Ye Caiping choked, her face turning bright red: "What did you say?"
Shen Zhiyan coughed lightly: "He said... Little sister, there's no need for such formalities."
Marquis Dingguo laughed: "Oh ho, you've stayed in this small town for a few years and picked up quite a bit of the village dialect."
Shen Zhiyan: "..."
Ye Caiping felt awkward and smiled, "My lord, and Lord Qin, Lord Zhu, Lord He, the eunuch, and Mr. Shen, please come to my humble abode for a rest."
Marquis Dingguo laughed heartily: "Good."
The group then left with Ye Caiping.
Yang Ma and Gui Xiang followed, carrying the phoenix coronet and wedding gown, followed by those carrying silver, leading two horses, and carrying jewelry and headdresses.
A group of government officials followed behind.
Ye Caiping asked, "By the way, what was the verdict on Magistrate Lu?"
Shen Zhiyan said, "Lu Baiwen and Lu Wansheng were stripped of their official positions and titles, and their entire family was exiled. Madam Lu's family hastily left Yue'an County."
Ye Caiping nodded, and the group gradually walked away.
Once their figures disappeared around the corner, Ye Lizheng and the villagers finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, a commotion erupted: "What were those just now? These are all high-ranking officials, even ministers!"
Granny Zhao's voice was the loudest: "Minister, that's a very, very high-ranking official. I've only ever heard of him in those official documents. To actually see a real Minister in my lifetime!"
"Is this a reward from the government to Cai Ping? I think it's because of cassava. Didn't they give her a reward last year, 50 taels of silver!"
As they spoke, everyone looked at Old Lady Ye and Ye Daquan and the others.
Grandma Ye and the others also looked bewildered.
Ye Xuan, however, knew the inside story: "We were cheated out of those 50 taels last time. Do you all remember the time our whole family went to jail?"
"The official story was that Magistrate Lu had taken a liking to my aunt's workshop, so he framed her and put her in jail. But the truth is, he took credit for my aunt's work. He reported that it was his son who discovered the cassava. The court rewarded his son with an official position and 5,000 taels of silver."
"He gave her 50 taels of silver to shut her up."
"My God, it's so dark!" the villagers gasped. "Now..."
Ye Xuan said, "Now that things have been set right, the imperial court has already arrested Magistrate Lu. The credit also belongs to my aunt. Now it's time for a new reward!"
"Wow!" The villagers were excited when they heard this. "It's even higher than what they gave that guy surnamed Lu, 30,000 taels! Tsk tsk."
Ye Xuan said, "This reward is a combination. In addition to the bitter cassava that was discovered last year, my aunt also discovered yellow-fleshed cassava in March and April this year, which is even better. So the reward is more generous."
The villagers asked curiously, "Yellow-fleshed cassava, what's that?"
Ye Xuan said, "This matter will be announced later, so I won't say any more."
The villagers didn't insist on asking, "What exactly is 'Yiren'?"
Ye Xuan said, "That's an imperial decree."
What is a royal title?
"It's just a title, like a marquis or something similar. But it's a title for women. Yiren is a seventh-rank official."
"Hiss, seventh rank? Isn't that the same rank as a county magistrate?"
"right."
"Wow!" The villagers exclaimed in surprise. Their village had produced a Lady of Imperial Decree! Although they didn't know what a Lady of Imperial Decree did, it sounded very impressive, and she was on par with a county magistrate.
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