If I were born again, I would marry a strong but short-lived husband.

Chapter 481 Can’t Save It

The Supervisor of the Maritime Customs was named He. He was originally a minor official of the ninth rank, but his father-in-law was lucky and was promoted two years ago to become the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, so he promoted him to the Maritime Customs.

If you ask whether the position of the Director of the Maritime Customs is high or not, it is actually not that high, but he is also of the fifth rank, and it has plenty of benefits, and he is not busy at ordinary times, so it is an extremely lucrative job.

Today he helped a tea merchant solve the problem of two troublemakers. The tea merchant had just paid him a tribute of five hundred taels of silver, and he planned to go home to celebrate. However, when he got home and hadn't even sat down in his chair, he was told that the Jingzhao Prefecture was going to take away the person he had just detained.

"That kid dared to go to Jingzhao Prefecture to file a complaint?" He Tiju was furious.

"It seems that today's punishment is too light. He should be beaten with a stick eighty times to see if he dares to cheat again."

"Sir, should we hand the person over to Jingzhao Prefecture?" asked the deputy governor.

He Tiju didn't want to hand it over, but the official position in Jingzhao Prefecture was higher than his, so what else could he do.

"Let Deputy Chief Zheng take the person to Jingzhao Prefecture." Chief He said impatiently.

The Maritime Customs had one supervisor and two deputy supervisors. Deputy Supervisor Zheng was ungrateful and always opposed him in every way. Only Deputy Supervisor Li was his confidant.

Deputy Li hesitated for a moment, "Sir, I feel something is wrong. Doesn't the prefect know that this person was detained by the Maritime Customs? Why did he accept the complaint? Is there something wrong with that guy's background?"

He Tiju frowned, "What's the problem? He's just an interpreter for Blue Eyes. How can I be afraid of him?"

"By the way, who went to submit the complaint?" asked He Tiju.

"I heard that it was someone from Jiuding Trading Company who said that Mr. Wu stole their tea."

"What?" He Tiju finally frowned. "Mr. Wu is the largest tea merchant in the capital. How could he steal other people's tea? Where did the Jiuding Company come from? How dare he slander others like this?"

Deputy Supervisor Li said, "Sir, the Jiuding Company belongs to the Yong Dynasty. Their boss is surnamed Zhao. I heard he has a great background. He also has a large tea plantation in Minzhou and often goes out to sea. Even if he is not the richest man in the Yong Dynasty, he may be in the future."

When He Tiju heard that Jiuding Trading Company was actually the richest man in Yong Dynasty, his eyes lit up.

"I will go to Jingzhao Prefecture in person when the court is held tomorrow," said He Tiju.

The prefect of Jingzhao had already found out about Zhao Jiuling's identity. It was self-evident what kind of person it was who could live in the Regent's Palace.

So when Zhao Jiuling was brought to Jingzhao Prefecture, although he was in prison, he was provided with good food and drink.

"This prison is really different from the previous one. The treatment is so much better." Yaraf sighed while eating a chicken leg.

Zhao Jiuling smiled at him faintly, "Did you come to Yong Dynasty just to buy tea?"

"I came here with our fine wine and blankets. Mr. Wu said he wanted to exchange them with me for tea. Your tea is very expensive in our country, so I exchanged with him."

"If I hadn't wanted to drink tea, I wouldn't have known that the tea was moldy."

The wine and blankets from Russia were very good, and Zhao Jiuling's heart was slightly moved.

Yalav said something clumsy in official language: "Boss Zhao, thank you today."

Zhao Jiuling said: "It's not your fault, it's that the tea merchant is too shameless, but not all merchants here are like that."

"I know. I have also met very good people. You are a very good person. Boss Zhao, I will do business with you in the future," said Yaraf.

"It's a deal." Zhao Jiuling raised his teacup.

"You were implicated by me. You are really... really righteous." Yaraf said, "I have been here for a year, and you are the best friend I have ever met."

……

The next day, He Tiju arrived at Jingzhao Prefecture early. Before going to court, he went to see the prefect first.

The prefect pushed back the box he had handed over and said, "He Tiju, I won't accept this. You should ask the tea merchant to return the tea leaves to the owner as soon as possible."

He Tiju chuckled, "You are joking, Mr. Prefect. Mr. Wu's tea is his own. He definitely couldn't have stolen it."

"Where is the written document? Do you have it?" asked the prefect.

"Mr. Prefect, where did that kid come from?" He Tiju finally realized something was wrong.

This was not the first day he had dealt with the prefect, and this time the prefect was clearly favoring the guy named Zhao.

"You'll know in a moment." The prefect patted He Tiju's shoulder.

It's time to go to court.

He Tiju was puzzled and followed them to the court. In addition to Zhao Jiuling and Yalaf, Boss Wu was also brought there.

The person who sued Boss Wu was a man in his thirties, dressed in an ordinary straight robe. He looked like a stranger and had never been to the Maritime Customs. How could a merchant from the Yong Dynasty dare to file a complaint in the Southern Dynasty?

"Wu Daode, do you recognize the person next to you?" the prefect asked.

Boss Wu took a look and said, "Your Excellency, I don't know him."

"You don't even know the second manager of Jiuding Trading Company, and you said that you bought your tea from Jiuding Trading Company?" the prefect asked sternly.

"Sir, I...I am doing business with their boss Zhao Jiuling. It is normal that I don't know their second manager." Boss Wu shouted.

The prefect pointed at Zhao Jiuling and asked, "Then do you know who he is?"

Boss Wu: "He's just a liar."

"His surname is Zhao, and he is the boss of our Jiuding Trading Company!" said the second shopkeeper in a cold voice.

When He Tiju heard this, he became annoyed and glared at Boss Wu.

The gavel slammed hard, almost scaring Boss Wu. He finally felt scared and had to tell the truth. He just liked Yarav's wine and blanket, but didn't want to spend his own money. He thought that the other party was a Russian and would never come back, so he used tea bought at a low price to make up the number.

Who would have thought that I would meet Zhao Jiuling.

The prefect ordered Boss Wu to return the wine and blanket to Yaraf, compensate for the silver lost in the past few days, and admit his mistake and apologize to Zhao Jiuling in court.

At this time, He Tiju did not take this matter too seriously. He was just deceived by Boss Wu. What could be his fault? It would not have any impact on his official position.

Even if the prefect wanted to report him behind his back, he still had his father-in-law to protect him, so he was not afraid at all.

"Brother Zhao, we are here to pick you up." Ruan Zhaoxia, dressed like a young master, went to Jingzhao Prefecture in person to pick up Zhao Jiuling.

He Tiju watched Zhao Jiuling get on a large and luxurious carriage, "Is that... is that... the Ruan family's carriage?"

Deputy Li said tremblingly, "Sir, the one just now seems to be Prime Minister Ruan's daughter."

"Impossible! How could Prime Minister Ruan's daughter be involved with a merchant?" He Tiju shouted.

The prefect said quietly behind him, "Because Zhao Jiuling is the younger brother of the Regent Princess."

He Tiju rolled his eyes and fell down limply.