That night, the Li family went about their usual routines of eating and sleeping. After all, they had made all necessary preparations and were simply waiting to see how Magistrate Hai would judge the case.
Early in the morning, Zhenniang made her rounds at the ink workshop before returning home. She knew that yamen runners would soon arrive to summon her elder brother to court.
Unexpectedly, as soon as she stepped through the door, she heard her elder brother’s deep voice: “This is Li Dalang’s matter. What does it have to do with the Li family ink workshop? What is the Ink Affairs Bureau trying to do? This is completely unreasonable. I’m going to speak with them.”
Zhenniang was stunned upon hearing this—how had the Ink Affairs Bureau become involved?
“What’s the use of arguing? Nothing can be made clear now!” the old shopkeeper Li said irritably.
“Grandfather, Elder Brother, what happened?” Zhenniang asked as she hurried forward.
“Officials from the Ink Affairs Bureau just came to see Seventh Grandmother. They said that rumors were spreading about the Li family being tyrannical and scheming to seize private property. Because of this, they want to re-examine the Li family’s right to compete for tribute ink status. How can I face Seventh Grandmother with this?” Li Dalang pounded the table heavily, his face full of unwillingness.
Hearing this, Zhenniang was also taken aback. She had thought it was just about the oil workshop, but unexpectedly, it had spread to involve the ink workshop’s tribute rights as well.
Without question, someone must have been stirring up trouble. Who else could it be but the Tian family?
“Dalang, don’t be like this. In this world, how can things be completely clear-cut? In failure, nine clans suffer; in success, even chickens and dogs ascend to heaven—that’s how things usually are. What our Li family has done, we can face with a clear conscience. If Heaven truly wants the Li family to lose its tribute rights, then Heaven is blind. As long as we can face Heaven and Earth with integrity and not shame our ancestors underground, that is enough.” Just then, Madam Chen helped Old Madam Li enter, and the Old Madam spoke with a steady voice.
“Yes.” Hearing their Seventh Grandmother’s words, the siblings Li Dalang and Li Zhenniang naturally agreed. At any time, the Seventh Grandmother was always the backbone of the Li family.
However, privately, Zhenniang exchanged a glance with her elder brother.
Li Dalang naturally understood his sister’s meaning. Early on, his sister had warned him to be wary of the Du brothers, and after learning of Magistrate Hai’s arrival, he had made various preparations. They had done everything within human power; all that remained was to await heaven’s will.
Thinking this, Li Dalang nodded to his sister. Li Zhenniang clenched her fists in response.
“Is Li Zhengliang here? Magistrate Hai summons you.”
“Quickly, have Li Zhengliang come out. There’s a case to be heard.”
Just then, the calls of yamen runners rang out at the Li family gate, and Li Liujin hurried in to report.
“Let’s all go and see,” Old Madam Li said at this point.
Thus, the Li family group followed the two yamen runners to the prefecture courthouse.
Because it was a public hearing, many people had gathered outside the yamen. Seeing the Li family arrive, they called out one after another, “The Li family is here! The Li family is here!”
“Ah, I didn’t expect Seventh Old Madam to come as well.” Someone on the side noticed Old Madam Li’s presence and exclaimed in surprise. Because the Li family’s Seventh Old Madam had been in poor health in recent years, she had remained confined at home, and outsiders rarely saw her.
“How could she not come? Didn’t you see earlier that officials from the Ink Affairs Bureau are also in court for the hearing? If Li Dalang is found guilty, the Li family’s tribute rights won’t be protected today.”
“That’s true,” those nearby naturally agreed.
Thus, they made way, creating a path for the Li family group to enter.
“Bring seats for the Old Madam and Old Shopkeeper Li.” Seeing the Li family’s old shopkeeper and old madam arrive at court, Hai Rui rose to welcome them, and the yamen runners hurriedly brought chairs.
In this era, the elderly were highly respected. Not only were those over seventy exempt from bowing to officials, but some courteous officials would even offer seats to the elderly. Hai Rui particularly emphasized filial piety, so his observation of these courtesies was even more pronounced than others.
“Many thanks, Magistrate Hai. This old woman pays her respects.” Old Madam Li and Old Shopkeeper Li also exchanged courtesies before sitting down.
Zhenniang naturally stood behind the Old Madam.
By now, Hai Rui had returned to his seat on the dais, with the bright mirror hanging high behind him, gleaming brilliantly.
Then came the crack of his judge’s tablet: “Summon Li Zhengliang!”
Li Zhengliang, who had been standing to the side, didn’t need the yamen runners to push him forward. He went directly to the front of the hall and fell to his knees with a thud, waiting to respond.
“Li Zhengliang, the Du brothers accuse you of scheming to seize their oil workshop. What do you have to say?” Hai Rui’s cold eyes fixed on Li Zhengliang.
“Your Honor, I’ve been wronged!” Li Zhengliang kowtowed with an aggrieved expression.
