Transmigrated into the Scumbag Ex-Wife of the Prime Minister - Chapter 86

The officer stood with one hand on his hip and the other gripping the hilt of his sabre, asking in a deep voice: “Are you Lu Yu?”

Liu Yun, leaning on the door frame, asked somewhat flustered: “Two officers, why are you looking for Lu Yu?”

“Cut the nonsense! Where is Lu Yu?”

The officer impatiently pushed open the door and walked into the courtyard. Liu Yun hurriedly followed the two, blocking their way.

“Two officers, you…”

“I am Lu Yu.” Lu Yu walked out of the house, came to Liu Yun, took her hand and patted it, saying softly, “It’s alright.”

“May I know why you two are looking for me?”

Unlike Liu Yun, Lu Yu showed no sign of panic on his face.

“Zhou Dan, Lu Da, and Wang Dong, do you know these three people?” the officer asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lu Yu thought for a moment, his expression calm, “Not really acquainted. What about them?”

“What about them, you ask?” The officer pulled out the handcuffs, yanked Lu Yu’s hand and clasped them on. “You’re the one who killed them, what are you playing at with me!”

Liu Yun quickly grabbed Lu Yu’s hand and said to the officer, “Sir, both of you, you must have the wrong person. Xiaoyu, how could Xiaoyu kill anyone?”

“Get out of the way! If we’re here to arrest someone, we certainly have evidence.” The other officer stood with his hands on his hips, frowning as he warned, “Block us again and don’t blame us for being rude.”

They had been dispatched before dawn to arrest someone and were currently holding a lot of unspoken frustration.

Seeing this, Lu Yu took out two small strings of coins from his sleeve and handed them to the officer next to him. “Two officers, my wife is ignorant, please forgive her. Allow me to say a few words to her, and I promise I will go with you.”

The officer took the money, stopped his actions, and gestured towards Liu Yun with his chin. “Make it quick, don’t waste time.”

“Thank you, two officers.” After thanking them, Lu Yu turned his back and pulled Liu Yun aside.

“Xiaoyu.” Liu Yun’s hands were trembling non-stop. She held onto Lu Yu, afraid to let go, barely able to speak clearly. “You, you…”

“I’m fine, don’t worry.” Lu Yu patted her hand, comforting her.

“Then, then why would they say you killed someone?” Liu Yun asked anxiously.

At first hearing that Lu Yu had killed someone, Liu Yun didn’t believe it. But for some reason, looking at Lu Yu’s calm demeanor now, Liu Yun didn’t know whether she should believe it or not.

“I didn’t kill anyone, they’ve arrested the wrong person.” Lu Yu took a wooden plaque from his sleeve, handed it to Liu Yun, and whispered, “Later, take this and go to Chief Governor Peng’s mansion on Donghua Street to find Ah Kun.”

Hearing Lu Yu tell her to go to Chief Governor Peng’s mansion to find someone, Liu Yun’s doubts grew stronger. She felt that the matter was not as simple as the officers arresting the wrong person.

But at the moment, she was filled with panic and worry, with no time to think about anything else.

“Don’t worry, I will definitely be fine. I feel like having your sesame flatbread tonight.” Lu Yu squeezed her hand. “I’ll bring back some braised meat when I return tonight.”

Lu Yu’s voice was as usual, as if he wasn’t being led away with his hands bound by shackles, but merely going out to work as he did every day.

This Lu Yu made Liu Yun feel unfamiliar, and also made her even more terrified and uneasy.

Following the officers and Lu Yu out of the alley, Liu Yun hurried towards East Street, stumbling over a hole in the ground in her haste and falling down.

Liu Yun scrambled up from the ground, ignoring the dirt on her clothes, and was about to continue running towards East Street. But the fall just now had twisted her ankle. She only took one step before staggering heavily.

“Sister Yun?”

After delivering the wine to the shop, Qi Nan was just pulling her ox-cart towards Deer Village when she saw Liu Yun running past her in a panic and falling by the roadside.

Qi Nan quickly reached out and grabbed the stumbling Liu Yun, helping her stand steady.

Her wrist was grasped, and Liu Yun subconsciously wanted to shake it off until she heard Qi Nan’s voice and turned her head. “Qi Nan?”

“Sister Yun, where are you rushing to?” Qi Nan released her hand after confirming she was steady and asked.

