An enemy of the past—-2
An enemy of the past—-2
Yun Zhao shook his head and then replied, "As I said …they have money but …" he lowered his voice and added, " Not wits. I heard a rumour from my wife, that their family went to the capital to do business but they made a loss which was why they came back to this small city. Even though it is not as grand as the capital, they can still live in comfort here."
" More importantly, they also have large plots of land which can be opened anytime but they don't do it, instead of opening the land and collecting a fixed pay, they would rather ask the residents of the town to come and help them turn the soil over but neither the residents nor the masters know how to make a barren land fertile which is why its just waste of effort."
From Yun Zhao's explanation, Su Wan understood the gist of the situation. Though there were landowners, they were not willing to open land and hand it to the commoners as they were selfish to make all the profit by themselves without handing a penny to another person.
However, they were foolish and not used to doing work which was why they were making continuous losses but that wasn't all, since their lands were generating no output then ——
" Did they pay taxes?" Su Wan suddenly asked.
" No," Yun Zhao once again shook his head as he curled his lips mockingly and continued speaking, " Each time it is their turn to pay taxes they will make a fuss. Saying that their lands did not generate any output and thus cannot pay … what's more, they have connections with a fourth-ranking official as the daughter of the master of that family is his wife. Thus, the magistrates who came before you did not make things difficult for them."
" Hah!" Su Wan already had an inkling that this family was playing the magistrate by their noses. They might be foolish when it came to farming but from the looks of it, they were quite skilled when it came to saving money.
Even those fishermen who almost lost their life had to pay taxes but somehow these landowners did not have to worry about these taxes! How fantastic!
" What a mess," Headmaster Yuan turned to look at Fei Qinfan and asked, " Is this how your father does his work? Just a small fourth-ranking official is bullying commoners like this? Do you guys want another rebellion?"
Because headmaster Yuan was known for not mincing his words, he was quite straightforward as he scolded Fei Qinfan who did not say anything and lowered his head.
Though he was raucous, he was quite scared of Headmaster Yuan since this old man was his teacher when he was young. And till now, Fei Qinfan remembered the hits he received when he made headmaster Yuan upset by not doing his homework properly.
" I will… I will write a letter to Father and have him investigate this matter," since Fei Qinfan was banking on making a huge profit from this town, he could not allow this family to ruin it for him.
He turned to look at Yan Zhao and asked, " What is the name of the official and the head of the family?"
Yan Zhao was a smart man even though headmaster Yuan and Fei Qinfan only whispered to each other, he could sense that these men's background was not that simple which was why he was extremely polite in his reply,
" Replying to the young master, the current head of the family is Qi Zhen," Yan Zhao replied. " He married the eldest daughter of the head of the household before he passed away, and thus became the head."
No sooner did Yan Zhao bring the name Qi Zhen up, than the always-smiling Father Lin stiffened.
He had heard this name months ago but even though it had been so many days, he still remembered the torture and suffering that he went under this surname Qi.
Lin Jing and the rest also turned to look at Father Lin whose face was pale and expression taut before turning to look at Yun Zhao. It was Lin Chen who decided to bite the bullet as he asked,
" This Qi Zhen, did he come here from the Qi village in the north?"
Yun Zhao's eyes flashed with surprise before he nodded, "That's right, young master. Qi Zhen indeed came to this place from the north, his village was raided and all his family's belongings were snatched by his brother and a slave with surname Lin."
" He and his family are truly pitiful people but they are willing to work hard."
No sooner did Yun Zhao finish speaking, clouds of rage and resentment fell upon the Lin brothers.
Very well, this man not only used a sobbing story to win the heart of the young miss of that rich landowner's family but he also spread lies about their father and his late brother!
What a selfish and cruel man!
" Stay calm," Su Wan turned to look at her husbands who were raging, she was afraid that they will rush ahead and barge inside the house where Qi Zhen was living, and then turned to look at Yun Zhao and asked with a smile, " And the official, what is his name?"
" Lai Hai," replied Yun Zhao feeling a bit weird when he saw the angry expressions on the faces of the five young men. What were they so angry about?
Su Wan could sense Yun Zhao's confusion but this was their family's matter which was why she turned to look at Yun Zhao and succinctly changed the topic as she said, " I have taken a look at the fish which the fishermen catch and I also know where the fault lies. If you trust me then I can help the lives of fishermen get better."