What Haitang said, Shen Yuan could naturally understand as well.
Temporarily closing down can indeed reduce losses, but Huajian Restaurant is currently in the eye of the storm. Once it closes down, it will only embolden those who are waiting to see them fail.
Moreover, although it's called a temporary closure, it's difficult to reopen once it's shut down. In that case, a temporary closure would actually mean bankruptcy!
Therefore, even if it loses money every day, Huajian Restaurant cannot close down.
Shen Yuan said, "Today, just like yesterday, we will distribute the leftover food to the refugees and beggars."
Haitang pursed her lips and agreed, "Okay!"
Shen Yuan left the restaurant, went back to the pharmacy to get something, and then went to the prefect's mansion alone.
The gatekeeper of the prefect's mansion had seen Shen Yuan before. After ascertaining her purpose, he allowed her into the mansion.
The butler settled Shen Yuan in the foyer, had a servant brew her a cup of ordinary jasmine tea, and said to her, "My master is still busy, please wait here for now!"
After saying that, the steward went to attend to his own business.
Shen Yuan waited in the lobby, not in a hurry.
Actually, if she went through Doctor Jiang's connections and asked Old Master Murong to come with her, the steward would definitely personally lead her to Prefect Jiang, and she would have a better chance of getting what she wanted.
But Shen Yuan didn't want the old man to have to accompany her on a trip to do favors for her students over such a small matter.
Therefore, Shen Yuan did not trouble Doctor Jiang and Elder Murong.
The governor is indeed very busy, as he has official business to attend to in the morning and personal matters to attend to in the afternoon.
Shen Yuan waited in the lobby all afternoon, and she met five people who came to see Prefect Jiang.
Although she was the first to arrive, she still hadn't heard the steward call her name until all five of them came out of Magistrate Jiang's reception hall.
As the sun set, Shen Yuan couldn't help but feel anxious, and she had a vague feeling that Prefect Jiang might not see her today.
She was just thinking about coming back tomorrow if she couldn't come today, when she saw the butler walk into the hall.
She quickly stood up and bowed.
The butler glanced at her indifferently and said, "My master wants you to come in! Please come with me!"
Shen Yuan followed behind the steward, carrying a small wooden box, and walked through the second courtyard before arriving at the reception hall in the center of the prefect's mansion.
"This humble woman, Shen Yuan, greets Your Excellency, the Prefect!"
Shen Yuan entered the house, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed to Prefect Jiang.
Seeing Shen Yuan perform the grand salute, Prefect Jiang frowned but said nothing, only telling Shen Yuan to rise.
After Shen Yuan stood up, she bent over, walked forward, opened the box she had brought, and presented it to him.
"This is a blood-nourishing pill specially made by a commoner, using the Crane Blood Flower from the southern foothills of the mountain. Those who are deficient in qi and blood should divide this medicine into ten portions, dissolve them in water, and take it for three days. Their complexion will become rosy and their qi and blood will be vigorous. Those who have lost too much blood due to injury can swallow this pill and their lives will be spared."
Prefect Jiang lowered his eyes to look at the wooden box on the table. He raised his thick eyebrows. He had been serving in Nanlu Mountain for three years and naturally knew how rare Crane Blood Flower was, as well as the effects of medicine made from it.
"Such a nice thing, why give it to me instead of your teacher's wife?"
Magistrate Jiang walked unhurriedly to Shen Yuan with his hands behind his back, slammed the lid of the box shut, and then turned to look at Shen Yuan with a scrutinizing gaze: "Speak! What do you want to ask of me?"
Shen Yuan's heart skipped a beat. As expected of Prefect Jiang, who had been navigating the officialdom for many years, he could tell from the moment she entered that she had come with an ulterior motive.
Since Magistrate Jiang had already asked, Shen Yuan didn't hide anything. She knelt on the ground and recounted the story of the Flower Pavilion Restaurant.
Magistrate Jiang stood with his hands behind his back, his face indifferent: "So, you want me to uphold justice for those pipa players in your restaurant?"
"My act of freeing them from their social status has already broken precedent. If I were to stand up for them again, what would the people in the court say about me?"
Shen Yuan's heart tightened. People in the court would say that Prefect Jiang had an affair with the girls of Zuichunlou, which was why he had removed them from the register.
He even impeached Prefect Jiang, spreading rumors that he frequented brothels and that's why he kept standing up for a few prostitutes.
She knew all of this.
Shen Yuan prostrated herself on the ground, "Your Excellency, please understand! I did not mean for Your Excellency to stand up for them!"
"The owner of Huajian Restaurant is a woman, who is a small merchant in Jian'an City."
"Now a shop has been deliberately sabotaged and is unable to open for business. It would be good if the Prefect would strengthen the security management of the shops in the city!"
"Oh?" A hint of surprise flashed in Prefect Jiang's eyes. "How do you want me to strengthen management?"
Shen Yuan said, "In recent days, there have been many customers who try to dine and dash at my shop. Not only do they want to eat but they also harass my shop's workers, making it difficult for my shop to operate normally. I implore Your Excellency to arrest and punish these bullies to put the minds of the many merchants in Jian'an City at ease!"
After hearing this, Prefect Jiang did not give Shen Yuan a direct answer.
Instead, he walked around the table a few times with his hands behind his back.
Shen Yuan remained kneeling on the ground. In truth, she had come to plead with Prefect Jiang today, but she didn't have much hope of winning.
But she had no choice but to try her luck at the prefect's residence.
Women in this world don't have many options for making a living. Of the girls who left Zuichunlou, six followed her to open a shop, two married as concubines, and the rest ended up in brothels.
She refused to let Haitang and the others leave the Flower Garden Restaurant because she was afraid that if they left, they would wander back into the quagmire they had just managed to escape, and then never be able to get out again.
The Flower Pavilion Restaurant held extraordinary significance for her, for Haitang and the other girls, and for the other women in Jian'an City. She had to make the Flower Pavilion Restaurant a success.
Only when the Flower Pavilion Restaurant is established will those who abandoned her regret their decision, and those who have been silently watching her from behind will realize that there is a third way out for a woman, between marriage and becoming a nun.
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