Chapter 265 Everyone Has a Brother-in-Law

Shen Ning was both angry and amused by the wolf cub's choking. At this time, Wu Yue came in from outside: "Miss, Zhao Si and his men seem to be a little strange."

Zhao Si was one of the bandits who blocked the road at the beginning. He was arranged by Chen Ning to be in the Wulan tribe and was specifically responsible for transporting volcanic ash to Beihai Prefecture.

Zhao Si and his team have been doing a great job for several months, even more diligently than Shen Ning expected, and the accounts are clear... You know, for a group of people, most of whom can't even read a few words, being able to keep the accounts so clear is enough to show that they really put in a lot of effort.

"What happened to them?"

If it is not necessary, Shen Ning does not want to hurt anyone, but if those people are treacherous, then don't blame her for being cruel.

May's expression was hard to describe: "Their number...is increasing."

Shen Ning didn't react: "What do you mean?"

Wu Yue spread her hands. "We left about a hundred people with the Wulan tribe back then, but they've been coming back over and over again to transport the volcanic ash over the past few months, and each time they've been coming in larger and larger numbers. When they arrived today, I went to count their belongings and discovered they actually had almost five hundred people."

Wu Yue frowned and said, "Half came and half stayed. So, Zhao Si and his group should have around a thousand people now."

Shen Ning was also stunned.

She walked straight out, got on the carriage and headed straight for the limestone workshop... When she arrived at the limestone workshop, she saw the huge crowd of people in the huge yard, and the corners of her mouth twitched slightly.

Wu Yue stepped forward: "Zhao Si."

The man quickly ran over, crouching, and saluted Chen Ning with great courtesy: "Master, oh master, we finally see you, hahahaha, hahahahaha..."

Zhao Si laughed dryly.

Wu Yue snorted and scolded, "Is it your turn to call me master? You don't know the rules!"

The title of master is usually used by close subordinates and servants. Zhao Si certainly knew this, and he did it on purpose.

Being scolded by Wu Yue, Zhao Si stiffened his neck and said, "We swear to obey the princess until death. In life, we are her loyal dogs, and in death, we are her dead dogs. Why can't I call you master?"

Wu Yue kicked her foot: "Stop kidding, and tell the truth. What's wrong with those people of yours?"

Zhao Si shrank back, swallowed hard, and then laughed dryly: "Well... well, my brothers-in-law from my hometown heard that we've found a way to make a living here, and since they can't survive in their hometown, they came to join me."

Wu Yue sneered: "Are those your brothers-in-law?"

Zhao Si said angrily, "Of course not. Huang Dun'er, He A'man, and Liu Gouzi are my brother-in-law."

May asked, "What else?"

Zhao Si stood up, turned around, stretched out his hand, and began to talk nonstop: "That's our Xu Dafa's cousin, and his brother-in-law, his brother-in-law's second uncle, and his brother-in-law's nephew next door..."

"That's our Li Laomao's nephew, his nephew's brother-in-law, his brother-in-law's third uncle's family, and the family next door to his third uncle's family, and the cousin next door..."

"Look at that eighty-foot-tall burly man. He's so strong. He's Zhong Saner's brother-in-law. Haha, everyone has a brother-in-law. Haha, brothers-in-law also have relatives..."

May couldn't stand it any longer: "Shut up!"

Zhao Si immediately shut his mouth in dismay and looked at Chen Ning cautiously.

Shen Ning looked at the group of people with no expression.

The dry laugh that Zhao Si had forced out slowly froze, and the next moment, he knelt down on the ground and kowtowed to Chen Ning several times.

"My Lady, I know I'm nothing. I'm incredibly lucky to have your kindness and ask for a meal... But I, Zhao Si, am full, while my relatives and friends back home are starving and are about to struggle to make it through the winter.

They traveled thousands of miles, and half of them died before they finally came to Liaodong to seek refuge with me. Zhao Si really couldn't bear to see them with nowhere to go."

The usually cheerful and carefree man's eyes were red: "There are too many corrupt officials in the court who oppress the people. Now there is also a cult causing chaos and wreaking havoc on the countryside. The harvest is poor... The common people really have no way to survive.

They just want to survive. Zhao Si, I guarantee with my head that they are all obedient people and absolutely no evildoers. I beg Your Majesty to show mercy and give them food. They are always more loyal to you than the barbarians on the grasslands."

As soon as Zhao Si knelt, the people behind him also knelt on the ground, and no one dared to speak.

Chen Ning glanced at the faces of most of the people who looked pale and thin. After a moment of silence, he asked, "The silver I left for you is based on 100 people. How do you support them?"

Zhao Si kowtowed and said loudly, "I dare not deceive the princess. The princess is kind and righteous. You pay us a lot of wages. We don't save money. All the money you give us is exchanged for food... You support so many brothers and relatives. You are our second parents."

Chen Ning finally understood at this time why Zhao Si and the others took the money but did not buy winter clothes, and were still wearing the same tattered and thin clothes they wore in autumn.

Among those kneeling behind Zhao Si, Shen Ning even saw a child in his early teens, timid, with a big head and thin legs.

She had long known that the court was in bad condition.

Emperor Jiaping was not very focused on state affairs. Compared with government affairs, he preferred writing and painting portraits like a romantic scholar. He left state affairs almost entirely to Xu Ge Lao.

It goes without saying how terrible the consequences of a single family dominating the market are. She had only vaguely heard of branches of the Xu family in various states enclosing land and cultivating farmland.

