"What?"
Su An, who was in the shop, was dumbfounded. He slammed his fist on the table and stood up. "Outrageous! This is absurd! The magistrate and I worked hard to promote the road construction for the good of this county and for the convenience of everyone's lives. And now they call it a cowardly act?"
Zhang San said angrily, "Boss, these people are desperate. They can't find Magistrate Lin, so they want you to take the blame. There's no reasoning with them!"
"This is terrible."
Li Guihua's face was grave. She grabbed Su An and said urgently, "Xiao An, you should go back inside and hide first. If things get bad, take the second son and the others and run out the back door. I'll explain everything to them here."
"No!" shouted the second son, Su Jiang, his face already contorted with anger. "Mother, eldest sister, we are family, we must stand together!"
He, Su Ting, and Su Yue walked firmly to Su An's side, their faces sullen and determined not to back down.
"Those ungrateful wretches, they still want to blame Big Sister? Yueyue will teach them a lesson!"
"Exactly! If they dare come, I'll smear their stinking faces with abacus beads!"
Hearing this, Su An was both amused and helpless. He shook his head at the family, "Alright, their target is me, so I have to handle this..."
Before he could finish speaking, he could hear a menacing commotion outside, with footsteps like thunder.
The surging crowd had reached the door, and with a shoving and shouting, the door was forced open with a loud bang, and the crowd poured in.
Su An was startled and almost fell to the ground because she couldn't dodge in time. Fortunately, Li Guihua pulled her up and led her backward, staring at the crowd with vigilance and unease.
"What do you want to do! The Su family's shop is closed today. Trespassing will land you in jail!" Li Guihua shouted anxiously, trying to get the crowd to leave.
But the group was filled with fear and anger, and they were not so easily frightened.
"Jail? Let the county magistrate show himself! He's already escaped, yet he's still acting like he has a death warrant!" The burly man at the head of the group rolled up his sleeves and spoke first.
The others joined in the angry outburst: "We usually only show some respect to your Su family because you have the county magistrate backing you up, but now that Su An and the county magistrate have caused such a huge mess, does the Su family still think they can stay out of it?"
These words immediately left the family speechless, and the third child stepped forward without hesitation, his small body blocking the mother and daughter.
Su Ting's face flushed red, and she shouted, "My older sister did nothing wrong! She was only thinking about building the road and doing it for everyone's good. It's you bunch of ingrates who wanted to use my older sister as a scapegoat! You're all despicable people!"
When Su Yue saw that there were even familiar neighbors in the crowd, her hand holding the small wooden sword trembled with anger.
"Aunt Li, Granny Liu, how could you do this? Have you forgotten how much your elder sister has taken care of you? How could you do this!"
Su Jiang's dark eyes shot angrily at the farmers over there.
"Have you forgotten that when you fled here, it was your eldest sister who taught you how to cook, which allowed you to settle down and make a living in the county?"
"A bunch of people who received kindness from Big Sister, but in the end they betrayed her and bullied her. You are all scoundrels!"
Those who were within Sanwa's gaze immediately felt embarrassed and ashamed.
Whether it's food streets, recipes, disaster relief, or road construction, the entire Fuyou County owes a great deal to the Su family and Su An.
Now that a few kids have pointed the finger at them and exposed it, they feel ashamed, but even more so, they are furious.
Immediately, someone retorted, "It's true that Su An has done many good deeds, but this time she's trying to harm all the people in our county! What's wrong with us demanding justice?!"
"Does eating a little something from her and learning a skill mean we have to risk our lives for her?!"
"That's right! Su An is doing all this to win over our hearts. Who knows what her true purpose is in winning everyone over! And if it weren't for this scourge bewitching the magistrate, would we be in this mess today?"
"Now that Magistrate Lin has gone into hiding, we can only use her to cover our tracks, since the road construction chaos was caused by her anyway!"
"Su An, get out here! Get out here!"
A barrage of insults rang out, reaching Su An's ears as the family shielded him from the huddle behind him.
Looking at the familiar yet so unfamiliar faces before him, Su An felt a chill run down his spine, as if he were in an ice cellar.
This group of people is really...
She was so angry she wanted to laugh, but she couldn't. No matter how she tried to comfort herself, she couldn't suppress the sadness that welled up inside her.
What they said makes sense... The prefect sent troops, and it's obvious that it was because of the embezzlement of materials, so it can be said that it was caused by her.
Su An slowly pushed his mother and siblings away, took a deep breath, tried to calm himself down, and said to everyone, "Alright, stop arguing!"
"The road repair has gone wrong, and it's true that we've offended the prefect. I'll take responsibility for my actions. I'll go find the prefect's people to apologize and hopefully resolve this matter."
"Xiao An!"
"No, big sister!"
The whole family was the first to turn pale and shout in panic.
But faced with a horde of wolves and tigers, their feeble resistance was utterly powerless.
"Quick, don't let her get away!"
As soon as Su An stepped out, the crowd immediately surrounded her, as if afraid she would run away, and led her to the city gate.
The city gates were already tightly closed, and the soldiers from Fuyou County who were guarding the gates had retreated back into the city to stand guard. They appeared to be armed and ready for battle, but their constant whispering revealed that the soldiers were also uneasy.
"The county magistrate has disappeared without a trace, and we haven't received any orders or instructions. What should we do? Should we continue to defend the city walls to the death?"
"Sigh, let's just hold on. There's no movement from Qingzhou either; they're just surrounding us and not letting anyone out. It doesn't seem like they intend to fight. But at this rate, the county's grain supplies won't last long..."
"Why isn't the imperial court doing anything about this? Qingzhou is getting too arrogant!"
"Are you stupid? The entire county is surrounded. The mountains are high and the emperor is far away. News from here won't even reach the imperial court. How can we manage it?"
"Stop talking! Miss Su is here; perhaps there's still hope!"
Su An heard these words as he walked over, and the seriousness in his heart rose rapidly.
After obtaining the soldiers' consent, she climbed the city wall in full view of everyone, ready to negotiate with the Qingzhou soldiers outside the city.
The Qingzhou soldiers stopped about thirty paces away. The formation of about four or five hundred men, with Qingzhou flags fluttering in the wind, looked imposing and aggressive.
Looking down from his vantage point, Su An couldn't help but exhale several breaths of nervousness.
Then she raised her voice and shouted down, "Your Excellency Qingzhou over there, the road repair was all caused by me, Su An, which displeased the Prefect. I was blind to your greatness!"
"I am willing to give my life for the peace of the people of Fuyou County. I hope that you, sir, can convey my wishes to the prefect and withdraw your troops!"
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