"Oh, there's no problem with that?"
After listening, Master Feng remained calm and composed.
"Yes, what Master Feng said earlier was correct, but what he said later was incorrect, because I didn't give Xu Wenchang any money at all."
"You didn't give him any money? Where did his money come from? Surely he didn't pay for it himself?"
After listening to Jing Zhe's explanation, Master Feng asked with some doubt.
“Master Feng was right! I did want to give him 15,000 taels of silver, but he said that the Da'an Newspaper was founded at the Emperor's suggestion, which is a good thing for the country and the people. He has been an official for many years and naturally wants to do some good for the country, so he will pay for it himself.”
I agreed at the time, but then I thought, even though Xu Wenchang had served as the Prefect of Jiangling for many years, his annual salary was fixed. Let alone 15,000 taels, he could hardly even scrape together 5,000 taels. That's why I became suspicious, so I consulted the old monk Kongjing, and that's how I discovered his embezzlement!
"..."
To be honest, Master Feng didn't hear much of what happened after that, because his mind was full of "15,000 taels of silver." As soon as Jing Zhe finished speaking, he immediately asked, "What did you just say... that you're going to give him 15,000 taels of silver?"
“That’s right. In Jiangling, Feng Family Restaurant has the best location and four floors. It’s always packed with customers. Let alone 15,000 taels, even 20,000 taels wouldn’t be too much! But since this is for the court, we can’t afford to spend too much money. So I’m going to buy Feng Family Restaurant for 15,000 taels of silver!”
"..."
Master Feng was stunned, and Madam Feng also felt that something was wrong, because Jing Zhe had indeed taken the initiative to buy the Feng family restaurant for 15,000 taels of silver.
At this moment, Jing Zhe added, "Xu Wenchang didn't ask me to take any money. Instead, he took out 15,000 taels of silver himself to trade with Master Feng and obtain the house deed. However, now that the truth has come out, the 15,000 taels of silver he used in the transaction were all embezzled and should be confiscated. Therefore, this transaction is completely invalid!"
At this point, Jing Zhe took out the guarantee and land deed for the 15,000 taels of silver he had previously used to buy the Feng Family Restaurant.
"Master Feng, here is the land deed, but you must give me this 15,000 taels of silver to hand over to the imperial court!"
Upon hearing this, Master Feng flew into a rage: "President Jing, I didn't receive the 15,000 taels of silver at all!"
At this moment, Feng, the wealthy man, had already cursed Magistrate Xu countless times in his heart. He now believed Jing Zhe's words without a doubt that Magistrate Xu had deliberately taken on the task of buying Feng's restaurant in order to curry favor with Jing Zhe, but ended up buying the restaurant for the low price of five thousand taels of silver!
This is...isn't this just money laundering?
"You didn't receive the 15,000 taels of silver? What does that mean?"
Master Feng quickly said, "President Jing, there must be some misunderstanding! Xu Wenchang told you that he bought Feng's Restaurant for 15,000 taels of silver, but he actually only gave us 5,000 taels!"
Jing Zhe shook his head in dissatisfaction and said, "Master Feng, you're lying to me."
"President Jing, how could I dare to lie to you? If you don't believe me, you can ask my wife!"
Madam Feng nodded repeatedly. She was starting to believe Jing Zhe's words and thought that Prefect Xu had deceived them—Madam Feng no longer trusted Prefect Xu at all.
"Heh, do you think I'm stupid? You two are husband and wife, so naturally you're in cahoots. I don't believe a word you say!"
Jing Zhe shook his head.
"President Jing, we really didn't lie to you! That Xu Wenchang... he's just too ruthless!"
Ignoring Feng Da Yuanwai's sobs, Jing Zhe continued, "I don't believe that, because I have evidence to prove that Xu Wenchang gave you 15,000 taels of silver."
"What evidence?"
Master Feng and Madam Feng said in unison.
"First of all, according to the confessions of the old monk Kongjing and Xu Wenchang, he embezzled more than 20,000 taels of silver over the years. However, after I arrested Xu Wenchang, I only found less than 5,000 taels of silver from him. So where did the remaining 15,000 taels go? That matches up with yours."
Furthermore, even a fool would know that the enormous Feng Family Restaurant is worth far more than five thousand taels of silver, and Master Feng and Madam Feng don't seem to be fools—well, they're not that foolish, so why would they agree to sell the restaurant for only five thousand taels? What you're saying doesn't hold water.
So, looking at it this way, Xu Wenchang must have bought the restaurant for 15,000 taels of silver. Of course, I won't let you suffer a loss. Xu Wenchang used embezzled funds to buy the Feng Family Restaurant for 15,000 taels, so I'll exchange the land deed of the Feng Family Restaurant for that 15,000 taels back with you. How about that, not a loss, right?"
What a loss! What a huge loss!
Master Feng had only received five thousand taels of silver. If he were to exchange it as Jing Zhe suggested, he would lose ten thousand taels of silver in the process. How could he possibly agree to that?
After thinking for a moment, he finally had an idea: "President Jing, we really were deceived by Xu Wenchang! He told you that he bought the deed to our restaurant for 15,000 taels of silver, but in reality he only gave us 5,000 taels! By the way, we have evidence!"
At the time of the transaction, Prefect Xu and Master Feng wrote a receipt for five thousand taels of silver. Without this receipt, Master Feng would not have handed over the land deed.
Therefore, Master Feng believed that as long as he produced the receipt for the five thousand taels of silver, Jing Zhe would understand—even now, he still naively believed that Jing Zhe, like him, was a victim.
"What evidence?"
"President Jing, please wait a moment!"
Master Feng naturally wouldn't carry such a transaction receipt with him all the time, so he immediately sent Madam Feng to get it.
Before long, Master Feng handed the receipt that Madam Feng had brought back to Jing Zhe: "President Jing, take a look! Xu Wenchang took the land deed from me for five thousand taels of silver! If President Jing really wants to confiscate the embezzled money, then I will return this five thousand taels of silver to President Jing—but as for the house deed..."
Master Feng didn't say anything more, but his meaning was clear: Jing Zhe could get back the five thousand taels, but the deed to the Feng family restaurant had to be returned!
Actually, Master Feng was quite happy, because he had listened to Magistrate Xu and thought that Jing Zhe was domineering and unreasonable, so he had no choice but to accept the loss and sell the restaurant for five thousand taels!
Now that he sees it, he realizes that they originally planned to buy their restaurant for 15,000 taels! So now he wants to quickly return all 5,000 taels of embezzled money to Jing Zhe, get back the property deed, and when Jing Zhe comes to buy the Feng family restaurant again, it will be 15,000 taels!
With this back and forth, this in and out, he can earn 10,000 taels more than the 5,000 taels he had already accepted. How could he not be happy?
————
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