Plus, there's the Queen whispering in his ear from time to time... If it weren't for the fact that Daxuan has been militarily strong in recent years and Xiao Nanchen has been the mainstay, the entire country would have been in chaos due to internal and external troubles.

She had long known that, except for a few wealthy places like the capital, many other places were plagued by natural disasters and man-made disasters, and the people were living in dire straits... But when she really saw it, she was still filled with helplessness.

"Take them back to the Wulan tribe first. I'll have someone give you some extra silver so you can put on your winter clothes first..."

Before Shen Ning finished speaking, someone suddenly ran in from outside: "Princess, Princess, something bad has happened, someone has died in the coal mine!"

Shen Ning was suddenly startled and almost thought that a mining accident had occurred: "What happened?"

"Yes, the one in charge beat someone to death."

Beat someone to death?

When Shen Ning heard this, her expression changed immediately. She turned around and hurried out. She got on the carriage and headed straight for the coal mine.

She has no time to rest every day... This is what is meant by a life of hard work!

On the way, Shen Ning figured out the whole story.

A teenager named Sun Xiaotong was beaten to death at the coal mine because he accused a manager of the coal yard of abusing his position to molest a female kitchen helper. The manager then accused Sun Xiaotong of stealing coal mine tools and started to attack him...Sun Xiaotong was beaten to death.

Hearing Sun Xiaotong's name, Shen Ning suddenly remembered that this was the son of the sick old man a few days ago.

The young man brought the old man to the hospital for treatment... When Shen Ning learned that he was also in the coal mine, he asked him if he could stand the work in the coal mine.

The young man nodded emphatically, "I can handle it, I can handle it. The coal mine has been reinforced. People in our alley say that now we don't have to worry about death and hope for mercy every day when we go down the mine. Besides, there's wind... It's not so stuffy inside anymore and I can't breathe. My father said this is all thanks to the princess, and he let me kowtow to you when I see her."

After saying that, the young man knelt down and kowtowed to her without caring about anything else, then stood up and smiled foolishly with embarrassment.

The old man next to him kept apologizing and scolding his son for not knowing the rules, saying that he was about to get engaged but was still being so reckless.

The girl that Sun Xiaotong was going to marry was working as a kitchen helper at the mine.

The carriage of the Princess Mansion naturally had no obstruction in Beihai Mansion. Soon, Chen Ning's carriage stopped at the foot of the mine outside the city.

In fact, with her current status, she doesn't need to personally care about the deaths of a few people in the mine... But on the day the coal mine resumed production and operation, she said that the coal mine was hers, and from now on, she would be responsible for the lives of everyone in the mine.

It wasn't long before someone died, and it was a simple and honest young man who had met her once who was beaten to death.

How could she not ask?

If I don't ask this time, I'm afraid it won't just be this time...

When Shen Ning arrived at the coal mine, he went directly into the yard under the mine. This yard was specially built for the management of the coal mine.

In the yard, a group of people were gathered together. In the middle of the yard, a corpse covered with straw mats was lying on the ground. A young girl was crying next to it. Sun Xiaotong's father, whom Shen Ning had seen before, was squatting there, staring at his son's corpse with red eyes.

"The princess is here, the princess is here!"

Shen Ning stepped into the yard, and those people hurried forward to greet her upon hearing her voice... Shen Ning walked straight over: "What's going on?"

Someone hurriedly brought a stool over, and she threw off her cloak and sat down. A man in steward's clothes quickly came over and knelt down in front of her.

"My Lord, I'm Huang Youqing, the mine manager in charge of tools. Sun Xiaotong stole mine tools, so I whipped him according to the rules. He tried to hit me back, so I tried to push him away. He fell and hit his head, and he died."

Huang Youqing was clearly timid when facing Shen Ning, the Princess of Yong'an, but he was very resolute when accusing Sun Xiaotong of theft. He raised his finger and pointed at Sun Xiaotong's body, saying with an expression of anger and grievance: "It was an accident... I was just following the rules."

It was as if he had suffered a great injustice at the hands of the dead Sun Xiaotong.

The thin, dark girl who was sobbing turned around and cried shrilly, "You lied, you lied! You wanted to molest me, but Xiaotong stopped you. Xiaotong said he would ask the princess for help, so you falsely accused him of theft and tried to take it away. When he struggled, you deliberately pushed him against a rock. You killed him!"

The dark and thin girl cried out loudly: "You are the murderer, it's you!"

Huang Youqing opened his eyes wide: "What a huge injustice, Princess."

After saying that, he kowtowed to Chen Ning: "My princess, you are very discerning. He Guang and the others beside me can all testify for me. My princess, I am really wronged..."

Shen Ning glanced at the stewards and miners around him, and then asked: "Who can testify for you? Ask him to come out and speak."

Huang Youqing immediately turned around and pointed at the manager: "He Guang, Liu Pi, tell me, did you also see Sun Xiaotong stealing and trying to hit me, which is why he accidentally fell and died?"

The people who were pointed out hesitated for a moment, and then the one named He Guang spoke first: "Yes, we saw it too."

The people nearby immediately followed suit, saying, "Yes, that Sun Xiaotong was a dirty man and wanted to hit someone. Steward Huang tried to break free and waved his hand, and he fell and killed himself."

"Alas, it's just bad luck. But who told him to be greedy and steal things? The princess is kind and righteous, and she paid him generous wages, but he still didn't know how to be satisfied. He deserves it."

“Who says it’s not…”