Splendid Pastoral Wife

Chapter 179 Investigation (1)
Without waiting for Tian Liusu to signal, Lele took another bun from the bowl and handed it to the child. The child held the bun and looked at it for a while, then reluctantly put the bun into the tattered and dirty clothes. Lele didn't know what happened. Frowning, he turned around to look at Tian Liusu and Yunluo.

Tian Liusu was also puzzled, he didn't understand that the child put the buns away even though he still wanted to eat, could it be...

"Are you going to save this bun for your family?" Tian Liusu asked the little girl squatting next to their table speculatively.

"Yes, I want to leave it for my mother to eat. My mother is sick and hasn't eaten for a few days." Although the little girl is dirty, she is very flexible and cute. It's hard for a child as young as her to understand. The words can also clearly express this matter clearly.

Tian Liusu was stunned, this scene was like the reappearance of the scene of her and An Anlele's two children.

"Sister, you eat. There's still a lot here. I'll ask the store to pack them all for you later." Lele's eyes were wet after hearing what she said, and she and An An looked at each other, presumably also remembering their original situation right?

Seeing Tian Liusu's mother and son behave like this, Yunluo had already guessed what they were thinking. His hand holding the chopsticks trembled slightly, thinking to himself, did the three of them actually live such a life in Tianshui Village?At this moment, the little girl was standing in front of him alive, the image was so intense that it burned his eyes even more, and a faint pain arose in his heart.

The little girl grinned at Lele's words, showing a mouthful of small white teeth, nodded happily, took the bun Lele handed her and started eating again.

"Shopkeeper, how is the disaster in Longcheng this time? Is it serious?" Seeing that the storekeeper had been looking at them, Yunluo seemed a little ashamed and asked him immediately.

"Young master, it seems that you are also from other places? Hey, it's not that I don't want to help that child, it's that I can't protect myself, life is going to be hard."

The owner of the shop sighed and half-explained his difficulties. He probably felt embarrassed when he saw Lele's behavior. The child stood in front of his booth for a long time, but he was still unmoved and didn't give her food. At this time Touched by Lele's behavior, he secretly regretted it. If he had known that, he should have given her a steamed stuffed bun just now.

"Shopkeeper, how did this place suffer?" Tian Liusu couldn't help asking after hearing what he said.

"Little lady, seeing that you are foreigners, you probably won't be able to stay here for long, so I'll tell you quietly, hey, in fact, we didn't suffer from a natural disaster at all, but the government imposed additional fees on the people. After paying five times the rent, many people have nothing after paying the rent, and some can't even pay the rent, so they fled one after another..."

The storekeeper had an expression full of bitterness and nowhere to tell. It seemed that he was about to be suffocated for a long time, so he couldn't help but speak out.

Yunluo and Tian Liusu were startled, and expressions of disbelief flashed across their faces.

"Shopkeeper, although we are foreigners, we can't just say this casually. This is a serious crime of beheading." Tian Liusu saw that Yunluo's body had gradually turned cold, and gradually condensed into a stream of cold air flowing around. , couldn't help poking him with his elbow, telling him to be careful about revealing his identity.

"Hey, little lady, don't you know that our lord magistrate of Longcheng is capable. He has been in charge of Longcheng for these years. He does not close the door at night and does not pick up lost things, so he has a lot of prestige among the people..."

"And then?" Tian Liusu saw that the stall owner knew so many inside stories, so he couldn't help but want to find out more.

"After the autumn harvest this year, the magistrate posted a notice to the people, saying that this year's rent would be five times higher than in previous years, saying that it was military rations expropriated by the imperial court. At first, the people naturally refused, but the people who went to the magistrate's office to complain about everything After quietly disappearing, the people became frightened."

"Later, the big grain households in the city took the lead in paying the grain to the government, and the magistrate came out and said that he had reported to the court that Longcheng had suffered a severe drought this year, and the grain harvest was in short supply. The court's relief food would come soon. Immediately return all the excess food confiscated to the people. Because the magistrate is fair and impartial in adjudicating cases on weekdays, he is very much loved by the people, so some people turned in the food, but after the food was handed in, the court did not allocate any food for disaster relief throughout the winter. , Many people couldn’t live through the years, so some escaped..."

The shopkeeper was evasive but still explained the matter intermittently. After he finished speaking, he let out a long sigh, as if he had finally let go of a major matter on his mind.

"Shopkeeper, why do you know so much about such a confidential matter?" Tian Liusu was puzzled. If this is true, why didn't the people of Long City report it?

"Hey, this is something that the entire Longcheng people know about. If you don't believe me, you can go to other places to inquire about it."

"Then why didn't the common people file a complaint?" Tian Liusu was even more puzzled. Could it be that the common people in Longcheng are all brainless?

"Appeal? The magistrate has governed Longcheng for so many years and has done a lot of good things for the people. How can the people sue him? Everyone knows that Longcheng is a big city that produces grain. Didn't you seek your own death?"

The steamed stuffed bun stall owner looked around to see if there were any suspicious people among the pedestrians around him. He probably had some scruples when he said this, so he was still a little scared.

"The imperial court requisitioned military rations? Isn't the magistrate afraid of being investigated by those who come to relieve the disaster? The imperial court will definitely conduct a thorough investigation before the disaster relief?"

Tian Liusu was even more puzzled, the magistrate was too bold to do this in such an aboveboard way, it was too unreasonable, falsely claiming that the imperial court requisitioned military rations and then reported to the imperial court was a natural disaster, this is a crime of deceiving the emperor.

"This little man doesn't know. We have always been ruled by the magistrate's family here. He has all the power, and he has the final say on everything."

There was a soft sound of "Kam bang", and Yun Luo's chopsticks were broken by all his strength. At this moment, his face was already ugly, his face was calm, and he was secretly furious.

Tian Liusu turned to look at him, a little unclear, so the requisition of military rations was also a crime committed by Sun Mingyu, the magistrate of Longcheng. He only needs to find out the truth and report it to the emperor. How could he have such a big reaction?

She was still eating a mouthful of steamed stuffed bun, seeing this, she reached out and tugged at his sleeve to make him not get too excited.

It was probably the first time Yunluo ate in such a place, so he was not used to it. He just took a bite of a steamed bun with his chopsticks and then put it down. No matter what is messy or messy, she is happy when there is something to eat. While listening, she unknowingly ate three steamed buns. During this period, Yunluo kept spooning the bowl of egg drop soup in front of her. Scooping it back and forth and pouring it into a bowl to cool down, Yunluo brought the soup to her mouth as soon as she finished the last mouthful, she took a few swigs of it, and burst out with a loud "burp" , she took out a silk cloth and wiped her mouth, feeling very comfortable after eating.

(End of this chapter)