I become a god in another world

Chapter 635 The Chang Family: Good People
Chapter 635

"Sir, we are just country bumpkins, how could we possibly know anything about the affairs of the officials of Wuqing County?" Wu Jiabing quickly composed himself and pretended to be ignorant.

"We really don't know who the prefect of Wuqing County is."

The other villagers holding torches also looked bewildered—they seemed genuinely unaware of the title, even the official title of 'prefect' appeared quite unfamiliar to them.

"Village Chief Wu, do you mean you know nothing about what's happening in Wuqing County?" Zhao Fusheng asked again.

Wu Jiabing immediately shrank his neck and shook his head:

"really do not know."

"Does the Chang family know?" Zhao Fusheng then asked.

The Chang family was quite famous in Wuqing County. After Yu Lingzhu was promoted to general, the Chang family effectively took control of Wuqing County.

They have been operating here for nearly forty years and have a very firm grip on this place. Baili Temple is located at the key point of the canyon leading to Wuqing County. If the Wu family soldiers say that they do not know the Chang family of Wuqing County, then they are lying.

Wu Jiabing had obviously thought of this as well.

He hesitated for a moment, unsure how to answer.

Zhao Fusheng's two questions seemed simple, but they were actually quite progressive.

If he answers carelessly, he might fall into her trap.

Thinking of this, a hint of caution flashed in Wu Jiabing's eyes. After a long while, he forced a relaxed smile and said:

"Who doesn't know the Chang family of Wuqing County?"

Upon hearing this, Yu Lingzhu's face revealed a proud and smug expression.

"Do you think the Chang family are good people or bad people?" Zhao Fusheng asked casually.

Upon hearing this, Yu Lingzhu became somewhat anxious. She was about to speak, but before she could open her mouth, Wu Jiabing hurriedly said:
"Of course he's a good person."

He spoke too quickly and too hastily, as if a moment's delay in answering would bring disaster.

Zhao Fusheng kept this in mind, then looked at the other three villagers:
"What do you think?"

The villagers nodded:

"The Chang family are good people."

Yu Lingzhu breathed a barely perceptible sigh of relief.

"See, I told you so, didn't I? The Chang family are truly kind people." She raised an eyebrow at Zhao Fusheng, her eyes filled with a smile.

Zhao Fusheng ignored her and instead smiled, saying:
"What's so good about the Chang family?"

Wu Jiabing lowered his eyelids, put his hands in his sleeves, and smiled. He hesitated for a moment without speaking, then another villager said:
"The Chang family is really kind. Two years ago, our village sent two truckloads of charcoal to the city."

Before he could finish speaking, another villager remembered and angrily said:
"Yes, we encountered a vicious dog!"

The villager who spoke first nodded:

"There were only two carts of charcoal at the time, and the villagers burned it all winter. They happened to run into the Chang family when they went to town."

Recalling the scene, anger flashed across his face:

“As soon as these bastards saw our charcoal, they said it was of good quality and told us to shovel some away.”

The villagers spoke incoherently, saying whatever came to mind:
“They take some, and the soldiers guarding the city also want to take some. How are they supposed to live like this?”

The two men were filled with righteous indignation, but when they heard Chen Duozi and the others, they only roughly understood one thing: Baili Temple had used the entire village's resources to burn two cartloads of charcoal, but when they went to the city to sell it, they unfortunately encountered the Chang family, who were also returning to the city, and were thus deprived by the Chang family and the soldiers guarding the city.

"Two truckloads of carbon, did they take a lot?"

Liu Yizhen asked curiously.

The villager said:

"One person took some winnowing baskets, bamboo baskets and other items, and carried a lot of them away."

Chen Duozi also asked:
"How many people are there?"

Another villager chimed in:
"Seven or eight people, I guess."

They gestured to indicate the size of the winnowing basket and the carrying basket, and Yu Lingzhu listened, puzzled:

"That's not much."

"How can there not be many?" Upon hearing this, the villager felt uncomfortable and quickly retorted:

"Even mountains of gold and silver can't withstand such constant moving if each person takes a little."

Yu Lingzhu had been pampered for many years and had never been talked back to like this before. She was furious and then murderous intent arose in her heart.

Zhao Fusheng grabbed her hand.

"Don't stop me—"

Yu Lingzhu tried to shake off her hand, but Zhao Fusheng held her down:

"Don't rush, ask the questions first."

"I asked very clearly. They burned two truckloads of charcoal in their village, and some of them were arrested in the city. Two large truckloads! What's the big deal about them asking for some things?" Yu Lingzhu said unhappily.

Zhao Fusheng sneered:
"I told you, don't rush. They're not speaking clearly; just listen to the gist of what they're saying." With that, she shook off Yu Lingzhu's hand.

"Let me ask you, and then you can decide."

After she finished speaking, she looked at Wu Jiabing:

"Village Chief Wu, were you aware that your village was burning charcoal to sell in the city?"

