Transmigration: The Evil Mother-In-Law Is Actually Innocent!-Chapter 616: Jealousy Ah_1

The Zhou family was busy too. They had sent various annual gifts to different places, and based on the replies they received, seafood was a rare delicacy inland that was much loved by relatives. So this year, they prepared quite a lot more.

Especially fish and shrimp, as the Zhou family’s own fishery had started to yield profits; they no longer needed to purchase seafood. With their own fishery and Su Xuan’s fishing boats, the Zhou residence saved a considerable amount of money.

The Li family’s grain had also been delivered. This time, the Li family’s father-in-law didn’t accompany the delivery, but instead, Lady Li’s two brothers did. Worried about heavy snow, they hurried back after delivering the grain and silver.

Zhulan was also concerned about the heavy snow, and with Tao Shi occasionally reminding her, she knew living through a snow disaster in the city was different from the countryside. Families with scant coal could indeed freeze to death, and coupled with insufficient grain, a real disaster would make life extremely difficult.

There had been a snow disaster a few years ago that Zhulan remembered, but back home, they were well prepared and she didn’t think much of it. However, Tao Shi’s memory of it was particularly vivid.

Therefore, Zhulan had her eldest and second son buy quite a lot of meat to have in reserve.

In the capital, the Crown Prince converted all the silver given to him by the Emperor into supplies and stored it away, then personally went to inspect and seal the storehouse.

This act was not hidden from anyone. As the Crown Prince walked out of the storehouse with his entourage, he ran into several younger brothers.

The tone of the Second Prince was sour, you could smell it from afar, "Father still favors eldest brother the most, giving him all the good things directly."

Regardless of whether there was a disaster or not, having these prepared supplies would give the people peace of mind. These days, wherever he went, he could hear people discussing how benevolent the Crown Prince was, how good he was, and it just made him angry thinking about it.

The Crown Prince said with a smile, "Even if Second Brother didn’t mention it, I too know that Father treats me the best."

The Second Prince, "...."

He must be doing this to provoke him, the Second Prince thought, as he felt like piercing a voodoo doll in his heart.

The Third Prince was also feeling stifled, "Crown Prince elder brother, it’s better to keep a close watch on the storehouse. Although the snow hasn’t melted yet, it would be bad if a fire broke out."

The Fourth Prince gave the Third Prince a lingering look; the Third Prince had misspoken. He was actually jealous! Alright, he himself was extremely jealous. The Emperor gave everything good to the Crown Prince without even telling them, "Third Brother, with that remark of yours, should there actually be an incident, you will become the prime suspect."

The Third Prince retorted, "As long as you don’t put the blame on me, that’d be fine. Brother, I’ve taken the fall for you plenty of times, a person should learn to stop when it’s necessary."

The Fourth Prince narrowed his eyes, "Tch, damn Third Brother, why didn’t he talk when he was the one passing the buck."

The Fifth Prince watched as the Crown Prince walked away, then glanced at the Third and Fourth Princes starting to argue, and finally looked at the storehouse. He traced his finger along his palm; he had his own scapegoat in mind too!

While the capital had not caught fire, Zhou Shuren’s place did. In the middle of the night, Zhou Shuren was woken up by Shen Xing, and Zhulan got up, "What happened?"

Zhou Shuren said as he put on his shoes, "Someone set fire to the storehouse, but we’ve caught the person."

Zhulan sat up quickly, aware of how much silver had been spent on the supplies and the effort Zhou Shuren had put in, "Is the storehouse alright?"

Zhou Shuren replied, "Fortunately, I had quite a number of people watching over it. The cotton storage room caught some fire, but we’ve already put it out."

Zhulan exhaled a sigh of relief, "That’s good."

If everything had been destroyed, she didn’t need to think about it; someone definitely would have targeted Zhou Shuren.

Zhou Shuren finished dressing, "You rest, I won’t be coming back tonight."

"All right, be careful."

"Mmhmm."

Zhou Shuren first went to check the damage to the warehouse. Fortunately, only a few bundles of cotton were lost. Since he had been preparing backup cold-weather supplies in the capital and several other states, he had anticipated this day. In doing so, he had indirectly helped the Emperor gain public favor but had also attracted quite a bit of enmity for himself!

