“What are you doing?!” At this time, Zhao Jinge hurriedly came running from outside.

Zhao Jinge went to the brick kiln today and just counted the number of bricks halfway when someone told him that something happened at the pier . . . He hurriedly ran here, just in time to see Jiang Zhen being surrounded.

“Stop!” Zhao Jinge hurriedly stopped in front of Jiang Zhen.

The brick kiln was very dusty, so it was especially easy to get yourself dirty. That’s why he put an old coat over his new clothes. In the past, he would take off this old coat at the brick kiln before coming over, but this time, because he was too anxious, he did not do it, so he looked very dusty.

“Who are you? Don’t hinder us from doing our job.” Zhou Maohe saw Zhao Jinge’s dirty look and his face eased a bit.

“I am his wife. What has he committed that you want to arrest him?” Zhao Jinge asked again.

That person was actually this Jiang Zhen’s wife? Zhou Maohe froze and then said, “Does this Jiang Zhen usually abuse you, or . . .”

Zhou Maohe wanted to ask a few more questions, but suddenly thought that a wife suing her husband should receive a hundred sticks, so he stopped his questioning in the middle and just said, “Take this Jiang Zhen away quickly! Take him to Hecheng Country! I also want to ask the Hecheng County magistrate why he was shielding this man and did not let people appeal at his door!”

As soon as Zhou Maohe spoke, yamen officers wanted to catch Jiang Zhen. But Zhao Jinge, who was anxious, grabbed one of them by the hand and threw him out. After following Jiang Zhen for a long time, his skills were getting better and better.

“Jinge!”Jiang Zhen called.

Zhao Jinge suddenly stopped his movements and looked at Jiang Zhen.

“Calm down,” Jiang Zhen said.

Zhao Jinge was very anxious just then, but after hearing Jiang Zhen’s words, he suddenly calmed down.

After calming down Zhao Jinge, Jiang Zhen said, “Lord Zhou, you don’t have to tie me up. I will go with you myself. I hope Lord Zhou is really a clean and good official instead of being someone who doesn’t know right from wrong!”

“You!” Zhou Maohe looked at Jiang Zhen angrily but saw that Jiang Zhen had already walked out with big strides; his footsteps were very relaxed, looking nothing like a captured prisoner.

When Zhou Maohe saw Jiang Zhen’s straight back, he couldn’t help but feel very angry again. But he just waved his sleeves and followed Jiang Zhen out of the door.

Zhao Jinge watched them leave, his fists clenched tightly. He then turned his head sharply and looked at He Chunsheng before asking, “What the hell is going on?”

“That imperial envoy said that he boss had committed the crime of unfilial piety,” He Chunsheng said; although he also began learning how to read and write, he still did not read any books. So this unfilial crime thing, he really did not know about it.

“Jinge, what should we do now?” Zhao Liu asked anxiously. She had been holding Zhao Mingzhu all this time. Afraid that those people would hurt Zhao Mingzhu, she did not dare to come close, so at the moment, she was about to cry from the anxiety.

As for Zhao Mingzhu, she just froze up, and she was already grimacing as her tears could no longer be restrained from falling. This child cry was like thunder during a light rain and often cried without a drop of tears, but this time, it was as if she could not stop crying, and she began to sob, looking extremely pitiful.

If it had been before, Zhao Jinge would have been very distressed, not to mention Jiang Zhen, for whom she was a little sweetheart that he would already try to coax. But right then, Zhao Jinge really did not have time to take care of her.

“I need to think about . . . ,” Zhao Jinge said, his expression miserable and face white.

For a long time, Zhao Jinge always followed Jiang Zhen’s lead to come up with a direction. All decisions were made by Jiang Zhen and all he had to do was just listen. But Jiang Zhen has been taken away! Zhao Jinge was in a state of confusion for a while; he felt like he just lost his backbone, and he had no idea what he could do or what to do. However, when he discovered this, he immediately slapped himself in the face.

Jiang Zhen was still waiting for him to save him!

