I fought back after reselling my engagement

Uncle Su Qi said, "Sir, the Feng brothers and sisters and I will send a few pieces of watermelon over."

He went outside to inquire about the news to see if it was true as the Feng brothers and sisters said, that the imperial army would soon clear out the banditry on the Hunan Grand Canal. Once that was done, the world would be at peace, and the Su family would need to speed up the process of opening shops in Hunan and Hubei provinces.

The Hunan Grand Canal needs to pass through Hubei Province, and the Hubei Grand Canal is connected to the canals of Jiangnan and Shu Provinces. It is a well-connected place. The prefectures and counties along which the Hubei Grand Canal passes must have shops and businesses.

The wind at the end of July blew across the yard, seven parts hot, one part cool, and two parts stuffy. On a pear tree in the neighbor's yard, cicadas were singing annoying songs.

The sister-in-law next door found spider silk and took her children to catch cicadas. It is said that she added a little oil, boiled the cicadas in water and then fried them. The three boys in her family loved it very much and said that a dish of fried cicadas was as rare as dragon meat in the sky.

Su Mo covered his mouth and coughed lightly, "Xianmei's identity is..."

"An ordinary official's daughter."

Su Mo didn't believe it. It seemed that even if they were both interested in each other, she didn't have enough trust in him.

He smiled bitterly in his heart, thinking that they were in love with each other, but it turned out not to be the case.

If the two of them talked about calligraphy and painting, they would have endless things to talk about. These days, Zhen Su was busy with housework and had little practice. Although he had pen and ink, he could only practice calligraphy every day.

*

The faint light of the setting sun covers the earth with a cicada-wing-like glow, and the dusk is like a fading beauty.

Walking slowly, Taikang Town, close to the bank of the canal, brings dusk and night as the ships enter the port in the distance.

The heat gradually faded, the temperature turned cooler, the summer insects were singing, and the river was rushing. On both sides of the river, you could see boat trackers bathing and laughing in their knee-length shorts, and some fierce boat girls were fetching water and cooking while they laughed and scolded those unruly boat trackers.

Uncle Su quickened his pace and before entering South Second Lane, he picked up a few fish from the grocery store at the entrance of the lane. He looked hurried, as if he was traveling at night.

The fish in his hand was dead. These were the fish that the Feng family had not sold out today, so they were still fresh. He would take them home, cut them open, clean them, salt them, and dump them in the well. He would be able to eat them tomorrow. Or, if he had salted them enough, he would put them in the sun to dry them tomorrow.

Uncle Su Qi entered the courtyard and smelled the fragrance of food. "Scholar, I'm back."

He raised his voice and called out. Because he called Su Mo that, people who knew them all called Su Mo "Su Xiucai", and Zhen Su became "Xiucai Madam".

Zhen Su said, "Uncle Qi, wash your hands and eat. I wonder when you will come back to cook mung bean porridge."

Uncle Su Qi said, "Mung bean porridge is good. I have no appetite lately."

Zhen Su frowned. She had been eating too much fish recently. She had made fish balls, steamed fish, and braised fish. As the master and servant could not eat fishy and spicy food, she almost had to make boiled fish fillets.

Su Mo asked, "How is the Feng family's fish selling today?"

"By the time of You, the fish were worth two grains per pound. The weather was too hot and humid, and all the fish died. Even so, there were still a few left, so I simply bought them all." Uncle Su Qi handed the fish to Zhen Su. Zhen Su looked at the fish. She really didn't want to eat any more fish, but since Uncle Su Qi brought them back, she had to get rid of them. After thinking it over again and again, she simply took a kitchen knife, squatted by the well, and cleaned the fish with swift hands and feet.

After the fish is processed and marinated with plenty of salt, it is placed in a basket and hung over the well to prevent it from smelling bad.

When she returned to the kitchen, Uncle Su Qi and Su Mo had already served the food and went to the main room.

