Chapter 52

Yan Dianli asked Liu Kusi with doubt, "Isn't Yan Yue already in ruins, why... why won't that person let him off?"

"Fang Yun never sought trouble with Yan Yue. It's unknown what madness overcame the Yan family, for they actually went to the Fang clan school in mourning attire to seek trouble with Fang Yun, demanding that Fang Yun kneel and kowtow to Yan Yue."

Yan Dianli was startled and cursed, "Are they mad? My cousin, no matter how stupid, would never do such a thing! Fang Yun is now unstoppable, why are they still making things difficult for him! Why did the old lady scold the Prefect?"

"It is said that the Fang clan school plans to expand enrollment, with Fang Yun personally teaching poetry and prose. The old lady's grandson was originally able to attend, but the Yan family blocked the entrance to the Fang clan school, so Fang Yun refused to teach. The child cried to the old lady, and since she couldn't control the Yan family, she naturally took out her anger on her own son."

Yan Dianli's heart leaped, and he said, "This is bad! If it's a small matter, it's fine, but if the matter escalates and causes public resentment, the Prefect will have an excuse to intervene, and our Yan family will be in trouble. How could my cousin and the others do such a thing?"

Liu Kusi's eyes flashed, and he said, "You can guess. I have something to do, I'll go first."

Yan Dianli knew the matter was serious, turned around, and quickly headed to the Yan family.

On the way, he found that the Yan family's rice shop was surrounded by people in layers.

"Yan Chongnian, you old bastard, you've made our children unable to read books and fail the child scholar exams. Don't force us to fight to the death!"

"Your Yan family has nine rice shops in Dàyuan Prefecture, from today on, we will block all nine! If you have the nerve, kill us! We, the Fang family, are not soft targets!"

"You even dare to harm a child scholar before the Sage, you must have the heart of a bear and the gall of a leopard. He is a star of literature, destined to be the top scholar!"

"Fang Sir promised to teach our children poetry, but you destroyed it. If we take the case to the Holy Academy, we will have a good reason!"

The onlookers, after hearing the story, also joined in cursing the Yan family.

Yan Dianli thought, "This is bad. The Fang family is a prestigious family, and if Old Master Fang intervenes, it won't be enough to suppress the smaller prestigious family, the Yan family. But if the higher-ups of the Fang family don't show up and only let the parents of the children come forward, it means they want to stir up trouble behind the scenes. Once the parents of the students unite and go to the state criminal court and the state law court, the Yan family will inevitably be reprimanded by the court, and even lose all their titles, losing their status as a prestigious family."

"The sign of the Yan family's rice shop is completely ruined! In the hearts of ordinary people, the child scholar before the Sage is the pride of the entire Dàyuan Prefecture, and he is from a humble background, so more than 90% of the people consider him one of their own. If the Yan family wants to harm him, they will ruin their reputation, regardless of whether they succeed or fail." Yan Dianli shook his head, thinking.

Yan Dianli hired a carriage to head to the Yan family.

Upon arrival, he saw the front of the Yan family's house in disarray, with seven or eight people cleaning up the filth, and some square bricks on the ground for people to walk on.

Yan Dianli was hesitating when several people quickly walked over, two women wiping their tears. Upon closer inspection, they were all members of the Yan family.

"What happened?" Yan Dianli asked urgently.

"Uncle! My mother was beaten! She said it must be the Fang family's doing, and she wants Aunt to seek justice."

"What? Was this done by my sister-in-law? I should have known my brother wasn't that foolish!" Yan Dianli knew his cousin Yan Chongnian's temper well. Although he was mean, greedy, and even despicable, harming many people for his own benefit, he was definitely not a fool and would never provoke the current big shot in Jiangzhou and Jingguo.

"You wait outside, I'll handle this!" Yan Dianli covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve and quickly ran inside, stepping on the square bricks.

The Yan family had a large courtyard with three sections. Yan Dianli ran into the third section and found his sister-in-law, Lady Yan, kneeling on the ground with disheveled hair, a clear handprint on her face, while the head of the Yan family, Yan Chongnian, was scolding her.

Yan Dianli hurriedly said, "Brother, the Prefect is furious, and all our rice shops are blocked. This matter must be resolved as soon as possible, or the Yan family will be finished."

"I know, I'm trying to figure it out! This good-for-nothing fool, after being provoked a few times, found people to take revenge for Yue."

"Who provoked her?" Yan Dianli asked.

Yan Chongnian looked around to make sure there were no outsiders and cursed, "Who else but that wolf cub Liu Zicheng! His family is prestigious, with a Left Chancellor and a Jieyuan favored by the Left Chancellor, so he can compete with Fang Yun, not fearing Fang Yun or Sword Brow. But what do we, the Yan family, have? I have many sons, if one is ruined, I still have three left. Why should I offend the Fang family and Sword Brow for a fool? I'm not that stupid. You came just in time, quickly come up with a plan to resolve this matter quickly."