This slap startled Zhao Mingzhu who cried with ‘wow’ which also woke up Zhao Jinge,

“He Chunsheng, go and arrange a boat for me. I am going to find Young Master Zheng . . . Also He Chunsheng, let me ask you one thing. “

“Go ahead, sister-in-law,” He Chunsheng immediately said. Those people came and arrested Jiang Zhen, but he did not dare to stop them, which made him feel very guilty. Now that Zhao Jinge wanted to ask him for something, he was very willing.

“He Chunsheng, I want to beg you to find your father and ask him to sue He Qiusheng,” Zhao Jinge said, “Don’t worry. I will find some other people and will not let anything happen to you. And after the matter is completed, there will be compensation.”

He Chunsheng was stunned but quickly reacted. Zhao Jinge wanted to find some people to sue his married ger brother to divert attention!

After he came back from the capital, he settled his own marriage matter, and not long after, he married He Qiusheng to a man from the next village who was working for Jiang Zhen’s escort agency like him.

Although his brother was good-looking, he was also very delicate. It was estimated that he could not serve his in-laws, so this colleague has a good advantage as both his parents were dead and also single-mindedly liked his brother.

“Sister-in-law, don’t worry. I’ll go right away.”

“No need to rush. This is something you discuss with Qiusheng first, and also, if there are still suitable people, you immediately tell me. As long as they are willing to do so, I will give a hundred silver,” Zhao Jinge said.

“Good.” He Chunsheng nodded.

Their family had a good life ever since because of Jiang Zhen, so he was naturally willing to do his part to save Jiang Zhen.

Zhao Jinge and He Chunsheng hurriedly spoke a few words to each other, and then they immediately ran outside and went directly to the county town.

Zhao Jinge left the boat near country town and ran all the way to Zheng family house, knocking on their door. Zheng Yi had no idea that Jiang Zhen was arrested.

“Zhao Jinge? What are you doing?” Zheng Yi looked at the dirty Zhao Jinge in surprise.

Zhao Jinge knelt directly to Zheng Yi and kowtowed. “Young Master Zheng, Jiang Zhen was arrested by an imperial envoy surnamed Zhou. I beg Young Master Zheng to save him.”

“What?” Zheng Yi was surprised. Did the imperial envoy arrest Jiang Zheng?

Meanwhile, He Chunsheng rushed into the gambling shop in Hecheng County and found his father, who was still working in the gambling shop.

“Chunsheng, you’re here at last . . .” Father He was very excited when he saw his son.

In truth, the people in this gambling shop treated him well. They did not beat or scold him. He did not get meat or fish to eat, but at least he had enough to eat. After he has lived here for more than a year, he had even put on some weight. But he was really homesick.

He used to not liked staying at home, but since then, he missed his family more and more. Being so homesick, so when he finally saw his son, he did not view him as annoying at all.

“Father, I have something for you to do. If you do a good job, I’ll pick you up,” He Chunsheng said. He was currently working in the docks of Hexi Village, so he also had a bit of power since. If he needed someone to observe his father so he would not get a chance to gamble anymore, it would not be a big problem.

“Chunsheng, you can say whatever you want,” Father He immediately said.

“It’s like this . . .” He Chunsheng told the story of how he was going to get his father to sue He Qiusheng.

“This . . . How can this work?” Father He was stunned. Although he was an asshole, but for such a reason, he would not sue his own son . . . In fact, when no one was forcing him to pay off his debt, he still loved He Qiusheng who was such a good-looking son.

“It’s to save people,” He Chunsheng said. “If you do this, Zhao Jinge is willing to pay you 100 silver.”

A hundred silver? Father He’s eyes lit up immediately, and he suddenly asked, “Does he want to find more people?”

“Yes,” He Chunsheng said.

“I know a lot of people who are willing to do this! I’ll call them. We’ll just give them fifty—no, no even twenty would be enough. We’ll take the rest.” Father He discussed it with his son.

Originally He Chunsheng was anxious to do it, but after being frazzled by his own father, he was left speechless for a while.