“I, I need to go to East Street.” Liu Yun managed to stand a little steadier, but a sharp pain shot up from her ankle, and she involuntarily hissed.

“Get on the cart, I’ll take you there.” Qi Nan reached out again to support her.

“Thank you for the trouble.” Liu Yun followed her to the ox-cart and sat down.

“It’s nothing.” Qi Nan made sure she was seated securely, then pulled a cloth from her sleeve and handed it to her, looking at her scraped palm. “Sister Yun, wipe your hand first.”

Liu Yun paused, then looked down and saw the wound on her hand.

“Thank you.” She took Qi Nan’s cloth and lowered her head to wipe the dust from her hand.

Since being woken up by the knocking this morning, she had only managed to put on her clothes. She hadn’t washed her face or combed her hair, and now she was covered in dirt from the fall.

Liu Yun and Qi Nan were not too familiar, but they were acquaintances nonetheless.

Although she wasn’t someone obsessed with appearance, seeing herself in such a disheveled state by Qi Nan still made Liu Yun feel a little embarrassed.

But this feeling was only fleeting. At this moment, her heart was entirely preoccupied with Lu Yu, wishing she could fly directly to the Governor’s Mansion.

“Qi Nan, could you hurry up?” Liu Yun quickly looked up, her face anxious, “I have an urgent matter.”

“Alright, Sister Yun, sit tight.” Qi Nan instructed, then slapped the ox’s rear, and the yellow ox quickened its pace.

The ox-cart traveled for about half an hour and arrived in front of the Governor’s Mansion. Liu Yun, ignoring the pain in her ankle, rushed off the cart before it had fully stopped, quickly walked to the gatehouse, and knocked on the small door.

After knocking for a while, a yawn was heard from inside the door.

“Who is it!” The voice was very impatient.

The small door opened a crack, and Liu Yun quickly stepped forward. “Little brother, excuse me for bothering you. I’m looking for Ah Kun.”

As she spoke, she handed the wooden plaque she was holding to him.

The person inside the door glanced at the plaque, and his tone softened slightly. “Ah Kun is not here right now. Young mistress, please come back in a few days.”

“Not here?” Hearing this, Liu Yun became even more panicked. “Then where is he now? Where can I find him?”

“He’s not in the county. How can you find him, young mistress? Just come back in two days.”

“But I really have an urgent matter to find him.” Liu Yun said anxiously, “Little brother, please tell me where he is.”

Remembering the money Lu Yu gave to the constables, Liu Yun fumbled around her clothes, only to realize that she had left in such a rush that she hadn’t brought any money with her.

“Young mistress, your urgency is of no use. Ah Kun is out of town. If you’re really anxious, come back the morning after tomorrow.”

Perhaps fearing that Liu Yun would pester him further, the person inside quickly shut the door after speaking.

“This, what should I do?”

Liu Yun completely panicked. The fear she had been suppressing finally broke through. Her eyes rolled back, and she fainted directly.

“Sister Yun, Sister Yun!”

Seeing her collapse on the ground, Qi Nan quickly rushed off the ox-cart and helped her up.

After calling her name for a long time without waking her up, Qi Nan hastily carried her onto the cart and rushed to the nearest medical clinic.

Two hours later.

Not seeing Liu Yun show up for work even though it was well past the $Mcheck{a}o$ hour (5-7 AM), Lu Sheng was thinking about whether she should go to her house to check on her, when she saw Qi Nan helping the injured Liu Yun into the wine shop.

“What happened?!” Lu Sheng quickly stepped out from behind the counter.

Upon seeing Lu Sheng, Liu Yun’s emotions could no longer be contained. She cried, “Xiaosheng, Xiaosheng, please help me, help me!”

“Sister Yun, what happened?” Lu Sheng quickly handed her own cloth to her, asking her to wipe her tears.

“Xiaoyu, Xiaoyu was, was arrested by the constables!” Liu Yun’s tears fell uncontrollably.

Crying and talking, she recounted the morning’s events. “She told me to find someone, but I couldn’t find him!”

“Xiaosheng, can you help me ask Patrol Officer Zhuo what exactly happened to Xiaoyu?”

After hearing Liu Yun’s words, Lu Sheng immediately recalled the scene she had witnessed at the dock warehouse. That day also involved three people.

