A life of two souls traveling through time

Chapter 246 Weird People Doing Weird Things

When the waiter invited the officer over, the woman started crying in front of the officer again. The officer had no choice but to take her to the government office, and some people who liked to watch the fun also followed.

"Who is here in the court?" The government office of Qile City was still solemn and majestic. The prefect You Zhiji sat high in the courtroom and struck the gavel, asking seriously the three people kneeling below.

"Your Excellency the prefect, I am Li Yunye, the host of a famous Li family in Jiangnan." Li Yunye was the first to pay respect to the prefect You Zhiji.

When You Zhiji saw Li Yunye, who was dressed in pure white silk and had a hemp rope tied around his waist, he nodded slowly.

"Your Excellency the Governor, my surname is Yu. I am originally from another province. I came to Qile City a few years ago to live with my relatives and take care of my helpless aunt. Ten days ago, I went to the Jiangnan Mingli Cloth Shop and bought a piece of cloth intending to make clothes for my aunt. Yesterday, when we started working, my aunt found out that the cloth was not the genuine product of Jiangnan Mingli. I then suspected that Jiangnan Mingli was bullying a woman from another province and passing off inferior goods as good ones to deceive me!" After Manager Yuan had introduced himself in the court, the woman who had caused trouble in the cloth shop began to wipe her tears and cry, complaining about her grievances, without any of the arrogance and aggressiveness she had shown in the shop just now.

"Oh, madam, our Jiangnan Ming Li has a hundred-year-old reputation. We won't tie ourselves up in knots for just a few ounces of silver!" Shopkeeper Yuan behind Li Yunye felt like crying but had no tears. He spread his hands and smiled bitterly.

The woman ignored Manager Yuan at this time, but continued to cry and act as if she was wronged.

"Yu, where are you from? Why did you come to Qile City alone to live with your relatives?" As the prefect, You Zhiji was accustomed to seeing people who cheated in the court. As for what kind of person this woman was like, he had to interrogate her. He had seen the reputation of the famous Li from Jiangnan in Qile City, so he would not believe this one-sided statement.

"Your Excellency, I am from Yao County. My husband's family has no one left, and my brother and sister-in-law from my natal family don't accept me. So I had no choice but to come to my aunt's house. My aunt is old now, and her son is traveling away all year round. So I stayed to accompany her." The woman in the hall replied, wiping her tears.

"Are you sure that the cloth in front of you was bought from the famous cloth shop owned by Li in Jiangnan?" You Zhiji still had a serious expression on his face, pointing at the cloth on the table beside him and asked again.

"Of course I bought this piece of cloth within the past ten days, so I remember it clearly. And the clerk in the cloth shop still remembers that I bought the cloth from him!" the woman nodded and replied.

"What defense do you, the famous Li from Jiangnan, have?" You Zhiji then looked at Li Yunye and asked.

"Sir, please let the manager of my Jiangnan Mingli Dyeing Shop come forward to explain the pattern and color of this cloth. It is not from my Jiangnan Mingli." Li Yunye looked calm, raised his hand to salute You Zhiji, and pleaded.

"Yes, pass it on." You Zhiji nodded.

Soon, Manager Liu, who was waiting outside the court, was called in and knelt before Magistrate You.

"Since you are the manager of the famous Li Dyeing Shop in Jiangnan, you must be familiar with the cloth dyed by your own company. I guess you have seen this cloth, but is it made by the famous Li in Jiangnan?" After Manager Liu finished kneeling, You Zhiji continued to ask.

"Replying to the governor, the cloth this lady brought today is not from the famous Li in Jiangnan..." Manager Liu bowed and replied, but before he could finish his words, the woman next to him angrily scolded him:

"You are such a liar, you have such a black heart..."

With a "bang", the gavel in You Zhiji's hand rang, interrupting the woman's scolding.

"Yu, since you want me to uphold justice for you, please don't disturb the court!" You Zhiji frowned and shouted sternly to the woman in the court.

The woman then calmed down, lowered her head and knelt obediently on the spot.

"Manager Liu, please continue." You Zhiji turned to Manager Liu, who had not yet finished speaking, and gave instructions.

"Sir, my Jiangnan famous Li's cloth dyeing craftsmanship has always been strict, and every process must be perfected, especially the scraping and applying of the anti-dyeing juice, which requires the control of rhythm and strength. If it is too fast and too light, the pattern will be loose and unreal; if it is too slow and too heavy, the work will not be done and the cloth will be damaged. The silk cloth that this lady brought today obviously did not have the right timing in the scraping and applying process. At a glance, it is indeed similar to that of my Jiangnan famous Li, but a closer look reveals that the scraping and applying process is too sloppy, so that the patterns on the cloth are sometimes deep and sometimes shallow, and some are even blurred." Manager Liu saluted and replied confidently.

"Well, it is indeed as you said. The pattern on it is a bit rough, but if people don't look carefully or don't know how to distinguish it, they will be easily fooled. Mr. Li, do you have any cloth similar to this one for reference and comparison?" After hearing this, You Zhiji hurriedly asked someone to bring the cloth for a careful look. It was really as Manager Liu said. He frowned and asked Li Yunye again.

The people outside the hall who were watching the excitement were suddenly shocked when they heard what You Zhizhou said. They didn't expect that the cloth was also fake.

"Your Excellency, the stock of this patterned cloth happened to be sold out in the past two days, and we haven't had time to replace it yet."

"grown ups!"

