Chapter Seventy Borrowing Money

  Yiren Street is quite a distance from the government office, and it takes about two meals to get there. So when Ye Zhuo and his group arrived at the government office, Zheng Fangjing and his group had only just arrived. Since mediation was unsuccessful, the prisoner was brought back, and the county magistrate naturally took the time to interrogate him. Therefore, when Huang Shifu and Chen Shifu arrived at the government office, the county magistrate had just finished asking questions.

  The jade bangle was indeed broken, and someone had to be held accountable to compensate its owner. As for Zheng Fangjing's side, apart from himself, his younger brother did not witness the incident and thus could not serve as a witness; whereas Zhang Shifu's side had three witnesses. The case was already clear without needing further investigation. Just as County Magistrate was about to slam his gavel to announce the verdict, Huang Shifu and Chen Shifu arrived. Especially Chen Shifu's two apprentices, who witnessed Alin breaking the jade bangle, described the scene at that time and explained: "Zhang Shifu and his disciples have always been tyrannical in the Lianyi Hall, so we didn't dare to come forward to testify against them for fear of being retaliated against. Now that there is an adult in charge, we are worried that this might happen to us next time. This time we drove away Zheng Fangjing, and perhaps next time it will be our turn. So we have mustered up the courage to ask you, sir, to uphold justice."

  This explanation was reasonable and they were third parties, the effectiveness of their testimony was much stronger than Ah Gui and Zhang Shifu. Ah Lin argued with them for a few words, but also lost. In the end, County Magistrate had to change the verdict: Ah Lin broke the jade bangle, but framed Zheng Fangjing, in addition to compensating Cow Old Master 250 taels of silver, he was also punished with thirty lashes; his brother Ah Gui and Zhang Shifu two people reversed black and white, making false testimony for Ah Lin, on the spot, they were beaten with ten big boards. Zhang Shifu and Ah Lin et al. were completely stunned.

  "Thank the great heavens, thank the great heavens." Liu was unclear and thanked the county magistrate with tears of gratitude, bowing his head several times before leaving the government office. He also repeatedly thanked Chen Shifu and others who had testified, which made them feel embarrassed - it seemed that Liu did not know what was going on. It was also unknown whether Huang Shifu's promised silver would be counted or not. It wasn't until Zheng Pengju stepped forward and said a few ambiguous words that they were able to calm down, comforted Zheng Fangjing a few times, and then left.

  "Today's matter, thanks to Old Master Ye, if it wasn't for him, Fang Jing would have been done for." The group of people walked out of the yamen. Zheng Pengju then said to Liu Shi.

  "Old Master Ye?" Liu turned her head to look at Ye Yiqi, who was walking behind with the support of Ye Zhuo, and asked curiously, "What does this mean?"

  Zheng Pengju saw that there were no outsiders around, so he quietly told Liu Shi about today's events. Ye Yuqi was Ye Zhuo's grandfather, and Zheng Pengju especially hoped that Liu Shi could take on this emotional burden. He wanted Liu Shi to change her attitude towards her sister and niece because of this matter, and treat them well.

  "What? Two hundred taels of silver?" Mrs. Liu had thought that once the judge made his declaration, this calamity would be transformed into nothingness, and afterwards at most they would spend a little over ten taels of silver to prepare several thick gifts to thank Master Chen and that would be the end of it, she was just full of joy in her heart. But unexpectedly she suddenly heard that their household owed two hundred taels of external debt, this was no less than hearing thunder on a clear day.

  Afraid that Madame Liu would hear the news and blame Zheng, Ye Zhuo was worried. After leaving the government office, he followed behind them all along. At this moment, hearing this exclamation, he knew that Zheng Pengju had already told Madame Liu about the matter clearly.

  Zheng Pengju was afraid that Liu would not understand the situation and cause trouble here, which would not only embarrass Ye Yuqi but also let others hear that they were bribing witnesses. At that time, not only would Zheng Fangjing's case need to be retried, but Chen Shifu, his disciples, and Ye Yuqi would also be guilty. He quickly pulled Liu aside and scolded her a few times before turning around and bowing to Ye Yuqi: "Uncle Ye, thank you for your help today. I will personally come to thank you again later. Now that there is still unfinished business, I will take my leave with my family."

  Yeh Yu-chi knew that Cheng Peng-hui was going to raise funds, and said: "I know what you're going to do. First follow me onto the carriage, I have something to say to you." With that, he got on the horse-drawn carriage with Yeh Chou's support.

  Zheng Pengju saw the situation and had no choice but to ask Liu and the others to leave first, and he also got on the car.

  "Here, this is a 150 taels silver note, you can use it first. I don't have much use for it either, so there's no need to rush to return it." Ye Yuqi took out three silver notes from his pocket and handed them over to Zheng Pengju.

  Luckily, Ye Zhuo had been carrying the 200 taels of silver with him all along. Moreover, for convenience, he had specifically asked someone to exchange them into 50-tael notes. Now that the Zheng family needed money, Ye Zhuo was worried that Zheng Shi would directly take out the money and let Liu Shi weigh it, thinking she still had a lot of money on her, and use various methods to swindle her out of her money - if she didn't hand over the money, they would give her a hard time. Such precedents were not unheard of; Zheng Shi's jewelry and those two sets of fine clothes were taken from her by Liu Shi, who cried poverty every day. So Ye Zhuo came up with this plan to solve the Zheng family's urgent need for money while also preventing Liu Shi from having any other ideas, and instead, due to the Ye family's kindness, they would treat Zheng Shi even better.

  And this one hundred and fifty taels of silver, Ye Zhuo's explanation to Ye Yu was: Before Zheng left the Ye family, she didn't trust her, so she specially left it for her own protection.

