Chapter 48 Jinjiang First Release Chapter 48 No, how did this happen...
Yu Qinglong couldn't help but think of Wu Wei and Yang Feng. They had come in a carriage. Although they weren't lavishly adorned, they were wearing fine fabrics and a wide variety of silver jewelry.
They look decent, but the words and actions they say are truly disgusting. The most infuriating thing is that people like them can live well, while those who strive to learn and be good have such a hard time.
Ma Qinfu said, "We haven't eaten anything tonight. We still have some rice at home. How about I make some porridge for us?"
Fang Shu didn't mind. He used to come here from time to time and always ate the same way. But he felt that his husband was being unfairly treated unfairly, so he asked Yu Qinglong, "Brother Long, do you want something else? I'll go get it."
Yu Qinglong said, "No need. Just eat whatever you have. Thank you for following me."
Ma Qin went to wash rice and make fire.
Yu Qinglong and Fang Shu simply brought two wooden stools and sat in the courtyard with Ma Qinsui. There was a stove in the house, but in this season, they couldn't light a fire every night; otherwise, it would be too hot to sleep. Usually, they cooked on the stove outside.
Fang Shu and Yu Qinglong helped to chop firewood.
Firewood is also available in town, but it comes in different qualities. Cheaper firewood is often difficult to burn, either too damp or requiring breaking. In historical dramas, the firewood used for chopping is typically thicker, larger logs, which would be out of reach for those with limited financial resources.
"Why don't I go out and buy some pickles? It's not good to just eat porridge on its own," Ma said. "After all, this is Brother Xiaoyu's first time visiting Xikuan and me."
"No, having porridge is already good enough. You don't have to be polite, brother Qinsui. Besides, it was Shoucheng and I who caused you trouble in the first place. You're making us feel bad by doing this."
"What kind of trouble is this? Compared to the help the city guards have given us, it's nothing to worry about," Ma said. "Xikuan and I want to take the exam again next year, so we have to save up for the trip. Otherwise, we wouldn't be so tight on money."
"It's good to pass the exam."
"I would like to thank my younger brother for his kind words."
Yu Qinglong didn't say anything else, but he felt more and more that the matter of the drawing book had to be put on the agenda as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, after receiving the five taels of silver from Wu Wei, Yang Feng had originally planned to have someone beat up Yu Qinglong in a month. However, the more she thought about it, the more she felt that it would take too long to satisfy her anger, so she decided to use a different tactic on her son Wu Xianxian.
They not only want the ten acres of land, but also want to make the entire Fang family suffer. What should we do?
It happened that Wu Xian heard in his school that many scholars were secretly helping others to avoid land tax, so he asked someone to find out. He found out that Fang Shu actually had so many fields under his name!
This made them jealous. But they couldn't just rob people openly, so how could they solve the problem? They could only ask those who could rob to do so.
As long as Fang Shu's future is ruined, how can Wu Xialan and Yu Qinglong still be so arrogant? They will cry to death!
"Just wait and see. This time, we're going to tear off the skin of the Fang family." Yang Feng felt more and more relieved as she thought about it. While eating melon seeds, she said to her son, "Then we'll see what Wu Xialan will do."
"Are you sure this can succeed?" Wu Xian asked, "If you do something like this, you must not give them a chance to turn things around."
"Don't worry. When we came here, didn't we see that the scholar named Yan Xikuan, who was close to Fang Shu, was locked up? You know, those servants are like leeches. Once they get caught, they have to suck enough blood, otherwise they will definitely not let go. By then, that bastard Fang Shu will either have to pay a lot of money to redeem him or offend his classmates. In the end, he will suffer the consequences. When their family is completely finished, mother will find a way to get the ten acres of land back. Plus, since you have become Master Ye's disciple this time, you will definitely pass the examination to become a scholar."
"You are right, mother. My son will surely be successful, and our family will be exempt from land tax."
"Exactly." Yang Feng said, fanning herself. "By the way, when will Master Ye come back?"
They heard that there was a great scholar named Ye outside Qixia Town who was knowledgeable and many of his students passed the imperial examination and became scholars. So after reporting Fang Shu's affairs to the town commander, they came to find this gentleman and wanted to become his disciple.
But the gentleman has not been seen since it was dark.
Wu Xian said, "Could it be that he was delayed outside for something and won't be coming back?"
Yang Feng frowned and said, "Didn't they say he was an old man? How could he stay outside?"
Wu Xian thought that wasn't entirely certain. However, there were simply too many mosquitoes out there, and he was almost losing his patience. He said, "Why don't you go back, Mom? I'll come back tomorrow. I also want to see if there's any new news from the government office."
Now, more than anything else, what he cared about most was the ten acres of land and whether Fang Shu had been caught and put in jail.
