The wicked mother-in-law doesn't try to whitewash herself; she only abuses her awful children.

When Magistrate Liu saw so many villagers coming to greet him, his temples throbbed. How many people had Xu Yong tricked?

"Everyone is waiting for your arrival, Your Honor," Tong Huaqiong said as she went to greet you.

Tong Huaqiong didn't mind letting more people know about her close relationship with Magistrate Liu. She was determined to stick with him after a few encounters.

"Manager Tong." Magistrate Liu addressed Tong Huaqiong with utmost respect.

The villagers were astonished.

Everyone else is just a commoner, only Tong Dajiao is the shopkeeper.

"I am already aware of Manager Tong's righteous act of distributing medicine to the villagers of Qinghewan free of charge," Magistrate Liu said with a smile.

Tong Huaqiong humbly replied, "It's nothing to mention."

Magistrate Liu's lips twitched; this widow was far too humble.

That's nothing compared to the fact that this medicine solved the culprit behind the reduced corn yield.

Does Widow Tong know how much she contributed to the bumper harvest?

"Lord Liu, the corn in our Qinghe Bay was sprayed with pesticides given to us by Aunt Big Foot, and it's growing very well this year."

"Xu Yong stole the medicine prescription from the Great Heat Goddess and ruined the corn in the neighboring village. Now they've come knocking on our door. Xu Yong truly deserves to die."

Shouts rang out from the crowd.

Hearing the villagers of Qinghewan speak up, people from other villages were not to be outdone.

Moreover, they are the victims, which gives them even more confidence.

"Lord Liu, Your Honor, you've finally arrived! Xu Yong has ruined all our corn."

"Xu Yong sold counterfeit medicine and deserves to die."

“My family is counting on these two acres of corn for our winter food supply, and now Xu Yong has ruined it all. Is he trying to force me to take my wife and daughters to beg for food?”

As Magistrate Liu listened to the cacophony of complaints from the affected villagers, he waved his hand at them.

“I am already aware of the matter. To be honest, on my way here, I passed through various villages and found that many corn plants had withered yellow leaves and black ears, which must be due to the fake medicine prepared by Xu Yong.”

"Now that I have come to Qinghe Bay, I must seek justice for everyone."

"As for how to seek justice, I will come up with a plan."

Magistrate Liu cleared his throat to calm everyone down.

What he wanted to ask was where that bastard Xu Yong was.

The villagers' cornfields were damaged, and he, as the culprit, must pay compensation.

The question is whether Xu Yong can afford to pay the compensation.

Tong Huaqiong stepped forward and said to Magistrate Liu, "Lord Liu, I prepared the prescription, so I am also a party to it. I just discussed it with the village chief, and now the damage situation in each village has been tallied. Why don't you come to my courtyard to take a look at the situation before making a decision?"

Magistrate Liu gave Tong Huaqiong an approving look.

This widow is his lucky star; she thought of everything and prepared everything in advance.

Magistrate Liu said, "Very well, let's make a decision in your courtyard. All the village chiefs, come along."

Tong Huaqiong then said to everyone, "Lord Liu will surely give everyone a satisfactory result."

Tong Huaqiong led Magistrate Liu and the village chiefs to her courtyard, where the brothers Gu Dahan and Gu Dashu served tea to everyone.

“You village chiefs and villagers with weapons, anyone who didn’t know better would think you’re here to cause trouble in Qinghe Bay. Xu Yong destroyed your crops, why don’t you report it to the authorities?” Magistrate Liu asked slowly, taking a sip of tea.

The village chiefs were secretly suffering.

They feared that if they complained to the authorities, Xu Yong would only be punished, without any compensation.

Of course, I dared not say this to Magistrate Liu.

"Lord Liu, you are wise. It's not that we don't want to report this to the authorities, but we were all panicked when we saw the corn destroyed. We thought we should come to Qinghe Bay to see if Xu Yong had any prescriptions to restore the corn," said Village Chief Hu.

"Lord Liu, you are wise. We farmers are heartbroken to see our corn destroyed. We can't think of anything else but seeking justice from Xu Yong," said Village Chief Zhang. The other village chiefs nodded in agreement.

The village chiefs had initially complained that it was too slow for Tong Huaqiong to ask the county magistrate to preside over justice, and suggested that they simply register the damage themselves and divide Xu Yong and Xu Jin's grain directly.