The moon is bright tonight. It’s the end of July, and the waning moon is like a hook, casting a faint silver glow.

Zhen Su sat at the table, eating mung bean porridge and homemade rock sugar pickles.

A few days ago, Uncle Su Qi asked her about the recipe, and she briefly told him that if ten people make kimchi, there will be ten different flavors, depending on the person, and each person has their own understanding of the details.

Uncle Su Qi said, "Sir, I have booked a boat to Yueyang Prefecture at 5:00 a.m. on July 30th."

Zhen Su asked, "Are you leaving early the day after tomorrow?"

Today is July 28th, and it has been two months since she came out. In the blink of an eye, she has lived in Taikang Town for more than a month.

Uncle Su Qi asked, "Miss Shu is going to Yueyang Prefecture?"

"Exactly."

"I have booked a first-class cabin on the ship for three people. We will get up early the day after tomorrow and take care of the affairs here tomorrow."

After dinner, Su Mo rushed to clean up the dishes again, but Zhen Su insisted not to let him because of the injury on his hand. There was cooking at noon, and the pots and bowls were greasy, so it was much easier to clean this time.

The three of them were enjoying the cool in the courtyard. Uncle Su Qi said to Su Mo, "The court sent out 20,000 elite soldiers in the first batch, and added another 10,000 troops half a month ago. The left assistant minister of the Ministry of War and the deputy commander of the Jinwu Guard were dispatched. The court wanted to eliminate the banditry on the canal.

The Wang and Liu families at Luoyang Pier were fighting each other. First, the Liu family took the blame and falsely accused the Wang family of colluding with the river bandits and exchanging information to cause trouble. The government wanted to question the head of the Liu family and the two old masters to convict them, but the Liu family found out that they were framed by the Wang family and colluded with the river bandits to wipe out the Wang family.

Overnight, except for a dozen illegitimate descendants, all the legitimate descendants of the Liu family, from the head of the family, the old grandfather to the children of a few years old, all fled and disappeared at night, and now no one knows where they have gone.

The imperial court was furious and demoted the Liu family's illegitimate descendants to the military and sent them to the north. The head of the Liu family, the two old masters, and the masters of the five branches of the Liu family's legitimate lineage all became fugitives. "

When Zhen Su heard this, he had never heard of such a big crime in his previous life. The Wang and Liu families in Luoyang controlled the Luoyang wharf, and these two families were also big aristocratic families.

The Wang family was wiped out, but some of their descendants who were serving as officials in other places escaped.

The Liu family fled, and local people saw with their own eyes that they left Luoyang near dawn. At that time, the head of the family said that a descendant far away in Shu Province was getting married, and they rushed to attend the wedding. How could the entire family go to a wedding in such a grand manner?

Zhen Su felt that this matter was not simple. The Wang family was wiped out and the Liu family was pointed out as the real murderer. It was probably a trap set by someone. All of this was to help the court regain control of the shipping terminal.

If someone succeeds, the imperial court will make great efforts to do so.

When Emperor Dezhi first ascended the throne, he wanted to take back control of the canal wharf, but he only took back control of the Jiangnan wharf, which he did by sending troops to garrison it, and many people died. After that, he established shipping departments in Jiangnan and the south to fill the treasury of the Great Qi Dynasty.

The Wang and Liu families were both from Luoyang and were aristocratic families there. They had been married for generations, so how could they turn against each other in one day? The Wang family framed the Liu family, and the Liu family was furious and wiped out the entire Wang family. However, the Liu family fled Luoyang after the Wang family was wiped out...

This is a trap that has been laid out long ago by someone with ulterior motives, just waiting for the right opportunity to make sure that the two major families in Luochu will have no power to fight back.

The imperial court wants the people of the world to believe it. As long as the people of the world believe that it was the Liu family that destroyed the Wang family and that the Wang family plotted against the Liu family and bore the blame, that is enough.