Wu Jiabing stood by and watched for a while, observing the villagers arguing with the two men. Hearing Zhao Fusheng call his name again, he felt somewhat helpless and had no choice but to speak:
"Of course I know."

"How many able-bodied men are there in your village? How long will it take to burn these two cartloads of charcoal?" Zhao Fusheng asked him.

Wu Jiabing didn't understand why she kept bringing up the topic of burning charcoal in Bailici Village again, instead of the head of the Chang family in Wuqing County.

His mind raced, but he said aloud:
"The whole village has gone up the mountain to cut wood, which will take about two months."

Wu Jiabing looked at Chen Duozi and the others, and seeing that they were unfamiliar with these procedures, he explained:
"Logging requires specialized manpower, and some small branches and leaves need to be collected. Then, the process of sending them into the kiln, firing, opening the kiln, and controlling the fire temperature is all very particular. To fire two cartloads of charcoal, two months is considered a tight schedule."

The villager who spoke first nodded hurriedly:

"We need to get through this season, when the weather will warm up and charcoal will be less expensive, so we still need to hurry."

Another person also said:
"But the weather isn't always fair. If it gets windy and rainy, then things will get complicated."

Upon hearing this, Yu Lingzhu vaguely understood why Zhao Fusheng asked about the time it took to burn charcoal—he simply wanted to prove that making charcoal at Baili Temple was not easy and that it had been robbed in the city.

"Even if charcoal is difficult to produce, it doesn't matter if others take some. If we think long-term, wouldn't it be good to do favors for the soldiers guarding the city and the Chang family? Helping others is helping yourself. Next time you enter the city, won't someone look after you?"

The three villagers were angered by these words and wanted to retort, but Zhao Fusheng immediately raised his voice:

"These two truckloads of carbon, shouldn't we be required to pay tax?"

Her words punctured the villagers' anger at just the right moment.

Wu Jiabing looked at her in surprise:
"Yes, taxes are required."

Yu Lingzhu was stunned for a moment.

She forgot about the taxes.

However, she had been in the Demon Suppression Division for a long time and had long been accustomed to receiving taxes and offerings, so she did not feel that there was anything wrong with the villagers paying taxes.

"How much are the taxes?" Zhao Fusheng asked.

Wu Jiabing looked at her intently and said:

"According to the rules, the Chang family contributes five, the Demon Suppression Division contributes three, and Wuqing County contributes one..."

At this point in his speech, Yu Lingzhu immediately sensed that something was amiss:

"That's a misstatement. These taxes already take away 90%, so doesn't that mean only 10% is left?"

Zhao Fusheng smiled but remained silent.

Wu Jiabing lowered his head. The smug look on Yu Lingzhu's face gradually disappeared. Her lips stiffened, unable to curve upwards any further, and she instinctively looked at Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng had no choice but to say:

"Where is even a tenth? Won't the soldiers entering the city and the Chang family's servants rob even more?"

"..." Yu Lingzhu opened her mouth, but this time she couldn't say anything.

She realized the seriousness of the problem.

“You.” She pointed to the third villager who hadn’t uttered a word from beginning to end. This man looked honest and taciturn, not like someone who would lie:
"Do you think what they're saying is true or false?"

"Yes, it's true."

The man stammered a reply after being pointed at by Yu Lingzhu.

"At the time, we were all very angry. We'd all worked for over two months, and our wives and children were waiting to be fed," a villager said.

"We were entrusted by the village chief to escort the coal into the city for sale on behalf of everyone—"

He was so nervous that he couldn't even speak clearly, so Wu Jiabing had to take over the conversation:
"Sir, it's like this. It takes us several hours to travel to and from the city, and there are taxes to pay upon entering. It's not cost-effective to send too many people, so we've sent a few honest and reliable people into the city."

"Yep."

The first villager to speak said:
“This carbon isn’t even our own. We agreed on a certain price, but we’ve been shoveling from this spot and that spot. How much will we actually get? If we don’t have enough money to go around, the villagers might think we’ve embezzled it. Isn’t that just asking for trouble?”

Yu Lingzhu's heart skipped a beat.

Wu Shaochun glanced at her; her face was extremely pale, as if she had a fire burning inside her but hadn't found a chance to vent it.

"If that's the case, and the Chang family collects such high taxes, and now they even try to rob you when you come into the city, how can you still say that the Chang family are such good people?"

The villagers said:
"No, no!" He held up the torch in one hand and waved the other hand frantically.
"It is right to make offerings to the elders, for it is to cultivate virtue for the next life."

At this point, Wu Jiabing shuddered.

The village chief was about to reprimand the villagers, but seeing Zhao Fusheng looking at him with a gleaming gaze and a hint of authority in his eyes, he simply turned his head away and remained silent.

