Chapter 361: Deceiving the Superiors and Deceiving the Subordinates
When Mrs. Lin entered the palace, she knew that the King of Qi had evidence in his hands, otherwise he would not have rashly exposed her.
When she saw the evidence handed to her, a chill ran down her spine.
She forced herself to remain calm and picked up the two account books beside her knees.
The first account book records in detail the tea permits obtained by the Lin family tea shop in recent years.
The second account book records the weight of tea sold by the Lin family tea shop.
The weight of tea sold by Lin's Tea Shop is twice the weight of the tea permit.
Old Lady Lin was shocked at the King of Qi's tactical skills. He actually searched the tea shop thoroughly. The amount of tea sold was exactly the same as the amount found.
"How could it be..." Madam Lin pretended to be incredulous and flipped through the account book again, as if she couldn't accept this so-called evidence. "Your Highness, the tea shop is owned by the Lin family, but from the beginning to the end, we have never interfered in the management. Everything was left to the shopkeeper alone."
"The shopkeeper reports the accounts every month, and the tea sold has never exceeded the weight of the tea voucher." Madam Lin held up the two account books in her hands, her tone full of doubt. "The account books you gave me are different from the ones I see every month."
Old Madam Lin exonerated herself. There was something wrong with the account book of the tea shop. Either the shopkeeper had made false accounts to fool her, or the King of Qi had fabricated false accounts to frame her.
The King of Qi sneered and took out another account book. "This is the detailed income of the Lin family tea shop for the whole year last year, as well as the 10% dividend distributed to the shopkeeper."
Madam Lin grabbed the account book and flipped through it, shaking with anger. "It's fake, all fake. Am I getting senile and confused?"
"No matter how good the tea shop's business is, the most I can give the owner is a 1% bonus. How could I give him a 10% bonus? I'm in business, not charity. This is ridiculous."
Madam Lin asked in return, "Your Highness, if it were you, would you give the steward another ten percent of the money you pocketed?"
The King of Qi had a gloomy expression on his face. No normal person would do this.
When he first found out that Madam Lin gave the shopkeeper a 10% bonus, he thought she had made a mistake.
After checking again, it was found that Mrs. Lin did give the shopkeeper a 10% bonus, and she did so for three consecutive years.
The King of Qi was very confused and didn't understand why Madam Lin gave the shopkeeper such a high bonus.
In the end, it was just thought that Mrs. Lin bribed the shopkeeper to prevent him from having second thoughts and exposing the Lin family's illegal tea sales.
It was only then that he suddenly realized that Madam Lin's high bonus to the shopkeeper was not only intended to win people's hearts, but also to shift the blame if something went wrong.
"I risked my life for selling illegal tea, which shows that I'm a money-grubber. Not withholding money from my subordinates is already a sign of utmost kindness. How could I give so much money to a mere steward for nothing?"
Madam Lin said to the Northern Qi Emperor, "Your Majesty, you have shown great favor to the Lin family by sending them extra tea permits every year. I am extremely grateful for this. How could I be so greedy as to engage in the business of smuggling tea?"
"A great tragedy has befallen the Lin family. I am heartbroken and have no energy to care for the affairs of the shop. The shopkeeper is an elder of the Lin family. He has always acted prudently and is loyal to me. Whatever he says is true, and I have never doubted his loyalty."
"Who would have thought... Your Highness would accuse me of selling illegal tea and even produce so much evidence. I, your Highness, knew nothing about it."
Madam Lin knelt on the ground and cried out, "I am innocent. Your Majesty, please look into this matter and clear my name."
The Northern Qi Emperor frowned. The Lin family had been plagued by recent troubles, and those who had previously supported the Xian Wang faction hadn't wavered. After the Jiang family broke off the engagement, they began to lean towards the Qi Wang and were even in contact with Zhao Yi.
This was not what he wanted to see. In order to consolidate the position of the virtuous king, he specially commended the virtuous king during the morning court session and even handed over some government affairs to the virtuous king to handle.
Little did they know that the King of Qi would expose the Lin family's crime of selling private tea. These private teas were not only sold to the dignitaries of Northern Qi, but also to foreign countries.
According to the laws of the Northern Qi Dynasty, anyone who sold contraband tea out of the country would be punished for the crime of colluding with foreigners.
If the Lin family is convicted, then everyone in the family will be executed.
The Emperor of Northern Qi was caught in a dilemma and felt dissatisfied with the King of Qi.
When the Emperor of Northern Qi saw the evidence and still did not punish the Lin family, the King of Qi understood in his heart that the Emperor of Northern Qi wanted to protect the Lin family.
This realization gave him a strong sense of crisis, and he wanted to crush the Lin family even more and make it impossible for them to recover.
Without waiting for the Northern Qi Emperor to speak, he continued, "Father, I'm afraid I've misunderstood the Lin family, so I've investigated the tea shop's regular customers and learned the price of each type of tea. From these prices, I've concluded that the Lin family is selling private tea."
"Mrs. Lin always claims she never interferes with the business of the shop, and that everything is entirely up to the owner. Without the master's permission, a mere steward wouldn't be able to ship contraband tea to foreign countries and sell it."
"After all, under the rule of my father, the officials of Northern Qi dared not slack off even a little. Especially at the checkpoints and passes, they never failed to oversee them. Only in special circumstances were they forced to submit for the sake of their lives and property, and to deceive their superiors and subordinates."
The Emperor of Northern Qi understood what the King of Qi meant. He knew that the steward had the courage to sell private tea with the permission of Old Lady Lin.
The checkpoints and passes responsible for inspecting tea only allowed the Lin family to sell private tea because they were threatened by the Lin family.
Old Madam Lin was anxious and said quickly, "I gave the steward the power to manage the shop. He is in charge of buying tickets and tea. If he has bad intentions, he can do evil things outside under the banner of the Lin family. Besides..."
She changed the subject: "How much silver the tea shop sold? These are private accounts. Apart from me, only the shopkeeper knows. Your Highness knows how much silver my tea shop sold on account. Could it be that the shopkeeper told you?"
At this point, Madam Lin said with a chilling heart, "I treated the shopkeeper well, like a family member. He actually took advantage of my trust and betrayed me. He used the Lin family's name to sell private tea outside, and even colluded with outsiders to frame me and punish me."
These words directly pointed out that the shopkeeper was bribed by the King of Qi and framed her for selling contraband tea.
The King of Qi's expression suddenly changed, and he said sternly, "I know how much your tea sold for because I followed the clues and found out about another secret affair of the Lin family."
He took out a letter from his sleeve and threw it directly at Mrs. Lin.
The envelope scratched Mrs. Lin's face, leaving a thin trail of blood, and fell into her arms.
Facing the imposing King Qi, Old Lady Lin's heart was in suspense, fearing that the evidence King Qi would produce this time would leave her with no way to refute.
Her hand holding the letter trembled uncontrollably, and she pulled out a note from the envelope tremblingly.
After Mrs. Lin saw the list clearly, she looked horrified as if she had seen something terrible.
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