Chapter 226 The Xue Family’s Way of Survival

It was nearly dusk and it was snowing again. The Nanzhenfusi Street, which people used to avoid passing by, was now filled with wonton stalls, sesame cake stalls, and noodle stalls with lanterns that seemed to be smoking hot. All of them had sheds and umbrellas, and a few customers were sitting there.

Things are different now. The Nanzhenfusi Yamen is no longer the monster that the people fear, but a place to redress grievances. Kong Qingxiang has become a great judge and a living Bodhisattva in the hearts of the people.

Suddenly, earth-shaking firecrackers sounded in front of the Nanzhenfusi Yamen, and crackling flames were emitted!

Everyone looked over.

A horse-drawn carriage with a greenhouse was parked in the open space in front of the yamen, and a middle-aged man dressed as a butler was setting off a long string of firecrackers in his hand.

The lanterns on the carriage emitted a dim light in the heavy snow, and the words “Mei Mansion” could be vaguely seen.

Mei Hanlin walked out with a young man.

Kong Qingxiang led a group of militiamen from the Southern Pacification Office to escort them out.

Mei Hanlin stopped and said to Kong Qingxiang with a smile, “Captain Kong, please stay. There is no need to see me off.”

“The snow is slippery, walk slowly.” Kong Qingxiang naturally had a smile on his face.

Mei Hanlin smiled and nodded, then walked down the stairs.

The young man spoke: “Seeing that you are sincere, I will not bother with you. But next time, you should keep your eyes open. If you slander good people again, you’d better watch out for it!” He snorted and strode towards the carriage.

Seeing him so arrogant, all the guards turned pale.

Kong Qingxiang was still smiling.

Mei Hanlin and his son got on the carriage. The middle-aged man put the curtains in place, whipped out his whip and tapped the horse’s buttocks, then shouted in a low voice, “Go!”

The horse pulled the cart slowly on the snow.

One of the guards started to curse: “Damn it! What the hell is this!”

Another guard said: “Sir, arrest that old man and let me torture him. He will tell the truth!”

“Forget it, he is just a poor man.” Kong Qingxiang watched the carriage disappear in the snow.

Anger flashed in the eyes of the guards. They had good intentions to overturn the old man’s case and had found all the evidence, but the old man went to the Ministry of Justice to turn himself in. He said that he had falsely accused Mr. Mei in order to get more money, and that he had bribed the coroner, who had also turned himself in to the Ministry of Justice.

The court has laws that stipulate that the punishment for false accusation is reciprocal punishment, that is, the punishment received by the false accuser is the same as the punishment that the person falsely accused should receive.

When the son of Mei Hanlin was about to commit a crime, he accidentally crippled a maid hired by the Mei family. The person who falsely accused him was sentenced to three years in prison.

The Mei family doesn’t have this ability, which shows that they have found a powerful backer.

There was a gleam in Kong Qingxiang’s eyes. He did not take the Mei family seriously, but he became interested in the supporters behind Mei Hanlin.

Thinking of this, Kong Qingxiang waved his hand.

Several bandit leaders leaned forward.

Kong Qingxiang whispered a few words.

The eyes of those foreign leaders lit up and they nodded in unison.

The warmhouse carriage carrying Mei Hanlin and his son drove quickly towards East City.

“.What?! You want me to marry that merchant’s daughter?” A young man exclaimed in the carriage.

In the carriage, Mei Hanlin slightly closed his eyes: “This year, the Imperial Academy will recommend that my father be ranked first in the imperial examination, and someone in the court will speak for me.”

Master Mei was overjoyed: “Father is going to be sent out?!”

Mei Hanlin still closed his eyes: “Not sure yet.” Master Mei was a little disappointed.

Mei Hanlin: “No more problems can occur at this critical moment. We must stabilize the Xue family.”

Mr. Mei said with disdain: “He’s just a poor merchant. What’s there to worry about?”

“I didn’t say I wanted you to marry that merchant’s daughter. I just wanted to stabilize the Xue family temporarily.”