“Wronged? Then let me ask you this: Was the Li family’s oil workshop originally the Du family’s oil workshop?” Hai Rui quickly followed up.
“Yes, the Li family oil workshop was indeed originally the Du family’s oil workshop. However, the Du brothers managed it poorly, causing a tung oil poisoning incident. Fearing responsibility, they both fled. Only because my wife held shares in the oil workshop did I take on the workshop’s affairs. The entire case is recorded at the county yamen. The transfer of the Du oil workshop to me was approved with their mother’s thumbprint, overseen by County Magistrate Wei,” Li Dalang explained.
“Tung oil poisoning?” Hai Rui snorted coldly, then called out loudly: “Summon Chen Shu and Fang Huai!”
The yamen runners brought forward two more men, one about forty years old and the other about twenty, both wearing plain cotton short robes.
“Chen Shu, former manager of the Du oil workshop, and Fang Huai, one of the victims of the tung oil poisoning incident, have been brought forward,” the yamen runner announced before stepping back.
Chen Shu—as soon as Zhenniang saw him, she frowned. This Chen Shu had been a manager at the oil workshop, but the man had no integrity and only knew how to make money for himself. After her elder brother took over the workshop, he had been dismissed. She hadn’t expected him to resurface now.
“Chen Shu, Fang Huai, tell us about the tung oil poisoning incident from that year. Do not speak a single false word.” Hai Rui struck his judge’s tablet again.
“Your Honor, the tung oil poisoning incident was planned by the Li family. Even the tung oil was added to the Li family’s instructions. I saw all this with my own eyes. Just because I spoke up for the two owners back then, I was driven out of the oil workshop,” Chen Shu said.
“Your Honor, I was one of the victims of the tung oil poisoning that year. Originally, I was grateful to the Li family, but later when I met Uncle Chen, I learned that the Li family was the true culprit. Please, clear-sighted magistrate, bring us justice!” At this point, Fang Huai also called out loudly.
Zhenniang gnashed her teeth as she listened—this man had been saved by her Li family.
At this moment, the Du brothers seized the opportunity to kneel and plead their grievances: “We beg Your Honor to bring justice to us poor people. Think of how we brothers worked hard to manage the oil workshop, only to have it schemed away by the Li family, leaving us in such a state. Heaven is deaf to our cries, and Earth is silent to our pleas!”
“You… you’re spewing vicious lies!” Li Dalang’s eyes bulged, his face flushing red. He hadn’t expected these people could so completely twist black into white.
“Silence!” From the dais, Hai Rui struck his judge’s tablet again, then coldly regarded Li Dalang: “Well then, what else do you have to say?”
“Your Honor, Chen Shu was dismissed because he embezzled money from the oil workshop. This is merely his revenge. Please investigate thoroughly,” Li Dalang said through gritted teeth.
“Your Honor, Chen Shu claims everything was orchestrated by our Li family—where is his evidence? Magistrate Wei previously compiled detailed case files about this matter. Please review them carefully,” Old Madam Li spoke up from her seat.
“Old Madam, is Chen Shu’s eyewitness testimony not evidence? As for the previous case files, I have already examined them thoroughly. However, over the years, your Li family has bribed Registrar Yun and former County Magistrate Wei. Look at these accounts—are they incorrect? How can such case files be trusted?” At this point, Hai Rui threw down an account book. When officials and merchants collude, such case files hold no credibility whatsoever.
Zhenniang walked over to pick up the book and flipped through it, secretly cursing their bad luck.
Later generations would analyze Hai Rui’s character—he wouldn’t tolerate even a grain of sand when it came to matters of money. Yet this account book contained records of the Li family’s various contributions to the yamen, naturally including ceremonial gifts to Registrar Yun and Magistrate Wei.
This was common practice. After all, the Li family were merchants, and to operate peacefully, such expenses were unavoidable. Which merchant family didn’t have them?
Moreover, such sponsorship was one way merchants gave back to their hometowns. The yamen-managed charitable halls, disaster relief efforts, and donations to county schools for supporting students—all of these required money. Where would the yamen get so much money if not mostly from gentry donations?
Thus, in this era, for an official to govern effectively, they couldn’t do without gentry support. The Li family’s type of donations should have been encouraged by various yamens.
However, now some yamens receiving these donations weren’t truly using them for public benefit, but rather finding ways to line their own pockets.
As such, in Hai Rui’s eyes, this situation became official merchant collusion, which became the Li family’s bribery of yamen officials high and low. Naturally, Magistrate Hai believed the Du brothers rather than her Li family.
“Your Honor, such expenses are unavoidable for any merchant family. Using this to judge against our Li family is unfair,” Old Madam Li said steadily from the side.
“Official-merchant collusion brings disaster to the locality. With these account books and now witness testimony, does your Li family still want to quibble?” Hai Rui’s face was cold. Don’t think he didn’t know—it was precisely because merchants used money to collude with officials that these merchants gained backing to bring disaster to localities.
