The climate in Shunan was warm. By then, the crops had been planted for about a month, and weeds had started growing in the paddies. Yu Lao'er was standing at the edge of the field, supervising. When one laborer paused to rest for a moment—and stood a bit too close for Yu Lao'er's liking—Yu Lao'er raised his stick and brought it down on him.
"Hao Laosan, you lazy bastard! Are you trying to lose today's wages?"
Hao Laosan was furious but dared not speak up. The Yu family was the richest in the village—they had plenty of land and couldn't manage it all themselves, so they often hired help. Six copper coins a day. It wasn't much, but work was hard to find and money was tight. The villagers had little land of their own, so they came anyway. But Yu Lao'er always found excuses to dock their pay—never giving them a full day's rest, so they'd end up with only three or four copper coins at most.
There was no helping it. They were poor, and something was better than nothing. This stretch of land—sixteen mu in all—was all good paddy. Years ago, the Yu family had found an excuse, claiming they wanted to buy up the whole area to turn it into a fish pond. Hao Laosan and several other families also had land here. None of them wanted to sell. But the Yus were ruthless—nothing but threats and intimidation. When the villagers said they would report them to the authorities, the Yus just brushed it off: "Go ahead! The officials might protect you for a while, but can they protect you forever? Our Daniu has money and power outside—he's not afraid of any official. But you—if you dare report us, you'd better keep a close watch on your kids."
What did that mean?
The poor were always afraid of the rich. In the end, they had no choice but to sell their land—five taels per mu. It was practically robbery.
That was how the Yu and Su families had accumulated dozens of mu of land.
Hao Laosan was about to say something when Yu Lao'er raised his stick again: "Get back to work, now!"
The men beside him tugged at his sleeve.
"Laosan, don't be stubborn. Just bear with it."
"Yeah. They already bought your land. Work is hard to find out there. If you piss off Yu Lao'er and he won't hire you anymore, how are you going to feed your old parents and little ones? Don't forget how your eldest brother died. Bear with it. This is just our fate in life. Sigh."
Hao Laosan said nothing. He stared at the yellow mud in his palm, wondering when this kind of life would ever end. The Yus had beaten his eldest brother to death, and now he was forced by hunger to come work for them. Good men got no reward, while the wicked ate and drank in comfort—how could the world be so unfair?
Who could ever help him?
Hao Laosan's heart ached, but he could only silently get back to work. Seeing him obey, Yu Lao'er laughed and called him a spineless wretch—that he only behaved when he'd been knocked around a bit. He was still gloating when two soldiers came toward him. Yu Lao'er showed no fear at the sight of them—he looked completely unbothered. But when they grabbed him and he resisted, one of the soldiers drove a heavy kick into his gut. Even after he shouted his eldest brother's name, it still didn't help him at all—only then did Yu Lao'er finally begin to panic.
Everyone in both the Yu and Su families had been arrested, and their homes were now under guard.
What in the world had they done wrong?
The villagers were overjoyed and immediately rushed into town to find out what had happened.
Fang Zichen had originally planned to head back after wiping out the bandits, but upon hearing Yang Chengfeng's report on how he planned to handle the aftermath, he had no choice but to stay.
Yang Chengfeng really wasn't cut out for this kind of work. When Fang Zichen asked what he'd done with the bodies they'd dug up, Yang Chengfeng said he'd put out a notice for people to claim them. Fang Zichen asked, "And then?" Yang Chengfeng said, "That's it."
Didn't they need to offer compensation?
When bandits took someone's child and that child died, did they just die for nothing?
The loot was still there—surely some compensation had to be made! If there was nothing left, that would be a different story.
And the young women and gers who survived—just sending word for their families to come pick them up wouldn't do either!
In Da Xia, chastity was held above all else. Everyone understood what those young women and gers must have gone through while held captive up on that mountain. Some families would be overjoyed to see their children return alive, but others would be ashamed that they'd brought disgrace upon the family. And after going through something like that, these young women and gers were bound to have psychological wounds—they needed proper counseling!
And what about the bandits themselves?
Just beheading them was far too lenient. Every single copper coin they'd spent from their past robberies had to be recovered too.
Yang Chengfeng felt dizzy just listening to him.
This was so complicated?
The young women and gers had been rescued—surely they should just go home to their mothers! How was he supposed to counsel them? He had no idea! And the silver the bandits had stolen—they'd definitely spent some of it. How was he supposed to get that back?
Fang Zichen looked at him for a moment and thought: no wonder this old uncle had been a county magistrate for over twenty years and still hadn't been promoted. If he were serving somewhere like Shangyang with this level of competence, he'd have been dismissed eight times over by now.
Fang Zichen had no choice but to send word to Zhao Ger, saying he'd be a few days late returning.
This matter was too heinous—Fang Zichen wanted to have the whole lot of them executed and their families wiped out. If left to Yang Chengfeng, the Yu and Su families would probably still be walking free.
Yu Daniu was the head of the Longhu Mountain bandits, Su Xiaotian was the second-in-command, and the third-in-command was an orphan.
The Yu and Su families had been desperately poor before. It was only after Yu Daniu and Su Xiaotian went up the mountain that their families started to prosper. The houses and good farmland they'd acquired had all been bought with stolen silver, and now all of it had to be seized. Moreover, both families had known the truth all along but chose to hide it—and that offense alone was a serious crime.
Aside from a few acres of their original land, all property belonging to both families was confiscated and sold off. Every male over the age of thirteen was taken into custody at the yamen.
When the villagers found all this out, they were utterly shocked.
This was huge—unbelievable.
The notorious bandits who had been robbing and murdering across the entire region turned out to be none other than Yu Daniu and Su Xiaotian from their very own village!
Back when the Yu and Su families had suddenly become wealthy but hadn't yet started bullying their neighbors, people had asked them about it. They'd said their sons were doing business out of town and had earned some silver. Now it was clear—this wasn't business at all. This was a capital offense!
And now their village had produced two such men. They'd be drowned in other people's scorn and spittle.
There was worry, but more than that, there was joy.
Because the prefect had announced that all the fields the Yu and Su families had forcibly bought over the years would be returned to their original owners. However, half of the silver they'd been paid would have to be given back.
The other half would count as compensation for all those years their land had been occupied.
When dozens of families in the village heard this news, they could hardly believe it. Later, when the officials came, verified everything one by one, and handed the land deeds back to them in person, the joy and elation in the village was beyond words.
The prefect was truly a righteous official—a living qingtian!
[青天 (qīngtiān): lit. "Blue sky"; fig. A metaphor for a fair and upright official who, like a clear sky, brings justice and transparency, famously embodied by the legendary Judge Bao Qingtian.]
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