Chapter 15 Jiang Ran
I heard that the people who arrested people were the Jinwu Guards. The shopkeeper was arrested at noon and was thrown into prison in the blink of an eye.
The Imperial Prison is a prison directly under the control of the Emperor.
Jiang Ran knew that the bookstore was being targeted and this matter was not easy to resolve.
In the worst case scenario, the person who did it might even know that she was the owner of the bookstore. This move might have a back-up plan.
She didn't dare to be careless, so she asked Taoli to go back home to prepare some money, and she went back to the bookstore to find out the situation.
Jixian Bookstore has closed and hung a sign saying it is closed, but there are still many people crowding at the door to queue up to buy books.
Jiang Ran entered the shop from the back door, gathered all the writers and shop assistants present at the time, and asked them about the situation.
Recently, it is the time when new books are on sale. In particular, there is a book called "Yuanyanghui" based on Lu Weiqing, which is extremely popular. They printed more copies overnight, but it is still in short supply.
When she heard that the book was so popular, she was very happy and readily agreed. She only took ten copies and said she would share them with her sisters first.
Those who were arrested today were the shopkeeper and the editor-in-chief who went by the pseudonym Fuxuek.
"There were so many people queuing up that the Jinwu Guards suddenly rushed in and injured several girls."
"Not only did they arrest people, they also took away all the copies of 'Yuanyang Hui', even the ones they had just sold, claiming they were evidence of their crimes."
Now when they talk about that chaotic scene, they all tremble.
"Are all the books gone?"
Jiang Ran had a terrible headache. She now regretted not asking more about this matter before.
A scholar raised his hand tremblingly, "I have a copy hidden at home. I thought Brother Yu's book had a novel plot and exquisite wording, so I copied it by hand to study."
Jiang Ran followed him back to get it, and after just flipping through a few pages, he discovered a big problem.
"What's wrong with this name? You have been in this business for so long, don't you know the rules?" Jiang Ran stomped her feet in anger. How could the people she brought up make such a low-level mistake?
The hero of the story is a knight named Lu Xianqing. Although two characters have been changed, anyone with a discerning eye knows who he is referring to.
To put it mildly, this is a literary creation. To put it seriously, he was accused of fabricating the story of an imperial official, and the punishment was no exaggeration to say the least.
"No, the shopkeeper went to persuade her, and the girl said that if anything happened, she would take the responsibility."
"She's responsible? Do you know who she is? Can she handle it? Has she thought about the consequences?"
"The shopkeeper knows, and we asked him about it. He told us to do our job well and not to talk too much."
Jiang Ran was still somewhat intimidating when he got angry. The scholar was so scared that his legs were shaking. He told everything he knew, for fear of missing any details.
Jiang Ran was no longer so impatient after hearing this.
The shopkeeper is a very calm man. Since he agreed, he must have a good reason.
Judging from the current situation, this Miss Jiang Ran must have a very special identity, and finding her may be the key to breaking the deadlock.
"It's okay, go back and tell them to clean up and keep the bookstore open as usual."
"Don't panic, don't get confused, just keep doing what you need to do, and I'll take care of the rest."
After Jiang Ran finished explaining the bookstore matters, he pondered for a while, wrote a visiting card, and went to Xu's house.
Xu Qingwan was very surprised when she received the note, but she still asked her maid to bring Jiang Ran in.
Jiang Ran breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, she didn't have to climb the wall. She now had some psychological trauma about climbing walls.
"Jiang Ran? What are you doing here?"
Although Xu Qingwan agreed to meet her, she was very cautious. She had not forgotten that she had just tricked Jiang Ran not long ago, so it must be no good if she came to her door now.
"Xu Qingwan, tell me, who is the Jiang Ran who voted the most for Lu Weiqing this time?" Jiang Ran didn't have time to beat around the bush and went straight to the point.
Xu Qingwan's expression was very obvious, but she still forced herself to be tough: "What voting, what Jiang Ran, I don't know, I don't know."
Seeing her anxious denial, Jiang Ran felt more confident.
After what happened at the Princess's Mansion that day, she began to believe that Xu Qingwan's provocation was because of Lu Yu.
But when Xu Qingwan scolded Lu Yu, she was very sincere, which fully proved that Xu Qingwan, like her, believed from the bottom of her heart that Lu Yu was a fool.
She had just looked through the voting records in the bookstore. There was a girl named Qiao Qiao, who was always among the top three in the number of votes for Lu Weiqing every year, which showed that she came from a wealthy family and had admired Lu Weiqing for a long time.
Qiao Qiao is also very cautious. She always comes to the store to buy books and almost never makes a reservation and lets the clerk deliver them to her door. This shows that she has a strict upbringing and is the daughter of a wealthy family.
It was precisely because her maid came so many times that a servant recognized her as a maid in the Prime Minister's Mansion.
"Stop pretending. The Qiao Qiao who voted second, that's you, right?"
"You must have watched 'The Mandarin Ducks' and you must have been very dissatisfied. You must have checked who Jiang Ran is. Tell me now!"
Xu Qingwan turned pale, her face turned red and white, and she just wanted to shout for help.
The secret she had hidden for so many years was discovered! And it was discovered by the silly Jiang Ran. She really didn't want to live anymore!
Looking at her expression, Jiang Ran knew that he had made the right bet.
She took out the account book, flipped through it, slammed it on the table, and threatened: "Tell me or not?"
"The amount of money Qiao Qiao has spent at Jixian Bookstore over the years can be checked in the account book. I don't mind finding Madam Xu and calculating the accounts one by one so that we can talk it through clearly."
Xu Qingwan gritted her teeth, refusing to admit defeat. She stiffened her neck and said, "Go ahead and sue me. Let's see if my mother believes you or me."
Jiang Ran sighed and simply sat down. "I won't hide it from you. Today, Fu Xueke and the bookstore owner were both arrested by the Jinwu Guards and thrown into the Imperial Prison. If you don't tell me, I won't be able to save them."
"What?!" Xu Qingwan slammed the table. "How could this happen! Fuxueke has been arrested. What am I going to watch from now on?!"
"So you say or not."
"Oh, I'm so annoyed. Let me tell you, okay? Jiang Ran is Princess Le'an." Xu Qingwan said angrily.
Jiang Ran almost dropped his jaw in shock, "Princess Le'an? How is that possible? Isn't she saying to Lord Lu..."
"That's right, how could it be Princess Le'an? It took me a lot of effort to find out."
"I really don't understand why she would choose a name so similar to yours? Even if she didn't want to reveal her identity, she could have just chosen another alias."
"I can't believe it either, but this is the truth. I've told you everything I know. Believe it or not."
Xu Qingwan was indignant. She had spent all her private savings to vote.
If she had known that Princess Le'an was going to compete for first place, she would not have wasted the money.
I spent so much money to vote for the first place winner, and the heroine of the new book is Jiang Ran. God knows how angry she was when she got the book.
But "The Mandarin Ducks" was so well written that she couldn't help but read it in one breath.
After reading it, she became even angrier. She was so angry that she tried every possible way to find out who Jiang Ran was.
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