Chapter 90: Eating the Rich (Part 4)
When Li Hao got to work in the morning, he saw several local employees from Muping County waiting at the door. When they saw Li Hao, they said, "Boss Li, we need to ask for leave."
This situation surprised Li Hao a little. Looking at these local employees, they were usually well paid. They probably didn't mean to cause trouble. Li Hao asked quickly, "Why do you all want to take leave together?"
"Our family is being pressed for debt by the government, so we have to go back quickly." Li Shiwu, the oldest employee among the group, lamented.
Hearing this reason, Li Hao was a little surprised. A lot of things had happened in Mouping County before, and the previous manager Zhang Erfeng was transferred back to the headquarters for job review and training. Although the company's regulations did stipulate this and it was implemented in this way, Li Hao still felt that it was embarrassing to be called back because of something. He was also extra careful. At this time, he heard that the company's employees were involved with the government again, which made him even more uneasy.
Fearing something might happen, Li Hao advised: "Can't everyone's family handle it?"
After hearing Li Hao's question, Li Shiwu immediately asked, "Boss Li, is it okay for us to join Zhongfu now?"
"Ah?" Li Hao instinctively wanted to stabilize the situation first. But after thinking about it carefully, the head office had issued a document, welcoming employees to join the ranks of planting blessings.
But now agreeing to it makes Li Hao feel like he is being tricked. In a dilemma, the employees expressed their willingness to join Zhongfu. Although they didn't want to cause trouble, the company had rules before, so Li Hao could only grit his teeth and make a decision, "Since everyone wants to join Zhongfu, you should learn the rules of Zhongfu again first."
Li Shiwu was ashamed. "Boss Li, I know that I was ungrateful for not joining Zhongfu before. But in the current situation, we can only rely on Boss Li!"
The next day, Li Shiwu rushed home. He saw a few men standing in front of his house who looked very fierce. When they saw Li Shiwu, they immediately shouted, "What do you do? "
"This is my home!" Li Shiwu answered courageously.
The men squinted their eyes at Li Shiwu for a moment, then asked with a frown, "Your family? Are you going to pay back the money?"
Li Shiwu was very unhappy. But seeing that there were so many people, he thought the other party was not a good person, so he could only answer calmly: "We take care of our family's affairs." After that, Li Shiwu went straight into the house.
When the family members inside saw Li Shiwu, they immediately rushed over and said, "Shiwu, you're back!"
Although Li Shiwu had heard what happened from the person who brought the news, he hurried to ask again. The family members told him more details. It turned out that Chen Juren, who was responsible for paying the tax silver, did not keep his word. Although he agreed that the Li family would temporarily owe some tax silver, he immediately asked the government to come and collect the debt when the government urged him to pay.
The Li family went to Mr. Chen to ask for mercy, and Mr. Chen's subordinates told the Li family that the tax owed must be repaid. If the Li family has no money to pay, then they can ask Mr. Chen to pay off the debt. Or they can sell the Li family's land to Mr. Chen.
Mr. Chen's lending money was a huge profit. It was no longer nine out of 13, but nine out of 18. How could the Li family afford to pay it back? As for selling the land, the Li family was even more unwilling.
After hearing this, Li Shiwu was also very angry. But because he participated in the blessing, he felt more confident. Looking at the list given by the government, the Li family owed only . Li Shiwu breathed a sigh of relief and said through gritted teeth: "It doesn't matter, just consider it as I worked for Master Huo for free for half a year this year!"
After hearing what Li Shiwu said, the Li family members still didn't dare to believe it. Li Shiwu could only say, "Take me to see the government officials."
Two days later, Mr. Chen invited the officials to dinner again. This time, Mr. Chen was not as smiling as before. He asked, "Brothers, I heard that you have let a few families go?"
After hearing Mr. Chen's question, the officers showed no signs of uneasiness or fear. The second head constable in charge of the area smiled and said, "Mr. Li, we are here to collect taxes. Since those people have paid the taxes, we can't say anything."
Mr. Chen said unhappily: "My brothers, I invited you here because I thought you would give me some face."
Seeing that Mr. Chen was unhappy, the second captain also looked unhappy, "Mr. Chen, we can certainly help deal with those who don't pay taxes. But we can't do anything to those who pay taxes. This time it was Mr. Huo's men who took over, and the taxes have been paid to the county. County Magistrate Dong knows about it, and we can't say anything more."
The dinner ended in a bad mood. After the officials left, Chen Juren was furious and started cursing at home. After cursing the head of the police, he cursed Huo Chong. He thought he could take advantage of this opportunity to take over some of the land he had coveted for a long time, but he didn't expect Huo Chong to suddenly intervene and pay taxes for these people, which made Chen Juren's plan to seize the land go awry.
That night, Mr. Chen thought about it for a long time. The next day, he met with Li Changshou and other gentry again.
Before Chen Juren could say anything, the other gentry had already started to curse. Each gentry took the opportunity to make trouble for themselves, but in the end, everyone encountered the problem of someone from Huo Chong's side paying taxes on their behalf.
Now, not only have the families of the laborers who came to work in Huo Chong's place paid off their debts, but many people who did not work for Huo Chong have also become interested.
Li Changshou cursed: "Huo Chong is just a craftsman. He really thinks that he can be an official just because he flatters the Fourteenth Master! How dare he touch us? What does he want to do?"
Li Juren took the lead in cursing, and the other Juren were also filled with righteous indignation. Zhang Juren said angrily: "I think Huo Chong is planning to rebel! He is gathering people privately by doing this. If he continues to do this, he will be Zhang Jiao!"
As soon as this was said, Mr. Chen immediately felt that this analogy was perfect, and he immediately shouted, "Brothers, why don't we jointly sue Huo Chong for spreading rumors and misleading the people, and plotting something evil!"
The candidates all agreed with Chen's suggestion. However, they did not want to write the petition themselves. While they were hesitating, Li said, "It's okay. I have a scholar named Yu who once sued Huo Chong. Let Yu write the petition this time. We can all use our connections to send the petition directly to the governor of Shandong."
The next day, Yu Xiucai heard someone knocking on the door early in the morning. Yu Xiucai didn't dare to go out these days, so he could only pretend that he didn't hear it and endure it at home.
However, those people banged on the door and yelled, "Yu Xiucai, you owe us gambling debts, it's time to pay it back!"
Yu Xiucai was shocked. He had never gambled before, so how could he have a gambling debt? Those people outside were shouting like that, simply wanting to ruin Yu Xiucai's reputation. If his reputation as a gambler spread in the village, Yu Xiucai would not be able to live like a human being.
But Yu Xiucai knew that he couldn't open the door at this time. Just as he was about to endure it, he heard the people outside continue to shout: "Yu Xiucai, you should pay back the money you owed when you slept with Mei Niang in Yichunyuan!"
Hearing that the people outside not only spread rumors that he was gambling, but also that he was visiting prostitutes, Yu Xiucai could no longer bear it and rushed to the door and opened it. However, the people outside did not give Yu Xiucai a chance to argue, and rushed in immediately when they saw the door open.
On the third day, Li Changshou heard that Yu Xiucai had finally finished writing the petition, and he was not blindly optimistic.
Mr. Chen said uneasily: "This Sea Dragon King is so cruel, isn't it..."
