"Get lost!" Tong Youlin kicked away the leech that had suddenly stuck to him from behind. He picked at his ears, but still felt dizzy, surrounded by a deathly silence and a buzzing sound.
The sudden change made him feel like he had gone deaf.
However, Huang Qiang soon started rambling on and on in his ear, and he was relieved to find that he was still not deaf.
So, in high spirits, Tong Youlin kicked the man out, saying, "It's all over now, everyone go home!"
After saying that, he turned to his wife and said, "Wife, quickly go and get a clean cloth and wet it for me."
Tiger's mother said with no mercy, "Can't you even find a wet cloth in our house?"
As he spoke, he turned around and went into the inner room. A moment later, he came out with a brand-new, damp handkerchief in his hand and stuffed it into Tong Youlin's hand.
Tong Youlin chuckled and quickly went inside.
Huo Chengche received the wet handkerchief and glanced at Tong Youlin with a playful expression.
He and his little baby could hear everything that had just happened from inside the house, separated by only a wall.
The people here are all honest and simple, quite different from the "unruly and unruly people" described by the magistrate of Linghe County in the case file.
Huo Chengche's brows furrowed with a commanding presence, his thin lips pressed tightly together, and his narrow eyes slightly narrowed.
"If you have any difficulties, please tell me," the young man said calmly, nodding to Tong Youlin.
Tong Youlin was already certain that Huo Chengche was a deity who had come to save people from suffering, so upon hearing this, he hurriedly explained the matter.
"This story begins after our current county magistrate took office. After he took office, the village suddenly became much more regulated. Today there's a fine for this, tomorrow there's a grain tax to pay, and there are always various taxes to collect."
Upon hearing this, Huo Chengche frowned. "The taxes levied by the imperial court have always been fixed. Now that we are in a time of peace and prosperity, and there is no war, why would taxes suddenly be increased?"
“Yes!” Tong Youlin nodded in agreement. “So, gradually, we realized that we had encountered a county magistrate who oppressed the people. But none of our villages had any scholars, so we had no recourse in this situation and could only grit our teeth and endure it.”
"You tolerated it?" Then why did the whole village rebel and become bandits in the mountains?
Tong Youlin sighed and nodded, "Yes, we had to bear it. After all, our counties are all located near mountains. Although we can't be called rich, we're not so poor that we can't survive and the whole village becomes a bandit."
"But you don't know, my god, that since a few years ago, children in our villages have been dying mysteriously when they are four or five years old."
"They're all gone?!" Huo Chengche's brows furrowed as he thought about the dossier he had seen. He hadn't expected the actual situation to be so much more serious than what was described in the dossier.
"Yes, that's it. We reported it missing to the county and asked the constables to come, but they didn't find anything. At first, we thought the village had been haunted, so we hired a Taoist priest to perform a ritual and even built an altar on the shady side of the mountain."
"Until one day, the last children in the village were three or four years old. Everyone kept a close watch on them day and night. The able-bodied men in the village took turns guarding them. As soon as the child thief came, we immediately pinned him down. Sure enough, it was a man who was up to no good! After we caught him, we took him to the county government."
Seeing the resentment on Tong Youlin's face as he spoke, Huo Chengche frowned and asked, "Isn't the county government going to do anything about it?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
