allonlinenovel Chapter 117 Grabbing the Credit
Chapter 117 Grabbing the Credit
Shen Qingtan recognized the letter from Shen Shaoheng when she saw the scrawled handwriting on the envelope.
She opened the envelope, took out a blank sheet of paper, and saw that the handwriting was wild and arrogant.
[Little sister, your big brother went to Guanzhou to pick peaches.]
Shen Qingtan: "..."
He went to steal credit from others and even reported it to her, not afraid that she would betray him.
Liu Yue saw this and couldn't help but laugh, "This servant is worried that the young master will mess things up and get himself into trouble."
Shen Qingtan: "..." You have to admit, it's highly likely.
She thought for a moment, wrote a letter, and arranged for someone to deliver it to Shen Shaoheng.
-
Even traveling from the capital to Guanzhou, at full speed, day and night, or taking a shortcut, would still take four or five days.
When Yongyi reached a post station, he changed horses and took a shortcut, arriving in Guanzhou in four days. He fell ill after checking into an inn.
He had never traveled so fast before; the insides of his thighs were chafed raw, and he felt like his whole body was falling apart.
Worried about missing the opportunity, Earl Yongyi dared not delay and immediately sent someone to rent a sedan chair to carry him to see the grain chief.
After receiving the letter of recommendation, the grain chief treated Yongyi Earl very warmly: "You are Brother Shen's brother-in-law, so I will call you Brother Liu."
Uncle Yongyi had a high fever, and he was also a little delirious from the fever. He had a headache, body aches, and his wounds hurt.
He lost interest in pleasantries: "Brother, may we go check on the grain today?"
The grain chief saw that he could barely sit still, his face was sallow, and he looked sickly.
He said with concern, "Brother Liu, you're not feeling well. Why don't you rest for a day or two and wait until you're feeling better before you go check on the grain?"
"It's alright." Uncle Yongyi said listlessly, holding his head which was throbbing with pain. "If we resolve this quickly, I can focus on recovering."
Upon hearing this, the grain chief agreed and led the Earl of Yongyi to the granary: "I am in charge of collecting and transporting all the grain in the Guanzhou area. Because of this relationship, I have some connections with the doctor in charge of the granary. He gave me some face and specially rented the idle and abandoned granary to me to store grain."
The Earl of Yongyi smiled and said, "What friendship? It's nothing more than friendship bought with money."
The grain manager sighed, "After the harvest, the idle granaries will all be used to store government grain, and the grain I have stored here will have to be moved out. I was just worrying about this when Brother Shen sent someone to deliver a letter, advising me to sell the grain to you, which solved a problem for me."
The Earl of Yongyi looked at the rows of grain cellars, a total of twenty, which was considered the smallest of the granaries.
They inspected four grain cellars in a row, all of which were filled with sacks of grain.
He ordered his men to open several sacks, and after confirming that they contained grain, he felt relieved.
The Earl of Yongyi had no doubt that the grain was government grain.
After all, he had found out before he came that all the official grain in Guanzhou had been lent to the people, and the granaries were already empty.
He didn't care whether the grain came from legitimate sources or not. After all, once the money was in his pocket, who would take it out again?
The Earl of Yongyi explained his plan: "Brother, I don't have that much silver on hand. Since you know my brother-in-law, how about I give you some silver first, and I'll settle the rest with you after I sell the grain?"
The grain manager looked troubled.
“I can write you an IOU, and even if I can’t pay it back, my brother-in-law can pay it back for me.”
The Earl of Yongyi continued to persuade him, "In less than a month, your grain will no longer be able to be stored in the granary. Your grain is of dubious origin. If you sell it to others and they expose you, you will suffer imprisonment."
After a moment's thought, the grain manager reluctantly agreed, saying, "Write me an IOU, affix your personal seal, and leave a token. If you deny it, I'll use your token to ask Brother Shen for the money."
Marquis Yongyi frowned, unwilling to give the token.
The grain manager's attitude was surprisingly firm: "If you don't have a token, you have to pay the money in full at once, otherwise we can't do this deal."
Where does the Earl of Yongyi get so much silver?
After a moment of internal struggle, he couldn't bear to let the opportunity slip away, so he made a tough decision, tore off the jade pendant from his waist, and handed it to the grain manager.
The Earl of Yongyi instructed, "Keep the jade pendant safe. When I return the silver to you, you must return the jade pendant to me."
The grain officer carefully examined the jade pendant and confirmed that it was engraved with the words of the Earl of Yongyi. Only then did he smile and say, "Of course, we are in the same boat. How could I possibly harm you?"
The two returned to the inn and wrote two contracts, each keeping one copy.
Yongyi wrote another IOU, added his name and personal seal at the end, and handed it to the grain manager.
After receiving the supplies, the grain manager instructed Uncle Yongyi to take good care of himself, then turned and left the inn. He walked through an alley and came to a carriage parked on the side of the street.
The driver lifted the curtain, and the grain manager entered the carriage, where a middle-aged man was sitting.
The grain manager handed over the IOU, contract, and jade pendant together: "Lord Cao, the matter is settled."
The granary he took Yongyibo to see was filled with mud bags, with only a few layers of real grain on top.
“Take the Marquis of Yongyi’s name and seal and forge several contracts,” Lord Cao said in a deep voice. “If the court sends someone to investigate, we can pin the blame on him.”
The grain manager laughed and said, "Lord Cao, how can you shirk your responsibility? It's obvious that the Earl of Yongyi is using the Marquis of Chengen's name to force us to sell the disaster relief grain to him."
Lord Cao laughed heartily a few times: "That's right, that's right."
-
The Liu family's ancestral home was in the small town. When the people in the mansion heard that the Earl of Yongyi had come to Guanzhou, they cleaned up the entire mansion, both inside and out, in preparation for the Earl of Yongyi to come and stay in the town. They temporarily relaxed their surveillance on Shen Shaobai, the second son of the Marquis of Chengen.
In the West Garden stables, a young boy dressed in a groom's short brown robe was huffing and puffing as he dug a tunnel with a hoe.
The tethered horse snorted and swished its tail, stamping its feet in place.
Suddenly, he threw down and kicked the boy's upturned buttocks.
The boy, caught off guard, fell headfirst into the newly dug pit, his legs pointing skyward.
He was simmering with anger, ready to explode.
Suddenly, he touched it and realized something was wrong.