Mei Hanlin slowly opened his eyes and continued, “Tomorrow you will bring gifts to the Xue family to visit the patient and ask how he is doing.”

Mr. Mei nodded reluctantly.

It was snowing heavily, and everything was covered in white. The two black lacquered doors of Jia She’s courtyard looked even darker.

Jia Jing walked out, and Jiao Da, who was waiting at the door, hurriedly followed him.

As Jia Jing walked, he asked, “What’s the matter?”

Jiao Da followed closely and replied, “The people who followed the steward of Prince Zhongshun’s mansion sent news that the old man met Mei Hanlin from the Hanlin Academy on his way back. He was the one that Master Lian had removed from the list of exiles.”

Jia Jing: “Go on.”

Jiao Da: “That old guy helped Mei Hanlin get his son out of the Southern Pacification Office. There must be some shady deal between them. Should we slow down and let him live a few more days?”

“No, keeping such a person would only bring disaster.”

Jia Jing paused for a moment, stretched out one hand to catch the falling snowflakes, looked up at the sky with shining eyes: “With such heavy snow, the patrol soldiers will definitely be late, so let’s do it tonight.” After saying that, he started walking again.

Jiao Da hurriedly followed
The backyard of Rongguo Mansion no longer had the hustle and bustle of the past, but was dead silent.

A lantern slowly floated towards the Xue family’s courtyard.

Aunt Xue held the hand of her maid Tongxi and walked into the courtyard, heading straight to the backyard.

An old woman followed closely with a lantern.

Passing by the house of Xue Baoqin and her daughter, she stopped, listened carefully to the intermittent coughing sounds, and then walked towards Xue Baochai’s yard.

It was still empty, with only a faint light coming through the window of Xue Baochai’s room.

There was no one in the outer room, so Aunt Xue gently lifted the curtain and went in, only to see Xue Baochai, in her homely clothes, sitting on the kang, leaning over the small kang table, drawing flower patterns with her maid Ying’er.

Seeing Aunt Xue coming in, Xue Baochai quickly put down her pen and got off the kang: “Mom is back.” Then she went forward to help Aunt Xue untie her cloak, helped Aunt Xue sit on the edge of the kang, and personally held a bowl of hot tea before asking: “How is Aunt Xue?”

Aunt Xue took a sip of tea and said with a smile, “Your aunt always gets sick when she encounters something like this. She just needs to rest for a while.”

Xue Baochai smiled and nodded. Mrs. Wang avoided Jia Zhen’s funeral by pretending to be sick. Now it was Wang Xifeng’s turn. She would probably have to lie down until the end of the year.

Aunt Xue put down her teacup and said, “So many bad things happened today. Can we still go to the Li family tomorrow? If we don’t go, will we offend the Li family again?!”

Xue Baochai smiled bitterly. Every day, they had to live a cautious life in Rongguo Mansion, flattering Lady Jia and Lady Wang, and also had to look at the faces of Wang Xifeng and others, be careful with the women of Rongguo Mansion, and treat the servants of each room preferentially. She was not happy, but she had no choice. For the sake of her mother and brother, she could only endure it.

Aunt Xue: “We can’t afford to offend the Li family.” At this point, she suddenly remembered, “This morning, I heard from Feng girl that the master of the Mei family was originally going to be sent to the Canal Transport Office, but was taken away by Jia Lian.”

Xue Baochai: “Oh? Is there any feud between them?”

Aunt Xue: “It’s Earl Zhongyong. He said he doesn’t like Master Mei.”

Xue Baochai was startled at first, then her eyes lit up: “It’s probably because of Xue Ke, Baoqin and the others.”

Aunt Xue immediately smiled: “It seems that Xue Ke still has some status in the eyes of the Loyal and Brave Lord. This is a good thing.” At this point, she thought for a moment and said, “Well, you take Baoqin to the Li family tomorrow, and I will take care of this.”

Xue Baochai smiled, but her eyes were full of bitterness.
(End of this chapter)