Farmer girl swaps husbands: buys a sickly villain and pampers him

Chapter 158 Imperial Envoy
After being taken to a neighboring county, Su Yaoguang and others did not even have time to rest before immediately starting their work of helping patients with the epidemic.

The local county government provided them with spacious and clean houses to house the patients, and also delivered a large amount of supplies and medicines, telling them to focus on saving lives and not to worry about anything else.

Su Yaoguang knew the neighboring county was larger than theirs, but she had never seen it in person. Now, stepping into this place, she realized it was not only larger than their county seat but also far more prosperous. Given such abundant resources, the fact that they allowed so many patients to die from the epidemic shows how ruthless they initially treated human life. Now, to impress the so-called imperial envoy, they're playing a grand and respectable card.

"Boss Su, come here for a moment." The clerk led the officers in and said to Su Yaoguang.

Su Yaoguang handed her work to Zhang Pandi beside her and followed the clerk into the inner room, asking, "Clerk, I'm busy here, and there are many patients. Be careful not to pass on the illness to you."

These cowardly people would never have stepped into this place if there was nothing wrong with them, and their appearance always meant trouble. She really didn't want to waste any time dealing with them.

"Boss Su, thank you all for your hard work here," the advisor said, winking at the person next to him.

The two officers beside him each carried a large box. They opened the boxes at the same time, revealing neatly arranged silver ingots inside.

So, each of those fat, big-eared silver ingots is worth ten taels of silver.

She glanced at it and saw that there were thirty boxes of this size on each shelf, and about two shelves, which made sixty boxes in total. At ten taels of silver each, sixty boxes would cost six hundred taels of silver. There were two more boxes like this, so the total came to one thousand two hundred taels of silver.

She had made a lot of money before, but seeing so many silver ingots still made her feel dazzled.

"Is the magistrate telling us to buy it ourselves?" Su Yaoguang said with a troubled look on her face. "But we don't know anyone here and really don't know how to buy it. Why don't you just send the medicine and supplies over directly, like you have before? That way we can save ourselves some trouble."

Su Yaoguang pretended not to understand what the county government meant.

"Boss Su seems quite clever, how come he's making a fool of himself at this time?" the clerk said with a smile. "This is a reward from the master for your hard work, saying that you've been working hard these past few days."

“No, that won’t do. We didn’t do anything,” Su Yaoguang said. “Please take the money back, sir, and tell the magistrate that it is our honor to serve the court. How can we accept money?”

"Boss Su, just accept it. The magistrate won't let you work for nothing. Our magistrate loves his people like his own children and values ​​talent. He cherishes kind-hearted and righteous people like Boss Su the most. If you ever want to come and live in our county, just come and find our magistrate. He'll take care of everything for you."

"Thank you very much, Master. But this is too much; we are unworthy of it."

"Keep it, it's what you deserve. Mr. Su is so smart, he should know what to say and what not to say, right? If anything gets out, Mr. Su knows what to do, doesn't he?"

"The magistrate personally came to invite us over because of the people's illness. He cherishes the people, is concerned about the country and its people, and is a good official who loves the people like his own children."

"Boss Su is indeed a smart man. You all continue with your work, I won't disturb you any longer, I'll take my leave now." The clerk, having completed the magistrate's instructions, left with satisfaction. After the clerk left, Zhang Zhaodi and the others came in to ask what had happened.

Zhang Zhaodi's eyes lit up when she saw the silver ingots on the table. She picked one up, bit it, and exclaimed excitedly, "It really is silver! How can there be so much?"

Wang Huanzhi said, "This is hush money."

"Hush money?" Zhang Pandi asked, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"The Imperial Envoy is traveling incognito and has probably already appeared in the county town. None of us know who the Imperial Envoy is, and the only thing we can do is control what people say and prevent the Imperial Envoy from hearing anything he shouldn't hear. Other people live here and dare not offend the magistrate; a little intimidation will make them behave. We are different; we are from a neighboring town, and we have also participated in helping the people. One word from us is more effective than ten words from the people. Therefore, as long as the magistrate keeps our mouths shut and prevents us from saying anything we shouldn't to strangers, his achievements can be concealed."

"Isn't this a lie?"

“If he wasn’t trying to deceive people, he wouldn’t have invited us here at all. He would rather kill and burn those patients, or drive them to our area to spread the disease and turn our county into a living hell, so that he can highlight his outstanding political achievements,” Zhou Wangshu said. “If such an official continues to serve, it is the common people who will suffer. This is a good opportunity to bring him down.”

"Let's not meddle in other people's business," Zhang Pandi said. "We are commoners, and he is an official. How can commoners possibly overthrow an official? Besides, who knows if that imperial envoy is just like him?"

If the imperial envoy were a corrupt official like him, they wouldn't be able to deal with him at all. They have already done everything they could to save lives; as long as the people survive, they shouldn't interfere in other matters.

“Second Aunt, don’t worry. We don’t need to do anything; the imperial envoy will find out anyway,” Su Yaoguang said. “There are so many patients here. If you were the imperial envoy, wouldn’t you personally witness the extent of the epidemic?”

"He's an imperial envoy, a high-ranking official. He shouldn't take any risks, right?"

“If he’s a good official, he’ll take the risk himself. If he’s not, and he’s afraid of death, he won’t even step into this place. Therefore, whether he steps into this place or not is the standard for whether the ‘truth’ will surface. As long as he comes in, he’ll know the truth,” Su Yaoguang said. “So, this matter isn’t that complicated, and there’s no need for everyone to worry about it. Everyone should just go about their business; the other people have their own conclusions.”

“Yaoguang is right,” Wang Huanzhi said. “The choice in this matter rests with the imperial envoy. Whatever truth the imperial envoy wants to know, that’s the truth the higher-ups will know.”

The women didn't understand these things; they only knew to take good care of the patients so they could go home once they recovered. Otherwise, they'd be constantly wandering around outside, never knowing what to do.

Most importantly, the county magistrate here is no good person. For them to associate with such a person is like asking a tiger for its skin.

"Excuse me, is there a doctor here?" a gentle voice asked. "Our master has a cough, and we don't know if he has contracted that rapidly contagious disease. We would appreciate it if a doctor could examine him."

Su Yaoguang and Zhou Wangshu exchanged a glance.