Divorced by her husband's family and rejected by her own! She defiantly turned her life around

The unsuspecting villagers quickly asked around, "Hey, brother, what's going on here? What are all these people doing?"

"You still have the nerve to set up a vegetable stall here? Come with us and demand an explanation!"

"What explanation are you asking for? We don't know anything about it, and no one has offended us!"

He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and said, "Look, look, what's written on it? Can't you understand? Hurry up and follow me."

The vegetable vendor also pulled out a few pieces of paper from his pocket. "Brother, we don't recognize the words on these. Can you explain them to us?"

"Oh dear! You guys are really a hassle, the group is already quite far away."

This document states that the prefect, in collusion with the county magistrate Guo Changfeng, fabricated pretexts to increase taxes, extorting money from the people and exploiting them.

The imperial court never intended to levy such heavy taxes; it was all their doing.

Other prefectures only levied the regular taxes from the imperial court, namely grain tax, while Dongping Prefecture was required to pay so much tax.

You're still selling vegetables here, and the money you make isn't even enough to pay your taxes. Why don't you come with me right now and demand an explanation?

The people immediately protested. They had all received notices from the officials that the taxes were terrifyingly heavy. That's why they brought their vegetables to the county town early in the morning to sell, hoping to earn more money to pay their taxes.

The people were cursing and swearing, saying that these heartless people were simply devouring people without spitting out the bones, and that they had to demand an explanation and demand that people have no way to live.

The two yamen runners standing at the entrance of the county government office saw a large group of people swarming towards them, and they immediately became alert and drew their swords.

As the crowd approached, they stood at the entrance of the county government office, chanting slogans in unison: "We want to see the county magistrate! We want to see County Magistrate Guo! Why are you creating pretexts to increase taxes and exploit us, the common people?"

"If we don't get an explanation today, we will not let this go."

"Yes, we won't give up, we won't give up."

Two constables brandished knives, saying, "You must not take another step forward, or you will be charged with treason."

Someone threw a handful of stones, shouting, "You bastard, we poor people are just here to demand an explanation, and you're accusing us of treason? Beat them up!"

The two constables were so frightened that they ran inside. The people rushed into the county government office and stood quietly in the main hall, waiting.

Su Yimin also learned of this matter and was racking his brains in the inner hall trying to figure out who had done it when he heard a yamen runner rush in to report, "Reporting, sir, something terrible has happened! Something terrible has happened!"

"What happened? Why are you all so flustered!"

"A group of people surrounded the county government office. They came to demand an explanation and to see you, Your Excellency, and Magistrate Guo."

Upon hearing this, Su Yimin realized that the people had arrived so quickly, and Guo Changfeng had not yet come to the yamen. He knew he had to go out and calm them down.

Su Yimin arrived at the county government hall and said, "Fellow villagers of Lingshui County, please be quiet and listen to me."

Although I, Su Yimin, am the magistrate of Lingshui County, I cannot manage everything. There is also the prefect above me.

The Prefect specifically entrusted the collection of taxes to Guo Xiancheng for supervision. As for the rumors circulating in the streets, I am truly unaware of them and further investigation is needed.

"Why don't you all go back first and give me a few days so I can personally investigate this."

"No way! As the county's official, you know nothing. What kind of magistrate are you? You're letting a mere county clerk run rampant in Lingshui County. If you can't stand up for the people, then get out of here and we'll handle this ourselves."

The imperial court sent you here not so you could collect a salary and live off the people, but so you could bring benefits to the region and stand up for the people.

"Give you a few more days?" they said. "How could we possibly give you a few more days? The yamen runners would have beaten us to death and demolished our houses long ago."

"You officials are protecting each other, just trying to stall for time. You must give us an explanation today."

Su Yimin was furious. How could he not explain himself to this group of ignorant people?

At this point, he was helpless. The people were indignant, and a major disaster could easily occur.

"Quiet down, everyone! Listen to me! Listen to me!"

No one could hear Su Yimin's voice; they were all raising their fists, filled with righteous indignation, shouting, "Hand over Guo Changfeng! Hand over Guo Changfeng!"

Su Yimin knew that he couldn't use force in this situation, so he quickly arranged for a yamen runner to bring over the gong from the yamen.

He stood on the chair in the courtroom with a gong in his hand, and struck it hard. The entire hall fell silent instantly. Finally seizing a chance to speak, he quickly said, "Fellow villagers, I know you are all suffering and holding back your anger."

I, like you, am also very angry when I saw what was written on the paper.

County Magistrate Guo hasn't arrived at the yamen yet, so I'll send someone to invite him right away. I'm determined to get an explanation from him.

Please trust me this once!

"Alright, we'll do as you say. We'll wait here, but don't try anything funny."

Su Yimin immediately sent two yamen runners to Guo Changfeng's house to invite people. Now there were only a few yamen runners left in the county government, and the others had been sent by Guo Changfeng to collect taxes in various towns and villages.

Guo Mansion.

The four guards of the warehouse were woken up by the patrolling servants. "Wake up, wake up! We've been patrolling around for ages, and you're still not awake. What were you doing all day yesterday? If the master finds out, he'll skin you alive!"

The four people were completely bewildered. How could they have fallen asleep? That shouldn't be the case. They glanced at the door lock, which was intact, and felt much relieved.

"Hey guys, take a look at my neck, it hurts."

"I have a headache at the back of my head, it feels like there's a lump."

"My neck hurts too."

"My forehead hurts."

The four men looked at each other and quickly checked their injuries. It was clear that they had been hit by a hard object. They examined the ground with lanterns and found four small stones.

"Oh no, someone broke into the mansion last night."

They quickly went to find the patrolmen and told them their suspicions. The patrolmen were also shocked; if something had really happened, they would also be held responsible.

But the key was with the master of the house, and he didn't dare to disturb him, so he could only go to the butler.

After hearing this, the butler went with them to the scene to take a look, but didn't find anything wrong.

"Have you noticed anything unusual? Think about it carefully."

The patrolmen said they found nothing and everything was normal.

The gatekeeper recounted his discovery, and the steward thought to himself that this was no small matter. Although the master had a bad temper, he still had to report it, otherwise they would not be able to bear the responsibility if something really happened.

Even if it turns out to be a false alarm, at worst you'll get a scolding, which is better than something actually happening.

With that thought in mind, the butler strode towards the inner courtyard.

The two gatekeepers saw the butler and immediately bowed, saying, "I need to speak with the master. Please go in and inform him."

"Steward Guo, it's not that we didn't want to inform them, but the master is staying with the madam today. The master hasn't been to the madam's place for a long time, and the nanny by the madam's side specifically instructed us not to disturb the master and madam."

You know your wife's temper!

"Why don't we wait another half an hour? Master will be getting up for his morning exercise soon."

The butler thought about it and agreed; if something really happened, it wouldn't happen in such a short time.

However, half an hour had already passed, and Guo Changfeng still hadn't gotten up. The steward couldn't wait any longer, so he went in himself. He gently knocked on the door, but to his surprise, the door opened immediately, and the two maids were still asleep.

Instead of rushing over, he stood outside calling out, "You two, why aren't you up yet? What time is it?"

The two still didn't react. The steward noticed something was wrong and immediately called out. The other maids in the courtyard responded and came running.

"Butler Guo, what happened?"