Chapter Thirty-Six: Vow of Revenge

  Chen Kesin, the manager of Shuangmiao Mountain, lay on his bed in a desolate state. The annual rent that he had finally collected at the end of last year was mostly sent to the Huiwang Mansion, and the remaining part was taken by Gu Xing to provide disaster relief, and even exempted all the poor villagers from paying their annual rent under Chen Kesin's name. Chen Kesin originally planned to send someone to report the situation in Shuangmiao Mountain to the Huiwang Mansion, but none of his subordinates were available: those rascals had been arrested by Gu Xing on various charges and thrown into the big prison in Zhijiang County, still waiting for Chen Kesin to come and rescue them.

  Chen Kexin was so angry that he hated Gu Xing and Dong Shiwen to the bone, constantly cursing them and swearing to heaven: once his leg recovered, he would personally go to the Duke of Hui's mansion and have the long history of Gu Xing and Dong Shiwen crushed. However, the person lying in bed was particularly clear-headed, thinking: how could he get the long history to punish the two? Just say that the two broke his leg? This was just speculation, with no evidence at all. Was it a crime for Dong Shiwen to send the annual rent to the Duke of Hui's mansion ahead of time? The annual rent not only arrived on time but also exceeded the usual amount!

  This is a conspiracy, letting Chen Kexin be outsmarted and left speechless!

  Finally, Chen Kexin came up with a plan: after his leg healed, he personally went to the Huiwang Mansion and gave the Long Shi a bribe, letting him think of a way to deal with the two.

  While Chen Ke was thinking hard about how to deal with the two of them, Gu Xing and Dong Shiwen were also discussing the development plan for Shuangmiao Mountain. Gu Xing and Gu Lin were both from the same village, but now Gu Lin was the deputy general manager of the Duck Mouth Warehouse, and his power was increasing day by day, which made Gu Xing feel itchy in his heart. After all, he had a high reputation in the village and was respected as Gu Xiucan, but now he was not even comparable to Gu Lin, which was unacceptable to anyone. Now that Gu Xing was in charge of one aspect of the business, he wanted to make achievements and gain Lin Chunhong's recognition, so that he could advance further in his position.

  Gu Xing was very clear that in order to achieve results on Shuangmiao Mountain, he had to make Shuangmiao Mountain a model for Lin Chunhong's rural management. Lin Chunhong's requirements for them were very clear: maintain rural security and let the villagers' lives gradually improve. Security is not a problem, and the rascals have been caught, now the focus should be on letting the villagers get enough to eat and drink. Du Shiwen's idea was not so much, he just relied on his conscience and his personality of hating evil to do things. After his father passed away, he and his mother were taken care of by Lin Chunhong and Zhou Wangzhu, and they almost regarded Lin Chunhong's words as a holy order.

  "Ah, if only the Double Temple Mountain could be planted with wheat, the yield would be more than one stone per year, while rice would yield three stones in a year!" The two men were at a loss for what to do, and Dou Shiwen was very dissatisfied with the sandy soil of the Double Temple Mountain.

  "Baili Zhou is also sandy land, planting cotton and wheat can still make a living, so the key point is not what to plant, but that King Hui collects five percent of the land rent! Look, Dian Shi, the lord, almost doesn't collect land rent in Baili Zhou."

  "Hum, the five percent land rent is still after we came, and you, Xiucai, don't even think about how that bastard Chen Kesin bullied the villagers? This bastard is now at Shuangmiao Mountain, who knows when he'll stir up trouble again."

  "Li Xiuciai is quite in favor of our handling of Chen Kesin, and also said that reducing intermediate links can effectively reduce losses. What are intermediate links?" After Li Xiuciai's report, Gu Xing was very appreciative of the way Chen Kesin was handled, but also said some things that Gu Xing didn't understand.

  Dòu Shí Wēn rubbed the back of his head and chuckled: "If even Gu Xiū Cái doesn't understand, how could I? All I know is that Chen Bó Pí is a real fool, we've messed with him so much he's lost all his temper."

  "Have you collected all the evidence? We need this to thoroughly drive Chen Kexin away!"

  Dou Shiwen pulled out a stack of papers from his bosom, on which were stamped hundreds of blood-red handprints, with the words "Chen Kesin ruined the reputation of King Hui and extorted confessions from villagers" written on the back.

  "It's done early, Chen Kesin has no more teeth now, the villagers dare to press this handprint. I say, these villagers are not as good as the natives, the natives I've seen are full of blood, unlike these tenants who are like sheep?"

  Gu Xing shook his head and didn't respond to Du Shiwen's words. After all, Du Shiwen was still young and didn't understand much about human relationships and the ways of the world. Those villagers had nothing, so naturally they weren't afraid of wearing shoes. Every tenant here was heavily burdened, with elderly parents and young children to support, and were already struggling to survive under the pressure of life.

  Gu Xing drove away the messy thoughts and said, "Driving Chen Kesin away is just the first step, the road ahead is still long. Let's think about how to make life better for the villagers!"

  "Since you said that the sandy land in Baili Island is similar to here, why don't we go and take a look? Maybe we can find a solution."

  Gu Xing nodded and said: "That's right, we should go out and take a walk. What can the two of us accomplish by staying at home?"

  ……

  Jingzhou Huiwang Fu

  Chang Shi slapped several papers on the table, trembling with rage. These papers were evidence collected by Dou Shiwen. It's no wonder Chang Shi was so furious, Chen Kesin, that scoundrel, had been bribed with over 200 taels of silver each year and yet he himself had extorted over 1,000 taels in the name of Prince Hui on Mount Shuangmiao. Chang Shi didn't object to extortion, but at least he should be the one to get the lion's share! What was Chen Kesin? How dare he get the lion's share?!

