Cao Shulan had no idea that she had been cursed with bad luck. She rushed back to the government office and told Jiang Jiuniang about Jiang Jiuniang's reaction when she saw her.
"Is she really not acting strangely at all?"
Cao Zheng was somewhat incredulous.
"It's true. Her attitude towards me is still the same as before. She's very enthusiastic. If I hadn't been in a hurry to get to the workshop, she would have kept me company and chatted with me for a while longer."
Cao Shulan answered with certainty that she wasn't stupid and couldn't tell the difference.
"That's getting interesting."
At first, Cao Zheng only had some doubts, but now he feels that he is very close to the truth.
In other words, Jiang Jiuniang appears to have a good relationship with Peng Yuan, but in reality, she is wary of Peng Yuan. After all, Lu Baichuan and Qin Jian are also competitors, so who would genuinely help someone all the time?
Jiang Jiuniang may know about this, but she just doesn't want to get involved. She's even so enthusiastic towards Cao Shulan. Could it be that she supports what they're doing?
But if it wasn't what he thought, then Jiang Jiuniang was too terrifying, someone who was completely unfathomable.
"So what should we do now, Dad?!"
Cao Shulan couldn't stand it anymore. It was such a small thing, how did it escalate like this!
"Let's take it one step at a time. As long as Jiang Jiuniang really doesn't want to get involved in this kind of thing, we don't need to be afraid."
What he fears most now is that Jiang Jiuniang will get involved. This woman is resourceful and will cause him a lot of trouble.
As for Peng Yuan, she hasn't dared to go out since that incident. She seems timid and naive, so there's nothing to worry about.
With her father's assurance, Cao Shulan was able to relax a lot, but she was still worried for several days to make sure that there was really no movement from the other side of the house before she could finally relax completely.
So who exactly is behind this?
Cao Zheng sent many people to investigate, but they found no definite information.
Although the little beggar made a big fuss, the person behind him remained silent, and it did not cause Cao Zheng much damage. The matter was calmed down in a few days, as if it had never happened.
At this moment, Lu Baichuan and Qin Jian returned. Peng Yuan told Qin Jian what had happened, and Qin Jian immediately went next door to find Jiang Jiuniang and asked her how she had arranged things.
In dealing with people, the couple couldn't compare to Lu Baichuan and his wife; they often had to humbly seek their advice.
Jiang Jiuniang said, "Now that things seem to have calmed down, there's no point in bringing it up again. If you want revenge, you'll have to go all out, and we'll see if Brother Qin has the ability to do so."
Qin Jian immediately became interested: "Go on, tell me."
Jiang Jiuniang didn't keep them in suspense and said directly, "This Cao Zheng is vicious and treats human life like dirt. Once we leave Huizhou City, the people will still have a hard time. So I want to take this opportunity to remove this cancer."
"Judging from his performance during this period, he did a lot of heinous things in his previous positions. This matter is not enough to put him to death. We can find a few more things to uncover. Every trace will leave a mark. No matter how carefully he does it, there will be omissions."
"As long as we seize a few key points, Cao Zheng won't be able to cause any trouble."
Jiang Jiuniang rattled off her plan, waiting for the couple to make a decision.
Someone like Cao Zheng, who can become a prefect, must have some powerful backing. He can't be easily brought down. At most, he'll be demoted and sent to another place to continue harming other people. After a few years, when things aren't so clear-cut, he'll still get promoted and receive a raise, and continue to do evil.
Jiang Jiuniang, determined not to let him turn his life around, decided to cut off his escape route.
Qin Jian thought this made perfect sense. Such a person, who didn't even spare his wife and children, was truly unworthy of being a local official.
"Leave this matter to me. I will investigate it myself. The border issues have been mostly resolved, so there is plenty of time. I just need to trouble you, sister-in-law, to take good care of Yuanyuan."
Qin Jian knew perfectly well that Jiang Jiuniang had deliberately waited until he returned before bringing up the matter, so that he would handle it personally and then take all the credit.
He wondered why the couple was so selfless. The Fifth Prince of Dongting had given his military merits to Prince Jing, and now they were giving him a chance to claim credit. It seemed that the couple did so much without wanting any benefits.
"Are you and your husband living bodhisattvas, saving people from suffering?"
Qin Jian's face was full of unspeakable emotions. He felt that he owed them far too much, and he could never repay them, not even in this life or the next.
Lu Baichuan didn't care at all: "That's your job to investigate. What does it have to do with us?"
Jiang Jiuniang nodded repeatedly: "That's right, Brother Qin, don't talk nonsense!"
Qin Jian and his wife: ...
Sure enough, you can't have two kinds of people sleeping in the same bed. This couple is exactly the same!
After Qin Jian returned, he spent a day with Peng Yuan and then left to personally investigate what Cao Zheng had done during his previous tenure.
Fortunately, the place where he previously took office was not far from Huizhou City, and he could make a round trip in two days at a fast pace.
After Qin Jian went to take care of his business, Peng Yuan was visibly much happier. Although she was still reluctant to go out, she came to visit Jiang Jiuniang more often.
With the affairs of the other two cities mostly settled and Prince Jing still guarding them, Lu Baichuan has more time to spend with his wife and children. However, when Peng Yuan comes to visit Jiang Jiuniang, he will avoid her and go to his study to look at the files from the previous years in Huizhou City to learn more about the situation there.
No one expected that Cao Shulan would have the audacity to visit, especially since this time she was there specifically to see Peng Yuan.
When Peng Yuan heard that Cao Shulan had come to see her, she panicked a little. Knowing that the woman was vicious, she was worried that Cao Shulan would try to harm her again. So she had Jiang Jiuniang come to accompany her beforehand, and then they went out to the reception room together to meet Cao Shulan.
"I've met both of you ladies. You two have such a good relationship. I often see you together, just like sisters!"
Normally, Cao Shulan speaks in a very pleasant way.
You can't hit a smiling face, so Jiang Jiuniang naturally smiled and said, "You guessed right, we're like sisters, which makes up for the fact that I don't have a younger sister! By the way, what brings Miss Cao here?"
Knowing that Peng Yuan was afraid that Cao Shulan would go crazy, Jiang Jiuniang became more proactive and enthusiastic.
Upon hearing this, Cao Shulan immediately put on an act, sighed resentfully, and said, "It's all because of the incident a while ago when Madam Qin was almost bumped into by a little beggar on the street."
Upon hearing this, Peng Yuan immediately became alert. That incident happened so long ago, why would she deliberately bring it up again?
Cao Shulan continued, "I should have come to visit you much earlier, but after I found out about what happened, I went to that little beggar and warned him. I didn't expect him to ignore it at all. Instead, he spread rumors that I was abusing my power, which directly affected my father's reputation. My father scolded me, and I stayed at home to avoid the storm. Now that things have gradually calmed down these past few days, I immediately thought of coming to visit you, Madam."
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