A bad feeling arose in her heart. Lu Sheng suppressed any signs of abnormality and comforted Liu Yun, saying, “Don’t worry for now. I’ll go find Sister Yu right away.”

Qingzhou City, Daofu Yamen (Prefectural Office).

Ruan Peng put down her brush and let out a long sigh, smiling at Qi Zhenshu. “Finally sorted it out.”

From the day they obtained the accounts of the military grain warehouse until today, she and Qi Zhenshu had been meticulously verifying the details of the warehouse’s incoming and outgoing accounts. Finally, after verifying all the accounts, they had completely identified over a thousand problematic entries.

The entries they had verified showed that a portion of every batch of grain sent in was allocated to the Qinzhou military camp.

“Do you feel like there’s something wrong with these entries?” Qi Zhenshu looked at the accounts she had organized.

“In your accounts, are there also no entries for grain delivered by Dingnan Grain Store and Wang Family Grain Shop?” Ruan Peng asked.

It was strange, the hundreds of problematic entries Ruan Peng had organized did not include a single one related to Dingnan Grain Store or the Wang Family.

Of course, Dingnan Grain Store and the Wang Family had also delivered a considerable amount of grain, but none of the grain they delivered was sent to the Qinzhou military camp.

“Not only that.” Qi Zhenshu took the paper in her hand, walked to Ruan Peng’s desk, and pointed to the names of the suppliers. “Don’t you think there are too many?”

Moreover, apart from some rice shops, many of these grain suppliers were individual merchants.

In addition to the incoming and outgoing entries, Qi Zhenshu had also listed the corresponding merchants for these entries, totaling nearly twenty-something shops and merchants.

Logically, for the military grain warehouse to purchase grain, around ten suppliers in the entire Qingzhou should be sufficient. But she alone had over twenty, and if Ruan Peng’s were included, there might be even more.

“Indeed, I probably have over twenty as well.” Ruan Peng flipped through the accounts in her hand and said, “I’ll organize mine now too.”

“There are some duplicates. Let’s verify them together after they are sorted out.” Qi Zhenshu glanced at the booklet in her hand; indeed, some of the shops and names were the same.

“That’s definitely too many,” Ruan Peng pondered and said.

“It should be a smokescreen,” Qi Zhenshu suggested.

Ruan Peng nodded, agreeing with her statement.

She pointed to the account books on the table and added, “Their accomplices must be in here.”

This smokescreen had two layers: one was not using the name of Dingnan Grain Store itself, and the other was finding many businesses to deliver the goods together, which would make it difficult to pinpoint which shipment had the problem.

“There shouldn’t be too many accomplices,” Qi Zhenshu guessed.

After all, private trade of raw iron was a capital offense, and ordinary people probably wouldn’t dare to get involved.

“Mhm.”

Ruan Peng carefully organized the merchants in her hands. Just as she put down her brush, Princess Changning walked in.

“How is it?”

“It has all been verified.”

Both of them stood up from their seats, bowed to Princess Changning, and handed her the sorted accounts.

“This many?” Princess Changning frowned. Then her eyes fell on a line of characters. She looked up at Qi Zhenshu, her expression slightly solemn. “Have you seen the list Ruan Peng compiled?”

“Not yet.” Qi Zhenshu sensed something amiss and looked at Princess Changning with a furrowed brow.

Princess Changning handed her the paper. Qi Zhenshu took the paper and immediately saw the six characters in the middle: Deer Village, Lu Huacheng.

Even a person as composed as Qi Zhenshu was stunned for a while after seeing these words.

Why had she never heard her father mention that he supplied grain to the military grain warehouse?

A suspicion vaguely surfaced in her mind. Qi Zhenshu forced herself to remain calm, pointed to the words, turned around, and asked Ruan Peng, “Is there a corresponding entry detail for this one?”

Upon seeing the name, Ruan Peng also understood what was happening. If she remembered correctly, Qi Zhenshu’s wife’s surname was Lu.

“Yes, there is.” Ruan Peng quickly recovered, found the original ledger, and turned to the line for Lu Huacheng. “Just this one entry.”

September 24th, incoming quantity of two hundred shi, Deer Village, Lu Huacheng.

Following the account entry was Lu Huacheng’s signature and mark.

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