Chapter 252 Proving His Innocence
Zhang Qiuhe became more and more excited as she spoke, and the onlookers began to whisper among themselves: "Yes, we've all bought rice from Zhou's rice shop several times, and we've never seen it moldy."
"Whether it has rained these days or not, the rice wouldn't have gotten moldy like this in a short time."
"Yes, this person must be deliberately framing them."
As they spoke, they pointed their criticism at the man in the dark blue clothes.
The man in the dark blue clothes had a slightly darkened face and said sternly, "I didn't frame the Zhou family. This rice was indeed bought from their rice shop. If you don't believe me, buy it a few more times. If something happens, they will only use the county government to pressure you and make you dare not speak out!"
Seeing that he had finished fussing, Du Wanchun stood up and said, "Your rice was definitely not bought from the Zhou family."
After saying that, he picked up the rice bag and poured out all the rice. "The rice from our Zhou Family Rice Shop is always stamped with the Zhou family's mark inside the bag. Look at this bag, there's nothing in it! Did you switch the bag after you bought the rice?!"
The man was stunned for a moment. "Mark? What mark? You're talking nonsense!"
Du Wanchun turned around and casually took out a bag of rice from the shop, then poured the rice into the rice bucket in the shop and opened the bag to look inside.
There was indeed a "周" (Zhou) character printed on the bottom of the beige cloth bag.
To prevent the goods from being switched or to prevent competitors from tampering with them, Du Wanchun specially had the character "Zhou" printed on the bottom of the bags.
Everyone looked over. "Yes, you can see that the rice bags from Zhou's Shop all have the character 'Zhou' printed on them."
Just then, someone in the crowd suddenly said, "There are words on them! I bought two bags here before, and they both had words on the bottom!"
Upon hearing this, the man in the dark blue clothes gradually became flustered. After hesitating for a moment, he argued, "Yes, there is indeed a mark. I switched the rice bags after I bought it."
Du Wanchun sneered, "So where's the rice bag you replaced?"
The man in the dark blue clothes rolled his eyes. "I lost it. I lost it after I changed it yesterday!"
Du Wanchun raised her voice and said, "Since you can't produce it, then you can't prove that this rice was bought by our Zhou family!"
The man in the dark blue clothes tried to continue arguing.
Du Wanchun said coldly, "If you still won't give up, then we'll go to the county government."
The man in dark blue clothes snorted and said, "Go to the county government office. Your husband is the magistrate, and he certainly won't show favoritism."
Du Wanchun slowly took two steps forward. "If you think the magistrate of Cheng'an County will be biased, then we'll go to Qingzhou Prefecture and ask the prefect to make a judgment!"
The man in the dark blue clothes finally realized he was afraid.
He stood up and backed away, saying, "You just wait, your Zhou family will be finished sooner or later!"
After saying that, he turned to leave.
However, after taking only two steps, he tripped over a stone on the ground and fell with a thud into the stinking ditch.
"Oh my God!"
His face was completely submerged in the stinky water, which caused the onlookers to burst into laughter.
He listened and laughed, then quickly got up and ran away from there.
Du Wanchun's eyes turned cold as she watched him leave.
The man hadn't gone far when he tripped and fell again, this time losing two of his front teeth.
Zhang Qiuhe watched from the side, pointed at him and laughed, "See that! Who told you to talk nonsense? You deserve to have your front tooth knocked out!"
The man, his mouth full of blood, scrambled away.
After the people left, Du Wanchun sent someone to clean up the moldy rice from the shop.
He then went into the shop and told the shopkeeper, "There may be more trouble in the coming days, so you must be careful and not let anyone take advantage of the situation."
The shopkeeper nodded and said, "Yes, madam."
Zhang Qiuhe came over and asked, "Wanchun, didn't Master Fang allow us to sell rice in Cheng'an County? Why are there still people causing trouble?!"
After a moment of contemplation, Du Wanchun replied, "In Cheng'an County and Qingzhou Prefecture, there are people helping to protect them, so no one has caused trouble. But it's not necessarily the case in other counties."
Zhang Qiuhe had a sudden inspiration, "Wanchun, according to what you're saying, it's very likely Wanzhou County."
Du Wanchun nodded. "I heard Magistrate Qu mention that there used to be a rice shop in Wanzhou County, but the old master of that rice shop passed away not long ago, and the family's rice shop was divided up by his sons. I think it must be related to them."
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