Mu Yin took a pot of white pear tea brewed by Wang Yan back with her. When she got to the house, she found a teacup and poured a cup for her mistress.
Shen Jiamu's mouth always tasted bitter after taking medicine these past few days, so taking a small sip of this sweet tea helped to slightly alleviate the bitterness.
She had only drunk half a cup of tea when she raised her hand and asked Mu Yin to take it away, because Granny Qian had returned.
Shen Jiamu looked at Granny Qian, "How is it?"
"In reply to Miss, we were unable to deliver it."
Shen Jiamu nodded, as expected. The Shen family was now in dire straits, and naturally, there was no longer any chance to seek help from the outside world.
However, Shao Jinxin was being too presumptuous. Shen Jiamu waved everyone away, leaned back, closed his eyes, and went through the whole story.
After a long while, she opened her eyes, stroked the beaded string her mother had bought for her a few times, her eyes filled with coldness.
A county magistrate can amass 100,000 taels of silver in three years. And that old scoundrel Yang Lou is a prefect.
He has been entrenched in the Jiangnan region for more than ten years, rising from a county magistrate under Suzhou to his current position as prefect.
He embezzled far more than 100,000 taels of silver, salt, cloth, and tea. Merchants everywhere were forced by him to pay tribute, and he still had tens of thousands of taels left over each year.
The Shen family's cloth shop alone spends about 40,000 taels a year on various favors and bribes.
All that filial piety money handed over not only failed to bring any protection from that old scoundrel, but also gradually fueled his greed.
He really dared to do that! He illegally opened a salt mine, knowing that the current laws only required him to be sentenced to hanging for selling smuggled salt.
But he didn't just sell smuggled salt; he actually used the tributes from various merchants to open a salt mine.
Of this, the silver supplied mainly came from the Shen family, and the person in charge of his salt mine was Shao Jinxin, the clan head who was the son-in-law of the Shen family.
However, the entire Shen family knew nothing of the truth and had absolutely no intention of colluding with such corrupt officials.
Three years ago, by chance, Shen Wan learned of this matter and secretly gathered evidence.
Over the years, the money she was forced to hand over as tribute was all kept in private accounts by Shen Wan. These accounts, collected from 17 merchants including Shen's Cloth Shop, Su's Tea Shop, and Zhou's Carpentry Shop, were all kept in private accounts.
However, it is not easy to present this account to the Emperor. The family behind Yang Lou is the Yang family of Yuzhang, and the eldest daughter of the main branch is the current Consort Shuyi.
However, we must not remain inactive. Even if it means abandoning the foundation that the Shen family has built up over the years, we cannot simply stand by and watch Yang Lou open up private mines.
It's obvious that this kind of thing can't be kept secret. Once it comes out, Yang Lou deserves to die, but Shen Shi can't be buried with him.
Acting rashly is unwise; we must instead secretly seek opportunities.
Several months ago, the Censor-in-Chief inspected the two Zhejiang provinces. Shen Wan had waited three years and finally got this opportunity.
After some private investigation, it was discovered that this inspector not only had no business dealings with the Yang family, but the two were also political enemies.
The two sides fell into a dispute over the reform of the "Green Sprouts Law." Although the law was in line with the emperor's wishes, it deviated from its actual implementation.
Some officials, eager to curry favor, forced ordinary people to borrow money, and even set up numerous shady establishments to blatantly extort money from them.
The original intention of implementing this law was to increase government revenue and curb the increasingly rampant usury in the private sector, but it has been distorted due to the cumbersome and imperfect system.
Therefore, over the years, the two sides with differing political views have never been able to determine who won or lost.
It's common for them to look for each other's weaknesses, which is actually a good thing for the Shen family.
Shen Wan was in high spirits, thinking that her family was saved, but she couldn't act rashly in such a big matter.
So he took only three servants with him to observe secretly, and confirmed that the censor was indeed at odds with the Yang family and that they were political enemies.
She secretly found an opportunity to deliver a letter to this inspector, but three days before their meeting, Shen Wan suddenly died.
Shen Jiamu and his daughter found it hard to accept this fact and consulted several famous doctors, but the conclusion was always the same: Shen's own health was not good, which led to this misfortune.
Only then did the father and daughter realize something was wrong. What was Shen Wan's physical condition like? Everyone in the Shen family knew that a woman could support such a large cloth shop, traveling between the capital and Liangzhe four times a year.
He was eating well the night before he died suddenly, and he met with the managers and listened to the quarterly reports.
How could such a conclusion be reached? The father and daughter didn't believe it at all, but they could guess that such a "diagnosis" could only be made by someone with extraordinary connections.
During those few days, many people from all walks of life came to investigate, but at that time Shen Jiamu and his father were really confused and had no idea what Shen Wan had been doing over the past few years.
It was precisely because of this that the two survived, and besides, the real account had already fallen into the hands of the person behind the scenes.
It would be inappropriate if all members of the Shen family died suddenly within a few days, but no one would feel at ease leaving these two potential threats alive.
So, Shao Jinxin, the head of the Shao clan, came to visit. Shao Wenxuan looked at this uncle and keenly sensed that something was wrong.
Although the Shao family was not exactly upright, and even had some despicable and sordid ways of doing things.
But this uncle? Ah, ever since Shao Jinxin voluntarily became a son-in-law, he's been trying to save face and save substance.
It was only by leveraging the Shen family's name and resources that this clan was able to escape its near-decline.
Privately, however, he held Shao Jinxin in utter contempt. He had no say in the collateral branches of the family, and his branch was not allowed to have much contact with the Shen family.
