...
Five days later, when Shen Zhao and his two companions arrived in Yangzhou, they discovered that the disaster there was even more severe than in Yunzhou.
Along the way, all they saw were refugees and bandits, and even human trafficking was openly conducted on the streets.
Even after dealing with several groups of bandits and human traffickers, Su Yunying still failed to change the local order.
“Master Chen, it seems to be even worse here. Everywhere we go, there are troublemakers, not a single decent person.”
"Boss Shen, who are you planning to get to handle this? Who's the richest person in Yangzhou? There are so many groups of people, it's never going to end. Your Cloud-Dispelling Palm technique has improved quite a bit."
When asked by the two, Shen Zhao simply replied, "The city lord of Yangzhou is a relative of Grand Tutor Pang, named Pang Hu. Our destination this time is Pang Hu's family."
Su Yunying: "Is this Pang Hu similar to the Shi family?"
"Apart from the money, they are completely different. Embezzlement, bribery, market manipulation, forcing women into prostitution, embezzling farmland, colluding with foreign enemies—the Pang family would never do anything that involves people."
Ding Bu'er immediately chimed in: "Master Shen is absolutely right. This Pang fellow is truly a scoundrel. I heard that the Pang family once had a son-in-law named He who embezzled over 900 million spirit stones in his lifetime, more than ten times the amount in the national treasury at the time?"
Upon hearing this, Shen Zhao immediately became interested: "Is that the same Lord He who said disaster victims weren't human, who traded relief grain for rice bran, and who even added sand to the porridge?"
Ding Bu'er: "Isn't that right? The idea of exchanging one jin of disaster relief grain for three jin of rice bran is just a lie to fool the emperor and those who don't understand storytelling. The disaster relief grain is all glutinous rice."
If we were to really exchange them, one pound of polished rice could be exchanged for five pounds of coarse grains, and one pound of coarse grains could be exchanged for five pounds of bran. The adults have been lining their own pockets and making a fortune off of that.
And yet, a bunch of people still say that Lord He is a good and capable official. Oh, I'm so embarrassed I want to bang my head against a wall. They even said that adding sand to the porridge was to prevent the disaster relief grain from falling into the hands of wealthy people.
Forget it, some people actually believed him after he said that. It's purely to cover up his embezzlement of disaster relief grain.
The trick of mixing sand and gravel into the remaining grain to deceive the emperor was only effective against those ignorant people who listened to marketing accounts.
Go ask anyone with common sense, would they believe that?
“Master Ding, we think alike.”
“Master Chen is no ordinary person, so naturally he wouldn’t believe such nonsense.”
"That's right. After all, even Lord He doesn't treat disaster victims like human beings. Do you really think he would stand up for the people?"
"If they really cared about the people, how come they were beheaded and had their property confiscated by the emperor? At the time, the Pang family tried their best to distance themselves from the situation, acting like dogs."
"So, the Pang family is..."
The two exchanged a smile and shouted in unison:
"That's just despicable!"
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Listening to their inexplicable conversation and inexplicable laughter, Su Yunying felt as if she couldn't keep up with the way these two old men were thinking.
"Boss Shen, Master Ding, what exactly are you two talking about?"
Shen Zhao glanced at Su Yunying and then asked, "Once we enter Jinling City, I will take you to see a good show, and the role we need to play is called a sunny and cheerful big boy."
"A sunny and cheerful young man?"
Su Yunying was even more confused, unable to understand what Shen Zhao was saying at all.
Ding Bu'er interrupted her thoughts, saying, "Miss Su, don't think about it anymore. Just remember one thing: there's not a single good person in the Pang family. Just listen to Master Chen."
"oh……"
Su Yunying responded blankly, clearly unaware of what plans Shen Zhao and Ding Bu'er were devising.
...
"Tang Ran, quickly pour out the foot bath water, what are you spacing out for?"
"Tang Ran, you good-for-nothing! Why haven't you washed your mother-in-law's underpants yet? Go fetch some water right now!"
"Tang Ran! Where the hell have you been? I'm on my period, hurry up and get some cotton balls."
Inside the Pang residence in Jinling City, a group of Pang family members were constantly ordering and directing a young man in his early twenties to do various chores.
The young man's name was Tang Ran. He was an outcast of the Tang Clan and the third child in his family. He was also known as Tang Shisan.
Due to her mother's dying wish, and to repay the Pang family for saving her life years ago, Tang Ran had no choice but to marry into the Pang family and become the eldest daughter of the Pang family, Pang Feiyan's husband.
For three years, Tang Ran lived worse than a servant in the Pang family. He suffered all kinds of bullying and never even slept with Pang Feiyan. He also had to endure Pang Feiyan looking for other men outside and even making intimate gestures in front of him.
In fact, after being abandoned by her family at a young age, Tang Ran secretly joined the Dragon King Palace founded by her mother and gained her own power.
But because of his mother's dying wish and fearing harm from the Tang Clan, he could only choose to endure everything he encountered in the Pang family.
"Child, be patient!"
These were the words that Tang Ran's biological mother had repeatedly told him before she died, and he had engraved them firmly in his heart.
For three years, Tang Ran worked diligently and conscientiously, concealing his identity while also fulfilling the proper role of a son-in-law.
However, looking at the dozen or so buckets of clothes, dozens of buckets of dishes and chopsticks, and some filthy things that needed to be cleaned up in front of her, Tang Ran was filled with resentment and anger.
The servants around them chuckled softly as they watched Tang Ran silently washing his mother-in-law's undergarments.
“Our son-in-law is really hardworking. Since he came, things have become much easier for us.”
"He's just a live-in son-in-law. Does he really think that marrying into a wealthy family can change his fate?"
"Exactly, he's just good-looking. Otherwise, why would our young lady have taken a liking to him?"
Ignoring the whispers around her, Tang Ran could only silently remind herself, "Tang Ran, you must be patient!"
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