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Home/ There’s A Beauty / Chapter 67 (Part 1)

Several members from the victims’ families recounted how Li Ni forced their daughters to death, and You Shu stamped the official seal on the lawsuit, convicting her for forcing people to death.  

Unexpectedly, Li Ni was very fierce. After the initial panic, she pointed at You Shu’s nose and said angrily, “Just based on a few lawsuits and a few one-sided statements, the county magistrate sentenced this pair of brother and sister to death. We refuse to accept it, and request a lawyer to go to the state government to file a lawsuit. If they also failed to give us justice, then we will go to the capital to file a lawsuit. My life will not end like this because of your few words!”

You Shu is always very serious and meticulous in whatever he does, and will never make a conclusion easily without concrete evidence. 

He looked at the crowd that had already surrounded the yamen, and said, “If she wants evidence, I will give her evidence. There must be many people among you who have not lost their conscience. Can you stand up and provide circumstantial evidence for your neighbors? Nowadays, the world is chaotic, people’s hearts are not old, and living is already difficult. Everyone needs to work together and help each other, so that there is hope for a better future.”

As everyone saw his sincerity, they gradually stepped forward to testify against the Li siblings. Due to the support of the county magistrate, Li family acted unscrupulously, and there were many handles in everyone’s hands, and they could tell seven or eight of their crimes with their mouths. 

What’s more, most of the people who were taken away yesterday were villagers from Lijia Village, so those who came to watch today were their neighbors or relatives, so there was no reason not to help. Everyone provided additional testimonies one by one, and You Shu recorded everything carefully.

In just about half an hour, he ended up recording a thick stack of confessions, indicating who said what, what age, and where they came from.

You Shu distributed the testimonies to everyone one by one, and asked literate people among the crowd to help them take a look. If there aren’t any mistakes or omissions, they should put their handprint on them.  

The common people hadn’t yet noticed the abnormality, but the scholars who came to watch were all shocked. The county magistrate only has one head and one pair of hands, but there were seven or eight mouths speaking at the same time. Not only can he record it instantly, but he can also record every word accurately. What kind of skill is this? The county magistrate alone is equal to seven or eight clerks writing at the same time!

For You Shu, it was just an ordinary matter, but for others, it was so shocking that their eyes were wide open. From that day on, scholars of Suichang County who used to slander and curse him in private have all changed their tone, and now they only have admiration and reverence towards You Shu.  

Of course, You Shu never cared about what others thought of him, only focusing on doing his own thing well. He threw a thick stack of testimonies in front of Li Ni and asked quietly, “Is this much evidence enough for you?”

Li Ni looked up at him, her eyes full of fear. The person in the hall was not Zhao Youshu in her memory at all. When he stared at someone, there was no trace of emotion in his eyes, as if you are just a dispensable object, and whether or not this object should exist depended entirely on his thoughts.

At this moment, she really became scared, and went forward to hug You Shu’s legs on her knees, but was pressed to the ground with sticks by the yamen guards on both sides, unable to struggle.

You Shu wrote down the punishment and ordered the yamen guards to hit both brother and sister fifty times with a stick, and confiscate their family property before announcing his withdrawal from the court. 

This court hearing was quite memorable for everyone, and they discussed endlessly as they walked away. Since the young county magistrate came to Suichang, it had been a long time since they witnessed such an exciting lawsuit. Of course, they were also worried that this was just a temporary madness of the county magistrate, and he might return to his previous ways in a few days.

“He probably won’t. Just now I heard that the county magistrate has brought guards to raid Li Ergou’s house. This house has already been confiscated now, so he can’t go back on his words, right?”

“Could it be that he fell in love with another girl and tried to get rid of that poisonous woman Li Ni by using this way?”

“Bah, what are you doing by thinking so much? Anyway, the villain got punished by the villain! Go, go, let’s go to Lijia village and watch.”

“Ah, I have never seen a house get raided!”

The crowd that had just dispersed slowly gathered again, and marched towards Lijia Village, while the people of Lijia Village followed behind the county magistrate, feeling quite excited and unbearable. 

You Shu has always been straightforward and meticulous in his work. As soon as he went there, he smashed down the gate of Li family’s house, ordered the guards to subdue all the servants, and then began to search the house. In a while, gold, silver, jewellery, grain, clothes, account books and other items were piled up at the door one by one, leaving the villagers to watch.

The sun outside was getting hotter, making people dizzy. You Shu ordered someone to bring a set of tables and chairs, and put them under the shade of a tree to sit down and watch. 

It wasn’t until the last grain of rice in the Li family was found that You Shu spread out the account books and flipped through them quickly.

“Li Ergou was domineering and did a lot of evil things in the village, all relying on the power of this official, so I am also responsible for my negligence. I apologize to all the villagers here.” At this point, You Shu stood up and bowed down to the surrounding villagers to apologize.

If You Shu was like those officials who are good at buying people’s hearts, he would definitely take some more actions, like take off his hat and cut his hair, or punish himself by reducing his salary. In short, he will have to do a full set of drama.  

However, You Shu was too sincere, and his mind was relatively simple. He thought to himself that although he didn’t get hit with one hundred sticks, all the pain after the resurrection was endured by himself.

He didn’t do any routine or play any tricks because he wanted to do more practical things, but the villagers obviously didn’t understand this. 

Although no one dared to say it, everyone suddenly realized in their hearts: it turned out that the reason why the county magistrate got rid of Li Ergou was because of his wealth. So the sentence they all heard “the magistrate who broke the house, the magistrate who destroyed the family” is indeed true. 

Being greedy for money and finding a grandiose reason to kill people, and then confiscate their family property legally. It seems that the county magistrate’s methods have improved again, and everyone’s life will become even more difficult from now on.