  Zheng Pengji was shocked when he saw the silver note in Ye Yuxiu's hand, and hastily waved his hand: "This won't do, this won't do. You've just opened a new workshop, you need money everywhere, I can't take this money." Although he worried about where to borrow silver, he knew something about Ye's situation. The old were old, the young were young, the weak were weak. Although they had a workshop, it had just started and wasn't losing money yet, but without silver for turnover, it wouldn't work.

  "Take it, I'm giving it to you." He glared at him and said, "I must have the ability to lend you money. Who else's would you borrow from? What, mine can't be borrowed?"

  "So, I'll take this money." Zheng Peng's eyes were slightly red. In the past, although Ye Jia's second house had money, when the Zheng family encountered a great disaster, Ye Yuzhang didn't even have a single penny. Even when his wife sold her dowry to help him rebuild their home, she was beaten and scolded by Ye Yuzhang, and afterwards, she was treated coldly and made things difficult for her. Now, Ye Yuzhang was taking the initiative to offer money to help him get through this difficult time. The two were biological brothers, but the difference between them was so great.

  After Ye Zhuo's adoption, Liu Shi kept telling him that Ye Zhuo was foolish to give up the wealthy second household and instead choose to be adopted into the poor but respectable first household. Now, Zheng Pengju felt that Ye Zhuo's decision to be adopted was truly the wisest move - no amount of money could compare to a sense of belonging.

  Zheng Pengju got off the car with a silver ticket, and Ye Zhuo only instructed the driver to drive towards the Ye family. She held onto Ye Yuqi's arm, leaned her head on his shoulder, and said: "Grandfather, you won't blame me for giving money to my uncle, will you?" With the upbringing she received in her past life, she absolutely couldn't have made such a intimate gesture with Ye Yuqi. But now, she naturally thought of doing so. The warm and fuzzy feeling from the people in the main house made her feel close to them without realizing it.

  Ye Yiqi obviously enjoyed his granddaughter's affectionate gesture. He stretched out his hand and gently stroked Ye Zhuo's hair, saying: "Only what can save the situation is called money; what is useless at home is called a dead object. Your ancestor didn't understand this point until he died." He also said, "You're doing it right, which makes me feel relieved. People from our family should be like this, with feelings and righteousness. And you can distinguish between light and heavy, think carefully before acting, and don't do good deeds recklessly. This is something even your ancestor can't match. Doing good deeds in the wrong way can easily lead to resentment, and there are also those who bring trouble upon themselves for no reason. In this world, all kinds of things can happen, and there are many cases of 'a favor given in a fight'. The smartest approach is to think carefully before acting and find a suitable way. You did it very well this time."

  "Grandfather, you're making me blush." Ye Zhuo shook Ye Yuqi's arm.

  Ye Yiqi burst out laughing "haha".

  Something happened, Ye Zhuo worried that Zheng Fangjing would be retaliated against by Zhang Shifu and others in the Lanyue Pavilion again. The next day, after eating breakfast, she didn't go to the Yuzhuo Workshop, but instead took a carriage directly to the Zheng family. Because she often went out during this period, she often met the driver named Tang Shunqi who drove the car that had taken the maid Qianer from the pawnshop to inquire about the Gong family. Guan Shi also didn't let Ye Zhuo and two girls take a horse-drawn carriage alone, so he specially gave Tang Shunqi some money and asked him to come to the main house of the Ye family at this time every day to wait for Ye Zhuo to go to the workshop.

  "Can Miss Ye go to the workshop today?" Tang Shun asked with a smile as soon as he saw Ye Zhuo come out.

  "No, go to the Zheng's home."

  "Alright, hold on tight." Tang Shungui shouted as Ye Zhen got on the carriage and cracked his whip to get the horse running.

  Before long, the carriage passed by the pawnshop where Qiang Er had pawned something. Tang Shun Gui said: "Yesterday, I saw that maid come to pawn something again. Remembering Miss's instructions, I followed her in and heard the people inside say that she pawned a 'Moonlight Water Jade Zither' for 200 taels of silver."

  Ye Zhuang's body shook violently and he suddenly sat up straight.

  That month, under the moonlight, Yuqin saw the Water Jade Zither in her memory. In her past life, she had seen it with Zheng Shi when they went to retrieve something from the warehouse of Ye Jia's second house. It was unclear how Ye Yuzhang obtained this zither; he probably didn't recognize its value and simply placed it in a corner of the warehouse. To Ye Zhuo, who had seen countless treasures in her past life, that zither could be considered one of the treasured items of the second house, worth at least 700 or 800 taels of silver. Since it was stored in the warehouse, it's unknown how Gong Shi got her hands on it. Ye Yuzhang, who often rummaged through his own home for things, couldn't even protect his own family's possessions? Gong Shi's audacity was quite impressive; what did she plan to do?

  "Tang Uncle, are you familiar with other carters?" Ye Zhuo asked.

  "We're all brothers in the same boat, chatting and laughing together after work, even having a few drinks," said Tang Shungui with a smile. These horse-drawn carriages didn't belong to them. Because Nanshan Town was famous for its jade carving industry, many merchants came from outside, and the town was quite large, making it inconvenient to walk around. A big boss surnamed Sun saw this business opportunity and transported a batch of horses and carts from the north, renting them out to these men who couldn't work in the workshops, collecting a certain fee every day. The "brothers" Tang Shungui mentioned were those who rented horse-drawn carriages together to transport customers.

  "Have you ever met someone who is particularly good at playing and has a relatively tight mouth, specifically running the route on the other side of the yamen?" Ye Zhuo asked again.

  Thank you Xiaodanni, I am Nannan's reward for the peace symbol, thank you lhrgxf, and also thanks to the pink votes! Also: Next week I will go out to study, can't guarantee the double updates on alternate days. Of course, if there is time, I will still try my best to update.