Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 831 - 829_1

Chapter 831: Chapter 829_1

Sun Yang couldn’t see the interaction between the two, but he had many questions. He wanted to know why the Sixth Prince had shown up here, if the Imperial Court was already aware of the situation in Zhenyang County, and why the Sixth Prince was also imprisoned.

However, it was always the prince who asked questions, he did not have the privilege to ask the prince anything. All he could do was wait for the Sixth Prince to speak.

But why was the Sixth Prince silent for so long?

Shouldn’t he be eager to ask about the situation in the county and how he had ended up in jail?

Shangguan Xuanyi pulled Xiao’er back into his arms, "Don’t move around, there might be rats."

"I’m not afraid of rats, I’m only afraid of snakes," Xiao’er said. Nevertheless, she remained still in Shangguan Xuanyi’s arms.

Xiao’er covered her nose with her handkerchief, the smell was simply unbearable.

Isn’t it said that when you enter a fish market, you eventually stop noticing the smell? It still stunk.

Sun Yang was becoming desperate: Their conversation strayed so far off-topic! There were no rats in the cell, where did they come from?

"Since you are the county magistrate of Zhenyang, who is the present county magistrate?" Shangguan Xuanyi didn’t let Sun Yang wait too long before he asked.

How dare someone impersonate a government official, the audacity is mind-boggling!

Thankfully, the conversation was back on track! Sun Yang breathed a sigh of relief: "He is my identical twin brother, Sun Liang!"

Xiao’er: ...

No wonder a county magistrate was so easily replaced!

But a twin brother taking over his brother’s official position, that’s something new!

"Explain everything in detail!" Shangguan Xuanyi’s voice, devoid of its earlier aloofness, carried a hint of authority unconsciously.

"Yes, six years ago I received the official seal and documents of appointment and came to Zhenyang County to serve as the county magistrate. I was magistrate for two years. Although super rice had only been planted for a year, Zhenyang County can produce two rice crops a year. After the late rice harvest, we could also grow a crop of red flower peas. That year, the people harvested an amount of grain that usually took six years to produce. The government continued to demand the same amount of grain, and the people were thrilled. Everyone had plenty of reserves. The government’s series of poverty alleviation policies resulted in the disclosure of many secret recipes — the method of making tofu, cultivating mushrooms, making glass noodles, fish farming, and so on. Originally, I wanted to lead the people to..."

"Focus on the main points!" Shangguan Xuanyi impatiently interrupted him. Did he think that he wanted to hear all of this?

Was this fellow starved for conversation? He had spoken a lot of nonsense and hadn’t even addressed the main point!

Sun Yang: "..."

He was about to get to the main point!

"How did your brother manage to imprison you and take over your position as county magistrate?" Xiao’er was quite curious about this and couldn’t help asking.

Sun Yang’s face flushed with anger as he spoke about the incident, his fists clenched, and veins popping.

"Our father and mother divorced when we were young. I was weak and often ill during my childhood, and our father feared I couldn’t survive, so he let our mother take me away. My brother grew up with our father, and I grew up with our mother. After I was appointed to Zhenyang County, my brother came looking for me. He said that our father had died, and he didn’t want to live with his stepmother, so he came to stay with me and our mother. He stayed with me for half a year, learning all my habits, and getting to know the people in the Government Office." Sun Yang paused before continuing.

"One night, he came to my study, wearing my uniform to serve me tea. I scolded him, saying that my official uniform was not to be treated casually. He claimed he was only playing around, told me to drink the tea, saying that he would go change out of the uniform immediately. I didn’t know he had poisoned my tea. After I drank it, I soon had a terrible pain in my eyes and began crying blood. Soon after, I started to lose vision and found myself unable to speak."

"At this moment, he appeared in front of me again. In anger, I tried to hit him. My mother came out to mediate but in a surprise move, he pushed her to the ground as soon as he heard the soldiers running. Mother’s head hit the doorstep, causing her to bleed profusely! He then yelled for the soldiers to arrest me for murdering our mother!"

"At that time, I was speechless and could barely see anything. I could only shake my head vigorously in defense. The next thing I knew, I was thrown into jail while he took over my position."

"Did no one notice? What about the clerk, the County Magistrate, or the other officials? Someone must have noticed something off!" Xiao’er thought that even if two people looked incredibly alike, taking over someone else’s position wasn’t easy. There must have been some trace!

"When I came to Zhenyang County, I never accepted bribes, nor allowed the County Magistrate to accept bribes in the jail. The County Magistrate and the officials, without their usual perks, only had their regular salary, and were already discontented! They had secretly made agreements with my brother."

Indeed, a clean government comes at a cost!

"You were such a weak magistrate! He managed to take over just like that! But you said your brother poisoned you to lose your speech, so why can you speak now?"

"That’s because a year ago, a person was admitted here who examined my pulse and said he could cure my inability to speak, but he was unable to help with my eyesight."

"The imposter magistrate doesn’t know you can speak yet, does he?" If he knew, he certainly wouldn’t spare him.

"He doesn’t, I’ve always been careful not to make a sound."

"Then why did you dare to speak up this time?"

"I faintly heard the soldiers saying that Zhenyang County had become some prince’s fief, and any day the prince might send people to govern the fief! Just now, seeing how the Sixth Prince scared the soldiers into silence, I guessed that the people who were locked up this time were no ordinary individuals!"

"You are very observant!"

"I may be blind, but I’m not heartless! Sixth Prince, Sun Liang is corrupt and twists the law for his own benefit. Not only did he embezzle the super rice seeds issued by the Imperial Court and sell them to neighboring countries, he also falsely accused the wealthy businessmen of Zhenyang County, seized the opportunity to annihilate their families, and confiscated their properties. He also imposed heavy taxes on the ordinary people, claiming they were needed for building moats and city walls to defend against pirates! But the so-called city wall was nothing but a mud wall. Additionally, he raped many of the beautiful girls in the county!"

"Although Zhenyang County is remote, there is still a Magistrate above you! How dare he do such things?"

"The Magistrate is his cousin! Besides, as long as he shares the spoils, the Magistrate would turn a blind eye!"

Why are corrupt people rarely exposed? It’s because they know to pull anyone who hasn’t participated in their schemes down with them! Most people could never resist money handed to them!

Xiao’er wanted to ask more, but at that moment, there was a commotion outside the main gate and Sun Yang quickly lay back down to shut up.

It turned out that daylight had already broken.

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