Returning to the clinic, Song Jinzhao called Qingshuang over and instructed, "Tomorrow morning, spread the news about the Liao Manor's concubine plotting against the legal wife. Make sure Meng Hechuan finds out, but do it covertly."
Qingshuang nodded. "This servant understands."
The next morning, right when the bustling market was at its most crowded, the news of the Liao Manor's concubine plotting against the legal wife, causing her to miscarry more than ten times, began to spread rapidly among the crowd.
By the time Liao Wangshu found out, the rumors had already spread through the streets and alleys.
Faced with the prying eyes of his colleagues at the government office, Liao Wangshu burned the official documents on his desk and rushed out with messy steps.
This matter quickly reached Meng Hechuan's ears.
He had previously thought that Liao Wangshu's wife and concubine had a harmonious relationship, but now it turned out they had a grudge. Since Concubine Su was dead, Kong Wanru was highly suspicious.
"Someone, have Liao Wangshu come see me."
Liao Wangshu had barely stepped into his manor when he was summoned back by Meng Hechuan's order.
In the council chamber, faced with Meng Hechuan's inquiry, he had no choice but to explain the entire cause and effect of the matter.
He slapped his knee in frustration.
"Family scandals should not be aired, and my cousin is already dead. This lowly official originally wanted to let the matter rest. Who knew it would spread out, causing such an uproar and troubling Your Excellency."
Meng Hechuan furrowed his brows. "Have you ever thought that the one who hired the Suoming Sect to assassinate Concubine Su is very likely your wife?"
Liao Wangshu looked up in horror. "My wife only discovered the poison in the medicine yesterday. It couldn't possibly be her."
Meng Hechuan: "What if she knew earlier?"
Liao Wangshu shook his head in doubt: "If that were true, my cousin is already dead, why would she expose the matter now!"
Meng Hechuan: "The truth is not yet known, but as long as there are doubts and clues, we can investigate."
With everything mixed together, Liao Wangshu's mind was a mess right now, and he was extremely annoyed.
After pondering for a long time, he stood up, cupped his hands, and pleaded, "Your Excellency, accidents have been happening one after another in the manor, and everyone is already in a state of panic. If you go to question my wife again, who knows what the neighborhood will say."
"As for the drugging, since my cousin is already dead, let's leave this matter at that."
"As for who hired the assassin, why not wait until the Suoming Sect is wiped out and interrogate the one who did it? My wife's health is weak, she really can't handle the torment."
Meng Hechuan pondered for a moment before agreeing to Liao Wangshu's request.
"In that case, we'll wait until the Suoming Sect is wiped out before questioning."
Liao Wangshu knelt and kowtowed. "Thank you for your understanding, Your Excellency. This lowly official will not hesitate to die ten thousand times."
The dense sound of horse hooves rang out outside the door. Song Jinzhao put down the medicinal herbs and walked to the door, finding a cavalry unit galloping past on the street, holding high the banner of the Longbei Province garrison.
Not only that, overnight, many tents had appeared outside the city, and soldiers were drilling in the morning.
Looking at the government office's convoy delivering grain outside the city, Song Jinzhao instructed Lanxi, "Go find out what's going on."
An hour later, Lanxi ran into the clinic covered in snow and wind.
Seeing that his head and body were covered in snow, Song Shixue handed him a long towel from the shelf.
"Why didn't you use an umbrella? When the snow melts, it'll all be water, and you'll easily catch a cold."
Lanxi's arm paused slightly.
He unnaturally took the long towel, lowering his head to avoid Song Shixue's eyes. "This lowly one is wearing several layers of clothes, I won't catch a cold."
Song Jinzhao looked at Lanxi. "Did you find out clearly?"
The long towel was tightly clenched in Lanxi's hand. He walked up to Song Jinzhao and said, "Replying to Eldest Miss, this lowly one found a familiar bailiff to ask. He said the five lives in the Liao Manor were killed by a martial arts organization, and the government mobilized the army to wipe out the Suoming Sect."
Song Jinzhao raised an eyebrow. Concubine Su's matter was only exposed yesterday, and they found out about the Suoming Sect so quickly?
"Do you know exactly which assassin from the Suoming Sect it is?"
Lanxi shook his head. "The murderer dropped a token representing the identity of the Suoming Sect at the crime scene. It's not clear exactly who it is right now."
Song Jinzhao rubbed her chin in surprise. The token representing identity was so important, yet he happened to drop it.
This matter seemed bizarre no matter how you looked at it. Could it be intentional?
"What about the location of the Suoming Sect? Didn't they say they've always been elusive like a divine dragon?"
"How many people are there in the assassin organization? The government troops outside the city look to be only over a thousand, can they win?"
Lanxi leaned close to Song Jinzhao's ear and whispered, "I heard that an anonymous righteous martial artist sent a letter to the government office. The information about the Suoming Sect in the letter was crystal clear, and even the appearance of the sect master was drawn."
Song Jinzhao lowered her eyes and chuckled silently. This matter was definitely done by that assassin.
Borrowing strength to strike, using the government's knife for revenge, he actually had the same idea as her.
On the morning two days later, led by a square-faced deputy general, the thousands of government troops stationed outside the city packed up and left Anyang City.
What surprised Song Jinzhao was that the sickly Eldest Young Master of the Liao Manor was actually among the marching troops.
At the end of the first lunar month, the vegetables in greenhouses four to six of the farm began to be harvested.
At the entrance of the restaurant, Li Tianchong looked at the workers unloading the goods and said to Song Jinzhao, "Miss Song, I wonder when the third batch of vegetables will be available for sale. How about we sign the contract in advance?"
Standing to the side, Li Zi'en had long admired Song Jinzhao to the point of prostrating in admiration.
In less than two months, the income was tens of thousands of taels.
Such incredible money-making ability was truly astonishing, yet others couldn't imitate it.
The ideas were all in Song Jinzhao's head, popping up one after another in an endless stream. Others couldn't steal them even if they wanted to.
Song Jinzhao smiled and said, "The third batch will be twenty days later. If you sign now, you can get a ten percent discount."
In mid-February, the weather was still very cold. After a winter, the cabbage and radishes stored by every household were almost consumed, and vegetables would be even scarcer then.
Hearing that Song Jinzhao was offering a ten percent discount, Li Tianchong immediately ordered a hundred thousand catties of goods.
When the shopkeepers of other restaurants found out, they also signed the contracts in advance.
Chunxing, who was in charge of managing the vegetable shop, was very puzzled by this.
"Eldest Miss, our vegetables obviously have no trouble selling, why offer a ten percent discount? We can sell them at the original price."
Song Jinzhao closed the box containing the contracts. "Because in a few days, the winter vegetable planting technique will no longer be a secret. Everyone in the Dongzhao Kingdom will know. If we don't sign the contracts in advance, the price of vegetables will definitely plummet when the third batch is harvested."
Meng Hechuan had been personally brought to the farm by Lanxi to visit, and he immediately reacted. "Is Eldest Miss referring to Prefect Meng?"
Song Jinzhao nodded: "I've already had Prefect Meng present the greenhouse construction method to the imperial court. There should be a result soon."
Lanxi thought of the breach of contract clause on the contract and suddenly realized.
"So that's why you doubled the penalty for breach of contract, because you were worried they would default?"
Song Jinzhao tapped the lid of the box backhandedly. "With double the penalty, even if they want to default, we won't lose out."
The technique had been handed over, so they had to make a final profit and not let themselves lose money.
