Qiao Lian'er, wondering what kind of show this was going to be, threw the chicken leg bone into the trash can and said, "Let's go."
"Lian'er, have another roasted pork rib. Look how thin you've become. You need to eat more to recover." Grandma Qiao felt that wasn't enough, so she handed over a pork chop, sizzling with oil and sprinkled with cumin and scallions.
"Grandma, I'm full. How can I have a meal with you all later?"
Qiao Lian'er quickly fled the kitchen.
Grandma Qiao was left in the kitchen, holding a large pork rib and muttering to herself, "Our Lian'er now has another state to manage. I don't know how hard she has to work. You all leave the best for her at the dinner table."
“Mother, if we don’t give the best to Lian’er, who will we give it to?” Madam Feng said with a smile.
At the gate of the Ouyang family's residence, a group of ragged, dark-skinned people appeared. Some were missing an arm, some were lame, and others were coughing helplessly in the cold wind. They carried chipped axes, blunt knives, and crude hoes, and gathered there.
At first glance, the entire section of the street in front of the door was occupied by them.
This situation immediately attracted a large audience.
In the nearby teahouses and taverns, all the customers turned their heads to look out the window.
“Master Ouyang, our family paid you money, thinking you would let us go home. We never expected you to send us to a place with even harsher working conditions, a place where we can never leave, and you want us to be worked to death there.”
“We only get two spoiled buns a day, and we watch people die every day. We never know when such misfortune will befall us. Now that someone has finally rescued us, we’ve come to demand justice from you.”
"You held a high position and enjoyed great wealth. You should have protected the people, but you treated human life like dirt. How many innocent souls died at your hands? Your crimes are heinous. You will go to hell after you die."
People started discussing it after hearing that.
"This is the system stipulated by the imperial court, which allows those who pay money to be exempt from Yao corvée labor. How come these people, after paying the money, cannot go home and have to do even harder work?"
"Oh dear, once you're arrested and sent to manage the canal or open up mountain roads, very few of them will ever be able to go home. Paying money won't help; they'll squeeze every last bit of your labor value out of you."
"People are dying every day, it sounds terrifying."
"That's just how the world is. The Ouyang family looks so glamorous and prestigious, yet their hands are stained with blood, and their crimes are too numerous to count."
The guards from the Ouyang family came out to drive people away, which sparked a conflict, and the two sides ended up fighting.
These laborers risked their lives, defying all odds, and resisted with all their might, resulting in a stalemate.
Ouyang Yi came out with a sullen face.
He raised his hand, and the guards stopped. The laborers became even more excited when they saw that someone in charge had finally come out.
"Give us justice, and our dead brothers, uncles, and paternal uncles. They died with their eyes wide open, watching you from the underworld."
“This matter will not end easily; you will pay the price for your sins.”
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