The villagers, unaware of the undercurrents, continued:

"Moreover, Master Chang didn't actually steal our coal. It was the servants in the cart who stole it. Those dogs, they came and stole it. The coal had already been taken away. We were scared and angry. Master Chang stood up for us and ordered the steward not to steal the people's supplies."

Another person sighed:

"The master is a good man. He cares about the people's suffering and knows that we are having a hard time. It's just that those scoundrels who rely on their master's power are despicable. They don't leave us any way to survive."

The other villager, who didn't talk much, nodded and said:

"If some of the coal is taken away, there will be very little left. We will go hungry for the next two weeks, and the harvest is still a long way off."

Zhao Fusheng asked Yu Lingzhu with a smile:

"Lingzhu, what do you think of the Chang family?"

Yu Lingzhu was already agitated and became furious upon hearing this:
“I’m older than you, after all. Why don’t you call me ‘sister’ instead of my first name?” She remembered she’d said this before, and her anger flared. Just as she was about to speak, Liu Yizhen said:
"Lord Yu is enraged."

Chen Duozi nodded.

"..."

Yu Lingzhu felt a lump in her throat and turned her head away:

"I'm too lazy to talk to you guys anymore."

Zhao Fusheng sneered, then asked Wu Jiabing:

"Village Chief Wu, what do you think of the Chang family?"

Wu Jiabing laughed dryly:
"How could Master Chang be bad? Sir, please don't make fun of us ignorant villagers."

The villagers nodded sincerely:
"Master Chang is truly kind-hearted."

"He's such a kind person."

'Ugh. '

Zhao Fusheng sighed, shook his head, and didn't bring up the topic again.

"By the way, what do you mean by making offerings to the Chang family to cultivate virtue for the next life?" Zhao Fusheng changed the subject and asked the question that the villagers had brushed aside.

Wu Jiabing's aura changed, and his fists clenched involuntarily.

The villagers, however, remained calm. The first villager to speak laughed and said:

"The suffering in this life is to cultivate virtue for the next life. If we make offerings to Master Chang, we might be born into a wealthy family in our next life."

His words left Liu Yizhen, Chen Duozi, and the others completely bewildered. Chen Duozi was particularly puzzled:

"What about this life and the next?"

Liu Yizhen exclaimed in surprise:

Do you believe that there is consciousness after death, and that one remembers past lives?

"Why can't you remember?"

The villagers said:
"I vaguely remember working the land in my past life."

The other person laughed along:
"Me too, I always remember farming and working. When will I get to experience what it's like to be a big shot?"

The villagers spoke without thinking, but the members of the Demon Suppression Bureau took it to heart.

Yu Lingzhu, who was already horrified to hear that the Chang family had taken 50% of the tax revenue, was also stunned by the talk of 'this life and the next.' She couldn't help but rebuke them:

"Nonsense! What talk of this life and the afterlife? Death ends everything; at most, a vengeful ghost might resurrect—"

"With the Chang family around, there are no ghosts!"

The villagers reacted strongly upon hearing her speak ill of the Chang family, and rebuked her angrily.

"What do you know, you're just a woman?"

Yu Lingzhu was furious.

She can't control Zhao Fusheng, but she doesn't believe she can't control these stupid villagers!

"You dare say that? Do you really think I wouldn't—" Before she could finish speaking, Wu Jiabing, who had been silent until now, spoke up:
"Please, gentlemen, have mercy," he said with a smile.

“We are just ordinary people, and these people are crude and ignorant. We are magnanimous, why bother arguing with them?”

Zhao Fusheng's eyes darted around, and he tried to smooth things over:

"Lingzhu, don't be angry. Let's go inside the ancestral hall and take a walk around before we talk."

Wu Jiabing nodded.

Yu Lingzhu may have a bad temper, but she wasn't stupid. She looked at Zhao Fusheng, and seeing him give her a wink, she suppressed her anger and let out a soft snort.
"What are you waiting for?"

The villager, unaware that he had just escaped death, muttered to himself:

"According to the rules, women are not allowed to enter ancestral halls."

Just as Yu Lingzhu was about to lose her temper, Chen Duozi couldn't hold back any longer:
"Brother, you're so particular, yet I haven't seen you get rich? Your clothes are still so tattered, but you've certainly got a lot of rules."

She spoke gently, but her words were sharp and cutting, making the villager's face flush red. He wanted to retort and curse, but when he saw Liu Yizhen and Wu Shaochun looking at him coldly—most importantly, Wu Jiabing's gaze was indifferent—he immediately backed down.

"A good man doesn't argue with a woman," he said sheepishly.

Upon hearing this, Chen Duozi's face turned red with anger.

Zhao Fusheng laughed and said:

"You're neither a good man nor can you win against her." He then added calmly:

"That's enough. It's no use for you to show off in front of us."

The villager chuckled, and seeing that the Wu family soldiers were behaving themselves, he had no choice but to suppress his dissatisfaction. He deliberately lowered the torch with a sullen face to vent his anger.

(End of this chapter)