Miao Chu

Chapter 62 Stop
"Why didn't you say so earlier?!" Diao Zi was about to explode. "The 18th of the first lunar month won't do! We chose the 14th, how could you change it without even a word?"

"What's all the fuss about? Aren't we talking to you right now?" Liu Er slammed his teacup down on the table. "It's not like it can't be changed. We can just change it again!"

"Then why are you even mentioning money?"

Liu Er sneered: "Others would charge at least 120 strings of cash for revising a document, but I waived 20 strings for your head Liao's sake. And you're acting like you don't know what's good for you?"

Diao Zi was furious.

What kind of starving ghost was this guy reincarnated from?

One hundred and twenty strings of cash weren't enough to satisfy you, and you want another hundred? How come you won't die from overeating?!

He couldn't help but say, "It's clearly your own fault, Mr. Liu, why do you still want to pay more money?"

"Is this your first time dealing with the government? Don't you know that the Lantern Festival is a holiday?" Liu Er sneered. "If you're not going to pay up, then don't change it. It's not like I'm forcing you to change it."

"You think amending documents is simple? Applying, registering, affixing seals—you can't get away with it without pulling strings. What can you do with 120 strings of cash? I have to pay out of my own pocket every time!"

Diao Zi couldn't listen anymore, spat, and said, "Then don't change anything. Anyway, that seller surnamed Song is already lying in a coffin on the eighteenth of the first lunar month. A dead person can sign something. If someone digs it up, I'll be in big trouble, and you won't escape the consequences either!"

Liu Er, who had been calm and collected, changed his expression slightly upon hearing this. He then sneered, "What does this have to do with me? Don't change anything. If you get caught, at most I'll be fined a month or two for carelessness—not much."

He added, "Even your leader Liao calls me brother, but you dare to threaten me!"

As he spoke, he grabbed a teacup from the table and smashed it across Diao Zi's face.

With a "bang," the teacup hit Diao Zi, who was dodging backward, and then slid to the ground, scattering tea and broken porcelain pieces everywhere.

Diao Zi winced in pain, his clothes half-soaked. He was so angry he was trembling. He wanted to slap the other man several times, but he didn't dare to move. Instead, these words made him feel uneasy.

The clerk held power and had connections to the government. With a single step, he and his accomplices could break into people's homes at night and bully an orphan girl at will. Naturally, there were others who could also control him as easily as crushing an ant.

Liu Er threw the documents on the table to the ground and said, "The selection will only be done in the next few days. The office will be closed for three days from the 14th to the 16th of the first lunar month. I am not on duty on the 17th. On the other days, Brother Zhang will not be reviewing them. If you want to go back further, last year's files have already been sealed. Don't even think about changing them unless you take out a thousand or so strings of cash."

He pointed to Zhang Ji beside him as he spoke.

"We have guests today, so I, Master Liu, will let it slide. Go back and find your Master Liao to pick a suitable day, bring 100 strings of cash, and come kneeling down to beg for forgiveness. If you keep arguing, don't blame me for turning on you!"

Diao Zi had no choice but to swallow his anger, pick up the papers from the ground, and leave in a hurry.

As soon as the person left and the door closed, Zhang Ji, who had been standing aside and hadn't said a word, suddenly changed his expression and asked, "Second brother, what happened? How could such a mistake have occurred?"

Liu Erquan, no longer arrogant as before, quickly reassured him, "Brother, don't worry. Anyway, that document is kept in the archives and no one checks it regularly. Even if they do check, they might not be able to find that one. Once the money is brought in, we can find a chance to change it."

Zhang Ji frowned and said, "Better safe than sorry! Be more careful next time, or I won't dare to lend you a hand again!"

Liu Er hurriedly offered him a toast, served him food, apologized, and flattered him. Fortunately, the two were close and both were used to doing this. After the meal was almost finished, they were as harmonious as ever.

After a good meal and drinks, the two went home separately.

Just as Liu Er turned into the alley leading to his house, he saw three people walking towards him.

"Liu Er!"

Liu Erxian was startled, but after recognizing the two people opposite him through his drunken eyes as clerks from the storehouse, and another person he didn't recognize but looked very familiar, like someone from the Left and Right Military Patrol Office, he greeted them: "What brings you here so late at night?"

He then asked, "Would you like to come to my house for a while?"

"Sit down my ass! The boss got word that he's coming to check our files tomorrow morning, and he wants us back at the yamen immediately. He's been looking for you for ages, hurry up and get going!"

As they spoke, one of the three led the way, while the other two grabbed one of Liu Er's arms, practically carrying him away.

As soon as we exited the alley, we found a horse-drawn carriage parked outside.

Liu Erben had only drunk four or five parts of the wine. When he was shoved into the carriage, he was so frightened that he was no longer drunk. When he was dragged into the storeroom, he saw that it was brightly lit and that his two superiors, You Guan Gou and Qin Jie, and several other officers were inside. He immediately knew that something was wrong.

