Transmigrated Female Official

The woman who appeared at the clothing store at this moment was arrogant and haughty, with a handkerchief waving in her hand. She said as she entered, "Oh, where is Lord Chu rushing off to?"

Chu Qingluo looked at the person who had arrived and suddenly had a premonition that this matter might be related to her. She composed herself and said, "Miss Long, what brings you here?"

Wu Yang looked up at the sound and frowned when he saw that it was Long Xiaohan. He hadn't expected her to come to the shop, and he felt very guilty, thinking that he had implicated Chu Qingluo.

Wu Yang was about to bite the bullet and confront Long Xiaohan, but Long Xiaohan completely ignored him, not even glancing at him, and instead walked towards the display shelf next to her. She picked up some clothes on the wooden shelf with her fingers and said, "This clothing store truly lives up to its reputation."

Chu Qingluo was preoccupied with her mother's affairs and had no mood to deal with Long Xiaohan, so she said, "I have other things to do. Since Miss Long is here, please take your time and enjoy your stroll. I won't keep you company any longer."

No sooner had Chu Qingluo finished speaking than Long Xiaohan suddenly appeared in front of her, saying, "Lord Chu, why are you in such a hurry? Could it be that something has happened to someone in your family? Or is it something that has alarmed the Shuntian Prefecture?"

Hearing Long Xiaohan's words, Chu Qingluo's earlier guess was fully confirmed. She looked coldly at Long Xiaohan and asked, "This matter is related to you, isn't it?"

As for when Long Xiaohan got involved in this matter, Chu Qingluo was still unsure.

Long Xiaohan gave a sly smile: "Look at what you're saying, sir. Your Chu family has been doing business against your conscience, and now you're blaming me for causing trouble?"

Chu Qingluo stared straight at her smug face... Long Xiaohan really wasn't good-looking. Her skin was sallow, her nose was flat, her lips were thick, and her eyes were so small they were practically slits; she was much uglier than Long Kui.

Chu Qinglu couldn't help but sigh, "They say ugly people are often troublesome, and there's definitely some truth to that."

"What did you say--?!"

Long Xiaohan didn't hear clearly at first, but she could tell from Chu Qingluo's expression that it wasn't anything nice.

At this moment, Gongsun Yu also stepped forward, his face dark, and asked, "What exactly do you want?"

Long Xiaohan crossed her arms, looked Gongsun Yu up and down with a half-smile, and said, "I know you. You are the second young master of Lord Gongsun's family." She had been humiliated by the two of them at Miaoyin Pavilion last time, and immediately sent people to investigate after returning home.

"So what?"

Long Xiaohan continued to stare at him: "Last time you easily took down my two henchmen, I was very impressed with you."

Chu Qingluo had no patience to listen to Long Xiaohan's nonsense anymore. She took Gongsun Yu's hand and said, "Gongsun, let's go. There's no need to waste any more words with her."

Upon hearing this, Long Xiaohan became displeased and stretched out her hand to block their way. "I'm here to offer you a solution!"

Chu Qingluo didn't believe she had any good intentions, and sneered, "You should keep it for yourself." Then she took a detour.

Long Xiaohan panicked and shouted at their retreating backs, "You'll definitely come back and beg me!"

……

Outside the gate of Shuntian Prefecture, Chu Qingluo saw that Uncle Sihan was also waiting at the door. She then realized that it was not convenient for a male attendant to accompany her, so she asked Gongsun Yu to wait with Uncle Sihan outside the door.

Gongsun Yu instructed her, "Be careful."

"Don't worry, it's alright." This is Shuntian Prefecture; they can't do anything to her here. After saying that, Chu Qingluo went inside alone.

The prefect of Shuntian Prefecture was named Han Qiu, and he looked to be around thirty-five years old.

At this moment, Chu's mother and the middle-aged woman who had filed the complaint were standing in the main hall of Shuntian Prefecture. As soon as Chu Qingluo arrived, Chu's mother hurriedly introduced her to Han Qiu: "Lord Han, this is my daughter, a sixth-rank female official of the current court."

In the Ji Kingdom, the rank of a local prefect is equivalent to that of a female official of the second rank of tenth grade. Therefore, Han Qiu's official position is still below that of Chu Qingluo. She stood up and bowed to Chu Qingluo: "This humble official, Han Qiu, greets Lord Chu."

"Greetings, Lord Han." Chu Qingluo nodded politely to her, then asked, "May I ask why you sent someone to bring my mother to Shuntian Prefecture?"

Han Qiu cleared his throat and said to the middle-aged woman, "Mo, repeat what you just said about suing Madam Chu." Han Qiu deliberately used a respectful title for Madam Chu instead of calling her Madam Chu directly, as if giving Chu Qingluo enough face.

When Madam Mo noticed that Chu Qingluo was staring straight at her, she suddenly felt a little guilty and her eyes flickered as she said, "Just two days ago, my youngest son, Xiaowu, ate some pickled food made by the Chu family's pastry shop and immediately started vomiting and having diarrhea, with unbearable abdominal pain. After the doctor examined him, it was confirmed that there was a problem with the Chu family's pickled food... Therefore, I want to sue Madam Chu for unethical business practices that harm the people."

Hearing this, Chu Qingluo chuckled and said, "Being a corrupt merchant and harming the people? That's a bit of a stretch."

"Lord Han, I'm telling the truth! You can't protect each other, officials..."

Han Qiu then curled his lip and said, "How dare you speak like that? Is Lord Chu the kind of person you describe? Besides, if the truth is found to be as described, I will certainly seek justice for you."

Judging from Han Qiu's tone, he was ostensibly on Chu Qingluo's side, but secretly seemed eager to condemn Chu's mother, which displeased Chu Qingluo. As for Madam Mo, she had clearly accepted the compensation from Chu's mother to settle privately, but now she suddenly pulled this stunt… Her change of heart was faster than the weather, truly impossible to guard against.

“Your son was already fine back then, and you even accepted my gold. Are you trying to take this opportunity to extort money from us again?” Mother Chu believed that this Mo was trying to continue blackmailing them.

"Lord Han, listen to this! The Chu family is trying to cover up this incident with gold!" After saying this, Madam Mo took out ten gold coins from her sleeve and threw them in front of Madam Chu, saying with a disdainful look, "Here, take this back! I don't want it!"

"Oh, you—" Chu's mother looked at Shi Jin in front of her and realized that Mo Shi was determined to make a scene. Her expression became even more unpleasant.

"Madam Chu, is what Madam Mo said true? Did you really make problematic food and sell it to Madam Mo's youngest son?"

"What? That pickled product was secretly brought to the Mo family's son by my son Chu Yinuo behind my back. It wasn't sold by me at all."

"Even so, the Chu family's pastry shop did produce pickled products and is currently selling them, right or wrong?" Han Qiu continued to ask.

"...Yes, but it's been out of stock for several days now."

"Where did the sour food that Mo's son, Xiao Wu, ate come from?"

"That's being pickled; it's not pickled yet."

"So, the pickled food the Chu family is making can cause severe abdominal pain?"

"No, I've already..."

"Lord Han." Chu Qingluo couldn't stand it any longer and interrupted Han Qiu's aggressive approach, saying, "I think Lord Han should clarify two points first."