Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Chan Yi was surprised for only a moment before she realized that she was being used by Zhang Chunhua.

Judging from the way the three of them got along today, Zhang Chunhua was obviously the unfavored one. But no matter how unfavored she was, at a critical moment, Mrs. Zhang and Zhang Chunyan could not have been unaware of what was more important. Since they knew and still made a scene in front of them, it was most likely the result of Zhang Chunhua's deliberate connivance.

What is Zhang Chunhua’s purpose?

Of course, it wasn't like being driven out of the prefect's mansion like now.

Her purpose was to use Chen Shao to change her status in the family.

Where does she get the courage to do this?

She may not have been so brave, but she must have been very smart. She was smart enough to know that it was not easy to run a girls' school and even harder to find a teacher for it.

But she calculated everything except Chen Shao's character.

In addition to investigating cases, Chen Shao's code of conduct is always to rather miss out than compromise.

Quan Shuyu was still confused, but after Chanyi reminded him, he suddenly understood.

"If she had told you directly and asked you to make the decision for her, you would definitely have helped her." Chan Yi said to Quan Shuyu half in summary and half in advice, "But she should never, ever have made plans before she even started."

They didn't say these words behind Ding Lisheng's back. Ding Lisheng smiled apologetically, secretly glad that he had decisively drawn a line between himself and Zhang Chunyan.

After letting the two of them discuss for a while, Chen Shao asked, "How is the trial of Quan Li'an going?"

Ding Lisheng quickly replied: "The trial has been completed, but the decision on how to deal with him still needs your advice."

As he said this, he glanced at Quan Shuyu intentionally or unintentionally.

"Where is the case file?" Chen Shao asked.

Ding Lisheng said, "I will go back and get it right away."

"Go ahead." Chen Shao ordered.

After Ding Lisheng left, Chen Shao asked Quan Shuyu, "What do you think?"

Quan Shuyu thought for a moment and said seriously, "When they did those things, they knew they were committing crimes. Since they knew it and still did it, they deserved any outcome. I know that you are taking care of me, but I don't want you to protect them because of taking care of me."

"Okay." Chen Shao smiled and asked her what she thought. He did have the intention of protecting her. Family affection is a bit complicated. Not everyone can completely give up on their family members if they are not good. Quan Shuyu is a very capable and smart girl. Chen Shao likes her very much. If she still has expectations for her family, she doesn't mind making some concessions. Of course, it would be best if she could treat it rationally: "I have roughly read the book of their crimes. There is no murder or arson, but there are many cases of accepting bribes and forced buying and selling. According to the Datong Law, although the crime is not punishable by death, imprisonment is inevitable."

Fearing that Quan Shuyu would be soft-hearted, Chan Yi deliberately put on a stern face and snorted, "Based on what they did to you, a prison sentence is a light punishment!"

Quan Shuyu held her hand and said, "Don't worry. If you don't follow the young master, I might plead for them for the future. Since you follow the young master, you will have a good life in the future. Unless I go crazy, I will not look back and will not plead for them."

Chan Yi held her hand in reverse and raised her chin slightly, "Have you forgotten what I do? Even if you go crazy, I can still save you!"

While the two were chatting and laughing, Ding Lisheng came back with the case file.

After Chen Shao flipped through it, he handed it to Quan Shuyu. After Quan Shuyu had read it, he ordered: "Sentence according to the charges you drafted. No need to wait for another time. Execute immediately. In addition..."

He asked Chan Yi to bring over the cases related to the Wen, Zhu, and Gu families registered yesterday. After roughly scanning them, he handed them to him and said, "Go and verify the authenticity of these cases, and then formulate a subsidy plan based on the size of the cases and the amount of losses. Give me the results within half a month."

There were hundreds of cases registered yesterday, and I don't know if there will be any new cases today. We need to verify all the results and formulate a subsidy plan. This is undoubtedly a huge and extremely complicated task. Ding Lisheng held the thick case records and said with a bitter face, "Sir, can you give me a few more days?"

Chen Shao asked: "How many days do you want to extend the time?"

Ding Lisheng carefully held up a finger, wanting to say one month, but seeing her half-smile, he had no choice but to hold out all five fingers and answered, "Five days, five days is enough."

"Okay, I'll give you five more days," Chen Shao agreed readily, "Go ahead."

Ding Lisheng immediately regretted it. If he had known she was so straightforward, he should have directly proposed a month. Even if she disagreed, he could still negotiate it down to ten days, right? After hesitating and taking two steps outside, Ding Lisheng stopped again and said with an apologetic smile, "Sir..."

