Chapter 240 Unfounded Relationship
The peach blossom dessert touched Magistrate Yao.
Because at that time he was eating peach blossom dessert while reading the letter. The peach blossom dessert was sent by his junior brother Lu Zhaoyang.
Moreover, he heard that the reason why Lu Zhaoyang's illness showed signs of recovery was thanks to Widow Tong of Peach Blossom Dessert.
Subconsciously, Magistrate Yao did not believe that Widow Tong could make fake medicine and destroy the crops.
Therefore, Prefect Yao did not rashly believe Senior Brother Zheng, who had forgotten that his appearance was almost the same as a stranger, and urgently summoned his junior brother Lu Zhaoyang to his house to inquire.
It just so happened that Lu Zhaoyang had just received good news from Pingchuan County's housekeeper Lu San. After using the medicine prepared by Tong Huaqiong, ear rot on hundreds of acres of corn fields was completely eliminated, and the corn damaged by Xu Yong's fake medicine was re-sprayed with real medicine and a lot of it was saved.
Lu Zhaoyang came to Prefect Yao and told his senior brother the whole story of the fake medicine incident in Yanguan Town.
When Prefect Yao learned that the medicine prescribed by Tong Huaqiong benefited the corn in the entire Pingchuan County, he was extremely excited.
Ningcheng's climate, water and soil are very suitable for growing corn.
But for many years, corn has been plagued by ear rot, resulting in reduced production every year due to ear rot.
Now that someone has developed a pesticide that can eliminate ear rot, how can he, as the prefect, not be happy?
The golden scene of harvest appeared before his eyes.
To be on the safe side, Prefect Yao went to the Lu family's corn fields in Pingchuan County and found that the ear rot on the Lu family's corn had indeed been eliminated.
The large pieces of green gauze tent fluttering in the wind made Governor Yao extremely excited.
Lu San told Prefect Yao and Lu Zhaoyang the whole story of how Xu Yong prepared fake medicine and destroyed the crops, and Tong Huaqiong gave the real medicine out of righteousness. Prefect Yao was very puzzled why Mr. Zheng wanted to blame Tong Huaqiong.
Lu San revealed the entire relationship between the Zheng family's eldest lady and Xu Yong.
"Xu Yong is currently on trial at the county government office," Lu San said.
So Prefect Yao and Lu Zhaoyang went straight to the Pingchuan County Government Office.
Lu Zhaoyang was very excited to meet Tong Huaqiong, and Prefect Yao was even more so.
How could Governor Yao not be happy?
Tong Huaqiong was a man who could ensure a good corn harvest. This not only added to his political achievements as a prefect, but more importantly, it enabled the villagers in the area under his jurisdiction to better fill their stomachs.
Prefect Yao is also a young official with ambitions and aspirations.
"Aunt Tong, how did you prepare this medicine?" asked Prefect Yao.
Tong Huaqiong recounted Gu Jingzhe's lie that she was trying to make the medicine based on the prescription she saw in a book.
Finally, he said, "...Master Yao, farmers will think of ways to get a good harvest. Every family will ferment fertilizer and mix medicine. I am just a blind cat that caught a dead mouse, just like the old Wang who made tofu by refining elixir."
Tong Huaqiong meant that it was best not to ask for details, it was pure luck.
Prefect Yao, County Magistrate Liu, and Lu Zhaoyang all laughed when they heard this.
"Aunt Tong, your words are so interesting. Did you come up with the recipe for the snacks in your home? They smell so good, but it's a pity that I can't eat them. I gave the ones you gave me last time to my senior brother." Lu Zhaoyang saw that Tong Huaqiong seemed unwilling to talk more about how she discovered the pesticide formula, so he changed the subject.
Tong Huaqiong saw Lu Zhaoyang again after more than half a year.
He was completely different from the one he was in Kasuga, he was completely transformed.
Tong Huaqiong said: "I am very happy to see that you have recovered now. There are so many delicious foods in this world. As long as you can live a healthy life, it doesn't matter if you don't eat some cakes."
So the topic of how pesticide formulas are discovered got sidetracked.
Prefect Yao stopped asking about the pesticide formula and started to ask County Magistrate Liu about Xu Yong's manufacture of fake drugs that destroyed crops.
Under the care of Prefect Yao, it was impossible for the case not to be examined strictly.
......
Two days had passed since Mr. Zheng sent his letter, but there was still no reply from Prefect Yao.
He thought in his heart that he was afraid that this junior fellow apprentice would not buy into his senior brother's account. After all, Prefect Yao was from a noble family in Shengjing, and coming to Ningcheng to be the prefect was just a training.