He had failed the exam again at the beginning of this spring, and was feeling very upset, but then he heard that it was because Fang Shu had occupied the official vein of the ten acres of land that he had been unable to pass. He immediately thought this was very reasonable, and his heart was much more at ease. He firmly believed that this was the truth, and he paid special attention to this matter.
Yang Feng was getting annoyed by the bites and stood up and said, "Okay, let's go back first."
Wu Xian said, "Mother, do you think we should go to the prison and take a look? Give the jailers some money and ask them to take good care of Yan Xikuan. This will only make Fang Shu more anxious, and anxiety will make him more likely to make mistakes."
"No need," Yang Feng said. "They're just a few chores, how can they deserve our money? We've given this chance to make a fortune to the garrison commander, so he'll naturally assign them tasks. Besides, didn't mother just tell you that these people are leeches? Once you get involved with them, it's hard to get rid of them. If you pay them once, you'll have to pay them every time. We shouldn't have anything to do with people like them."
"Is that so?"
Wu Xianzong remembered the saying, "It's easy to hide from the King of Hell, but hard to deal with the little devils." What if he didn't bribe the guards? What if they didn't make things difficult for Yan Xikuan? After all, Yan Xikuan was also a scholar.
However, the thought of having to spend money made Wu Xian feel that these people were unworthy. They had all met the town governor and done him such a great favor, so the town governor should thank them in return. The town governor should thank them, so how dare these little devils take their money?
So the mother and daughter returned to the inn and waited for news. At this time, there was no one working in the government office, so they would definitely find out what happened if they went to ask the next day.
The mother and daughter slept soundly that night. When they thought that Fang Shu's family was about to be ruined, they felt that their dreams were sweet.
Yu Qinglong and his wife, as well as Ma Qinsui, were all asleep. They were worried that Yan Xikuan was scared in prison, and they also felt bad about spending so much money this time.
It is really not easy for them to save some money.
However, the next day, another incident happened - the yamen did not send anyone to arrest Yang Feng and Wu Xian for questioning.
Yu Qinglong came out early in the morning wearing a conical hat to keep an eye on the matter, but there was no movement from the yamen.
Yang Feng and Wu Xian also noticed this. They were waiting for Fang Shu to come to the yamen, but Fang Shu never showed up! To make it easier to observe, they stayed not far from the yamen gate, so they could see him from inside the building. But they didn't see anyone coming, not even a single official at the yamen gate.
"He's not going to ignore Yan Xikuan, is he?" Wu Xian guessed. "After all, he's not the one being arrested. Same with Master Ji. Why didn't he just arrest Fang Shu instead of Yan Xikuan? Going around in circles like this doesn't make things easy at all."
"He has his own considerations. Let's wait a little longer. Maybe it's too early. Or maybe Fang Shu was captured yesterday afternoon?"
"No. I asked the waiters here, and they all said that no one had entered the government office yesterday. That doesn't make sense. I have to go and ask for myself."
He wanted to see Fang Shu being captured yesterday, but his mother insisted that it would take a long time for Ma's personal attendant to go to Xiaxi Village, and there was no point in them just waiting, so they might as well go to Mr. Ye first.
In the end, Mr. Ye didn't get to meet me, and I don't know what the situation is like here.
Yang Feng said, "Why are you going? If you go there just in time to catch Fang Shu and his men, wouldn't they immediately guess that we were the ones who reported the officials? Although we're not afraid of them, there's no need to let them know that we did it. Let's wait a little longer."
We waited for the whole morning, and not even a bird flew into the yamen. It was very quiet.
Yu Qinglong also discovered that although Master Ji listened to his words, he did not completely follow his suggestions.
"What should we do? Should we just sit there and wait?" Fang Shu asked, "Could they be planning to have it both ways?"
"It's inevitable to eat from both ends, but it shouldn't be eaten this way." Yu Qinglong thought for a moment, then suddenly asked Ma Qinsui, "Brother Qinsui, you often go to the town. Do you know how many people are on duty at the government office every day?"
"Just two of us."
"It's always been two of us? There's never a time when there's no one around?"
"Yes. They rotate duty. According to the rules, there must be someone there every day. Only the garrison guards have three days off each month."
"I see."
"Did Long Ge'er discover anything?"
"I didn't see any servants when I went out today."
"Then what does this mean? Could it be that they have all gone out to capture Wu Yangshi and Wu Xian?"
"I don't think so. I went there early enough. It was barely dawn, and I didn't see anyone leaving the yamen. But if they want to arrest someone, don't they need a warrant or something? They can't just arrest someone without permission. If they need that, they must come to the yamen before they can leave."