In the country town, both Zhao Jinge and He Chunsheng were busy. In Hexi, Zhao Liu left her granddaughter in Cook Lu and Ruo’er’s care before going out with Zhao Fugui.

“I’ll go beg one by one, kowtow to them and ask them to testify to Jiang Zhen!” Zhao Liu said. “What did Jiang Zhen do to them? Why should Jiang Zhen be arrested?”

“Slow down. We can’t do that. We can’t go begging.” Zhao Fugui stopped Zhao Liu’s.

“Why can’t we?” Zhao Liu asked, puzzled.

“We should make others think that our family is fine!” Zhao Fugui said. If others find out that the Zhao family was in bad condition, those people may not want to help, which he clearly felt after his son died and Zhao Liu fell ill. Therefore, he wanted to let people know that the Zhao family was doing well.

Although Zhao Fugui was not very talkative, but many things in his heart were like a clear mirror. He first took Zhao Liu to the village chief’s house.

“Village Chief, this time the Jiang family sued Jiang Zhen. This is simply going against the whole Hexi Village! If Jiang Zhen is wronged and goes to prison, we’ll have to move out from here in the future. It will definitely be more convenient to do business elsewhere than in Hexi Village, so we won’t have to see this family anymore!”

“No, don’t . . .” Jiang Ping hurriedly stopped him.

Jiang Zhen was taken away in full view of the public, so naturally, Jiang Ping knew about it. Originally, he did not want to get involved in this matter. After all, the other person was an imperial envoy, so he could not afford to offend him. But when Zhao Fugui said this . . . If Zhao family really moved away . . . what would happen to them?

Although the Zhao family had only developed for more than a year, but ever since then, almost everyone in Hexi relied on them to earn money!

His youngest son was a security guard under Jiang Zhen, and the eldest son found a bookkeeping job on Jiang Zhen’s dock because he could read. Their life became much better and so were the lives of other people in Hexi Village.

If the Zhao family moved out . . . would their days suddenly change back to what it used to be?

“Don’t worry. I’ll take you to everyone right away.” Jiang Ping went out with Zhao Fugui. “Let’s talk to the people in the village. I’m sure everyone will be willing to help.”

Zhao Fugui nodded. “Then I will need to trouble the village head.”

The people in Hexi Village were really willing to help. They were now, more or less, all relying on Zhao family to live, if Zhao family really left . . .

Nothing must happen to Jiang Zhen!

They used to be afraid of Jiang Zhen, but since then, they had not been afraid at all. They only have admiration for Jiang Zhen, and they even hope that Jiang Zhen becomes even more promising. Ever since Jiang Zhwen built a wharf, the people of Hexi Village had gone out, and they became the envy of other villages. Moreover, Jiang Zhen . . . as a matter of fact, hadn’t done anything bad, so wasn’t it the Jiang family the one who was not good?

On the side of Hexi Village, many villagers soon gathered together.

At this time, a ship came to the dock in Hecheng Country.

The ship was not big, but it was very delicate. After it stopped, guards holding the swords came down from it.

“Eunuch, we have arrived in Hecheng Country . .” After these guards got off the boat, they called outside the cabin they were guarding.

“Finally we have arrived . . .” a feeble voice came from the cabin. The voice was breathless as if the owner of the voice was very uncomfortable. “Little Lizi, give me a hand . . . Ships are so troubling. I don’t want to board a ship anymore in my life.”

“Eunuch Zhang is tired. You should think of taking a carriage when you will be heading back,” another younger, but equally sharp voice said.

Two white-faced and beardless people, one old and one young, debarked from the ship with each other’s help.

As soon as they got off the boat, they noticed that there was a lot of activity on one side, and people were yelling about the arrival of the imperial envoy.

So Zhou Maohe was here? The old eunuch looked bitter. “Oh, why is this guy here? I still wanted to taste the delicacy of Jiangnan, but he came . . .”  Would Young Master Zheng still dare to entertain him well? 

 

Edited by: Faro

Proofreader: XLB

 

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