Discuss with you

Chapter 34: Cutting the Body
"How much do you know about Lu Ji's affairs?" Lu Qing asked again, "Did Lord Li also have a 'contribution' to this?"

“No one outside the yamen understands it, but everyone inside the yamen knows it.”

When it comes to Lu Ji, Shen Xiang doesn't share the resentment of the Qingshui County residents. Instead, he sighs with some sadness: "Outsiders all say that Lu Ji has monopolized the wine brewing and selling business in Qingshui County, making a killing. But they don't know that the owner of Lu Ji is just greedy and has become a 'little devil' under the control of the 'King of Hell'!"

"how do I say this?"

"Although Lu Ji is the only brewery allowed to brew and sell wine in Qingshui County, a portion of its monthly earnings must be handed over to the government. This allows the government to turn a blind eye to its bullying and monopolizing of the market, preventing other breweries from brewing and selling wine."

"Isn't this a good deal?" Lu Qing asked.

Shen Xiang smiled, his smile full of sarcasm: "The boss of Lu Ji thought this deal was worthwhile at first. After all, Lord Li only wanted 50% of the turnover.

So when Lu Ji was at the peak of his career, the number of ruffians hired by the family was even greater than the number of winemakers in the winery. They would harass anyone they saw selling wine, even those from the village who brewed some wine in their own cellars and sold it to their neighbors.

As long as he knew about the winery, no matter how big or small, Lu Ji would definitely send someone to pay money to buy the wine-making recipe and mother koji. If the other party was afraid of their momentum and stopped making wine after receiving the money, then so be it.

If you meet someone who doesn't buy into this, you'll probably suffer in the end.

In about a year or two, Lu Ji, under the protection of the county government, wiped out all other large and small wineries in the area. Unexpectedly, when Lu Ji thought it could enjoy this wealth alone, Lord Li changed his attitude and asked Lu Ji to hand over 80% of the turnover every month.

Mr. Lu was reluctant, so Mr. Li told him that as long as there was still wine to drink in Qingshui County, no one cared whether the boss's surname was Lu or something else.

Zhu Yu was shocked when he heard this behind Lu Qing.

Li Wencai looked like a soft white steamed bun, and looked harmless except for his mediocrity.

Originally, she guessed that this Lord Li was just greedy, but now, after listening to Shen Xiang's story, she realized that this Li Wencai was far more vicious than she had initially thought.

At first glance, Lu Ji seemed like a "beast" that swallowed up the winery business in Qingshui County, but unexpectedly, they were also prey, step by step walking into Li Wencai's trap.

After the Lu family bullied the market, they had already offended all the people who used to run wineries in Qingshui County. If they refused to submit and handed over 80% of the revenue to the county government, they would lose the invisible support they had in the past.

By that time, those who wanted to find Lu Ji to settle old and new grudges would probably have to line up from one end of the street to the other, and they would have to make several more turns.

In order to avoid retaliation, Lu Ji had no choice but to agree to Li Wencai's exorbitant demands. On the one hand, he acted like a tyrannical "wine shop tyrant" outside, and on the other hand, he poured all the fat money into Li Wencai's pocket.

This is simply like fattening the pigs and then killing them.

"I'll ask you again," Lu Qing didn't react to Shen Xiang's words and continued, "Have you ever heard of a magical 'Ghost Fairy Temple' outside the county town?"

Shen Xiang nodded, then shook his head. "I didn't know what the Ghost Fairy Temple was. Later, someone in the county town suddenly disappeared, no one saw him alive, and no one saw his body dead. That's when I heard people talking about it, saying that praying for wealth in the Ghost Fairy Temple would cost you your life."

"Who are the people discussing this?"

"Most of them are businessmen, especially those who run wine shops and tea houses!" Shen Xiang thought for a moment and answered cautiously.

After hearing this, Lu Qing asked again: "In Qingshui County, apart from the boss of Lu Ji, are there any other people like him, who are never seen alive or dead?" "No." Shen Xiang answered very confidently, "It's only him. That's why everyone says privately that Lu Ji must have done too many evil things and was punished by heaven!

but……"

Seeing that he was hesitant, Lu Qing nodded slightly: "Don't worry, I will make the final decision."

"There is a time-honored restaurant in Qingshui County. There is an old shopkeeper who used to have close ties with Lu Ji.

Since he had been the shopkeeper in a wine shop for many years, he naturally knew many wine-making families.

I don’t know if Lu Ji promised him some benefits or sweeteners, but anyone who secretly wanted to sell wine to the old shopkeeper would be sent to the door by Lu Ji in a blink of an eye, using both soft and hard tactics, threats and inducements.

In the end, there was no other wine-making and selling workshop in the entire Qingshui County except Lu's, and the old shopkeeper was at least half responsible for this.

It seemed that he and the head of the Luji family disappeared at about the same time, but his body was found later, while the head of the Luji family has not been found to this day.

In fact, everyone was discussing privately that it must be that the head of the Lu family had done too many evil things and was being punished by God.

The old owner of the tavern was an accomplice to the evildoer and also received retribution.

However, we can only say this in private... After all, Lord Li and Lu Ji... If we talk too much, we're afraid he'll get suspicious."

After hearing what Shen Xiang said, Lu Qing's dark eyes behind the mask flashed a cunning look. "You just said that no one outside the government office knows about the connection between Lord Li and Lu Ji?"

"Yes." Speaking of County Magistrate Li Wencai, Shen Xiang's expression darkened. "The Lu family moved here from another place. They originally had the weakest roots in Qingshui County and had no support, so Lord Li chose them among many wine merchants.

After he found Lu Ji, he brought him to the yamen to talk many times, and he didn't avoid the people in the yamen at all.

After all, he has a noble person behind him. Not to mention us little ants who have lived in Qingshui County for generations, even the prefect of the state above speaks to him more politely than others. When someone goes to the state to file a complaint against him, the prefect will send the complaint directly to Lord Li for personal decision.

The chief clerk of the county yamen whom you met during the day was actually a close associate of Lord Li, so he would naturally not go out and say anything nonsense.

The rest of us are like me. Our whole families depend on our job for food and drink. Even if he colluded with Lu Ji in front of us, we don't have the courage to go outside the yamen and tell others about it.

People outside just thought that Lu Ji was rich and arrogant, and at most thought that Lord Li was just accepting bribes to protect him. They would never have thought that Lord Li was the one who made the most money here."

"You are quite frank this time." Lu Qing was quite satisfied with Shen Xiang's attitude and nodded slightly.

Shen Xiang smiled bitterly and sighed: "I have risked everything tonight. If you are truly pleading for the people, Your Excellency the Honourable Censor, I am also pleading for the people of Qingshui County. After all, if this continues, something terrible will really happen.

If you are unwilling, or unable to persuade Lord Li, then I will accept my fate and die!"

(End of this chapter)