Flourished Peony 国色芳华 Episode 25

Jiang Changyang reminded Mudan that if Liu Shen found out that she, a mere merchant, was investigating him, he would inevitably take action against her. Mudan didn't understand why Jiang Changyang knew this. Jiang Changyang said that Chuanyu saw the people she hired following Liu Shen in the black market. Jiang Changyang did not want to persuade Mudan to protect herself, but to do what she could. The rice shops in the West Market were all mixed with old rice, which was not something that Liu Shen, a small official, could do. The forces behind it were intertwined and complicated. It is never just one corrupt official who is right. After hearing what Jiang Changyang said, Mudan understood that Jiang Changyang also wanted to bring down the person behind Liu Shen, so she could not stand idly by. She decided to cooperate with Jiang Changyang, one was responsible for the officialdom and the other was responsible for the people.

Jiang Changyang held a banquet and invited a group of officials including the Jingzhao Prefecture to his palace. They were fed with moldy corn from the West Market Rice and Wheat Shop. Soon, everyone had diarrhea. Jiang Changyang used this as an excuse to ask the Jingzhao Prefecture to Get to the bottom of this matter and give an explanation to all my colleagues. Mudan was also not idle. She staged a drama in front of the people, calling on the common people to go to Jingzhao Prefecture to sue the officials. Only by making a big deal out of this matter could the other party be exposed. Not only that, Mudan will also recycle the incense powder made from inferior corn that has been sold. Anyone who has bought incense powder in the store or has not bought incense powder before can go to the Huamanzhu store for free to see a doctor and buy gastrointestinal conditioning products at cost price. Everyone was grateful for the medicine.

Faced with the common people who came to file a complaint with the officials, the Jingzhao Prefecture completely ignored them and locked them all out. Mudan was not worried, because what she wanted was for the anger in the hearts of the people to grow stronger, and when a gust of east wind came, it would ignite a prairie fire and burn those sinners. After that, Mudan continued to appeal to everyone on the streets to seek justice from the government. Lu Xingtou took out the moldy rice he had bought and openly stated that Huahang was with her. As more and more people joined in, the amount of moldy corn piled up in the car increased, and the movement grew louder and louder. Ren Jingzhao brought people to the scene and tried to intimidate the people to no avail. He then ordered them to snatch corn on the street. Mudan beat the drum and argued with them, asking the saint to make a decision.

The news soon reached the emperor's ears. When he asked about it, Liu Shen and other officials tried to cover it up. In order not to arouse the suspicion of Ning Wang's followers, Jiang Changyang avoided the main point and only mentioned a few words about the officials suffering from diarrhea in the palace. Doctor Shi said that the people’s grievances were no small matter and should be thoroughly investigated. Jiang Changyang proposed to His Majesty that Princess Liu be tried, with the assistance of the Grand Censor. His Majesty accepted Jiang Changyang's proposal. Jiang Changyang deliberately bought some time for Liu Shen, so that Liu Shen could urgently transfer the evidence of moldy corn so that Chuanyu and Mudan could catch him in the act. Sure enough, Liu Shen hurriedly replaced the moldy rice with good rice. When he was transporting the moldy rice away, Chuanyu knocked over the rice bucket in the street, and the moldy corn was visible.

Liu Shen and his servants were like rats crossing the street, and everyone was shouting at them. Liu Shen fled in a hurry, but was hit on the leg by Mudan's slingshot. He fell into the water and kept calling for help, but what awaited him was the arrest of the Imperial Censor. Afterwards, Liu Shen confessed everything and the Chen family was the first to be blamed. However, seeing that Prince Ning stood by and watched, they had no choice but to blame others, and all the corruption and bribery of corrupt officials were made public. The noble families will certainly complain when they see that Prince Ning refused to rescue the Chen family, and it will be difficult for Prince Ning to win them over. Liu Chang was told that only if he re-engaged himself with the county lord could Liu Shen be saved. His mother also begged him, so Liu Chang was forced to propose to Li Youzhen. Li Youzhen then threatened to commit suicide and refused to marry anyone but Liu Chang, so the King of Ning had to agree.

Liu Shen was caned in public, but as long as Liu Chang was the son-in-law of King Ning, Liu Shen might be spared from exile. However, Zhu Fu's words made sense, and we should always look at the bright side of things. It happened that Fangyuan was going to change owners, and Mo Dan happily went with Zhu Fu to ask about the selling price of Fangyuan.