After being forced to leave the marriage, I became the wife of a top scholar.

Chapter 256 So that’s it
Bai Wanqing felt a pang of heartache for Cheng Susu, who was already somewhat drowsy but still stubborn.

Cheng Dong was just like that when he was little! Even when he was sick or injured, he would always look up at her and hold her hand to comfort her.

"Sister, I'm fine! I'm a real man, it's just a minor illness."

Bai Wanqing felt a tightness in her heart, and when she looked at Cheng Susu again, her eyes were already red.

"Susu, I know you're strong, but you're very weak right now. You need to change out of your wet clothes right away." Bai Wanqing coaxed Cheng Susu as if she were a younger brother.

Perhaps she was delirious from the cold, but for a moment she felt as if she had returned to her home in Kyoto, with her mother standing before her.

Cheng Susu stubbornly pouted and said, "If you want me to change your clothes, I won't."

"I'd rather die than trade!"

After saying that, Cheng Susu gripped her collar tightly, leaving Bai Wanqing feeling helpless.

There was nothing Bai Wanqing could do but abandon the idea of ​​exchanging clothes with her. Now it seemed that she could only look around to see if there were any other clothes for Susu to change into.

But there was nothing there except piles of boxes.

Oh, right! Piles of boxes!

Bai Wanqing's eyes lit up. Regardless of whether the Fang family would find out later, she opened one of the boxes directly.

She was presented with bolts of fabric bearing the same pattern as those from the Du Family Cloth Shop.

"Is this the fabric that the Fang family got from Manager Guo?" Bai Wanqing murmured to herself, then slowly placed her hand on the fabric and stroked it.

No, these fabrics are noticeably thinner than the fabrics from their Du family's cloth shop. Although the patterns are the same, the texture and feel are vastly different.

These are inferior imitations of the Du family's fabrics.

At that moment, Bai Wanqing finally understood the Fang family's intentions! Bai Wanqing felt a chill creep up from behind.

"Cold! Cold!" Cheng Susu kept curling up her body and muttering to herself.

Bai Wanqing frowned slightly, then took out a piece of cloth from the box and quickly made a simple dress for Cheng Susu to change into.

Then, Bai Wanqing held Cheng Susu tightly in her arms.

Perhaps Cheng Susu sensed Bai Wanqing's body temperature, because her body finally stopped trembling.

The two of them spent the night huddled in the Fang family's house. Before dawn, Bai Wanqing woke up Cheng Susu, who was still asleep.

"Susu, wake up! We shouldn't stay here any longer, we should leave."

Cheng Susu opened her eyes wide and saw Bai Wanqing's anxious expression. She tensed up as well. She quickly got up, completely ignoring the clothes that had been changed from her. The two of them simply nodded to each other and then quickly left the Fang residence together.

It took Cheng Susu quite a while after returning to her residence that she realized she had changed her clothes.

"Oh no! Wanqing, I think I left my clothes at the Fang family's house."

Cheng Susu was about to go back to look for it when Bai Wanqing grabbed her.

Bai Wanqing took out Su Su's clothes from behind her back and said with a smile, "Don't worry! I brought them all!"

Cheng Susu breathed a sigh of relief and began to examine her current attire with interest.

"Wanqing, I never knew you had such skills. You made such a beautiful piece of simple fabric."

As she spoke, Cheng Susu stroked her dress as if it were a precious treasure.

The more she stroked it, the more her brows furrowed, and finally, after a moment, she exclaimed in surprise.

"Wanqing, when did your Du family's cloth shop become so good?" Susu was a straightforward person, but she couldn't utter a complete sentence for a long time.

"Speak your mind!" Bai Wanqing said with a smile as she stood by the table.

Cheng Susu swallowed hard, her eyes darting around a few times. "Don't get angry when I tell you."

“Don’t be angry!”

Cheng Susu closed her eyes, pointed to the clothes she was wearing, and said, "Wanqing, if you ask me, you should do something about the weavers in your cloth shop. Why is the fabric so rough now?"

Upon hearing this, Bai Wanqing covered her mouth and laughed.

Upon hearing Bai Wanqing's laughter, Cheng Susu suddenly opened her eyes and looked at Bai Wanqing with a puzzled expression.

Why did Wanqing laugh even more when she said the fabric from the cloth shop was bad?

"Wanqing, are you alright?" Cheng Susu asked.

Bai Wanqing shook her head and said, "It's alright! Susu, you're right, the fabric is indeed not good, but it's not from the Du family's cloth shop."

Cheng Susu's eyes widened in surprise after hearing this!

