Ah Cheng whispered back, "Sir, there's absolutely no problem."

The scholar nodded.

He secretly resented those twenty-odd villagers; they were really causing trouble. He had told them to act together in a few days, but they insisted on doing it on their own.

This is bad; we've alerted them. This check of household registration and travel permits must be related to this.

But they couldn't get out for the time being, nor could they leave.

They had fake household registrations and travel permits; hopefully, they could get away with it.

Surely the officials and soldiers here can't arrest all the people from Xunwang Township?

Besides, not all the people from Xunwangxiang participated in this incident; only half of them did.

Besides, their household registration isn't even in Xunwang Township. What's there to be afraid of?

Besides, they made some simple modifications, so people who weren't very familiar with them would never recognize them.

This scholar was none other than Lin Tai, the head of Xunwang Township.

Ah Cheng was his advisor, who had excellent handwriting, and the fake seal he used came from this advisor.

Don't let his unattractive appearance fool you; this advisor is quite capable.

Ah Fei is his nephew, who is a bit simple-minded but has good martial arts skills.

The remaining two were his servants.

Speaking of servants, Lin Tai sneered, "Chen Xi, you want to eliminate the buying and selling of people and not allow slaves or servants? That is because Wang Datong has killed almost all the noble families in Bian Ai County. Otherwise, could you have succeeded?"

Taking advantage of the turmoil in Bian'ai County, he contacted Li Cunzhi, a military officer who had occupied Ju County, whom he had known for a long time. He told Li Cunzhi that if he occupied Bian'ai County, he would become the county magistrate, and Li Cunzhi could station troops there.

Who knew that Shenxi would get there first, and Li Cunzhi was being watched by Xie Ning at the time, so he couldn't send out too many troops.

His original intention was to cause trouble for the villagers of Xunwang Township, incite them to create unrest in the county town, and then coordinate with Li Cunzhi from the inside.

Who knew that Qian Zhen would just walk right in.

Qian Zhen said he had a group of horses, but many of them were old, weak, sick, or disabled, making it difficult to sell them. He asked Lin Tai, whom he had known for a long time, if he could help.

Lin Tai immediately gave the horses to the villagers to raise, and said to Qian Zhen, "If the villagers can't raise them well, then make them pay compensation. Don't worry, I'll squeeze you dry."

Qian Zhen was nothing but a cunning businessman. Seeing that there was profit to be made, and with Lin Tai as a guarantor and all the contracts in place, what was there to be afraid of?

But little did he know, he was also part of Lin Tai's scheme.

This further fueled the anger of the people.

Qian Zhen, however, noticed something amiss early on. His men discovered that there were more than twenty people in Xunwang Township who had filed a complaint, which is why they had someone threaten these people.

After that, he went to Lin Tai and asked him to settle the matter.

Lin Tai immediately ordered him to be killed; such a person was useless once he was done with him.

Lin Tai followed Old Man Zou to Director Song's place.

Director Song looked at the group of people, then checked their household registration and travel permits. There were no problems. He then asked them a few more questions, mainly about what they were doing in the county town.

Lin Taize politely replied, "I came to the county town mainly to take the exam for official positions. The leader issued a document saying that capable people can come to the county town to take the exam for official positions."

Director Song saw that his answer was very fluent and that his words and actions were those of a scholar, so he let it go.

Then he pointed to the people behind him and asked, "What are these people doing?"

“His name is Wang Xun, and he’s my nephew.” Lin Tai pointed at A Fei: “He knows some martial arts and is thinking about whether there’s a martial arts examination. He could take the exam and become a minor official.”

Director Song nodded when he saw that A Fei was tall and muscular, and looked like someone who practiced martial arts.

Lin Tai then pointed to the clerk, A-Cheng: "His name is Wang Ji, and he's in charge of my family's small shop."

Director Song looked at Acheng and nodded: "Hmm, judging from the marks on his fingers, he's someone who writes frequently."

Lin Tai had to admire Director Song; he was indeed a keen observer.

Then he pointed to two other servants: "They used to be servants of my family. Later, the chief forbade the buying and selling of people, and the servants automatically became free. But the two of them had nowhere to go, so they continued to work for my family, and my family hired them."

The two servants were dressed in rough clothes and had rather large hands; they were indeed men who did manual labor.

Seeing that Lin Tai's answers were all correct, and that the appearance and age of these people matched those on their household registration and travel permits, he waved his hand and said, "You're staying at Old Man Zou's house. Behave yourselves. If the officers find you, just explain. I have a record here, so I won't make things difficult for you."

"yes."

Lin Tai performed a scholar's salute and then returned to the Zou family home with Old Man Zou.

Ah Cheng, whose real name is Lin Cheng, is a relative of Lin Tai. He used the alias Wang Ji and took out five taels of silver, giving it to Old Man Zou: "Thank you for your trouble. My young master knows that although it was a simple registration, it must have cost you a lot. Please accept this. Perhaps we will stay for a few more days."

Old Zou was reluctant to accept the money, but Li Cuihua smiled and took it: "Alright, stay as long as you want, and tell me what you want to eat, and I'll cook it for you."

In total, she received ten taels of silver. After deducting the amount given to Director Song, she still had seven taels of silver left.

Seven taels of silver! Her family wouldn't have seven taels of silver left over for many years.

She had only seen silver twice in her life.

They usually only saw copper coins; they had never managed to save any silver at home.

The silver was given to her twice. The first time was when she got married, her family made a silver hairpin for her. At that time, her family was doing well. They only had one daughter, and they spent most of their savings to make a silver hairpin for her. Later, due to the famine, the silver was spent.

Another time, when she gave birth to her eldest son, her family gave her half a tael of silver.

This seven taels of silver was the most silver she had ever seen in her life.

Old Zou was a little worried. After they came out, he said to Li Cuihua, "Cuihua, even if they stayed in an inn or a hotel, they might not be able to spend this much."

“Our home is so simple, how could they be willing to spend so much money? Could there really be something wrong with it?”

Li Cuihua said with a smile, "How could there be a problem? Didn't the director say that these people are fine? It must be because I treated them so well and because of my beauty that they were willing to spend money."

Old Zou got goosebumps all over his body.

Beauty?

How old are you?

Old Zou then noticed that Li Cuihua was wearing a pink dress and angrily scolded, "You disrespectful old woman, go and change your clothes. How old are you? You're almost fifty, and you're still dressed up like that."

Li Cuihua immediately objected.

“How am I being disrespectful to my elders? I’m only forty-five, not fifty. The commander said that women can hold up half the sky. You men can dress so well, but we women can’t dress well too.”

Old Zou was even angrier: "Is that how you interpret the leader's words? People say that women can hold up half the sky, which means that women are just as capable as men, able to support their families and make achievements. It's not about comparing clothes with men."