The beloved baby has a space

Chapter 38 Who is the Villainous Female Supporting Character?
Zhang Zhan led a group of men to the county town. The journey was 60 li (approximately 3 kilometers), which would normally take three hours. However, everyone was worried about home and didn't rest along the way, taking a full two and a half hours to arrive. The poor officials were aching from walking, but they didn't complain.

The villagers of Hujia Village were very uneasy, fearing that they would be beaten as soon as they entered the county government office.

They had heard that no matter if they were right or wrong, they would be beaten with a cane once they entered the county government office.

Upon arrival, they learned that the magistrate of Yongding County had been dismissed and investigated recently for embezzling public funds.

The entire Yongding County was in an uproar. Only then did they realize that after each disaster, the imperial court allocated funds and grain for disaster relief, but all of it ended up in the county magistrate's pocket.

Not only that, the local magistrate actually doubled the amount of taxes collected in spring and autumn!

"Fortunately, the imperial court sent people to supervise this time, otherwise countless more people would have starved to death!"

Some villagers wiped away their tears: "We all misunderstood the Heavenly Family. We thought they didn't care about our lives. We never expected that it was corrupt officials who were behind it all!"

“How hateful!”

"God has eyes."

The people of Shanyang Village were not so lucky. They ate people first and then caused trouble. Even if they were killed by hunger, they cannot be forgiven.

The new county magistrate has not yet taken office, and the person reviewing the case is a county lieutenant surnamed Cao. He is a very upright and incorruptible man. He was suppressed by the county magistrate at the time, but he still refused to go along with the corrupt practices. Instead, he survived this turmoil.

Grandma Wang looked at Village Chief Hu beside her and straightened her clothes: "Village Chief Hu, after this matter is over, please get my granddaughter's household registration sorted out first?"

Originally, the village head could handle the household registration, but that also required going to the county town for registration. In addition, since the child was adopted, many witness testimonies were needed.

Since all the villagers are here now, it would be most appropriate to hold it in the county town.

Seeing that it was still early and the county magistrate had not yet officially announced the verdict, Village Chief Hu thought it best to take this opportunity to get things done.

The people of Shanyang Village were imprisoned in fear and unease, especially some of those who had committed serious crimes. Even though they had been poisoned by snakes, they were still taken to prison.

Upon hearing that the county magistrate's surname was Cao, they all thought of their own village chief, who also had the surname Cao.

The villagers of Shanyang Village said to Village Chief Cao, "Village Chief, is County Magistrate Cao related to your family? If you are, could you do some favors and get us released? This prison is no place for a human being."

Village Chief Cao remained silent.

The villagers were frantic: "Village chief! You can't just stand by and watch us get locked up in jail! We have elderly people and children at home who are waiting for us to go back and support them!"

"You all know you have elderly people and children at home. When you did those things, did you ever think about your wives and children?!" A voice filled with anger rang out from outside. Everyone looked and saw a man dressed in the uniform of a county magistrate.

Who else could it be but County Magistrate Cao?

When County Magistrate Cao saw Village Chief Cao sitting at the farthest point, his face showed disappointment and even more sternness: "Cao Hua, Cao Hua, how have you fallen so low? How can you face your uncle's spirit in heaven?!"

Amidst the villagers' astonished expressions, Village Chief Cao's face turned ashen, filled with shame and utter disgrace.

The villagers had only one thought: It's over...

At this moment, Zhang Zhan was checking the disaster relief reports in the inner courtyard of the county government office when a servant hurriedly walked in from outside.

"My lord," the man said, bowing.

"You found it so quickly?" Zhang Zhan asked.

The man said, "We've found a clue. Someone saw two people riding horses and resting in the county town. They mentioned the mountains and lost words. But the wind and snow were too strong, so we couldn't hear clearly. They left before dawn."

"Continue the investigation." Zhang Zhan didn't look up, tapping his fingers on the table. "Investigate secretly, and inform me of the results within a month." The snow disaster has affected a wide area, and he will have to stay for at least another month or two.

"Yes!"

Meanwhile, two hundred miles away, in a grand mansion, two people looked around at the back door before knocking.

The people inside opened the door, saw it was them, and let them in.

The two walked all the way to the innermost part and encountered a girl of about ten years old. She was wearing a pink floor-length dress with twin flowers, a pale yellow shawl hanging from her arm, and two butterfly tassel hairpins that made her waist-length hair look like splashed ink.

The young girl is enjoying pastries. On the small stone round table, there are more than twenty kinds of pastries, which are brightly colored and have a fragrant aroma.

"Second Miss." The two stopped in front of the girl and bowed their heads in greeting.

The girl gently crushed the pastry crumbs on her fingers and casually asked, "How is it?"

"As you instructed, we dumped the person in a mountain range 300 miles away. When we went there, the mountains were almost completely blocked by ice and snow. It took us a lot of effort to get out of there."

The girl exclaimed in surprise, "You're not kidding me, are you? It really flew that far?"

"How could I dare to lie to the Second Miss! Besides, the Second Miss..."

"What young lady? Do we have a young lady in our family? And what do you mean by 'follow my orders'? Did I ask you to do anything? I was just asking out of curiosity." The girl interrupted him impatiently.

"Yes, it was my fault for being so talkative! I deserve to be punished! It was that bastard child; she was already thrown away as the master ordered. I watched her die with my own eyes. Those starving beasts smelled it, they must have—"

"Alright!" The girl looked disgusted, overturned the table full of pastries on the ground, got up and left. "Why say so much? You've ruined my appetite! Get lost, and don't come looking for me again."

"Yes!"

After the two women left, several maids came to clean up the mess. The young woman strode away, still thinking to herself as she went.

"Great! The vicious female supporting character has finally been taken down in a reasonable way. It's true that you have to nip a menace in the bud. I'm simply a born master of palace intrigue!" The girl was overjoyed and couldn't help but laugh.

As he laughed, he thought again, "Now that the villainous female supporting character is gone, it's time to go find the female lead and cultivate a relationship. Then I'll have a powerful backer to rely on, right?"

Hehe, she's so clever!
"Someone come here, I'm going to Huguo Temple to offer incense!"

"Yes!" Soon, someone was busy helping her.

Meanwhile, two hundred miles away, Xiao Ayu was going up the mountain with her older brothers to dig for wild vegetables.

She originally wanted to go to the fields with her father and the others to breed seeds, but her family disagreed, saying that breeding seeds was dirty and they wouldn't let her go.

So the boys simply took her to the mountains to dig for wild vegetables.

Spring snow melts, making it the perfect time for catching fish, raiding bird nests, and foraging for wild vegetables!

Little Ayu crawled along, huffing and puffing, while the lambs behind her would occasionally nudge her with their little heads so she could get some leverage.

On the other side, Wang Chuanman searched for a long time and finally found another chamber pot. When he saw the chamber pot hidden by the banana tree, he almost laughed out of anger.

"That brat did it again! He just pees, why fill it with so much water? If I catch him, I'm going to give him a good beating!"

After saying that, he was about to pour out the water from the chamber pot so he could go and collect the excrement.

(End of this chapter)