Chapter 152 Men in Black
It turned out that Wang told Xie Jiang that Ma Jun, the richest man in Qingzhou, had been widowed for many years and was looking to marry a second wife. The betrothal gift alone was 10,000 taels, not to mention other silks, satins, jewelry and jade. It would be better to let Qinglian marry him. Although Ma Jun was over 40 years old, he was handsome and his family was wealthy. He only had a daughter who married far away and no other children. If Qinglian had a son or daughter in the future, then the family fortune of millions would be in Qinglian's pocket.
Xie Jiang was a little hesitant at first, but when he thought about the compensation of five thousand taels, and the fact that in addition to his daughter Gu Qinglian, Xie Jiang also had a five-year-old daughter, Gu Qingmei, he knew that even if he gave up his daughter, he still had a way out, so he gritted his teeth and agreed.
But Gu Qinglian was determined not to marry this man who was older than her father.
Xie Jiang just looked at her and said, "Qinglian, you have to think about Qingmei. If your father knew what we did in that shabby shop, he would definitely lock up mom. Mom's life would be ruined."
A few days later, the marriage was decided and Gu Qinglian was sent to the bridal sedan crying.
Xie Jiang gritted her teeth and handed over five thousand taels of silver to Shen Zhi. Shen Zhi looked at the silver, feeling a lot of emotion in her heart. She knew the whole story, but she didn't sympathize with her at all. If she had known this would happen, she wouldn't have done it in the first place. She also remembered the slap she gave Shen Zhen, and she would not let her go.
That night, Shen Zhi used the space to cover up and entered the Lotus Viewing Garden of the Gu Mansion. When she entered Xie Jiang's room, she found a man in black coming out. When the two looked at each other, Shen Zhi was stunned. How did this man come here?
The two of them didn't have time to exchange pleasantries. The man in black stood guard at the door, while Shen Zhi walked to Xie Jiang's bed. Xie Jiang's eyes were closed, his cheeks were swollen, and there was blood at the corners of his mouth. It was obvious that he had been drugged and slapped.
When Shen Zhi thought about how his sister was slapped for no reason by this arrogant woman, his anger couldn't help but rise, and he slapped her hard.
Shen Zhi walked out and saw the man in black jump up from the corner and then disappear from his sight. It was obvious that he left only after knowing that Shen Zhi had come out.
When the sun rose the next day and the whole earth was illuminated, the tranquility of the Lotus Garden was broken by a scream.
When Xie Jiang saw his face in the mirror swollen like a pig's head, he couldn't help but let out a cry of surprise.
Xie Jiang became more and more frightened and dared not stay in Qingzhou Prefecture any longer. He hurriedly took the remaining 5,000 taels of silver from his daughter's marriage and returned to his villa in the capital with his servants.
In the capital, the wife of the minister unexpectedly received an anonymous note and learned about Xie Jiang's existence. She had a big fight with Minister Gu. Afterwards, she went to the outer courtyard and beat Xie Jiang severely. This farce caused a sensation in the whole capital, and people in the streets and alleys talked about it.
At the same time, another incident also caused an uproar in the court.
Someone impeached Minister Gu for keeping a mistress.
This is really shocking news! You know, in the Great Xiao Dynasty, there are strict regulations on the number of wives and concubines for officials above the fourth rank, and officials are absolutely not allowed to keep mistresses. Once discovered, the consequences are no joke. At the very least, you will be demoted, and at the worst, you may lose your life. Moreover, Minister Gu has always had a very decent image. No one would have thought that he, a modest gentleman, would actually be a beast in human form.
When the emperor heard about this, he was furious and his face was gloomy. At this time, a pigeon letter from Qingzhou Prefecture also arrived in the capital. The content of the letter recorded in detail the actions of Miss Gu, the concubine of Minister Gu, including how she acted recklessly and bullied people in Qingzhou Prefecture, and how Minister Gu's concubine acted arrogantly and smashed shops at will.
The more the emperor read, the angrier he became. He could not tolerate such a thing happening, especially when it involved Yixiangjun, who was now of particular importance to the court. In his rage, the emperor did not hesitate to suspend Minister Gu from his post and investigate him.
At the same time, Minister Gu, who was handling official business in the study, suddenly received an imperial edict. When he knelt down to listen to the eunuch reading the imperial edict, his face instantly became extremely gloomy.
It turned out that the emperor had ordered him to be dismissed from his post. Minister Gu was extremely angry and dissatisfied. He firmly believed that all this was caused by his mistress who was not good at doing anything but always causing trouble.
The more Minister Gu thought about it, the angrier he became. He immediately summoned a group of servants and walked towards the other courtyard aggressively. He wanted to let that woman know how much trouble she had brought to the Gu family because of her stupidity and arrogance.
When they arrived at the courtyard, Minister Gu had Xie Jiang dragged out without hesitation. Facing Minister Gu, Xie Jiang was filled with fear, but still tried to explain, "Sir..." However, Minister Gu did not give her a chance to speak, and slapped her in the face, saying coldly, "Bitch! How dare you bring such a disaster to the Gu family!" Then, he ordered the servants to beat Xie Jiang severely until she was covered in blood.
Afterwards, Minister Gu took back the villa without hesitation and drove Xie Jiang out of the house. Not only that, he also drove her to a remote farm and let her fend for herself. In addition, he also took away Xie Jiang's most beloved young daughter and sent her to a farm in the countryside to raise her.
After doing all these things, Minister Gu still couldn't calm down his anger. He was born in a humble family, and he finally studied for two years, learned a little, and struggled for half his life to climb to the position of Minister. Now, everything is back to zero.
Compared to the gloomy atmosphere at the Gu Mansion, the photo studio was filled with joy.
Shen Zhi distributed all the compensation to the injured employees. The employees were very surprised after receiving the compensation. They thought they were just trying to stop a fight and got scratched a few times, but they didn't expect to get so much money.
However, for Shen Zhi, this money was earned with their lives.
In that fight, those employees experienced great danger and pain. She believed that these employees were also injured because of the photo studio, so she should give them due compensation.
After a few days of rest, Zhan Yurong gradually recovered her health. The photo studio also resumed business, and everything seemed to be back on track.
Shen Zhi felt relieved to see that the matter here had been properly handled, so she decided to return to Baiyun Villa.
Everything in Baiyun Villa is in perfect order under the arrangement of the adults.
At this moment, Ke Meng was hiding in her room, not daring to come out, fearing that Shen Zhi would ask her questions. But Ke Meng was overthinking, Shen Zhi had long forgotten about it. She had more important things to deal with now.