The villagers were silent, and then showed a sad look, and the common people who came to watch the fun also felt something in their hearts, and their eyes turned red. Suppressing endless despair and indescribable anger in their hearts, they had no way to deal with it except for being patient. In this world, to live one more day is to accumulate a little more pain, until the pain becomes unbearable, and the blood runs out to death.

You Shu was extremely sensitive to the surrounding environment. He straightened his waist and used his mental strength to observe the sky. When everyone could only see the bright sunshine, what he saw was dark clouds and turbulent currents, and occasionally there were also a few thin dragon shadows hovering in the air.

These dark clouds are public grievances, while the dragon shadow is a disaster that lives on the basis of grievances of the people. Once they have absorbed the grievances of the people, they would gain the ability to turn the world upside down, which is why large-scale natural disasters often occur when the people of the world are struggling.  

You Shu has only read these descriptions in books, but he didn’t know that the real scene would be countless times more oppressive than he imagined. There’s no light in the sky, except for people’s suffering on the earth. If this goes on like this, the rain and dew that falls would turn into floods, and the steaming heat would turn into droughts. At that time, what kind of purgatory will this Dayong Kingdom be?

How can he dispel the heavy clouds by himself and make the sky reappear again? But it is even more impossible for him to do just nothing and wait for the disaster to fall. 

Thinking this way, You Shu rubbed his dry eyes and looked at the surrounding villagers again, saying slowly, “Starting today, all the interest money that Li Ergou put down will be invalid. These are your IOUs, you all take them back.”

He began to call people’s names one by one, but the surprise came too fast, and the villagers forgot to respond for a while. 

After shouting two or three times, one person finally stumbled out of the crowd and took the IOU with trembling hands. He originally had a house and a piece of land in his family, and lived a very prosperous life, but because he offended Li Ergou, he was wronged by the other party. Li Ergou set up all kinds of traps to ruin his family, and forced him to write this IOU that he would never be able to repay in his lifetime. 

A few days ago, because he failed to repay the interest in time, Li Ergou said that he would take his eight-year-old daughter as a payment. His whole family was thinking whether they should hang themselves and end everything, but they didn’t expect happiness to come so suddenly.

“Thank you, Lord Qingtian, thank you, Lord Qingtian!” After confirming that the IOU was correct, the man knelt down and kowtowed, even though his forehead started to bleed, he refused to stop. This is a life-saving grace, saving the lives of seven members of his family! Starting from today, he will no longer curse the county magistrate. Even though he has done many evil things in the past, today’s incident alone is enough to offset all of the hatred.(Qingtian=upright official)

People are always like this. When it comes to their own interests, hatred comes quickly, and gratitude also surges in quickly.

You Shu ordered someone to help him up, and said in a business-like manner, “You don’t need to kowtow to me, just stand aside after you get the IOU, and don’t delay the people behind you.” Li Ergou’s pile of property has a lot of history, and I don’t know if it can be finished properly before dark.

That person became even more grateful in his heart, and hurriedly stood aside, while the people in the back eagerly waited for their turn, wanting to see with their own eyes.  

The vast majority of people in Lijia Village were forced by Li Ergou to borrow interest money from him in various ways. He took away their land, houses, and children to pay off the debts, but it seemed like a bottomless pit that could never be repaid. They all dreamed that heaven would open its eyes and send an immortal to save them, but to their surprise, the living immortal turned out to be their county magistrate.

However, no matter what he has done in the past, it would be good if he can do some practical things for the people from now on. Looking at Dayong, it is estimated that there will never be another such good official.

Amidst the cheers, gratitude, and tears of joy from the crowd, You Shu began to dispose of the property after handing out the IOUs. The starving ghost next to him recounted everything so that he didn’t have to send anyone to inquire about which household the land belonged to, and how it fell into Li Ergou’s hands.  

It can only be said that even if Li Ergou died a few hundred times, his crimes could not be washed. Out of a few hundred hectares of fertile land, eighty or ninety percent of it was forcibly taken and ruined, making the entire village impoverished and polluted.

Of course, You Shu also needs to be honest. The chaos in Lijia Village is mainly caused by the indulgence and ignorance of “Zhao Youshu”. As an ancestor, it is not unreasonable for him to help pay off the debt.

“This ten acres of land originally belonged to Li Jimin’s family. Once, Li Jimin accidentally bumped into Li Ergou because he was walking carelessly. Li Ergou claimed that his leg was broken and asked him to pay twenty taels of silver, otherwise he would break both of his hands. But Li Jimin is a scholar who was about to take part in the imperial exam, and couldn’t lose his hands, so he wrote him an IOU in the end.” When the starving ghost saw You Shu pull out a land deed, he immediately explained.

“It’s a lot of money, and combined with the interest, people can only use their land to pay off the debt.” You Shu nodded and patted the land deed on the table, shouting, “Whose family owns the ten acres of land by the Dongtou reservoir? Come and take back the deed yourself.” This land had already been written under Li Ergou’s name, and without checking the transfer documents, he shouldn’t know who the original owner was, so he could only ask people to step forward by themselves.

The villagers gradually became even more courageous, and they trusted the words of the county magistrate. After a few minutes, a scholar came out to take the land deed, and then knelt down and kowtowed three times.

Not only was the debt written off, but the stolen land was also returned. Is there such a good thing in the world? However, such a good thing really happened. Not to mention the villagers who got their land deeds back, even the people from other villages who came to join in the fun were crying tears of joy.

“County Magistrate, you are a living Bodhisattva who saves lives!”

“May the County Magistrate live a long life!”

“Thank you, county magistrate. I am even willing to work as a cow or a horse to repay your kindness!”

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