Yan Dianli said, "Are you afraid of the Fang family or Sword Brow?"

"Of course, I'm afraid of Fang Yun. If Sword Brow gets involved, with his temper, he would dare to tear down the Yan family at the slightest provocation. Who can blame us for being in the wrong, and I don't have an official position. And that big-eyed Fang, he is from the military family and is a prefectural general, just like Sword Brow, unreasonable."

"Then you should immediately take a generous gift to Fang Yun's house, no, to the Fang clan school. Where the incident happened, it should be resolved there. This way, you can apologize to Fang Yun and appease the Fang family's anger, showing everyone the consequences of causing trouble at the Fang clan school."

"Good, let's do it. But what kind of generous gift?"

Yan Dianli thought carefully and said, "This time, you'll have to bleed a lot. After all, if anyone were framed and their reputation damaged, they wouldn't let it go easily."

"Say it, I can handle it."

"Fang Yun wrote 'The Inscription of a Humble Abode,' if you can give him a large mansion, the matter might be resolved. But it should be at least an 8,000 taels mansion."

Yan Chongnian almost fainted with anger, suddenly kicked Lady Yan, and cursed, "You and your son are my nemesis! When your son insults others for being poor, you immediately force me to give away a house. How did I end up with you two jinxes?"

Yan Dianli, with his head down, couldn't speak. If this happened to someone else, he would laugh until his belly burst, but since it happened to the Yan family, he couldn't laugh, it was too frustrating.

Lady Yan remained silent.

Yan Chongnian continued to curse, "8,000 taels! That large mansion was only bought for 7,000 taels back then!"

"Brother, have you thought it through?"

"What else can I think about? Throwing away 8,000 taels is better than having Fang or Sword Brow come to the house! The Lao Yang family has already moved to Yunhai, and their large mansion is priced at 9,000 taels but hasn't been sold. If I buy it, I can get a discount. You go contact Lao Yang's nephew, who manages this, and I'll personally lead people to the Fang clan school to apologize."

At this moment, Lady Yan whispered, "If we buy the Lao Yang family's mansion, we'll live there and give this place to Fang Yun."

"Stupid thing!" Yan Chongnian was about to hit her again, but Yan Dianli quickly stopped him.

"Don't hit your sister-in-law, focus on the matter at hand."

Yan Chongnian said, "We can't let that bastard Liu Zicheng off easy. If his cousin incited this, we'll expose his cousin, making it impossible for him to stay in the Prefecture Literary Academy. Let's go!"

Before Yan Chongnian could leave, a servant rushed out, panicking, "Master, bad news, the Transport Office has seized our grain! Judge Zhao said that if his son can't be Fang Yun's student, the Yan family will never use the transport again."

Yan Chongnian's vision went dark, almost fainting. Grain and other bulk goods must be transported by water, and if they couldn't use the Transport Office, the cost of transporting by cart would bankrupt him.

"Damn it!" Yan Chongnian turned to hit Lady Yan, but she used her hands and legs to crawl away, running quite fast.

Yan Dianli quickly said, "Brother, the key is Fang Yun. Only he can resolve this."

"Right, right! An 8,000 taels mansion, I'll buy it! Let's go!"

At the same time, the matriarch of the Fang family was taking Yang Yuhuan to look at houses.

Fang Yun had been studying at home until nine o'clock when He Yutang visited.

Seeing Fang Yun, He Yutang laughed, "Mr. Fang, you have good luck. You wrote 'The Inscription of a Humble Abode,' and now you get a large mansion. If you write 'The Imperial Palace Ode,' wouldn't you get a Holy Academy?"

"What happened?" Fang Yun asked.

"It turns out that the trouble at the clan school wasn't instigated by Yan Chongnian, but by Lady Yan, who was incited by Liu Zicheng's cousin to take revenge for her son."

"Liu Zicheng's cousin? As I suspected, is there any way to deal with him?" Fang Yun asked.

He Yutang smiled proudly, "I've already had the parents of the students sign a joint petition to the State Literary Academy, requesting that Grand Scholar Li revoke Liu Zicheng's cousin's enrollment in the Prefecture Literary Academy. The head of the Prefecture Literary Academy is a Left Chancellor's man, so they can't petition there."

Fang Yun frowned, "Wasn't the Prefecture Head dismissed by Grand Scholar Li? Will he still obstruct me? Isn't he afraid of Grand Scholar Li?"

He Yutang said, "Of course he's afraid, but if the Liu family gives him enough benefits and transfers him to the capital, even Sword Brow can't do anything. If he dares to harm you, Sword Brow will