Chapter 121 How could the head merchant surnamed Liu not remember his own family's accounts? ...
"What?!" Li Yang exclaimed in shock. "Why?"
"The officers only said that the teahouse was causing trouble and needed to cease operations, so they put up a seal," Ziyan said in a low voice.
Upon hearing this, Zhuang Ziyang asked, "Who came to seal it up?"
Ziyan described the other party's clothing and appearance in detail, "It's the Golden Guard!" Li Yang knew it as soon as he heard it. This group of people had been causing trouble at the teahouse one after another. It was the same group that captured Chen Junbai last time. Li Yang would never forget it.
Her hard-won composure began to waver again. She was just an ordinary citizen running a teahouse, and yet these people kept causing trouble. Wasn't it because they had Zhang Youdao and his ilk backing them up? Hadn't Zhang Youdao already caused them enough harm? Did they have to be so ruthless?
The Chen family's business has been shut down, the teahouse has been shut down, my grandfather's family's business has been shut down, what's next? What's next? Are they going to kill them?
"This is outrageous!" Zhuang Shutong shouted angrily.
Seeing this, Ziyan said, "Zhaozhao, it's fine if the teahouse is closed, but there's something else you don't know yet. Li Yuhan and Liu Yitong have been brought to the capital."
The people inside looked surprised, clearly unaware of the news. Ziyan continued, "The teahouse received a letter from Songshan Town the day before yesterday, saying that a high-ranking official had come to the capital. After several days of interrogation, he brought Zhang Youdao, Zhong Zhengyuan, and two salt merchants to the capital."
"Then, what did they find out?" Li Yang asked hurriedly.
Ziyan shook her head. "The letter didn't go into details, it only said that we would go to the capital to continue the trial."
Zhuang Ziyang nodded and said, "Then there is no conclusion yet, otherwise it wouldn't be necessary to go to the capital for further investigation. Miss, do you know when we will go to the capital?"
Ziyan nodded. "Prime Minister Zhuang, according to the date mentioned in the letter, we should arrive in the capital in three days."
Zhuang Shutong: "There are still three days left. Zhao Zhao, why don't you take Zi Yan downstairs to change her clothes and freshen up first, and then we can discuss this further."
The group agreed and returned to Liyang's room.
Just as he closed his eyes, Li Yang hurriedly turned back, wanting to ask a few more questions. But seeing that Zi Yan's coarse linen was really unsuitable, he turned around and went to the wardrobe to get a set of clothes for her. "Sister Zi Yan, please make do with my clothes for now."
Ziyan smiled and said, "Young Miss, this is not to be taken lightly! Look at all the silks and satins in your room now, it's even better than when you were in the Chen family. I think the Prime Minister and Madam Zhuang really treat you well."
Li Yang: "Sister Ziyan! What little young lady? Stop teasing me."
Ziyan: "Zhaozhao, I'm relieved to see that you're doing well now. Don't worry about the teahouse. Youfeng is quite capable now. She made a lot of money the other day. She's currently leading people to sell off the inventory to cover the costs. We can still make ends meet, so don't worry."
Hearing this, Li Yang felt much more at ease. "You Feng is quite capable."
Ziyan: "Of course, she said that even if she can't help you now, she will never cause you any trouble." Then she added, "I won't change my clothes yet, I might have to go out again in a while."
The two looked at each other and smiled, their eyes brimming with tears.
After changing their clothes, it was lunchtime. The group discussed it and decided to wait until Li Yuhan and Liu Yi arrived in Beijing, hoping to meet them through Zhuang Ziyang's connections.
However, the group discussed how to leave the mansion several times and finally decided that Bi Fang and Li Yang would disguise themselves as garbage collectors to leave the mansion.
Since that was the case, Ziyan did not linger. She disguised herself as a village woman and went out of the mansion to deliver the letter.
The next day, the person who delivered the vegetables brought a message to the mansion that everything had been arranged with the jailers. The trip was a day earlier than originally planned, so the group left the mansion as agreed the following day.
