Chapter 364: Holding Court and Judging Cases

Plum Blossom Tower

Chen Ji stood under the lamplight, flipping through the account books.

Shen Ye, tipsy, came down from the second floor, chuckling, "No wonder you, my virtuous brother Chen Ji, told me to avoid the upstairs earlier. So you were going to say such unpleasant things to Brother Huang. And here I was, helping you write letters to so many salt merchants... I, Shen, wrote clearly in the letters that each salt permit was two taels. How am I supposed to wrap things up now, I wonder?"

Chen Ji turned and sincerely said, "My apologies to Brother Shen, but whether it's the salt merchants you called, or Brother Huang, I will give an explanation later."

"I, Shen, don't care about these things. Anyway, the salt merchants have already made a fortune, so letting them shed a little blood is fine, as long as I don't have to shed any!"

Shen Ye, carrying a wine jar, added, "But virtuous brother Chen Ji's way of doing things seems a bit too unscrupulous, not at all like a scholar!"

Chen Ji calmly replied, "I was never a scholar!"

Shen Ye chuckled derisively, "Last time I came, you didn't even offer a drink. This time, you've prepared a banquet, but it makes me bear such a huge reproach. Your wine is really not good, virtuous brother!"

Though he complained, as he walked out of Plum Blossom Tower, he waved his hand, "I'm off! I'll come back tomorrow!"

Chen Ji closed the account book and calmly asked, "Brother Shen, aren't you afraid of being manipulated by me again?"

Shen Ye laughed heartily, "Virtuous brother Chen Ji said such unpleasant things against your own conscience; I, Shen, have to see what kind of show you're putting on..."

At this moment, Manager Ye, the second in command, led over a dozen men to the back door of Plum Blossom Ferry. The guard stopped them, "What are you doing here?"

Chen Zhe imitated him, "Good sir, we two are guests of Young Master Chen!"

The guard's gaze swept over them, "The person in charge can enter; the rest stay here!"

Manager Ye arrogantly said, "We've come with silver to do business; move aside!"

The guard looked at the dozen-plus men in front of him, his face expressionless as he repeated, "The owner of Plum Blossom Ferry is not someone you can provoke lightly. The person in charge enters, or leave!"

Manager Ye stood at the door, paused for a moment, then suddenly smiled broadly. Turning to the men behind him, he said, "You all stay here. There shouldn't be any danger inside Plum Blossom Ferry!"

The guard moved aside. Chen Zhe led Manager Ye directly to Plum Blossom Tower, and on the way, they happened to bump into Shen Ye, who was stumbling out!

Shen Ye stood by the roadside, tilting his head to examine the two. As Manager Ye passed him, he subconsciously fanned the smell of alcohol from his nose. But Shen Ye turned around and actually followed them back into Plum Blossom Tower!

Manager Ye quickened his pace. As he stepped over the threshold of Plum Blossom Tower, he first carefully observed the several accountants behind the long table, and then saw Chen Ji holding an account book.

Chen Ji, seeing someone approach, immediately closed the account book, "I just saw this gentleman; why have you returned?"

Chen Zhe introduced, "Young Master Chen, this is the manager of our salt firm. I informed him about the salt permits, and he rushed here to see you right away!"

Manager Ye politely clasped his hands and bowed, "Young Master Chen, I've come to buy salt permits!"

Chen Ji, flipping through the account book in his hand, said, "You know the rules, right? Four taels of silver per permit!"

Manager Ye slightly shook his head, "No, I'm not buying them individually. I want to buy three hundred thousand permits at a price of two taels each!"

"Oh?"

Chen Ji scrutinized Manager Ye from head to toe, then calmly stated after a moment, "Not selling!"

Manager Ye narrowed his eyes, "Not selling? Young Master Chen, didn't you say earlier you would sell?"

Chen Ji tossed the account book onto the nearby table and slowly said, "That was just a pretense! Tell me, even if the salt permits in my hand are valued at four taels of silver, there are still plenty of people who want them. Why would I sell them cheaply for two taels of silver?"

Manager Ye calmly replied, "What Young Master Chen says is true. Selling salt permits to those illegal salt dealers... As the saying goes, 'a son of a thousand pieces of gold does not sit under a falling roof.' Those illegal salt dealers live with their heads on their belts. Why would Young Master Chen get involved with them? Aren't you afraid that one day, their heads will roll, and their blood will splash on your boots?"

Chen Ji shook his head, "There's no need for this manager to threaten me. Since you've come, you must know what I rely on to establish myself in the Eight Great Hutongs! I'm already covered in blood; I'm not afraid of a few more drops splashing on me! Besides, you say the buyers are illegal salt dealers; are they? I could also say you are an illegal dealer!"