"Not fabric from the Du family's cloth shop?" Cheng Susu's mouth dropped open as she thought of the boxes they had found at the Fang family's house yesterday.

"Wanqing, are you saying that these fabrics were prepared by the Fang family?"

Bai Wanqing's smile vanished, replaced by a cold, stern one. "Yes!"

Now Cheng Susu finally understood what the Fang family was up to! This...this...the Fang family really wanted more than just a little money!
They want to destroy the Du family!

"Wanqing, you've been following the Fang family all along, did you know they were going to do this all along?" Susu asked in shock.

Bai Wanqing shook her head slightly, "I'm not a prophet, how could I possibly know!"

"Then why are you so determined to follow the Fang family?"

"It was just my gut feeling that things weren't as simple as they seemed on the surface, and now it turns out I was right."

Cheng Susu stared blankly at Wanqing, lost in thought. Her father had previously said that Wanqing had brought down the Fang family in Huaizhou City.

She didn't believe it; she was convinced that Lin Yunche was helping her behind the scenes.

Now she doesn't think so anymore! Perhaps... perhaps she really made the right move, and following Wanqing might actually save her father.

In the evening, Steward Du brought news that Manager Guo had transported all the goods out.

In the next two or three days, news spread that Du Family Cloth Shop was selling inferior cloth.

At this moment, Du's shop assistant was surrounded by a group of people in the cloth shop. They were all holding inferior cloth from Du's family and demanding an explanation.

Du's shop assistant looked at the inferior fabric in the hands of the guests with a blank expression. The fabric they were holding was indeed a pattern from Du's Cloth Shop, but the quality was indeed much worse.

"Everyone! Everyone! You must have made a mistake! This cloth is not from our Du Family Cloth Shop." As soon as Du's shop assistant spoke, the noise outside the door erupted again.

"How could this not be fabric from your Du family!"

"Yes, yes! How could it not be? This pattern is definitely made for your Du family."

"Yes! It's your fabric, don't try to renege on your promise."

The commotion outside drew in more and more people to the Du family's cloth shop.

Helpless, the shopkeeper asked someone to invite Manager Guo back to uphold justice! But the person who returned told him that Manager Guo's house was empty and no one was there!
The guy was stunned into silence when he heard the news!
What should we do?!
For several days in a row, Du's Cloth Shop was surrounded by these customers. Because the shop assistants firmly denied that the inferior cloth belonged to Du's Cloth Shop, the news spread faster and faster.

The reputation of Du Family Cloth Shop also deteriorated.

While sitting in the carriage, Master Fang watched the farce in front of the Du family's cloth shop, smiled, and then asked the driver to take him back to the Fang family.

At this moment, Grandpa Fang and Second Grandpa Fang were sitting in the main hall, listening to Uncle Kui's report.

As soon as Master Fang entered, he plopped down in a chair, looking refreshed, and started gulping down the tea on the table.

Uncle Kui had no choice but to stop talking and wait for him to calm down.

Fortunately, Grandpa Fang was in a good mood at the moment, so he did not intend to blame his third brother for his reckless behavior.

"Alright! Uncle Kui, you've explained the general situation clearly."

"At least it's going according to our plan!"

"It seems that Madam Du has miscalculated. What can Bai Wanqing do to turn the tide now?" After saying this, Grandpa Fang laughed heartily, and Second Master Fang nodded calmly.

Master Fang glanced at Uncle Kui, who seemed to have something to say, but Master Fang didn't give him the chance.

"Uncle Kui, I have something to say to my eldest and second brothers. You can go down now."

Uncle Kui opened his mouth, but Third Master Fang glared at him angrily, so he had no choice but to lower his head and retreat.

Master Fang was secretly pleased. See? See? He was no longer the useless Master Fang. No matter how senior the steward was, he still had to distinguish who was the master and who was the servant.

Seeing Fang Sanye chuckling to himself, Grandpa Fang couldn't help but ask a question.

"Third brother, if you have something to say, just say it. Why are you pondering it first?"

Master Fang immediately came to his senses, grinned, and vividly described the scene he had just witnessed on the street.

"Big brother, second brother, you haven't seen it. The Du family's cloth shop has become a rat crossing the street."

"So many people were cursing at the door; it was really upsetting to see."

Grandpa Fang raised an eyebrow and chuckled, "Hmph! This was the Du family's fate all along."

"They've really bitten off more than they can chew this time. It's all because that Mrs. Lin was too clever for her own good."

"If they had been willing to cooperate with the Fang family back then, they wouldn't have ended up like this today."

Third Master Fang nodded repeatedly, "Big Brother is right. The Du family is blind to talent and deserves it."

The three brothers were so happy that they had the servants prepare some wine and dishes, and they drank heartily in the side hall.

