"What happened?"
A voice came from the stairs behind him. Prefect Cao, followed by Stone, slowly descended the stairs.
"What's all this commotion? The Prefect is here! How dare you cause trouble!"
Shi Tou shouted and quickly invited Prefect Cao down.
The man opposite him changed his expression instantly upon hearing Shi Tou's words.
Prefect Cao walked over with a sullen face. His calm and composed demeanor changed when he saw the man opposite him.
Before Prefect Cao could speak, Song Ning quickly stepped forward and said, "Lord Cao, it is an honor for our shop to be open today. We did not want to bother you with this matter, but... after all, these are members of the Li family, so it would be good for you to come and listen."
The two had agreed when Prefect Cao entered that she wouldn't say anything as long as the Li family didn't cause trouble.
Before the words had even faded from memory, the Li family arrived.
She couldn't wait even a day; her restaurant had just opened and she was already impatient.
When Shi Tou was investigating Li Ji before, he had met the Li family. The man in front of him was Li Xiang, the second son of the Li family and Li Ji's younger brother.
They've come to avenge Li Ji.
"This young master Li came here and immediately said that the food here was not clean and demanded that I pay him a thousand taels of silver. Lord Cao, what do you think?"
"Don't worry, Miss Song, I will handle this matter properly."
Song Ning smiled broadly, her eyes crinkling: "Lord Cao, we agreed to keep to ourselves from now on. As for the Li family... I wonder if you still stand by your word today?"
"Yes, of course it counts, Miss Song. He's just being immature. Don't worry, the Li family will never appear in front of you again."
Seeing Prefect Cao's humble attitude, Li Xiang became furious: "Uncle, she's the one who killed my elder brother. Why are you being so polite to her? Didn't you say you wanted to avenge my brother?"
Wow, I've seen fathers who cause trouble, but this is the first time I've seen an uncle who causes trouble.
"Really? So the Cao family and the Li family want to avenge Li Ji?"
Prefect Cao was sweating profusely. If it weren't for so many people watching, he would have gone up and torn that mouth apart.
"It's a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding." He then turned to Li Xiang: "Shut up!"
"Originally, I didn't want to argue with him today because of you, but, Lord Cao, you should take a look at this first."
As he spoke, he showed the token in his hand.
While others present might not recognize the token, Prefect Cao did. It was a gold medal bestowed by His Majesty, a privilege reserved for members of the royal family.
Seeing this gold medal is like seeing His Majesty; there are only a handful of them in the entire Jin Dynasty.
Prefect Cao's legs went weak, and he knelt down before Song Ning.
"This humble official was blind and did not recognize your greatness. Please spare my life, young lady."
Even Prefect Cao knelt down, and the rest of the people followed suit. Apart from the people from Xiangyun Tower, only Li Xiang remained standing.
"You think you can act tough just because you have a broken sign? Who are you trying to scare? Uncle, how dare you kneel before such a vicious person!"
Prefect Cao felt like dying; the Li family was truly trying to kill him.
I originally thought he was just someone protected by Prince Qi, but now it seems that Song Ning's status is only more noble.
"Shut up and kneel down! If you say another word, even the King of Heaven himself can't save you!"
Song Ning waved his hand dismissively, "No need to kneel. This gold medal was just bestowed upon me by His Majesty. So what if I don't respect His Majesty? It doesn't matter. At worst, my entire family will be executed. Anyway, there are many members of the Li family."
Prefect Cao's heart trembled. It was over. This time, it was really over.
Song Ning's smile vanished, and his expression instantly turned serious: "I'll say it again, I do business with integrity. What is, is. I admit what's in the food, but I wouldn't dare accept something that's not there. Young Master Li, I'll ask you one more time, are these flies really in the food?"
Li Xiang started to panic. In order to frame Xiangyunlou, he had his family members spend a long time arresting him yesterday.
He wanted to ruin Xiangyunlou and Song Ning's reputation. His elder brother couldn't have died in vain. He was the one who would take care of this matter, even if others didn't.
“I know you want to avenge your elder brother. In that case, let everyone hear what Li Ji has done.”
Prefect Cao, kneeling, was deathly pale. Others might not know the dirty deeds Li Ji had committed, but he knew that if they were to be exposed, not only the Li family's reputation but also the Cao family's would be ruined.
"Miss Song, you mustn't..."
Song Ning ignored him and turned to Zhao Qiao'er: "Sister Qiao'er, come and tell everyone about the glorious deeds of the eldest son of the Li family."
Zhao Qiao'er had long harbored deep hatred for the Li family and was not afraid of others knowing about her past. She was willing to do anything to ruin Li Ji and the Li family's reputation.
Zhao Qiao'er recounted how Li Ji took her away and how she was sent to Qingyuefang.
Apart from her, all the women who had been violated by Li Ji and survived were sent to Qingyuefang, while those who died were thrown into a dry well in the backyard of the Li family.
"If the prefect were to investigate, he might be able to retrieve quite a few skeletons from that well."
Many people naturally didn't believe Zhao Qiao'er's words alone, but after Zhao Qiao'er, quite a few others came forward. They were all people who had been harmed by Li Ji.
"Young Master Li, is your Li family aware of these matters?"
Li Xiang was stunned for a long time, his face filled with disbelief. In his eyes, his elder brother had always been a gentle, polite, humble, and filial person. How could he...?
"Impossible...impossible..."
"Lord Cao, Li Ji's crimes are heinous, and the Li family has been protecting him for so many years. According to the laws of the Jin Dynasty, shouldn't they be punished as well?"
Prefect Cao was in complete despair.
He originally intended to maintain a good relationship with Song Ning and suppress this matter. As long as he didn't have any further conflicts with Song Ning, this matter would remain a secret.
Unexpectedly, it was still exposed.
It's over, it's all over now.
The people around were stunned by Zhao Qiao'er's statement. If it were just her alone, they might not have believed it completely, but now that so many people have stood up to testify, they couldn't help but believe it.
Moreover, many of the people who came to eat today were regulars at Qingyuefang before, and they had all seen these girls and heard about them to some extent.
"Impossible! You're just taking advantage of my brother's death to slander him. I don't believe it!"
"Whether you believe it or not doesn't matter, these are facts anyway. Also, the matter of you putting flies in our food hasn't been resolved yet."
Li Xiang's eyes darted around, clearly feeling guilty: "It's just that your food wasn't clean, don't try to pin the blame on me."
No sooner had he finished speaking than someone in the crowd shouted, "I can testify that he put those flies in there himself!"
Li Xiang's eyes widened in fury in an instant.
The man stepped out from the crowd and knelt before Song Ning: "I know a friend who works for the Li family. He told me that... he said the second young master of the Li family was catching flies in the yard yesterday."
Wow, this is the first time I've ever seen a nephew deliver sales figures to his uncle.
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