Transmigration: The Little Chef Calls The Shots
Chapter 1118 - 038 Muddy Water (second watch)

Chapter 1118: 038 Muddy Water (second watch)

Glancing at the Lizheng holding his waist and howling in pain, and those village chiefs with eyes full of resentment, Xia Zheng pursed his lips and asked, "How much silver has the Lizheng embezzled over these years?"

He Guangming, who had been absorbed in fiddling with his sleeve, suddenly froze and looked up at Xia Zheng in shock. Had Xia Zheng asked more tactfully, he might not have been as startled, but who would have expected him to be so direct and ask outright.

He had long harbored the intention to report the Lizheng, but the Lizheng had powerful backers, and as a mere village chief, he knew no other influential people besides the Lizheng. Not to mention reporting him, he might end up getting dragged in himself. It didn’t matter if he suffered, but what about his daughter Xiao Dong? What about the villagers of He family village? If another village chief with ill intentions like the Lizheng came along, then their village would truly be plunged into darkness.

After pondering for a moment, He Guangming, with some bitterness, looked at the Lizheng who was busily working and slowly said, "The silver from the land sales, half of it went into the Lizheng’s pocket. Several other village chiefs got a share too, claiming it was to be distributed among the villagers, but how many actually did distribute it?"

Lin Yuan frowned, knowing well that officials would skimp layer by layer on the relief silver meant for the common people, yet she did not expect that the lowest level of village chiefs, the Lizheng, would embezzle even more fiercely, truly a case of universal corruptions.

"Fortunately, there are still good people like Village Chief He around." Lin Yuan’s praise was sincere as she had already seen from previous incidents that He Guangming was truly a good man.

Hearing her say this, He Guangming blushed with modesty and waved his hands repeatedly, "Miss, do not jest with me. If I were truly a good person, I would have arrested all these dishonest people by now, but alas, I heard that the Lizheng has someone powerful covering for him, I... sigh..."

Another sigh followed as he spoke of these matters, revealing just how often this middle-aged man must fret and agonize, no wonder there were deep furrows between his brows.

Lin Yuan looked towards Xia Zheng and saw that he too was frowning deeply, she understood that he probably knew that the Lizheng was protected.

It was not hard to guess that the Dyeing Workshop of the Wu family of Jiangnan had polluted the water source, yet the Lizheng turned a blind eye instead of making them move, and the Wu Family in the Capital city was under the protection of Second Prince Zhao Hongsheng. It seemed clear now that the person above the Lizheng must be one of the Second Prince’s men.

"The waters of the Capital city are indeed unfathomably deep!" Lin Yuan remarked coldly, slowly shaking her head.

Xia Zheng, imitating her, coldly remarked as well, "Not only are they deep, they’re also very murky!"

The waters were indeed murky, all kinds of fish, good and bad, hidden beneath, indistinguishable. However, fortunately, today they had encountered a small bad fish, but Xia Zheng did not wish to dethrone this Lizheng today, for what if next time they got someone even worse?

These village chiefs too, not one of them was good. If the source of the problem wasn’t addressed, driving away one small bad fish would only lead to more appearing.

Xia Zheng had long explained to Lin Yuan that he did not want her involved in these dark aspects of officialdom, so she should properly focus on running her business.

Lin Yuan glanced over the twenty-odd acres of land and shifted the topic, asking, "Is all the land in your village like this? How can the villagers even farm?"

He Guangming shook his head, "Not all of it is like this, just this patch is worse. Over there, and over there too, although not as good as land in other villages, they can still be cultivated. Also, the people in our village don’t just sit around depending on selling land for silver and indulging themselves like people from those other villages."

At this point, Lin Yuan and Xia Zheng could clearly sense the pride in He Guangming’s tone.

"When I distributed the silver, I made it clear beforehand that if I found any family relying on that little silver to scrape by and no longer working diligently, I would confiscate all their silver and also encouraged everyone to supervise each other." He Guangming was spirited, his eyes brightened, "At first, indeed there were a few lazy ones who stopped working. When everyone discovered this, they took it upon themselves to go and admonish them, nagging those few until they were tired of hearing it and couldn’t even stay at home, and had to go out and work like everyone else."