The aroma of cooking filled the house: I sent my eldest brother to become the Grand Secretary.

Li Changquan saw a very beautiful girl walk out of the crowd. She was wearing a light green dress and her hair was tied into two braids that hung down on both sides.

She was glaring at him angrily. Despite being just a young girl, Li Changquan felt somewhat intimidated by her gaze.

"Young lady, don't meddle in other people's business, and don't be fooled by this hypocritical fellow."

Li Changquan thought Shen Cao was just a spectator, only fooled by Shen Chen's appearance.

He lowered his voice a little, afraid of startling Shen Cao.

Shen Cao sneered, stood in front of Shen Chen, and pointed at Li Changquan, "You don't let me meddle in other people's business, but does me meddling in my older brother's business count as meddling in other people's business?"

"Besides, this matter involves me. I didn't even know I, Shen Cao, had such great power that even the county magistrate listens to me?"

Li Changquan was stunned. He didn't expect that the beautiful girl in front of him was actually Shen Chen's sister. The two didn't seem to look very alike.

He withdrew his kind gaze and raised his voice a few decibels, "No wonder you were in such a hurry for me to go see the official; you were waiting for me here."

"I certainly cannot do as you wish."

Shen Cao glanced at him and said in a soft voice, "That's not up to you."

As soon as Shen Cao finished speaking, he saw Li Quan, the clerk who had come when the Shen family restaurant opened, walking up to him with several constables.

“I heard that someone wanted to report it to the authorities, saying that someone had openly stolen in broad daylight.”

"Who dares to be so insolent?"

Shen Cao raised her hand and pointed to Li Changquan beside her. "Officer, I am here to report this to the authorities. This man stole my elder brother's Duan inkstone. He just took it out in full view of everyone. All the onlookers can testify to this."

Shen Wan and Shen Qing walked up to Shen Cao, and Shen Cao gave them a thumbs up, saying, "Well done, you came at just the right time."

Li Changquan immediately felt guilty upon seeing the officials.

He still feigned composure, saying, "Sir, you mustn't listen to this little girl's nonsense."

"This Duan inkstone doesn't belong to Shen Chen; he stole it."

"I saw that he had stolen someone else's Duan inkstone, and I was afraid that he would sell it, so I put the Duan inkstone away."

Li Quan picked up the Duan inkstone from Li Changquan's hand and examined it carefully.

Good heavens, it's actually a top-grade Duan inkstone, which is worth a lot of money.

He looked at Shen Cao again. As far as he knew, although the Shen family ran a restaurant, this Duan inkstone alone would cost at least seventy or eighty taels of silver.

Such a small eatery would take at least several months to earn that much money; how could it possibly use that money to buy an inkstone?

Could it be that he really stole this Duan inkstone?

But if it was stolen, why would they report it to the authorities?

He recalled the county magistrate's previous attitude towards the Shen family and walked up to Shen Cao.

"Miss Shen, do you have any evidence to prove that this inkstone belongs to your elder brother?"

Shen Cao did not rush to answer Shen Quan's question, but instead walked up to Li Changquan.

"Are you sure you got this inkstone from my older brother?"

Li Changquan nodded emphatically. "That's right. I only kept it because I saw that he couldn't afford it. I didn't intend to keep it for myself."

After saying that, he turned around and bowed to Li Quan, saying, "I hope that you will consider that I had a reason for this and not worry about these details."

Li Quan nodded slightly, his expression serious, and said to him, "If this inkstone is confirmed not to belong to Shen Chen, then you certainly have a reason for this, and I will definitely report it truthfully."

Upon hearing the official's words, Li Changquan seemed certain that the official was on his side and that Shen Chen's guilt was a foregone conclusion.

He walked up to Shen Chen, looking at him smugly, "Officer, don't worry, not only can Shen Chen not afford this top-quality Duan inkstone, but he can't even afford an ordinary Duan inkstone."

Shen Chen wanted to step forward and argue with the officials, but Shen Cao stopped him.

She ignored Li Changquan and walked up to Li Quan. "Sir, since this gentleman has said so, it means he admits that he took it from my elder brother."

"As long as he admits it, that's fine."

Shen Cao walked up to the crowd and said, "I want to ask everyone, what kind of behavior is this—taking things without asking?"

“Taking something without asking is stealing.” A deep male voice came from the crowd.

Shen Cao heard the answer she wanted and nodded in satisfaction.

"That's right, taking something without asking is stealing."

“I will prove right now that this Duan inkstone belongs to my elder brother.”

"Sir, you may take a closer look at the back of this Duan inkstone."

Is there a small character "沈" in the lower right corner?

This happened shortly after Shen Yu'an had finished setting up his study. She immediately noticed that the inkstones Shen Yu'an had prepared were not ordinary items.

She specifically asked him for advice, and Shen Yu'an told her that these inkstones were taken from his own study.

Because he was not in Xin'an County for a long time, these things just gathered dust in his study.

He greatly admired his elder brother, so in return, he brought over all the extra inkstones from his home.

Shen Cao still remembers him casually picking up an inkstone, pointing to the mark with the character "Shen" on the bottom, and telling her that it was specially made.

Fortunately, they also share the surname Shen, which can be considered a kind of fate.

Li Quan turned the inkstone over and, sure enough, saw a small "Shen" character in the lower right corner.

"Indeed, there is a character 'Shen' on the back of this inkstone."

Li Changquan wanted to continue making excuses, but Shen Cao didn't give him the chance.

"Everyone saw it; I didn't touch this inkstone the entire time."

"If this inkstone doesn't belong to my elder brother, how would I know that there's the character 'Shen' on the back of it?"

That's right, this little girl has definitely never touched this inkstone before.

Yes, I saw it too.

That makes sense now.

[However, what the previous commenter said is also true. If that student's family is really so poor they can't even afford to eat, where would they get the money to buy it?]

The others, upon hearing his words, also began to speculate.

Suddenly, someone in the crowd recognized Shen Cao.

[Isn't this the young owner of Shen's Restaurant?]

You know what, it seems like it.

I've been eating at Shen's Restaurant lately, and I can confirm that this young lady is the owner of Shen's Restaurant.

[Shen Family Restaurant is always packed; the young owner's brother should be able to afford an inkstone.]

Shen Cao heard that someone had recognized her, but she didn't care.

Hearing the surrounding chatter, Li Changquan was clearly flustered; he had also recently heard about Shen's restaurant.

Some of his classmates invited him to eat at Shen Family Restaurant, but he never expected that Shen Family Restaurant was actually owned by Shen Chen's family.

He's finished. If this inkstone really belongs to Shen Chen, then he took it without asking, and he'll be the one who stole it.

Upon seeing Li Changquan's expression, Li Quan immediately understood that Li Changquan had most likely done this on purpose.

He waved his hand, "Men, take Li Changquan back to the yamen for a thorough investigation."

He recognized Li Changquan as the son of the wealthy Li family, someone not to be trifled with. He decided to take him back first.