Upon approaching, You Guan Gou didn't waste any time. He pointed to the table behind him and said, "Liu Jin, this is what you handled. Tell me what happened."

Liu Jin looked closely and realized it was a familiar document—the deed and land deed for the Song Family Restaurant at the end of Suanzao Alley, which he had filled out that morning.

He knew perfectly well that something had happened, but he didn't know exactly what had happened or where the problem lay, so he pretended to be clueless and said, "It was I who handled it, but I don't know what the problem is?"

You Guan Gou cursed, "Judge Qin is right here, and you still want to keep lying? That seller was already dead on the seventeenth of the first lunar month, and you wrote the eighteenth as the date of the contract. Did a dead man come to you to sign the document?!"

Liu Jin immediately knelt down and said, "I really didn't know; I'm afraid there were times when I accidentally wrote the wrong date!"

Since they were his subordinates, You Guan Gou would naturally want to protect them if he could.

He asked, "Were you bribed, instructed, or coerced?"

Liu Jin was startled and quickly said, "I really only made a mistake!"

He had been a clerk for many years and knew that once he confessed, he would only be severely punished. On the contrary, if he insisted that he had made a mistake and got away with it, he could be a good man again in a year or two.

The two were putting on an act, and Qin Jie watched with great patience, not in a hurry at all, while Han Li had long been impatient.

He took two steps forward, threw a blank document and the contract for the Song Family Restaurant in front of Liu Jin, and said, "This is a new document that was only printed in February, and the serial number was only issued today. Liu Jin, how could you have made a mistake in January?"

Liu Jin recognized the unfamiliar face and didn't know who it was, but once he understood the meaning behind the other person's words, a chill ran down his spine.

Forgery is forgery. Trying to make it flawless is no easy feat, especially in a rush.
He only dared to profit from it because he always took advantage of the fact that no one would investigate the matter.

Before he could figure out how to clear himself of the situation, Han Li asked sternly again, "Liu Jin, don't be so stubborn. That house has been under the watchful eyes of the Left and Right Military Patrol Offices for a long time. There is a casino right across the street, which is closely related to the incident of the missing women and children during the Lantern Festival."

“If you weren’t bribed, then you were involved—Judge Qin wants to take you back for interrogation, and You Guan Gou will not only not protect you, but will also severely punish you as a warning to others, so that you won’t become a black sheep and ruin the reputation of the entire Jiageku.”

Upon hearing Han Li's words, You Guan Gou dared not delay any longer and immediately shouted, "Liu Jin, why don't you confess now?! It's one thing if you want to die, but do you want to drag the whole Yiku down with you? If you don't think about yourself, at least think about your wife, children, and parents!"

Liu Jingyuan was only three parts afraid. Hearing this, especially knowing that there was such a big thing behind that house, and that not a single person had informed him, he really wanted to dig up the ancestral graves of that scoundrel and Liao the head of the family and curse them all.

He hurriedly crawled forward two steps, grabbed You Guan Gou's robe, and cried out, "Guan Gou! Guan Gou! I didn't participate in this. I just accepted a favor from Liao, the head of the Zhuque Gate. He said that the house had been bought a long time ago, but the transfer of ownership hadn't been completed yet. He had already paid the money, but the seller had drowned himself. He was at a loss and didn't want to lose both money and property, so he asked me for help!"

Where is the money?

"Aside from the twenty strings of cash that were distributed, the rest are all in small positions!"

"Where is the original document?"

"It was also in its small place, locked in a wooden drawer—I never dared to touch it."

As he spoke, tears and snot streamed down his face. He hurriedly took the key from his waist, handed it to Han Li opposite him, and cried out, "I really was just doing a job for money!"

Had he known this would happen, he would never have interfered, not even with 1,200 or 1,000 strings of cash!

***
For every event that occurs, there is a second. The alteration of the contract in Suanzao Lane is certainly not an isolated case.

Having found this example, Liu Jin naturally needs to be interrogated carefully. Not only that, all the documents he handled need to be thoroughly examined, and many other matters concerning Liao the head also need to be questioned in detail.

Han Li was about to leave, but after learning that Liao had changed the contracts and sales documents for more than ten houses in just one year, he sensed something was wrong and immediately stayed to participate in the investigation. He also asked Qin Jie to call over the experienced patrolman on duty.

The Kyoto government office was working through the night. In Suanzao Lane, Song Miao woke up but didn't see Han Li return.

She had left a portion of ginger milk curd warm in the pot for the other person, but this food couldn't be left out for long or it would melt. Now that she didn't know when the person would arrive or even if they would come at all, she had no choice but to enjoy it herself first. Only then did she start steaming glutinous rice, making shumai, and cooking those soupy dishes.

