The bright light shone on Yuan Yunzhong’s face, his eyebrows as black as crow feathers, his complexion as white as jade, and his gaze as cold as ice edges, emanating an extreme beauty that was piercing and daunting, striking right at the heart.
Exceptionally handsome!
Song Jiyun was momentarily dazed.
But Zheng Quan’s urgent cry came to her ears, "Miss, are you alright?"
He looked at her anxiously.
She came back to her senses.
"I’m fine!" she reassured Zheng Quan and quickly expressed her gratitude to Yuan Yunzhong, "Thank you for your assistance just now, Sir!"
Yuan Yunzhong nodded slightly.
Luo Zixing had already started berating Song Li, "You ungrateful thing, if it hadn’t been for the Owner, you would have starved to death long ago, and yet today you repay kindness with enmity, attempting to harm the Miss; have you no humanity?"
Song Li wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and retorted, "Is it me who’s ungrateful or you who are framing me? I’m on night duty tonight, and it’s inevitable that I would pass by the drying room. What about you? Why would you be in the drying room in the middle of the night? Could it be that someone has calculated the exact moment that I, Song Li, would be there?"
Luo Zixing sneered, "No one has been doing any such calculating. It’s just that the Miss is cautious and concerned that there have been successive incidents at the Kiln Factory recently. She suspects they’re connected to the making of the Sacrificial White Porcelain and was afraid someone would take advantage of the situation. She arranged for a few of us to patrol the Kiln Factory secretly. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have caught you so coincidentally."
Song Li pointed at several constables, "What about them? Are they here to secretly patrol the Kiln Factory too?"
They had come with Song Jiyun.
All eyes were now focused on her.
Song Jiyun said calmly, "When I handed the Kiln Factory thief over to the Governmental authorities, I happened to meet the Chief Accountant. My late father was on good terms with him, and he felt I was new to managing the Kiln Factory and certainly naive about patrolling and security. So he sent a few constables to lend a hand. It was just a coincidence that they were here."
Everyone nodded repeatedly. They even felt excited, thinking that if the Chief Accountant was willing to continue looking after the Song Family, then the future of the Kiln Factory surely wouldn’t be too bad. Their gazes towards Song Jiyun grew warmer.
Song Li secretly sneered.
The Chief Accountant was cunning and shrewd; getting his care wasn’t as simple as relying on a previous generation’s relationship.
He said, "Even so, the Miss shouldn’t allow Governmental authorities to intervene in the Song Family’s affairs. Doing so, where is the face of the Song Family?"
"The innocent man fears not the knock at his door in the middle of the night," Song Jiyun replied nonchalantly. "If the Song Family has done nothing wrong, why fear the authorities? If a mistake has been made, even if the Clan elders were here, I’m afraid they would also choose justice over kinship."
Song Li scoffed mockingly.
Seeing this, Song Jiyun addressed the crowd, "Everyone, please disperse! I’ve already sent for the Clan elders. When they arrive, we can discuss how to deal with this matter. It won’t be too late then!"
The crowd responded affirmatively, with Zheng Quan accompanying the constables to rest in the next room while the rest of the people also dispersed in twos and threes.
Song Jiyun ordered Liu Zi to take Song Li to a sequestered, rudimentary chamber in the backyard.
"There’s nobody else here," she looked at Song Li, "you know very well whether you are wronged or not. All I want to know is why you did this?"
Song Li’s mouth was pinched tightly, like a closed clamshell, a demeanor that refused communication.
Overcome with anger, Song Jiyun laughed and said, "Fine! I won’t force you. But tonight, several apprentices of yours were also on guard. I just don’t know if they’re involved in this matter as well?"
"You!" Song Li looked at Song Jiyun indignantly.
Song Jiyun snorted coldly and turned to leave.
"Wait!" It wasn’t until she had stepped across the threshold of the room that Song Li, in defeat, called out to her in a low voice, "If I explain, can you go easy on my apprentices?"
The master-apprentice relationship is as close as that of father and son.
His apprentices were carefully selected and meticulously trained by him over many years.
But their Deeds were all at the Kiln Factory. If Song Jiyun intended to take action, he would be left without anyone he could rely on.
A general without an army, what can he do?
"That depends on what you have to say," Song Jiyun turned around, looking at Song Li coldly, "Their fate has always been in your hands."
She was going to cut the ground from under his feet!
Song Li pondered for a long while and then said in a low voice, "It was the Third Old Master!"
Song Jiyun did not believe it.
Song Li said, "The Third Old Master sent someone to tell me that after the eldest lady takes over the Kiln Factory, she will eliminate dissidents and sell the contracts of us master craftsmen to others. He showed me the transfer deeds of several masters, and I specifically went to those smaller workshops to ask, and it turned out to be true."
This was the first time Song Jiyun had heard of this matter.
She asked, "Who were they?"
Song Li listed the names.
All were the mainstays of the Kiln Factory.
Song Jiyun’s eyebrows were tightly furrowed.
Song Li said, "It was also the Third Old Master who had someone send a message to me today, claiming there was a matter concerning my life and death and asked me to meet in the drying room. But when I went there, I was caught by you outright. I thought that to remove a dissenter like me, you would frame me and compel me to ask to leave willingly, hence I acted rashly, seeking a fight where both of us would lose."
Song Jiyun looked half-convinced.
Song Li said, "If you don’t believe me, we can ask the Third Old Master to come over tomorrow, and we’ll confront him in person!"
Song Sanliang was so enraged he spat blood, with no idea if he would even wake up tomorrow!
After pondering for a long time, Song Jiyun seemed to believe him and said, "Verbal statements hold no proof. Even if this matter is related to my third uncle, we still need evidence!"
Song Li shook his head and said, "The Third Old Master is very suspicious and didn’t leave any evidence. Even when he sent me to the drying room, it was a verbal message delivered by one of my apprentices."
"That’s troublesome!" Song Jiyun said with a heavy expression, "Think carefully, is there anything you might have missed?"
Song Li hung his head, pondering carefully, yet he couldn’t help but sneer inwardly.
It appeared his move had been the right one.
Song Jiyun and Song Sanliang were mortal enemies. Song Jiyun, whenever she encountered something relating to Song Sanliang, would not let go of Ning Sanliang without biting down hard; she wouldn’t think twice about anything he said.
And as long as the person behind the scenes was not implicated, that person would protect him.
Now that he had diverted the calamity, the person behind him was even safer.
All he needed was to wait patiently, knowing he would soon be free.
The sound of the drum for the four night watches came from outside the side room.
Dawn was approaching.
Song Li’s heart grew even tighter.
Liu Zi entered and gestured to Song Jiyun.
Song Jiyun asked in surprise, "Ninth Master Song is here? So soon? Who came with him?"
Liu Zi gestured more.
Song Jiyun asked, puzzled, "He came alone?"
After thinking it over, she said to Liu Zi, "Let’s go and welcome him."
Liu Zi nodded innocently and followed Song Jiyun out of the side room.
Song Li, upon hearing this, was ecstatic.
The arrival of Ninth Grand Master meant that his release was not far off.
He lay down on the bed plank without a second thought.
Just as Song Jiyun entered the front courtyard, she ran headlong into Ninth Master Song.
"Miss Jiyun," Ninth Master Song called out to her, "I heard Song Li was locked up? Where is he? Have you figured out what happened?"
He fired off questions one after the other, one would think his own son had gone missing.
Hearing the phrase "Song Li was locked up," Song Jiyun’s gaze flickered.
If he was informed so quickly, it indicated the Kiln Factory needed a thorough overhaul.
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