coobybook Chapter 164 Land as Debt Settlement
Chapter 164 Land as Debt Settlement
Lin Chang'er was astonished. It hadn't been long, but the fact that the entire Lin family had embezzled 500 taels of silver was already staggering.
The Lin family actually spent over 1000 taels of silver, which is really...
He was quite generous, using real money to support an uncertain son-in-law.
Lin Chang'er nodded, indicating that she understood. However, she asked, "Then, how will this shortfall of 1500 taels be covered? Also, my mother's dowry list was shown to me before. According to market prices, it is worth at least 5000 taels in cash. Can I pursue the matter regarding the loss in between?"
Wu Qingfeng said gently, "That's exactly why I came to find you. You can ask the Lin family to spend money to redeem these things. If they can't be redeemed, they can be compensated according to the market price. The same applies to the things belonging to Lin Houde's family."
"However, in addition to the three families who left the clan this afternoon, there are three widows and several other families who divorced today. The lightest punishment for the others is exile to 2000 li."
“I dare not let them go out and try to redeem their belongings.”
Lin Chang'er nodded, his concerns were not unreasonable, "Then Third Brother came to see me because he has a plan."
Wu Qingfeng chuckled, "That's how it is. Originally, some cash was found in the Lin family's home, but they had to compensate other families with different surnames who lost their daughters."
"Therefore, County Magistrate Li proposed to Chief Clerk Zhu to use land and houses to offset the debt." However, in Linshui Village, the land is okay, but there are very few fertile fields, which are not enough to pay the taxes. Moreover, with pirates still around, farming is not a stable activity.
He secretly felt that this was not acceptable, as Chang'er would suffer a great loss, but he couldn't show it too much on the surface. So he discussed with Magistrate Li and Registrar Zhu that if she accepted the proposal, she would be exempted from taxes for three years.
Lin Chang'er clicked her tongue softly; in fact, she had probably already guessed it.
However, the farmland in Linshui Village is indeed not worth much, and the taxes are heavy. But it's not impossible to plant something, like a sugarcane field.
She originally planned to buy a piece of fertile land in another county and hire local villagers to cultivate it.
However, she can get any of the strong men in the village to do things like composting and improving the soil quality; with more people, it's faster to get things done.
They even provided some workstations, just to keep the benefits within the family!
Barely acceptable, she nodded, "Okay!" It's better than nothing.
However, "I don't want those remote, obscure places. You know my eldest and second brothers are both very frail. It would be best if they could be connected together."
Wu Qingfeng closed his eyelashes briefly. "Chang'er, have you thought this through?"
Lin Chang'er nodded, "I've thought it through. If we want to sell sugar, we originally needed to have our own sugarcane plantation."
Wu Qingfeng understood and, seeing that she had her own ideas, said no more. "Alright, in that case, I won't let you suffer too much. I'll exempt you from taxes on these fields for three years."
Lin Chang'er was delighted, but then, as if remembering something, she asked, "If the Lin clan can use their land and houses as collateral, what about Lin Houde's family?"
Wu Qingfeng's face darkened slightly, "Their family..."
"how?"
Wu Qingfeng said, "Yang Cuihua has made a meritorious report and can be exempted from punishment, but Lin Houde, Lin Dashan, and Lin Zixi will naturally not escape."
"However, even if the whole family sold themselves, they wouldn't be worth a thousand taels, let alone just Yang Cuihua."
Lin Chang'er's eyes darted around, "Do you remember Han Yue? You know, the one who fell into the cesspool and started making a scene the day we auctioned the golden eel..."
Wu Qingfeng's expression stiffened for a moment, then he nodded, "I remember."
Lin Chang'er said, "Most of Lin Houde's money was given to his daughter. They bought a courtyard in town to support this scholar. The money was spent on him, so it's not unreasonable for him to pay it back, is it?"
Wu Qingfeng understood and chuckled, "It's not excessive." However, for some reason, he felt a little depressed.
This Han scholar seems to have been betrothed to Chang'er? He even went so far as to say that Chang'er should become his concubine!
What the hell!
Wu Qingfeng frowned. This was not just a matter of losing money!
Looking at the sky, he apologized and said, "Did I make you late for your beachcombing trip today?"
Lin Chang'er laughed and said, "No, the tide is out earlier now. We went there when you were handling the case, and we even picked up four buckets of oysters along the way."
Just kidding. Those pirates suffered a crushing defeat here last night. Although they're furious and will definitely come back for revenge, it can't be today.
We need to summarize and then make plans.
She had no choice but to take advantage of this time to stock up on goods. Anyway, there was space available, and the seafood could be kept fresh. Even if it became impossible to go to sea, the restaurant wouldn't run out of supplies.
Wu Qingfeng said, "That's good! By the way, Little Goldfish wants to leave an heir for Gu Sanlang. I asked Xu Gun'er, and he said he's willing to register it under your father's name. Ask him if he wants to give it a new name, and then change it directly when you change the household registration."
"Okay, thank you, Third Brother." Lin Chang'er said with a smile, knowing that this was a necessary procedure and that Gun'er was genuinely willing to follow her, so she didn't say anything more.
Wu Qingfeng nodded, then changed the subject, saying, "There are many matters to attend to right now, and I need to rush back to the county office tonight. You..."
Lin Chang'er didn't try to stop her, "It will take an hour to get back from here, so get up early!"
Wu Qingfeng hesitated, then thought to himself, "That's enough. There's plenty of time in the future," but he couldn't help feeling disappointed.
Wu Qingfeng and others were escorting the Lin clan members who had committed crimes, preparing to set off. Lin Chang'er led a group of women to the threshing ground in a hurry.
He handed two large bags of wheat cakes to Wu Qingfeng, saying, "My mother made these for everyone to eat on the road, along with some soy milk."
He turned to the constables and shouted, "Brothers, you've all worked hard today. We were short on time, so please forgive any shortcomings in our hospitality."
"Besides wheat cakes, there's also soy milk. I'd appreciate it if you brothers could take the water bags over there to fill them."
The people in the county government office now are all those who were purged and kept by Wu Qingfeng. They go to the Gu family for meals during the day with Wu Qingfeng's approval. Right now, although they are excited, they all look at Wu Qingfeng. If he doesn't nod, none of them dare to make a move.
Wu Qingfeng then gently called out, "What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and don't waste time."
After she finished speaking, she reached out her hand to Wu Qingfeng, "Give me the water bag."
As for County Magistrate Li and Registrar Zhu, they were helped by Gu Silang, Zhou Li, and a few other junior staff.
With plenty of manpower, all the water bags were filled in no time.
As the villagers of Linshui Village carried torches to see Wu Qingfeng and his entourage off, there were also cries and curses from members of the Lin clan.
Some people cursed Lin Chang'er as a wicked woman, but a lady immediately retorted, "It's your own unkind actions that are now getting their just desserts. Why blame Chang'er?"
"So you're saying you're allowed to eat other people's flesh and drink their blood, but you won't let them get justice? You all deserve it!"
There were also those with clear minds who offered reasoned analyses, saying, "It's really unreasonable for you to curse Chang'er. It wasn't Chang'er who exposed you, nor did she force you to sell other people's children."
If we had examined our conscience when we were dividing the silver, we wouldn't be in this situation now.
These words reminded the Lin family members that "it was all because of that vicious woman Yang Cuihua. She ate the leftovers of her family, and her family was the most happy to do so."
"Now that the truth has come out, they're betraying us to take the blame."
“Go back and tell that woman, she may be able to run, but her man, son, and daughter can’t…”