Chapter Fourteen: The Village Chief Comes to Find Trouble
A look of frustration flashed in Yang Liu's eyes, but she reached out and covered Village Chief Yang's lips: "Village Chief, don't be so impatient, you haven't even heard me finish stating my conditions yet!"
As she spoke, she gave Village Chief Yang a coquettish glare.
The village chief's wife has been dead for almost ten years, and his son is studying far away in the county town. He has been living alone for the past few years. He is an extremely lecherous man.
The reason she came to see Village Chief Yang today was because he had secretly approached her several times, but she had refused him each time.
She couldn't stand seeing Jiang Mi living a better life than her, so she was determined to ruin her life no matter what.
"What are the conditions?" Village Chief Yang swallowed hard, suppressing his eagerness, and looked at Yang Liu: "Tell me."
"Don't let the Jiang family grow sweet potatoes." A hint of hatred flashed in Yang Liu's eyes.
"Why? You don't believe those people's claims about the effects of sweet potatoes, do you? That's all exaggeration. I think they're just delusional. To think they can harvest a lot of sweet potatoes just from so-called vines is simply wishful thinking and unrealistic." Village Chief Yang completely scoffed at the Jiang family's large-scale planting of sweet potatoes.
He didn't believe that such a tiny thing could grow anything.
"I don't care if what those people are saying is true or not, I just don't want the Jiang family to get what they want. Besides that, I have one more condition, which is to drive the Jiang family out of our Qingyun Village. As long as you do these two conditions, I'll let you bully me as you please." Yang Liu said, suppressing her disgust, and kissed Village Chief Yang on the cheek.
Her actions nearly made Village Chief Yang lose his mind, and he almost took Yang Liu right there and then.
But Yang Liu distanced herself from him at the opportune moment.
"Village Chief, I've said it before, I'll only serve you if you drive the Jiang family out of Qingyun Village. Oh, you'd better hurry, because I'm going to be sold to Lame Zhang by my family at the end of the month. You don't want me to be a second-hand commodity, do you?"
With a charming smile, Yang Liu left Village Chief Yang's house.
This made Village Chief Yang uneasy.
Regardless of the circumstances, he was determined to get Yang Liu.
Since that's the case, the Jiang family shouldn't blame him for being impolite.
The village chief, his heart stirred, picked up a pipe and took a few puffs before standing up and heading towards Woniu Mountain.
When the village chief arrived at Woniu Mountain, Jiang Mi and the others had just finished planting and were preparing to go down the mountain to go home.
Upon seeing the village chief arrive, Jiang Cheng went up to him and asked, "Village chief, what brings you here?"
"Acheng, you've broken the rules." Village Chief Yang frowned, took a puff of his pipe, and breathed heavily. He pointed to the hillside that the Jiang family had partially cleared: "This hill belongs to Hongyang Village. You're touching their land. Isn't this just making things difficult for Qingyun Village? You know, Qingyun Village and Hongyang Village have a history. Take my advice and pull up all those damn sweet potato seedlings you planted."
The village chief's words made Jiang Cheng's face turn ugly, before Jiang Cheng could refute the village chief.
Jiang's mother quickly stepped forward: "Village Chief Yang, what you're saying is quite funny. I'm cultivating my own land and I haven't said anything, yet you're pointing fingers at me. This land was my dowry from my family, and I can do whatever I want with it. If you're worried, I'll take you to Qingyang Village to ask them now."
As Jiang's mother spoke, she reached out and took Village Chief Yang's hand to go to Hongyang Village.
Village Chief Yang broke free from Jiang's mother's hand: "Jiang family daughter-in-law, don't pull and tug. Even if this Woniu Mountain was given to you by your parents, you can't just mine it like this. It has to be reported to the imperial court and approved before mining can begin. You have indeed violated the rules. It's not that I'm here to stop you on purpose. I'm only stopping you for your own good. Don't take my kindness for granted."
Seeing the village chief's sincerity, Jiang Cheng believed him somewhat and handed him a packet of tobacco: "Village chief, then please help us report this to the imperial court..."
“Hey…” Village Chief Yang raised his hand to stop the tobacco Jiang Cheng offered. “I can’t accept this. If you listen to my advice, just pull up these sweet potato seedlings properly. That way, it’ll be good for everyone. As for your suggestion to report this to the imperial court, I can’t make that decision. I have to go to the village head first, then the village head reports to the township head, and then the township head reports to the county magistrate. Only after the county magistrate approves it can you move the land. It’s so troublesome…”
"We don't mind the trouble, as long as you, village chief, can help us report it." Jiang Cheng smiled and stuffed another pack of tobacco into the village chief's hand. "Please, village chief, do us the trouble!"
When Jiang's mother saw this, a hint of disdain flashed in her eyes. She was not as optimistic and easily fooled as Jiang's father. She was sure that this village chief Yang was up to something.
“I can report it, but you know the rules. Even if I report it, if the two higher-ups don’t give me a notification, this matter probably won’t go through. So…” Village Chief Yang made a money-counting gesture.
"I just don't know how much money it would take to smooth things over?" Jiang Cheng knew in his heart that if things were really as the village chief said, then when it came down to it, ordinary people like them with no power or influence would not have an advantage. Even though the imperial court encouraged them to reclaim wasteland, if they reclaimed wasteland without reporting it, these officials could easily frame them. So if he could smooth things over, he would try his best to do so.
Director Yang opened his arms: "This number."
"Fifty coins?" Mother Jiang narrowed her eyes, deliberately leaned closer, and asked tentatively.
"What fifty coins, five taels of silver? If you can't come up with that, you'd better pull up these sweet potato seedlings right now, or don't blame me for not showing any mercy." Village Chief Yang snorted coldly.
He knew that the Jiang couple had been scrimping and saving to support their second and third children's schooling, and they had no spare money at all. They definitely couldn't afford five taels of silver.
Sure enough, Madam Jiang gasped, "Five taels of silver, that much? Why don't you just rob us? You really are an official, always trying to eat both the top and the bottom."
The village chief's face darkened.
Just when the village chief thought they couldn't come up with the money and would have no choice but to obediently pull up the sweet potato seedlings, Jiang's mother patted Jiang's father, who was about to agree immediately, and coughed, "Village chief, we can give you the five taels of silver. But could you lend it to me for a few days? I'll go to my parents' house to borrow some more."
Upon hearing this, Village Chief Yang's eyes flickered, and his face turned cold: "No. This isn't what I wanted; it's what the higher-ups wanted. If you don't have these five taels of silver, pull up the sweet potato seedlings immediately. Don't leave them for even a moment. If you don't pull up these sweet potato seedlings, I'll send someone back to the village to find people to pull them up. As for how much labor it cost, I'll ask you for the money then."
Just as Village Chief Yang was roaring arrogantly, Huo Ran walked over, glanced at the village chief indifferently, and asked in a cool tone, "Who exactly made these rules that you're talking about?"
He truly hadn't expected that these people below would take a trivial matter so seriously.
When he discussed the decree to promote the reclamation of wasteland with the emperor, he issued a strict order to simplify everything and not set up any restrictions in order to benefit the people.
But the people below came up with something unexpected.
At this moment, Huo Ran's eyes flashed with coldness.
When Village Chief Yang saw the unfamiliar face approaching, his expression turned cold, and he adopted an official demeanor: "And who are you?"
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