The general kneels on the washboard again

As soon as the village head finished speaking, the man who had been carried away began to struggle as if he were dead, muttering, "I don't want to be disemboweled! I don't want to be disemboweled!"

Seeing this, the woman wanted to run away, but she was no match for the well-trained yamen runners and was caught.

Seeing that the situation was changing so quickly, everyone consciously separated themselves into another area.

Li An also understood Yue Niang's reason for not wanting to go to the hall. If she went to the hall, no matter whether the tea in the tea house had any problems or not, people would definitely feel unlucky and would not want to come again.

So he hurriedly said to the village head, "Sir, we now know that these two people are deliberately trying to blackmail Pinmingju. I would like to trouble you to conduct an investigation here and give an explanation to all the guests today."

Li An linked this matter to everyone. At this moment, everyone felt that the burden on their shoulders was very heavy and they were all waiting to help to uphold justice.

At this time, Yue Niang had asked several people from Pinmingju to tidy up the platform in the middle and set it up like a court.

The village head sat in the seat of honor, and everyone except the couple stood below.

The village head began to ask, "What are your names? Where do you live? What is your relationship with Pinmingju? Tell me everything."

The woman was already trembling with fear. "Your Excellency, you are being unjust. My name is Jia Dazhuang, and my wife is An. We are from Xishan Village. I did pass out after drinking tea today, and my wife was momentarily flustered."

The village head spoke with the dignity that came with his position: "How dare you not tell the truth even now? So many people have had tea, why are you the only one in trouble? If you don't tell me now, I will hand you over to the prefect for punishment."

Jia Dazhuang glanced and saw that An's body was already wet. This woman usually acted domineeringly in the village, but now she was actually cowardly.

Seeing that Jia Dazhuang stopped talking, the village head waved to the police, indicating that they should take the two men away, intending to interrogate them separately.

But when An saw the two officers coming up and the head of the household being taken away, she kowtowed in fear and said, "Sir, I'm telling you, someone gave my head of the household five taels of silver and told us to come to Pinmingju and pretend to be poisoned."

Jia Dazhuang, who was dragged away, also made the same remarks.

Everyone was a little excited: "Who is so bad?"

Jia Dazhuang was pulled up again, and his previous toughness was completely gone: "It's Mr. Jin from the Yingkelou."

After the confession was made, An asked again, "Sir, we have told the truth. Can we not send it to the prefect?"

After being tried by the prefect, the two might have lost their lives. The Yunzhou prefect was not an honest official.

The village headman didn't comment, but simply said, "Drag them away and give each of them twenty lashes of the cane, and confiscate the five taels of silver."

As for the shopkeeper Jin of the reception building, he was watching the fun in the crowd. At some point, a circle had automatically been made around him.

The police went up and arrested the man, and Li An and Yue Niang followed.

In the hall, Shopkeeper Jin refused to plead guilty: "What crime have I committed? She sold the recipe to Cuixinlou. My business was already struggling, and I finally managed to attract some customers with the tea. Now she's opened a teahouse. Can I still do business?"

Yue Niang was somewhat speechless. "Shopkeeper Jin, this business competition is all about ability. It's not like I didn't give you a chance to get the secret recipe. At that time, Shopkeeper Sun and I hadn't yet reached an agreement, so I went to your guesthouse first. But how did your waiter there humiliate me and my friends? You haven't forgotten, have you?"

The shopkeeper Jin was very stubborn and turned his face away: "Our business has come to an end. These five taels of silver are just like giving away beggars."

Yue Niang was completely upset and didn't know what to say.

Li An said sharply, "Thank you, Shopkeeper Jin, for sending me away. However, soon, you may not even have the chance to be a beggar."

I always feel that Ang Lee is very different today: careful and bold, and now so eloquent.

As they walked out of the hall, Yue Niang asked him tentatively, "Brother Li An, are you okay?"

His eyes were like unfathomable lake water, but the corners of his mouth showed the most brilliant smile: "I'm fine."

As he said this, he handed the five taels of silver to Yue Niang.

Yue Niang was a little discouraged: "It will cost a lot of money to repair the Pinmingju next. That woman was really strong and broke a lot of things. We haven't even started making money yet and we've already lost money."

After saying this, he thought of the injuries of Li An and Zhao Xiaoming, and knocked his head. How could he forget this?

I turned into the pharmacy next door and bought some external medicine to take back.

When they arrived at Pinmingju, several people had already cleaned up the mess on the floor. The entire interior decoration had a kind of incomplete beauty, and several hollow wooden screens were ruined.

Zhao Xiaoming was indignant: "Just let them go like this?"

Yue Niang said helplessly, "What else can we do? Well, please ask Uncle Zhang to come over and fix it. You can also take two days off and prepare for going to school."

He took out the ointment he had just bought and said, "Those of you who are injured, come over here and apply some ointment. Go back and rest early today. I'll let you know when we can open again."

Those who were not recruited from the village also listened to the words of the young shopkeeper.

I've been very busy lately and haven't spent much time with my grandmother, so I'll take a short vacation.

After picking some more vegetables, he followed Zhao Xiaoming and the others home.

"Brother Xiao Ming, I've already taken care of the horse issue, you need to practice faster."

All he received was Zhao Xiaoming's cry: "Fu Yueniang, do you have to be so shocking?"

Of course, Yue Niang has been thinking about it over and over again these two days. How could she let Zhao Xiaoming really become a coachman? She plans to hire a coachman.

"Okay, okay, I was just kidding." Yue Niang quickly explained.

Zhao Xiaoming complained: "You want me to go to school, learn accounting, and drive a carriage. Why am I so unlucky?"

Erya slapped him on the head and said, "Don't be ungrateful! Zhang Jian has been studying for several years and still hasn't started school. Going to school is something he only dreams of."

"Sister, you're really rough with your blows, Li An. Look at her, she's so fierce, not as calm as Ruoyan at all."

Ruoyan also expressed her support for Erya: "I think Erya is right. You've been to school, you know how to do accounting, you can ride a horse, and you can earn money. You're the ideal husband for many women."

Li An hummed.

Zhao Xiaoming felt even more aggrieved: "You all bullied me. I didn't say I didn't want to go to school. I was just afraid that my parents would force me. I don't want to study to achieve anything. I just want to stay with them, help my father plow the land, listen to my mother's nagging, and accompany them for the rest of my life."

Although Zhao Xiaoming was often beaten and scolded by his mother, his filial piety was unparalleled.

Yue Niang said: "Don't worry, we will keep it a secret for you."

However, a few days later, Zhao Xiaoming's mother found the scrap paper he used to practice writing at home and asked, "Xiaoming, why is there paper here? Did you secretly steal Li Ang's writing paper?"

Zhao Xiaoming, who was concentrating on his work, didn’t think twice: “That’s mine.

"Yours? When did you learn to write?"

"I'm learning recently." Zhao Xiaoming realized something was wrong after he said it: "Ah, no, Mom, I mean this is not mine."

Unexpectedly, his mother burst into tears of joy: "My son has made great progress. He can write now. He should study hard with Li Ang and pass the imperial examination for me in the future."

Zhao Xiaoming was speechless.