Wan Hai is having a tough time these days. He's 28 years old now, and his eldest son is seven. He doesn't feel like he's benefiting from his mother's protection. In fact, he thinks his mother and stepfather have caused him a lot of trouble.
But now that Xiao Wanshi is gone, he is gradually feeling like he's living under someone else's roof. When did he ever have less than a tael of silver in pocket money before? Now, his entire net worth is only a little over five hundred coins, which is causing him great distress.
This feeling intensified, especially after he learned that he was actually a golden phoenix from a remote mountain village. He simply couldn't bear to continue living such an ordinary life, but his mother was gone, his stepfather didn't value him, and his father-in-law had been stripped of his position as village chief, which also meant he had lost all the prestige he had in the village.
Seeing people like He Zifeng, who were once inferior to him, now surpass him, filled him with increasing bitterness. However, fate was still kind to him. While searching for ginseng in the mountains, he saw two people furtively burying something, but they were too far away to approach and see for themselves.
Judging from their clothes and appearance, the items must be valuable. Wan Hai endured it for a few days before finally going to dig them up. There were a hundred taels of silver, several silver notes, and some exquisite jade. The total value of the silver notes was three thousand, but there was no place to exchange them in their small county. They certainly could in the provincial capital. The jade pieces felt smooth and warm to the touch; they were clearly high-quality. Although the quantity wasn't large, it was enough to make him rich.
Although the silver notes couldn't be exchanged for the time being, a hundred taels of silver was enough for them to live a life of luxury. After all, He Donglai had sold all his possessions for only sixty taels of silver, so he was now rich.
Wan Hai also felt a subtle sense of pleasure at this moment. So what if everyone looked down on him? Fate had already made arrangements.
Wan Hai hid the silver notes and white jade in a crevice under the bed.
These ingots of silver were so appealing that Wan Hai couldn't resist kissing them twice. In this world, you can't get by without silver. Silver is more useful than anything else.
Wan Hai had never seen so much money in his life. Just then, Xu Li knocked on the door.
Wan Hai didn't collect the silver ingots scattered on the bed; instead, he covered them with a large quilt. Only then did he belatedly open the door. Seeing Xu Li, he couldn't resist hugging him tightly.
Xu Li has been wearing a worried expression these days. Wan Hai isn't the only one who's fallen from grace. Poverty-stricken couples face endless sorrows, and they've started arguing over money. Wan Hai is a proud man who never backs down when faced with difficulties.
As Xu Li was embraced by Wan Hai, the passionate love they once shared rekindled. Having fathered three children together, they naturally had a deep bond. Xu Li's heart burned with emotion, and tears streamed down her face.
Wan Hai locked the door, then, his excitement turning into restlessness, he pressed the man against the door and vented his frustration haphazardly.
Wan Hai was usually quite law-abiding, and Xu Li had never seen him like this before. He was both ashamed and embarrassed, and unable to refuse, he passively accepted this special situation.
Wan Hai tidied Xu Li's clothes, then led him to the bedside. Lifting the quilt, Xu Li was dazzled by the gleaming silver.
"This...this..." Xu Li stared at the thing in front of him, unable to come to his senses for a long time.
Wan Hai's smile carried a hint of domineering arrogance, as he had already prepared his words: "There's a secret I originally wanted to keep to myself, but since you and I are husband and wife, I'll only tell you this kind of thing."
Seeing how seriously he was taking it, Xu Li nodded.
Wan Hai revealed that he was the illegitimate son of the Gong family, a wealthy family in the county. However, he embellished the story, portraying his mother as someone who was exploited by society, unable to win his love, and forced to marry He Donglai, a farmer, in order to support him.
Wan Hai said, "This money is the compensation the Gong family gave me." After all, when He Donglai severed ties with He Zifeng back then, he also gave him ten taels of silver. He could just say that the stolen money was money for the father and son to buy off their relationship.
As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Li's gaze indeed softened with affection.
