Since arriving at Juxianlou, Chen Jiannan has been harboring a lot of resentment.
Now they've been swindled out of so much silver by Juxianlou—even though Jing Zhe has explained the plan to him and he knows that they'll eventually get the silver back, he's still furious!
He knew that this man in the cotton coat was in cahoots with Manager Hu and the bald waiter. Now that Jing Zhe had guessed too correctly, he jumped out to cause trouble. How could Chen Jiannan tolerate that?
So, all the anger that had been building up over the past few days exploded in that instant!
After kicking, he roared, and more than a dozen people he brought from the newspaper rushed up and pinned the man in the cotton coat to the ground, kicking him half to death. If someone upstairs hadn't shouted "Stop!", they probably wouldn't have stopped.
"Stop this at once!"
Prefect Liu stormed downstairs.
"What kind of behavior is this? What kind of behavior is this?!"
At this moment, the hall was in complete chaos, the atmosphere of the Lantern Festival Poetry Gathering was completely gone, and it looked more like a street brawl.
"Prefect Liu, you must stand up for me! They're trying to beat me to death!"
The man in the cotton-padded coat, his mouth full of blood from the beating, saw Prefect Liu as if he had seen a savior, and scrambled to his side.
At this moment, Jing Zhe finally confirmed the person's identity.
With a prince, a prefect, the Qu family's cloth shop, and the Juxianlou restaurant, the Zhou family's cloth workshop is truly surrounded by formidable enemies. If I don't intervene, the Zhou family probably won't even last until the first month of the lunar calendar!
However, Jing Zhe is no longer just helping Zhou Ziqiong; he wants to teach these bastards a lesson!
At this moment, the servants of Juxianlou rushed over and surrounded Jing Zhe and the others.
Prefect Liu glanced at the man in the cotton-padded coat, then pointed at Jing Zhe: "Arrest him!"
"..."
Jing Zhe was speechless. Was this prefect out of his mind? Wasn't this too obvious? He didn't arrest the person who assaulted him, but he was openly going to arrest him. Wasn't he just afraid that Jing Zhe would try to solve the riddle again?
As soon as he finished speaking, the servants were about to rush forward, but Chen Jiannan and his group were not to be underestimated. The nearly twenty of them were no less formidable than the servants, and they directly confronted each other.
"How dare you! I am the Prefect of Ruzhou. What, do you intend to disobey my orders?"
Jing Zhe waved his hand, signaling Chen Jiannan to step back.
Then, smiling, he said, "This must be Prefect Liu, right?"
"It is indeed I, the official!"
Prefect Liu stood tall and proud, looking quite imposing.
"Prefect Liu, I have a few questions, but I'm not sure if I should ask them."
"If you don't know whether to ask or not, then don't ask!"
"Let's ask."
Jing Zhe ignored him completely and said directly, "First of all, Prefect Liu is not wearing his official robes, so he's probably not on official business but here for personal matters. Not wearing his official robes and ordering a group of servants to arrest people—isn't that against the laws of Da'an and the proper procedures for reporting a crime?"
"..."
Prefect Liu was surprised that the man who had seemed so foolish just moments before was now so knowledgeable about officialdom, but he still said, "I have indeed come on private business, but you have committed a crime in my territory, so it is only right that I arrest you! The constables haven't arrived yet, so let them take you into custody first. Once the constables arrive, I will take you back to the government office!"
Jing Zhe smiled and said, "In that case, Prefect Liu should have them leave first. We won't leave either. If they really want to arrest someone, let's wait for the constables to arrive! Otherwise, if they make the first move, they can't blame us for acting in self-defense!"
"..."
Prefect Liu had been an official for many years, and this was the first time he had encountered a commoner who dared to speak to him so boldly. Moreover, judging from the eager looks of the people around him, it seemed that it was indeed possible!
"You... step back!"
"Yes, Prefect Liu!"
Jing Zhe sneered and said, "Also, if Prefect Liu is going to arrest people, why did he arrest me?"
"Because you hit someone!"
"Prefect Liu is old and his eyesight may not be very good. He didn't see clearly. I didn't lay a hand on him at all, not even my foot. To say I hit someone is pure slander. Prefect Liu, watch out, or I'll sue you!"
"..."
Then, Jing Zhe addressed the crowd, saying, "Everyone can be my witness. Did you see me hit someone just now?"
"No!"
Zhou Ziqiong was the first to shout it out, and the others immediately echoed her.
"Yes, this young master was standing in the back the whole time, how could he possibly hit someone?"
Jing Zhe smiled and bowed to everyone in gratitude, then turned to Prefect Liu and said sarcastically, "Prefect Liu, your eyesight may be poor, but surely your hearing isn't bad either? Listen to what everyone is saying, I didn't lay a finger on anyone, so you can't arrest me! Prefect Liu, you're in such a hurry to arrest me, people might think you're afraid I've guessed too many riddles, that's why you're arresting me!"
"Whoosh!"
Another uproar erupted in the crowd.
It would have been better if he hadn't brought it up. After Jing Zhe mentioned it, and considering that Prefect Liu had stayed upstairs for so long without coming down, but then came down at this time, it seems that he really was helping Manager Hu!
"You, you, you...you, don't talk nonsense!"
Prefect Liu said with dissatisfaction.
"Oh, I was just making that up!"
Jing Zhe shook his head. "In that case, Prefect Liu, please don't delay my riddle-solving, otherwise the Lantern Festival Poetry Gathering might not be able to start for a while!"
So Jing Zhe stopped paying attention to him and started guessing riddles at high speed again. Every time he guessed one correctly, Manager Hu's heart would tremble.
In about fifteen minutes, Jing Zhe had solved all the riddles. After removing the few he guessed wrong, there were exactly five hundred riddles. After witnessing his skill, everyone agreed that Jing Zhe had deliberately guessed the wrong ones to make up a round number!
That's really impressive!
"I've finished guessing, Manager Hu."
Jing Zhe turned his head away and said, "Let's pay the bill!"
"this…"
Manager Hu was at a loss for words. Five hundred riddles, each worth fifty taels of silver, with Juxianlou and Zhou's Cloth Shop each worth twenty-five taels, that would amount to twelve thousand five hundred taels!
Although he had run Juxianlou for so many years, and had colluded with Prince Yu and Prefect Liu, he had indeed made a lot of ill-gotten wealth, and he happened to have saved 10,000 taels of silver notes.
In addition, after Jing Zhe entered the shop, he paid him nearly three thousand taels of silver notes, so he was able to take out that much silver.
But the key point is, it hurts to spend the money!
He thought it was a sure-fire deal, but he not only didn't make a penny, he also lost all his savings. Wasn't he just wasting most of his life?
Seeing that he hadn't made a move, Jing Zhe became somewhat impatient and urged him, "Manager Hu, hurry up and give me the money! Why were you so quick to take my three thousand taels of silver, but now you're being so hesitant when it comes to paying? What, are you trying to renege on your debt? There are so many scholars in Ruzhou City watching, and Prefect Liu is here too. If you dare to renege on your debt, I'll sue you!"
"..."
————
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