The fewer people who know about this, the better. I must ask the County Princess to dismiss your attendants.
Before Song Jinzhao could speak, Song Shixue picked up Song Anhao, handed the rope to Lan Xi, and the four of them left the room without any delay, closing the door behind them.
You may speak now.
Chen Fu let out a heavy sigh, looking as if he had aged more than ten years in an instant.
This matter begins over twenty years ago. Has the County Princess ever heard of the Wu family army?
Song Jinzhao shook her head. No, I haven't. More than twenty years ago, not only had she not yet transmigrated to this world, but even the original owner of her body had not been born.
Chen Fu spoke with a heavy tone, Twenty-five years ago, the Kingdom of Shuobei started a war at the border. The late Emperor decreed that Marquis Wuying lead the Wu family army to the border to provide support. The two sides fought for a year without a clear victor. It was not until the Battle of the Chiwu River in the spring of the following year that the Wu family army suffered a crushing defeat and was nearly wiped out. The reason was that Marquis Wuying committed treason and leaked military secrets.
The Emperor was furious and ordered the execution of the entire Wu family. Even the remaining two hundred or so soldiers of the Wu family army were to be beheaded. At that time, my master and Marquis Wuying were close friends. He did not believe the Marquis would commit treason, but the disaster of the family extermination was already irreversible. Unable to save those in the capital, he sought to preserve the lives of these two hundred men. Regardless of whether Marquis Wuying committed treason, these ordinary soldiers were innocent.
Thus, he sent people to the border to spend silver and secretly substitute them, saving these men's lives. Because they were all disabled to varying degrees and would struggle to survive, and fearing their identities would be exposed and discovered, he secretly arranged for them to stay in his own agricultural estate, giving them land to farm.
Later, when the Chen family was destroyed, the estate was confiscated and turned into an imperial estate. Li Hou and I, as the managers, kept these men hidden. If outsiders were to learn of this, they would undoubtedly be put to death.
Song Jinzhao's thoughts were a bit chaotic. There were too many mysteries surrounding the whole affair, and many things she did not understand.
Who else knows about this besides the two of you?
Chen Fu and Li Hou shook their heads simultaneously. No one else knows but us. The master did not tell anyone else.
Song Jinzhao asked, Do those tenant farmers know that they are legally dead?
From the brief encounters she just had, they did not look like they knew.
Chen Fu shook his head, his eyes showing immense complexity as he said, They do not know. When the master brought them back, he registered new household identities for them. The contracts were signed using the new identities, but the tenant farmers still hold their old household registration papers.
Song Jinzhao furrowed her brows deeply. Has no one noticed in over twenty years? Have they never contacted their former families?
Surviving a great disaster, they would certainly want to reunite with their families. How could they not reach out?
Li Hou replied, They have no families. Their homes were trampled flat by the Shuobei army long ago. The fighting was fierce back then, with people dying every day. These men were all new recruits who joined the army at the border.
Being disabled, they naturally felt inferior and almost never left the estate. The master also forbade them from going out, so they did not know the Emperor had ordered their execution. Later, the two countries called a truce, and as time passed, people gradually stopped bringing the matter up.
Song Jinzhao asked, When they took wives, didn't the women ask what they used to do?
Chen Fu explained, Li Hou and I found matchmakers from out of town to arrange their marriages. Moreover, we told them that because Marquis Wuying committed treason, the Wu family army had a bad reputation, so they shouldn't tell others they were once part of the Wu family army. We told them to just say they were ordinary garrison guards.
Song Jinzhao rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on. Before the Chen family was raided, did you collect rent?
Chen Fu and Li Hou shook their heads together. We didn't collect rent back then; we just told them they could farm the land for free. Later, when it became an imperial estate, we had no choice but to collect rent, which is why the contracts were made.
And what about the Internal Affairs Department? A thirty percent rent, with occasional crop reductions due to droughts and floods. Why have they tolerated you for so many years?
Unless the people in the Internal Affairs Department were all useless fools, given the situation recorded in the ledgers, Chen Fu and Li Hou would have been sold off long ago.
Chen Fu swallowed hard. It's exactly as the County Princess guessed. We bribed the stewards of the Internal Affairs Department.
We told them that the contract stated thirty percent, but we actually collected sixty percent, and the extra thirty percent was what we embezzled.
Song Jinzhao asked, How much did the Internal Affairs Department steward take?
Chen Fu replied, We originally planned to give them ten percent, but they were insatiably greedy and insisted on twenty percent. Li Hou and I had no choice but to agree, so we've always given them twenty percent.
Song Jinzhao closed her eyes, not wanting to hear any more. She found it somewhat hard to accept.
They only collected thirty percent rent in total. If they gave away twenty percent, they were left with a mere ten percent.
