Chapter 1206: Thoughts

Little Lion lectured him. “If you wish to compare yourself to someone else, why aren’t you comparing yourself to an idiot instead of a smart person?”

“But he’s already in his twenties while I’m only ten!”

This reason was so robust that Little Lion could not find any words to refute.

Qi Wensu also said, “Dong Wulang is indeed very stupid. Even my third and fourth brothers know that the land prices near the capital are not low. Medium-grade land will certainly not cost less than eight taels of silver per acre. Considering this is not a place like the north where land is vast and sparsely populated, how can one buy land in such a location for two taels of silver per acre?”

“Stop insulting the northern lands.” Little An snorted with his hands behind his back. “Even an acre of medium-grade land in the northern lands costs four taels of silver. Both sides are blinded by greed, so it’s understandable that they were fooled by Steward Ji. However, considering they did suffer heavy losses, these commoners are indeed pitiful and can be considered victims.”

The people around the four children looked at them in surprise. Were all children so impressive these days?

On the other hand, the county magistrate clearly did not think so. He felt that these bonded tenants could not be considered victims. Furthermore, this matter involved the innocent Left Prime Minister. Just as the county magistrate was about to sentence them severely as a warning to others, a note came from the back hall.

The county magistrate could only strike the wooden block aggrievedly and let both sides off after just 50 strokes of the paddle.

Although Dong Mao was clueless, he was guilty of condoning his servant’s oppression of the commoners. Hence, he was given 20 strokes of the paddle and fined a certain amount. On account that he was seriously injured, he was allowed to receive his punishment after he recovered.

Meanwhile, the bonded tenants had to return the one tael of silver they had received. The previous transaction was invalidated and they could retrieve their title deeds. However, because they had ulterior motives and could be considered conspirators, they were fined according to the number of title deeds used in the exchange. Each person was fined two taels of silver for every acre of farmland.

This punishment was heavy enough. Judging by how they were willing to take the risk and take out the title deed for one tael of silver per acre, it could be seen how money-minded these people were.

Now, not only did they have to return the silver, but they were also fined two taels per acre. Not only did they end up empty-handed, but they also lost so much money. The bonded tenants kneeling in the hall collapsed to the ground in regret. If they had known earlier, they wouldn’t have come to the government office. They might have been able to get the land back if they made a fuss themselves, and they wouldn’t have to be fined.

However, they did not know that this punishment was considered light. It had to be known that the county magistrate originally had the intention of confiscating their land in addition to punishing them with strokes of the paddle. If not for the Left Prime Minister pleading leniency for them, would he have let them off so easily?

The bonded tenants looked devastated, as though they had lost their parents. Little An and the others were not rich young masters who did not understand the world. Knowing the importance of land to farmers, they, too, felt a little upset.

Seeing that Steward Ji was detained and the interrogation was over, the four of them squeezed out of the crowd. When they saw Xiao Ting standing with their guards, their bodies instantly stiffened.

Seeing that the four children were a little depressed, Mu Yangling comforted them. “They deserved it. If they can’t fork out so much money, they can always sell their land.”

“But didn’t Mother say that land is the lifeblood of farmers? If they sell their lifeblood, how can they survive?” Little Lion looked at his mother with wide eyes.

“That’s right. That’s why the Imperial Court has always wanted to restrict the trading of land, but until now, there’s no good solution. As for these people,” Mu Yangling smiled, “since they can think of such a way to earn money, they aren’t likely to hang themselves over this. You don’t have to worry about them.”

In this simple era, how could a farmer who used his farmland to scam others of their money be a good person?

Even in the era of information explosion as in her previous life where scammers were everywhere, no farmer dared to easily use their farmland to scam people.

Hence, Mu Yangling did not pity those people at all.

After comforting them, Mu Yangling saw that the four of them had no intention of leaving, so she put down her brush and asked, “Tell me, what other questions do you have?”

Little An glanced at his brothers and asked, “Fourth Aunt, why did my father ask Tiger Head to beat up Dong Wulang and blow the matter up?”

Mu Yangling asked teasingly, “Didn’t you guys already beat up Dong Mao previously and blew the matter up?”

Blushing, Little An said softly, “How is that the same? It was just a child’s fight. But with Daddy interfering, it’s different.”

Moreover, he felt that there was something strange about adults that they could not understand.

Mu Yangling thought for a moment and said, “I don’t know why either. Bring Tiger Head and the others to ask your father when we get back. Also, don’t forget your purpose for coming out today. There’s still one day left before you return to school tomorrow. Do you have any clues about your homework?”

The four children’s mouths dropped open. It had been such an eventful day that they had totally forgotten about it.

The four children ran back anxiously. At this moment, Fan Zijin had just found out that the children had sneaked out of the palace. He could not help but grind his teeth in anger. “When did the guards in the palace become so lax?”

Upon hearing this, Qi Haoran, who had just rushed over from the Ministry of War, said, “According to the guards in the palace, the four children swaggered out. No one stopped them.”

Fan Zijin: “…”

Qi Haoran continued, “You didn’t lock them up. Why would they hang around instead of leaving after they cleaned up the Imperial Study? Wait around for round two of punishment? They’re not stupid.”

“Yes, they’re not stupid. That’s why they got into trouble!” Fan Zijin gritted his teeth and said.

Qi Haoran coughed lightly and said, “You can’t take it after only taking care of them for a day? Ah Ling and I have to clean up after them every day.”

Fan Zijin snorted coldly and said, “You deserve it. Aren’t you the ones who indulged the children to be so mischievous?”

When Fan Zijin returned to the Prince’s Residence angrily, he saw the four children standing in a row and asking questions. Qi Haoran said softly, “We taught them this too. Which family’s children are as smart as them?”

This time, Fan Zijin snorted coldly and led the four children to the small study.

At night, the four of them stayed up all night to do their homework. The next day, they accosted Fan Zijin with dark circles under their eyes and asked him to grade their homework.

Fan Zijin’s absence from work yesterday had already been known by all the civil and military officials in the court. Naturally, it was not appropriate for him to continue skipping work today, so he took their homework and stuffed it into a pile of official documents. He said, “I’ll take it to the government office to grade it and return it to you in the afternoon.”

After the morning court assembly, Fan Zijin took out the articles written by the four children to review. Upholding the principle of going from the worst to the best, without thinking, Fan Zijin searched for Tiger Head’s article.

Tiger Head gave up on his previous idea and focused on what had happened yesterday. He wrote down the cause and effect, as well as Fan Zijin’s explanation to them last night that someone had set Rong Xuan up. This kid concluded by expressing that as the future hope of Great Qi, the children of Great Qi must not be as ignorant and stupid as Dong Mao. Even if they were determined to be profligate, they had to be knowledgeable, cultured, and classy. At the very least, they could not not be ignorant about the basic common knowledge such as land prices.

Fan Zijin’s hands trembled as he read, though it was due to fury and not because he felt touched. How could this kid write about whatever that came to his mind? Rong Xuan being schemed against was just a guess in everyone’s hearts and wasn’t explicitly stated. This kid, on the other hand, directly wrote down Fan Zijin’s analysis and even planned to publish it in the newspaper. Did he think that the situation wasn’t chaotic enough?

Fan Zijin suppressed the anger in his heart and told herself that it was alright. This was Tiger Head. He should just treat him like how he’d treated the young Qi Haoran back then.

After calming himself down, he took out Qi Wensu’s article and read it.

Fan Zijin had just suppressed his anger when it flared up once more. He could not help but grit his teeth and say, “These brats!”

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