Last year, Taohua County enjoyed favorable weather and timely tax payments, allowing Magistrate Liu to enjoy a comfortable New Year.
However, with the scientific expedition about to begin this year, he was extremely troubled by the thought of his good-for-nothing son!
He might only ever be a minor county magistrate in his lifetime, but what if he gets old and retires, and the Liu family has no successor? He would be ashamed before his ancestors!
Now, he only has two paths to choose from: one is to urge his son to study hard and pass the imperial examination; the other is for him to receive a promotion, which would allow him to find a better family for his son's future marriage, someone who could help him in the future...
Sigh, both of these paths are difficult!
"Master, something terrible has happened! The young master has hit someone at school!"
"What?"
Magistrate Liu was shocked and immediately became furious!
He was racking his brains here, trying to find a way out for his son's future, but his son just kept causing trouble!
"Master, the young master is being held captive by the servants of the Peng family. Talk, talk!"
The pageboy had a bruised and swollen face, looking quite miserable, with blood seeping from many places on his body.
Upon hearing the question, he found it difficult to speak and stammered, not daring to utter a word.
"Master Peng? What did he say?"
Upon hearing this, Magistrate Liu's heart skipped a beat. This Master Peng, relying on his sister's marriage to the prefect and her becoming his concubine, was incredibly arrogant. No wonder he had the audacity to detain his son...
"He said that if the Peng family wanted to release their young master, you should hand over the gambling dens in all the towns of Peach Blossom County to him, and the government would not be allowed to shut them down in the future."
The visitor sighed and said, "This Master Zhao is taking advantage of the opportunity to ask for an exorbitant price!"
"Heh~"
Magistrate Liu sneered. Although he only had this one son, the Confucian classics he had read, the teachings of his mentor, and the mutual respect among his colleagues all instilled in him an upright and incorruptible character!
If it's for the sake of his son, then gambling should be allowed to flourish in every town and village of the county under his jurisdiction. He might as well not have this son at all!
"Young Master was wrong to hit someone first, but this time he did it to stand up for a poor scholar, he really didn't mean to bully others on purpose, Master~"
Seeing that the master seemed to be giving up on rescuing the young master, the pageboy quickly knelt down, kowtowed, and explained the cause of the incident.
"oh?"
Magistrate Liu's previously unpleasant expression immediately changed.
As long as the son didn't intentionally provoke or hit anyone, there's still hope!
"It's true. It turns out that young master Peng was bullying a student who had just been promoted from the Yellow Class to the Heaven Class in the academy. The young master saw this, appreciated the student's talent, and couldn't bear it, so he stood up for him..."
After hearing the report, Magistrate Liu understood.
However, at this moment he wasn't too worried about his own son; instead, he became interested in this young student who had risen from the Yellow Class to the Heaven Class...
If this is true, and if he takes the other person as a disciple and supports them, perhaps...
Thinking of this, he straightened his hair ornament and clothes, and said coldly:
"Never mind your young master for now, he'll be fine. Take me to see that young boy first."
The pageboy, startled, told the truth:
"Reporting to Master, that person has also been captured by the servants of the Peng family!"
"Uh~"
Magistrate Liu stood with his hands behind his back, and after a moment made his arrangements...
Here, Aoyama, who had originally planned to close the shop after cleaning it up, suddenly became restless.
Then a stumbling figure rushed over. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was his brother-in-law, Wu Changjun, who had been beaten beyond recognition!
"Sister, brother-in-law, it's...it's me!"
Upon seeing his brother-in-law, Wu Changjun first identified himself, then tried to remain calm and said:
"Quickly, save Qingyun!"
"Books, academies!"
After saying that, she fainted.
"Changjun!"
The commotion on Qingshan's side was quite loud. Qingsong and Dashi were the first to notice it. When they came over, they found him holding a person whose face they couldn't see clearly and calling out to Changjun. Only then did they realize what was happening.
"Big brother, how did Changjun get beaten up like this?"
"Brother, leave Changjun to me, Xiaoshi and I will take him to Huichuntang for treatment!"
Xiao Ma and Xiao Hu also came over. Seeing Chang Jun's miserable state, they immediately grabbed their weapons and declared angrily:
"Green hills and green pines, we've closed the shop. We'll accompany you to the academy to find Qingyun!"
"Don't hesitate, let's split up and go find Qingyun!"
Qingshan and his second brother exchanged a glance, then nodded. He handed his brother-in-law over to his eldest cousin, led over the oxcart, and invited his brothers to get in. They then drove off to the academy.
"Thump thump thump~"
After the oxcart had driven away, Da Shi gestured for his younger brother to help Chang Jun steady himself, then, holding a long whip, gently lashed the ox's rump.
"Giddy up!"
I don't know what happened, I just hope that Qingshan and his brothers can find Qingyun safely!
Wujia Village —
The sky gradually darkened, but the sons who should have returned home did not come back!
This made Jiang Yue uneasy, and she lost her appetite.
"Mother, perhaps my husband and second brother were delayed on the road. Why don't you eat something to tide you over?"
Although Da Xue was also very anxious, she pretended to be calm and tried her best to take good care of her mother-in-law and sister-in-law.
"Yaoyao, you're still growing, listen to your sister-in-law, have a bowl of steamed egg custard first."
Qingyao shook her head, and said sensibly:
"No, Mother, Sister-in-law, I want to wait for my brothers to come back so we can eat together."
Jiang Yue sighed, pushed open the door, and looked around for a while.
Just then, the familiar oxcart returned; it was her nephew driving it back. Jiang Yue's joy lasted only a moment before she realized something was wrong!
Where are Aoyama and the others?
"Third Aunt, something terrible has happened!"
As Daishi drove closer, bad news came rushing in...
When Da Xue saw her younger brother, whose face was bruised and swollen and bandaged like a zongzi (a type of rice dumpling), she covered her mouth and silently shed tears.
What happened to my younger brother? Where is my husband? How are my second and third brothers?
After listening to her nephew's description, Jiang Yue took a deep breath and gave the instructions:
"Da Shi, please help take Chang Jun back to your younger brother and sister-in-law's house."
"Hey, Daxue, you'll have to work hard. Go back to your parents' home and help your mother take care of Changjun."
"Yaoyao, be good. Go back to the old house with your eldest cousin and stay at your grandparents' house tonight."
"Third Aunt, what are you planning to do?"
"Mother, where are you going?"
"Mom, I'll go with you~"
The first reaction from the crowd was that they were instinctively worried about their third aunt/mother-in-law.
"I'll go to the village entrance to pick up Qingshan and the others and take them home."
Jiang Yue lied and made up a random excuse to appease the younger generation.
But when she finally managed to fool the younger generation and hurriedly arrived at the village entrance, ready to go to town alone to find someone, she discovered that a large crowd had already gathered there...
“It’s so late, we’re worried about you, a woman, going on a long trip.”
"That's right, that's right. Just stay home and wait for news. Leave everything else to us men!"
"Our Wu Family Village isn't one to be bullied by everyone!"
"They dare to hurt the younger generation of our Wu Family Village! We'll beat them to a pulp!"
........
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