Mr. Zheng felt a little regretful that he had called his junior fellow student "fellow student" all the time in the letter in order to get closer to him.
He didn't dare to send anyone to the main hall of the city, and he was even more unwilling to go to the city himself to deliver a letter to visit.
If Junior Brother Yao really didn't want to see him, wouldn't it be a disgrace to him and a joke to him?
Xu Zaohua hid in the house and didn't dare to see her parents-in-law because she had a stomachache.
I know nothing about the news from the capital city.
Xu Zaohua naively believed that his father-in-law, as a juren, had great power. He sent the letter to the provincial capital, and the prefect would definitely beat Widow Tong on the head with the fake medicine for the sake of his father-in-law.
She just sat in the room waiting, waiting to see Tong Huaqiong be unable to defend herself, waiting to see Tong Huaqiong being taken into custody.
She even asked someone to go to the prison and tell Xu Yong that the Zheng family had asked the prefect to pin the blame on Tong Huaqiong for the fake medicine. He only needed to go through the formalities when he appeared in court again, and he would be able to get out and return to Qinghe Bay soon.
When Xu Yong learned the news, he felt like a drowning man grabbing a piece of driftwood and had hope in his heart.
When he was brought to court to be convicted, he changed his words from biting Xu Zaohua to biting Tong Huaqiong.
County Magistrate Liu was so shocked that he thought Xu Yong was mentally ill.
He didn't use any torture!
County Magistrate Liu found this strange. Why did Xu Yong suddenly change his mind?
County Magistrate Liu concluded that there must be something fishy going on and decided to torture Xu Yong.
After Xu Yong got Xu Zaohua's guarantee, he thought it was just a formality, but he didn't expect that they would actually use the weapon.
In a panic, he shouted, "Do you know the relationship between the prefect and our Xu family's relative, Mr. Zheng? The prefect already knows about this. If you dare to torture me, you can expect to be punished by the prefect."
County Magistrate Liu: “…”
Magistrate Yao, who was closely following the outcome of the fake medicine incident at the back of the county government office, was furious when he heard the news.
What does the Zheng family mean? Are they using his name to sell fake drugs?
He had only been in Ningcheng from Shengjing for two months, and his senior brother, whose appearance he had forgotten, was interfering with the case of County Magistrate Liu in his name?
Prefect Yao was extremely angry.
Aunt Tong was right. Xu Yong alone would not be bold enough to prepare fake medicine. This might actually be the work of that strange senior brother Zheng Juren.
There is no need to ask, the Zheng family must have been involved in this fake medicine, and not only that, they also turned the tables and slandered Aunt Tong.
Prefect Yao was very angry.
When County Magistrate Liu saw that Xu Yong was trying to get close to Prefect Yao, he ordered the bailiffs to beat Xu Yong severely.
"I confessed everything, I confessed everything..."
Xu Yong then told him everything about how Xu Zaohua had sent someone to tell him that the Zheng family had left because of Prefect Yao's relationship with her.
County Magistrate Liu was still wondering about the relationship between Prefect Yao and the Zheng family. Lu Zhaoyang whispered to his cousin about the relationship between the Zheng family and Prefect Yao, and concluded that there was no relationship.
County Magistrate Liu was furious. The Zheng family was using unfounded connections to pressure him.
So he ordered someone to go to Zheng's house and summon Mr. Zheng to the court.
Isn’t his daughter-in-law pregnant?
Then let him accompany you to court.
County Magistrate Liu did not slander Mr. Zheng. Xu Yong, as the uncle of Zheng's daughter-in-law, and Xu Zaohua created the fake medicine scandal together. Mr. Zheng, as Xu Zaohua's father-in-law, might have also been involved.
As an official who cares about agriculture and sericulture, County Magistrate Liu must investigate the matter thoroughly.
He will not wrongly accuse any innocent person, and of course, he will not let go of any person who breaks the law and does evil.
When Mr. Zheng was summoned, the entire Zheng family thought they had heard it wrong.
Mr. Zheng was a scholar who did not need to bow when meeting an official, so how could he have been to the court?
But the arresting officer said that the prince was guilty of the same crime as the common people, not to mention that he was a juren.
Mr. Zheng asked him what crime he had committed. The constable said that he was involved in a fake medicine case and needed to be brought to court for questioning.
Considering that Mr. Zheng was a juren, the constable gave him the respect of a scholar and did not tie him up. Instead, he let him follow him to the county government office.