Everyone was slightly surprised. They could get over Marquis Moyu bringing a rice shop owner to their group outing. After all, that person had received the great monk’s praise, and he wrote pretty good poems too. But, they had already left the mountain. Why would he ask them to go to a rice shop to eat when there were perfectly good restaurants around?

  What was there to eat at a rice shop? Rice?

  Ji Man also found Ning Yuxuan’s suggestion a bit unexpected. These people were either members of the imperial family or important court officials. Why would he suggest taking them to a rice shop to eat?

  In the midst of the following silence, Qian Yingchen was the one that broke it by saying, “That’s a good idea. Ji Store was the one that sold the tribute rice this year. We should go over there to see what that rice tastes like.”


  Eh? Many officials’ households purchased Ji Store’s rice. Why wouldn’t they have already had the chance to try the tribute rice? Everyone knew that Qian Yingchen was only saying these words to help. Still, since Marquis Moyu had already spoken, the group didn’t have a reason to refuse.

  And so, the group boarded three carriages and headed over to Ji Store.

  —


  During the past two days that Ji Man had spent on the mountain, a problem had arisen in the rice store. There would naturally be repercussions to Ji Man gouging out money from the hands of sly old foxes. Shopkeeper Liu and Shopkeeper Rong could be considered to have shed all pretenses of cordiality with Ji Man. When the unit price of rice had fallen to ten silver coins, they had filed a formal complaint with the government. They said that Ji Store was maliciously lowering the price of rice. By causing the rice price in the capital to be unstable, it had caused a few major rice shops to go bankrupt.

  Normally, this would be beyond the scope of this dynasty’s laws. However, this time, Shopkeeper Liu and Shopkeeper Rong had amassed a large sum of money by selling off a few of their family properties to use for bribery. After this money had been passed through many hands, they were able to meet with the Minister of Revenue and the Minister of Justice. They did their best to draw them to their side through bribery. Ji Store had to fall to ruin in order for them to make up their losses.

  And so, the government accepted this case. During the time that Ji Man wasn’t around, Yan Buba had been taken to a government office and interrogated. A constable had remained in Ji Store to catch Ji Man when he returned.

  Although Shopkeeper Liu felt quite distressed about giving up so much money, sacrifices had to be made in order to obtain his goal. Since Ji Store had Assistant Minister Zhu supporting it, he could only bribe that greedy and insatiable Minister of Revenue. Although the cost he had to pay felt quite painful, everything would be worth it once Ji Store collapsed!

  Shopkeeper Liu had already checked. Assistant Minister Zhu was currently busy with other matters. After Zhu Shuyou had receiving his superior’s order, he no longer had the intention of protecting Ji Store. No matter what happened next, Ji Store was doomed.

  —


  Inside the carriage, Ji Man sneezed and received Ning Yuxuan’s glance. “I already told you to sleep on the bed, but you insisted on being stubborn.”


  “How could the humble me have the right to share a bed with the marquis?” As she sniffled, Ji Man looked at the other important people in the carriage. She silently grumbled. Where could she get food that would satisfy this group of people?

  After figuring it out, she sent a person to the rice shop ahead of the group to tell Yan Buba to order takeout from Luoyan Pagoda. Ji Man had no hope that this group of nobles would be interested in her simple home cooking after they had eaten vegetarian meals for the past two days. Naturally, the more meat there was, the better.

  Holding his reward money, the passerby ran to the rice shop. But, when he got there, a constable stopped him.

  —


  When Shopkeeper Liu and Shopkeeper Rong heard that Owner Ji was coming back, they left their dinners behind and hurriedly rushed to Ji Store to watch the good show.

  Thinking of how Ji Man had so easily taken away the money they had earned through blood and sweat and taken many years to save up, both shopkeepers practically had their teeth set on edge. They wanted nothing more than to see Ji Man being dragged away and locked away in the imperial prison.

  The constable that was stationed at the store had also been notified. He would immediately arrest as Ji Man as soon as he caught sight of him.

  —


  The three carriages slowly reached Ji Rice Store. Right after Ji Man disembarked from the carriage, she was seized and restrained by the constable before she even knew what was going on.

  “What are you doing?” Ji Man furrowed her brow.

  The constable asked, “Are you the owner of Ji Rice Store?”


  The shopkeepers that had come to watch the show hurriedly cried out, “It’s him! It’s him! He’s Ji Man!”


  The constable nodded. Just as he was about to bring the detained person away, people started to come out of the carriage. When the first person that came down from the carriage saw the scene, he didn’t bother saying a single word and went straight to kicking away the constable that had Ji Man restrained.

  The person that had come out of the carriage was wearing a simple robe, but he had a very attractive face. He had such a mild, gentlemanly appearance; no one would have thought that he was the one that had just violently kicked someone.

  Ning Yuxuan stretched his hand out and pulled Ji Man over. He swept his glance over the constable and asked, “Which government office are you from?”


  “This one is following Jing Zhaoyin’s order to arrest Ji Store’s owner, Ji Man.” The constable looked at the person in front of him for a few moments. He didn’t recognize this person and only thought that he had an out of ordinary presence. He guessed that this person was probably just the son of an official.

  “Oh? And, why are you arresting him?” As Ning Yuxuan asked this question, he had the carriage driver hold up the carriage’s front curtain. One after another, the curious people, who had been behind him, disembarked from the carriage. They hadn’t even eaten yet, and this constable was going to arrest Ji Man?

  Suddenly faced with a large group of men and women that were dressed out of the ordinary, the constable felt slightly panicky. He retreated a step and said, “This is an order from above. This one isn’t sure either.”


  “Above?” Xiao Tianyi raised his eyebrows. He glanced at Ning Yuxuan before asking, “Which official is it?”


  On the side, Shopkeeper Liu and Shopkeeper Rong felt there was something off about these people’s attitudes. It couldn’t be that Ji Man had gone off somewhere and met more important officials, right? However, after looking at the group and only recognizing a few of the people, they decided that this group of people couldn’t possibly be that important. After all, they had even met someone as high-ranking as the Minister of Revenue before.