Li Yunye had just finished replying when he saw a white-haired old woman supported by a maid in the crowd outside the hall shouting timidly.

Everyone looked at the old woman in front of them, who was well dressed and somewhat similar to the woman in the hall, and they all guessed what she was.

"Who is making noise outside?" You Zhiji still frowned and looked outside the hall, and shouted sternly.

"Aunt? Sir, that's my aunt..." The woman in the hall couldn't help but be surprised when she saw the white-haired old woman outside, and then replied to You Zhiji.

"Sir, I have something to say! Sir, my niece made a mistake out of confusion... I hope the governor will be lenient with her!" When You Zhiji heard that the white-haired old woman outside was Yu's aunt, he didn't pay much attention to it. When he was about to put his mind back on the present, he heard the old woman say tremblingly.

"Bring him in!" The old woman's words not only attracted You Zhiji's attention, but also seemed to make several of the famous Li people in Jiangnan feel relieved.

The woman in the hall looked on in panic as she watched her aunt walk into the courtroom supported by her maid.

Seeing that the other party was old, You Zhiji not only did not let the old woman kneel, but also ordered someone to bring a chair. The old woman was very grateful. She sat on the chair and thanked him profusely. Without waiting for You Zhizhou to ask questions, she took the initiative to speak:

"Your Excellency, I am the mother of Mr. Qian from Qile City. My niece is a woman from a small place who has never seen the world. If I have offended you today due to my own mistakes, please be magnanimous and give her a lenient sentence."

"So it's old lady Qian. You just mentioned your niece, and this Mrs. Yu made a mistake out of confusion. I wonder what this means?" When You Zhiji heard that it was a relative of Mr. Qian's family, his expression softened and he asked the old lady.

The old woman did not answer immediately, but asked the maid behind her to open a package and put it in front of You Zhizhou. Then she looked down at her niece with disdain, and then slowly said: "Your Excellency Zhizhou, what I brought is the silk cloth from the famous Li in Jiangnan. My niece lied."

When the white-haired old woman said this, everyone was shocked and there was a lot of discussion outside the courtroom.

"Aunt, what did you say?" Yu stared at her aunt with a pale face.

"You have been a scoundrel since childhood. Your aunt was very happy when you came to live with her, and she felt sorry for your situation. But I didn't expect that you haven't changed your bad habits after decades. If the maid at home hadn't told me that you took the imitation cloth you bought to make trouble for the famous Li from Jiangnan, and even ran to the prefect to frame the famous Li from Jiangnan, I, an old woman, would not have known that my niece had embarrassed myself for me in Qile City!" After the old woman finished speaking, she was so angry that she burst into tears and was out of breath. She had to be patted on the back by the maid behind her to calm down.

Madam Qian's words angered the crowd, but the people of Jiangnan Mingli were calm. They already knew that the woman Yu was framing them, but what they couldn't understand was that if she was just greedy for money, why did she bring the matter to the government? Wouldn't it be more beneficial for her to solve it privately than in court?

Yu was scolded by her aunt so hard that she dared not say a word and just lowered her head and wiped her tears.

"Snapped"

The sudden thump of the gavel startled everyone, and there was total silence inside and outside the courtroom.

"Yu, is what Madam Qian said true?" When You Zhiji found out that he was being fooled, his face became even uglier and he asked angrily.

"Sir... I am illiterate and stupid. I was blinded by greed and did such a foolish thing..." Yu was so scared that she knelt down two steps forward, shaking and crying.

"Hmph, you think you can excuse your greed by saying you're stupid? Why don't you confess the truth now!" You Zhiji was even more furious and shouted harshly.

Seeing that the prefect was so angry, Yu was so scared that she confessed everything.

Ten days ago, Yu went to Jiangnan Mingli to buy a piece of silk cloth at her aunt's request. The next day, she ran errands for her aunt outside the city and met someone selling cloth secretly. She was curious and was surprised to see that the cloth was exactly the same as the one she bought at Jiangnan Mingli the day before, but the price was half cheaper. Yu, who always liked to get a bargain, was naturally tempted and bought a piece. However, she didn't expect that her aunt would find out the flaws in the cloth as soon as she brought it back. However, the old lady didn't say anything when she saw her niece bought it.

But Yu was greedy. She wanted to take the imitation cloth to blackmail Jiangnan Ming Li. In order not to affect the reputation of his own store, Jiangnan Ming Li might want to use money to settle the matter. She also calculated that even if the matter got out of hand in front of the government, she could just pretend to be inexperienced and find a reason to be deceived and wrongly blamed Jiangnan Ming Li to gain sympathy, and she could naturally get away with it. However, she did not expect that she would lose more than she gained, as she was exposed by her aunt in public.

Yu's confession made everyone sigh, but Li Yunye always felt that there were some unreasonable things in what this woman confessed, but he didn't think much about it. After all, you can't judge others by yourself. Weird people always do weird things, which is not something normal people can understand. Fortunately, what happened to Jiangnan Mingli today was just a false alarm.

Considering that Yu was pitiful and pitiful, and that he would not make enemies during his mourning period, Li Yunye did not pursue the matter. He accepted the apology from Old Lady Qian on behalf of Yu and left the government office. What was giving him a headache at the moment was that someone was imitating the cloth of his famous Jiangnan brand, Li. To be able to imitate it so closely, they must have been familiar with the process. It seemed that something was wrong with the Li family's dyeing workshop.

However, You Zhiji, a prefect, would not let Yu off easily after being fooled like this, so he punished her with forty strokes of the cane before he felt relieved.