allonlinenovel Chapter 360 Reporting the Selling of Illegal Tea
Chapter 360 Reporting the Selling of Illegal Tea
Shen Qingtan learned that Madam Lin had relented and promised to send tea to her old customer within the next few days, hoping that the old customer would be lenient for a few days.
Out of consideration for Consort Shu and Prince Xian in the palace, the old master gave Madam Lin some face and agreed to grant her a few more days.
Shen Qingtan was still worried, so after waiting for half a day, when the Lin family's tea shop began to fulfill its promise, she arranged for someone to leak the news to Prince Qi.
King Qi knew he was favored by the Emperor of Northern Qi and firmly believed he would be the future emperor of Northern Qi.
Even though the wise prince regarded him as a rival and intended to compete for the position of crown prince, he did not take the wise prince seriously.
Faced with the wise king's petty tricks, he countered each move and then retaliated, never feeling threatened by the wise king.
Who would have thought that his father would go back on his word and not, as previously agreed, appoint him as crown prince after his return from his mission to the Great Zhou.
Even when the Lin family committed the heinous crime of murdering a royal heir, he intervened to protect them, only demoting them by one rank.
Afterwards, the emperor frequently praised the virtuous prince during the morning court session, seemingly to tell the court officials that they would not reject the virtuous prince because of the Lin family's misdeeds.
It was only at this point that the King of Qi felt a sense of crisis, began to take the wise king seriously, and wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible.
Otherwise, he would not be able to sleep or eat.
Upon learning that the Lin family was selling smuggled tea, the King of Qi immediately sent people to investigate.
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Every year, Madam Lin would separate half of the smuggled tea and sell it along with the genuine tea. The other half would be secretly transported to foreign lands and sold at high prices.
Over the years, no one has ever discovered that they were selling smuggled tea.
Now a new Yunxiang Tea Shop has opened in the capital, selling tea at low prices and with a very good supply, which has caused old customers to come to the Lin family to demand an explanation.
Madam Lin had no choice but to allocate some of the privately-made tea that was to be shipped to foreign countries for sale after the New Year to her regular customers.
It only took two days to deliver all the tea ordered by the old customer.
When Madam Lin heard the shopkeeper's report, she felt a pang of heartache; the large sum of money she had just received was now all gone.
She deeply resented Yunxiang Tea Shop; if it weren't for this tea shop emerging, she wouldn't have suffered such heavy losses.
Madam Lin instructed the shopkeeper: "You need to think of a way to make Yunxiang Tea Shop run into trouble and unable to continue operating in the capital."
Otherwise, the Lin family's tea shop would never be able to sell at a high price again.
The shopkeeper agreed, looked haggard, and left the Lin residence to deal with the Yunxiang Tea Shop.
Meanwhile, Old Madam Lin leaned wearily against a large, soft pillow, pressing her throbbing temples, hoping that the misfortune that had shrouded the Lin family would soon dissipate.
"Grandma, Grandma—"
Sun's mother's voice came into the room first, and then she lifted the curtain and came in.
Old Madam Lin was startled, worried that something had gone wrong again. She suddenly sat up straight, only to see that Mother Sun had a happy face.
"Grandma, there's good news from the palace!" Granny Sun said with a smile. "His Majesty had neglected Consort Shu for some time, but last night he chose her and summoned her to his bedchamber. This morning, His Majesty gave her a reward. Our Consort is a blessed person; she will soon regain her former favor."
"Really?" Madam Lin's previous gloom vanished, and she beamed with joy. "This is wonderful news! As long as Her Highness regains His Majesty's favor, our Lin family will have a chance to return to its former glory."
Madam Lin immediately became radiant. She quickly got off the couch, washed her hands, took a stick of incense, and offered it to the Bodhisattva with a devout expression, then replaced the offerings.
"The Bodhisattva has appeared and is protecting our Lin family."
Madam Lin planned to use Lin Yi's death as an excuse to withdraw from the world and fade from the public eye, so that if Consort Shu regained favor, people would bring up the Lin family again and drag Consort Shu down.
They are just waiting for the wise king to ascend the throne so that the Lin family can make a strong comeback.
"I haven't had lunch yet. Help me to the side hall to eat."
Madam Lin handed her hand to Mama Sun.
At this moment, the steward barged into the room, disregarding the rules, his face pale: "Old Madam, King Qi... King Qi has exposed our illicit tea sales, and people from the palace... people from the palace have come."
Upon hearing the devastating news, Madam Lin felt dizzy and disoriented. Before she could react, she saw the Imperial Guards enter and her legs went weak, causing her to collapse.
With quick reflexes, Grandma Sun helped Old Madam Lin up.
The commander of the Imperial Guards said coldly, "Excuse me." Then, he waved his hand and said, "Take him away."
Madam Lin's hand holding her cane was trembling, but having experienced many storms at her age, she quickly calmed down and raised her hand to stop the imperial guards from approaching her: "I will walk by myself."
The Imperial Guards looked at their commander.
The commander of the Imperial Guards nodded slightly, granting Madam Lin's request and giving her some face.
Madam Lin breathed a sigh of relief and gave Sun Mama a look, signaling her to go and inform her.
The next moment, her hopes were dashed.
"Keep everyone inside under guard. No one is allowed to step out of the Lin residence until Old Madam Lin returns," the Imperial Guard Commander ordered. "Anyone who disobeys will be punished with thirty strokes of the cane."
Madam Lin's expression changed drastically. She gripped her cane tightly, as if her last hope had been cut off, and the light in her eyes dimmed.
She tried her best to remain calm and followed the commander of the Imperial Guards into the palace, arriving at the Imperial Study.
The Northern Qi emperor's face turned ashen, and the Qi king also looked indignant.
The atmosphere in the Imperial Study was tense, as if filled with an invisible tension, ready to ignite at any moment.
Madam Lin stared at Prince Qi, who stood in the middle of the hall, her heart filled with surging hatred.
She suspected that Yunxiang Tea Shop belonged to the King of Qi.
The King of Qi deliberately forced her to bring out the smuggled tea for her regular customers, and then seized on the evidence to accuse her of selling smuggled tea before the Emperor.
The more Madam Lin thought about it, the more she felt that Prince Qi was the instigator, since he was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, which was responsible for the tea industry in Northern Qi.
Aside from the Prince of Qi, she couldn't think of anyone else who would have the ability to produce so much tea to compete with the Lin family.
Hearing the commotion, the Prince of Qi turned his head and saw the faltering Old Madam Lin. Ignoring the Emperor of Northern Qi's gloomy face, he continued, "Father, I am in charge of the tea affairs of Northern Qi. It is clear in the accounts how many tea permits each person has."
"The amount of tea sold by the Lin family's tea shop far exceeded the amount of tea permits they had."
At this point, King Qi lifted his robe and knelt on the ground: "Your subject begs Your Majesty to conduct a thorough investigation."
"Your Majesty, the Lin family has always sold tea honestly and transparently. The source of every pound of tea is clearly recorded in the accounts. There has never been a single bad account, and the amount has never exceeded the tea permit amount." Old Madam Lin quickly knelt down, full of grievances, and said, "Is there some misunderstanding?"
Seeing that Old Madam Lin wouldn't shed a tear until she saw the coffin, King Qi swiftly took out the account book and placed it in front of her: "What is your explanation?"