Soon, An Jia and Yang Cui learned about the Zhou family's treatment of Zhou Xiaomei. An Jia's anger subsided, and the matter was thus put to rest.
Yang Cui never expected that arresting so many people would lead Zhou Xiaomei to do something so serious.
However, seeing Zhou Xiaotao's character through this incident made it all worthwhile.
“Hongmei, I remember I have a gold bracelet with a pomegranate flower pattern in my box. Take it to Xiaotao so she can rest assured and have a healthy pregnancy. Oh, and send her a bottle of honey too.”
"yes."
Pomegranates symbolize many children and abundant blessings, making them the perfect gift for her.
At this moment, Yin Neng came in and reported, "Madam, Yu Zhenqiang and the Wan couple have both confessed..."
It turns out that the extortion of 100,000 taels of silver from Yang Cui was not a direct order from the Prince of Qingyang at all!
It was Yu Zhenqiang and Wan Songbai who were envious of Yang Cui's wealth, but they had the backing of the Prince of Qingyang and were therefore fearless.
Wan Songbai was not originally one of Qingyang King's men. It was Yu Zhenqiang who pulled him into Qingyang King's camp. At first, Wan Songbai was unwilling, but he knew such a big secret that he had no choice but to join the rebels.
In addition, because of a previous grudge against Yang Cui, he knew he had no chance of being promoted. Wan Jiahao was mediocre, and the Wan family was likely to decline in the future, so Wan Songbai took a gamble.
To demonstrate his sincerity, he had previously emptied his coffers and had someone deliver them to the Prince of Qingyang.
Now that Cen Xiao is dead, they think Yang Cui, a woman, is no match for them, so they ask for 100,000 taels of silver!
As for the Su family, they are backed by the Prince of Qingyang, so the Su family no longer takes them seriously. Moreover, once the Prince of Qingyang succeeds, the Su family will be in dire straits, barely able to protect themselves.
They decided to hand over half of the money and split the other half between the two families. With a steady stream of silver paving the way, Wan Songbai and Yu Zhenqiang's careers would be smoother, and they would have more money in their pockets.
If Yang Cui doesn't pay, they have a series of follow-up actions waiting for her. In short, they are determined to get both the money and the formula.
They just didn't expect Yang Cui to be so bold as to attack them directly!
Even high-ranking officials wouldn't easily attack other high-ranking officials, but Yang Cui dared! If it weren't for Yang Cui's surprise attack, they wouldn't have become prisoners.
"Even if the Prince of Qingyang is going to rebel, even if they are certain that the Prince of Qingyang will succeed, it is not reasonable for them to tell everyone so openly that they want me to pay money and hand over the formula."
Normally, licensed bandits would first threaten Yang Cui privately, and only if that failed would they take other actions to force her to submit. This way, at least their reputation would be better on the surface. So why didn't they do that? Were they so brazen?
"Because other wealthy households in the county are also their targets! They're just using you as a warning to others before gradually seizing their assets!"
Yang Cui was shocked upon hearing this.
Isn't this just turning Wan'an into the next Gan Ning?
Yang Cui sighed, thinking to herself: It's so much better to live in modern China! The people live in peace and contentment, the country is prosperous and strong.
"However, Yu Zhenqiang confessed that he was transferred here because of you."
Yang Cui was incredibly good at making money, and being Cen Xiao's wife, she possessed both wealth and military power—qualities that the Prince of Qingyang desired.
Yu Zhenqiang's mission was to get Yang Cui and Cen Xiao on the same side. Even if he couldn't get Yang Cui on the side, he could get the An family on the side. An Dafu was Yang Cui's only relative, and Yang Cui wouldn't ignore him.
But before Yu Zhenqiang could take any action, news of Cen Xiao's death arrived.
At this point, Yu Zhenqiang felt that whether or not Yang Cui got on the boat was no longer important; all he needed to do was seize her money and the formula.
But unexpectedly, Yang Cui struck first.
“Madam, I think Yu Zhenqiang isn’t telling the truth. At least he’s hiding some things,” Yin Neng said, expressing his suspicion. “If Yu Zhenqiang wants to turn Wan’an into a second Gan Ning, he and Wan Songbai alone are not enough.”
Yu Zhenqiang was an appointed county magistrate, and to put it bluntly, he was the local magistrate, but the wealthy local families might not be afraid of him.
There's a saying that even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake, and the local wealthy are no pushovers either. Therefore, it won't be easy for Yu Zhenqiang to become the next Yuan Weimin!
The first question is, how do you deal with disobedient people?
Kidnapping, extortion, murder, and arson also require people to do them, and they need to be ruthless! Ruthless people who don't care about their lives!
Yuan Weimin colluded with bandits and had a group of desperate men under his command. So what about Yu Zhenqiang? Who would lead the charge for him? Wan Songbai? Impossible.
Yang Cui had a bold guess in her mind...
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