Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 118 - 116: Retribution is Not Pleasant 2

Chapter 118: Chapter 116: Retribution is Not Pleasant 2

Shen Chengyao halted in his tracks, what did Mrs. Liang mean by that? Nevermind, it was more important to get to Doctor Luo’s house first!

Mrs. Liang arrived, her voice preceding her, and immediately toppled Mrs. Li. With a swing of her hand, she slapped Mrs. Li on both sides of her face.

The two of them ended up rolling on the ground, clawing at each other!

"What the hell are you doing attacking me!" Mrs. Li grabbed hold of Mrs. Liang’s hair, jerking her head back, returning her attack with several successive slaps before relenting!

"Mrs. Li, we kindly offered you a path to wealth, but your husband persuaded my husband into smuggling tea! Now, you have caused your own ruin!"

"What... brought about by us?" Mrs. Li was even more panicked upon hearing this! Her older brother was dead? And Shen Chengzong...

Mrs. Liang broke free of Mrs. Li’s grasp, rose to her feet, and spat in Mrs. Li’s face, "Bah! Stop pretending! If it hadn’t been for your husband saying that your youngest sister-in-law got rich by this method, my husband would never have done it!"

"Oh no, big brother, my husband, you died such a terrible death, the heavens are blind! The ones who should have died are still alive..." Mrs. Li wailed upon hearing these words, sitting on the ground.

Mrs. Liang was even more incensed, pulling off the stinking shoe on her foot and stuffing it into Mrs. Li’s mouth, "What are you wailing for, who are you cursing! Your family’s all dead and my husband’s still alive!"

"Ugh..." Mrs. Li, her mouth obstructed, could only make muffled sounds. She hurriedly pulled out the shoe and dry-heaved a few times, wiped her mouth with her sleeve, and discovered that it was smeared with chicken feces. She immediately began to vomit.

Still concerned Mrs. Liu brought some of the children to the old house, but seeing the situation, they did not dare step inside, only standing by the front gate.

Everyone else covered their mouths, it was truly disgusting!

"Mrs. Li, you’d better clean this up right away, or else I’ll sweep it all onto your kang bed!" Mrs. Shen was furious.

"Mrs. Liang, what did you mean by what you just said?" Mrs. Lan was even more anxious. It couldn’t really be they were smuggling salt, could it! She’d rather it be her third brother-in-law seeking revenge than being implicated in such a crime!

"What do I mean! Shen Chengzong got my husband into smuggling salt and tea, and now he’s been captured!" Mrs. Liang snarled.

"You were smuggling salt and tea, what does that have to do with my husband!" Why was Shen Chengguang also arrested?

"That tea and salt were being sold in your shop! Don’t you know?" Mrs. Liang looked at Mrs. Lan as if she were an idiot!

"What!" Mrs. Lan was so shocked by this revelation that she slumped onto the kang bed! Of course, she didn’t know, if she did, she would have refused under any circumstances! Who had she married, such an idiot!

This was terrible, Shen Chengguang in jail, such a disgraceful reputation! What about her Wen’er, her Wen’er was about to take the examination to become a scholar, he wouldn’t be dragged down by this and not be able to take it, would he!

Master Shen now understood, his oldest son was implicated by his second son!

"You unlucky star, you have brought about our ruin!" Mrs. Shen picked up a broom and began hitting Mrs. Li with it.

"Mother, I never... I didn’t know that." Mrs. Li dodged while speaking. She accidentally stepped on some vomit, leaving filthy footprints all over the ground.

"Mrs. Li, you’d better explain clearly! Exactly how much salt did my second son smuggle?" Master Shen was deeply worried. This was terrible!

"I don’t know, he only told me that soon we could have a large house like my third sister-in-law." Mrs. Li truly didn’t know that Shen Chengzong dared to smuggle salt.

Smuggled salt, Xiao’er frowned, he had heard Di Zhaowei mention something about smuggling salt.

He said, "Among all the taxes, the profits from salt make up half," with the national treasury now empty and desperately in need of silver, they couldn’t increase the tax, making the profits from salt even more crucial.

And now, some of the wealthy salt merchants who were officially licensed by the government to trade in salt, in order to make excessive profits, often smuggled private salt and tea while holding up the legal banner of trading in official salt. Some of the wealthy landed families had also joined in this illicit tea and salt trade, making it so that half of the taxes were lost! It was utterly detestable!

This was a real disaster! They really dare to do it!

Under these circumstances, the government would definitely crack down hard, to serve as a deterrent!

