Chapter 26 Chapter 26 Jiang Wan didn't say it, first...

Jiang Wan did not say it out loud. Firstly, it was just a guess and she had no basis for it. Secondly, if it was really poisoning, it would involve the struggle within the Loulan royal family and even affect the diplomacy between the Great Zhou and Loulan. Although she admired Aigu very much, she did not want to get involved in this mess.

So she comforted the Second Prince with a few words and went home. Today's commotion had delayed her for some time, and she still had to go and choose a shop.

As Jiang Wan was packing, she suddenly heard a sweet female voice: "Sister Jiang Wan!"

Turning around, she saw the girl who had lent her the porcelain bowls. After exposing Aunt Qian's true identity, Jiang Wan had given her two porcelain bowls with the Chinese character "Fu" (good fortune) on them as a token of her gratitude. The girl's eyes sparkled, and she looked at her like an idol.

Thinking of this, Jiang Wan couldn't help laughing: "What's wrong, sister?"

"Sister Jiang Wan, can I take you as my master? I just talked to my parents and they both agree!" The girl looked at Jiang Wan expectantly.

Jiang Wan smiled and touched the girl's pigtails, then asked, "Why do you want to be my apprentice?"

The girl looked at Jiang Wan with starry eyes. "Because my sister is not only good at making porcelain, she's also incredibly smart! Just now, when you were framed, you didn't panic at all and even found the details to expose her. You're amazing! If I accept you as my master, will I become as powerful as you?"

"But learning to make porcelain is very hard. Since you're a beginner, you'll have to work even harder. Whether you can succeed depends on your talent," Jiang Wan said. "If you want to learn, you can't be afraid of hardship."

"I'm not afraid of hardship! As long as I can stay with my sister!" the girl vowed.

"Okay, so what's your name?"

The girl smiled, revealing her two little canine teeth. She looked particularly adorable. “My name is Chen Xi, which means sun.”

"It's a nice name." Jiang Wan wrote his home address to her. "I've been busy these past two days. Come to my house the day after tomorrow and I'll teach you some basic skills."

"Thank you, sister!" Chen Xi jumped up excitedly.

"Still calling me sister?" Jiang Wan poked the girl's forehead.

"Master, please accept my disciple's greeting!" Chen Xi bowed an exaggerated ninety degrees.

After much persuasion, Jiang Wan finally managed to get the excited girl to leave. He heaved a sigh of relief and pushed the cart down the alley when he heard Wang Da's anxious voice: "Master! Master!"

She stopped and took a closer look. It was indeed Wang Da. He ran all the way to Jiang Wan, his face pale and breathless, barely able to stand by holding onto the cart.

"Slow down, what's the rush?" Jiang Wan asked in a gentle tone while patting his apprentice's back to help him calm down.

Her voice seemed to have magic, and Wang Da felt much calmer after listening to it.

"Master, my second brother has been captured!"

Jiang Wan was stunned. "What? Who took the second brother away? Why? Don't worry, tell me the whole story."

"My second brother went to the lake to look for coral stones this morning. It was a bit cold due to the rain, so he wore a mink coat. Yes, it was the one I took from Young Master Huang last time..." Wang Da lowered his head as he spoke.

At that time, the master had warned us not to wear it outside, but this morning it was cold and my second brother was begging to wear it, so he didn't stop him in a moment of confusion. It was all his fault, otherwise my second brother wouldn't have been captured by the Huang family.

After hearing this, Jiang Wan guessed that it was the Huang family who did it, and his face suddenly turned cold.

Wang Da raised his head secretly, took in the gloomy and terrifying expression on his master's face, then lowered his head in fear, mumbling, "I'm sorry, master. I didn't take good care of my brother..."

Jiang Wan was used to this expression in his previous life. He only came to his senses when he heard his apprentice's voice. He realized that he had scared the child and quickly slowed down his voice: "Did the person who took the second child say anything?"

"He said that the magistrate couldn't touch the master because he was protecting him, but he could still take a child. Forget about renting the shop. Even if the Huang family burned it down, they wouldn't rent it to someone who bullied their son."

Jiang Wan listened to these words, and her stern face slowly began to smile. The smile looked like it was painted on her face, and her whole face looked like it was painted on, which was chilling.

"Go on." Jiang Wan said.

"He also said that no matter how much money he was offered, he wouldn't let my second brother go." Wang Da's eyes welled up with tears as he spoke. But he had always believed that men shouldn't cry easily. Now that his brother had been captured, he was the only one who could help his master. He had to be strong.

Thinking of this, he wiped his eyes, holding back the tears, and straightened his back to see his master's reaction. Over the past few days, he had come to regard Jiang Wan as a god-like existence. He believed that no matter what problem he encountered, his master would have a solution.

But at this moment, he only saw Jiang Wan's back as he thought silently.

Rescuing Wang Er was no easy task. The Huang family dared to charge such high rents and had never been punished by the government for years. They clearly had connections. Complaining to the authorities was out of the question. Abducting him directly was even less feasible. The Huang family was wealthy and powerful, while she was new here, a small vendor. A single mistake could bring disaster upon her family. She could only ask the county magistrate for help, but Wang Er's safety had no impact on the birthday gift he wanted. Convincing the magistrate on this point was unlikely.

But you can only give it a try.

