Shaohua is Junqing

Chapter 128

Bai Ruoshu put his hands behind his back and walked over slowly.

"Let me do the fighting. How can I let a girl do it?"

"Who are you and how dare you meddle in the affairs of our Master Jia?" the leader shouted.

"Don't worry about who I am, just defeat me first."

Bai Ruoshu clenched his hands back and forth, as if he was ready to fight.

"If you don't accept my toast, I'll drink the wine for you. Come on, brothers."

Several strong men picked up sticks and hit Bai Ruoshu.

Bai Ruoshu raised his hand to grasp the long stick that was stabbing at him and pulled it away, then raised his leg and kicked the man in the stomach. Then he loosened his hand and the man fell backwards and fell heavily to the ground.

The moves of these strong men were completely disorganized, they were just slashing and swinging randomly. Bai Ruoshu's kung fu was more than enough to deal with them, and he knocked them all to the ground in no time.

Bai Ruoshu seemed very satisfied with his victory. He patted his clothes and said, "If anyone still refuses to accept, stand up and fight again."

The leader saw his men lying on the ground and started to panic: "Just wait, there will be no good consequences if you offend Master Jia. Let's go." After saying these harsh words, he left with his men.

"Anan, I'm pretty good at fighting. I chased them all away." Bai Ruoshu turned around and showed off to Chu Shengnan.

Chu Shengnan ignored him, walked over and helped the old man and the little girl up, and Caidie went to help.

The young master and his companions watched and listened for a long time but still couldn't figure out what was going on, so they called the old man over for questioning.

"Old man, why did those people chase you just now, and who is the Master Jia they are talking about?"

"Thank you so much for saving my life!" The old man said as he was about to pull the little girl to kneel down.

"Old man, get up quickly."

"It's hard to describe in words!"

"Young Master, there is a pavilion in front. Let's go over there and sit down and talk slowly." Mo Yu said.

A group of people came to the pavilion and found a place to sit or stand, waiting for the old man to tell stories.

"My last name is Cao, and I am the sixth child in my family. My neighbors all call me Cao Liu. This is my granddaughter Qiaohui. The Master Jia they are talking about is a distant cousin of the governor of Bianzhou."

"This Master Jia relied on his relationship with an official to buy up a lot of land. Many people like me who make a living by farming have to rent his land. Every year when the harvest comes, they have to hand over 60% of the grain to him, and the remaining 40% will be taken by the government, foremen, etc., so there is very little grain left for themselves."

"Shouldn't the grain be turned over to the national treasury? Why did it end up in the hands of this Mr. Jia?" Siyu asked puzzledly.

"Alas!" Cao Liu sighed and continued, "Under normal circumstances, the young lady is right, but in Yingchuan County, it is this Master Jia who has the final say."

"How to say it?"

"Master Jia used his power and money, coercion, bribery, or fraud to seize more than 80% of the land in Yingchuan County, and then rented it to farmers who had no land to farm at high prices. Farmers cannot survive without land to farm, so even if the rent is high and the grain they have to hand over is a lot, those farmers still have to rent land to farm!"

"Isn't this equivalent to usury? Farmers rely on the weather for their livelihood, and this Mr. Jia is using all kinds of means to exploit them." Siyu said indignantly.

"Uncle Cao, are you also renting this land from Master Jia to farm?" asked the young master.

"Yes, but the harvest this year was not good, and we did not collect enough grain to be handed in. I begged Master Jia to give me a year's grace, so that I could hand it in next year when the harvest is good, but he refused and insisted that I pay with something else, otherwise he would not rent me the land to grow crops anymore."

"This is too overbearing." said Caidie.

"I am just a commoner who makes a living by farming. There is nothing valuable in my home. Master Jia saw that I had nothing to pay off my debts, so he set his sights on my granddaughter."

When Qiaohui heard this, she shuddered violently and squeezed closer to Cao Liu, looking very scared.