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

Chapter 260 Destroyed in an Instant (Part 4)
The prefectural government? The officials have arrived!
Some of the more timid people in the crowd were uneasy, but Grandpa Fang's body stiffened, a glint of light flashed in his eyes, he gave a disdainful snort to the crowd, and turned to greet the prefectural governor.

At this moment, the governor of Yangzhou stood at the gate of the Fang family mansion, looking up at the magnificent courtyard in front of him in awe!
Everyone says the Fang family is incredibly wealthy, but few know that their residence is unassuming and simple.

Who would have thought that the Fang family would build such a house in this remote place, just to use it as a storeroom!

One can only imagine how extravagant the Fang family is in other places they don't know about!
Envious! Truly envious! The prefect of Suizhou couldn't help but sigh inwardly!
"Lord Sui! Lord Sui!" At this moment, Old Master Fang ran out with his injuries and called out aggrievedly as soon as he saw the Sui Prefecture.

The very next second, Grandpa Fang had already grabbed Lord Sui's arm and was pleading his case.

"Lord Sui! You have no idea! A group of unruly people broke into my house, and look, they even injured me!" As he spoke, Grandpa Fang pointed to the wounds on his body and said with tears in his eyes.

Sui Kun shook off the sleeve that Grandpa Fang was tightly holding with some disgust and moved a few feet to the side.

"Fang Shihuai, look at the state you're in now!"

"And the Fang family, they actually went all the way to the Yangzhou prefectural government for such a trivial matter!"

"If you ask me, it's because you're incompetent! You deserve all these injuries!"

Grandpa Fang didn't dare say a word after being scolded, and could only nod in agreement.

"Alright! Lead the way!" Sui Kun said, waving his hand. Grandpa Fang immediately bowed and made way for Lord Sui.

Guided by Grandpa Fang, Sui Kun soon arrived at the door of the warehouse that had been occupied by people.

At this moment, all the people in the house were filled with fear and trepidation. Steward Du and the young waiter stood at the front of the crowd, while Cheng Susu stood on their side, their eyes all fixed on Lord Sui and his entourage.

As soon as Sui Kun entered the courtyard, he saw the family guards lying scattered on the ground.

His eyelids twitched a little. Looking further inside, he saw that even the Fang family's head steward was lying on the ground, as was Second Master Fang, whom he had seen on the road earlier. He was almost unconscious.

It seems the Fang family has really suffered a huge loss this time! No wonder someone came looking for him!

"Fang Shih-huai! Tell me, what exactly is going on in your family?" As soon as he entered the door, Sui Kun raised his voice and asked, interrupting Steward Du who was about to speak.

Grandpa Fang knew that Lord Sui was giving him a chance to accuse him. A sly glint flashed in his eyes, which, in the eyes of Steward Du and the others, was a blatant threat, just as he had said to them earlier, "None of you will leave here easily today."

"Reporting to Lord Sui, this is a residence in our Fang family where important goods are stored."

“This place was originally quiet, and few people came here on weekdays, so the Fang family kept many important things in this house.”

"Today, for some reason, a group of people suddenly appeared!"

"They're spouting slander about the Fang family's business, but what they really want is to break into the house and rob the Fang family of their property."

“Every single one of them is a bandit,” said Grandpa Fang, pointing at Steward Du and the others.

The villagers were stunned by this sudden accusation.

It's unbelievable that the Fang family, a wealthy and influential family in the area, would so blatantly distort the truth; they clearly have no intention of reasoning with each other.

One of the aunties, who was somewhat indignant, immediately retorted, "Master Fang, you're talking nonsense!"

"We came here to seek justice, how did we become bandits!"

"You're clearly trying to kill us!"

The aunt's words stirred up the villagers, who echoed, "Yes! We are not bandits, we are here to seek justice."

Fang Shihuai remained unfazed, seemingly ignoring their words, and simply repeated them loudly to Lord Sui with his head bowed.

"My lord, since ancient times, I have never heard of a bandit admitting that he is a bandit."

After saying that, Grandpa Fang turned around, straightened his back, and faced the crowd to ask.

"Putting everything else aside, let me ask everyone here: did you obtain our permission to come to the Fang family and enter our residence?"

Everyone was momentarily speechless when asked the question.

Grandpa Fang continued, "Not only did you not get the Fang family's consent, but you also injured members of the Fang family, and now you have opened the Fang family's warehouse without permission."

"My lord, what else could they be but bandits!"

After hearing this, Lord Sui raised an eyebrow, but everyone was at a loss for how to respond.

Grandpa Fang raised the corners of his mouth slightly and looked down at Steward Du and the others with disdain!

It seems to be saying that the Du family is just a small Du family. In Yangzhou, even black can be called white!
The young waiter was about to speak when he was stopped by Steward Du.