Wan Hai said, "I'll take care of you in the future." He then generously gave Xu Li thirty taels of silver, saying, "These past few days, you've suffered a lot caught between your father-in-law and the He family. Give this thirty taels to your father-in-law; consider it our way of showing filial piety." Anyway, he still had three thousand taels of silver notes, which he would have to exchange in the provincial capital sometime. He didn't value the thirty taels at all.
This touched Xu Li deeply; he hadn't expected the man to know about all the hardships he'd endured. As long as he could understand, it was all worth it.
Wan Hai said, "Let's go buy a carriage too." They must make arrangements for someone like He Zifeng who has one.
Xu Li immediately took the silver and sweetly delivered it to his father, intending to say a few good words about Wan Hai to his father.
Wan Hai went to the county and picked out a pure white stallion at the horse shop for sixty taels of silver. He didn't even haggle over the price and just gave them the sixty taels.
The horse brokers, who were secretly laughing at him for being a fool, were making ten taels of silver from this single transaction. However, when he took the silver, his expression changed slightly, and he said, "You have to register at the county government office before buying a horse!"
Wan Hai, unsuspecting, followed him to the county government office with his head held high. However, as soon as they arrived, the horse broker said they needed to bribe the yamen runners and told him to wait at the entrance. Less than fifteen minutes later, a dozen or so yamen runners filed out and surrounded Wan Hai. Up until this point, he hadn't sensed anything amiss!
The man in the lead was none other than Constable Zhu. Wan Hai had met him once when He Zifeng divided the family property, and he even managed a smile when facing such a person.
Officer Zhu picked up the silver and asked, "Is this silver ingot yours?"
"certainly."
Officer Zhu said, "Take him down." Wan Hai was dumbfounded. He had been arrested and imprisoned once before for allegedly killing Liangzi by mistake, and he had a deep psychological trauma from that place. Now that he was arrested again, he was furious: "What right do you have to arrest me?" Before he could say another word, they found a tattered rag from somewhere and stuffed it into his mouth.
They then took him back for investigation, saying that Wan Hai was hiding official silver.
Wan Hai was dumbfounded. He was a promising young man in the village, but his knowledge couldn't compare to that of people in the county who frequently dealt with money. How could he have known that there was such a thing as "official silver"?
They then took out seventy taels of silver from his body, all of which had the official silver markings on the bottom.
"Where did you come from?" Constable Zhu dared not be disrespectful, mainly because he was afraid that the man was in cahoots with the notorious thieves.
Wan Hai said, "I found it." He knew the implications, so he didn't dare to deny it.
Officer Zhu asked, "What else did you pick up?"
"Just these seventy taels of silver." He then recounted how he discovered the things someone had buried.
Upon hearing this, Constable Zhu knew he wasn't telling the truth. How could he have picked up all seventy taels and carried them with him, while the magistrate was still short one hundred taels? Since he wasn't telling the truth about this, he was probably hiding something else as well.
The county magistrate had placed immense pressure on him to solve the case, and Chief Constable Zhu had no patience to waste time. He directly ordered, "This brat dares to try anything funny in a place like this! Torture him!" As soon as he finished speaking, a leather whip dipped in salt water lashed Wan Hai's body mercilessly. After three lashes, his skin was torn and bleeding!
Criminal law is something that generations of ruthless people have figured out. Even the toughest bone can be pried open, let alone Wan Hai, whose bones aren't particularly hard. At this moment, he said, "I'll talk..."
His whole body was burning with pain, as if a layer of skin had been ripped off the places where he had been whipped. He had never felt such pain in his life. Wan Hai said, "Actually, there is a total of one hundred taels of silver." He absolutely refused to say anything more.
Officer Zhu asked, "Where is it?"
Wan Hai said.
Officer Zhu said, "Go and get the silver back, and while you're at it, point out the place where the treasure is hidden."
As soon as the constables untied him, Wan Hai collapsed limply to the ground.
Zhu, the head constable, called two men to help him onto the oxcart. Fearing he might run away, they put on shackles and iron leg irons as well.
