The daily life of a space tycoon raising children, doting on his husband, and farming.

Chapter 89 Labeling [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

Qin Lizheng snorted and said meaningfully, "Brother Lin, a black sheep should not be allowed to live."

After saying that, he glanced at Lu Chengjing with disdain.

He's just a scholar with crippled hands and feet; he'll only ever be a scholar in this lifetime, nothing to worry about.

As for Shang Wan, who could strike up a conversation with Shan Dajun, Qin Lizheng looked down on her even more.

She's just relying on her good looks; she's fierce and disrespectful to elders, clearly not a respectable woman.

Shang Wan suddenly sneezed. Who was cursing at her?

Yuanyuan reached out her little hand to rub it for her.

"Brother Qin, I'm willing but unable to help," Village Chief Lin said with a bitter face, gesturing to Qin Lizheng to look at his sling arm. "If I continue to interfere, I'm afraid I'll lose my life."

"And my second son, if I hadn't really run out of options and wanted to ask you for advice, how could he have suffered such a misfortune and still be unconscious now?"

Village Chief Lin raised his hand to wipe away tears, his tone sorrowful, "If I continue to serve as village chief, I'm afraid I'll have to bury my child, and my family will be destroyed."

Qin Lizheng frowned deeply. "What are you saying? In broad daylight, under the clear sky, who would dare to murder for money?"

He glanced at the silent villagers, his words carrying a hint of reprimand, "I've seen everything you've done for Yushu Village over the years. Everyone here isn't blind. You can't say things like that again!"

The village chief, Lin, looked distressed and sighed, "Now that my hand is broken, I don't know when my second son will recover, and Er Ya is still lying at home. The only one left in the family who can take care of things is my eldest son, but he is also covered in injuries. With so many mouths to feed, if we don't have food, aren't we being forced to die?"

She became emotional again and tears welled up in her eyes.

With her shoulders slightly hunched and sobbing, anyone who didn't know the situation would really think that the whole village had ganged up on her family.

Zhang Er couldn't stand it anymore and was about to speak when Zhang Da stopped him.

Zhang glared at his younger brother, not allowing him to take the lead.

Zhang Er muttered something and turned his head away, too lazy to watch Village Chief Lin's sob story.

Village Chief Lin and Village Head Qin sang in unison, and apart from a few people who echoed them, no one in the large circle of people made a sound; they just stared at the two of them silently.

Qin Lizheng frowned slightly. What's wrong with the people of Elm Tree Village? Weren't they easy to instigate before?

Lu Chengjing can help him answer his questions.

The villagers' unusual reaction was simply due to the word "interests".

Apart from the Lin and Qiu families, there were a few other households in the village that lacked labor, and they all participated in the village's collective labor, their interests all tied together.

In the past, when it was not related to their own interests, the villagers would stand on the Lin family's side out of sympathy or other reasons, and it was nothing unusual for them to say a few words in support of the Lin family.

But now that it comes to distributing grain, if the Lin family gets more, they will get less. Don't think the villagers are stupid; everyone has a calculation in their mind.

In the past, it would have been fine; everyone would have assumed the Lin family would get a larger share, and one or two objections wouldn't have caused much of a stir.

Now that everyone's on another ship without the Lin family, only a fool would willingly give up their own interests.

Besides, they earned it through their labor, so why should they give it away?

The villagers' silence made it impossible for Village Chief Lin and Village Head Qin to continue their charade.

Qin, the village head, glanced at the officials, including Shan Dajun, who stood with their arms crossed. Thinking of the bribes he had given them when he arrived, he rolled his eyes and gave Village Chief Lin a wink. Village Chief Lin understood, wiped away his tears, and said, "The village doesn't know how to distribute this grain. We'd like to ask Brother Qin to decide."

Qin, the village head, cleared his throat and took over the conversation, saying righteously and sternly, "I have been a village head for twenty years and have never heard of any method of distributing grain according to labor points."

