The two accountants who came with Qiao Zixi have spent the last three days recalculating the ledger that Qiao Zixi gave them.
The accounting wasn't difficult, but the prices listed were incorrect, and since they didn't know much about medicinal herbs, they had to look up many of them, which was why it took so long.
Before they came, they hadn't thought much about it, assuming they would definitely get a lot of money as a reward.
But now, he broke out in a cold sweat.
He Zhengyang couldn't see anything wrong with the account books. Seeing Qiao Zixi's certainty, he quickly asked the two accountants to speak.
"What's wrong with these ledgers?"
Then, fearing that the two might falsely accuse Su Muxi, he added, "This is a courtroom. If I find out that you are spouting nonsense, I will not let you off lightly!"
Unbeknownst to him, the scales in his heart had already tipped in favor of Su Muxi.
It's simply because the Qiao family's faces are too ugly!
The two accountants were so frightened that they immediately knelt down on the ground, their bodies trembling like leaves.
"I wouldn't dare lie, there really is a problem with these ledgers, but..."
One person was only speaking halfway through when the other person handed over a new ledger.
"This is a revised account book, please take a look, sir."
Seeing this, Qiao Zixi glanced at Su Muxi triumphantly, but failed to notice the odd behavior of the two accountants.
Seeing her daughter so confident, Madam Jiang didn't think much of it. When she looked at Su Muxi, a cold smile crept onto her lips.
He Zhengyang opened the ledger written by the accountant and compared it with Su Muxi's ledger. After a long while, he said in a deep voice, "Su Muxi, there is indeed a problem with your ledger."
Before Qiao Zixi and Madam Jiang could even rejoice, He Zhengyang continued, "The medicinal herbs you noted down are all much cheaper than those sold in pharmacies. Miss Qiao had the accountant recalculate for you. The Anyang Marquis's Mansion doesn't owe you 17,840 taels of silver; it should be 28,650 taels. What do you mean by asking for more than 10,000 taels less? Are you looking down on the Anyang Marquis's Mansion, afraid they can't afford to pay you?!"
Su Muxi almost burst out laughing when she heard He Zhengyang's words.
It seems that justice resides in the hearts of the people, and this Lord He is also perfectly clear-headed.
"In reply to Lord Jingzhao, I do not look down on the Marquis of Anyang's mansion, nor do I believe that the dignified Marquis of Anyang's mansion cannot afford this amount of money. It is just that the Marquis of Anyang once did my father a favor, and I lowered the price of the medicinal herbs only to repay that favor. I have no other intentions."
"I just didn't expect Miss Qiao to be so proud and unwilling to owe me anything. In that case, I'll repay the money according to the account book that Miss Qiao had someone rewrite."
As he spoke, he quickly gave Qiao Zixi a slight bow, "Miss Qiao, it was my fault for not taking your self-esteem into account. I apologize to you here."
Qiao Zixi finally understood. There was a problem with the account book, but it wasn't that Su Muxi had asked for too much money; rather, she had asked for too little…
Ignoring Su Muxi, he stepped forward angrily and kicked one of the accountants, demanding sharply, "What's going on! Didn't you tell me there was something wrong with these ledgers?!"
The accountant who wasn't kicked remained cowering in place, while the kicked accountant could only grit his teeth and say, "The ledgers do indeed have problems... We thought the shopkeeper had tampered with the ledgers to embezzle money, but we never expected..."
Unexpectedly, it was exactly the opposite.
Jiang was so angry at Qiao Zixi's blunder that her face turned red. Seeing the mocking looks in the eyes of the people around her, Jiang covered her head and fainted in Qiao Zixi's arms.
"Mother! Mother, how are you?!"
"Su Muxi, it's all your fault! You're a lowly and ugly female doctor, married to my brother and still not satisfied. Do you have to kill our whole family before you're satisfied?!"
Hearing Qiao Zixi's questioning, Su Muxi was too lazy to argue with her. She simply looked straight at He Zhengyang and waited for his verdict.
Seeing this, He Zhengyang slammed his hand on the table and shouted, "Quiet! Qiao Zixi, you had the accounts checked, and you barged into this courtroom without permission. Now you're making a scene here. I ask you, what exactly do you want?!"
When Qiao Zixi saw Jiang Shi faint and He Zhengyang so stern, she couldn't help but lose her composure despite her resentment.
After hesitating for a moment, he said in a low voice, "Then I will sue Su Muxi for harming my brother!"
He then embellished and repeated what Sun Shan had said the day before.
"Even the head of the Imperial Medical Academy said so, Su Muxi is definitely guilty of harming my brother! If Su Muxi hadn't given my brother such a strong medicine, he wouldn't be crippled now. So it's all Su Muxi's fault. I beg Your Honor to punish Su Muxi!"
Su Muxi never expected that the head of the Imperial Medical Academy would say such irresponsible things!
She hurriedly defended herself, saying, "I have never used any strong medicine on the heir of the Marquis of Anyang. I have my medical log to testify to this. I beg you, sir, to summon Physician Sun. I am willing to go to court with him to clear my name!"
He Zhengyang felt utterly overwhelmed.
How come more and more people are getting involved?
Moreover, Qiao Zixi is also oblivious to the situation. Jiang Shi was clearly faking fainting in order to hastily end the matter and leave.
But Qiao Zixi wasn't satisfied with the situation and continued to cause trouble.
Left with no other choice, He Zhengyang had to send someone to invite Sun Shan.
Jiang, who was pretending to faint, secretly pinched Qiao Zixi, and only then did Qiao Zixi realize that her mother was still unconscious!
"My lord, my mother is still unconscious. I'd like to take her back to her residence first, and then I'll come over later, is that alright?"
He Zhengyang nodded.
Since Sun Shan's arrival time was still unknown and Xu San's accusations were unsubstantiated, Jiang was naturally able to return home.
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