He squinted at Jiang Ling, and then looked at the tidy courtyard and suddenly realized that apart from her younger brother Jiang Zhishan, there seemed to be no male head of the household around Jiang Ling, and that everyone in Lujia Village had the surname Lu.

Thinking of this, Lord Zhao suddenly revealed a cunning smile. He cleared his throat and said, "Madam Jiang, I haven't seen your husband for so long. Has he gone to work in the fields?"

As soon as she finished speaking, everyone's eyes fell on Jiang Ling, and Zhao Qianyu even showed a gloating expression.

"Lord Zhao, isn't it inappropriate for you to pry into the privacy of a common woman?" Before Jiang Ling could speak, Magistrate Duan immediately intervened.

"Magistrate Duan, you're going too far with your words. What do you mean by privacy? Isn't marriage and having children normal? Does this Jiang woman have given birth to so many children all by herself?" Lord Zhao mocked.

"You...you are not allowed to insult my mother!" Jiang Yaojie ran up to Jiang Ling and glared at her.

"Yaojie, go back!" Jiang Ling gently patted Jiang Yaojie's shoulder, signaling him not to get angry.

Jiang Ling walked up to Lord Zhao, bowed to him, and casually asked, "Sir, have you ever beaten your wife?"

"This..." Lord Zhao did not expect Jiang Ling to ask this question. He opened his mouth for a long time but could not say anything.

Jiang Ling smiled and looked at Lord Zhao, continuing, "Since Lord Zhao cannot answer my question, it is enough to prove that Lord Zhao is a good husband who loves his wife."

"Unfortunately, I am not as fortunate as Madam Zhao. My former husband disliked me for not being able to bear a son and always abused me. If I had not divorced him, I'm afraid Lord Zhao wouldn't be seeing me today. Yes, I am indeed raising four children alone!"

“Lord Zhao, you must be even more curious. I said I can’t have a son, but why do I have two sons, one big and one small, by my side?” Jiang Ling raised her eyebrows as she looked at Lord Zhao.

Lord Zhao was even more speechless, and his face turned particularly bad. He glared at Jiang Ling as if he wanted to devour her alive. In this life, he hated it most when others could read his mind, and Jiang Ling in front of him was exactly the kind of person he hated the most.

The village chief standing nearby was so frightened he almost fainted, but Jiang Ling remained calm and composed. She answered with a serene and unyielding expression, "Both of my sons were adopted by others, but I don't care whether they were adopted or not. Since they call me 'Mother,' I must shoulder the responsibility of being a mother!"

"Sir, that's why I don't think divorce is shameful, especially since I'm raising these four children very well now!"

Jiang Ling's answer left both Magistrate Duan and Lord Zhao speechless, their mouths agape.

Jiang Ling calmly added, "Lord Zhao, is there any other question?"

"No...nothing!" Lord Zhao tried to cover up his embarrassment by taking a sip of water. Zhao Qianyu, who was standing to the side, was even more surprised. His father was usually eloquent, so why was he now unable to speak fluently?

He was about to open his mouth slightly when his father glared at him with a sharp look, which stopped him from speaking.

"What's all this commotion about?" a dignified voice called out from outside the door.

Before Jiang Ling could even see who they were, Magistrate Duan and Lord Zhao hurriedly lifted their robes and knelt on the ground.

Seeing this, Jiang Ling grabbed the four children and followed closely behind. When the village chief saw this, he immediately knelt down on the ground.

"Your Excellency, what brings you here?" Magistrate Duan's words nearly made the village chief faint.

The prefect? ​​For these farmers, he was someone who was even more unattainable and out of reach. Now, two county magistrates and a prefect had all appeared in Lujia Village.

The village chief patted his chest, trying to calm his wildly beating heart.

"Get up, all of you!" the prefect said, looking at the crowd kneeling on the ground.

The crowd nodded and stood up sparsely.

"Kang'an, Tianqi, you two come here!" the prefect said, waving his hand at them.

Upon hearing this, the two men walked up to the prefect, first bowing to him and then standing somewhat awkwardly beside him.

"Sir, what brings you here?" Magistrate Zhao asked solicitously.

"Me? Why do I need to report to you why I'm here?" Clearly, Magistrate Zhao's flattery had backfired, and the Prefect glared at him fiercely.

Upon hearing this, Magistrate Zhao immediately shrank his neck and lowered his head, remaining silent. The Prefect's gaze fell on Magistrate Duan, and his previously indifferent expression instantly transformed into one of joy. He looked at Magistrate Duan and said, "Kang'an, I heard you resolved the drought situation in your subordinate villages and towns?"

"Yes, Your Excellency, but it wasn't just me who did it!" After saying that, Magistrate Duan pointed to Jiang Yaojie beside him and continued, "This man is named Jiang Yaojie. He was the first to solve the drought problem in Lujia Village, and he also provided the solution to the surrounding villages free of charge. Without his method, the villages and towns under his jurisdiction would probably have had a complete crop failure again this year!" Magistrate Duan was not a person who liked to boast, so he quickly pulled Jiang Yaojie out and said.

"Oh? This really is a remarkable young man? Come here, kid!" The prefect squinted at Jiang Yaojie after hearing this.

Jiang Yaojie trembled under the prefect's gaze. He immediately looked to Jiang Ling for help, but Jiang Ling smiled and nodded at him.

Jiang Yaojie, his legs a little weak, walked up to the prefect, kowtowed respectfully, and then stood up.

"You're Jiang Yaojie? You're the one who discovered this water source?" The prefect's tone sounded calm, but his official position gave off a strong sense of pressure.

Jiang Yaojie dared not say more and could only nod slightly. The prefect praised Jiang Yaojie and, seeing that Jiang Yaojie was wearing clothes full of patches, quickly took out a silver ingot from his money bag and put it in Jiang Yaojie's pocket, indicating that Jiang Yaojie should go and buy two nice sets of clothes.

"And who came up with the method to control the locusts?" the prefect continued to inquire.

Magistrate Duan pointed to Jiang Ling and replied, "She is Jiang Yaojie's mother, Jiang Shi!"

"Oh? Jiang?" The prefect's gaze suddenly fell on Jiang Ling. He never expected that the person who proposed this method was a village woman.

He carefully examined Jiang Ling, who was dressed in patched coarse linen clothes. He couldn't believe that this village woman with dark skin could come up with such a solution.

But the prefect never judged a book by its cover. He squinted at Jiang Ling and asked, "Jiang, how could a village woman like you, who can't even read a single word, know about this method of exterminating insects?"

"Reporting to Your Excellency, this is all thanks to my late grandmother. She was a female doctor who had a deep understanding of herbs from a young age. She even wrote a prescription for controlling locusts. In fact, the credit for controlling the locusts also goes to all the villagers of Lujia Village, as well as Li Shanren and Magistrate Duan of Changning Town. Without their cooperation, even if I had three heads and six arms, I would not have been able to control this locust plague!"

Jiang Ling's words stunned almost everyone present. No one expected that Jiang Ling would not take credit for herself, but instead included everyone in Lujia Village.

The prefect smiled with satisfaction upon hearing Jiang Ling's answer. He glared at Magistrate Zhao beside him and scolded, "Zhao Tianqi, listen to her! And look at yourself! You're both my colleagues who came here with me, how can there be such a big difference!"