Hao Cheng followed Jiang Mengzhen's advice and did not mention the fact that Feiteng Dental Clinic was trying to get rid of her money. She just insisted that the Dental Clinic had ordered those sellers to destroy her innocence.
A scholar's good reputation is extremely important in this world, especially for a scholar who has not yet entered officialdom. Before the imperial examination, some groundless rumors may ruin her career.
It was not strange for Hao Cheng to sue the dental clinic for such an important matter. The plaintiff cried out for injustice, so the person in charge of Feiteng Dental Clinic was naturally summoned. The matter was caused by Li Yagong, so Li Yagong was naturally pushed out to solve the matter.
As soon as he entered the courtroom, he cried and shouted, "We are a pawnbroker that follows the rules completely, and we have never heard of anything that would ruin anyone's reputation! Sir, please help us. Even if the scholar's wife feels that our pawnbroker's rules are wrong, we should not refuse to return your deposit after three failed transactions. Anyway, it's a matter of dozens of taels of silver, and our pawnbroker can't just take it away."
Li Yagong said a few words and insisted that Hao Cheng was reluctant to part with the dozens of taels of silver. It was obvious that his poor character had led to the cancellation of contracts several times, but he still came to slander the brokerage firm. He was really stingy and mean.
If one person says that another person is bad, it may be that the two people have a grudge against each other. But if many people say that this person is bad, others will also think that this person is really bad. Otherwise, why would so many people say bad things about him and not others
The same is true for Hao Cheng's purchase of a house. If one seller breaches the contract, the other party may say that the seller is wrong. But if several people breached the contract with Hao Cheng temporarily, it must be Hao Cheng's problem. Otherwise, why would they go back on their word when they had a good agreement with Hao Cheng before
Li Yagong had a loud voice and was good at singing and writing. He frightened others as soon as he arrived. If Hao Cheng had a weaker psychological quality and was made to stutter by him, he might become the bad person with bad behavior in his eyes.
But she was holding the "Laws of the State of Jin" with her back straight, her thoughts clear, her words distinct, and her upright and upright appearance, which made people feel that she was a serious person no matter how you looked at her.
"This is why I asked you to clear my name. The dental office has the agreement that I filled out with several landlords. I think it won't be difficult to invite a few landlords to come over."
Li Yagong felt a little contempt for Hao Cheng. He had already arranged for those landlords. Hao Cheng was too young and thought that everyone in the world was a good person and could help her turn things around.
He said on the spot: "That's great. When the owners come, they will know the whole story."
As a result, when the owners came, they changed their statements one after another, saying that it was Li Yagong who threatened them and made them change their minds temporarily. Otherwise, they wanted to sell the house in the first place, and they had negotiated well before. Who doesn't want to make some money
Li Yagong was so angry that he jumped up and down: "This is all because Hao Cheng colluded with these sellers to slander the dental clinic!"
Hao Cheng continued, "The old man said that he was waiting for the owner to come and find out the whole story. You know, the laws of the Jin State state say that if anyone defames the reputation of a scholar, he shall be punished with fifty strokes of the cane."
Fifty lashes of the cane, that would be the end of his life. Li Yagong's eyes widened: "How could there be such a law? You must be lying!"
Hao Cheng was certainly not lying, the law was actually very lenient towards scholars. But for those powerful people, most of the laws that protected ordinary people were just empty words, and Li Yagong was just a commoner, just relying on the power of others.
Hao Cheng held up the book in his hand and said, "Here are the laws of the Jin State. They were formulated by our great ancestor himself and have been in use till now. Lord Li Ya violated the law and was disrespectful to our great ancestor. Your Excellency is honest and just, how could he protect a wicked person like you who openly violates the law!"
When she spoke of the words "Your Excellency is honest and just", she pronounced them extremely clearly, almost reciting them aloud, ensuring that everyone in and outside the hall could hear them clearly.
Seeing the county magistrate frown, she said even more forcefully: "I will leave here in a few days to prepare for the exam. However, this place is my roots. If its reputation is tarnished for no reason, my future will be ruined. If you don't clear my name today, I will crash into my head and die in this hall to prove my good name!"
Hao Cheng is a scholar after all. If the county magistrate really dares to protect the pimp business, she will be in big trouble for ignoring the law. She can't bear the responsibility of forcing students to death. In this world, the weak are afraid of the strong, the strong are afraid of the strong, and the strong are afraid of the desperate. The scholar is stubborn, who knows if he will really hit his head and die.
