Xiaoyaoshanjun

Chapter 37: County Magistrate Chen

Dark clouds are pressing down on the city, threatening to destroy it, and the mountain rain is about to come, and the wind is filling the building.

County Magistrate Chen has not taken any action yet. Even Xia Bayuan’s second son, who works as a constable in the government office, is alive and well by his side.

Xia Bayuan's family gathered together. Everyone inside the house had frowns on their faces, and the doors and windows outside were closed.

County Magistrate Chen seemed not to care about this matter. Xia Bayuan was also in charge of the escort agency, and he had at most two to three thousand men under him.

But as the boss of Fuyuan Escort Agency, Xia Bayuan was forced into a desperate situation at this time.

Silence is not a solution.

Xia Bayuan looked at Gao Jingxian, then at his wife Gao.

"Madam, this matter was caused by my brothers. You take the eldest brother's child to Qitian Mansion, and the second brother will stay here with us. If County Magistrate Chen comes to question us, I will hand the people over to him then."

It's not that Xia Bayuan was unwilling to hand over the people, but he couldn't see the County Magistrate Chen now. Even after his second son was called back by his family, the government office asked him to continue resting at home.

There were no difficulties, no accountability or guilt, as if nothing had happened, as if the Xia family had just scared themselves and brought it upon themselves.

Gao was still thinking about this matter, and after hearing this, she looked at her husband.

Although her husband spoke in a free and righteous manner, Gao could see the pleading in his eyes.

Xia Bayuan and Gao had five sons and three daughters.

The eldest son was a military officer in the neighboring county, the second son was a local constable, and two of the remaining three children were studying in other sects, while the youngest son stayed at home to manage the affairs of the escort agency.

One of the three daughters married a young hero from another martial arts sect as a concubine, one married a local county magistrate as a concubine, and the other married a local old scholar as his wife.

There is no need to worry about the three daughters. The married daughters will not be affected, but without the care of their natal family, they will most likely be poor and bullied in the future.

Gao shi pondered for a moment and said, "I'm afraid the eldest brother will also be implicated. It's easy for me to take my grandson to seek refuge in the mansion now, but the difficult part is how to deal with this matter."

"Hu Xiucai is now at the top of the list. Although he has not passed the imperial examination, he has already taken the chief examiner as his teacher. If he wants to avenge his father, even if he kills the Xia family in the street, the court will not punish him."

After hearing this, Xia Yelin said angrily: "If he dares to hurt my father, I will kill him to avenge my father!"

Gao Jingxian, who was silent nearby, heard this and scolded with a smile: "You bastard, are you worthy?"

Gao was very disappointed with the children and sighed, "Now Hu Yuwei just wants revenge and kills your bastard uncles. We will at most pay some money. If you kill him, our whole family will suffer."

"I told you to read more books in the past, but you just wouldn't listen. Now I just hope that after those people die, Hu Xiu will let us go."

The daughter-in-law asked, "Mother, since it was those servants and family members who offended Mr. Hu, why should we hide in the mansion?"

Gao looked at her sons and daughters-in-law and slowly explained the reason.

"If a scholar kills someone, he must find a crime. If he kills someone, he will also make up a pretext that others cannot object to."

"It is only natural for Mr. Hu to avenge his father. He wants to send our whole family to jail. Those scholars and officials cannot openly oppose this."

"Our family will definitely be convicted by him and County Magistrate Chen. Now it all depends on the relationships of those people in the mansion. As many people as can escape will be the best."

"We can't do business right now. Magistrate Chen, please give us some leniency for your uncle's sake and give us a chance to find someone to plead for us. Let's pack up today. I'll take the grandchildren of the old family to the mansion to find someone to plead for us."

Xia Bashan didn't understand what he said. "Since the county magistrate has shown leniency, why don't we just give him some money?"

Gao had always been rather disgusted with Xia Bayuan's brothers, so she didn't say anything at this time.

Xia Bayuan smiled bitterly and said, "Mr. Chen is not really showing leniency. He is asking us to seek help. If we can find a senior official to speak for us, he will naturally not offend our backers."

"If you don't come to trouble us right now, it will give us time to call for help."

"If he can't call anyone over... then he'll take action."

Xia Bayuan didn't want to explain too much to these warriors, even though he was also a warrior.

Xia Bashan quickly looked towards Gao.

"Then why don't you go to the county officials to ask for mercy? We have money and silver! We have met many dignitaries over the years. In terms of money and people, are we afraid of that sick scholar?"

Xia Bayuan quickly said, "Let Madam take the child to see Grandpa. The old man might help us when he sees his grandson."

"The rest of you should stop going out to cause trouble. Stay in the manor for the time being. There are many people in the manor, and there are only a few people in the county government. They dare not come here to cause trouble."

Xia Bayuan quickly calmed the others down and asked them to go back and rest.

There was no way to discuss things with too many people, and in the end, only when only Xia Bayuan and his wife, Gao Jingxian, and Xia Bayuan's two sons were left did they start to really arrange things.

Gao said, "One of you two brothers stays at home to help your father guard the house, and the other one goes out to look for Tian Tongsheng. Once we find him, everything will be fine."

"He is a man from our village, and he is greedy and lustful. If we talk to him in a nice way, maybe he can help us get a word in with Mr. Hu."

"I will bring some money to the mansion. If I can find someone to help speak for me, that would be a good thing."

"If we can't find him, we can make plans for the future." Xia Yelin asked, "My uncle's position is higher than that of the county magistrate. Why are we so afraid of that county magistrate?"

Gao Jingxian did not speak, Gao said: "Your uncle must listen to his superiors. If he wants to make County Magistrate Chen give in, he can either ask Scholar Hu to speak for him or ask the prefect to come forward."

