Transmigrated as a Stepmother: Time to Bring the Family to Prosper!-Chapter 358: How Dare He Drink Tea

"The government officer is here!"

"The government officer is here!"

"Everyone, make way, make way!"

The crowd instinctively parted to form a path. The pawnshop manager, with an arrogant demeanor, led the officers in and pointed at Liu Ji angrily:

"It’s this impoverished scholar, causing a scene in front of my pawnshop without any evidence. Everyone, don’t believe him. Our pawnshop has been open for decades, always honest and fair. There’s no way we could commit the vile acts this rogue accuses us of!"

Liu Ji wasn’t the only one skilled in talking nonsense; the pawnshop manager was even better, playing the victim on the spot, and angrily saying:

"He’s someone who pledged items but reneged and now, failing to extort us, is ruining my boss’s reputation! Everyone, don’t be fooled by his appearance!"

The murmuring of the onlookers immediately diminished, while some naive young people, unaware of Kaiyang County’s notorious trio, blankly asked the old vendor beside them:

"How can there be a person like this? The pawnshop is doing well, yet he’s falsely accusing them, isn’t that hampering their business?"

The old man smirked sarcastically, too lazy to answer such a foolish question. Among the crowd, he sighed inwardly for the poor scholar.

Why did you have to offend them? Now, you’re likely to face retaliation.

Seeing that the officers were about to apprehend him, Liu Ji swiftly flung back his sleeves and shouted, "Don’t touch me! I know the laws of Sheng Country better than you. I haven’t killed or committed arson, so on what grounds are you arresting me? Move aside, I’ll walk on my own!"

In any case, he couldn’t lose in terms of momentum. Taking advantage of the officers’ momentary astonishment, he turned and started to leave.

First with big strides, then smaller ones, moving faster and faster, before finally breaking into a run.

The hatred had been sufficiently stirred; time to escape, time to escape~

Running all the way out of the city gate, Liu Ji was suddenly pulled into a corner, startling him to the point of gasping.

"It’s me. Drive your cart east along the fork in the road. There’s a tea stand ahead; sit down and have some tea. It’s on me."

Afraid that Liu Ji would use not having money as an excuse, Qin Yao immediately stuffed tea money into his hand.

Liu Ji looked down at the small silver block in his hand, then looked around. There were trees, parked ox carts and horse carriages, and vegetable vendors at the city gate, but he couldn’t spot a trace of Qin Yao.

Was she a ghost? Liu Ji was frightened by his own thought, shivering with dread.

But soon, he smiled and stuffed the silver into his pocket, led his ox cart away, and with a whip crack, drove out of the city.

Soon, Liu Ji could clearly feel someone following him; not many, just three people.

Driving the cart as they ran on foot, knowing that Qin Yao was already around, and with his life not at risk, Liu Ji deliberately slowed down, keeping a moderate distance from the three.

The tea stand was close, taking less than a quarter of an hour to reach after leaving the city. At this time, there was no one in the tea stand. Liu Ji stopped his cart, asked the shopkeeper for the cheapest pot of tea, and found a spacious seat to sit down.

The three who followed stopped thirty meters away, seeing his nonchalant demeanor while sipping tea. One of them waved to the other two, leaving one to keep watch while the other two went to inform the boss.

No one like this had ever caused such a commotion in their pawnshop before. If he wasn’t given a severe lesson, would anyone on the street still respect them?

Jin Chan Chu was a cautious person, seldom solving troubles caused by his subordinates in person.

But Liu Ji’s commotion today unjustly piled baseless accusations on him.

Claims of murder and body disposal, lowballing to a hundred taels, murdering children — utter nonsense!

He had clearly generously offered Scholar Ding two hundred taels of silver, only instructing his men to scare off those brats a little. Who would have thought the brats would injure their men, making them a laughingstock!

Moreover, the tale of murder and body disposal was baseless; they had precisely buried the body!

The mere thought infuriated Jin Chan Chu; Kaiyang County had been peaceful for years, and he had never faced such provocation.

"Liu Ji, is it? Very well! You’ve successfully caught my attention!"

His subordinate reported, "Liu Ji didn’t go straight home after leaving the city but went to the eastern tea stand for some leisurely tea, completely disregarding you, boss. He’s alone now; his wife isn’t around. Boss, shall we go now and..."

The subordinate made a hand-chopping gesture, planning to avenge their injured brothers.

Jin Chan Chu’s brow twitched, "How dare he have tea? Does he really not see me in his eyes?"

Furious, Jin Chan Chu slammed the table five times. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, unable to tolerate it anymore; he immediately wanted to cripple Liu Ji!

He jumped up, grabbed his cherished Bone-breaking Stick, called upon ten tall and strong thugs, and they stormed out in three horse carriages towards the eastern tea stand.

Lin Erbao was the coachman. This year, he had done well and was promoted to be the boss’s driver. Seeing the boss personally involved, he thought there must be some tricky situation.

He quietly asked the thugs beside him why they were heading to the eastern tea stand, saying that month’s protection fee had already been paid by that tea stand’s owner. Was the tea not good enough, making the boss uncomfortable?

The thug shook his head and quietly answered, "You weren’t here, so you don’t know. Liu Ji, who bought Scholar Ding’s land, was upset that a few of our brothers warned some kids the other day. He came early this morning cursing, throwing multiple accusations at our boss."

"Our boss let him off, but guess what. That kid sat down in the eastern tea stand, ordered tea, and started sipping leisurely — isn’t he asking for trouble? The boss gave him a chance and he didn’t take it, so we’ll just have to leave him with two hands!"

The thug spoke with some excitement. After all, ten of them dealing with an unarmed scholar was undoubtedly the easiest job.

The thug relaxed, thinking that after finishing the job, they could call it a day, take the reward from the boss, and maybe enjoy a few games at the gambling house — pleasing.

However, he didn’t notice Lin Erbao’s expression change when he heard Liu Ji’s name.

"Boss." Lin Erbao cautiously called into the carriage, his tone respectful. After a while, Jin Chan Chu responded with a "Hmm," indicating for him to speak his mind.

Lin Erbao quickly said, "Boss Wang said a few days ago that Liu Ji isn’t too difficult to deal with, but his wife is no simple woman. Boss Wang suffered a significant loss at her hands before, losing a trusted follower. The hundred acres of land are nothing to you, boss, so why bother with the ignorant..."

"What do you mean? Do you think your boss can’t handle a country woman?" Jin Chan Chu asked dangerously.

Judging by the tone, Lin Erbao knew he couldn’t dissuade him and quickly grinned, "My boss is renowned in Kaiyang County, just a mere country woman. Would she dare head east when told west? I simply misspoke earlier; please don’t mind me."

In his mind, he was already planning how to slip away later, not wanting to get involved at all costs.

Although two years had passed, when thinking about Qin Yao, Lin Erbao’s heart would skip a beat.

That woman was simply not human!