This made Li Shimin anxious, and he wanted to trade one for one with me.

"My son, what's wrong?" The middle-aged woman came out of the kitchen at this moment upon hearing the noise. Seeing Du Jingjian's ugly face and then seeing Zhu Fangzheng, she immediately understood and angrily said, "You surnamed Zhu, get out of here!"

Zhu Fangzheng glanced at her sideways, then spread his hands again and said, "Give me back these two hundred coins, and I'll leave immediately!"

Upon hearing this, Du's mother looked at Du Jingjian with a worried expression.

Du Jingjian looked up and said, "Zhu Fangzheng, I admit that my handwriting is on this contract, but it is also clearly written in black and white that I will return it to him at the end of the year after I receive my salary. It is obviously against the rules for you to ask for it now! I can refuse to return it!"

Zhu Fangzheng clicked his tongue and said, "You really are a talented man who can persuade the magistrate of Chang'an. It's just a pity that you're not good enough today."

"Take a look at this one!"

After saying this, he put away the two deeds, shook his sleeves, took out an official document from the Ministry of Personnel, and said:

"This is an order from the Ministry of Personnel's money-collecting clerk, requiring all neighborhoods to thoroughly investigate whether borrowers can repay their principal. Today I checked the situation of shopkeeper Liu and found that he has suffered considerable losses in recent years and is no longer able to repay the principal lent to him by the government."

"I was ordered to have him immediately return the money he borrowed from the imperial court."

The position of "Zhuoqian Lingshi" (literally "money-catching official") originated in the Northern and Southern Dynasties and was established in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. In the first year of the Wude era, the court established a salary system for civil and military officials and set up public funds, which were managed by the various Lingshi. They were responsible for managing 50,000 cash allocated by the court as capital to lend to merchants, collecting 4,000 cash in interest per month, with the annual interest being approximately equal to the principal.

In layman's terms, the imperial court ordered its commanders and clerks to lend money to merchants at exorbitant interest rates. The monthly interest collected was then distributed by the court to civil and military officials, and was called "monthly allowance."

Zhu Fangzheng pointed to a line in the official document and said with a smile, "See this? The document says yesterday morning. I also contacted Shopkeeper Liu yesterday morning, but unexpectedly, he lent you the money in the afternoon and even signed a contract with you. I can tell you this: the contract you signed with Shopkeeper Liu is invalid, and you must immediately give me the two hundred coins!"

The middle-aged woman listened anxiously and looked at Du Jingjian.

Du Jingjian pursed his lips, stared at him, and said, "Zhu Fangzheng, do you hate me that much that you've dragged the Ministry of Personnel into this to set me up?"

He wasn't stupid; he could tell from those two deeds and one official document that it was all Zhu Fangzheng's conspiracy!

He was certain that Zhu Fangzheng had learned about his loan and then found Liu the shopkeeper, somehow obtaining the loan agreement from Liu.

He then forced Liu, the shop owner, to write another contract proving that the two hundred coins were taken from him, Zhu Fangzheng.

Finally, he obtained this official document from the clerk in charge of collecting money in the Ministry of Personnel.

It was a perfect fit, flawless. From any perspective, he had to repay those two hundred coins today.

However, he had already spent two hundred coins on ingredients, rice, flour, and seasonings, and had spent it all.

How could he possibly have the money at this point?

"Du Jingjian, what are you standing there for? Go get the money."

At this moment, Zhu Fangzheng's urging voice rang out.

Du Jingjian snapped out of his daze, looked at him, his hand clenched into a fist in his sleeve, but he couldn't lash out.

The deed is invalid. Even if he reports it to the authorities now, they will think he is in the wrong. Besides, the other party has the approval document from the Ministry of Personnel. Whether it is public or private, or morally or logically, the authorities will not side with him.

Seeing his predicament, the middle-aged woman immediately went to Zhu Fangzheng and said with a smile, "Zhu Fangzheng, we're all neighbors, could you please make an exception for us...?"

"Don't!" Zhu Fangzheng sneered, "It's too late to try and get on my good side now. Just pay me back first."