The dynasty was in chaos, common people were displaced, and officials were corrupt—merchant schemes played no small part in this. Today, he, Hai Rui, would stamp out this evil trend.
“Guards, hear the verdict…” Hai Rui began to write his judgment.
“Wait, Magistrate Hai. This humble woman dares to speak.” Zhenniang could no longer contain herself. Though her action was rash, she couldn’t let Hai Rui announce this verdict. With that, Zhenniang fell to her knees beside her elder brother.
“What do you have to say?” Hai Rui frowned.
“Before this humble woman speaks, may I request Your Honor permit me to have a bowl of clear water and a chopstick?” Zhenniang asked. In truth, all the case details were in the files—the testimony of the Du brothers and Chen Shu wasn’t credible at all. It was only because of Magistrate Hai’s preconceptions and prejudgment that he was being deceived by the Du brothers.
Therefore, Zhenniang’s first task was to shatter Hai Rui’s subjective idealistic cognition; otherwise, he wouldn’t listen at all.
“Bring a large bowl of clear water and a chopstick,” Hai Rui ordered the yamen runners.
Soon, a large bowl of clear water and a chopstick were brought forward. Zhenniang directly inserted the chopstick into the water: “Your Honor, please look—is this chopstick straight or bent?”
“Nonsense, the chopstick is naturally straight,” Hai Rui glared at Zhenniang.
“Your Honor, please look carefully at the chopstick in the water before speaking,” Zhenniang insisted.
Due to the light refraction, one could clearly see that the chopstick appeared bent where it crossed the water’s surface. Hai Rui’s frown deepened: “Miss Li, what exactly are you trying to say? Explain yourself clearly to this official.”
“Your Honor, this commoner only wishes to show you that common sense, what our eyes see, and subjective assumptions can be inaccurate. Only by pulling out the chopstick and seeing the actual evidence can we know the truth,” Zhenniang explained.
“Are you saying these account books aren’t evidence?” Hai Rui snorted coldly.
“The account books are facts, but the Li family’s donations were not meant to bribe Magistrate Wei, Registrar Yun, or other yamen staff. If Your Honor has time, please investigate further where the money in these accounts went. Huizhou has frequent rains and many mountains and ravines. Often, a single night’s rain can destroy villages, fields, and bridges. The annual expenses for such matters are not small,” Zhenniang paused briefly before continuing.
“Since childhood, this humble woman has been taught by family elders about the way of commerce: the poor make a living with their skills, the wealthy create prosperity for their hometown, and the accomplished benefit all under heaven. This is also the commercial way that Zigong learned from the sage’s teachings. Our family’s ancestral instructions say that the Li family, as merchants of the world, should uphold this commercial way. Therefore, whenever we have a surplus, we always think of contributing to our hometown. The yamen represents the Emperor above and reaches the common people below. The Li family’s donations to the yamen truly represent our small wish to benefit our hometown. And this wish isn’t unique to the Li family—among Hui merchants, none lack it. I imagine such account books in the yamen aren’t limited to just our Li family.”
Zhenniang’s words flowed smoothly—this wasn’t a fabrication, but rather the Li family’s ancestral instructions recorded in their genealogy: “As merchants, we must uphold the merchant’s way.”
Because of this, over the years, although the Li family ink workshop’s business wasn’t particularly prosperous, their donations to the yamen never decreased. Magistrate Wei was also a capable official, and thus in recent years, benefiting from merchant donations, Huizhou’s governance had been quite successful.
Otherwise, there wouldn’t be today’s prosperity in Hui ink.
Of course, this was also why the Li family had always maintained good relations with the yamen. When Jinhua’s uncle tried to seize Li’s ink business back then, they received help from Registrar Yun.
However, when the new county magistrate arrived, he first exploited the silk farmers, then repeatedly reached out to wealthy households—he wasn’t benevolent, so the Li family’s donations decreased compared to before.
Speaking of which, Zhenniang felt that behind this Du brothers’ matter was the shadow of this new county magistrate. If nothing else, just based on the account books Magistrate Hai had produced, how could he have obtained them without this county magistrate’s agreement?
As for why this magistrate would do this, Zhenniang pondered: First, Magistrate Wei’s prestige in Huizhou was quite high, and after this magistrate took office, the silk farmers’ situation had caused public outrage, so everyone remembered Magistrate Wei fondly. Additionally, Registrar Yun and others had been promoted by Magistrate Wei, so they probably weren’t of one mind with the current magistrate. Therefore, this magistrate was likely trying to use this opportunity to both diminish Magistrate Wei’s influence in Huizhou and remove Registrar Yun.
Of course, there was another matter—the silk farmers’ complaint against the county yamen that Zhenniang had witnessed that day. The current magistrate was likely under considerable pressure, and this move was also a way to divert trouble elsewhere.
Of course, these were just Zhenniang’s speculations, and she couldn’t manage all these matters. She only needed to make Hai Rui understand that the Li family’s donations were not bribes.