Wan Hai was filled with despair. How could he face living in the village if he went back looking like this?
We drove all the way back to the village.
They arrived at Chishui Village in a large group. Some villagers immediately informed the village chief. When the village chief, Liu Zi, rushed over, he found that Constable Zhu had led his men straight into Old Xu's house.
Thirty taels of silver were confiscated.
Xu Li's father was stunned. The money he had just received hadn't even warmed up yet, and it had already been confiscated.
Xu Li screamed from the side, noticing that Wan Hai was covered in blood and looked terrible.
"What happened?" Xu Li asked.
Officer Zhu led his men to inquire, but found they knew nothing. He then quickly led them up the mountain to identify the location and check if anything else was left behind.
With his mouth covered, Wan Hai couldn't speak and could only stand silently facing Xu Li. Tears streamed down Xu Li's face until the group of people left in a large group.
Some bolder villagers pulled aside the constable and asked him questions, and the constable told them on the spot. The news spread throughout the village in no time.
Wan Hai unearthed official silver.
Many people are envious, wondering why they never get such a windfall.
Sister Liu said, "Didn't you see? Wan Hai has been arrested. What does this prove? It shows that you can't be greedy for small gains."
Many of the villagers had never seen official silver in their lives. One of them said, "So what? Just melt the silver down and recast it. The mark will be gone by then."
One hundred taels! They all gasped when they heard that.
Some busybodies saw He Donglai and told him about it, gloating, "Wan Hai still sides with his father-in-law. He gave him the money first after finding it. You were always so nice to him for nothing."
He Donglai knew the other party was trying to sow discord, but he was still angry: "He's a complete ingrate! I gave him ten taels of silver as a dowry when he got married. I raised him from a baby to adulthood, treating him better than my own son. Even a dog would wag its tail at me. This beast deserves to be struck by lightning!" He thought to himself that he had raised the couple for nothing, so he let it go.
He even raised Wan Hai's three sons. Sending them to Jiming Academy is so expensive! The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He started cursing and swearing, unleashing all the filth and stench he'd hurled at them.
The nosy men wanted to hear more, but seeing that the others couldn't take it anymore, they said, "Shut up, you've escaped a disaster by not getting the silver."
When everyone heard that he had found a hundred taels of silver, they were initially excited, but upon hearing this, they immediately calmed down.
But He Donglai was an ungrateful person; his emotions were running high, and he wouldn't stop.
After Wan Hai was arrested, many people wanted to ask He Zifeng about the matter.
He Zifeng had just returned to recuperate when he heard about this and was quite shocked: "Wan Hai took this silver?" As expected of the chosen one, he could even see the silver buried by these bandit leaders! The thing that thirty-odd yamen runners had searched almost the entire county but couldn't find, was found by Wan Hai.
He Zifeng immediately told the village chief of Liuzi how serious this matter was.
When the village chief of Liuzi heard how brutal the male and female demons were, he was also somewhat frightened.
He Zifeng killed the men, then briefly fainted after inhaling the poisonous fog. Later, he heard from his colleagues that about seven pounds of poison were found on their bodies. If that poison had been poured into the well, half the county would have perished. The county magistrate hated such villains to the core. And yet, Wan Hai went to investigate at this crucial moment—wasn't that just courting death?
The village chief asked, "Is he alright?" After all, they were from the same village, and it wouldn't be right to just watch him die, so he quickly inquired.
He Zifeng said, "This matter is neither a big deal nor a small one; it all depends on what the higher-ups want to do." If they want to take it seriously, simply labeling him an accomplice would be enough to get him killed eight times over. If they want to take it lightly, a fine of a few taels of silver would suffice.
Village Chief Liu sighed, "I used to think Wan Hai was a promising young man, but who would have thought he'd get so cocky after a bit of good fortune, and be less composed than the others." This time he finally understood; Wan Hai had run into trouble. If he had waited a little longer, he wouldn't have been treated this way.