Jinyan stood to the side, looking at the outer layer of cotton in the room. These cotton bundles were all wet; they had to be sprayed with water every day. It was really hard to set them alight. Those coming to set the fire couldn’t carry large oil drums on them, and even if they wanted to, they couldn’t get in. There were many watchful eyes outside, but nonetheless, he admired the official’s thoroughness.

Zhou Shuren then went to see the three masked arsonists they had caught. One was already dead, and the remaining two had gags made from sieve cloth in their mouths, glaring at him with wide eyes.

Jinyan, sword in hand, stood guard on one side while Zhou Shuren smiled brightly, "Feed them the knockout drug."

He wouldn’t interrogate them himself. He didn’t have the skills to extract any information through interrogation, and he really didn’t want to deal with torture. These two were better handed over to the Emperor’s men.

The next day, all of Jinzhou knew about the near destruction of the warehouse. Wang, the government official, came to ask at the government office, "Do you need to assign more manpower, sir?"

"No need."

Wang, the official, asked again, "I heard people were caught. Do you plan to interrogate them personally?"

Zhou Shuren waved his hand, "They’ve already been sent away. We don’t need to worry about this matter anymore."

After speaking, Zhou Shuren continued to look down at the newly-drawn map of Jinzhou City. He was focused on the East City, where many of the houses were ancient, and East City was also very disorderly. Then he looked toward the North City, which was slightly better than the East City. He sighed as he thought about the taxes of Jinzhou Province. Since he had come to Jinzhou, he had saved quite a bit of silver but had also spent a lot. And now, after just having spent a significant amount again, he could only hold back and not rush things.

Zhou Shuren looked up abruptly, "Ah, you’re still here?"

Wang, the government official, twitched the corner of his mouth. Could he admit his liver was aching? Ever since Zhou Shuren had arrived, his workload had kept increasing. Looking at Zhou Shuren’s focused expression just now, he felt a bit apprehensive, always feeling like Zhou Shuren was brewing something big. With a forced laugh, he said, "I’m leaving now."

The Emperor was informed about the incident in Jinzhou. The Crown Prince blinked, thinking, "He still wanted to use the storage as bait for fishing. But who in the world with a hole in their brain dared to scheme against Zhou Shuren first? How could that wily old fox Zhou Shuren not be prepared? Now, he wouldn’t be able to fish anymore, no one would dare to make a move for quite some time."

At the Hou Residence of Yao Wenqi, Yao Wenqi felt he would eventually be angered to death. Although he was irked by Zhou Shuren constantly helping the royal family gain reputation, he never considered targeting Zhou Shuren first. His aim was the storehouses in the capital. He was just waiting for the chance. The higher the reputation now, the greater the hope and then the greater the disappointment when a disaster like a snow calamity and fire occurred. Adding to the chaos and even trapping the Crown Prince would be great. If well-managed, spreading some rumors could also damage the royal family’s reputation.

He had already found a scapegoat, but then his ally took initiative on their own. Yao Wenqi’s face darkened. His influence had been greatly reduced, his ally had other plans—did that mean they no longer trusted him?

Time flew, and in the blink of an eye, almost half a month had passed. The matter of the fire had long since been forgotten, and Wu Ning’s older brother, Wu Yong, had arrived.

Zhulan looked at the young man before her. After not seeing him for many years, she almost didn’t recognize him, "Why did you come alone? Where’s Wu Ting? Why didn’t he come with you?"

Wu Yong replied, "Wu Ting will come after the new year. My sister’s marriage will be attended by me and my younger brother. My coming here early is to buy a house. Our elder brother’s intention is for me and my younger brother to attend the Academy here in Jinzhou next year."

Zhulan did not believe that Wu Ming had sent his two brothers here for no reason. She said, "What do you need to buy a house for? There is space to live in within the residence. It’s better for you to live in the residence. That way, I can take care of you on behalf of your elder brother."

Wu Yong was grateful to the Zhou family, but he couldn’t be so shameless. His family had already sent his sister over, and his family had troubled the Zhou family enough over the years, "Aunt, my brother and I are grown up. We can take care of ourselves, and it’s also a form of training for us."

Seeing Wu Yong’s determined attitude, Zhulan changed the subject, "I heard from Rongchuan that you’re betrothed?"

Wu Yong blushed, "Yes, I’m betrothed. I’ll be married by the end of next year."