According to the plan, today I was supposed to set up a stall in the back alley of Zhuque Gate.

Once everything was ready, Song Miao opened the door and pushed the cart out. She then saw several people lurking suspiciously in the distance, watching her from a corner.

She found it strange and turned to look, but before she could see clearly, she heard shouts rising and falling.

"Young Lady Song!"

"Street vendor Song!"

"Miss Song!"

The voices weren't loud, but as they kept calling out, many heads popped out from every corner like rats crawling underground.

As shouts arose and heads popped up everywhere, countless people ran out from behind walls, at the base of walls, at the corners of walls, at the ends of alleys, and so on.

As the others drew closer and saw that they were all wearing the standard cloth shirts of Nanlu Academy, Song Miao's initial nervousness immediately subsided.

She stopped pushing the cart and stood still, forced to passively admire the various running styles of the crowd.

Some people were running in sync, some hadn't put their shoes on properly and lost one while running. They hurriedly turned back to pick it up, only to have someone behind them accidentally kick the lone shoe off the ground.

Some stretched their necks to imitate the old turtle's movements, while others took the lead, their steps small but their pace extremely high, their legs almost overlapping.

The student with the double-legged shadow was indeed the first to run up to Song Miao, panting and leaning against the wall, and asked urgently, "Miss Song... Miss Song! Didn't you say you weren't going to set up your stall today?!"

Song Miao said, "Because of some things, I can't go to the food alley to set up my stall these two days. I've found another place to sell breakfast, and I'll come back in a few days."

Hearing Song Miao's reply, the man seemed relieved and said, "That's good! That's good! We thought..."

As for what he thought it was, he didn't continue, but hurriedly said, "Miss Song, please sell me a few portions first before you go to set up your stall!"

As he spoke, he took out money from his pocket and announced the prices: he wanted glutinous rice, shumai, and bamboo tube drinks, all at the highest price.

As he took out his money, the people behind him followed suit. Without Song Miao having to tell them what to do, they started to discipline themselves.

"Quiet down, quiet down! Line up!"

"Don't make a commotion, the Imperial Academy might just pass by at any time!"

"Keep your voices down, line up in one long line, those at the back, get your money settled first, don't waste time!"

"Someone go tell the lookout to keep a close eye on things and say we've caught Miss Song!"

Upon hearing the word "caught," Song Miao momentarily even thought she really was a thief.

But her movements were not affected. While quickly wrapping the sticky rice and shumai, she asked, "How did you all suddenly know to come here to find me?"

The people in line behind were practically vying to answer.

"Song Family Restaurant, who doesn't know it!"

"We're not stupid!"

"This hole is so big, it was born for us to crawl out and buy Song Xiaoniangzi's breakfast!"

"Shopkeeper Song, please don't set up any stalls anymore. From now on, we'll just come and buy from you when you open in the morning!"

"that is!"

"The people at the Imperial Academy are just spreading rumors. They even said that Miss Song is because of that Lin..."

"Cough cough."

"cough!"

There was a moment of silence in the crowd, then someone immediately chimed in, asking, "Miss Song, with only a few dozen of us, do we still need to limit the number of purchases?"

Song Miao hesitated for a moment and said, "Although there's no limit, can you carry it all?"

Sure enough, the people behind them started whispering among themselves.

"It shouldn't be a problem, right? Be careful, you can get it back."

"We should still be careful. If we run into the Imperial Academy, we might not be able to escape if we're carrying too much stuff."

Sure enough, after selling about twenty or thirty people, someone sent word.

"The Imperial Academy is coming from behind! Watch out for them blocking the gate! Run!"

The entire alley was deserted in the blink of an eye, and one by one they crawled back through the dog hole.

Song Miao had a feeling of "it can be like this" and "as expected".

She didn't wait any longer and pushed the cart out.

As soon as you exit Suanzao Lane, a familiar-looking patrolman in ordinary clothes is seen trailing behind from a distance.

Song Miao had learned from Inspector Xin's instructions that this was someone arranged to follow her, so she wasn't surprised and simply pretended the other party didn't exist.

She sold her wares at the end of the alley for a while, so it was quite late when she left.

By hanging the "Song's Green Bean Paste Glutinous Rice" sign on the cart, Song Miao doesn't need to call out to sell; as she walks along, pedestrians and nearby residents come out to buy from her.

Although there were only a few buyers, they kept coming and going, selling as they went, and business was surprisingly good.

The patrol post of the Vermilion Bird Gate was three streets away from the Song family. Just as Song Miao turned the first corner, she heard someone shout loudly from ahead: "Hey you, young lady, stop right there!"

The voice was both fierce and urgent.

Many thanks to my cats, Egg and Softie, for the little gift they each sent me from the bookstore :)

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(End of this chapter)