"The grain is disaster relief grain distributed by the imperial court. Its distribution must be carried out in accordance with the laws of the imperial court and the rules of our ancestors. The constables are watching closely. If you do not follow the rules of the imperial court, be careful that the constables arrest you and take you back to be beaten and imprisoned."

The crowd looked at each other in bewilderment, and some even shrank back in dismay. Why should they be punished with beatings and imprisonment just for distributing grain?

Qin Lizheng was very satisfied with the villagers' reaction. He glanced around at everyone, his authoritative gaze landing on Lu Chengjing. He said in a deep voice, "Lu Xiucai is a scholar, so naturally he understands the laws of the court better than an old country bumpkin like me. Don't you agree?"

The question was so perplexing that Lu Chengjing could neither answer yes nor no.

The answer is yes, and Lu Chengjing would be forced to agree with Qin Lizheng's theory, explaining that the method of calculating labor points was not feasible.

If he answered no, Qin Lizheng could immediately accuse Lu Chengjing of disregarding the law and disrespecting the imperial court.

Qin Lizheng deliberately set a trap for Lu Chengjing.

But who says you can only make multiple-choice questions?
Qin Lizheng knows how to use the imperial court's banner, but can't Lu Chengjing do the same?

Lu Chengjing closed the ledger and met Qin Lizheng's gaze expressionlessly.

"I am still young and I am afraid that I may have made mistakes in handling matters and failed everyone's trust. After much thought, in order to be on the safe side, I have shamelessly come to the county government to ask Lord An for advice on this method."

He paused slightly, a hint of doubt appearing on his face. "The magistrate praised this method as acceptable and beneficial to the village, suggesting it could be implemented. Is the village head questioning the magistrate's favoritism and abuse of power for personal gain?"

It's just labeling people, right? Let's label everyone together.

Shang Wan chuckled inwardly; a fox is a fox.

The law is dead, but Lord An is alive and in power.

On the day he entered the city, Lu Chengjing was wrongly accused of adultery. After the case was investigated, Lu Chengjing took the opportunity of casual conversation to explain this method to Lord An, and won Lord An's praise.

Now it's practically equivalent to having Lord An, a powerful figure, endorse you.

Qin Li's expression stiffened, and the smugness he felt at having set a trap for Lu Chengjing vanished completely.

He looked at Village Chief Lin, wondering why he hadn't been told that Lord An also knew about this.
Village Chief Lin was also caught off guard. How could he have imagined that Lu Chengjing would go to Lord An to talk about such a trivial matter?

Seeing the slightly flustered expression on Village Chief Lin's face, Qin Lizheng knew that both of them had been tricked by Lu Chengjing, that young brat.

He was secretly annoyed. If he changed his tune immediately, not only would people look down on him, but he would also lose all his prestige. Who would take him seriously as the village head in the future?

Now caught in a dilemma, Qin Lizheng composed himself and forced a smile, saying, "Scholar Lu, your actions are quite inappropriate. How can such a small matter in the village trouble you, sir? Besides, your word alone is not enough to be trusted. Let's proceed according to the old rules..."

“Village head, I was with you that day, and I can vouch for what you said.” Shang Wan interrupted Qin, the village head, who was trying to bluff his way out of the situation, and said with a half-smile, “If you think I would favor you, village head, why don’t you ask these officers? They are not related to you, so they wouldn’t be biased.”

He was interrupted halfway through his sentence by a mere woman. Qin Li's face immediately showed displeasure. Just as he was about to reprimand her, he heard Shang Wan bring up the officials.

He scoffed inwardly, thinking how naive this woman was to think she could bewitch the officials with just her good looks.

He had given them a bribe, so there was no doubt which side the officials would take!

He turned to face Shan Dajun, the leader, and cupped his hands, saying, "Please tell me, sir, are the words of these two men credible?"

I found a gecko crawling on the laundry while I was collecting it, and it scared me half to death! o(╥﹏╥)o
(End of this chapter)