Turmoil was brewing in Weishi County; officials at all levels of the county government were on edge, and the local gentry and wealthy families who had previously been closely associated with Magistrate Zhong were living in constant fear, fearing they might be implicated.

Before long, a group of clerks from both the Tax Bureau and the Ironworks was arrested.

It turned out that the coal mine currently being excavated by the county government had been mined without imperial approval; the coal extracted had been sold elsewhere by Magistrate Zhong’s men, and the silver had all ended up in his own pockets.

The officials in charge of the mine were detained, while the commoners who had been forced to perform labor—though they had suffered—were fortunate enough to be released and sent home.

That troublemaker Yan Xiaobao was back in the village. Just as Yan Xiaoyu had finished complaining to Yan Xiaoyue and the others, Yu Sanlang brought them some big news—Yan Xiaobao was gone.

Yan Xiaobao was the only person from Xiling Village performing corvée labor, so he hadn’t heard that the laborers had been dismissed. It wasn’t until the laborers from neighboring villages began returning one by one that Yan Xingsheng and the others finally got the news.

Urged by Tao Cuiqing to go pick him up, Yan Xingsheng set out calmly, saying that Yan Yonghe had made special arrangements and that the official in charge would look after Yan Xiaobao—nothing could happen to him. But when he arrived there, he was stunned.

The area where Yan Xiaobao and the others had been performing their labor service was somewhat remote,  located deep in the mountains more than twenty kilometers from Lantai Town.

By the time Yan Xingsheng arrived, the coal mine had already been taken over by men sent by the county magistrate. According to the official in charge, the conscripted laborers had been leaving in waves over the past few days, with the last group having departed yesterday.

“After we took over this place, we conducted a full headcount of the personnel and found no underage youths.”

A sense of foreboding welled up in Yan Xingsheng’s heart, and he immediately panicked.

Feeling lost and at a loss, it was the official in charge who took the initiative to bring over the former manager of the mine.

Upon hearing the name Yan Xiaobao, the man’s expression changed, and he cautiously sized up Yan Xingsheng. 

“Yan Xiaobao and a fellow villager from your village named Wang Ergou got into a fight with you. While they were wrestling, they fell into an abandoned mine shaft, and by the time they were rescued, both of them were already dead.”

Upon hearing the sudden tragic news, Yan Xingsheng felt his vision go dark; he didn’t even remember how he made his way back to Xiling Village.

At home, Tao Cuiqing was slaughtering chickens and ducks, happily awaiting her son’s return—only to be met instead by a cold, lifeless body. Unable to bear such a blow, she fainted, and when she came to, her mind was no longer quite right.

Yan Xingsheng and Old Master Yan were heartbroken and filled with grief; they longed to tear the murderer who had killed their son and grandson to pieces. Wielding their shoulder poles, they stormed to Wang Ergou’s house, where they attacked the Wang family, smashed their belongings to smithereens, and beat Wang Ergou’s father until his head was bloodied.

The Wang family, who had long feared Yan Yonghe, were somewhat intimidated by the sight of the Yan father and son charging toward them with such fury. Upon hearing that Wang Ergou had killed Yan Xiaobao, they grew even more nervous and initially dared not fight back.

But Old Master Yan struck with brutal force, swinging the shoulder pole directly at Old Man Wang’s head. In his agony, Old Man Wang lost his senses and pushed him aside. As Old Master Yan fell, his head struck the steps, and he was immediately immobilized. 

Seeing Old Wang push his father, Yan Xingsheng’s rage flared even more, and he struck with even greater ferocity.

The villagers—whether unwilling or afraid to intervene—didn’t step in to break up the fight. Just as it seemed Wang Ergou’s father was about to be beaten to death, it was Yu Chunying’s plea that finally brought Yan Xingsheng to his senses.

“—If someone dies, Mr. Yan, the Candidate, might be implicated. We’d better hurry and take the old man to the clinic!”

Old Master Yan and Old Man Wang were both taken to the town clinic. One had caught a cold, and the other was seriously injured; it seemed likely that both would be bedridden for some time to come.

Upon hearing that something had happened at home, Yan Yongfang rushed back to her parents’ house in a panic, only to be met with a cold reception from the Yan family.

Yan Xingsheng unleashed a torrent of abuse on her from the very start, finally saying coldly, “It was all your brilliant idea! Are you satisfied now? If it weren’t for you, how could Xiaobao have lost his life? How could your mother and grandfather have ended up like this?”

Old Master Yan looked as if he would kill her to atone for Yan Xiaobao’s death.

Yan Yongfang had originally intended to stay and take care of Tao Cuiqing, but in the end, disheartened, she left. 

Yu Sanlang recounted the events surrounding the Yan family to Yan Xiaoyu and the others, concluding with a sigh of regret: “Everyone in the village says the Yan family has reaped what they sowed.”

Yan Xiaoyu felt not the slightest sympathy for the Yan family members who had met such a fate; he was only worried that Yan Xingmao might have a change of heart and get involved with the Yan family again. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.

“Uncle Yan said he won’t get involved in the Yan family’s affairs, so you and Aunt Qiuhua can rest easy.”

Yan Xiaoyu and He Qiuhua exchanged a glance and nodded: “That’s settled, then.”

Yu Sanlang was very busy these days; he’d come over this time to deliver vegetables to the Yuye Pavilion and to repay Yan Xiaoyu and Yan Shaocheng. Once he’d taken care of business, he left. After he was gone, Yan Xiaoyu and Yan Shaocheng discussed the matter for a while longer.

Although they had no say in government affairs, every move made by the provincial governor actually affected the lives of the people in Weishi County, so they had no choice but to pay close attention.

Perhaps because he was so busy, the provincial governor hadn’t yet turned his attention to Yan Yonghe and Qian Hong to give them a hard time. 