Manager Ye's heart tensed, "I am not!"

Chen Ji smiled slightly, "Why are you so nervous, Manager? I just said it casually! So, four taels of silver per salt permit, are you buying?"

Manager Ye, seeing he couldn't reason with him, immediately clasped his hands and said, "Then I shall bid..."

However, at this moment, Chen Zhe next to him suddenly said, "Four taels, we'll buy ten thousand permits!"

Manager Ye turned and glared angrily at Chen Zhe, growling, "When did it become your place to make decisions?"

Chen Zhe lowered his voice, "Manager Ye, this is the head manager's instruction. Please comply!"

Manager Ye was speechless!

Chen Ji interrupted them, "Are you buying or not?"

Chen Zhe looked at Chen Ji, "Buying!"

Chen Ji smiled, "I've changed my mind again. Four taels of silver, selling one hundred fifty thousand permits. The silver you brought should be just enough... Still buying?"

Chen Zhe hesitated!

Chen Ji waved his hand, "See them out!"

Hearing this, Chen Zhe immediately gritted his teeth and said, "Buy."

Chen Ji waved to someone behind him. Robe Bro, with Er Dao and a group of gang members, brought seven wooden boxes in front of Chen Zhe. "Count them!"

Chen Zhe opened the wooden boxes, untied the ropes of each bundle of salt permits, and only after confirming they were genuine salt permits did he relax. "Young Master Chen, our men are outside. Please let them in to help carry the boxes!"

Chen Ji shook his head, "No need. Our men will help you carry them out!"

Robe Bro waved to a few of his subordinates!

Chen Zhe clasped his hands again, "Farewell!"

Shen Ye leaned against a table, squinting as he watched Chen Zhe and Manager Ye leave. "Virtuous brother Chen Ji, anyone eager to pay a high price for these salt permits must be trying to get rid of you!"

Chen Ji stood silently at the threshold!

Robe Bro, standing by, took out his pipe and slowly filled it with tobacco.

Chen Ji turned back and said to Robe Bro, "Load the salt permits, the silver from selling them, and the salt firm's account books all onto a cart and send them to the Chen family mansion. They should be useful tomorrow. Let's go!"

Robe Bro replied, "Don't worry," then brought the pipe bowl to the candlelight to light it, took a few deep draws, and exhaled a puff of blue smoke!

He watched Chen Ji's figure, somewhat blurred in the curling smoke, as if it was slowly merging with the Chen Ji he remembered.

Manager Ye, suppressing his anger, walked out of Plum Blossom Ferry. A group of men carried the boxes and headed out of the city!

After leaving the Eight Great Hutongs, he turned to Chen Zhe, "What does Chen Yue mean by this? A salt permit for four taels of silver? I, Ye Yumin, have never accepted such a price in my life! When I want to buy salt permits, I offer three taels of silver, and those border households have to kneel and beg me to take them."

However, at this moment, Chen Bin, a confidant of Chen Yue, emerged from the shadows of an alleyway. "Manager Ye, the head manager instructed that it's only a matter of time before that young man uncovers the illegal salt business. To keep things clean, you must deal with all the illegal salt dealers under your command. It's time for a 'brave man to cut off his own wrist'!"

Manager Ye's expression changed, "Bullshit 'brave man cutting off his own wrist'! What kind of brave man is Chen Yue? Why should he start by targeting my people the moment something goes wrong?"

Chen Bin sincerely said, "Manager Ye, we are registered salt merchants. How can we be involved with illegal salt sellers?"

Manager Ye cursed angrily, "Bullshit! All these years, how did the salt firm make money? Wasn't it by me repeatedly transporting illegal salt and mixing it in to sell? Without me, could Chen Yue's accounts be clean? Without me, where would your annual bonuses for festivals come from? Now you're pretending to be pure and innocent?"

Chen Bin sighed softly, "Manager Ye, times have changed. Now that the master's family has sent a new owner, we should clean up the past!"

Manager Ye sneered, "What, for all these years I've been in charge of illegal salt, are you going to deal with me too?"

Chen Bin stared at him, saying nothing!

Manager Ye turned to run out of the alley, but as he turned, he saw that the men carrying the boxes behind him had already put them down and drawn daggers from behind their waists!

Manager Ye sharply said, "The capable men I've placed in the estate are not people you can handle! If you don't deal with them properly, they will surely expose your scandals! Let me go now, and I'll handle this matter!"