Meanwhile, the shop assistants at the fabric store finally finished another day.

He sat blankly on the threshold, looking at the eggs and rotten vegetable leaves thrown in front of the door, feeling very distressed.

Looking back at the shop he had been guarding, she couldn't hold back her tears and burst into sobs.

"What's wrong? Feeling aggrieved?"

A voice came from above the shop assistant's head. The shop assistant looked up and recognized the person at a glance.

The waiter immediately stood up and bowed to Manager Du.

"Manager Du!"

Manager Du took a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to the waiter.

The young waiter then remembered his disheveled appearance and looked up at Steward Du with some embarrassment.

Manager Du patted the young waiter on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, you did a good job."

The young waiter paused for a moment, then slowly took the handkerchief from Steward Du's hand.

"Manager Du, you knew all along?"

Manager Du nodded, "It's such a big thing, and you've had to shoulder it all by yourself. You've had a tough time."

Upon hearing this, the young man pouted, then cried even louder, releasing all the resentment and grievances he had accumulated over the past few days.

Steward Du did not stop him anymore, letting him cry his heart out.

When the young waiter finished venting and looked up again, he had already been led to the backyard of the shop by Manager Du.

There was a lot of chicken, duck, fish and meat on the table in front of him, which made his stomach rumble.

"Manager Du, I...I'm useless! But I'm not wronged!" the young waiter said softly.

Manager Du patted the young waiter on the head. "Alright! You've worked hard these past few days."

"Let's have a good meal first! Leave the rest to me."

The young man wanted to speak, to express his thoughts over the past few days, but he swallowed his words as soon as he was about to open his mouth.

Manager Du was not Manager Guo; his eyes gleamed with shrewdness, and he seemed confident and prepared.

The clever waiter didn't say anything more, but just kept his head down and ate the food on the table.

When the store reopened the next day, the customers who came to demand an explanation no longer saw the timid young shop assistant, but the upright and stern cloth shop assistant.

"It's been so many days! Will your Du Family Cloth Shop give us an explanation?"

"Yes! Yes! If you don't give us an explanation, we'll all take it to the authorities."

“Selling such inferior fabrics should be punished.”

The voices of the crowd rose and fell, and people's emotions became increasingly agitated.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that this matter is unlikely to be resolved peacefully.

Just then, the shop assistant slightly turned to the side, and Manager Du walked out of the shop.

The people gathered at the shop entrance had never seen Manager Du before, but seeing that he was dressed in fine clothes, they knew he must be a capable person.

For some reason, Steward Du's aura made their voices weaker.

However, someone else reacted first and shouted, "You're the one in charge, aren't you!"

"Then you'd better come and resolve this issue of inferior fabric for us today."

"Compensate!"

Subsequently, cries for compensation rose and fell from the crowd, one wave after another.

Manager Du raised his hand and said in a strong voice, "Everyone, please quiet down and listen to me."

A man in the crowd said irritably, "What are you talking about? Just pay up."

"Yes! Pay up!"

Manager Du smiled slightly, not getting angry at all. Instead, he calmly said, "Even if we have to pay compensation, we need to discuss it together."

"How can we negotiate when you keep making these accusations?"

Upon hearing that Du's Cloth Shop was finally going to lose money, everyone quieted down and waited for Manager Du to speak.

Manager Du gave a wink to the young shop assistant beside him, who nodded, turned and went into the shop, and came out a moment later carrying a bolt of cloth.

Manager Du tore the cloth into several pieces on the spot and held them in his hand, saying...

"Everyone says that the fabric you bought is from our Du Family Cloth Shop."

“But we at Du Family Cloth Shop have already checked, and the cloth in everyone’s hands does not come from Du Family Cloth Shop.”

"So, it's really a bit unreasonable for everyone to come to our Du Family Cloth Shop!"

Upon hearing this, the crowd below began to whisper among themselves.

The man who had been stirring things up in the crowd jumped out again.

“This manager, you’re just shirking your responsibility.”

"You can ask everyone, the pattern on this piece of fabric we have is only available from the Du family's cloth shop."

"Isn't the cloth we bought from the Du family's cloth shop?"

"If we don't seek compensation from you, who else can we seek compensation from!"

"Yeah yeah!"

Manager Du smiled and had the piece of cloth in his hand passed down to the young waiter.

Everyone was puzzled, but they all accepted the fabric. They compared the fabric they bought with the fabric sent to them by the Du family's cloth shop and found that apart from the same pattern, the texture and feel were indeed different!
Could it be that the fabric they bought wasn't actually from the Du family's cloth shop?
(End of this chapter)