Becoming a widow for the sake of good fortune? The short-lived prince lived a hundred years

Although these people were talking in low voices, Yan Xining heard everything without missing a word.

Yan Xining saw the master chef who had stopped kowtowing and looked miserable and pitiful, but she did not miss the smugness that flashed across his eyes.

She knew that her reputation was not very good. After all, she had cleared out most of the secret agents in the mansion and found all kinds of strange excuses.

But no matter how reasonable the reason is, if a royal palace sells out its servants, it will be gossiped about.

She doesn't care about that either.

But now, looking at the onlookers who were all sympathetic to the master chef and condemning her, she curled her lips and smiled: "Master Qian Xingqian, you want me to give you a way out? Wasn't it you who cut off this way in the first place?"

Qian Xing's eyes flickered, and he said hurriedly, "I was not aware of the princess's identity, so I offended her. But the princess's expulsion of me is already a punishment for me. These days, no matter where I go to find work, no one dares to hire me. Please, princess, please consider that I have parents and children to support, and don't cut off my livelihood!"

He kowtowed again, looking so pitiful, and his face was so haggard and miserable that it really aroused sympathy!

These words contained a lot of meaning. The onlookers looked at Yan Xining with even more resentment, and some of them with bad tempers had already started cursing.

Bingyu was very nervous, watching those people getting so angry that they looked like they were about to start a fight.

The princess didn’t bring any guards with her today, so we can’t let her get hurt.

Bingyu quickly stood in front of Yan Xining.

Yan Xining didn't care. She glanced at them, and her clear eyes seemed to carry a biting chill. Those who were cursing at them unconsciously stopped talking.

Her eyes fell on Qian Xing: "Do you think that by making a scene, you're in the right? You're acting out in the street, pretending to be begging for mercy, but you're actually trying to force me, or ruin my reputation, right?"

Qian Xing made a sad face and said ruefully, "Princess, even if I had a hundred guts, I wouldn't dare to do this. I'm telling the truth. I have no job now. My whole family is living off the fat of the land, so I have no choice but to resort to this desperate measure!"

"They are so pitiful, is begging for mercy considered coercion?"

"Yeah, who would get their head bleed from pretending to beg for mercy?"

"This Princess An is truly heartless."

"Rich people are inhumane. In their eyes, we ordinary people are like ants."

"What's the name of that shop? No one should go there anymore. Let her lose a lot of money!"

"Princess An, are you trying to force someone to death?"

"Even if you are from the palace, you can't do whatever you want like this, right?"

"Princess An is so lawless, is there no one to speak up for us common people?"

"Not only does Princess An oppress and sell out the servants in the palace, but she also treats those who work for her outside badly. How shameless!"

"Princess An, die!"

……

Qian Xing heard the cheers of support from the onlookers and looked even more pitiful. "I just want a job. I hope Your Highness will show some mercy! Your Highness, I don't have any other intentions!"

Yan Xining sneered, "Alright, I wanted to save some dignity for you, but since you don't want it, let's talk it out!"

Qian Xing smiled bitterly: "My family is almost out of food, what's the point of being respectable? I only ask the princess to have mercy on me!"

"Before I was away from the capital and was still young, my dowry was managed by the wife of the Marquis of Weiyuan for over a decade! But three months ago, the shop became my dowry. Since I took over the shop, someone has been sent to inform the owner of the change of ownership. Is this true?"

Yan Xining's voice was not loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.

The discussions gradually died down, and they were also very curious. Why could they hear so clearly the noisy noise just now?

Qian Xing rolled his eyes and said, "Yes. But I only informed the owner. I had never met the princess before, so I misunderstood her when she first summoned the shopkeeper and the master. I didn't mean to offend her. I didn't mean to do that!"

"You said you only recognized your original boss, and a country girl wasn't worthy of being your boss? Is that true? You said that as the chief chef, not just anyone can hire you. How could anyone be worthy of hiring you? You said that yourself, right?"

Qian Xing's eyes flickered as he quickly denied, "Is it too small? Those people wronged me. I never said anything!"

Yan Xining looked coldly at the person kneeling in front of her: "Qian Xing, you were the chief master chef in my jewelry store, in charge of the entire gold jewelry production, right?"

"Yes, I have worked hard for the princess's shop for more than ten years. Even if I have no credit, I have worked hard!"

"You are responsible for the overall allocation of those gold bars, gold bricks, and gold ingots. How you fooled the second wife of the Marquis of Weiyuan before is your own skill. This princess will not ask, nor will she interfere. But from the time the shop changed hands to the time we terminated the contract, in just one month, you used tricks such as hollowing out, covering silver with gold, passing inferior goods off as good ones, exchanging old items, and changing the appearance of things to embezzle a total of 17 taels of gold. Do you think no one knows?"

The onlookers were shocked. Seventeen taels of gold were embezzled in one month?

Isn’t this appetite too big?

Even though there is a lot of gold and silver in the jewelry store, that is not a reason for someone to steal it secretly!

Qian Xing hurriedly said, "Princess, if you want to accuse someone, you can always find a pretext. Your Highness is slandering me. I didn't do it! Absolutely not!"

"Oh!" Yan Xining laughed. "Originally, after the contract was terminated, this princess was busy and had no intention of pursuing the matter. But today, you insisted on bumping into me, so let's settle the score! Bingyu, report to the police!"

Bingyu was a little worried that the princess would not be safe here alone.

But after receiving Yan Xining's eye signal, he responded and left immediately.

"No, not yet!" Qian Xing's eyes flashed with panic as he stopped Bingyu, but he quickly calmed down. "Princess, you don't understand the production of gold jewelry. There are many steps involved, and there will be some loss during the production process. But you can't assume that I greedily took the gold! Even if I die unjustly, I won't be able to prove my innocence!"

The onlookers, whose attitudes had originally changed, thought about it and agreed.

Can a person who doesn't understand the production convict someone based on random guesses?

It's really pitiful that the old master speaks without any evidence.

Besides, that was a full seventeen taels of gold. If it was true, how could they not pursue the matter?

Immediately, someone started speaking for Qian Xing.

Yan Xining stood there, dignified, steady, and calm.

Those onlookers who resonated with Qian Xing's words and felt that Princess An was bullying and slandering others kept moving forward, but did not dare to take action.

Yan Xining looked at Qian Xing, who was trying to gain sympathy and put more pressure on herself by using the crowd, and said leisurely, "Qian Xing, you don't think that I really don't have any evidence, do you? After I took over, I added an extra supervision process. You are so stubborn and self-willed that you must not have noticed it!"

"What, what supervisory procedures?"

Yan Xining kindly explained to him, "The amount of gold taken out, the amount of finished products produced, and the amount of inventory are all recorded in the book. You think that making false records will be foolproof. However, the people who supervise the process will re-measure and carefully inspect the finished products and record the results. They check everything carefully."

"Who, who is the person who supervises the process?"

"Who said there's only one person supervising the process?"

She laughed and said, "Why am I telling you so much? When the government comes, just go talk to the Dusi Yamen directly!"

Qian Xing couldn't hide the panic in his eyes, and he looked at Yan Xining in shock.

He remembered that when he informed Jinruitang of the change of ownership, there were many more assistants and apprentices.

How could he care about a few more people in such a big Jinrui Hall? And how could he care about a few more apprentices in the workshop?

His eyes began to wander among the crowd, his gaze evasive.

Yan Xining asked slowly, in a voice only he could hear: "Who are you looking for? The person who instigated you to come to me? Let me guess, it's someone from Weiyuan Marquis' Mansion? What promise did they make to you? Why did they ask you to come here and stop me?"