When Old Master Shen was alive, it was clearly this clan leader who happily signed the marriage contract, accepted the betrothal gifts, and personally escorted Shao Wenxuan to the Shen family with gongs and drums.
However, just ten years later, having just turned their lives around, they no longer flattered or fawned over the Shen family, and even secretly wanted to expel Shao Wenxuan's parents and brothers from the clan.
However, being expelled from the clan was no small matter. Shao Wenxuan's family were all honest and law-abiding, and since they couldn't find any fault with them, he had no choice but to give up.
Why would someone like that be willing to come to the Shen family? Moreover, although Shao Wenxuan is sickly, he is a genuine scholar who passed the imperial examination and is quick-witted.
After a moment's thought, Shao Wenxuan realized something was amiss. He probed a few times and learned that his uncle's family's current situation didn't seem like they would embezzle the Shen family's wealth.
But the Shao family's business was based on running pharmacies and drugstores. How could my uncle have accumulated such wealth in just a few years?
At this juncture, they're targeting the Shen family. Is his fortune related to the Shen family? What secrets lie behind this? What caused Shen Wan's death?
Shen Jiamu and his father secretly discussed the matter and searched through all the secret passages and mechanisms in the house, but found nothing amiss.
Finally, they found a backup copy of Shen Wan's accounts and letters in a hidden compartment behind Shen Jiamu's dressing table.
After the two men turned over, they were horrified and realized why the head of the Shen family had suddenly died and why the patriarch of the Shao family had come to their door.
Shen Wan's death must have been suspicious, but all the doctors in the city were lying and talking nonsense. Could it really have been done by only Prefect Yang and Shao Jinxin?
Shen Jiamu composed himself, "It should be possible. The Shao family has been running clinics and pharmacies for three generations. We can keep it from Mother..."
Halfway through her sentence, Shen Jiamu couldn't continue, because she realized that what was more dangerous (most crucial) than the accounts and Shen Wan lying in the mourning hall was not the matter itself. (This means that her mind was a bit confused at the time, not cold or foolish. That's why she said the situation was more dangerous.)
He read through the letter left by Shen Wan again and confirmed that the account was a backup.
The real accounts were nowhere to be found! The father and daughter exchanged a glance. They hadn't found them at home, and were almost 90% certain that the real accounts weren't there.
They've turned the house upside down these past few days. Since the real accounts are gone, what's Shao Jinxin's purpose in coming to their door?
Is it simply because Shen Jiamu is young and they want a piece of the pie? Or is it to eliminate any potential threats altogether?
The next day, Shen Jiamu, who trusted no one, went to his own wet nurse.
Old Master Shen was kind and benevolent; he had released the wet nurse's brother's family from the mansion as early as 20 years ago.
The wet nurse went to Lin'an City to investigate and found that the day after Shen Wan was assassinated, the censor suddenly fell seriously ill and rushed back to the capital overnight.
Shen Jiamu was now at a loss. Had the Inspector been assassinated, or had he realized something was wrong and gone back on his own?
Or perhaps she had a secret connection with Yang Lou, which is why Shen Wan was exposed!
What to do! What to do! The Shen father and daughter were completely panicked.
Her father pressed down on the ledger in her hand, saying, "If you want to survive now, you can only start with this ledger."
We have no other choice but to wait and see. We must keep those treacherous and malicious people at bay. We must find a way to get this account to the Emperor.
Shen Jiamu was devastated. The person who delivered the message had probably already left, and now, without a doubt, no one in his family could leave Lin'an City!
He also understood that Shao Jinxin had come to their door to kill them and silence them!
Otherwise, why would a shopkeeper who owns only three pharmacies, who can afford to drink Huangfeng wine, eat Ziying wine, and wear Shu brocade, openly come to his door to plunder his family's wealth?
Shao Jinxin was blatant; he wanted the world to know that he had entered the Shen family's household as soon as the head of the Shen family passed away!
Although he was ordered to give these people a reasonable reason to die, he didn't want to ruin himself.
Therefore, he could arouse suspicion and doubt among the public, and he was determined to obtain this family fortune, secretly confirming his plot to murder for money.
However, he cannot afford to make any mistakes on the surface, otherwise, no matter how rich he is, he will not be able to enjoy wealth and luxury!
That damned Qiu Wu! The original plan was flawless. Young Master Shen just fell off the cliff. If you want to say that someone plotted to kill him, where did you get the evidence?
Logically, Shao Zhixian would then be adopted by Shen Wan and Shao Wenxuan. But how many more days could that sickly Shao Wenxuan possibly live?
Within a few days, another group of people will be sent out to stir up trouble, and the entire city of Lin'an will be speculating, but there will be no concrete evidence.
The deaths of the Shen father and daughter thus became a plausible and reasonable speculation, and the damage to their reputation was nothing to Shao Jinxin.
His childhood experience of his family's decline taught him that only tangible benefits and a life of luxury were truly important.
But Shen Jiamu came back alive. She's back! Putting everything else aside, the knife wound on her shoulder is undeniable evidence of murder.
If he were to kill her again at this point, Shao Jinxin wouldn't want to risk his own life!
We can only make plans after her shoulder injury heals! But even a distant relative can't just stay in someone else's house without any restraint.
So he wanted to provoke Shao Wenxuan, this cowardly and sickly fellow, to make him make a scene about the adoption and other related matters, so that he could live in the Shen family to monitor and plot against them in order to mediate the "conflict"!
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