That makes sense!

"Village Chief Zhao, County Magistrate, you want to lease out this Guhu Lake. Thousands upon thousands of fish fry have already been released into the lake. How much do you plan to spend to lease it out?" a villager asked.

Village Chief Zhao said, "Who told you we were going to pay to subcontract the work?"

Upon hearing this, everyone sighed in disbelief, "They're planning to seize it by force!"

"They think we Niushan Village people are easy to bully!"

"Our village finally had two good years, and now that we're able to eat our fill for the New Year, they're envious!"

"If the people don't fight against the officials, what can we do?"

At this moment, several yamen runners and servants from Magistrate Wang's residence hurriedly chased away the five or six onlookers, saying:

"Get out! Get out! The county magistrate is handling a case here, what are you looking at?"

The title "County Magistrate" pleased Magistrate Wang greatly. However, "County Magistrate" and "County Magistrate" are not the same thing; "County Magistrate" refers to the county magistrate.

After the group was driven away.

Magistrate Wang, maintaining a slight air of superiority, said, "Niu Da, I am an official, and you are a commoner. You can't win against me. Here's what we'll do: I'll give you fifty strings of cash for this lake. You can transfer it to me! If you don't want to, that's fine too; there are always plenty of drowned ghosts at the bottom of the lake." "If you agree to transfer it, take these fifty taels of silver and sign here now."

"Master, Master! Something terrible has happened! People from the yamen have arrived!" A servant ran up to Magistrate Wang, panting.

"What's all the fuss about? People from the yamen are here, so what? What's there to be nervous about?" Magistrate Wang said with dissatisfaction.

"People from the prefectural government have come, saying they want to summon you, Your Excellency, to court! Also there are Village Chief Zhao and all the officials, big and small, from Niushan County!" the servant said in one breath.

County Magistrate Wang's face turned pale instantly.

Hundreds of people filed complaints with the state government, accusing the magistrate and assistant magistrate of Niushan County of forcibly seizing farmland, land, and shops from the people.

After Niu Da saw that the person had left and that he had finished his work, he went home and told Chen Yu about it.

Chen Yu asked with some alarm, "County Magistrate Wang?"

That's Xiao Fu Bao's biological father!

She then thought that it would be better for Xiao Fubao not to have a father like Magistrate Wang. It would be a good thing if he were sent to the prefectural government.

She had only been married into the family for a short time and had met Xiao Fubao's biological mother once. At that time, her second sister-in-law, Niu Yinhua, had just married into the family, and she, as one of the wedding party members, had met Niu Yinhua's eldest sister-in-law once.

However, the two families later fell out of favor, and since there were two or three hundred acres of farmland between Haijia Village and Niushan Village, they didn't interact much, and she never saw the married eldest sister of the Zhuo family again.

When Master Zhuo came before, she had already guessed seven or eight parts of it.

"Why would he want to steal our lake for no reason?" Chen Yu said.

Niu Da took a bite of his food and said, "Fish farming is a highly profitable industry, earning more than selling pickled vegetables and iced drinks! More than he used to earn selling pork. And among fish, mandarin fish is the most valuable. He wants to monopolize it and fill his own pockets."

"He's heartless! He deserves to die a horrible death! He deserves to be a cuckold for a thousand years!" Shen Yu gritted his teeth with hatred at the thought of how he had so cruelly abandoned his sweet and adorable daughter, Xiao Fubao!

Now, they want to seize her family's property.

Little Fu Bao narrowed her eyes and said with a sweet, soft smile, "Yes, they'll die a horrible death!"

Niu Yong said, "When I pass the imperial examination next year and take office, I will definitely deal with these corrupt officials who bully men and women and seize people's property!"

As she spoke, Chen Yu picked up a piece of braised pork with her secret recipe and gave it to Niu Yong, saying, "Second brother, you have ambition! Your sister-in-law is rewarding you! If you and Heng'er pass the exam, our family will have two officials! Just don't let them become officials like Magistrate Li or Assistant Magistrate Wang."

"Thank you, sister-in-law!" Niu Yong said, "I will keep your teachings in mind!"

Shen Yu was quite concerned about the Wang family's affairs, after all, they were Xiao Fu Bao's biological father. "I wonder how this matter will end up!"

What will happen to that concubine Xiang who has been promoted to the official position?

"Why should we meddle in other people's business?" Niu Dadao said.

“Her father, shouldn’t we go to the county to settle the accounts in the next few days?” Chen Yu asked.

Every month, Niu Da and Niu Cuihua would go to the county to settle accounts for the two grain shops. Although the two shops were managed by Xiang Jinlan's two sons, personal relationships were one thing, but rules were another.

The Niu family kept statistics and records of their annual grain income, keeping two ledgers, one at home and one at the grain shop.

That cold drink shop wasn't very big, and it almost never sold fruits or drinks in the winter, so it was temporarily closed.

This year, they earned at least several thousand taels of silver.

Niu Dadao: "It's time to take stock of the accounts. After we finish, we'll buy some firewood and charcoal in town, then we'll hoe the fields and plant some vegetables and fruits! Next spring, we'll open the restaurant!"

This year, most of the fruit was sold wholesale; none rotted or remained uneaten.

“This afternoon, the third sister of the You family came again. She said that her sister gave away those pickled vegetables, and they were very popular with the high-ranking officials and nobles. She asked me to make another 120 jars, saying that it would be best if they were made and delivered before March next year!” Shen Yu said with a smile. “I never thought that our family’s pickled vegetables would be so popular in the capital. Our restaurant will probably have a lot of them too!”

“Honey, I always feel like something’s not real. Three years ago, our family was dirt poor, but now it seems like we have everything! And the children are growing up so fast!” Niu Dadao said.

“We’re still young,” Chen Yu said, then sighed, “My little sister’s baby is due next January, I’ll have to pick out some nice things for her! Do you think she’ll have a boy or a girl this time? I’d love it to be a boy!”

“I think either a boy or a girl is fine!” Niu Dadao said.

"I'm just a little scared looking at how my younger sister used to live. Even the closest of relatives can become distant like husband and wife!" Chen Yu said, taking out some silver. "When we go tomorrow, I'll get a longevity lock made for my younger sister's child first!"

"Okay!" Niu Dadao said.

Little Fu Bao said, "Mommy, I haven't seen Qiao'er and Ke'er for so long! Can I play with them?"

“I want to go too! I want to go too!” Niu Baolan exclaimed.

"Go, go! Haha!" Niu Dadao shouted.

Xiao Fubao and the Niu family are living such good lives that it's inevitable that some people will be jealous.

To the side and behind, there was an old woman from Niu Fangyuan's family, Chen Shi, who was just like that.

Chen raised three sons. Niu Fangyuan's wife, Yuan, was a formidable woman who forced the family to separate years ago.

Chen lived with her eldest son, Niu Bai.

Niu Bai has two sons and one daughter.

The youngest daughter, Niu Jiejie, is five years old, only two years older than Xiao Fubao.

Seeing that her house in front of her door was getting bigger and bigger, and that she had hired more than a dozen female workers, as well as Xiang Jinlan, who lived right in front of the house, as a maid, Chen said to Jie Jie's mother, Guo:

"The daughters born to Madam Shen are truly remarkable. They've only had daughters, but look at her! In just three years, she's already bought three hundred acres of land, four plots of land, and three shops! Her second daughter will be the future mistress of an official's family. How come she's so good at having children?"