The Luo family of Shengjing was not Luo Cheng's family. Luo Cheng was just a distant relative of the Luo family. If you were to trace the lineage, they were probably only a tiny, distant connection.
If things had gone according to normal procedure, Luo Cheng would have spent his whole life doing small business in this small county town. His life wouldn't have been great, but it wouldn't have been bad either.
But the strange thing is that sometimes when luck comes, you can't stop it.
On that day, Luo Cheng was taken by a relative to the Luo family in Shengjing to attend the annual family banquet. Luo Cheng was not originally included in the plan, but the person in charge suddenly developed a high fever the day before departure and had to withdraw with regret.
By the time of Luo Cheng's generation, he was the only male left. In the end, Luo Cheng, the last of the last substitutes, got incredibly lucky and went to a family banquet with his relatives.
That was Luo Cheng's first time stepping into Shengjing. He was immediately stunned by the sights before him as soon as he entered the city. In his words, the ground here was as if it were made of gold.
The men, women, young and old in Shengjing City were all dressed in gorgeous and fashionable clothes. He glanced at his own clothes and suddenly felt inferior.
Although this was the best piece of clothing in his wardrobe, compared to them, it was not even as good as what a beggar on the street wore.
At this moment, he felt utterly inferior. Even at the family banquet, Luo Cheng was absent-minded, his mind constantly filled with the images of those people's magnificent attire.
After several rounds of drinks and dishes, Luo Cheng, who was practically invisible, felt a bit bored. He didn't recognize anyone around him, and listening to them chat, he inexplicably felt a sense of loneliness.
The food on the table was exquisite and delicious, but to Luo Cheng it tasted like chewing wax. He was intoxicated by his own state of mind, even without the wine. After a few drinks, Luo Cheng felt his legs were weak and his head was spinning. He had planned to find a secluded place to rest after the family dinner ended.
Contrary to his wishes, the urge to urinate made him uncomfortable. He glanced at the huge house and the maze-like, winding corridors, as if every step was a stumbling block preventing him from reaching the outhouse.
He hesitated for a moment, then gently lifted his buttocks, and immediately sat down again. After repeating this several times, his urge to urinate became stronger, and a lot of sweat appeared on his forehead.
Eventually, his strange behavior was noticed by those around him.
The person who told him the location of the outhouse was a kind person, and it was because of his kindness that everything Luo Cheng achieved later became possible.
He smiled faintly, not mocking or ridiculing Luo Cheng for his poverty and restraint. He simply told him in a low voice that if he walked all the way to the end of the road, there would be another path behind the artificial hill next to the garden. If he walked to the end of that path again, he would see the outhouse.
Luo Cheng felt relieved. He glanced gratefully at the man and walked in the direction he had pointed.
Clearly, he wasn't lying to Luo Cheng; Luo Cheng had indeed found the outhouse at the end of an inconspicuous path behind the artificial hill.
After relieving himself, Luo Cheng felt less drunk and more relaxed than ever before. Just as he was gazing at the beautiful scenery, he suddenly heard a "thump" in his ear.
The sound was all too familiar to Luo Cheng, who was an expert swimmer. He quickly looked to the side and saw a girl who looked like a maidservant jumping up and down anxiously, shouting in one direction, "Help! Young Master has fallen into the water!"
Upon hearing this, Luo Cheng jumped into the lake without hesitation and swam towards the ripples. Soon, the young master, soaking wet, was rescued. Fortunately, Luo Cheng reacted in time, and the young master was unharmed, only choking on some water from the shock.
Today is a family banquet. After the maid's commotion, a large crowd gathered around. The master and mistress are people of status, and under the watchful eyes of everyone, they naturally could not punish the maid too severely. They could only impatiently shoo the maid away, and felt very grateful to Luo Cheng, who was panting heavily with his head down.
"It's you?" A serious yet surprised male voice entered Luo Cheng's ears, and a sharp gaze made Luo Cheng shiver involuntarily.
Luo Cheng looked up and froze on the spot. The person who spoke was the same person who had just told him the location of the outhouse. At this moment, Luo Cheng felt very complicated. Looking at his disheveled appearance, he lowered his head with some self-consciousness.
"What's your name?" the man asked, his voice still full of authority.
Faced with such a powerful aura, Luo Cheng said tremblingly, "I...I am Luo Cheng!"
The relative who brought Luo Cheng earlier thought Luo Cheng had done something wrong and scrambled to the man's feet, kowtowing and begging for forgiveness: "Grand Tutor Luo, Luo Cheng is just an ignorant peasant, please don't blame him!"
"Grand Tutor Luo?" Luo Cheng was even more astonished upon hearing this. He never expected that he would actually save the Grand Tutor's son. Thinking of this, Luo Cheng felt everything go black before his eyes, and in an instant, his eyes rolled back and he fainted.
After that, Luo Cheng's career went much more smoothly, and at that moment, Luo Cheng also understood the meaning of "a rich person can kill a group of people by plucking a single hair".
Grand Tutor Luo merely stretched out a finger, and Luo Cheng's business saw a tremendous improvement. He, who had previously been struggling to make a living, became the most respected Luo merchant in the area.
Unfortunately, his success in his career did not bring him wealth in terms of offspring. Luo Cheng married several wives, but none of them bore him any children.
Just when Luo Cheng was at his wit's end, his first wife suddenly became pregnant. After ten months of pregnancy, Luo Miaoran was born, but she died from severe bleeding.
Luo Miaoran was pampered by Luo Cheng since childhood. She was arrogant and domineering, bullying the weak. Because her father was related to Grand Tutor Luo, everyone who was bullied dared not speak out.
...
Inside the government office.
Magistrate Duan paced anxiously. Although he had arranged the best prison food for Jiang Ling and the village chief, he knew the prison was a filthy and stinking place. He couldn't bear to let his beloved stay in such a place for even a second.
Fortunately, Zhao Liu was fast enough and soon brought back a lot of news about the Luo family.
Over the years, Luo had received many favors from Grand Tutor Luo, and gradually forgot his former self. He became arrogant, domineering, and ruthless, resorting to any means to gain benefits, causing endless suffering to the surrounding people. A while ago, a batch of black coal (commonly known as coal in modern times) was discovered in the mountains of Nanxin Village. In principle, private individuals do not have the right to mine this kind of black coal.
Luo Cheng produced a mining document bearing the official seal of Grand Tutor Luo, proving that Grand Tutor Luo had authorized Luo Cheng to undertake this mining task. The magistrate of Guihua County was only a seventh-rank official; how could he refuse the order of a first-rank Grand Tutor? Although suspicious, he couldn't verify it and could only turn a blind eye and let Luo Cheng take on the job.
Initially, the mining progress was quite good, but later the coal mine suddenly collapsed, and many people died because of the coal mine. Luo Cheng didn't care about this at all, and casually compensated the families of the victims with a few taels of silver before sending them away.
Although the families of these victims were unwilling, they could only shed tears in silence because of Luo Cheng's status.
"What? Liu Zi, is what you said true?" Upon hearing this, Magistrate Duan slammed his fist on the table in a fit of rage.
Zhao Liu nodded: "That's absolutely true. The coal mine is still in operation, but because of what happened last time, they can only hire villagers from villages further away from Nanxin Village to work on it!"
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