Yang Lou felt a little more at ease when he thought of the account book. Fortunately, the Shen family did not know that the real account book was in his possession.

He picked up his teacup, took a sip, and thought, "Wait, the Shen father and daughter really don't know?"

No, no! The people who went to Song Ren's place today were from the Shen family? What are their identities and what is their relationship with the Shen family?

What complaint is being filed? Shen Jiamu is detaining his savior and refusing to let him out!

Was she preventing her savior from coming out? If I'm not mistaken, that was Shao Jinxin's idea.

If it weren't for Wang Ying blocking the street to complain, this would have been an excellent idea.

They kept the Shen family under tight surveillance, and once the storm had passed, they allowed the Shen father and daughter to reunite with Shen Wan.

But now... what did those who knelt before Song Ren say today?

He genuinely didn't know the specifics of their conversation; all he got was a single sentence: the person who filed the complaint today was connected to the Shen family, and apparently, a maid from the Shen family was also involved. The details, however, were far more complex.

It took quite a bit of effort to find out what happened this morning, and I learned that Shen Jiamu had detained his savior in his mansion.

I was careless! I didn't hear Shao Jinxin mention that there was another group of people outside!

Yang Lou sat at his desk, intending to practice his calligraphy and calm his mind.

But now there's no time to grind the ink and lay out the paper, so why does Shen Jiamu leave a group of people outside?

His mind was in turmoil. He had been in control of all the information before this, and the sudden appearance of Wang Ying's complaint had really startled him.

He could only calm his mind, close his eyes, and start examining the whole matter from the beginning, meticulously listing every single detail.

Suddenly, Yang Lou opened his eyes! This little bastard! He's only fifteen or sixteen years old, yet he's already so cunning.

He is now certain that Shen Jiamu absolutely knows the ledger!

The question is whether the ledger is in the hands of the group outside or in Shen Jiamu's hands.

There are two possibilities. One is that he took the opportunity to hand over the account book to the family genealogy outside, and then used this opportunity to give it to Song Ren.

Another option is to have outsiders file complaints about civilians disappearing and being detained without cause.

Song Ren might visit later to check, and you can take the opportunity to hand over the account book to Song Ren again.

I just don't know which option she used.

Yang Lou summoned his trusted aides and ordered them to find out everything the person who filed the complaint today said, down to the last word.

Did they have any direct contact with Lord Song today? We can't take this opportunity to send him anything.

Shao Jinxin, that idiot! He's probably still gloating right now, thinking he's got the Shen family under control!

Little did he know, he was being completely manipulated by this little girl, Shen Jiamu, and had become a tool in her hands!

No matter how much Yang Lou hated him, he couldn't rashly go to Shao Jinxin to deliver a message!

It's not that he's afraid Lord Song will target him; even if he does take action, it won't be this quick.

But now he really takes Shen Jiamu seriously, and it's uncertain what tricks he might have up his sleeve.

Investigate all the matters thoroughly before taking any action!

………………………………………………………………

After Shen Jiamu and Granny Qian were brought back to the Shen residence, Shen Fu went to Shao Jinxin's place.

"In response to Master Shao, from today onwards, Miss Shen will not be able to find any reason to go out anymore."

I had already spoken to the Chamber of Commerce, and I only "discovered" the young lady's injuries on the way back.

A doctor will come to examine Miss's "fall injury" tomorrow, and no one is allowed to enter or leave her courtyard afterward.

"Okay! But she won't talk nonsense in front of the doctor, will she?"

Shen Fu sneered inwardly. Even the death of a grown man can be twisted into something out of nothing by you.

Moreover, for a mere knife wound, choosing that idiot Shao Jinxin is an outrage. It would be an injustice if Yang Lou didn't die!

"No, Miss bumped her shoulder today, and in her panic, she admitted that she had fallen and injured herself."

Within the chamber of commerce, many people knew and heard it clearly.

"That's good, that's good!"

A hint of doubt flashed through Shao Jinxin's mind: Why did he say that he was injured in a fall?

After thinking about it again, Shen Jiamu was probably afraid that if he revealed it was a knife wound, wouldn't the knife wound be much less serious?

Was she afraid that her colleagues would discover the truth—that she had been assassinated—and ridicule her, making it impossible for her to maintain her position in the industry?

After thinking it over, Shao Jinxin filled in the gaps in his understanding and finally felt relieved.

In this way, he realized that Shen Jiamu knew he had come with ill intentions!

But he didn't care at all. What could a little girl like her do even if she knew?

Aren't they still keeping a low profile and treating him with utmost respect and courtesy on the surface?

Once the time is right, Shen Jiamu will not be able to escape again!

Thinking this way, Shao Jinxin was in an extremely good mood. He put his hands behind his back and started humming a tune.

…………………………………………………………

After leaving the Pan residence, the first thing Song Ren did upon returning home was to open the account books.

In just seven years, Yang Lou amassed 300,000 taels of silver through various corrupt practices, increasing his initial sums from a few thousand taels to tens of thousands of taels.