However, he deeply realized that having connections in the county made a big difference. If it weren't for He Zifeng, he would have had to go through several roundabout ways to get this kind of inside information. Having connections in the county makes things much easier.
The village chief of Liuzi Village said, "Xu Li went to the county to rescue her husband." He just said it casually, but He Zifeng frowned and said, "What is he going to do? He's going to make things worse."
Village Chief Liu was startled by He Zifeng's serious tone and said, "No, it's not that serious."
He Zifeng asked, "Where is he?"
The village chief, Liu Zi, said, "He left before I arrived, saying he was going to rent a carriage next door." Calculating the time, he should be arriving soon.
A sense of foreboding rose in both of their hearts at the same time: Oh no, this is getting complicated.
Their guess was right; Xu Li was currently beating the drum at the yamen gate to plead for her husband's innocence.
Seeing how badly his man had been tortured, Xu Li was terrified he would die. What would happen to him and his three children if Wan Hai died?
The magistrate immediately opened the court.
Constable Zhu immediately reported to the county magistrate that she was Wan Hai's wife. Xu Li then said that Wan Hai was innocent. The silver originally belonged to the Gong family! He recounted Wan Hai's story to the county magistrate.
This left the county magistrate bewildered, and he immediately summoned Gong Xiyuan for questioning.
Gong Xiyuan was handsome and had always lived a life of luxury. When he was brought in this time, he heard that his illegitimate son, whom he had been raising outside, had caused trouble and even framed him for giving him government money.
Gong Xiyuan protested, "Your Honor, I have never had any contact with Wan Hai, so how could I have given him government silver?"
To outsiders, it was just a misunderstanding.
But the county magistrate clearly wasn't going to let Gong Xiyuan off easily. When he first took office, the people in the county were uncooperative. Gong Xiyuan, in particular, relying on his wealth, even dared to oppose him despite being just a small-time merchant. These days, the magistrate had won back many of his connections in the county and cultivated his own forces; he had finally gotten over his initial resistance and was ready to settle scores with them.
Before he could even make a move, someone delivered the door to him.
The magistrate's eyes flashed and he said, "Detain him first, and we'll interrogate him later!"
The arrest of Gong Xiyuan has greatly alarmed the Gong family. He was the head of the family, and his arrest was a major event. Gong Xiyuan had eight sons and deep-rooted connections in the county. This time, because of Wan Hai's affair, Gong Xiyuan was arrested, and without some maneuvering, he probably wouldn't be able to get out.
The county magistrate is giving them a warning.
We need to get him out first. Nobody lives in a prison. If we put him there, he'll be ruined sooner or later.
In the end, they had to pay a large sum of money to get the man out of jail. Officials have two mouths, and they can't just do whatever they want. If the county magistrate had really gotten angry, perhaps the Gong family would have been wiped out!
As for Wan Hai, who made those random accusations, the Gong family hated him to death. Last time, he almost got into a murder case, and it was the Gong family who spent money and effort to get him out of trouble. Who would have thought he would turn out to be such an ingrate? Gong Laosan directly bribed the yamen runners to "take good care" of Wan Hai, hoping he would disappear quietly from prison.
Wan Hai had already been tortured, and with the added special treatment, his time inside was even more unbearable.
Xu Li was unaware of what happened next; they only mentioned a retrial before detaining the man. Xu Li was driven away; he had no connections in the county and was left destitute. He returned to his village, utterly distraught, by which time it was already dark.
...
Ever since Qiuyu heard yesterday that he was injured, she insisted that he stay in bed and not get up or do any work.
He Zifeng, a grown man, couldn't possibly lie still for long. In the end, he helped Qiu Yu with a lot of chores before finally lying down. That night, Qiu Yu leaned against him, constantly trying to see where he was injured. After a while, He Zifeng pulled him close and kissed him, but who knew that the kiss would backfire so badly.
Qiu Yu realized that he was truly capable, and she was no longer as worried as before.