There were more than twenty people to feed on the estate, and during holidays and festivals, they still had to send tributes to the palace. No wonder these people were so poor.
If they didn't work the fields themselves, they probably wouldn't even be able to afford a decent set of clothes to wear when meeting the Internal Affairs Department steward each year.
Seeing Song Jinzhao remain silent, Chen Fu and Li Hou felt extremely anxious, worried that she would expose them for harboring imperial criminals.
Their old master had shown them great kindness. If they could not protect these men and let them die, they would truly fail to live up to their master's dying wishes.
County Princess, these men are innocent. It was to defend the Dongzhao Nation that they had their limbs severed and eyes blinded by the enemy. They truly shouldn't be killed.
So many years have passed, and no one in the capital recognizes them. As long as you don't say anything, no one will find out.
Originally, Daohua Estate and Shiquan Estate were imperial properties, and they worried the Internal Affairs Department would discover them one day. But now, these two estates had been bestowed upon County Princess Linghui by the Emperor. As long as she kept quiet, no one would ever know.
Song Jinzhao's shadowed eyes were as deep as an ancient well, her fingers continuously tapping against the tabletop.
Today, this County Princess only came to see if the vegetable greenhouses promoted by the imperial court have been implemented on the estate. I haven't heard anything else.
The anxiety in Chen Fu and Li Hou's eyes was replaced by pleasant surprise. Before they could even bow in gratitude, Song Jinzhao stood up and left.
Looking at her slender back, Chen Fu felt her figure seemed incredibly tall, as if she could hold up the entire sky.
As the door was opened, the eyes of everyone in the courtyard focused on Song Jinzhao. Looking past her, they saw the two managers still kneeling on the ground.
Those who were unaware were full of confusion. What exactly had happened?
A new official applies strict rules upon arrival; was the new owner here to establish her authority?
Song Shixue came forward and called out, Sister.
She didn't know the truth, only that her sister's expression was very serious at the moment, clearly indicating something was wrong.
Song Jinzhao didn't explain. She looked up at the sky, feeling as if the dazzling sunlight was now covered by a layer of shadow.
After a moment of silence, when she spoke again, her voice sounded as if it had been soaked in water. We have finished inspecting the estate. Let's go back first.
There is no wall in the world that does not leak wind. Soldiers are naturally more vigilant than ordinary people. Did truly none of them know the truth? Or were they pretending to be ignorant to save their own lives?
Walking along the field ridges and encountering those disabled men again, Song Jinzhao's eyes held a hint of scrutiny, alongside the imagined scenes of these men losing their heads if the matter were to be exposed.
Among the crowd, a few men standing together stared vigilantly at Song Jinzhao, their tense backs looking as if they might lunge forward in the next second.
Feeling a prickle on her back, Song Jinzhao suddenly turned around, her eyes meeting the gaze of the man who had just pointed the way for them.
The moment their eyes met, the man quickly darted his gaze away as if he had been electrocuted. Song Jinzhao's fingers, hanging by her side, twitched slightly. This matter indeed needed further investigation.
On the way back, Song Jinzhao instructed, Do not say a single word about what happened today when we return. Do not tell anyone.
Yes. Qingshuang and Lanxi nodded in agreement. Even though they were curious, they held their tongues and did not ask any questions.
After the greenhouse frame was set up and all instructions were given, Dong Yuanbin finally left in his carriage.
Having experienced such a thrilling and exhausting morning, he now just wanted to lie down and not say a single word.
The sound of galloping hooves came from behind. The servant riding at the rear turned his head to look. His pupils shrank, and he opened his mouth to scream in terror. Tightening his grip on the reins, he urged his horse to sprint wildly forward.
A tiger! There really is a tiger! A tiger is coming!
Dong Yuanbin, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly snapped them open. Startled, he and the Deputy Minister of the Court of Agricultural Review lifted the window curtains to look outside, only to be hit in the face by the dust kicked up by the hooves.
By the time they could see clearly, the tiger was only about thirty paces away from them.
A white one? Dong Yuanbin blinked, pulled his head back in from the window, and shouted to the driver, who was frantically whipping the horses, Stop the carriage!
The subordinate sitting next to him looked at him in astonishment. My Lord, the few of us cannot fight off a tiger.
Seeing that the driver merely slowed down instead of stopping, Dong Yuanbin raised his voice and commanded again, Did you not hear what this official said? Stop the carriage!
Who said anything about fighting? That is the tiger raised by County Princess Linghui. Did you not see the people following behind it?
The Deputy Minister of the Court of Agricultural Review froze. After coming to his senses, he lifted the curtain and looked out the window once more.
There were indeed people following it, and the tiger was even on a leash.
