Wang Tongsheng shuddered and looked at the village head pleadingly.

The village head frowned slightly and turned his eyes to Tang Youyou.

He immediately understood and cried, "Sister-in-law Tang, I was blinded by greed for a moment. This is really my first time. Otherwise, search me!"

Yu bumped into her old man, who understood and acted as the searcher.

"Changhai, I am also trying to clear you of suspicion, please forgive me!" He is not stupid. What if this student becomes a scholar in the future and holds a grudge against him?

Wang Tongsheng looked at him with some gratitude: "Thank you, Brother Xu..."

After a few breaths, Xu Da shook his head: "Nothing!"

"Sister-in-law Tang, please forgive me, I was wrong, I apologize to you!"

Everyone's expressions eased.

The village head was a little anxious when he saw that Tang Youyou had not expressed her opinion yet.

"Tang, this is ultimately his fault, but he's a scholar after all. Please forgive him for his first offense!"

Tang's mother refused to give in: "Forgive me? If we let them succeed today, my daughter will have to jump into the pond. What's more, we just found a tinderbox. Maybe they'll be desperate enough to kill me for money!"

The village head sighed and said, "Tang, be merciful while you can. They didn't succeed, did they? Your family didn't suffer any loss. You are an orphan and a widow, so you still have to stay in this village, right?"

Tang Youyou raised an eyebrow. It seemed like they were planning to make a big deal out of a small matter? For the sake of him, the Wang family was willing to be a peacemaker?

Tang's mother was about to retort, but she pulled her mother's hand and sighed to the village head: "Uncle Head, I'm not a heartless person, but if I let him off so easily today, do you think more people will have such evil intentions in the future?"

"This...this..." The village head was unable to refute.

"How about this, he compensates my family with five taels of silver, and we'll forget about it!"

"Hiss!" Everyone gasped.

Wang Tongsheng's eyes widened. "Your house wasn't robbed, and you didn't suffer any losses. Why should I pay you money?"

Tang Youyou also widened his eyes in disbelief: "Uncle Village Chief, look, is this the attitude he should have when admitting his mistake? In my opinion, it's better to send him to the authorities!"

"You...you are really going too far! You..."

"Shut up!" the headman shouted angrily.

Then he looked at Tang Youyou meaningfully: "Forget it, I'll do as you say! When it's dawn, I'll ask his father to send the silver over!"

He flicked his sleeves and left, completely ignoring the two people tied up behind him.

Seeing this, several young men carried Liu Lai Zi and Wang Tongsheng and followed closely behind.

After seeing the people leave, Yu said: "Sister Tang, you did a great job tonight. If I were to send you to the authorities, it would be nothing more than a beating, and we wouldn't get any benefits. But this silver is real money. I'm afraid that those who want to take advantage of your family in the future will have to think carefully!"

Tang Youyou smiled slightly: "Thank you for tonight!"

Yu waved her hand and took Xu Da away.

Tang's mother said: "Go back to bed!"

She was very satisfied with her daughter's actions. Five taels of silver was a lot of money, enough for her daughter's family to eat for half a year. She asked for the silver and warned everyone at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.

As expected, what happened last night was widely spread.

The village head sighed, "Alas! I warned you repeatedly not to tell anyone, but I don't know who leaked it. It's really embarrassing!"

The village head's wife, Liu, frowned. "This widow Tang is too disrespectful to you. After all, Changhai is one of the few successful students in our clan, and yet she's asking for five taels of silver. How can she even have the nerve to ask for that?"

"Shut up, you're just too soft-hearted. If something can be settled with money, it's not a big deal. If we meet the officials, our Wang family will be laughed to death. The position of the right here will definitely not fall to my eldest son."

He sighed slightly and decided that it was time for him to step down.

"Let my eldest son prepare the ox cart and go with me to the county government office!"

"Old man, this is..."

The village head glared at her and said, "What else can I do? Of course, I have to take care of my eldest son."

Liu quickly took action.

But when I went out, I heard everyone talking and I felt extremely annoyed.

"Have you heard? That Wang Tongsheng actually teamed up with Liu Laizi to steal?"

"Of course not! My wife saw it with her own eyes. Before she could succeed, she was caught by Widow Tang. It was really embarrassing!"

"I heard that Liu Laizi is going to be expelled from the village, and Wang Tongsheng has to pay five taels of silver!"

"Oh my God, Liu Laizi's mother is already sixty years old. Oh! What bad luck..."

"If you ask me, I'd say Wang Tongsheng is the unlucky one. That's five taels of silver. Tsk tsk! His family is probably going to get burned this time."

"Serves you right! A good student doesn't learn his lesson. He's already in his twenties and he's learning to steal. He deserves it!"

"Do you think this Widow Tang is really rich?"

"How can you build a house without money? I heard there are three rooms, so it must cost a lot of money!"

"Hmph! Stop talking! Wang Shunzi is here!"

Wang Shunzi kicked his son, feeling extremely embarrassed. "What a disgrace! Get out of here!"

When Wang Shunzi arrived in front of Tang Youyou's house, he stood there motionless.

A worker making adobe bricks not far away teased, "Hey, isn't this Tongsheng's father? Come to give him some money?"

Tang's mother opened the door and welcomed people in.

"Tang, my family really can't come up with five taels. Can you exchange it for an acre of land?"

Tang Youyou raised an eyebrow. In his memory, a piece of top-quality farmland cost four taels of silver, but his family didn't have any strong laborers. Furthermore, with the current drought, it wasn't a good time to buy farmland.

"I just want silver!"

"Tang, look, our rice will be harvested in a month and a half. It's worth two taels of silver after all. Your family doesn't have any land, so isn't this just perfect?"

"So, I have to give you another tael of silver?" She stared at the seemingly honest farmer in front of her with a smile.

"Do you think I'm stupid? The rice is all shriveled due to lack of water and can only be ground into chaff. Two hundred kilograms of chaff costs two taels of silver. Do you charge the same price for chaff as rice?"

Wang Shunzi blushed and said, "How about the rice in the fields be valued at one tael of silver?"

Tang Youyou was so angry that she laughed: "How about you sell the land and return the silver to me!"

Wang Tongsheng gritted his teeth and said, "Don't push your luck!"

Tang's mother flew into a rage: "Do you really think my daughter, an orphan and a widow, is easy to bully? Who's going to buy the land during this drought, and at the original price?"

"So what do you say we should do?"

Tang Youyou stopped Tang's mother from speaking: "Either give me money or see the official. Think about it for yourselves!"

He is even trying to be clever in front of me. It really is true that like father, like son.

“Bang!”

Wang Tongsheng was slapped in the face.

Wang Shunzi slapped his thigh, took out five taels of silver from his sleeve, put it on the table, and left angrily.

Wang Tongsheng looked at Tang Youyou coldly: "Don't be complacent, just wait for me!"

"Just wait and see. Are you really going to pass the exam and become a scholar or a juren? Tsk, after studying for more than ten years you can only barely pass the exam and become a tongsheng. Do you really think you are a scholar and superior to others?"