At this time, the person in charge of the dental clinic suddenly came out and shirked responsibility, saying that this was Li Yagong's job and they didn't have such rules.
There are tacitly accepted unfair terms in the industry, which are often in conflict with the law. Ordinary people suffer losses, but most people don't care and accept the rules. But Hao Cheng cares about it, and as long as he judges according to the law, the loser can only be the brokerage.
So when Hao Cheng sued the authorities, Jiang Mengzhen spent two gold leaves to buy a set of clothes, and went directly to find the person in charge of the pawnbroker, explained the facts, and used threats and inducements. The pawnbroker did not want to get involved in a scandal for a small pawnbroker, so they bought Jiang Mengzhen's account and sold Li the pawnbroker.
Those house owners were naturally persuaded by Jiang Mengzhen. Although he was not good at martial arts, he was used to intrigue and understood people's hearts. The counselors could influence the monarch to start or quell the war just by their eloquence. Although he had few resources at hand, it was not easy for him to persuade these people to change their minds temporarily with his mouth that could stir up people's hearts.
The county magistrate was used to smoothing things over, and seeing that the dental clinic was about to push Li Yagong out, he simply took advantage of the situation and executed Li Yagong on the spot.
Li Yagong was sentenced to apologize for Hao Cheng. Hao Cheng was generous and did not want Li Yagong to be beaten. She only asked him to pay her fifty taels of silver as compensation for the damage to her spirit and reputation. The broker said that he did not discipline her strictly, returned Hao Cheng's deposit, and could introduce her to someone for free without taking any commission.
When Kou arrived, the party was already over. He approached Li Yagong when he saw him. Li Yagong, who was scolded by the yahang, spat at him and said, "Bah, who would call you a brother? I won't bother you to worry about my daughter's marriage."
He didn't get any benefit, and got himself into trouble for nothing. It was really bad luck. Even though the relationship was broken, he had to get the money to compensate Hao Cheng from Kou's family.
Winning money and gaining face, Hao Cheng was naturally delighted, and that day he prepared a big meal for Jiang Mengzhen, the great contributor.
After a hearty meal and a good drink, Hao Cheng took the initiative to clean up the mess, and waited for Jiang Mengzhen to fall asleep in the house, then she carried her own small bag, left a piece of cloth covered with words for Jiang Mengzhen, and took advantage of the dim moonlight, the dark night, and ran away in the middle of the night.
Jiang Mengzhen did help her a lot this time, but seeing his actions, Hao Cheng was even more frightened. The other party must be from an extraordinary family, while she is just a commoner now.
It was strange that Jiang Mengzhen appeared at the bottom of the cliff. Even if she was not involved in any murder case, if the other party's family came to her and thought that she had affected the other party's reputation, wouldn't she lose her life that she had saved for free
She saved Jiang Mengzhen once, and served him for so many days without coveting money. She had done her best. She only hoped that he would remember her kindness, and that they could live in peace and not get entangled any more.
The next day, Jiang Mengzhen woke up and found the room still arranged in the same way. The leftover food from yesterday was still kept warm in the steamer. However, the man was gone, and so were Hao Cheng's belongings and identity documents. His things were all there, and even the gold leaves he had counted out to Hao Cheng were all returned by her.
After reading the contents on the cloth, he almost laughed out of anger. But there came the cooing of pigeons outside the window. The breeze blew through the layers of curtains, and a few pigeons fluttered their wings and flew in from outside.
A gray pigeon landed on the table in front of Jiang Mengzhen, staring at him with its cute green eyes. The young man took the letter out of its red legs.
A short note with a few lines of densely written small characters:
My brother Hengzhi, your book "The Biography of Li Ying" written by you under the name of Mingxin Jushi has been widely circulated in Beijing. Jinjiang Bookstore has made a great harvest this time. I hope that my cousin will publish a new work soon. I have arranged a troupe to stage it into a big play, and it will be celebrated for my grandfather's 60th birthday soon.
Although I hope you are well and come back soon, six out of ten things you entrusted me with have been found out, and many of them are related to Prince Jing'an. The current situation is turbulent, so I hope you can stay in Xinghua Village for a while and be patient.
Sincerely,
Sincerely from my cousin Bing Xin