Wang Shuihua thought for a while before slowly saying, "Zhu Shichang's wife is the youngest daughter of the Wan family head in the capital. She is very much loved by the Wan family head, which is why she married Zhu Shichang."
It was because the youngest daughter of the Wan family went on a tour and unexpectedly met Zhu Shichang, becoming pregnant out of wedlock. The head of the Wan family agreed to the marriage in order to avoid his youngest daughter being criticized and insulted, and also because he disliked the shame.
At that time, Zhu Shichang was a minor magistrate in one of the poorest counties in Lincheng Prefecture. After the youngest daughter of the Wan family married him, he was transferred to several counties, all of which were wealthy. After moving around to several counties, he finally settled in Pingjiang County five years ago.
Although Pingjiang County sounds like a small county, it is close to the capital and relatively large. It is not yet governed by a prefect, making it comparable to a remote prefectural city.
After taking charge of Pingjiang County, he quickly promulgated several favorable policies for the people and businesses, instantly winning the love and respect of the people.
For so many years, his public image has been that of a benevolent and loving official who cares for the people.
The people all praise it when they talk about it.
In addition, he had a reputation for being afraid of his wife, so everyone only praised him for loving the people and being affectionate with his wife.
If it weren't for what happened three years ago, I would have thought the same thing.
When I learned that all the able-bodied men in the village had been abducted to the mountains, I went to the government office. However, Zhu Shichang took a fancy to me and forced me to become his concubine, otherwise he would kill the whole village.
I naturally refused, but he took me directly to the village.
I saw many villagers' corpses, and blood flowed like a river. I was afraid that my parents would end up like that, so I had no choice but to agree.
At that time, I thought that the official who was loved by the people must just be a little lecherous. As long as I served him well, my parents would be fine, and he would also take care of those people on the mountain.
I thought that sacrificing myself would be worth it if it could save so many people.
But as we spent more time together, I realized that Zhu Shichang was a complete idiot, utterly clueless about how to be an official, and only thought about how to fool around with his concubines all day long, his mind filled with those filthy things.
He personally admitted that he initially obtained the position of county magistrate by donating all the money his family had accumulated.
Those good policies certainly weren't issued by him.
He must have someone guiding him, but I'm not sure if it's the head of the Wan family.
Jiang Yimian frowned; her intuition told her that he was definitely not the head of the Wan family.
If the head of a powerful family were truly that capable, he wouldn't allow his youngest daughter to marry such an incompetent fool; there would be no need for him to help the poor.
Lin Yan'an quickly added, "The Wan family has been in business for generations. They were famous in the past, but only among merchants. Now they can stand alongside those aristocratic families because one of their daughters is a Noble Lady in the palace, and she is now a Consort."
How could they understand policies that benefit the people? If they truly knew, their families would have had officials before their daughter became an imperial concubine, and they certainly wouldn't have agreed to let their youngest daughter marry Zhu Shichang.
Jiang Yimian thought so too. Although she didn't know the Wan family's situation, if they wanted to stop her youngest daughter's marriage to Zhu Shichang, the Wan family was fully capable of doing so discreetly and without making a scene that would become the talk of the town.
Zhu Shichang was already a county magistrate at the time, so there must have been a reason why the Wan family agreed to the marriage.
Unfortunately, Zhu Shichang was a fool, utterly incompetent. After several years, he could only serve as a minor county magistrate, completely incapable of rising in rank.
After thinking for a moment, she asked, "How old is that concubine from the Wan family in the palace now?"
Lin Yan'an thought for a while before saying, "The current emperor is only twenty-three years old, so that concubine is naturally about the same age."
Hearing this, Jiang Yimian became even more certain, "It has nothing to do with the Wan family. There must be someone else behind the Wan family instigating this."
Zhu Shichang is at least forty years old now, and he was only in his twenties when he got married. At that time, the Wan family certainly did not have any intention of rebelling, otherwise they would not have started making arrangements only after Zhu Shichang was transferred to Pingjiang County.
The person behind it all must have started contacting the Wan family about five years ago, but we don't know who it is.
She knew far too little about what was happening in the imperial court.
After asking a few more questions about Zhu Shichang, Jiang Yimian and Lin Yan'an got up and left, leaving the two siblings to chat privately.
Just as he stepped out of the courtyard gate, Wang Shuihua's voice came from behind him, "Brother, I know, I'm sure I'll die. Don't worry, I knew this day would come."
"As long as you live, I don't care if I die."
Jiang Yimian frowned upon hearing this, feeling a pang of sadness. "That's really unfair. Most of the people in this manor were probably kidnapped. Why should they all die just because Zhu Shichang made a mistake?"
The people of the village had no name or status, and even in death they did not receive a good reputation, yet they had to be buried with the Zhu family.
Lin Yan'an sighed before saying, "Zhu Shichang's crime is treason, which, according to the laws of the Great Jin Dynasty, means the extermination of nine generations of his family."
Those collateral branches will all be implicated, not to mention his concubines. They might have a little chance of survival, but it would be a living hell, such as being sold to the brothel.
Such is the law, and no one can change it.
Jiang Yimian frowned but didn't speak, though she was thinking about how to prevent the people of the manor from being buried alive with the Zhu family.
She thought for a long time but couldn't come up with a good solution. First, she didn't understand the current laws, and second, her current identity was that of a peasant girl who did some business. Her identity was too ordinary to change anything.
With a sigh, she only planned to look in Zhu Shichang's study when she had the chance to see if there were any books about the laws of the Great Jin Dynasty. She needed to study them carefully to see if she could find a way out for Wang Shuihua and the others.
She felt it was unfair to let them be buried with the Zhu family like this.
Thinking about this, she felt energized and, after parting ways with Lin Yan'an, went to the place where Jiang Dazhuang was recuperating.
Jiang Dazhuang's small courtyard, where he was recuperating, was not remote, but it was very quiet. There were also a few servants outside the courtyard, all of whom were originally from the manor.
Because they still had to wait for the Ministry of Justice to decide how to handle the situation, the people in the manor remained the same as before, except that everyone had a look of resignation on their faces, as if they had seen their own death date, and they were all listless.
As soon as Jiang Yimian entered the courtyard, she saw Zhao Xiaonian sitting alone under the eaves, chin in hand, looking completely idle, but she could tell that he was in a pretty good mood.
Jiang Yimian found it amusing, "Why are you sitting on the ground?"
Zhao Xiaonian said casually, "Of course we'll wait for Uncle Jiang to wake up. I asked the doctor, and they said that as long as Uncle Jiang doesn't have a fever today, he'll wake up first thing tomorrow morning."
I plan to stay with Uncle Jiang and tell him in person that the mine is gone and we won't have to mine anymore.
It's a pity Uncle Liu can't see it anymore.
The man who was willing to curry favor with the overseers so that he and Uncle Jiang wouldn't starve to death.
It was also to give them a way out, even though they were killed by the people on the mountain.
If he had stopped Uncle Liu a little more back then and prevented him from taking the risk, Uncle Liu should have been able to come down the mountain with them this time, right?
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