Now one has to admire Tong Huaqiong's foresight; she did this so that everyone wouldn't be labeled as troublemakers.

"Lord Liu, everyone is right. As farmers, it would be heartbreaking for anyone to have their corn destroyed. It's normal for them to come to Xu Yong immediately after he sold them fake medicine. Several village chiefs came to our village and discussed it, saying that whether it's compensation or convicting Xu Yong, they should report it to the authorities. Everyone knows that you, Lord Liu, love the people like your own children. You see, you rushed here to uphold justice as soon as you heard the news," Tong Huaqiong said.

Magistrate Liu was flattered by Tong Huaqiong's praise of "loving the people's lives".

He didn't intend to punish anyone; he was simply warning the villages that any major incidents should be reported to the authorities and that they shouldn't set up their own courts in the villages.

Thinking that farming was hard work for the villagers, and that if someone's land was destroyed, they would report it to the authorities immediately instead of seeking revenge, he put aside his harassment of the village chiefs.

"Didn't they say outside that the list of those who were injured had been compiled? Where is it?" Magistrate Liu asked.

Village Chief Hu had been waiting for these words. He unfolded the paper in front of Magistrate Liu and said, "Lord Liu, this is the extent of the damage to our village. We dare not lie about it."

Then, Village Chief Zhang and the other village chiefs also presented the list.

The idea of ​​compiling a list of losses for each village was suggested by Tong Huaqiong, and Liu Tielian was responsible for recording it.

When Liu Tielian saw his scribbles, which looked like shrimp crawls, displayed before Magistrate Liu, he couldn't help but blush.

He thought to himself, "If only Gu Jingzhe were here."

Magistrate Liu frowned as he looked at the list. All the villages in Yanguan Town had suffered damage, especially Guazhou Bay and Yue Liang Bay, which were the most severely affected.

Compensation for so many people is a problem; can Xu Yong afford it? The county has no choice but to open its granaries and distribute grain.

Magistrate Liu cursed Xu Yong in his heart. He was sure Xu Yong would be convicted, and the county would have to clean up his mess.

Tong Huaqiong looked at Magistrate Liu's furrowed brows and said, "Lord Liu, this morning we learned from Xu Yong's family that they have three granaries, no, four. Three above ground and one underground, with so much grain piled up to the brim. Even in a year of famine, they have nothing to fear."

Magistrate Liu's eyes lit up, meaning that Xu Yong's grain could compensate everyone for their losses.

However, Magistrate Liu immediately became furious. How could Xu Yong have stored so much grain?

Where did he, a mere village chief, get so much grain?
It's clear he's been quite greedy in his daily life.

Magistrate Liu, holding the list of damaged villages, determined Xu Yong's family's grain situation based on the past yield per acre of cornfields, and quickly devised a compensation plan.

Xu Yong was guarded by several able-bodied men assigned by Liu Tielian.

Soon, the Xu family's door was kicked open.

Xu Yong and Tian were almost paralyzed with fear by the yamen runners with knives.

Xu Yong's previous experience of being tortured at the county government office was something he never wanted to recall, but now he had to go through it again.

The constables first detained Xu Yong and his wife, and then opened Xu Yong's granary.

The affected villagers were called to Xu Yong's house one by one, village by village, to collect their grain.

Just after noon, Xu Yong's family's grain was all compensated.

The villagers in the surrounding villages whose cornfields were damaged felt somewhat comforted to receive the grain. Those whose cornfields were more severely damaged complained a bit, feeling that the compensation was too little. However, when Magistrate Liu promised to give them genuine antibacterial and anti-insect pesticides free of charge to save their cornfields, they shut up.

And just like that, the farce was resolved.

"Lord Liu, I am innocent! The medicine was prepared by my niece, Xu Zaohua!" Xu Yong shouted to Magistrate Liu as he was being taken away.

"Xu Zaohua is now the eldest daughter-in-law of the Zheng family. She only dares to dispense fake medicine because she knows that the government is afraid to investigate when the Zheng family gets into trouble."

Tian added fuel to the fire, determined to drag Xu Zaohua down with her.

Upon hearing Tian's words, Magistrate Liu was indeed furious and ordered his men to arrest Xu Zaohua at the Zheng family's residence.

What is the Zheng family?
Who does the young mistress of the Zheng family think she is?

He dared to take it after committing a crime. (End of Chapter)