That day in the Zhuang family's kitchen, Li Yang and Bi Fang changed their plans on the spot and jumped into the vegetable basket. The basket was surrounded by cabbage leaves that the servants had secretly laid out. After the two jumped in, another layer of cabbage leaves and chicken feather leaves covered it, followed by some miscellaneous smashed tomatoes, crushed cucumbers, and so on, and finally some leftover scraps.
The kitchen staff took turns trying, but in the end only the plump cook was strong enough to push the cart.
Because the group had devised this plan early on, people had been bribing the gatekeeper for several days in a row. So when the fat cook suddenly appeared on this day and slipped two roast chickens and a pot of wine into the gatekeeper's hands, no one said anything.
Once they left the street where the Prime Minister's residence was located, Aunt Pang pushed the cart into a small alley, brushed aside the dirty vegetable leaves on top, and the two of them quickly jumped out of the basket.
"Thank you, Auntie Pang!" Li Yang took out a bag of loose silver and stuffed it into Auntie Pang's hand, but she repeatedly refused, "Young Miss, the Zhuang family has treated me very well. Over the years, Miss and Master have treated us servants like family. It is my honor to be able to help you. I would never dare to accept this money."
Li Yang sheepishly put away his money pouch, his eyes full of gratitude. "Auntie Pang, please wait for us here for another day. We'll need you to take another message back home later."
Aunt Pang, of course, never failed to respond.
When the two arrived at the cell, the prison guards had already arranged for Li Yuhan, Liu Yitong, and Chen Junbo to be in the same cell. They had also been told that someone would be visiting them that day.
Upon seeing Li Yang and Bi Fang, perhaps overjoyed, Liu Yitong, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, slapped his thighs and began to wail, "Oh, sister-in-law, Steward Bi, oh, my dear mother, you've finally come!" He wiped his face and continued to cry out, "I can't live like this anymore! They're going to starve me to death! There's not even a speck of meat in this prison food! They're going to starve me, Old Liu, to death!"
Hearing him say that, the others suddenly laughed. Li Yuhan poked him and said, "Come on, look at you, you're so pathetic. You've only been vegetarian for a few days."
"You're talking nonsense! It's been dozens of days since I started eating vegetarian food!" Liu Yitong rubbed his nose. "Look at my clothes, they're all loose, and my pants are about to fall down."
Li Yang suppressed a laugh and hurriedly took out the food box he had bought on the way to them. "I couldn't cook at home and bring it with me, so I bought some from a restaurant on the street. Mr. Liu, Mr. Li, please eat something."
Seeing the roast chicken and steamed fish, Liu Yitong's eyes lit up. "Sister-in-law, let me tell you, don't bring steamed fish next time. It's too much trouble. This roast chicken is good. Bring more. One is not enough."
"Alright, alright, I'll give you half of this chicken, okay? Eating isn't enough to shut you up, you've even ordered more dishes." Li Yuhan didn't have a nice word for Liu Yitong.
The latter happily munched on the greasy chicken leg, not minding at all. Upon hearing that half a chicken was his, he immediately tore off another chicken leg, chuckling, "The other half is mine, hehe."
The others were speechless, but they knew he had been suffering from hunger these past few days, so they didn't hold it against him.
Seeing that he was eating with relish, Li Yang couldn't help but lick his lips. He then hurriedly took out steamed buns and dumplings from his bundle, telling them to eat their fill first.
After taking a few bites, the group sat down on the ground and began to carefully consider their options.
The group sat around on the ground, and Bi Fang spoke first: "Young Master, these past few days, the young mistress and I have memorized the accounts of the Chen and Zhang families. The young mistress has also made a copy and checked them. Please take a look."
As he spoke, he pulled a roll of account books out of his bundle.
Chen Junbo took the ledger and flipped through it. Liu Yitong, carrying a chicken leg, also came to his side. Li Yuhan sat next to him, craning her neck.
