Chapter 232: Crowded
The more I listened, the less I could bear to listen.
Ordinary people?
Su Ruojin didn't want to scold anyone. As long as it could help the common people earn a living, they wouldn't care if she was the county magistrate's daughter or someone else. As long as they could make money and buy food, she would be their breadwinner.
Now they are so "smart", it is obvious that someone is leading the trend!
Su Ruojin moved to Shu Tongshu's side, "What happened recently?"
Shu Tong replied, "The dismissed chief clerk and county magistrate have returned. Their two families are the gentry families in Weizhou County."
She was just saying, what do these people want to do? Kill Su Yanli and they can get back to their positions?
It is obviously impossible to restore the official to his original position, so there is the second possibility. They want to drag Su Yanli into trouble, but her father is an upright scholar and will never go along with them, so they want to squeeze him out and wait for the court to send someone else. If the person sent again is still not obedient, they will cause trouble again until they meet a county magistrate who listens to them.
Perhaps, this is how the previous county magistrate died.
Whether in ancient times or modern times, local officials are not locals but outsiders.
Why?
Local people are related to each other, so it is difficult to prevent gift-giving and the like. Therefore, if you are from other places, the relationship will be simpler. However, generally the deputy position will be local, which is conducive to the work.
Therefore, from ancient times to the present, there have been regulations that clearly stipulate that local officials must not only be from outside the area, but also cannot serve for too long. Or when they are promoted due to their outstanding political achievements, they are generally not promoted locally, but will be transferred to other places for promotion, which will create complex relationships and is not conducive to management.
Su Ruojin motioned Shu Tongshu to change seats. She stood next to Su Yanli and reminded him in a low voice, "Dad, they deliberately sent someone to the government office to find you and advocate for fairness, just to make you stand in front of the people and say some nonsense to ruin your and your daughter's reputation."
Su Yanli also heard that he had fallen into someone else's trap. He knew it was not easy to get into the officialdom, but he did not expect that a small gangster could make him fall into the trap. He hated himself for not having much experience in the past and being tricked by someone.
Su Yanli looked at his daughter.
She nodded.
He nodded in response, almost imperceptibly.
With his hands behind his back and a stern face, he shouted to Pei Changxu, "Sir, come here."
Pei Changxu and Fat Changgui were both stunned and stopped their verbal battle.
He turned to Su Yanli and bowed, saying, "Sir..."
"Follow the rules of the merchant company. If you add one ounce of sand, you will be compensated for one pound of grain. Let Maji Grain Shop pay directly. If they don't pay, file a case and urge them to pay. Come every day until they pay."
Pei Changxu was stunned and couldn't recover. He looked at the young lady and suddenly realized. Damn it, why wasn't he as insightful as a young lady? He immediately said, "Yes, sir."
The sound is loud.
Suddenly, the onlookers fell silent.
Su Yanli glanced at the fat shopkeeper, flicked his sleeves, and left with full of official authority.
What's going on? Why didn't they stop fighting? The fat shopkeeper winked at his employees, and the group of people who were just pretending to fight suddenly started fighting.
The situation got out of control in an instant.
Su Sanlang let out a howl and rushed forward to protect his father. With a sweep of his long legs, he knocked down everyone who came over.
"Didn't you hear what Lord Su said?" The ten-year-old Su Sanlang punched left and hooked right, fighting as if it were a game.
Hua Ping shook his head. After all, he was just a ten-year-old boy. He also joined the fight. More than a dozen guys were beaten by him and cried for their parents. The situation was stopped instantly.
The fat shopkeeper stepped back unconsciously.
Su Yanli, with an official look on his face, turned around and walked up to him, "Very good." He then smiled gently.
The fat shopkeeper laughed so hard that his hair stood on end and he took a few steps back.
Su Yanli smiled more gently, retracted his gaze, looked at the onlookers, and instantly retracted his smile, with a face of a superior again.
Onlookers: ...Why does it feel like the county magistrate looks unhappy and doesn't want to be messed with?
The face has become comparable to Sichuan Opera.
Su Ruojin smiled secretly with pride, probably because her father was thinking of the story she had told about mixing sand into the porridge.
Sure enough, when he got home, Su Yanli first praised his son Su Sanlang. He praised him so much that after dinner, he didn't even want to practice writing. His father glared at him and said, "Why don't you try not to write?"
Su Sanlang, who liked martial arts and hated literature, had no choice but to puff his lips and go practice calligraphy immediately.
In the digestive room, Su Yanli lamented the intrigues in official circles on the one hand, and realized at the same time what kind of mentality he should have to be a pragmatic county magistrate.
Mr. Pei was confused. "Sir, you said that the porridge should be mixed with sand..."
Su Yanli said, "This is a story I once heard. It said that a high-ranking official in the imperial court was providing disaster relief. He saw people who had food to eat also asking for relief porridge. So he came up with a plan to mix sand in the porridge. As a result, those who were better off stopped eating it, and the porridge ended up in the stomachs of the real victims of the disaster."
Just an hour ago, Su Yanli had always shown integrity and righteousness in his official duties. Originally, he also wanted to build his career with such an official, but when he really worked with such a scholar-official, he found that integrity would become the target of politicians' attacks, and righteousness would only be exploited, such as the incident of mixing sand into the rough flour just now.
The old man took advantage of Su Yanli's uprightness and invited people to the shop, but in the end, it turned into an attack on the vegetable shop. It was clear that he was being taken advantage of by others.
Bad officials are despicable, so why is it so difficult to be a good official?
Just when everyone was in such a state of chaos that no one knew how to resolve it, Lord Su cut the Gordian knot and acted according to the rules, but in fact he took the opportunity to get rid of the situation.
He stroked his beard and said, "Sir, I understand. What you mean is that you should ask the grain store to pay as much as you should in your 'official duties'. As for whether the grain store will pay or not, you can let the yamen runners urge them to pay. Whether they pay or not is up to you, right?"
Su Yanli nodded.
"Why wait for an opportunity?" Mr. Pei said with a smile, "Because the adults hope that their rough flour will be mixed with sand, so that people from nearby counties will probably not come, so the people in our county can buy an extra meal of life-saving food."
"That's right." Su Yanli nodded with a smile and looked at his daughter. The father and daughter smiled knowingly. Except for Su Dalang, probably no one knew that this story was told by his daughter.
I didn't expect that after returning from the capital, the situation in Weizhou County had become complicated.
Hua Ping reported his findings to the young lady: "Ma Ji Grain Store is owned by the wife of the county magistrate. They have always relied on the county magistrate as their powerful figure and have done many things to deceive the common people."
"So, they still mix sand into the products today?"
Hua Ping nodded: "Yes."
"Then let them join in." When there is a food shortage, they can indirectly leave food for the common people. When there is no shortage, Su Ruojin smiled, that is the time for the common people to deal with them.
Hua Ping and Ye Huai really didn't understand the ins and outs of this place. They all frowned and said, "Second Madam, why don't you drive away such a profiteer?"
Su Ruojin smiled and said, "What's the hurry?"
Let them continue to be arrogant.
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