Yan Yonghe had always loved to curry favor with the powerful and lord it over others by relying on their influence. Qian Hong had even tried to use the influence of his legal advisor to seize Yan Xiaoyu’s shop, and the two of them had even considered using Yan Xiaoyu to curry favor with the county magistrate.

In the following chapters, whenever Yan Shaocheng went out to gather intelligence, Yan Xiaoyu always stayed behind.

On the fifth day of the second lunar month,

A squad of soldiers arrived at the Qian family’s tofu shop, led by Yan Yongfang. The soldiers carried out numerous wooden crates from the shop, as well as from the house that Yan Yongfang and Qian Hong had rented later on, and took Qian Hong away.

The onlookers buzzed with speculation.

“It’s all silver! This tofu shop looks so unassuming—how could it be making so much money?!” 

“How could that be from selling tofu? If that money were clean, the officials wouldn’t have seized it!”

“……”

After the officials left, the Qian Family Tofu Shop closed down. They gave up the large house they’d been renting, and most of their servants had already left.

But Yan Yongfang seemed to have stayed in the county rather than return home; Yan Xiaoyu spotted her twice more later, right at the entrance to the Qian family’s tofu shop.

Since the provincial governor had already tracked down Qian Hong, Yan Xiaoyu abandoned any thoughts of fanning the flames. He harbored no deep-seated grudge against her; in fact, he even felt a touch of sympathy for the girl. If Yan Yongfang was capable of extricating herself from the situation unscathed, he was more than happy to see it happen.

Yan Shaocheng went to make some inquiries and reported upon his return that Qian Hong’s offense was not serious; the Qian family had paid a substantial sum in compensation, and Qian Hong should be released after serving a few months in prison.

Yan Yonghe, on the other hand, had already caught the provincial governor’s attention, and his political career was likely over.

At this, Yan Xiaoyu was overjoyed—he was so happy he could have treated all the patrons at Yuye Pavilion to a free meal. 

He had thought the matter with the Qian family was settled, but on the tenth day of the second lunar month, Qian Hong’s parents showed up with two men and unleashed a torrent of abuse and blows on Yan Yongfang.

“You barren jinx who can’t bear a son—how dare you treat your husband this way! I’ll make sure you pay for this!”

“I know you resent Hong’er taking a concubine, but you’re nothing but a barren hen—what right do you have to occupy the spot without producing anything?!” 

“I say we should bring Shan’er up here and make this slut the concubine…”

The Qian family was making such a commotion and hurling such vile insults that a crowd of onlookers soon gathered outside the Qian family’s tofu shop. Outsiders, unaware of the situation, didn’t dare intervene.

Yan Yongfang, clutching her child and protected only by a single maidservant, was no match for Qian Hong’s parents; her face was already swollen from the slaps. Yan Xiaoyu called over some patrol officers nearby, and only then were the Qian couple—with their thuggish ways—and their entourage driven away.

In the days that followed, Yan Xiaoyu didn’t see Yan Yongfang. He had assumed she’d returned to Lantai Town, but to his surprise, a few days later, Yu Sanlang came by and said that Yan Yongfang had disappeared.

“Qian Hong’s parents came to our village and demanded that the Yan family hand her over, but Yan Yongfang never even went back to her parents’ house. I heard it’s not just Yan Yongfang—her daughter and that young maid who was with her have all vanished too!”

Yan Xiaoyu said nothing, but he suspected in his heart that Yan Yongfang must have run away.

Leaving Weishi County for elsewhere required a travel permit, and with a child in tow, Yan Yongfang’s journey would likely be arduous. But since neither the Qian nor the Yan families would tolerate her, leaving this place was ultimately a good thing for her.

“The sea is vast for fish to leap; the sky is wide for birds to fly”—those with ability can thrive anywhere they go. 

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

The provincial governor stayed in Weishi County for about a month before leaving. Before his departure, he came to the Yuye Pavilion for a meal.

Yan Shaocheng recognized him and had Yan Xiaoyu bake a cake, which he had a servant deliver.

It wasn’t that he wanted to curry favor with this high-ranking official; it was simply that the official’s arrival had truly saved the people of Weishi County. If this official hadn’t arrived in time, people in Weishi County would likely have frozen to death within the past two months—without even waiting until year’s end.

The villagers on the outskirts might have been able to find other ways to cope, but for the people in the city, if they couldn’t afford firewood or charcoal, they had no choice but to endure the cold. The prices of grain, firewood, and charcoal were all rising; if they went outside the city to gather firewood, they’d have to pay a gate tax upon returning, and whether they’d even find any was another matter.

The regulations set by Magistrate Zhong are truly enough to drive people to their deaths.

Fortunately, the provincial governor changed his itinerary at the last minute and came to Weishi County.

Upon his arrival, he took bold and decisive action, abolishing all the unreasonable miscellaneous taxes imposed by Magistrate Zhong. The heavy burden weighing on the people of Weishi County was finally lifted.

Magistrate Zhong, his legal advisor Fu, and their entire entourage had already been escorted to the capital. For the time being, the position of magistrate of Weishi County was being temporarily filled by the former deputy magistrate.

This deputy magistrate, An Shouzuo, was a straightforward man with no great talents, but he had not gone along with Magistrate Zhong’s corrupt practices. He had previously performed well under Magistrate Ji, but after Magistrate Zhong arrived and began relying heavily on his own people, An—lacking flexibility and unable to curry favor—was sidelined by Magistrate Zhong. Although he still held the title of deputy magistrate, he had no real authority.

In his temporary role as county magistrate, while he couldn’t achieve any notable accomplishments, at least he wouldn’t harm the common people the way Magistrate Zhong had.