Although the Minister of Personnel did not accept bribes, he misjudged people and was scolded by the emperor and fined several months' salary.
However, after this incident, the emperor seemed to have realized something.
He ordered an investigation into officials who never approached Chuanwen, and the investigation yielded results. Several officials were found to have abused their positions for embezzlement, bribery, and even murder.
The emperor happily provided them with a complete service of confiscating and renovating their homes.
Under the blazing sun, Zhang De, his legs trembling, carried the stones to the roadbed. By the end of the day, he was so exhausted that his whole body was shaking.
He finally made it to dinner time, but all he was given were two hard steamed buns, without even a drop of soup.
He looked at his fellow workers, who were eating soft white steamed buns and cabbage stew with vermicelli topped with slices of meat, and immediately protested to the person distributing the food.
"I want to eat white steamed buns and meat and vegetables too!"
But the man distributing the food sneered, raised his arm to hit him, but didn't. Seeing him shrink back, he said fiercely, "You only deserve to eat this. If you cause trouble again, I'll beat you!"
This man fled from Sanqiu County. His family was forced to live in Sanqiu County, but it was all thanks to Zhang De!
And their pet cat, Huahua, if they hadn't been unable to pay the cat meowing tax, they wouldn't have kicked Huahua out. If they hadn't kicked Huahua out, Huahua wouldn't have been bitten to death by stray dogs!
Today Zhang De is in his hands, and he is determined to avenge the people of Sanqiu County and the cats and dogs that died unjustly like his own Huahua!
The man glared fiercely at Zhang De, hoping Zhang De would make a move so he would have a reason to whip him a few times. But Zhang De was a bully who preyed on the weak and cowered in fear, immediately cowering and shrinking back, not daring to say another word.
The man spat on the ground, cursed "coward," and continued distributing food to the others.
Zhang De left pitifully, holding two hard steamed buns. Everyone else was eating soft and fluffy buns, but his two were dark and hard. He even suspected that the person had deliberately prepared them for him!
Someone nearby felt sorry for him and wanted to give him a steamed bun, but was stopped by someone else, who said, "He used to be an official, I heard he was very corrupt and drove a lot of people to their deaths! Don't try to be a good Samaritan!"
The man immediately abandoned the idea of sharing the steamed bun with Zhang De. He too had fled from disaster. Three years ago, a drought struck their area. If it weren't for corrupt officials embezzling the disaster relief funds allocated by the imperial court, so many people wouldn't have starved to death there, and they wouldn't have had to leave their homes to beg in the capital. Although they are doing well now, they almost died back then.
Having experienced being driven to the brink of despair, this person also deeply hated corrupt officials. He immediately felt no pity for Zhang De, but rather thought he hadn't suffered enough.
Zhang De avoided the strange looks from the crowd, silently went to a corner and squatted down, sobbing! He just wanted to earn more money for himself, he just wanted to live a better life, what did he do wrong!
You stepped on me!
Zhang De was feeling heartbroken when a voice suddenly came from behind him. He felt something being pulled away from his feet, and he stumbled and almost fell.
He quickly turned around and saw a person lying in the dark corner. The person must have been resting there, but he hadn't seen the person before and had stepped on their foot.
Zhang De was furious when he saw the man glaring at him hatefully. He was like a tiger fallen into the plains being bullied by dogs. Everyone was trying to ride roughshod over him!
"So what if I stepped on you! You bastard..."
The curse he was about to utter stopped abruptly as he saw the man in the darkness sit up, his face illuminated by the light. It was none other than Zheng San, the man who had killed his wife and her lover!
The two men locked eyes. Zhang De felt a little scared. How could he not be scared? His opponent had killed people before!
At this moment, a fat, flabby man walked over, carrying oily dishes and steamed buns. His eyes were fixed on the food, and he didn't even look up at the man.
However, Zhang De saw it clearly: wasn't that Tu Sandao?
Zheng San is not to be trifled with, but Tu Sandao is a real tough guy!
Zhang De instantly found an outlet for his anger, while poor Tu Sandao was completely unaware of what was happening before he was subjected to a frenzied beating.
The screams and wails drew everyone's attention. The supervisor who was maintaining order ran over and pulled the two apart. Fortunately, neither of them was very strong, so they were not seriously injured. Even so, Tu Sandao was beaten black and blue, and his food was spilled all over the ground.
"You're wasting food! Neither of you are eating tonight!"
The overseer glared angrily at the trampled mess of food and steamed buns on the ground and threatened the two men. Seeing that they were prisoners brought for reform, he gave each of them two lashes.
"Get to work properly! If you cause any more trouble, I'll report you to the higher-ups and make you work for another two years!"
Hearing this, the two men shrank back, not daring to utter another sound. One day of work was already worse than death; how could they survive two more years?! Waaah!
Zhang De had been beating people fiercely just now, and now he was crying even harder, his face covered in tears, snot, and dirt. Tu Sandao next to him was no less so; the two grown men were crying like two-hundred-pound giant babies on the construction site.
Chuanwen knew nothing about these things; right now, she was drowning her sorrows in alcohol—well, that's right, drowning her sorrows in alcohol!
For some unknown reason, the emperor wanted her to attend court again!
The moonlight was as clear as water, and the night wind rustled. Chuanwen sat under the eaves, poured himself a cup of wine, and raised it high, saying, "To the bright moon!"
[I hope you can expose the black heart of Zhou Bapi!]
Then tilt your head back and drink it.
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