The Litchi Road Episode 24 Recap
> The Litchi Road Recap
The Right Chancellor held immense power in the court. All the rare treasures presented as tribute from various places to the court had to be filtered by him first. When the foreign merchants from Lingnan sent supreme quality bird's nest, the Right Chancellor had someone replace it with bird's nest of similar quality to last year's for the palace.
If the bird's nest sent from Lingnan next year wasn't of supreme quality, it would be difficult for him to report it. The Right Chancellor didn't seek merit but only sought to avoid fault. He was more concerned about whether the peony flowers, beloved by the Emperor, were blooming. A Mita lectured Seventeen Niang on business principles, advising her not to force Li Shande to repay the loan immediately.
If Li Shande successfully transported the lychees back to Chang'an, he would surely be grateful to Seventeen Niang. Even if Li Shande messed things up, he would leave a sum of money for his daughter, Li Xiuer, so Seventeen Niang wouldn't lose money. Li Shande heard that Seventeen Niang had sent people to capture A Mita and Li Xiuer, so he immediately went to Pingkangfang to demand their release from Seventeen Niang.
Seventeen Niang, having listened to A Mita's persuasion, no longer forced Li Shande to repay the money now, but Li Shande had to give her peace of mind, otherwise, he shouldn't think of leaving Chang'an city. Seventeen Niang also mocked Li Shande for having such good luck with women. Li Shande, without asking for details, lectured A Mita, blaming her for letting Li Xiuer take the risk. A Mita was also helpless; she sulked and ignored Li Shande.
He Youguang dreamt that Li Shande was smiling at him, which scared him out of his wits. Zhao Xinmin tried to comfort him, but He Youguang vented all his anger on Zhao Xinmin, forcing him to chase after A Mita quickly, or he would skin him alive. Zhao Xinmin broke out in a cold sweat from fright. Li Shande specifically bought food and brought it to A Mita, proactively admitting his mistake to her.
Seeing the deep father-daughter affection between Li Shande and Li Xiuer, A Mita couldn't help but think of her own father. A Mita had always thought her father didn't care about her and refused to go to Lingnan with him out of spite. But soon after, he died in a fire. A Mita still regretted it whenever she thought about it, and Li Shande offered her kind words of comfort.
Li Shande sent Li Xiuer to the embroidery workshop early in the morning, and he was the first to arrive at the Court Of The National Granaries to queue up. The supervisor at the Court Of The National Granaries praised Li Shande's plan repeatedly and told him to fill out an application form. After reading the form, the supervisor realized that Li Shande wanted to transport lychees from Lingnan.
The Court Of The National Granaries was responsible for imports from abroad, not domestic matters. The supervisor told Li Shande to go to the Left Treasury Office, and Li Shande had no choice but to leave in disappointment. A Mita was preparing to go to the Jing'an Bureau to find Lu Huan, but unexpectedly, Lu Huan had sent people to follow her the entire time.
As soon as A Mita saw Lu Huan, she handed him the whistleblowing letter and listed the conspiracy between He Youguang and the Right Chancellor one by one. She wanted to quickly bring down the Right Chancellor. Lu Huan felt that based on her words alone, it was impossible to bring down the Right Chancellor, especially since the Right Chancellor was the older brother of Consort Yang. A single word from Consort Yang could let him off scot-free.
Only by finding concrete evidence to completely bring down the Right Chancellor, leaving him no chance to recover, could they succeed. Otherwise, it would only alert the enemy. Lu Huan could only wait for Yun Qing to collect concrete evidence of He Youguang and the Right Chancellor's collusion, and then let A Mita come forward to testify. Lu Huan told A Mita to lay low for the time being. Li Shande arrived at the Left Treasury Office.
The official in charge found various excuses to shirk responsibility. Li Shande was being passed around by multiple departments, and he was so angry that he shouted loudly. Supervisor Xu Leping arrived in time. Li Shande and Xu Leping were old acquaintances. Xu Leping clearly stated that the Left Treasury Office was only responsible for storage, not transportation. He suggested that Li Shande go to the Ministry of War.
Li Shande didn't know anyone in the Ministry of War, so Xu Leping promised to help submit a document to the Ministry of War. Li Shande profusely thanked Xu Leping. Xu Leping had no intention of helping Li Shande; he was just finding an excuse to get rid of Li Shande. Li Shande accidentally overheard Xu Leping's conversation with a colleague and returned to confront Xu Leping.
Not only did Xu Leping not admit his mistake, but he also spoke with conviction. He reminded Li Shande to give up as soon as possible and even threw the document on the ground. In a fit of anger, Li Shande went directly to the Ministry of War but was forcibly driven away by the guards at the entrance. Li Shande went to the embroidery workshop to pick up Li Xiuer.
Li Xiuer was fighting with her companion because her companion mocked Li Shande as the unlucky lychee envoy, saying he wouldn't live past the first day of the sixth month. Li Shande quickly pulled Li Xiuer away and publicly announced that he could transport the lychees to Chang'an. Before Li Shande finished speaking, Li Xiuer pulled him home. Li Xiuer sulked and ignored Li Shande.
Li Shande tried desperately to appease her, repeatedly saying that the lychee envoy was an enviable job that everyone envied and that they were spreading rumors out of jealousy. Li Xiuer didn't believe him at all. Li Shande brought up the Emperor to prove his point, but Li Xiuer still didn't believe him. She didn't believe that Li Shande could transport lychees from Lingnan to Chang'an.
Li Shande swore that he could complete the task, and only then did Li Xiuer believe him. She curiously asked about A Mita's relationship with Li Shande. Li Shande repeatedly explained that he and A Mita were just friends, and his heart only belonged to Zheng Jinniang. He also told Li Xiuer about his sweet past with Zheng Jinniang. Zheng Pingan couldn't forget Yun Qing.
He hadn't seen Yun Qing for many days, so he used the excuse of inquiring about news and took Gou Er to see Yun Qing. He also specifically bought a women's round fan as a gift. Gou Er saw that Zheng Pingan liked Yun Qing, but Zheng Pingan refused to admit it and scolded Gou Er. Zhao Xinmin came to the bookstore run by Yun Qing to find the shopkeeper and buy information. He wanted to know A Mita's whereabouts.
The shopkeeper found an excuse to send him away. Zhao Xinmin ran into Zheng Pingan as he left the store. Zheng Pingan lied, saying he came to buy books. Zhao Xinmin saw that he was holding a women's round fan, which made him suspicious of Zheng Pingan. He returned to the bookstore again and questioned Zheng Pingan about bringing a round fan to see Yun Qing at the bookstore. Zheng Pingan vehemently denied it and claimed that he liked round fans.