Chen Bin smiled, "No need... We have our own ways!"

A flicker of doubt crossed Manager Ye's eyes, then he instantly understood, "It's Second Master, isn't it? Second Master ordered you to do this, didn't he? His personal official is going to make a move?"

Early morning, at the hour of Mao (5-7 AM)!

Chen Ji returned to Ginkgo Garden, carrying a pole and walking on the cobblestone path!

As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw a middle-aged man accompanying Grand Secretary Chen waiting in the courtyard!

The man, seeing him, politely cupped his hands and bowed, "Young Master, the head of the family has sent me to invite you to the Literary Courage Hall; he says there are important matters to discuss!"

Chen Ji walked into the side room with his carrying pole and poured the water from the buckets into a large jar, "Please wait a moment!"

The middle-aged man didn't urge him. His hands tucked into his sleeves, he curiously asked, "Don't the house servants fill the water jars in Ginkgo Garden daily?"

Chen Ji smiled and explained, "No, it's just that I had nothing else to do!"

He emptied the two wooden buckets, rolled down his sleeves, and said, "Let's go!"

The middle-aged man led the way, with Chen Ji following behind. Both seemed to have become mute, unwilling to say another word!

Passing through Little Yingzhou, they arrived in front of the Literary Courage Hall. Inside, Grand Secretary Chen, Chen Lizun, and Chen Lizhi were seated. Chen Wendhe stood behind Chen Lizhi, and Chen Yue, the head manager of the Chen family's salt firm, stood with his hands by his sides below them. Chen Liqin, however, was not present!

Several members of the Chen family were all dressed in red official robes, as if presiding over a courtroom case!

The middle-aged man stepped over the threshold of the Literary Courage Hall and whispered, "Master, Chen Ji has been brought!"

Grand Secretary Chen said nothing. Chen Lizhi was dabbing tea water on his eyelids with his finger, also silent!

Chen Lizun looked at Chen Ji and asked in a deep voice, "Chen Ji, a few days ago, the head of the family asked you to share the duties of the family's salt firm. How is the progress? Has anyone given you trouble?"

Chen Lizhi wiped the tea water from his eyelids with his sleeve, opened his eyes, and sneered, "Elder Brother, showing favoritism shouldn't be this obvious. Today, he was called here to be questioned, not for you to ask about his well-being! If you can't bring yourself to ask, we will!"

Chen Lizun's face darkened, and he remained silent!

Chen Lizhi raised a finger and pointed at Chen Ji. Chen Wendhe then questioned, "Chen Ji, I hear you seized all the account books and salt permits from the salt firm. Is this true?"

Chen Ji glanced at Chen Yue, then turned to Chen Wendhe and humbly said, "Elder Brother, I am the new owner of the salt firm. The first order of business upon taking office is naturally to investigate the accounts from previous years and inventory the firm's warehouse. How can you say I 'seized' them?"

Chen Wendhe unhurriedly replied, "If you want to audit accounts, taking the account books is enough. Why take the salt permits as well? If you've taken the salt permits, how can our Chen family's salt firm continue to do business? For all these years, the salt firm's salt bins have been empty, making outsiders laugh at the Chen family for lacking capable people!"

Chen Ji calmly said, "For one salt permit to be exchanged for salt, and then transported back to the capital from the nearest Hangu by mules, horses, or ox-carts, it would take at least seven days. How is it that as soon as I took the salt permits, the Chen family's salt firm could no longer operate? According to this, whether I took the salt permits or not, there should have been no salt to buy in the firm to begin with!"

Just as Chen Wendhe was about to refute, Chen Lizhi, bored, raised his hand and said, "Forget these minor matters. Let's talk about the big issues, Chen Yue, you speak!"

Chen Yue, standing below, took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "Chen Ji, it's already spread throughout the city that you sold half of our Chen family salt firm's permits to illegal salt dealers... Is this true?"

Chen Ji replied, "This is not true!"

Chen Yue was startled, then scoffed, "Nonsense! Yesterday, the Salt Inspector arrested a group of illegal salt dealers at an estate outside the city and confiscated one hundred fifty thousand salt permits. Those one hundred fifty thousand permits were precisely what you sold to them yesterday!"

Grand Secretary Chen suddenly opened his eyes!

Chen Yue continued, "Chen Ji, do you know that our Chen family is a noble and upright family, conducting registered and legitimate business? How can you disregard state laws and family rules for some paltry gains and collude with illegal salt dealers?"

Grand Secretary Chen looked calmly at Chen Ji, "Is this true?"