The next morning, as usual, He Zifeng got up early without disturbing his wife, thinking that he would do more work first so that when everyone got up, they could quickly tidy up and set up their stall.
As soon as He Zifeng stepped outside, he sensed a dark shadow flickering in the distance: "Who's there?"
After hearing a rustling sound, and by the dim light, they could see that the person outside was Xu Li.
He Zifeng's shout had startled Qiu Yu awake. Qiu Yu threw on a coat and came out, looking somewhat confused when she saw Xu Li: "Sister-in-law, what are you doing here?"
Xu Li was shrouded in white mist, indicating he had been in the darkness for an unknown amount of time. Upon seeing the two of them, he disregarded their past estrangement and knelt down with a thud. Tears streamed down his face as he pleaded, "Please, save Wan Hai!"
Qiu Yu quickly helped the person kneeling on the ground to their feet.
He Zifeng said, "Tell me the whole story about going to the county town."
Xu Li could only sob as he recounted Wan Hai's background.
He Zifeng suddenly realized that Wan Hai had quite a few bargaining chips, but unfortunately, he had offended the Gong family. The Gong family were local bullies; they had caused the county magistrate a lot of trouble when he first arrived.
He Zifeng said, "We're going to the county to set up a stall later. You'll come with us, and I can take you to the prison to see him. As for how to do it, you two can discuss it."
Xu Li was very grateful to He Zifeng for not holding a grudge.
When dawn broke, they took a carriage all the way to the county town. When they arrived, they found that Qiu Yu and He Zifeng's clothes were clean and tidy, but his clothes were dirty. He felt a little inferior.
He Zifeng and Qiu Yu have repeat customers; as soon as they put something on the shelf, someone will buy it. If you come late, there won't be any left.
Qiuyu sold out in no time and said to him, "Sister-in-law, do you want to wait for me to go back to the village together?"
Xu Li's cheeks flushed slightly as he said, "No need, I have things to do. I've already troubled you." Qiu Yu had just bought him a flatbread with some of their braised meat in it and handed it to him. His mind was entirely on Wan Hai, and he hadn't eaten for three meals, but he didn't seem to feel it until the food was in his hand. He then wolfed it down.
He then went to the prison with He Zifeng.
He Zifeng is on vacation now, but everyone who sees him greets him as "Brother He".
There were also those who were naturally good at socializing: "Brother Zifeng, that gust of wind has blown you here." Everyone knew that he had made great contributions and was on the list of names in front of the county magistrate and Constable Zhu. He was considered to have a bright future, so everyone would flatter him as much as possible.
Later, Xu Li was surprised to find that the village had underestimated He Zifeng's abilities. He had only been in office for a short time, yet the other officials respected him so much. Looking at He Zifeng's back, he realized it was completely different from before.
He Zifeng led the people inside, but he didn't go.
It's unclear what Wan Hai said to Xu Li, but half an hour later he emerged, heading straight for the Gong family's residence. Apparently, he used some rare and exquisite jade as a bargaining chip.
Anyway, the Gong family got him out of trouble that same day, saying they would restore his status as the young master of the Gong family and let him go back to live with them. They even promised to give him business opportunities.
Anyway, this matter caused quite a stir in the village. Wan Hai wanted to leave, but He Donglai wouldn't allow it, insisting on squeezing some money out of them. They'd been supporting this family of three for so many years, why should they be paid for nothing! He demanded a hundred taels of silver. Xu Li's father was so angry he wanted to beat him. Fearing He Donglai would ruin his son-in-law's good future, the Gong family finally gave him twenty taels as compensation. They took He Dabao, He Erbao, and He Xiaobao with them, changing their surname to Gong, while Wan Hai retained his surname Wan.
The Gong family brought Wan Hai back not so much to make him acknowledge his ancestors, but because they felt that he had nothing to lose and might be exploited by their rivals. They figured it was better to keep him around and train him, and then subdue him later.
Everyone in the village asked He Zifeng if Wan Hai had gone off to live a life of luxury with his biological father, but He Zifeng always said he didn't know.
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