper mine discovered in Sanhe Village. The mine owner, Xie Yuyan, concealed it, violating the laws of Daliang. I request that Your Excellency lead men to the village to investigate."

Magistrate Wei took the copper ore from Xie Chongjun's hand and frowned. He had heard that Madam Xie worked for He Tan, and that the Xie family were merchants in Daming Prefecture. He knew why He Tan had come to Daming Prefecture.

Regardless of who was right or wrong, he only wanted to do his job as county magistrate well. His resume had already been submitted to the Ministry of Personnel, and he was just waiting for the prime minister's approval to be promoted to a position in the capital. The current prime minister, Lord Wang, was related to the He family by marriage. If he offended He Tan, how could he possibly get past Lord Wang? Therefore, he didn't want to get involved in this mess under any circumstances. He had been making excuses all day yesterday, but this morning, Master Xie came to the yamen again, bringing a note that forced him to deal with the matter.

"That Madam Xie from the Yang family?" Magistrate Wei looked at Xie Chongjun. "As far as I know, the Xie family's surname is derived from your Xie family."

Xie Chongjun shook his head: "Xie Yuyan has no connection with the Xie family of Daming Prefecture."

“It was originally a trivial matter,” said Magistrate Wei. “Why don’t I mediate and you settle your grievances here?” He added that continuing this entanglement might not lead to any good outcome.

Xie Chongjun frowned: "Then will my eldest son be able to return home safely?"

Magistrate Wei hesitated, "It depends on whether the aggrieved party is willing to withdraw the lawsuit. If Master Xie truly wants compensation, it may not be impossible to resolve this amicably."

They certainly won't.

Xie Chongjun knew that with Xie Yuyan behind them, those people wouldn't give in easily; the only way was to take down Xie Yuyan...

“My lord,” Xie Chongjun said, “copper mines are of utmost importance; we must not be careless.”

Magistrate Wei sighed. Since things had come to this, he had no choice but to send someone to make the trip.

……

Sanhe Village.

After a busy day until the end of the day, just as Meng Jiu was about to tell everyone to take a break, Shi Yong's mother came running over with several boys.

"The government has sent people," Shi Yong's mother said breathlessly. "There are so many of them, what are we going to do?"

Meng Jiu looked at the courtyard behind him, his expression extremely gloomy: "I'll handle it. You send someone to inform the Yang family's matriarch."

Shi Yongniang nodded and watched Meng Jiu walk out. She couldn't help but put her hands together and pray to God that nothing bad would happen.

Among the people in the government office were the county magistrate and the workshop servants who had arrived yesterday.

Before Meng Jiu could speak, the clerk stepped forward and said, "Someone reported that you have mined copper ore, but you have concealed the truth."

Upon hearing this, Meng Jiu's expression changed. Although he tried to cover it up, it was too late.

The county magistrate frowned. There really was a copper mine. Without saying another word to Meng Jiu, he led his men straight to the mine.

As the one who reported the incident, Xie Chongjun followed in the footsteps of the county magistrate, wanting to see with his own eyes the government digging copper ore out of the mine.

"Sir, there must be some misunderstanding here." Meng Jiu chased after him, but was pushed away by the constable.

Seeing the panicked Meng Jiu and the villagers of Sanhe Village, Xie Chongjun felt a surge of pleasure. The chaos that had occurred at Xie's house yesterday had finally been brought to Sanhe Village by him.

The group quickly entered the courtyard. The county magistrate, familiar with the place, pushed open the door and headed straight for the mine. He was about to instruct the workshop staff to bring more men to investigate this time, but he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

The county magistrate stared blankly at the mine pit before him, his expression shifting from astonishment to surprise, and then to anger.

"What's going on here?" The county magistrate pointed to the area in front of him. "Where's the mine?"

Yesterday, the huge mine pit was right here, but now it has turned into flat land.

Meng Jiu was pulled by a constable, lost his footing, stumbled a few steps, and sat down on the spot where he had been sitting in the mine pit. He looked up at the county magistrate, then stammered, "It's...it's been filled in..."

“Yesterday we taught the workers how to fill the pits… we used this mine pit… now… it’s all been filled in.”

(End of this chapter)