Zuo Li was so angry that his brows furrowed and his scars on his face looked even more menacing, which made Wang Yuanshan's mouth twitch in fear.
After saying this, Zuo Li led seven or eight constables to follow Wang Yuanshan to the shop. Yan Xia accompanied them because she was worried that Yuanshan would be scared.
"Zhang's Grain Shop?"
After walking only a few steps, Zuo Li stopped when he heard Wang Yuanshan mention the name of the shop. He narrowed his eyes, his voice tinged with doubt.
"What's wrong?"
Yan Xia noticed that he had stopped and asked him a question.
“Aunt Yan, I’m only telling you this because we’re acquaintances. The county magistrate is planning to thoroughly investigate them. I heard they only buy grain in the northernmost part of Jiangnan Province. They drive down prices too hard, and if they can’t buy by force, they’ll beat people up and force sellers to submit. Even if it goes to the local government there, it will be dropped because the shops belong to Jiashu County. They probably bribed the officials there, which is why they’ve been so rampant.”
"....."
Zuo Li saw Yan Xia listening intently.
I couldn't help but say a few more words.
“Aunt Yan, you must understand, not all officials are benevolent fathers to the people. The large-scale robberies and murders in Shuangqiao Town are rare, precisely because our county magistrate is so capable. Just the other day, a woman banged on the grievance drum outside the government office, saying she had a grievance to appeal. That's the grievance drum! I've never seen it sound since I entered the county government…”
"Tsk tsk—"
Yan Xia clicked her tongue. She had heard about this matter. The grievance drum was placed outside the government office. It was two meters high, with two drumsticks on each side.
If there is a great injustice, one can raise the drumstick and strike the drum.
Upon hearing the drumbeat, the county magistrate must immediately convene the court session.
She was making cakes in the backyard of the pastry shop when the drums sounded that day.
The government office wasn't far away, and the drumbeats were loud and penetrating. She thought someone had hired a lion dance troupe for a wedding.
When the shop opened in the afternoon, she went to help out at the front and a customer told her that it was the grievance drum that was being played.
She didn't know anything else.
Yan Xia snapped out of her daze, and Zuo Li continued speaking.
"Whenever the grievance drum is sounded, regardless of gender, one must first be flogged before court can proceed. Men receive forty strokes of the cane, and women receive thirty. The woman was already weak, and after being flogged, she almost lost her life. Yet, she managed to crawl into the county government office. The county magistrate took pity on her and sent me and Zuo San to fetch a doctor to stop her bleeding."
"It turns out that when her husband went to sell grain, he refused to sell because the shopkeeper, Zhang, was trying to drive down the price too much. So he planned to take the grain to find other buyers. When he passed through the alley, he was beaten to the point of vomiting blood by Zhang and his men, and a whole cart of grain was stolen."
"He immediately reported it to the authorities, but the officials were perfunctory and refused to do anything, driving him away. It is estimated that he was seriously injured internally, and he died of vomiting blood before he even returned to the village."
"The body was not discovered by the villagers until the next day."
"This woman's only son was already seriously ill and was waiting for the money from selling grain to save his life. Now, her husband is dead, the grain that should have been sold for money has been stolen, and her son, unable to afford medicine, has also passed away. The woman is devastated. Coincidentally, a fellow villager saw her husband being beaten. She was a young woman who had only been married into the family for a few days. When she saw the corpse's face and the familiar clothes, she realized that the person she saw being beaten was from her village, so she told the woman what had happened."
"To buy grain there, you either have to go to a shop or ask the individual grain buyers at the market entrance. The price offered by the individual buyers is slightly higher than that of the shops. According to the young woman's description, she found Zhang's shopkeeper. Fearing that she would also be beaten, she first went to complain to the local official. However, she was beaten and the magistrate did nothing. She was dissatisfied and inquired everywhere about where Zhang's shopkeeper was from and what his name was."
Zuo Li continued speaking through gritted teeth.
"Unfortunately, this man is cunning, and no one knows where he went. The woman is also very capable. She followed the tracks of Manager Zhang's carriage all the way to Shuangqiao Town. It rained and snowed along the way, and the tracks were washed away. She stayed put in the same spot. On snowy days, she slept in the snow. When she ran out of dry food, she ate grass. When there was no grass, she went hungry. When she was really hungry, she drank stream water, snow water, or even rainwater, all in order to wait for Manager Zhang to come back to collect grain."
"Manager Zhang has made countless trips, spending a full seven months, before she finally found her way to our town. The guards at the city gate saw her looking like a beggar and wouldn't let her in."
"This woman was clever. She took the little money she had left and went to the villagers to buy a clean set of old clothes. Although the weather was getting warmer, it was only the end of April. She washed herself in the cold water by the river, changed her clothes, and was able to enter the city. She then searched every grain shop in the city. When she found Zhang's shop, she saw the shopkeeper leaning against the door eating melon seeds. She immediately went to the county government office and beat the drum..."
“............”
This was the first time Yan Xia had ever seen Zuo Li talk so intimately.
They talked for a full half hour.
It seems he's furious.
She felt uncomfortable listening to this; this family was so pitiful.
Seven months.
The carriage only took eight or nine days to make the round trip, and this woman chased after the carriage on foot.
She gave up running only after losing track of the horse and carriage and finding no more tracks. She then huddled by the roadside at the crossroads, in ditches, behind trees, and in the grass, living like a wild man.
In seven months, Manager Zhang's carriage made at least seven or eight round trips.
Yan Xia couldn't even imagine how that woman had managed to persevere.
The snow was so heavy during the Lunar New Year.
Let alone outside, even indoors without a stove, your feet will freeze numb.
"Oh... Aunt Yan, don't laugh at me, but when I heard her story, tears welled up in my eyes. This woman was so thin she was unrecognizable. Cases involving appeals and beating the drum for redress must be made public. The magistrate took pity on her and couldn't bear to see the people beating her and lying on the ground. He even went against the law and ordered us to close the county government gates and not open them to the public. Otherwise, a lot of people would be crying outside the county government. The magistrate plans to hear the woman's grievances first, and then hold a public hearing during the second trial."
"But she fainted after she finished complaining. The adults could only wait for her to wake up before arresting Zhang Ji's shopkeeper. It was a good opportunity for me to check if they had done anything else and take care of it all at once. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything. Aunt Yan, even if you hadn't come to me today, I should have gone to Zhang Ji's grain shop. This woman woke up this morning."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go quickly, before he gets wind of it and runs away."
Yan Xia urged.
"Hey, wait a minute."
Yan Xia suddenly called out to Zuo Li. A thought flashed through her mind: since Zhang Ji was so arrogant, he must have some tricks up his sleeve. What if Zuo Li rashly arrested him and he denied what he had done?
The woman's testimony alone was not convincing enough, but the county magistrate couldn't very well go to the woman's town to investigate, given the geographical limitations. In the end, the matter could only be downplayed.
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