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It was clearly more beneficial to the Imperial Court for her to hand over the patent, but Bai Wutong was filled with consideration for her.

Zhao Lanzhi was extremely touched and couldn’t help but sob. “Thank you, Great Empress… I… I’ll definitely work hard to pay the tax!”

Bai Wutong was amused by her. Cui Lingyi wiped her tears. “You’re right. Our goal should be to work hard to pay the taxes! If you open a workshop, I’ll be the first to invest! If no one takes care of it, I’ll send someone to take care of it!”

Cui Lingyi did not know much about business, but Sheng Huaixuan was an expert in this area. He was busy, but any shopkeeper under him could take charge alone.

Bai Wutong smiled and said, “If you invest, I’ll also invest. How can the Great Empress not have private assets?”

Zhao Lanzhi was stunned. For a moment, the pressure on her increased greatly. She was afraid that she would implicate Bai Wutong and her teacher.

However, this was also a full affirmation of her ability. Zhao Lanzhi thanked her gratefully and swore that she would definitely run the workshop well.

Lemon was good stuff. Bai Wutong directly asked the steward in charge of the Phoenix Tail Wine to buy all the lemons and arranged for them to be planted with other fruits.

As they continued forward, a stall selling buns was packed with people.

Lin Yue bought two hot buns and handed one to Qingfeng. Then, he saw Bai Wutong and Cui Lingyi.

Qingfeng handed the bun to Bai Wutong, who shook her head. “Lin Yue gave it to you. Eat it yourself. I’ll get someone to buy it.”

Qingfeng nodded and took a bite of the bun under Lin Yue’s expectant gaze.

The skin of the bun was soft and fermented just right. Inside was pure fish meat with delicious juice. It tasted quite good.

After a while, the servants bought buns and handed them to Bai Wutong. Even the Great Empress patronized them, so the bun stall’s business became even better.

Bai Wutong held the bun, filled with thoughts, and asked the accompanying official, “Who is the owner of the bun stall?”

The official hurriedly said, “The stall is registered under a female worker called Tian Fanghua.”

Bai Wutong continued to ask, “How long has it been since her bun stall was opened?”

The official said, “She comes almost every day. If she can’t come because she’s working, she would ask her family to take turns.”

Bai Wutong said, “Go and report the situation of this family and the daughter and son-in-law of this family to me.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the official immediately thought of something unusual. However, he could not care less and hurriedly gave the order.

Bai Wutong and Cui Lingyi sat under a pergola and drank sour plum juice. After a long time, the official respectfully handed over the information he had found.

Bai Wutong looked at the names on the list one by one. Soon, she saw a familiar name.

Bai Wutong’s expression was solemn. Since it involved political matters, Cui Lingyi could not ask further. She heard Bai Wutong sneer, “How brazen of them?”

They had been in the southern frontier for so long. Other than the rich families, the rice and food carried by the commoners had long been eaten up.

The rice and food purchased later and the food transported by the Imperial Court were all distributed according to the number of people or only provided to the various workshops’ canteens.

There were very few white flour in the market. Of course, those with money could also buy them from others.

However, there must be something strange about being able to buy steamed buns made of pure white flour at such a cheap price and sell them for so many days.

When Bai Wutong received the list and realized that the son-in-law of the bun shop was the canteen manager of the furniture factory, she was immediately furious.

There was a clear quantity of white flour recorded. It was extremely difficult to hide so much white flour without being discovered.

However, Zhang Tong did it.

What did this mean? It meant that everyone had turned a blind eye and even helped him cover up and secretly seek benefits.

A thousand-mile dam was destroyed by ants. Corruption would eat away at everyone’s interests.

Bai Wutong calmed down and asked Cui Lingyi to leave. She also asked the dark guard to call Cui Shize over.

Bai Wutong pointed at the bun stall in front. “Lord Cui, do you see anything?”

Cui Shize was stunned for a moment. He couldn’t say that the bun stall was doing very well, right? Bai Wutong must be implying something.

He stood still and looked again. Finally, he realized that something was wrong.

Many people could not eat white rice and noodles. Even among the 30 families of Qjnghe, only the masters could eat them. How could anyone sell steamed buns!

Cui Shize glanced at Bai Wutong and was secretly shocked. He immediately knelt down. “I did not inspect well. Great Empress, please forgive me.”

“I will definitely send someone to investigate this matter immediately and punish him severely as a warning to others!”

Bai Wutong said in a deep voice, “Are all the inspectors useless?”

“Get them to formulate a detailed anti-corruption system for me. Get every citizen to participate. If they can’t formulate it in five days, replace them!”

After such a huge mistake and being personally caught by Bai Wutong, it was already considered a light punishment for him not to be removed from his position immediately. Cui Shize hurriedly agreed and sent someone to arrest all the people who were running the bun stall.

The commoners immediately shouted in surprise, “What’s going on?”

“Why did you arrest him?”

“Hey, you haven’t returned my change!”

“Don’t squeeze, don’t squeeze. My shoes have fallen off.”

Tian Fanghua struggled in panic. “Sir, sir, we’re all good citizens. We’re just paying the stall fee to sell some food. Why are you arresting us?”

The reason why she had the courage to shout was all because her good son-in-law had promised that it would definitely be fine if someone found out. This was because they were using flour that were about to go bad. He had bought them from the Imperial Court at a low price, which was why Tian Fanghua dared to sell buns openly.

The soldiers did not explain. Instead, they arrested everyone involved and let Cui Shize interrogate them one by one.

After being locked up for a day, Tian Fanghua’s original confidence was reduced to less than a point.

Cui Shize questioned fiercely, “Where did these white flour from the bun stall come from?”

Tian Fanghua braced herself and said, “My eldest son-in-law gave it to me, but he definitely didn’t steal it. He bought the flour from the Imperial Court at a low price! But it’s definitely edible. There definitely won’t be any problems with it. Our entire family has been eating it.”

The Imperial Court had given the army moldy rice noodles the previous year, causing hundreds of soldiers to die overnight.

Bai Wutong placed special emphasis on food safety and set standards to ensure the shelf life of food.

However, this batch of new food was all purchased by Yu Suisheng from the Syrians and grain merchants. How could there be expired flour?

Someone must have deliberately evaluated the white flour as food to be destroyed to benefit from it.

Cui Shize ordered someone to bring Tian Fanghua’s son-in-law, Zhang Tong, over. When Zhang Tong saw Cui Shize, he knelt on the ground in fear and trepidation. He shouted that he was accused repeatedly and acted very well. “Sir, I only took white flour that is about to expire. If you don’t believe me, follow me to the warehouse to take a look!”

Cui Shize’s eyes suddenly darkened. “I haven’t asked you anything yet. How did you know that I wanted to ask you about the white flour?”

Zhang Tong was stunned. His palms were sweating from nervousness. He stammered, “When I was captured, I heard it from someone on the way.”

Cui Shize immediately questioned loudly, “Even if the white flour is expiring, what right do you have to sell the white flour of the Imperial Court to your mother-in-law?”