sjar Chapter 438 Climbing and biting
Chapter 438 Climbing and biting
These are all human nature, and he believes that no official can truly treat everyone equally.
Anyway, he doesn't know how others do it, so he can't do it himself.
There is no need to choose between Zhulin Village and Xinghua Village. He will naturally stand on the side of Xinghua Village.
What's more, he didn't have a very good impression of Zhu Lei. He still remembered that Zhu Lei went to visit the county government office when he just took office, and he heard the implicit meaning of his words clearly.
However, he did not agree, nor did he take the silver note handed over by Zhu Lei. He still remembered that his original intention of coming to Wuning County to be the county magistrate was not to make money.
If it was really for money, he wouldn't have to do this. No matter how badly his father treated him, he would never leave him short of money. Therefore, as the legitimate son of the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery, he had no shortage of money.
He directly rejected Zhu Lei, and later asked someone to investigate Zhulin Village and Zhu Lei. It would have been fine if he hadn't investigated, but he was shocked when he did.
He didn't expect that Zhu Lei, just a small village chief, had done so many evil things.
He originally wanted to get rid of Zhu Lei to prevent him from harming other people. However, he had too many things to do, either dealing with the locust plague or finding ways to resettle the victims. He had not yet found the time to deal with Zhu Lei.
He never expected that Zhu Lei would bump into him like this. This time he would definitely take the opportunity to get rid of him.
"Zhu Lei, you disregarded the law and led a village of people to come to Xinghua Village to steal food. Do you know your crime?"
Zhu Lei, who was crying bitterly, thought that no matter what, the county magistrate would not pursue his fault because he lost his grandson. Instead, he would cause trouble for Xinghua Village and ask Xinghua Village to compensate him.
If compensation was offered, he was not a greedy person. As long as Lord Yang ordered him to move the grain away, he would not care about his grandson's death and would not blame Xinghua Village for his grandson's life. He would not use this incident as an excuse to retaliate in the future.
He also thought that since the food was compensation given by Xinghua Village for the death of his grandson, should the silver be returned?
No matter what, it is forty taels of silver, a considerable sum of money. How can it be given to Xinghua Village for nothing?
Just as he was thinking about getting the food, he would present it to the King of Chen, and thus catch the King of Chen's eye. Riches and glory were just around the corner.
Thinking about the wonderful life in the future, Zhu Lei no longer had the heart to cry.
But he knew in his heart that if he wanted to realize his dream and live a rich life in the future, he had to insist that his grandson was killed by Xinghua Village.
He couldn't stop crying either. Only when he was sad enough and cried painfully enough could he arouse other people's sympathy, make others stand on his side and speak well of him.
It’s just that the thoughts in his mind were very beautiful, and the reality was indeed very cruel. When he heard what Yang Zhijin said, he was stunned.
What does it mean that he brought an entire village to Xinghua Village to steal food?
How could he steal food? He just gave silver. That was buying, not robbing.
But he knew that there was a huge difference between robbing and buying, and he couldn't admit it.
"Master Yang, I am wronged. I didn't do that."
"Oh, who are these people? Do you know them?"
Yang Zhijin pointed at the villagers who put the food in front of them for fear that others would snatch it. Zhu Lei looked up. How could he not recognize them? They were all from Zhulin Village.
Even if he wanted to deny it, the villagers of Zhulin would not agree. He has been the village chief of Zhulin Village for many years and knows the people in his village very well.
He believed that if he denied it, he would be bitten hard by the villagers, which was something he could not bear.
He had just lost his grandson and was still hoping to marry the Prince of Chen, bring honor to his family and live a life of luxury. He couldn't afford to be held back by the peasants he looked down upon.
"Master Yang, I know them, but we are here to buy grain. It was the people of Xinghua Village who didn't know how to appreciate it and didn't agree to sell us grain. That's why there was a little friction. It's not a big deal, so don't take it to heart."
From the information he got from the investigation, he knew that Zhu Lei was a person who would do anything to achieve his goals. When he heard what Zhu Lei said, he did not think it was strange. Instead, he felt that this was how it should be. Otherwise, it would not be possible for a small village to gradually develop into a large village with more than 2,000 people.
Moreover, every previous county magistrate did not get rid of Zhu Lei, and allowed him to serve as the village chief of Zhulin Village peacefully.
The key point is that these are all obvious things, but Zhu Lei can still lie with his eyes open. Even though he has experienced many ups and downs, he has to admire Zhu Lei's shamelessness.
However, he did not continue to pay attention to Zhu Lei, but looked at Liu Quan.
"Someone, bring Liu Quan over here."
"Yes, my lord."
"Don't touch me, I'll go by myself."
Liu Quan knew that he was in trouble this time. He had finally got the opportunity to do something for the second young lady.
As long as he can do things well this time, he won't have to worry about his future.
Who would have expected this result? Now that the food had been obtained, County Magistrate Yang came to Xinghua Village again.
He didn't know who County Magistrate Yang was, but he knew he couldn't escape from him.
What's more, he also wanted to be arrested by County Magistrate Yang, because no matter what, he would just go to jail.
He believed that it would be better to go to jail than to let the Prince of Chen punish him.
Liu Quan walked up to Yang Zhijin and knelt down with a plop.
Without waiting for Yang Zhijin to say anything, Liu Quan admitted his crime on his own initiative.
"Master Yang, I came here just for the food of Xinghua Village, but I paid silver according to the original price of two cents per pound, so that Xinghua Village did not suffer any loss. As for the death of Zhu Lei's grandson, it was purely caused by chaos. So many people acted together, who knows who killed Zhu Sijin? It can only be blamed on bad luck."
"Master Liu, what did you say? My grandson has a bad fate. It's all the fault of Xinghua Village. If Xinghua Village didn't refuse to give us food, there wouldn't be a fight. Otherwise, my grandson wouldn't have died."
Seeing that he was kneeling too close to Zhu Lei, Liu Quan quietly moved aside and continued, "How can you blame Xinghua Village for this? Xinghua Village is so innocent. They are peaceful and have done nothing, but you, Zhulin Village, covet them. You even shamelessly asked them to hand over their life-saving food. You can do such a shameless thing with a clear conscience. What else can you not dare to do? I would say that Zhu Sijin's death is retribution, and it is Zhu Lei's retribution. Who told you to have evil intentions and want to get something for nothing by robbing Xinghua Village of its food?"
"Oh, I was wrong. It's not just Xinghua Village. You also want to take away the food from the six villages of Lianhua Village, Taohua Village, Shitou Village, Guihua Village, Meihua Village, and Zhoujia Village."
"No, I didn't. I didn't think so."
"Really? Do you dare to swear that you have never coveted the food of the other six villages? If you lie, God will strike you down."
How could Zhu Lei make such a vicious oath? He originally felt that his grandson's death was his retribution, the retribution for the countless bad things he had done over the years.