Jiang Wan made up his mind before turning around and gently patting Wang Da's head, saying soothingly, "Don't worry, Master has a way. We'll take the newly researched celadon at home and go to the magistrate. Master will convince him to help us."

In fact, Jiang Wan herself was unsure, but she had to calm her apprentice down first.

Wang Da now has blind trust in his master. When his master says it's possible, he feels that his brother is saved. He smiles widely and happily helps his master push the cart.

It was just past noon when the two returned to the Jiang family's wooden house. The sky was still gloomy and it looked like it would rain heavily in the afternoon.

Xiaofangpan City was dry, so rain was a rare occurrence, and the residents seemed quite eager for it. However, Jiang Wan had lived in Hangzhou in his previous life, and his family had been exiled from Lin'an. He had seen rain so often that he considered it normal.

Zi Yan, who had been waiting outside the courtyard to accompany Jiang Wan to look after the shop, didn't seem to mind at all, even frowning slightly as he looked up at the sky. Seeing Jiang Wan return, he stood up and dusted off his clothes.

Although he stood up from the mound, he did it with as much grace as if he were getting up from a chaise longue.

But Jiang Wan wasn't in the mood to admire his demeanor. After briefly explaining the situation, she apologized, "I'm sorry to have made you make an extra trip. I'll still pay you."

After saying that, he was about to go back to the house, but his sleeve was pulled. Jiang Wan struggled twice, but failed to break free. He couldn't help but feel a little angry: "What are you doing?"

The man stared at her with cold eyes and reminded her, "How confident are you that the only thing between you and the magistrate is the birthday gift? Your apprentice has nothing to do with the birthday gift. If you don't handle it well, you might even lose this job."

"He's my apprentice!" Jiang Wan said angrily, "I can't just stand by and watch!"

Zi Yan was stunned.

"It's rare to see you so excited." He smiled softly, like ice and snow melting, sunlight pouring down, and the surrounding scenery dimmed a little. "Is this little disciple so important to you?"

"Of course. If you can't help me, then don't make sarcastic remarks here." Jiang Wan was anxious and didn't look happy.

"Wait a minute." There was silence for a few seconds. Just when Jiang Wan thought he would not speak again, Zi Yan called her again.

"What on earth do you want to do?" Jiang Wan was furious. "If you don't say a word at ordinary times, you will cause trouble at the critical moment!"

"Lord Shen Jianqing, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, will come to investigate a case in a few days." Zi Yan deliberately lowered his voice when he spoke, and his voice was more magnetic and seductive than usual. He just left with these words that were nowhere to be found, and then he walked away.

“? What does that mean?” Wang Da asked, touching his head.

Jiang Wan just stood there looking at Zi Yan for a long while, until he turned a corner and disappeared, then he sneered.

"It means we don't have to ask the magistrate for help."

Jiang Wan couldn't file a complaint because Magistrate Li would favor Huang Xingquan. But if an official from Beijing were to arrive, Magistrate Li wouldn't dare to openly show partiality in court. So, as long as she could save Wang Er's life and delay the trial until the Imperial Guard arrived in the city, she wouldn't have to worry about the Huang family releasing him.

Of course, doing so would anger the magistrate, and she might be punished in the future, but Jiang Wan didn't care about such a small issue. As long as the magistrate still needed the gift, she had room to maneuver.

She thought of Zi Yan's wealthy family, but she didn't expect that he even knew the itinerary of a high-ranking official like the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and she didn't expect that he would be willing to disclose it to her.

After all, telling this story might lead to someone guessing his identity.

But now wasn't the time to dwell on these matters; the most important thing right now was to save Wang Er. Jiang Wan speculated that after Wang Er was captured, the Huang family wouldn't be able to kill him immediately. After all, even if the magistrate favored him, they still had to consider the public's complaints and couldn't openly kill him in the mansion. So, they would most likely transport him outside the city when the gates opened tomorrow and then slaughter him.

As long as they could intercept the Huang family at the city gate and drag them to the yamen tomorrow, once the case was filed, Wang Er would be temporarily detained by the yamen until the case was closed. Although staying in the yamen wasn't necessarily safe, at least Jiang Wan could visit him every day, which was better than being at the Huang family with no news at all.

According to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the plaintiff had one chance to appeal within ten days of the verdict, and the case would be closed after ten days. If the plaintiff could not win the case by then, they could just wait until the tenth day to appeal again.

Jiang Wan went over the plan carefully, and after confirming that there were no omissions, she began to make arrangements: tomorrow morning she and Jiang An would go to the city gate to intercept the Huang family; at the same time, Wang Da would report the case as the brother, saying only that his younger brother was abducted while playing at the city gate, so that the government would send people to look for him.

"If you directly say that it was the Huang family who arrested someone, the county magistrate will most likely protect the Huang family and reject the appeal on the spot. Only if you say that your brother is missing will the county magistrate feel at ease to send someone to help look for him." Jiang Wan instructed.

After making arrangements at home, she picked out two smart hired farmhands and asked them to sell celadon on her behalf the next day, and to tell them about Wang Er's arrest in order to attract more passers-by to join in the fun at the yamen.

She was very familiar with the method of tragic marketing in her previous life, but Jiang Wan had always believed that improving the quality of the product would ensure its longevity, so she was reluctant to use it. But now that her apprentice was in imminent danger, she had to use it no matter how reluctant she was.