Chapter 228

Watching Jia Cong leave with the manager and clerk of Xiuniang Incense Shop, Zhang Shou'an's mood was gray and defeated.

The moment he ordered the yamen runners to release people and bring them to the back hall.

Zhang Shou'an suddenly realized that Jia Cong's sudden participation in this matter had completely caused the development of the situation to spiral out of control.

Whether he released people or not, for him, the outcome was already uncontrollable.

If he didn't release people, Jia Cong would definitely report to the Dali Temple, and he, Zhang Shou'an, would definitely not be able to escape the crime of breaking the law and harming the people.

Although in the past few years, as the Prefect of Zhen'an Prefecture, he had done such dark things to curry favor and collude with powerful officials, usually the other party was just a few small people in the market, and dealing with them was common.

Just like this time arresting and interrogating the people of Xiuniang Incense Shop, he had investigated the other party's background beforehand and confirmed that there was no powerful connection behind them, so he took action under the request of Ningguo Prefecture.

But he didn't expect a figure like Jia Cong, who had both official status and family background, to emerge, catching him off guard.

If he released people, given Jia Cong's concern for Xiuniang Incense Shop just now, the two had been in prison for less than half a day and had suffered heavy torture; how could Jia Cong let it go?

And once people were released, his act of using cruel torture in prison to force a confession of the perfume secret recipe would be revealed.

It was just that Feng Shi was seriously injured; because she was the manager of Xiuniang Incense Shop, and the people of Zhen'an Prefecture happened not to catch Qu Hongxiu, they pinned the perfume secret recipe on her.

Jia Cong also asked Jia Lian to invite the famous Guanxi physician Zhang Shiyou to treat Feng Shi's fingers.

This Zhang Shiyou spent half a day resetting and connecting Feng Shi's four broken fingers and also prescribed some maintenance decoctions.

And when Jia Cong left, that look full of coldness and murderous intent.

……

It was just that the other party came to the shop to talk, mostly testing, and it hadn't happened yet, so my vigilance was not enough, and I also underestimated the unscrupulousness and cruelty of some people.

Zhang Shou'an, the dignified Prefect of Zhen'an Prefecture, harmed the good, acted recklessly against the law, and was willing to be a running dog for powerful officials.

After being put in prison that day, seeing that she was unwilling to tell the truth, they first used heavy torture on her.

And Jia Zhen was dissolute and shameless; he had long known his reputation, and now he had actually harmed his own head.

Jia Cong comforted the tearful Zhen Ying Lian: "I will find the best doctor to treat Aunt Feng's injuries; I won't let Aunt suffer in vain; every debt that should be collected will not be missed!"

Jia Cong arranged for Feng Shi to recover from her injuries in Qu Hongxiu's small courtyard and also picked up Zhen Ying Lian to take care of her mother; the little girl saw her mother covered in injuries and cried until her eyes were swollen.

Ever since Xiuniang Incense Shop started selling Dongying water jade perfume, business became hot, and he also heard Qu Hongxiu say that someone had been trying to buy shares in the shop, already showing signs of coveting.

That was a look full of hatred and resentment; Zhang Shou'an felt a tremor in his heart; I'm afraid it won't end here?

……

Seeing this, Jia Cong felt even more guilty; he rushed to Zhen'an Prefecture as soon as he got the news, but still couldn't avoid Feng Shi suffering a disaster.

It was just that according to him, although Feng Shi's broken fingers were reset, to restore the fingers to their original state, secret medicinal paste was needed for maintenance.

The whip marks on Feng Shi's body were easy to treat, but her hands had suffered huge trauma from the finger-crushing sticks, and the finger bones of four fingers were broken.

Jia Cong rescued Feng Shi and Liu Ping from Zhen'an Prefecture and immediately looked for a good doctor to treat their injuries.

Liu Ping, because his status was a clerk in the shop, was not paid much attention to by the people of Zhen'an Prefecture; although he was also tortured, his injuries were not serious, and coupled with the fast recovery of a teenager, there was no major problem.

It was just that he didn't understand this method, and only his elder brother Zhang Shipeng was deeply proficient in this way; it was just that his elder brother usually lived in seclusion and was traveling abroad recently, needing to return to the Love Shenjing after a month.

Back then, Jia Cong had heard Jia Lian say that Zhang Shiyou's medical skills were taught by his elder brother Zhang Shipeng, and Zhang Shipeng's medical skills were said to be very superb, with rumors of being miraculous among the people.