"Is it possible that they don't need to be apprehended?" Fang Shu guessed. "Since Wu Yangshi and Wu Xian came to the town guard to complain about me, they must be reluctant to go back if they disappear. Perhaps they're still in this town."
"That's right," Yu Qinglong said. "Then I know what's going on. Brother Qinsui, I'll have to trouble you again. Do you have any other acquaintances in this town? Two would be best, someone who can help run errands. We'd like to pay them some hard-earned money, and they'd better be smart."
"That's true, but what are we doing?"
Yu Qinglong quickly took out the portraits of Yang Feng and Wu Xian that he had used before and handed them to Ma Qinsui, giving him a few instructions.
Not long after, Ma Qin casually went out wearing a bamboo hat.
About three quarters of an hour later, he came back, and the other two young men went to the Tongjia Inn opposite the yamen.
The two of them took a look first, and after confirming that the person they were looking for was there, they sat down near the two people.
They ordered a pot of tea and began chatting. Their voice, not very loud, but just in earshot of the mother and son at the next table, said, "Hey, did you hear? A scholar was arrested and locked up yesterday!"
Another person said: "I heard about it. But it has been put back."
Another person said: "How is that possible?"
The man said, "Why not? Money talks. They took the money and released him that same day."
Yang Feng, who had been accurately tipped off by the news, and Wu Xian and his mother frowned at each other. Wu Xian smiled stiffly and asked, "Excuse me, brother, is what you said true? Was the scholar who was arrested yesterday really released?"
The person being questioned said, "Of course it's true. The scholar named Yan knows a lot of people in our town. I even saw him go back. You are from other places, right? You are not familiar with our affairs here. We have this here," the man made a gesture of counting money, "it works!"
Yang Feng gritted his teeth and whispered, "No wonder I can't see anyone!"
Wu Xian said, "Mom, I have to go and take a look!"
Yang Feng also felt that she had to go. She didn't go through so much trouble thinking that Fang Shu could just spend some money to get him out! At least the charge of tax evasion had to be put on Fang Shu!
But the government office was closed, so where could they go? Naturally, they could only go to the prison gate and ask!
This time, the mother and daughter didn't think about saving money. They went to the prison and took out copper coins when they saw the prison guard. They took out a hundred coins, but when the jailer didn't even look at them, they gritted their teeth and took out another two hundred coins.
The jailer still didn't react. Yang Feng gritted her teeth and took out a tael of silver. This time, the jailer finally looked at her: "What's the matter?"
Yang Feng asked, "Did you let go of the scholar we caught yesterday?"
The jailer asked, "Which scholar is this? Why did you arrest him?"
Wu Xian said, "Scholar Yan Xikuan protected Scholar Fang Shu from Xiaxi Village in helping others evade land taxes!"
The prison boss asked, "Who said this? Do you have any evidence?"
Wu Xian said, "What evidence? This was said by the garrison commander, Lord Guo, himself. That Fang Shu evaded taxes! I saw you bring Yan Xikuan here yesterday. How dare you release him after taking the money? Does Lord Guo know about this?"
The jailer asked, "You mean, Lord Guo said Fang Shu evaded taxes?"
Wu Xian said, "Exactly! I want to see Yan Xikuan! If you release him without permission, I'll tell the garrison commander that you're not following the rules!"
The jailer slammed the table and said, "You two troublemakers! How dare you spread rumors about the governor? Who told you that Scholar Fang Shu evaded taxes? Our Lord Guo has never said such a thing! And you still dare to say that we don't follow the rules? We haven't released Yan Xikuan! Yan Xikuan is still in jail. We will not release him until we have investigated him thoroughly. But we have investigated him thoroughly. You two are very strange! Did everyone hear it just now? This kid actually dared to slander the court officials! He even slandered the pillars of the country! And he dared to say that we brothers don't follow the rules!"
"Yes!" "I heard it!" "How dare you spread rumors?!"
"Catch him for me!"
"Hey?! Hey, how can you arrest people randomly?!"
"Arresting people without permission? Who is arresting people without permission? Tie them up and take them away! I'll see if you dare to talk nonsense like this in front of Lord Guo!"
Yang Feng and Wu Xian were so frightened that their faces turned pale: "No! You can't do this!" "We are not talking nonsense! Everything we said is true!"
The jailer didn't care what they said and ordered his men to tie up Wu Xian.
Yang Feng and the others didn't tie him up, but Yang Feng's situation was no better than being tied up. When she saw her son was tied up, her hands went numb!
No, how did this suddenly turn out like this?!
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Author's words: Fang Shu: Madam is so clever, oh my god, I'm not worthy of him, what should I do [burst into tears]
Qinglong: No problem, you just beg for more food [dog head]
Fang Shu: Aunties, I'm here again, begging for comments and nutrient solution, but please don't let me get divorced [Please]
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