  "Replace him! I want to replace him!" The long history of the stunned head shouted loudly. His momentum scared the lower officials, and they dared not make a sound in fear.

  "Old master, Chen Kesin from Shuangmiao Mountain is here to see you!" A servant who didn't know the situation came in to report.

  "He still has the face to come here? Tell him to get out of here immediately, and there's no need for him to return to Shuangmiao Mountain either. Wherever it's cool is where he can go!" Zhang Shi grabbed a teacup and threw it at the servant's face, treating the servant as if he were Chen Kexin.

  The agile servant dodged the teacup and ignored the shattered remains, leaving it for other servants to clean up.

  After Chen Kexin arrived at the Hui Wang Fu, he gave some silver coins to the doorman, who reluctantly went in to report. Unexpectedly, when the doorman came out, he looked down on him and didn't even give him a glance, shouting: "The master won't see you, get lost quickly!" Chen Kexin was like being struck by five thunders, his hands and feet suddenly turned cold. He stood there stupidly, staring blankly at the doorman.

  The doorman saw Chen Kexin suddenly stunned, and said with disgust: "Don't you hurry up, is this where you stand?", after finishing, he also wanted to stretch out his hand to push him. The doorman's push finally woke up Chen Kexin, and Chen Kexin stumbled out of the house.

  "No, it can't end like this!" Chen Kesin suddenly stopped in his tracks as if he had just woken up. He carefully thought about it and estimated that the problem lay in not giving Long Shi silver before the new year. He rushed to Wa City without stopping, searched for half a day, spent 400 taels of silver to buy a jade horse, and returned to the Huiwang Mansion.

  "Big brother, help me out this once and spread the word. Consider it a small favor, I'll treat you to a drink!" Chen Kesin pleaded, taking out about two taels of loose silver.

  The two taels of silver played a big role. The gatekeeper shook the silver in his hand and said, "I don't know if Master will see you or not, I certainly can't guarantee it!"

  "Then I'll thank you first, big brother. When you make your report, just say that my business is related to Lin Chunhong."

  ……

  "Are you saying that Gu something is really sent by Lin Chunhong?" Chang Shi asked suspiciously after hearing Chen Kesin's words.

  Chen Kexin knelt on the ground, his knees had long been sore, but he endured it. He bowed his head to the ground and vowed: "Lord Chang Shi, this is absolutely true, Gu Xing and Dou Shiwen are both Lin Chunhong's henchmen, specifically targeting Prince Hui. If you don't believe me, Lord, I'll be killed and fed to the dogs!"

  Chang Shi stroked the jade horse in his hand and scolded, "Your stench is unbearable, even dogs won't eat it. You think I don't know what you've been doing behind my back? Out of respect for your sister, I won't stoop to your level. If you dare do this again, be careful with your skin!"

  Chen Kesin hit his head on the ground, almost knocking out blood: "I dare not again, I will be struck by five thunders and die a terrible death if I deceive Zhang Shi again! I..."

  "All right, all right! Get up and go see your sister!" Zhang Shi said with a wave of his hand.

  But Chen Kexin did not move his feet, his lips moved slightly, wanting to speak but stopping.

  "What else? Hurry up and say it!"

  "That Duan Shiwen is a ruthless and cunning man, he has locked up Xiao's helper in the Zhijiang prison, now even if Xiao returns to Shuangmiao Mountain, he won't be able to defeat those two!"

  "Oh?" The long history pondered: Although the Huai Wang Fu had a large amount of land, all their actions were under the supervision of local officials. If they did anything wrong, the local officials would report it and the Huai Wang's title might even be cancelled. Since the Cheng Zu era, all the Zhu family descendants were like domesticated animals, without any freedom. Lin Chunhong had paid the rent that was due, not allowing Chen Kesin to intervene, which made him hard to deal with. The long history did not expect Lin Chunhong to make such a move. According to convention, the Huai Wang himself could send someone to collect the rent, and local officials would not interfere. But now Lin Chunhong broke the convention, insisting on collecting the rent on behalf of the Huai Wang, which was also reasonable.

  Chang Shi grew more and more annoyed as he thought about it, and said to Chen Kesin: "You go to Shuangmiao Mountain first and keep an eye on those two guys. If there's any situation, report back to me immediately. Don't worry, can Lin Chunhong that dog thing bully the Huiwang Fu? The last account hasn't been settled yet, this time settle it together!"

  Chang Shi had no good solution, so he could only temporarily get rid of Chen Kesin and slowly think of a plan. He originally planned to report this matter to King Hui, hoping to arouse King Hui's anger and complain to the Zong people's mansion. But thinking back, he felt it was not necessary, King Hui didn't understand common affairs, every day devoted to gardens and flowers, and as a person was greedy, stingy and unkind, only caring about how much silver income he had, without asking where the silver came from. Reporting to King Hui was no better than going to ask a dog for advice.

  Chang Shi thought that he should still find a breakthrough from Lin Chunhong's place. As long as he could find his weakness, everything would be easy to solve. Therefore, he called Chen Kesin again and instructed him: in addition to keeping an eye on Gu Xing and Duan Shiwen, also send someone to keep an eye on Zhijiang. Once there is a situation, report immediately. When the time is ripe, get rid of Lin Chunhong!