However, if it was a serious crime, they wouldn’t have only arrested Shen Chengguang and Shen Chengzong, it probably won’t be too severe, they might just be locked up for a while, fined some silver, and then released.

"Your brother’s family, they... your eldest brother can’t just abandon them."

"Grandfather, how can we save them?" She had heard her fourth aunt say, when their family was arrested before, everyone suspected them of smuggling salt, but no one dared to even ask about the situation!

However, coming back to the point, their suspicions were fueled by my own actions!

"You could ask for the help of Young Master Shangguan..."

"Young Master Shangguan is currently in the Imperial Capital, how can we invite him from there?"

"Doesn’t he own properties in the county? You can have the people from the shop reach out to him!"

"Master, let’s not say whether Young Master Shangguan is willing to help or not! Selling bootleg salt has always been a serious crime, no one would dare to aid in that! Just to mention about reaching out to Young Master Shangguan, the Imperial Capital is tens of millions of miles away from here, by the time anyone makes a round trip, the case would have already been closed! Distant water can’t quench a nearby fire!" If anything else happens, Shen Chengguang’s grave would already be overgrown with grass! Xiao’er added in his mind!

"Where is my father?" Jinghao asked when he didn’t see Shen Chengyao.

"He went to Doctor Luo." Shen Chengzu responded awkwardly.

Xiao’er looked at him curiously, why did Shen Chengzu have such an expression when Shen Chengyao went to visit Doctor Luo? Could it be that he didn’t just go to Doctor Luo seeking help to save Shen Chengguang and the others?

Xiao’er looked around and sure enough, he saw a pool of blood on the ground! There was also a broken bowl at the door! These people, this was absolutely outrageous!

"Father’s injured!" This was definite.

Shen Chengyao also came back at this time, and the whole family saw the bandage on his forehead and rushed forward with concern.

"Is it serious? How did you get injured?" Mrs. Liu voiced her distress.

"Dad, what happened to your head, does it hurt?" Jinghao, holding Shen Chengyao’s hand, was filled with worry.

"Father, how did you get injured, does it still hurt? What did Doctor Luo say?"

"How did you get hurt Uncle Shen?"

"Don’t worry, dad, I’ll blow on it and the pain will go away!"

"Dad, who threw the bowl that broke your head?"

Shen Chengyao’s heart warmed slowly because of their concerns.

Master Shen was a bit embarrassed.

Everyone’s gaze turned to Mrs. Shen.

Mrs. Shen was acting passive-aggressively, with an attitude of what can you do about me! So what if I’m the one who did it, can you throw it back at me!

Only four words crossed Xiao’er’s mind: detestable to both spirits and humans!

"I’m fine, don’t worry." Shen Chengyao comforted them with a smile, then turned to Mr. Shen and said, "Father, I’ve consulted with Doctor Luo, he said he’ll try to contact Young Master Shangguan, but the journey is long so it won’t happen immediately! However, we don’t have to worry, selling bootleg salt is a major crime, usually, the whole family would be executed, but since the officers only took my older brothers for questioning, we’re safe, which proves the situation is not as serious as we thought, maybe they will be released as soon as the case is solved, probably only with a fine."

After hearing this, Mr. Shen relieved, so his third son had planned to consult Doctor Luo for insights. His third son did indeed have a conscience. "Did Doctor Luo mention when your eldest brother can be released?"

Shen Chengyao shook his head: "We have to wait until the case is closed, he doesn’t know either."

"And they want a fine! Where would we get the money? You’d better help out with some silver when the time comes!" Mrs. Shen felt as if her flesh was being cut when she heard about the fine!

"I can’t give you silver, my father already gave out a lot of silver," Xiao’er retorted ambiguously.

"When did your father give out a lot of silver?"

"My father lost so much blood, he’ll have to eat a lot of supplements to replenish it, doesn’t that require a lot of silver? Whoever compensates for my father’s blood, our family will pay the silver!"

"Very well, I was wondering when your father had given out a lot of silver. You guys are as stingy as a pinchpenny! So this is what you’re up to! Your father’s life was given by me, what’s the big deal if he loses some blood? You must come up with the silver, whether you have it or not!"

"If you want silver I have none, but if you want a life, I can give you one! Since you gave it, you can have it back!" Xiao’er mimicked Mrs. Shen’s defiant attitude and fought back!

Mrs. Shen was so infuriated that she was speechless, she just pointed at Xiao’er: "You, you..."