Chapter 445 Sure enough, there is a ghost

"Sir, this is really the only food I have at home."

The old farmer who was caught was pale and explained with trembling hands and feet, "The better food was taken away by the adults last time."

The yamen runner threw the man to the ground in disgust and kicked the bag of grain next to him: "If you don't have good ones, then don't come out to sell them. Who can you let me sell these chaff to?"

"No, no, no."

The old farmer sat on the ground, trying to protect the grain bag and hug the yamen runner's thigh, looking extremely miserable.

"Sir, please accept this food.

We only need this little money to buy books for our children.

If we miss this year, we’ll have to wait another year. The child is already quite old, and we can’t afford to delay.”

Lu Wanyin and Xie Jingci's nerves were tense at the same time.

Book expenses

What book fee

She had already ordered that during the years of free education, all necessary books would be provided by the court.

Why do I have to buy books here?

"Get lost! You're ruining my mood by crying here."

The bailiff kicked him hard and said, "Don't delay the people behind. Come on, kick him out."

Soon, the old farmer was carried out.

He also threw out his worn-out bag of food.

The chaff in the bag was scattered all over the ground.

The old farmer ignored the pain in his body and hurried to pick up the food, carefully storing every grain. Then he walked away with his body hunched over.

Xie Jingci gestured to Lu Wanyin: "Let's go, let's follow them."

"good."

Lu Wanyin glanced coldly at the group of yamen runners: "Beasts."

The old farmer walked very slowly.

Lu Wanyin and the other person followed patiently behind.

They didn't risk a conversation midway.

The people here are very cunning. Who knows if there are spies hiding somewhere.

They didn't go up and knock on the door until the old farmer returned to his yard.

Seeing that it was a strange young man and woman, the old farmer was startled: "Who are you..."

Xie Jingci nodded gently to the old farmer and said, "My wife and I are passing by here. Can we go in and have a bowl of water?"

"Yes, of course."

The old farmer quickly made way and let them in: "My place is shabby, please don't mind."

The old farmer took two bowls with broken corners and poured clean water into them.

Lu Wanyin thanked him and said, "Uncle, I've heard that our academy is well built. The people here are really blessed."

Lu Wanyin is beautiful and has some acting skills. She has a very gentle smile.

Compared to Xie Jingci's almost uncontrollable murderous intent towards the group of yamen runners, she was obviously easier to get close to.

The old farmer relaxed, his facial muscles twitched twice, and he clutched the corner of the table angrily: "There is no such thing as blessing. It's just that I committed sins in my previous life and fell into the hands of these dog officials.

The current emperor and empress punish corrupt officials, but when the previous emperor was alive, there were tens of thousands of corrupt officials in the court, and how could they be completely cleaned up?"

Looking at the despair in his eyes, Lu Wanyin knew.

If he had not been desperate, how could he dare to talk about the court so openly in front of others?

Lu Wanyin's hand holding the bowl moved slightly, and she immediately showed a surprised expression: "How could it be? I saw that when we were transferring the food, we weighed more."

Speaking of food, the old farmer's face was filled with grief and anger: "What do you mean by giving enough pounds? A pound weighs sixteen ounces, but in their hands, there are only twelve ounces.

If even the weights are fake, what else can be real?"

What!

Lu Wanyin's eyes turned cold.

There was a slight clicking sound next to my ear.

Filled with rage, Xie Jingci accidentally crushed the bowl of water.

If it weren't for the internal force controlling it, the water in the bowl would have spilled all over the table.

Lu Wanyin feels that her temper has improved a lot since she had a child.

Now, the murderous intent that has been hidden for a long time has been aroused.

She tried hard to suppress her anger: "How dare they cheat on the weights? If this were to be discovered, they would be beheaded."

The old farmer burst into tears: "Those officials in the county government have long regarded themselves as the local emperors here, and they don't even take the imperial court seriously.

The imperial court did not allow tuition fees, so they did not collect them.

However, he withheld all the books distributed by the court and sold them at high prices.

You can't go to school without books.

They dared to sell books that cost only a few coins elsewhere for two taels of silver."

Lu Wanyin lowered her eyes, looked at the slightly shaking water in the bowl, and said nothing.

She held Xie Jingci's hand tightly, trying hard not to act impulsively.

Even so, when she looked at the old farmer again, she couldn't smile at all: "So, that bookstore on the side of the road..."

"It's all the fault of those dog officials."

The old farmer couldn't hold back his tears. "When the Queen issued this decree, I thought my child finally had a chance to succeed. But I never imagined that even after spending all my money, I couldn't afford the books for school."

Xie Jingci held the bowl that had been broken into several pieces and took two big gulps of tea: "This place is not far from the capital. The county government is so presumptuous, why didn't anyone report it to the capital?"

The old farmer looked sad: "It's still because of those people watching us.

People can move, but the land that we rely on all year round cannot move.

When it’s almost time to harvest the grain, there will be people watching each exit.

Some people were unwilling to give up, so they collected the grain overnight and secretly took it to other places to sell.

It's good that we weren't discovered. If we were discovered by the people in the county government, our life would be gone."

despair.

The old farmer, whose last way out has been blocked, now dares to say anything.

Lu Wanyin couldn't imagine that the country left by the former emperor had become so corrupt.

She and Xie Jingci spent almost a year cleaning it up and still couldn't get it done.

Her gaze paused, and she saw a thumb-sized yellow paper package on a half-broken brick beside the wall.

The white dots scattered outside are very eye-catching.

Lu Wanyin's heart ached, she glanced at Xie Jingci, reached into Xie Jingci's arms, and took out two fragrant cakes.

Xie Jingci:

As soon as Lu Wanyin took out the two cakes, the old farmer's eyes widened and he couldn't help swallowing his saliva.

She pushed the cake forward and said, "My husband and I have been traveling a long way, and the dry food has gotten a little cold. Please, old man, boil some hot water."

The old man was stunned and walked towards the kitchen embarrassedly.

When he came out, the two people in the room had disappeared.

There was a pile of dry food on the table.

He hurriedly pushed the door open to look for him, but he just happened to see his son coming back from picking wild vegetables.

The young man was very skinny, only as tall as the old farmer's waist.

"father"

The old man stretched his neck to look behind him and asked: "Did you see a man and a woman go out?"

"No"

The young man tilted his head and looked inside, his eyes lit up: "Dad, where did you get so much food?"

The old farmer reacted and while the child's attention was drawn to the dry food on the table, he quickly ran to the wall and was stunned again.

The small packet of arsenic he had placed in the corner was gone.

On half a brick, there was a handful of silver coins and a piece of paper the size of a palm.

There were two lines of words written on the paper, but unfortunately, the old farmer was illiterate.

The little boy came closer and said, "Live well and give Dasheng a chance. It won't take long."

After he finished reading, he looked up curiously and asked, "Dad, who wrote this?"