Chapter 433 Those who are good to the Zhou family will be blessed.
The old man stroked his beard and continued to laugh, saying, "Manager Du, for people like them, why don't you just send someone to bring the rice back, give them a beating, and throw them out? Why go through all this trouble?"
Du Wanchun walked forward slowly, "Thank you very much for your help today, Master Han."
This Mr. Han is a cousin of General Han in the capital. He runs a timber business in the capital and happened to be passing through Cheng'an County on his way here, so he visited the Zhou family.
When Du Wanchun saw him arrive, she came up with this plan to have Master Han lure the two of them out so that they could be caught red-handed.
"Manager Du, it's you?! You lied to us!" Boss Lu finally realized what was going on. He was furious and picked up the fork knife from the carriage, ready to chop at Du Wanchun.
Just then, a group of constables rushed in from the darkness, carrying large knives, and surrounded them.
Zhou Ruiyuan slowly walked out from the crowd, "Stop right now!"
With a loud clang, Boss Lu was so startled that he dropped the fork and knife in his hand.
Zhou Ruiyuan strode up to Du Wanchun, shielding her behind him, and said sternly to Boss Lu and Brother Ding, "Now that you've been caught red-handed, what else do you have to say!"
Boss Lu stood there, stunned, not knowing what to do.
His second brother, being more quick-witted, stepped forward and said, "Magistrate Zhou, we came here to sell rice. It's clear that Manager Du sent people to cheat us! Why are you arresting us instead of her?"
Upon hearing their words, a mocking smile flickered across Du Wanchun's brows.
I didn't expect the Lu family to be so stubborn.
Following his younger brother's lead, Lu the eldest continued, "That's right, we're here to sell rice, doing legitimate business. Why should your Zhou family send people to mess with us?"
Master Han laughed and said, "A legitimate business? You steal rice from the villagers and sell it, and you call that a legitimate business?"
Lu Lao Er retorted confidently, "How do you know we stole this rice from our fellow villagers? This rice was clearly grown by ourselves!"
Boss Lu chimed in, "That's right, this rice is what I grew myself. If you want to arrest us, you'll have to produce evidence. This rice belongs to the villagers."
The Ding family members also started to stir things up, all saying that the rice was grown by themselves.
Master Han stroked his beard and smiled at Du Wanchun, "Manager Du, this is the first time I've ever seen such a shameless person."
Du Wanchun replied with a smile, "I'm sorry to have made you laugh, Master Han."
Seeing that Du Wanchun and the others did not respond, Lu Laoda became even bolder, pointing at Du Wanchun and cursing, "You woman, you are truly vicious! It's one thing that you won't give us the money for the rice, but you won't even let me sell my own rice!"
"Shut up, all of you!"
Just then, a voice called out from not far away.
Everyone looked toward the source of the sound and saw a person slowly walking in the darkness. It was Xiao Qiu, who had spoken up for Du Wanchun that day.
Xiao Qiu angrily retorted, "This rice is clearly ours!"
After he finished speaking, he shouted loudly behind him, "Everyone, come and see if your rice is here!"
At this moment, a group of villagers surged out from behind him, rushing towards Lu Laoda and his oxcart.
It turned out that Xiao Qiu wasn't the only one who came; other villagers also came.
Before Du Wanchun arrived, he had sent people to every household in the village to tell them that if they wanted money, they should come to the dilapidated temple that night.
So they all came, only to find the Lu and Ding families selling their rice here.
At this moment, a villager unloaded the rice sacks from the oxcart and said, "This rice is ours. When those people came to collect the rice, we specially marked the rice sacks with our own names so that the Zhou family could easily calculate the money."
Then, several other villages shouted, "This and all of this rice is ours!"
Du Wanchun looked up at Boss Lu and Brother Ding and sneered, "What else do you have to say?!"
Now they were all speechless and unable to defend themselves.
Old Master Lu knelt on the ground, trembling.
His second brother tried to help him up, but was hit hard with a stick by a nearby constable.
The whole family knelt in a neat row.
Zhou Ruiyuan immediately ordered the yamen runners to take them all to the yamen.
Besides the Lu and Ding families, there were more than ten other thugs whom Boss Lu used to know.
After they were taken away, Du Wanchun immediately distributed rice and silver to the villagers.
The villagers were overjoyed and expressed their deep gratitude to Du Wanchun, saying they would never be deceived by Boss Lu and his gang again.
Du Wanchun didn't blame them. After giving them a few instructions, she went into the dilapidated temple.
Master Han stroked his beard and laughed, "I didn't expect Manager Du to have summoned all these villagers."
Du Wanchun smiled and said, "I'm just treating two things as one."
Mr. Han had a smile of admiration on his face when he saw her.
He smiled and turned his gaze to the man in the crowd named Xiao Qiu.
"I happen to need a colleague who can distinguish right from wrong."
Du Wanchun smiled and said, "I'll call him in later."
Master Han smiled and said, "Alright, thank you very much, Manager Du."
After that day, Xiao Qiu, who had been a bachelor in the village for two or three decades, was taken to the capital by Master Han and became a small shopkeeper.
I heard that he got married and had children not long after.
The villagers often say that this boy is lucky to have met a benefactor.
Little did he know, his good fortune was all thanks to Du Wanchun, simply because he stood up and spoke a word of justice that day.
Not long after Master Han returned to the capital, he told General Han about the matter, which was then spread by the maids in the mansion, and eventually even reached the ears of the emperor.
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