Farm Girl's Manor-Chapter 285: Obtaining the Store and Tricking the Zhang Family (7)_1

Little Brother Zhu said with a chuckle, "Those bosses who were deceived gave them quite a bit of gratitude silver. When I was leaving, they said it was thanks to the miss that they got so many benefits. They couldn’t accept the silver, so they even shared some with me."

Mo Yan was taken aback, for she hadn’t considered this; however, the people Little Brother Zhu found were quite reliable, and she might have use for them in the future. So she pushed the fifty tael silver over again, "That gratitude money is theirs by right, and my share naturally shouldn’t be left out. If they refuse to take it, please use this silver to host a banquet on my behalf, as a token of my thanks. If there’s any need for their help in the future, it would be easier for me to ask."

Little Brother Zhu, having heard this much, felt uncomfortable refusing any longer, but he only accepted thirty taels, refusing the remaining twenty taels no matter what. Thirty taels of silver were enough to set up two grand feasts at Huixian Residence!

Seeing this, Mo Yan took the twenty taels of silver back and let Little Brother Zhu have a meal at her place before allowing him to leave.

After a few days, the government office sent two officials, saying that there was a need for Mo Yan to make a trip regarding the Zhang Family’s fraud case.

The shop was legally obtained, and Mo Yan knew this was just a formality. After comforting the worried Lizhong and others, she followed the government officials to the government office.

By the time Mo Yan arrived, four members of the Zhang Family including Yao Taohua were already kneeling on the cold ground, with several deceived victims standing beside them.

The Jingzhao Yin did not trouble Mo Yan, only asking her to recount the process of buying the shop. Mo Yan honestly narrated the details, naturally omitting the transaction with Zhang Fugui.

However, it was unclear whether Zhang Fugui suspected Mo Yan of trickery, which led to his family’s flight and discovery, or if he wanted to drag someone down with him, deciding to reveal that transaction, aiming to get Mo Yan involved in trouble.

But Mo Yan had no intention of playing into his hands and firmly denied any involvement. After all, without solid proof, Zhang Fugui’s word counted for nothing, and the testimonies of other members of the Zhang Family were irrelevant. Moreover, the Zhang Family had several past offenses, so it was quite normal for them to act rashly and try to drag an innocent person down in their desperation.

Furthermore, Mo Yan had purchased the shop at its normal market price, and without evidence, the Jingzhao Yin could only conclude that the Zhang Family was unwilling to accept their loss and was attempting to involve others without any basis.

Mo Yan returned home safe and sound while the Zhang Family was not so fortunate. In the court, Zhang Fugui alone assumed all responsibility. To lessen his punishment, he returned the total of twenty-four thousand taels of silver he had scammed to the victims.

Zhang Fugui was a capable man. In court, he held his one-year-old grandson in his arms and kowtowed, apologizing to the victims, hoping they would forgive his momentary lapse and spare his old life.

The victims, seeing his advanced age and feeling pity—considering they had grandchildren of similar age themselves, and now that their silver was returned—decided not to pursue the matter further, treating it as a charitable act.

In the end, Zhang Fugui was sentenced to thirty hefty strikes and ten years in prison instead of exile. As for the other members of the Zhang Family, they were let off with a few strikes for their failure to report the crimes.

With this outcome, Mo Yan was rather satisfied. Although she looked down on the Zhangs, there was no deep-seated enmity between them. Now that they had received their due punishment, they were unlikely to cause harm to others again.

...

In order to open the shop as soon as possible, Mo Yan had Lizhong continue to oversee the reclamation work, while she ran back and forth between home and the shop. In addition to hiring people to renovate the shop, she also had to find a suitable warehouse—otherwise, how would she transfer all the grain from the Space?

The shop’s space was quite large, with both the front and back halls exceeding eighty square meters. The front hall was previously used by the Zhang Family to sell grains, and the back hall served as a temporary storage for grains, plus there was a small kitchen to prepare food.