"No." Chen Shao refused directly.

Ding Lisheng muttered: "I haven't even said anything yet."

Chen Shao simply said: "Nothing is allowed."

Ding Lisheng took two more steps toward the door, then turned back and asked, "If I had asked for a month, would you have agreed?"

Chen Shao said with a smile: "What do you think?"

Ding Lisheng was unwilling to give up: "What if I ask for ten days? Will you agree?"

Chen Shao smiled and said, "Yes."

He wanted to feel uncomfortable, so of course Chen Shao had to help him.

As expected, when Ding Lisheng heard the word "yes", the regret on his face instantly became thicker than ink. He opened his mouth in regret, wanting to ask for another five days, but Chen Shao spoke before him, "No."

Ding Lisheng shrugged his shoulders and walked away angrily.

Chen Shao looked at his back, and watched him walk out of Chengfeng Courtyard before instructing Chanyi, "Ask Li Tianliu to arrange for someone to go to Qingshui Town and invite Lei Lao San, the tofu seller whom Yang Dong confessed to, to the prefect's mansion."

After Chan Yi left, Chen Shao asked Quan Shuyu a few questions about the investigation of the Zhu family, Gu family and other family assets. After getting a positive answer, he asked, "How is the plan of the shopkeeper Fang to integrate the cloth shop going?"

Quan Shuyu smiled and said, "It hasn't been given to me yet. I asked him a few questions when I ran into him the day before yesterday. He said that he had to come up with a perfect plan to live up to the trust you placed in him."

"What perfect plan is there?" Chen Shao followed with a smile. "It is not an easy task to integrate all the cloth shops together and take care of the needs of ordinary people as well as the people with a certain amount of wealth. If the shop decoration is too high-end, ordinary people will be discouraged. If the shop decoration is too ordinary, people with a certain amount of wealth will also be discouraged. Being discouraged by the decoration is only a small problem. The bigger problem is how to let ordinary people and people with a certain amount of wealth enter the shop at the same time without being discouraged by each other."

Discrimination still exists among modern luxury brands, and in feudal society, class discrimination would have been even more serious.

If we want ordinary people and people with a certain amount of wealth to enter the shop at the same time without being deterred by each other, the problem that needs to be solved is not just whether the decoration is good or bad, but whether people can achieve mutual respect and equality.

Of course, she was not speaking in a pessimistic way. The reason she was interested in the shopkeeper's proposal to integrate the cloth shop was that she wanted to know how he would balance the unequal class relations.

Now it seems that he has no practical plan.

"I have also thought about these issues privately, and have asked several shopkeepers from the Zhu and Gu families about them," Quan Shuyu answered as he thought. "I haven't come up with a solution yet, and the shopkeepers from the Zhu and Gu families all said it was impossible."

After a pause, he continued, "Perhaps because of Huimin Pharmacy, Shopkeeper Fang is very enthusiastic, so I thought of waiting for him for a few more days. If he still can't come up with a plan by then, I plan to invite all the shopkeepers to the prefectural governor's mansion to work together. If they still can't come up with a suitable solution, then we can only open the shop the old way."

Chen Shao nodded in agreement: "Take your time, there's no rush."

In fact, she had long had the idea of ​​copying the comprehensive supermarket from her previous life, but when she heard her say that all the shopkeepers should work together, she temporarily suppressed the idea and prepared to wait until they had a result.

"Let these shopkeepers come here to work together. In addition to the plan to integrate the cloth shops, I also want to integrate all the shops." Quan Shuyu originally wanted to find another opportunity to discuss this matter with her. Seeing that she brought it up now, he took the opportunity to say it in advance. "These days, I have carefully thought about the young master's previous idea. The young master's idea is very good, but the dyeing workshops, cloth shops and other big ones are all in our hands. For the common people, it is indeed a great thing, but for us and the vendors, it is more disadvantageous than beneficial."

After motioning her to sit down, Chen Shao asked, "What do you mean?"

Quan Shuyu was about to speak when Chan Yi came back quickly and said, "Many more people have come to sue the Wen family, the Zhu family, and others. Also, Xu Dong and Manager Meng are here too."

Xu Dong was the villager from Nandang Village who accidentally chased and killed the chickens in the rice shop.

Chen Shao glanced at the sky outside, then looked at Quan Shuyu and said, "We'll talk about it tonight."

Quan Shuyu responded and followed her to the lobby.