Chapter 87: A New Story 1/3

Sun Juren brought people from the Sun family village to complain and act in front of Magistrate Zhang. They were all tenants of the Sun family village.

Whenever there is chaos in the world, households are left empty and people are displaced, causing the fields to become barren.

Thus, at the beginning of a new dynasty, most people generally had land.

But as time passed, land consolidation became more severe, and the number of landless people increased.

In Chongcheng County, as long as the common people had land, most of them could live fairly well, but if they didn’t have land… their lives would definitely be difficult.

Some people would work as laborers at the docks to make a living, while others would become servants in wealthy households. Of course, the most common option was to become a tenant farmer and lease land from wealthy landowners.

There were many tenant farmers living in the villages near Chongcheng County. Some of them didn’t even have household registration and had been living in the villages for a long time.

Some families treated their tenant farmers well, so their lives were relatively decent, but some treated them poorly, causing these tenant farmers to often suffer from exhaustion and hunger, and many of them died young.

But it didn’t matter; as long as the wealthy households had land, they could always find people willing to cultivate the land for them.

Sun Juren himself didn’t have the intention of mistreating the tenant farmers, but the managers under him always wanted to make money. As a result, the tenant farmers of the Sun family lived very poorly, each one looking emaciated.

Bringing this group of people to cause trouble could indeed show Magistrate Zhang the plight of those who wanted to build the dock, but… these people really didn’t have much fighting power.

The coolies who were digging mud were much stronger than them, and they quickly subdued the tenant farmers.

Dr. Zhang, who had just come down from the boat, and Magistrate Zhang, who had injured his waist, came to the side of the fallen old Zeng together.

This old Zeng was actually a tenant farmer from Sun Juren’s village who had fallen seriously ill and was not expected to survive. Sun Juren had others bring him over to create a scene and perhaps even cause someone’s death.

Old Zeng was already critically ill, and amidst the chaos earlier, he had been kicked a few times. Now, he couldn’t be saved anymore. However, Magistrate Zhang and Dr. Zhang examined his condition and determined one thing — this man hadn’t been beaten to death; he had died from an internal abscess.

His abdomen was swollen like that of a woman about to give birth, indicating he had been sick for a long time.

“He wasn’t beaten to death,” Magistrate Zhang declared, clutching his waist.

Dr. Zhang nodded in agreement.

“I told you I didn’t hit him!” the young constable, who had been framed, breathed a sigh of relief.

At that moment, Jinliushu interjected, “Regardless, a life has been lost. These people still want to frame the county magistrate… Let’s quickly take the body to the county office.”

With that, Jin Liushu looked towards the large ship in the river.

The constable also noticed Qu Yunqing’s rented boat by the river and immediately called out to Qu Yunqing, who was standing at the bow, enjoying the spectacle, “We need to use your boat; quickly lower the gangplank!”

Qu Yunqing, who was about to leave after watching the commotion, hesitated. Normally, common folks wouldn’t dare to offend a constable, and Qu Yunqing was no exception.

He forced a smile and instructed the boat owner to lower the gangplank. Soon, the boat was filled with people.

In the midst of winter, nobody had bathed, and the smell emanating from this group was imaginable. Although Qu Yunqing was rough around the edges, he had spent a silver coin last night to take a bath in the city’s public bathhouse, leaving himself clean and fresh.

Sitting in a corner, Qu Yunqing opened a window. As the cold wind blew in, he felt like shedding tears.

Meanwhile, the tenant farmers had fallen silent, but among the troublemakers were some close associates of Sun Juren, who continued to curse County Magistrate Gou.

Although Dr. Zhang had confirmed after examining the deceased that he hadn’t been beaten to death, seeing someone vehemently badmouth County Magistrate Gou, who had mobilized so many laborers to build the dock, made him feel uneasy.

If County Magistrate Gou wasn’t a good official, wouldn’t these people be walking into a trap by going to the county office?

He wanted to reassure these people, but he was afraid of being seen as siding with them and getting into trouble himself…

After some contemplation, Dr. Zhang gave a reassuring look to one of the men.

If County Magistrate Gou turned out to be corrupt, once he escaped, he would go to the prefectural capital and report to Magistrate Zhang!

Magistrate Zhang was known to be a good official, and he would definitely punish County Magistrate Gou!

Receiving Dr. Zhang’s reassuring gaze, Sun Juren’s associate breathed a sigh of relief internally — Magistrate Zhang seemed to believe them, which was good!

Although it was the laborers who had apprehended the man earlier, not all of them had boarded the ship. Most of them were too timid to go to the county office.

However, Jin Liushu boarded the ship. He wasn’t afraid to go to the county office; he just didn’t want to work.

At this moment, Jin Liushu asked Magistrate Zhang, who had also come aboard, in a low voice, “Magistrate Zhang, why are you here too?”

“I came to see,” Magistrate Zhang replied.

Originally, Magistrate Zhang had planned to quietly leave after the free clinic, but now that such a thing had happened…

Someone was definitely targeting County Magistrate Gou, and he intended to catch the mastermind behind it!

With these thoughts in mind, Magistrate Zhang subconsciously looked around him but realized Wang Bohan was not there. Only one of his two attendants had followed him aboard the ship.

Although the ship was quite large, it couldn’t accommodate too many people, so Wang Bohan hadn’t managed to get on.

Well, it didn’t matter that Wang Bohan wasn’t there. Magistrate Zhang already knew where Wang Bohan’s information had come from!

Upon hearing this, Jinliushu’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Dr. Zhang, I also want to go to the county office to see. I heard County Magistrate Gou is exceptionally strict in handling cases. This time, I can witness it firsthand!”

Magistrate Zhang asked Jin Liushu, “Is your waist better?”

Jin Liushu grinned, “Magistrate Zhang, let’s not talk about that. It’s rather embarrassing to mention!”

Magistrate Zhang: “…”

He couldn’t see why this person would be embarrassed.

This man in front of him seemed like a little rascal who was pampered at home.

The large boat sailed away, leaving Wang Bohan stranded, feeling miserable.

He couldn’t stand the smell emanating from those people and didn’t want to get too close to them, which is why he hadn’t followed Magistrate Zhang closely.

But just because of this… as the boat filled up, he couldn’t get on!

He had spoken ill of County Magistrate Gou to Magistrate Zhang, only to have it proven false within a day, and he had inadvertently caused Magistrate Zhang to get beaten up…

Wang Bohan took a deep breath, wishing he could curse “Thief Sun has mistaken me” to the heavens.

The large boat finally stopped near the county office.

Seeing the constables disembark with people, Qu Yunqing breathed a sigh of relief. He was planning to have the boatman take him home when the boatman said, “Sir, we agreed on one or two silver coins to rent my boat for most of the day. It’s already time.”

This boat was usually used for pleasure cruises on the lake, and he didn’t want to row too far out.

It was only because business was slow in the winter that he had agreed to come to Chongcheng County, but he had already specified the time and couldn’t stay too late.

“Wait a bit longer; I’ll pay more!” Qu Yunqing said.