The innkeeper, what did you feed me at noon?
As soon as he entered the inn, the aide pointed at the innkeeper and started cursing loudly: I ate here earlier, and right after I left I started having diarrhoea. I nearly died from it.
Official sir, this is injustice! Even if you gave me ten times more courage, I would not dare harm you!
The innkeeper turned pale with fright, knelt on the ground and said: The wine and meat we served you at noon were the very best!
Then why did I get diarrhoea? the aide asked angrily.
This humble one truly does not know! the innkeeper said miserably. Other officials ate the same wine and meat at noon, and none of them had any problems.
This… The aide was stumped.
The innkeeper was right. At noon the aide had eaten together with the other officials.
The steamed buns came from the same basket, the wine was ladled from the same jar.
The bowls for the wine were brought over in a stack by the waiter, and the aide had picked his own.
From start to finish, neither the innkeeper nor the waiter had any chance to poison him.
Master Cai, did you eat something else on the road? the squad leader asked.
We were together the whole way. How could I have sneaked food? the aide said unhappily.
Master Cai, that is not what I meant, the squad leader quickly waved his hands to explain. I meant, did you eat any wild fruit, ice or anything like that on the road?
I saw Master Cai eat a few pieces of ice, and even take a few bites of snow…
Another official said in a small voice.
What, is that not allowed to eat?
Master Cai had come to this region together with Cai Liuyang from Jiangnan.
In Jiangnan the temperature is relatively warm, and ice and snow are rarely seen.
While travelling, he had found the piled snow and icicles hanging from trees quite novel, so he had eaten some.
Master Cai, you are from the south and not used to these things. Eating them suddenly and in large amounts can easily upset your body.
The squad leader said: Even if you wanted to try them, you should not have eaten so much at once.
Yes, yes!
The other officials nodded in agreement.
Hey, why did you not warn me earlier then!
Master Cai glared irritably at the official who had mentioned seeing him eat ice.
We are very sorry. We often eat snow when we are thirsty on the road, so we forgot you had only recently arrived in Sichuan. We truly did not expect you to get diarrhoea.
That official quickly bowed in apology.
All right, all right. Get me a room. I need to lie down for a while.
Master Cai also knew he could not blame anyone else. He could only consider himself unlucky.
The innkeeper quickly told the waiter to prepare the best room.
The squad leader watched as the waiter helped Master Cai up the stairs. The corner of his mouth curled into a cold smile.
It was not eating ice that upset his stomach. In fact, he himself had slipped medicine into Master Cai’s wine bowl.
Master Cai had squatted bare-bottomed in the cold wind for nearly half an hour. Not only was he almost exhausted from diarrhoea, he was also badly chilled. That same afternoon he developed a high fever.
Meanwhile, inside a private house in Jinchuan county town, five or six officials along with matchmakers and more than a dozen members of Zhong Ming’s group were rapidly filling in names and stamping seals on the marriage documents.
More than twenty people worked until midnight before finally finishing everything.
The Great Kang marriage documents were just thin sheets of paper, yet they still formed several tall stacks.
After confirming nothing had been missed, the officials and matchmakers took their reward money and left happily.
My goodness, it is finally done! Other families take two or three concubines at most. Our lady is truly formidable. She arranged for the master to marry more than ten thousand at once!
The Zhong Ming squad leader laughed and said: Looking across all history, our master is surely the greatest concubine-taker of all time!
The lady had no choice. Otherwise the county magistrate would have sealed all our factories.
One squad member said while sorting the documents: Nowadays almost everyone in the entire county depends on the master’s factories to survive. If the factories were sealed, how would people live?
This year there was already disaster. If not for the master’s kind heart, who knows how many people in Jinchuan would have died. I really do not understand what that dog official Cai Liuyang is thinking, making things difficult for the master at a time like this.
Another person cursed.
Cai Liuyang was probably forced by someone else. Otherwise, as a newcomer, he would not dare provoke the master.
The squad leader said: It is just that we do not know who is behind Cai Liuyang!
No matter who it is, once the master returns, he will definitely make them pay!
Although the master has a noble title, he holds no official post. Cai Liuyang has powerful backing. Dealing with him will not be easy, the squad leader shook his head.
I think it is very easy! The master has factories. Which of those officials does not have their own? They can make things hard for the master, and the master can make things hard for them!
A team member said indignantly: When the master returns, just use the same trick on them!
Little Liu, you are still too young!
The squad leader said: Hiring people to work is actually no big deal. As long as the master is willing to collude with those powerful families, they would not only stop troubling him, he could even earn a huge profit.
But the master has a kind heart and pities the common people. He refuses to profit from disaster together with them.
Not long ago when I returned to the village for a meeting, I heard the master plans to provide disaster relief, which blocked many powerful families’ paths to wealth.
This incident was clearly the powerful families instructing Cai Liuyang to deliberately make trouble for the master as a warning.
Cai Liuyang can seal our factories because he is the county magistrate. The master has no official position. If he wants to use the same method against them, he can only report to the authorities.
But since ancient times officials protect each other. Do you believe that if the master reports it, no one will pay any attention?
If you put it that way, squad leader, does that mean we can only accept defeat?
The team member said angrily.
Not necessarily. Just because we cannot think of a way does not mean the master cannot. For example, who could have imagined the lady would come up with this move?
The squad leader said: Besides, the master is not fighting alone. There is still Marquis Qing and the Ninth Princess. If it really comes to a fight, the ones who suffer in the end may not be the master.
While chatting, the group finished sorting the marriage documents and indenture contracts. Early the next morning they sent people to deliver them to Iron Jar Mountain, Twin Camel Peak, West River Bay and other places.
Cai Liuyang was still waiting for his trusted aide to return with news. Instead, the aide was carried back.
After all, the aide was no longer young. After a night of unrelenting high fever, by morning he was already delirious.
The officials were afraid he might die in the inn, making it impossible to report back, so they asked the innkeeper for a door panel and carried him home.
Cai Liuyang was so angry he jumped up and down, yet he had no solution. He could only send another group to West River Bay.
By then the marriage documents and indenture contracts had long since reached every worker’s hands. Xiaoyu did not send anyone to cause further trouble this time.
Cai Liuyang’s men arrived in West River Bay without incident.
The next day they brought back news of the concubines and house servants.
Cai Liuyang immediately realised there was a mole in the county office, yet he was powerless to do anything.
His only trusted aide in Jinchuan was now ill, and he did not have a single reliable subordinate left.
He even felt a constant sense of being watched.
Sitting alone by the oil lamp until deep into the night, Cai Liuyang could think of no other way to deal with Jin Feng. In the end he had no choice but to send word to the powerful families of West Sichuan.
When the powerful families received the message, they gathered together once again.