Du Jingjian suddenly said, "Give me a day... no, half a day will do!"

Zhu Fangzheng said firmly, "Not even for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn!"

"If you don't pay back the money, don't blame me for being impolite!"

After saying that, he shouted at the gate of the mansion, "Come in!"

In an instant, two young men in plain clothes pushed open the courtyard gate and strode over, standing behind Zhu Fangzheng.

Zhu Fangzheng pointed around and said, "Take all the valuables from this house back to pay off the debt!"

"promise!"

The two young men agreed and immediately began rummaging through drawers and cabinets, moving out everything of value.

"Stop! Stop!"

The middle-aged woman was so anxious that she was almost crying. She saw one of the young men run to the kitchen and bring out a basket of flatbreads. She stopped him and said, "You can't take this with you. Put it down!"

"What can't we take?" Zhu Fangzheng walked over and glanced at it, then said with disdain, "Oh, it's a flatbread. How much is this worth? Oh well, even fly meat is meat, take it!"

"promise!"

You can't take it with you!

The young man wanted to move the flatbread outside the courtyard gate, but the middle-aged woman hurriedly stopped him. In the struggle, the basket suddenly slipped from her hand, fell to the ground, and got covered in dust.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Fangzheng squatted down, picked up a palm-sized piece of flatbread, flicked off the dust, and clicked his tongue, saying, "Once it gets covered in dirt, it's worthless."

Suddenly, he felt a tightness around his collar. Turning around, he saw Du Jingjian standing behind him with a ferocious expression, grabbing his collar and clenching his fist as if to swing it.

Zhu Fangzheng threw away the flatbread, showing no fear whatsoever, and laughed, "Want to fight? Go ahead and hit me."

"I wonder if you can still be an intern after hitting me!"

Du Jingjian was trembling with anger, but he had no choice but to lower his raised fist.

He could tell that Zhu Fangzheng's goal was to force him to take action!

Once you take action, you'll fall into Zhu Fangzheng's trap!

Du Jingjian shouted angrily, "Get out of here!"

Zhu Fang straightened his collar, somewhat surprised that he could hold back, and said calmly, "If you don't pay me back, I won't leave!"

At this moment, he saw another young man come out of the house with a sheet of paper from which he had copied books. He sneered, "I didn't expect you to study so hard and copy so many books. No wonder even the magistrate of Chang'an said you are the undisputed talent of Da'an Ward."

"He also said that you would definitely become an official in the future. I think the magistrate of Chang'an is right. You are indeed the material to be an official."

Du Jingjian said, "Aren't you afraid that if I become an official, I'll be the first one to cause you trouble, since you're treating me like this now?"

"Can you handle it?"

Zhu Fangzheng sneered and said, "I know all your thoughts. Since I know why you want to be an official, how can I sit idly by and wait to die? Let me tell you, from today onwards, I will keep an eye on you every day, making sure you can't study, can't do anything, and ruin your career. Let's see how you get back at me!"

"But don't worry, I won't lay a hand on you. I have plenty of ways to deal with you! For example, right now, I'm making you pay back the money, and you have to pay it back!"

Hearing his threat, Du Jingjian clenched his fists so tightly that his fingertips dug into his flesh, and said, "Give me half a day, and I'll borrow the money to pay you back!"

"I said, not even a stick of incense's time is enough! You must pay it back now! Otherwise, I'll take everything in your house today to pay off the debt!"

Du Jingjian turned pale with anger, but he was powerless in the face of Zhu Fangzheng's tough attitude. He finally understood what it meant to be brought down by a penny.

"Brother Jingjian...I'm not late, am I?"

Just then, a familiar voice suddenly came from the courtyard gate.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw a tall young man in a blue robe with cloud patterns walking towards them.

The other person was 1.85 meters tall, with thick eyebrows, big eyes, square lips, and an exceptionally handsome appearance.

He also wore a jade pendant as green as a summer lotus and a wooden plaque inscribed with the word "gentleman" on his waist.