Chen Junbo glanced at the two of them but didn't say anything.
Instead, Liu Yitong exclaimed, "What kind of ledger is this? I've never seen one before!"
Chen Junbo didn't even look up. "How could you have seen my family's account books?"
“No, I mean these individual grids are quite useful.” Li Yuhan nodded repeatedly, but Chen Junbo didn’t find it strange. The tea evaluation form that Li Yang drew back then was just like this, and the accounts of the tea house were all like this afterward.
Seeing their curiosity, Li Yang explained, "General Manager Liu, this is a method I learned from a Persian merchant. Using charts to record accounts makes them much clearer."
"Oh, so what are you doing silently recording the ledgers?" Liu Yitong continued to ask.
Seeing Chen Junbai nod, Bi Fang recounted the matter they had discussed last time in detail, "It's a pity that we can't get the accounts of the treasury silver now, and the accounts of the surplus silver are also with Lord Zhang."
"This is simple." Liu Yitong raised his hand while gnawing on a chicken leg, as if this was not a difficult task.
Li Yang and Chen Junbo exchanged glances, both seeing a glimmer of hope.
Several people turned their gazes toward Liu Yitong, some with doubt, some with hope, some with questions, and some with confusion.
After finishing his chicken leg, Liu Yitong was about to grab a second one when he looked up and froze. "What's wrong? The treasury is just the accounts of the three of us plus our expenses, right? I remember everything. As for the surplus silver, I recorded it all when those small merchants were scrambling to buy it."
"You remember all of that?" Li Yuhan asked, somewhat skeptical.
"Of course." Liu Yitong noticed that Li Yuhan's complexion had worsened. "Old Li, have you gone mad from donating so much to disaster relief these past few years? How could you not remember your own family's accounts? Look at that housekeeper, he keeps them all in order too. Don't tell me you don't remember your family's accounts."
Li Yuhan pouted, "I only remember donating money to disaster relief."
"Hey, nobody wants your family's messy debts. I know how much silver your family has paid into the treasury over the years." Liu Yitong picked up the second chicken leg, gently blew away the grass clippings, and continued to gnaw on it.
"Your memory is pretty good." Li Yuhan was a little unconvinced after losing face.
Upon seeing this, Bi Fang exclaimed with delight, "That's good, that's good! Then the accounts can be tallied up!"
"How do we figure this out? There's not even a piece of paper here. What's the point of it?" Liu Yitong was still struggling with the chicken leg. "Hey, this chicken leg is really good. It's so tender, roasted to a perfect crisp on the outside and tender on the inside."
Li Yang slowly raised his hand, "Um, Mr. Liu..."
Liu Yi looked up and saw Li Yang take out a brush, ink, paper and inkstone from his bundle. Bi Fang quickly put the dishes on the small table on the ground, wiped them with his sleeve, and asked Li Yang to put down the brush and ink.
Everyone in the room looked at Liu Yitong, as if to say, "Please." Liu Yitong pouted, quickly finished the chicken leg in his hand, wiped his hands and mouth with his sleeve, and said, "I don't like writing. I said, you two should memorize it together; it'll be faster that way."
Li Yang hurriedly pulled Bi Fang to sit down, and carefully licked the pen to prepare. Everyone was surprised that he wanted the two of them to take notes together, but Liu Yitong spoke the same thing, and his speed was comparable to the speed at which he usually cursed. He did not hesitate at all, and did not need to think. He just opened his mouth and spoke.
Seeing this, Li Yuhan also took out a pen and paper and silently recorded all the disaster relief donations she had handled.
Chen Junbo ignored them and just looked through the accounts recorded by Bi Fangmo, silently calculating.
After Liu Yitong finished explaining the accounts, Li Yang and Bi Fang barely finished writing them down. They then handed them back to Liu Yitong for a second check, finding several omissions and making additions.
After final confirmation, Bi Fang pulled the table aside to tally the accounts of the treasury silver and the surplus silver.
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