"Oh, the joke is to appease the public anger, and the anger of you who are greedy for profit and forget your principles is to appease the public anger!"
"Nonsense! Stop dragging me down with this. I'm only speaking impartially!"
"Sir? Oh, isn't that grain shop yours? Isn't Shopkeeper Li your man? Didn't the money earned go into your pocket?"
The Minister of Personnel did not expect to find out that the grain shop belonged to him so quickly.
"Even if it belongs to me, so what? Just because it's mine, does that mean I can force people to buy it, beat people up, or even lead people to rob me?"
"I'm sorry, I'm not here to talk about forced purchases, because they don't exist!"
"Then there's nothing more to say. Someone, please show me around!"
He is a first-rank official with real power. Even if Bai Zhiyue is a duke, so what if her rank is high? She is just a woman with no real power, so he is not afraid.
"I have something you don't have to say!"
"I don't have the time to argue with you. You should think about what to say in front of the emperor. After all, your people were very bold in beating people and stealing food. They also said that they are not afraid of anyone. I want to see how arrogant Duke Rongfu can be and whether he can confuse right and wrong in front of the emperor."
"I don't need to turn it upside down. I came here today just to tell you whether you should tell the emperor about the things hidden at No. 12, Lane XX. And what about those things in the dark room of your study? Oh, how did you get so many treasures?"
Minister Zhao, who had a stern and arrogant look on his face just now, was so frightened that his heart almost jumped out of his chest.
"You~what did you say?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about! How about I go to the Emperor and ask him how much a minister's salary is, yet he's able to save up hundreds of boxes of treasures and hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and own four mansions of varying sizes, a dozen farms, and countless hidden shops.
I'm so envious. If you could share your experience, I'd like to learn from you. Oh, by the way, I heard there's a booklet that records the experience."
This time, Minister Zhao could no longer stand and was about to fall down. He bit the tip of his tongue hard, determined not to fall down at this moment.
He wondered how Bai knew about the treasures he had hidden, and also how she knew about the booklet that recorded the amount of bribes and what the other party requested, which was only known to him and not kept with the treasures.
Is there someone like her at home?
Minister Zhao thought that since Bai Zhiyue did not go to the emperor but came to his house instead, there was something to discuss.
"What do you want?"
"I didn't mean anything. I just wanted to learn from your experience and discuss the forced purchase issue!"
Minister Zhao gritted his teeth. Why didn't he take her seriously? Why did he look down on her like that?
How could they think that she couldn't find out that it was hers? So they used the law to force the emperor to teach her a lesson. Unexpectedly, they found out so clearly after just one day of coming back. What methods did they use?
"I will withdraw the memorial implicating you and call back those who are causing trouble. There will be no more talk of this on the streets. I heard that you went to the disaster relief and donated a lot of silver, grain and supplies. You are so kind. I will send someone to apologize to you and give you a hundred thousand taels of silver as a token of my appreciation."
Bai Zhiyue was happy in her heart, haha, I knew you couldn't be tough anymore.
"Don't bother calling out to the troublemakers. We've already sent them all to Yingtian Prefecture for you. See, this saves you the energy and time of having to negotiate with those families.
As for the banknotes, since you are so sincere in giving them, I will accept them sincerely. But I advise Minister Zhao to donate the ill-gotten gains, otherwise..."
"You~ already agreed, why are you still holding on to it!"
"What do you mean by hold on to it? Do you mean tell the Emperor the contents of the pamphlet?"
Bai Zhiyue didn't plan to behead the man again this time. This man was too greedy. He had never committed murder or arson, and he hadn't made any big mistakes. So she wanted to make some money from him and then let him send the ill-gotten gains to the national treasury. It was okay with her, and as for whether the emperor wanted to punish him or not, it was up to her.
"You should know what will happen to your family based on your crime!"
Minister Zhao was completely out of strength. What could he do? He couldn't kill the man, and it was impossible to silence him. From what she said, as long as he donated it and apologized to the emperor, he might be able to get away with it.
I regretted it so much again. Why did I offend this person? It was all my fault for my inflated self-esteem and my greed. If I wasn't greedy, she wouldn't have any leverage over me. If I wasn't greedy, she wouldn't want to raise the price at this time, and nothing would have happened.
"Okay, I will personally go to the Emperor to apologize. Please give me some time, Duke!"
He had to think carefully about how to say it in order to minimize the charges and lower the punishment. However, Bai obviously knew the contents of the booklet, so even if he tried to hide some of it, it would be impossible. Oh! He regretted it so much!
While regretting it, he also hated Shopkeeper Li. It was he who came and added fuel to the fire and talked nonsense. Otherwise, why would he be so angry? It was not he who proposed the merchants to raise prices, so why should he follow those people to raise prices!
Just buy it at a fair price. It’s not like you didn’t pay and it wasn’t stolen. Why bother? It’s all Shopkeeper Li’s fault.
No, we have to raid his house to reduce the losses.
"Come here, go and capture Shopkeeper Li!"
"Lord Rongfu, all of this was caused by him. I'm not the kind of person who would just sit there and do nothing. He was the one colluding with several other families to do this. I heard he also sent someone to beat up your housekeeper. I'll capture him right now and you can deal with him."
"Don't bother me, Master Zhao. I've just sent the person to the government office. I'll help you out by getting rid of a fox that's taking advantage of its power and a rat that's eating its fat.
You may not know this, but he used your name to rob a lot of people of their grain for five years. Many people didn't pay him a penny, and all the money went into his own pocket. It was your reputation that was damaged!
So today I got the evidence and helped send you to Yingtian Prefecture. I think you have confessed by now, so you can send someone to question him.
I just wonder how those people who have been giving away food for free would feel when they know the truth. The adults have to deal with it well, otherwise the blame will be on you.
If I hadn't helped you find evidence, you would have been implicated by him. You should thank me, right? "
Minister Zhao really couldn't stand it anymore. He even said thank you. If he had handed the person over to him after knowing the truth, he would have rewarded him handsomely. Damn it, you sent the person to the government and then told me. Let me thank you for nothing.
He has to clean up this mess quickly.
Minister Zhao gritted his teeth and said to Bai Zhiyue,
"If you have nothing else to do, please return. I have to deal with this matter now and don't have time to entertain you!"
"Well, I don't need your hospitality. Just remember to add a thank you gift when you give me the banknotes."
"Okay~ I'll remember that!"
"Oh, by the way, that Shopkeeper Li has a farm in the west of the city. He's hiding a lot of grain underneath. Lately, he's been secretly selling it to other shops. Did he tell you that all the grain has been snatched away and there's nothing left to sell? Tsk tsk tsk!"
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