Ye Xinyan’s hands were finally free of pressing matters, and she began to find the time to pay attention to the small snack shop.
Ever since Lian Gui led people to kick out the servants of the Liang Residence, there had been no peace for the snack shop, with disruptions every few days. People weren’t afraid of being detained, causing a scene and then calmly being taken away by the Yamen’s officers.
The troublemakers were clearly reckless roughnecks; as long as they were paid silver, they would do anything, whether it meant cracking heads, breaking legs, or stabbing themselves. After such rowdy scenes, the snack shop would go days without customers, let alone the frequent disruptions.
Upon hearing the news, Ye Xinyan initially told Nanny Jin and Lian Gui, "Don’t bother with it; even if our snack shop doesn’t do business, we still have the income from the Great Crane House. The Liang family has silver, don’t they? Let them keep throwing it in forcefully; it would be best if they could keep it up for a year or maybe half. It will save us from the Liang family’s excessive wealth in this small county town."
Ye Xinyan was quite at ease, as her milk used for fermentation was running low. She took the opportunity to save up more, to make soft cheese that could be further fermented. Perhaps, she could create a variety of fermented cheeses. When used as a high-end ingredient, sliced or grated, for various dishes, bakes, and beverages, that bright future could be built upon the silver of the Liang family.
Lian Gui was surprised by Ye Xinyan’s reaction. Even the temperamental young lady, who had endured hard times and changed her nature, showed such calmness in the face of this infuriating situation—it was completely unexpected and shocking.
Jiang Yifan also held the same attitude towards the Liang family’s actions. Since the Liang family was wealthy, he let them spend their money. He didn’t even bother to try the detained; he instructed the junior officials in charge of criminal cases at the Yamen to verify the names and lock up the criminals in prison without further questioning.
Meanwhile, Jiang Yifan relayed messages to the Qi family, urging them to be patient and not to act rashly; at the same time, he systematically uncovered the external relations of the prisoners being brought in, waiting for Liang Qiyuan’s next move.
Jinrong hadn’t been paying much attention to the troubles at the snack shop, hearing about them later than others. When he was informed by Wan Yan about the Liang family continuously using silver to incite trouble at the shop, his face darkened immediately, "Does Zhou Bingyi no longer wish to hold his position as the prefect? To have such a shallow nephew and not discipline him in advance—is he waiting to be impeached?"
When he was in a bad mood, everything seemed off, and his dissatisfaction with Jiang Yifan followed, "And there’s Yuanfan, responsible for governing a whole county. What is he good for? Can’t even handle such small matters and allows incessant disruptions to happen—where on earth is his mind?"
Hong Wu, standing outside the door, heard Jinrong’s outburst and, feeling slightly embarrassed, smiled awkwardly at Jiang Yifan as he hastily entered the room. He wanted to report back to Sixth Master quickly to prevent him from saying more to criticize Lord Jiang.
Jinrong was in a foul mood, and seeing Jiang Yifan come in person was convenient—saving him the effort of looking for him.
Jinrong sneered at Jiang Yifan as he entered the room, asking coldly, "You still have the nerve to see me?" With those words, he waved his hand to dismiss Wan Yan.
Jiang Yifan first paid his respects to Jinrong with proper etiquette, then moved to the lower seat between two chairs, asking, "Won’t Sixth Master take a seat to talk?"
Jinrong scoffed, "You seem to be growing more composed by the day, unperturbed even if Mount Tai were to collapse before you."
Jiang Yifan spread his hands, indicating helplessness, "What’s the matter? It’s not a big issue. Sixth Master has always been one to laugh at life, it’s only a trifle."
Jinrong stared at Jiang Yifan for a moment, then turned and sat back down in the seat of honor, asking Jiang Yifan, "What do you plan to do?"
"How else to handle it? The Liang family has silver, don’t they? Let them spend it all they want. It’s not like they’re spending your silver or mine, nor the Qi family’s, so why should we hurry?" Jiang Yifan answered casually.
Jinrong pointed at him for a good while before saying, "The Qi family runs a business; how can they do business this way?"
Jiang Yifan thanked Hongzhi for the tea he brought over and said, "I had someone ask, and lately, the snack shop hasn’t had many patrons, but their daily shipments are still decent. There’s a number of people who order dim sum and soups to go from the Great Crane House. In this case, as long as the Qi family gives a cut for consignment sales to the Great Crane House, and since the Qi family and the steward of the Great Crane House were initially in contact, and Nanny Jin is from a great household, she wouldn’t mind giving the Great Crane House a bigger share of the profits."
"Heh," Jinrong, incensed, laughed out loud, "I hadn’t realized before that you, Yuanfan, could be so open-minded."
Jiang Yifan raised an eyebrow and asked, "What does Sixth Master mean? Could it be that Sixth Master plans to reprimand Lord Zhou?"
Jinrong’s brow twitched. He had indeed contemplated that idea, but later he felt that letting Zhou Bingyi scold Liang Qiyuan was letting that idiot off too easily.
"Haven’t you considered that, with your approach, before the Liang family runs out of silver, when the county jail is holding so many people, some would start causing trouble at your county government office? Then it would be you, Jiang Yifan, who gets reprimanded and impeached," Jinrong said.
With a light smile, Jiang Yifan spoke slowly, "No matter what, we shouldn’t let Liang Qiyuan off lightly, should we? First, let him spend more silver, hire more ruffians and rogues. The more people that go to the Yamen causing trouble, the deeper the mastermind behind it sinks. Let’s see then how Lord Zhou plans to fish him out. Sixth Master could also then do him a big favor."
Jinrong paused before laughing, "I was wondering how you’d become so agreeable; turns out you’ve dug such a big pit and are waiting for someone to fall in. Did you come to find me today to discuss this matter?"
Jiang Yifan leisurely sipped his tea, saying, "There’s a government official in the Yamen assigned to keep an eye on the snack shop, who said that he saw Hong Wu enter it in the afternoon. I thought I’d come and have a look, not wanting Sixth Master to reprimand Lord Zhou in a fit of anger, and end up inadvertently benefitting those idiots from the Liang family. Liang Qiyuan has overstepped time and time again; it’s too much."
Jinrong spoke indignantly, "I really did want to send someone to ask Zhou Bingyi if he’s tired of being the prefect, having chosen such an idiot to undermine him. Hey, what’s the deal with this Liang Qiyuan? Why is he at odds with the Qi family? Could it be that the little girl from the Liang family still harbors feelings for you?"
"Nonsense." Jiang Yifan immediately retorted, forgetting his manners, "What does this have to do with me? Given how many times Liang Qiyuan has invited you to his residence for banquets, could it be he’s grown suspicious of you? You, Sixth Master, with your considerable stature, are enough to make him eliminate all obstacles by any means necessary."
"That’s crazy talk," Jinrong retorted hotly.
After that, events unfolded just as Jiang Yifan had predicted. A continuous stream of troublemakers were detained in the jail. Once the number of detainees reached over a dozen, people began to beat drums and cry out their grievances, claiming their family members were wrongfully imprisoned.
After the Government Officials roughly sent the complainers away without explanation, even more people came to the entrance of the Yamen claiming injustice, saying their husbands, fathers, sons were framed by a merchant and suffered wrongs undeservedly.
If one person talks nonsense, it’s dismissible; two people as well, but it’s unlikely that so many people are wrong, and only that small shop’s merchant is right, isn’t it? Thus, more and more voices began to question whether the Yamen was fair, and if the Magistrate was honest.