Chen Ji cupped his hands and bowed, "To the head of the family, absolutely not true!"

Chen Wendhe unhurriedly said, "Someone has already confessed and implicated you. Are you still going to quibble?"

Chen Ji straightened himself and retorted, "May I ask where those illegal salt dealers are? Can they be brought here for cross-examination?"

Chen Wendhe said with a detached expression, "These salt bandits are extremely wicked by nature and did not surrender even when surrounded. During the Salt Inspector's led capture, they were all slain to serve as a warning!"

Chen Ji then asked, "Then how can it be said that I sold them to them?"

Chen Wendhe explained, "One of them, while drinking in the Eight Great Hutongs, boasted that he had already connected with Young Master Chen Ji of the Chen family, and that even if he openly engaged in illegal salt business, no one would dare arrest him. It was because of this that the Salt Inspector found a clue and managed to capture them all!"

Chen Ji hummed, "The lie is well-fabricated, with a clear beginning and end, quite solid!"

Chen Yue adopted an air of certainty, "Still not admitting it?"

Chen Ji cupped his hands and said, "I naturally won't admit to something I haven't done."

Chen Yue said loudly, "Then I ask you, are the Chen family's salt permits still in your possession?"

Chen Ji calmly replied, "Of course they are. The count was just finished last night!"

Chen Yue's face darkened, "That's good then. We just need to check if you are missing one hundred fifty thousand salt permits, and that will naturally clear your name!"

At this moment, Chen Lizhi glanced at Chen Lizun, and suddenly spoke, "Chen Ji, you are a member of our Chen family. Even if you were momentarily deluded, it wouldn't be like an outsider trying to bring about your demise. As long as you admit your mistake, there's still hope! But if you remain stubborn, and we uncover anything later, no one will be able to save you!"

Chen Ji sincerely said, "Second Uncle, your nephew personally transported all the salt permits to Ginkgo Garden last night for safekeeping. If you don't believe me, you can send people right now to move all the permits here to the Literary Courage Hall for inspection!"

Chen Yue's expression changed; he felt that something was amiss!

Weren't Chen Ji's account books and salt permits stored at Plum Blossom Ferry? Why were they all transported back to the Chen family mansion, as if waiting for this convenient moment for inspection?

He looked up at Chen Lizhi, only to see a flicker of doubt in his eyes as well!

Then he looked at Chen Lizun, who had actually relaxed his posture, a hint of a smile playing on his lips!

Chen Lizun said to the middle-aged man next to Grand Secretary Chen, "Chen Xu, send someone to bring all the boxes from Chen Ji's room here!"

Chen Xu softly affirmed!

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Chen Xu returned, leading over forty house servants carrying more than twenty large boxes, which they placed outside the Literary Courage Hall!

Chen Xu glanced at everyone inside the Literary Courage Hall, then opened the boxes one by one, revealing them filled with bundled salt permits and account books!

Chen Yue had managed the salt firm for decades; he could tell at a glance if the number of salt permits was sufficient!

All three hundred thousand salt permits were there!

Chen Ji pointed to the boxes and said, "The salt permits and account books are all here, Head Manager Chen, please check them!"

Chen Yue whispered, "How can this be wrong? These are salt permits you moved from somewhere else!"

Chen Ji calmly said, "What nonsense is that, Head Manager? Every salt permit issued by the Ministry of Revenue has a serial number. The Chen family was among the first salt merchants to receive permits this year. Numbers 'Ji Yi' through 'Ji San Shi Wan' are all here. Just check the serial numbers, and you'll know if they're our Chen family's salt permits!"

Chen Yue suddenly looked up, only to see Chen Lizhi staring coldly at him, his face grim!

He then turned to look at Chen Lizun!

Grand Secretary Chen had long since relinquished control of the Ministry of Revenue, handing it over to Chen Lizun, the Vice Minister of Revenue. Only this Vice Minister of Revenue could have quietly issued so many salt permits!

The salt permits Manager Ye bought were not from the Chen family's salt firm; they were permits quietly issued by Chen Lizun from the Ministry of Revenue. Before Chen Yue could ponder, Chen Ji spoke to Chen Lizun, "Your nephew has been auditing accounts recently and hasn't had the time to inquire about the salt firm's affairs. Head Manager Chen Yue was very right in saying that your nephew is an outsider and needs to go through the account books to understand how this salt firm operates! However, there's one thing your nephew hasn't checked yet: the account books currently state that the Chen family's salt firm's treasury should contain two hundred seventy thousand taels of silver for operational funds... Manager Chen Yue, I wonder if this money is still there?"