Chapter 140

This idea was extremely brilliant.

Rather than waiting for a prefect to keep causing trouble for them, it would be better to give the prefect something to worry about, leaving him too busy to bother them.

The only thing that could overwhelm a county magistrate was a major issue affecting people's livelihoods.

"This is absolutely unacceptable," Xu Mo said gravely.

The education he had received over the past decade had taught him the importance of stability in people's livelihoods. It also let him know that the common people were not to be trifled with.

The siblings looked at each other.

While they would not harm innocent commoners either, they had to find a way to cause some trouble for the He prefect.

The group continued to rack their brains.

Leaning on his chin, a hint of interest flashed through Chang Yan's eyes. "Actually, it's not that hard."

He vaguely remembered the procession order of the prefect's entourage, as well as how spoiled the prefect's wife was.

If he hadn't guessed wrong, this prefect should dote on his wife and cherish his children quite a bit.

As the saying goes, turmoil within and without are both turmoil.

Since they could not toy with people's livelihoods, they should set the prefect's backyard on fire.

"We'll probably need to trouble Brother Fufeng for this," Chang Yan said ingratiatingly. "Big brother, let's go to the Wangs'."

Xu Mo nodded.

While it was said to be the Wangs taking action, it was more precisely getting the local gentry families to make a move, with Wang Fufeng just fanning the flames and spurring the gentry families to act.

In Yungjing, there had once been a trend of sending concubines to each other, as concubines could whisper by their master's side and gather information. At its most rampant time, all the powerful households in Yungjing had at least two or three concubines' quarters, all filled with people from other families.

Some families were vigilant and carefully avoided this.

But with enough peerless beauties, those who should fall still fell, simply because heroes coveted beautiful women.

"They're heroes?" Wang Fufeng said disdainfully when he heard Chang Yan's words. "More like self-proclaimed heroes. They're just descendants of gentry families, inheriting the assets and connections left by their ancestors, and think they're somebody."

In fact, without their ancestors' legacy, they were nothing.

Only those who could rise from nothing were true heroes.

When Wang Fufeng finished speaking, his burning gaze settled on Xu Mo. "Brother Xu, you are my image of a hero."

Xu Mo was startled, then laughed.

How was he any hero? He just struggled to survive in this world, an insignificant nobody unwilling to resign to fate.

"Fufeng, you are the hero," Xu Mo said sincerely. "Family background does not represent everything. To turn the tables after adversity, unwilling to resign to fate, that is true backbone and unyielding character."

The two looked at each other, exchanging a slight smile that represented their affirmation and appreciation of each other.

Leaning on his chin, Chang Yan suddenly felt that his existence was extremely intrusive. If they didn't still need to discuss how to fool the gentry families, he would have left immediately. "Ahem, ahem ahem ahem ahem."

Xu Mo returned to his senses and ruffled his little fifth brother's head. "Our little fifth brother will also become a hero in the future, serving the country and the people, serving the state and livelihoods of the people." His intention was not to exclude Chang Yan, so he deliberately added words of comfort.

But unexpectedly, the smile faded from the handsome youth's face, leaving only hints of distraction.

The three of them discussed for a full half hour.

At first, Wang Fufeng suggested hosting a meal himself in the near future and invite some gentry family patriarchs, then subtly fan the flames for them to send concubines to the prefect.

But this was immediately vetoed by Xu Mo, because such fanning of flames was too obvious.

Smart people would not believe it, and even if they did, it would be easy to trace it back to the Wangs afterwards.

Chang Yan nodded slightly and proposed another solution, "Perhaps we could deliberately leak it."

Wang Fufeng and Xu Mo were both startled.

The Wangs were undoubtedly the biggest gentry family in Anshui County, but their relationship with Prefect He was not close. Still, other gentry families would be watching the Wangs' every move.

If they "coincidentally" caught wind of Wang Fufeng's next actions, they would definitely take action ahead of time to suppress the Wangs and claim credit for themselves.

It was just unknown which gentry family would take the bait. At Ease Inn.

Wang Fufeng grandly waved his hand for Shopkeeper Hao to book a private room for half a month.

At first he would come occasionally, then it became daily. He would also meet some people in the private room and whisper about things.

This attracted the attention of other gentry families, who also began trying to find ways to investigate.

But the Wangs' security was very good, with two attendants guarding inside and outside the doors. Even serving dishes was done by Shopkeeper Hao himself.

As the proprietor of the inn, Wang Fufeng still had to give Shopkeeper Hao some face. He would stop to chat when dishes were served, without deliberately keeping his guard up.

Thus, in the instant of entering and leaving the room, Shopkeeper Hao overheard the Wangs' plans.

He struggled over whether to tell the generous gentry family, hesitatingly relaying the scheme.

"What a sneaky idea from the Wang boy. Going to such lengths is really too indelicate," the gentry head slammed the table angrily. As he stood up, he did not forget to admonish Shopkeeper Hao, "Shopkeeper, watch that mouth of yours. Though you're the Jiang Family's shopkeeper, this is still Anshui County after all."

Even strong dragons do not suppress local snakes.

Shopkeeper Hao repeatedly nodded, but sighed deeply in his heart.

If possible, he did not want to get involved in the intrigues between gentry families at all. But with even strong dragons not suppressing local snakes, how could a small shopkeeper like him resist the gentry families of Anshui County?

He could only hope that if the news leaked later, the Wangs would not make trouble for him.

Worried, Shopkeeper Hao immediately notified his wife and daughters to pack up, so that if anything happened, they could return to Yungjing in time to seek the Jiang Family's protection.

At the same time, the Sun family patriarch began frequently inviting Prefect He, and although the prefect only came three out of ten times, it was still an honor.

The Suns were overjoyed. Taking advantage of Prefect He drinking to his heart's content, they offered to give him two servants, saying the prefectural residence was understaffed.

They did not say concubines, afraid that would be too obvious and Prefect He would decline to avoid embarrassment. Calling them servants made it more subtle, with everything relying on mutual understanding.

But unexpectedly, Prefect He was quite dense in this aspect, and actually thought they were two male servants. Wanting to make use of the Suns, he readily agreed.

Thus, when Prefect He returned to the prefectural residence that day, not only was he reeking of alcohol, he also brought two slender, beautiful "servants."

When the prefect's wife saw this, she thought: This bastard doesn't love me anymore and wants to take concubines!

She immediately cried and threw a tantrum, even scratching Prefect He's face, then drove him out of the residence in just his thin clothes.

Prefect He stood awkwardly outside the gates, face ashen but helpless.

It was also on this day that all the commoners of Anshui County learned that their new prefect was completely "henpecked."