"Otherwise, if Mr. Hu talks about this matter after he passes the imperial examination and meets the emperor, the county magistrate will definitely be held responsible. County magistrate Chen is extremely cunning and none of us can match him. The most urgent task now is to preserve some of them."

Xia Yelin thought for a second, "There are so many people in our escort agency, does the county magistrate really dare to fight to the death?"

Gao shook her head in disappointment. "The county magistrate has already arranged everything you can think of. He went to the Liu Mansion a few days ago and asked the Liu family to take care of Mr. Hu's three sons and his wife. The Liu family is not only trying their best to protect Mr. Hu's family, but is also waiting for us to die and eat up our land and shops."

"Now the whole county knows that we have offended the county magistrate. It seems that County Magistrate Chen has not bothered with us and has let us find our own way out. In fact, we have been played in his hands for a long time. Our life and death are all in his hands."

"Scholars are hard to deal with." Gao looked at the air in front of her. "That scholar Hu was so patient this time that he didn't come back. I'm afraid there is a master behind him who is directing us. The faster we move, the more miserable our death will be."

County Magistrate Chen seems difficult to deal with, but he is a nice guy and easy to talk to both inside and outside the county.

Since he could invite a high-ranking official to suppress the matter, County Magistrate Chen would give him face.

Since he couldn't invite him, County Magistrate Chen enforced the law impartially to save Hu Yu's face.

The really difficult person to deal with is the master behind Hu Yuwei. That person doesn't care about the life and death of their family at all. He just speaks a word for his student and gives some practical tips on how to operate in officialdom.

Faced with a disaster, Xia Bayuan felt extremely heavy-hearted and seemed even more silent.

Gao said in front of her brother and son, "It's not that I don't want to stay and tide over the difficulties together. It's just that my father and relatives have looked down on this place over the years. This is not an ordinary matter, and I'm afraid that those scholars will hold a grudge against us."

"Tomorrow I will go to the mansion with Senior Manager, Accountant Li, my grandson, and a few disciples. Before I go, I will first capture your brothers and tie them up outside the manor."

"Mr. Chen is unwilling to arrest them. We can't wait to die, and these people won't wait to die themselves."

"Ordinary people are like rabbits, they don't know how to dodge when faced with wild beasts. Rich families don't raise slaves, they are all running dogs. They grew up stealing chickens and eating meat, so they have all the thoughts they need."

"If we don't catch these people tomorrow, your brothers won't just sit there and wait for death. If they run away, everyone in our village will have to pay for the blood debt."

"Tomorrow I will be the bad guy. Normally you ignore these people for the sake of business and face, but this time they have brought disaster upon you. You must not treat them as human beings anymore, or you will be retaliated against!"

Xia Bayuan nodded dully, and also showed the ruthlessness of a warrior, "I will go and capture him later, and give him Hu Xiucai's original house and a hundred acres of fertile land!"

Although Gao was unwilling to stay, she did come up with ideas to help Xia Bayuan escape danger.

"I have asked someone to give the two women a lot of money. Tomorrow, I will ask them to take their indentures and go to Madam Hu to do my bidding."

"We should do our best to save face and money. If I can ask the senior officials in the government to help me, at least I can save face for Mr. Hu. If he kills us all, it would be his fault."

No matter what, whoever killed someone must die.

There is no chance to go to jail to atone for your sins or to reform yourself. Anyone who kills someone else's father must die. This is the bottom line of this era.

Justice in the world allowed Hu Xiucai to kill several culprits without being punished and without affecting his official career, but it was too much to kill everyone in the Fuyuan Escort Agency.

It is not enough to avenge his father, there must be a crime for that kind of thing, but it is too easy for those scholars to deal with these warriors, and the whole family will be skinned alive if they don't die.

Just a few people will die, it will have no impact on the Fuyuan Escort Agency.

Xia Bayuan asked, "Who are they arresting?"

Gao replied, "It doesn't matter who you arrest, but you must not leave any evidence behind. You must also save face. The second son is the head of the police in the county government. Tomorrow, have him kill Lei Guanshi and bring his body to the county government to confess his crime. You can say that this man embezzled money from the government and was plotting something illegal, and the second son accidentally killed him."

Xia Bayuan's second son was shocked when he heard this, but he was afraid of his mother's majesty and dared not speak.

Xia Bayuan asked, "Isn't this just walking into a trap?"

Gao explained: "We are united in our government. In order to avoid any trouble, the county magistrate will only invite the county's officers and soldiers to come. When those warriors come, they will definitely take away enough money and it will be difficult for both us and the county magistrate."

"If we severely punish the servant who killed him, everyone in the mansion will lose their unity, and it will be difficult for people to do things in the future."

"Even if you arrest a few brothers, the Xia family will not follow you in rebellion. You can't get everyone to respond to your call. It's the same as telling the county magistrate that we have given in and will not all run away."

"Spend some money tomorrow and ask the county magistrate to help talk. If the second brother is fine, we will just spend some money."

"Remember, people can die, but the charges cannot be brought against them! Otherwise, the Xia family will not be able to recover for generations!"

Fuyuan Escort Agency was the business of the Xia family. Gao and her brother, who had been called over, took several carts of silver and returned to the Gao family in Qitian Mansion.

Although she was the wife, Gao had no intention of living and dying with the Xia family.

A woman in her fifties has no chance of remarrying, so having more money can help her gain influence with her parents' family.

The reason why I brought my eldest son's son and daughter along is because the eldest son's children are smart and willing to study, and the eldest son is also serving as a military officer abroad.

In such a dangerous situation, it is natural to only take valuable things and people.

(End of this chapter)