Just then, the sound of clapping rang out in the quiet courtyard.

Everyone looked in the direction from which the applause came, and saw Cheng Susu smiling as she clapped with both hands raised.

Grandpa Fang hated this girl the most, and at this moment he did not forget to emphasize, "Sir, all these people were brought here by this woman."

"If you ask me, she's probably the leader of these bandits."

"My lord, you must not let her go!"

Lord Sui's gaze fell on Cheng Susu, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

Cheng Susu suddenly burst into laughter. She clutched her stomach and laughed for a while. Grandpa Fang wanted to rebuke her, but seeing that Lord Sui remained silent, he held back.

But in his heart, Grandpa Fang cursed: Laugh, laugh! This is the only time you can laugh! You'll be crying later.

After laughing enough, Cheng Susu bowed respectfully to Lord Sui and said, "Lord Sui, I have something to say."

Grandpa Fang originally thought that Lord Sui would not give these people another chance to speak, but to his surprise, Lord Sui actually gave a soft "hmm".

Why would Lord Sui listen to a mere maid?
Wait a minute! What did that woman just say? "Your subject's daughter"? What, "your subject's daughter"? Is she the daughter of an official?
Grandpa Fang looked at Cheng Susu in shock. Cheng Susu smiled gently and said slowly, "Lord Sui, what Grandpa Fang said just now was only one side of the story."

"None of what he said is true!"

Lord Sui gave an "Oh?" and narrowed his eyes slightly. "Then tell me, what's going on here?"

Grandpa Fang suddenly felt something was wrong; he had known Lord Sui for quite some time!

He knew better than anyone what kind of decisive and efficient Lord Sui was!

Now he's actually willing to listen to a brat who's barely out of school.
Has the Fang family really bitten off more than they can chew this time?
Just as Grandpa Fang was about to speak up to stop him, he was forced back by a sharp look from Lord Sui. At that moment, he suddenly felt that something was wrong.

Cheng Susu walked up to Lord Sui and said respectfully, "Your Excellency, we are just ordinary people. We were deceived into buying inferior cloth."

"I came to the Fang family simply to seek justice from Master Fang."

"Who knew that in order to cover up the fact that he was selling inferior cloth, Master Fang made a false accusation. Your Honor, we have found evidence that the Fang family was selling inferior cloth."

"Please investigate this matter thoroughly, Your Excellency."

As she spoke, Cheng Susu turned around and glanced at Steward Du, who then came up carrying a piece of inferior cloth that he had found in the warehouse.

"Sir, these fabrics are the lowest quality, yet they are being sold on the market at the normal price for fabrics."

"Please take a look!"

Lord Sui ordered someone to bring up the cloth, and upon handling it, he knew that the steward of the Du family was right.

"Are you saying that the Fang family's warehouse is full of this kind of inferior fabric?"

"And this inferior fabric was sold to all of you at a normal price?"

Steward Du quickly replied, "Yes, sir, that is indeed the case."

The villagers behind him echoed, "That's right! We bought this kind of inferior fabric."

Lord Sui then sent someone to check if the Fang family's warehouse was full of such inferior fabrics.

As Grandpa Fang watched the soldiers enter their family's storeroom, a chill ran through him. Something was wrong! Wasn't this Lord Sui someone the Fang family had hired? How come he's now siding with the Du family?
The government officials searched the entire warehouse and found a huge quantity of this kind of inferior fabric.

After hearing the report, Lord Sui immediately issued an order.

"Guards! Take all the Fang family members back! Put them in jail to await interrogation."

Upon hearing this, Grandpa Fang's legs went weak and he knelt on the ground with a thud. But the officials showed no mercy and pulled Grandpa Fang up.

Before long, the entire Fang family, including their servants, were taken away by the government officials.

The villagers never expected things to go so smoothly.

Just moments ago, the patriarch of the Fang family was spouting nonsense, but unexpectedly, he was thrown into prison so quickly. So, they were all stunned and stood there dumbfounded.

Seeing this, Lord Sui said, "Fellow villagers, please calm down."

“You bought inferior cloth from the Fang family today. I will definitely conduct a fair trial and make the Fang family compensate you for your losses.”

"Go to the magistrate's office now and report your losses."

"Then you can go back first!"

The villagers then came to their senses and began to walk towards the magistrate, slowly forming a long queue. Steward Du and his assistant quickly helped the magistrate with his work.

Lord Sui glanced at Cheng Susu, then stepped out of the courtyard first.

Cheng Susu followed closely behind and went out as well.

"You! You're getting bolder and bolder! You even dare to bring people to force your way into a house!"

"I wonder how your father will punish you when he finds out!"

Cheng Susu said with a grin, "Uncle Sui, how could you not know who I am?"