The largest amount received was three years ago, when the Shen family gave 70,000 taels of silver as tribute.

Song Renshen let out a deep breath. Seventy thousand taels! He had collected seventy thousand taels from just one merchant!

It's likely that he's given away most of the Shen family's annual profits, considering the Shen family has a shipping business!

An ordinary cloth shop could earn several thousand taels a year, which was considered a considerable income.

The emperor secretly sent Song Ren to investigate another case: Yang Shuyi's brother, the deputy privy councilor, was suspected of selling tea to the enemy.

Earlier, Song Ren received a booklet from the Emperor, which recorded that Yang Lou, the prefect of Lin'an, would take advantage of his position to purchase large quantities of tea every year when paying tea taxes.

The enemy troops ate meat on the grasslands year-round, and tea could help them digest it, so the price of tea remained high.

The amount of tea available at the annual tea market is limited, so buying and selling tea privately can be extremely profitable.

Every year when tea is picked, Yang Lou personally oversees all the arrangements, leading the team and escorting the carts.

The tea leaves were harvested in quantities ten times greater, purchased at a cheap price, and then the quantity recorded in the official document (goods verification) for the shipment to the capital was normal.

Others would arrive at their sales locations along with the documents being shipped to various places.

Such a large quantity of tea leaves, once distributed to various places, would always disappear under various pretexts.

Either the tea leaves are too wet to be used, or the boat capsized on the way and is no longer usable.

Yang Lou was actually very careful about this matter, but such a huge quantity of tea was too unusual.

Before Song Ren left the capital, Yang Shuyi was already in poor health.

So he came here just to find solid evidence, but that old bastard Yang Lou is really cunning.

Perhaps sensing a hint of trouble, he immediately prepared to return to his hometown to observe mourning for his parents.

Song Ren thought there was a problem on his side, but now it seems that the Yang family is really audacious!

However, did the Shen family hand over these accounts because the two sides had fallen out due to collusion, or was the Shen family truly innocent?

According to Pan Chu's daughter, Shen Jiamu was indeed ambushed and his shoulder was slashed, but he was fortunate enough to be rescued.

It's also possible that Shen Wan's sudden death was an assassination, but there's also a possibility that the two sides were accusing each other, leading to a collapse due to unequal distribution of spoils.

Song Ren didn't want to make any comments too early, and wanted to wait and see.

However, with this unexpected windfall, he now had a way to get that old rascal Yang Lou moving.

The moment he makes a move or commits a mistake, they'll immediately have a suitable reason to arrest him. Arrest him first, then gather evidence in the tea case.

Tonight, many people suffered from insomnia, but everyone in Shenfu, who was at the center of the storm, slept soundly.

Wang Yan was sleeping soundly in bed; she had eaten a whole bowl of chicken and tofu pudding today.

After eating my fill, I slept very well when I got home that night.

Shen Jiamu finally took the first step and sent out the message. He felt a huge weight lifted off his shoulders and fell asleep as soon as he lay down on the bed.

Shao Jinxin was still dreaming, planning to use half of the Shen family's wealth to help his son get a high-ranking official position!

Little did he know that his superior, Yang Lou, sat in his study in fear and didn't sleep a wink all night.

After Wang Ying finished complaining, Qian Qing led them away from the restaurant.

The group wandered around for a while before finally finding a house to stay in. Wang Ying was worried and scared, and didn't sleep much that night. Ye Zi stayed with her instead of sleeping.

The next morning, the two men who were impersonating Wang Yingye at the restaurant were hacked to death.

Because Yang Lou had obtained their entire conversation, he became suspicious and felt that Ye Zi's words had a strong suggestive meaning.

Never mind that, let's deal with this batch of troubles outside first, and then quickly eliminate the Shen father and daughter.

Then Shao Jinxin will take the blame. He was originally appointed as the head of the salt mine because he was targeting the Shen family.

He planned to make enough money himself and then dump the mess on the Shao and Shen families.

The discovered salt mine is a small one, and it will be depleted in at most another year.

The initial funding for the mining was all handed over to Shao Jinxin, who handled everything himself; Yang Lou didn't get a single inch of the money.

The Shao family's foundation was too shallow. In terms of financial resources and strength, they had no way to open this salt mine privately, so in the end, Shen Wan would definitely take the blame.

But this rascal wife didn't buy into any of it. Her husband's clan leader was in the salt mine, and she actually used that as an excuse to collect evidence of his crimes!

Fortunately, Shen Fu, his inside man, delivered the accounts and evidence of the ill-gotten gains he had amassed by trying to open a mine directly to him.

That's all. What's the use of Shen Wan making a copy of the records privately kept by each shopkeeper with their fingerprints? She can be easily shut down with a simple "slander."

He originally intended to back down gradually and reasonably, but Shen Jiamu's actions made him somewhat wary.

Song Ren was a resourceful, clever and shrewd man.

Yang Lou dared not gamble, preferring to be suspected rather than let Song Ren uncover even a trace of the truth.

Besides, there's always that sucker Shao Jinxin to shield us, isn't there?