Jia Cong was overjoyed and agreed with Zhang Shiyou that when Zhang Shipeng returned to the Love Shenjing, he would definitely visit him and ask him to use his miraculous hands to treat Feng Shi's injuries.

……

For the past few days, it had been circulating in the market that Prefect Zhang Shou'an of Zhen'an Prefecture was corrupt, acted recklessly against the law, and harmed the manager of Xiuniang Incense Shop on Xin Chun Street.

It was said that Zhang Shou'an innocently arrested the manager and put her in prison, and even used cruel torture on a woman, torturing her until she was covered in injuries, just to force her to reveal the secret recipe for making incense.

How this rumor first came out was hard to verify, but the source of the news was mostly from Xin Chun Street in the West City.

Because on the day of the incident, the business of Xiuniang Incense Shop was very prosperous, and female guests gathered in the shop.

Many people saw with their own eyes the yamen runners of Zhen'an Prefecture rushing into the shop, arresting the manager and clerk in the shop, driving away the female guests, and sealing Xiuniang Incense Shop.

And besides this Xiuniang Incense Shop on Xin Chun Street, there was also a very special tea house female dormitory, elegant and exquisite, unconventional, only receiving female guests, which had become a unique landscape in the Love Shenjing.

In the scorching summer, I heard that the tea house female dormitory was filled with summer ice to remove heat; many wives and daughters of wealthy merchants and officials in the Love Shenjing liked to go to the dormitory to drink tea and cool off after purchasing items on Xin Chun Street.

And among the female guests coming and going in this dormitory, they were all spreading the big event that happened at Xiuniang Incense Shop on Xin Chun Street recently.

Among them, how cruel and shameless the Prefect of Zhen'an Prefecture was in seizing the secret recipe for the livelihood of the good people.

How the incense shop helped famine victims, raised orphans, and had a good reputation in the market for a long time, which was praised by people.

The manager of the incense shop, such a gentle and upright woman, was innocently tortured by Prefect Zhang Shou'an because she was coveted for her money-making secret recipe, covered in injuries, with both hands disabled, which was unbearable to look at.

The content was either ups and downs, or shocking, or compassionate, almost catching up with the book words carefully written by the storyteller.

The listeners were both indignant at Zhang Shou'an's greed and cruelty, and shed a tear of sympathy for the incense shop manager who suffered innocently.

These wives and daughters of wealthy merchants and officials were many of them regular customers of Xiuniang Incense Shop and knew that elegant and upright manager.

Hearing this indignant matter, they felt even more empathetic.

They were all wealthy and idle women in the back house, most interested in such market affairs, and every mouth had an amazing ability to spread gossip.

So, the maids and servants around them knew, and their husbands and relatives also knew.

When men drank and gathered, this matter naturally became the best talk; casually belittling the dignified Prefect of Zhen'an Prefecture, and the law did not blame the public, both presenting the pleasure of tongue and the pleasure of punishing evil.

One spread to ten, ten to a hundred; in just a few days, this matter was spread to every street and alley of the Love Shenjing, already becoming a terrifying trend of boiling public opinion.

It was just that the people in the market didn't know that whether it was Xiuniang Incense Shop or the tea house female dormitory, the real owner was Jia Cong.

Many imperial court officials also heard about this scandal of harming the people with officials, but those who could become officials in the capital were not confused people; everyone would think that such a storm would not come from nowhere.

Many people were watching, many people were thinking, and more people were sharpening their knives, intending to invite righteousness and take fame, just waiting for the best time to erupt.

Public opinion is like a knife!

And that Prefect Zhang Shou'an of Zhen'an Prefecture, his official reputation, in just a few days, was three times more stinking than the things circulating in the five internal organs of the pit.

Just when the rumor of the Prefect of Zhen'an Prefecture persecuting the manager of Xiuniang Incense Shop reached its peak in the market.

Many people saw that the incense shop manager Feng Niangzi, who had suffered cruel torture, was carried to the entrance of the Dali Temple in the Love Shenjing in a soft sedan chair.

The drum of injustice at the entrance of the yamen was beaten with a rumble, and the sound of the drum echoed in all directions!

It seemed that an invisible hand had sprinkled a spark full of murderous intent into the trend of public opinion that was already surging like boiling oil.

(End of chapter)