"Once you see me, you'll know which side is on the side of justice!"

Sui Kun chuckled at the mischievous Cheng Susu, but the smile quickly vanished. He looked at Cheng Susu thoughtfully and said, "Susu! When did your Cheng family become so close to the Zhaonan Marquis's mansion?"

Cheng Susu turned her head in surprise and asked, "Uncle Sui, who did you say?"

"The Marquis of Zhaonan's residence?"

Sui Kun noticed that Cheng Susu's expression seemed to indicate that she was unaware of the Zhaonan Marquis's residence, so he quickly changed the subject.

"Oh! It's nothing! It's alright if you don't know. By the way, how's your father doing lately?"

"We haven't heard from him in ages!"

Cheng Susu forced a smile, "It's alright, it's alright! He's busy with his duties, but he'll definitely write to you, Uncle Sui, when he has some free time."

Sui Kun had no suspicions, and the two left the Fang residence.

Cheng Susu hurried toward Bai Wanqing, who was already standing at the door.

"Wanqing, Wanqing, we've successfully completed our mission!"

"The Fang family will definitely never recover from this!"

As soon as Cheng Susu finished speaking, Bai Wanqing looked at Lord Sui Kun with some embarrassment.

Lord Sui sized up the woman before him; he had never seen her before. "And who is this?"

Cheng Susu spoke first, "Uncle Sui, this is Madam Bai Wanqing, the wife of the Huaizhou Prefecture Governor, and also my close friend."

Sui Kun suddenly realized what was happening, and Bai Wanqing stepped forward to bow.

"Greetings, Lord Sui!"

Sui Kun snapped out of his daze and quickly told Bai Wanqing to stand up. "No need for formalities, I know you are Lord Lin!"

"Lord Lin is a pillar of society; his future is bright!"

After standing up, Bai Wanqing looked directly at Lord Sui. "Lord Sui, this matter was not caused by the Lin family."

Before Bai Wanqing could finish speaking, Lord Sui interrupted her, saying, "Madam Lin is overthinking things!"

"This time, the Fang family shot themselves in the foot; it has nothing to do with Madam Lin and her family."

Bai Wanqing breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing what Lord Sui said.

Afterwards, Bai Wanqing and Cheng Susu respectfully watched Sui Kun and his men leave the Fang residence.

Manager Du and his assistant arranged for carriages to take all the villagers back to Yangzhou City, while Bai Wanqing and Cheng Susu rode horses to bring up the rear.

Bai Wanqing seemed lost in thought the whole way and didn't say a word.

Cheng Susu rode up to her and asked, "What's wrong, Wanqing? The Fang family suffered a major setback this time, while the Du family was saved. Why do you still look so worried?"

Bai Wanqing smiled and said, "I don't know, but I just feel that things are going a little too smoothly."

"Especially after Lord Sui arrived!"

"Oh! You mean Uncle Sui! Wanqing, you don't need to worry about that. Uncle Sui and my father were classmates, and our two families have always been very close."

"With Uncle Sui around, things will naturally go smoothly."

"Is that so?" Bai Wanqing asked softly.

Cheng Susu said with certainty and conviction, "Yes! Yes! That's exactly it."

"Don't overthink it!"

Bai Wanqing casually hummed in agreement, and the two then returned to their temporary residence in Yangzhou.

In the following days, almost the entire city of Yangzhou knew that the Fang family was about to fall.

"Have you heard? The culprit behind the huge scandal of substandard fabric is actually the Fang family!"

"The Fang family? Impossible, right? The Fang family has been running a cloth shop for a long time."

"How could someone do something as foolish as selling inferior fabric?"

"Who says it isn't true? But it's absolutely true. The Fang family was surrounded by the government yesterday. I heard that the third master of the Fang family even wanted to go to the capital to find someone."

“Our prefectural governor didn’t even give the Fang family that chance; he directly arrested Third Master Fang.”

"The entire Fang family is now in prison."

"If you ask me, they're really in grave danger now."

"That's not necessarily true. That's the Fang family. How could they just collapse like that?"

But things progressed much faster than everyone expected. Within a few days, the Fang family's cloth shops in Jiangnan were all confiscated.

Grandpa Fang, Second Grandpa Fang, and Third Grandpa Fang were imprisoned and will be locked up for at least ten years.

Overnight, the once incredibly wealthy Fang family vanished from Jiangnan, so quickly that it seemed as if their century-old legacy had never existed.

While everyone else was shocked, Steward Du was beaming with joy.

With the Fang family gone, the Du and Zhang families took over the business in the Jiangnan region.

Manager Du stood in the shop, watching people come and go, feeling that everything was unreal. For a moment, he even wondered if Bai Wanqing was really the Goddess of the Goddess.
Yes, right? It should be!

(End of this chapter)