Unlimited Resources: Raising a Minister with a Space Supermarket-Chapter 488 - 436: The Old Fox Qian Tu’an

Even a tigress does not eat its cubs, and yet, the Xu family’s maternal relatives are truly heartless, abandoning Xu alone without even leaving her any food. Yu Xiaolian simply could not imagine what it feels like to eat rice husks.

"Is my boy Hu doing well down south? Did your uncle get him a stepmother? Is that stepmother kind to him? Hu is fifteen this year; has the family arranged any marriage for him?" Xu asked urgently, desperately wanting to know about her son’s recent life.

Yu Xiaolian replied, "Hu is doing well. He is currently attending the academy. As for marriage, no arrangements have been started yet. He said he wants to wait until he’s eighteen to discuss marriage, and the family respects his wishes." 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Academy? Studying?" Xu’s eyes welled up with tears of excitement. Had her son become a scholar?

"Hu thinks of you. He asked me to bring you money," Yu Xiaolian said, taking three taels of silver from her pocket and handing it to Xu.

Xu clenched the silver tightly, the sharp corners of the broken silver digging painfully into her palm, yet she did not loosen her grip.

Her son still thought of her. There was nothing more that could make her happier than this in all these years.

It was all her fault; she had broken up a good family.

"Hu... where is he now?" In her heart, Xu desperately wanted to meet Sun Hu.

"Hu is in Yu State now."

"Yu State? Where is Yu State? Is it far from here?"

"Yes, it’s very, very far!"

Xu’s shoulders slumped, feeling that her hope of seeing her son in this life was almost non-existent.

The reason she was guarding her home alone now was that in these past eight years, she had remarried. However, this man either beat her or verbally abused her, treating her terribly.

This man was Liu Dongzi, a bachelor from their village, extremely poor, and over thirty without having married.

Xu did not willingly choose to be with him. It was widely known in the village that Xu lived alone, so Liu Dongzi sneaked into Xu’s house at night, taking advantage of the fact that he was a man, and she was a woman, to bully her.

After Xu was taken advantage of, there was no place where she could seek justice because Liu Dongzi had been spreading rumors in the village for a long time, saying that she was so lonely and miserable that she repeatedly seduced him.

After being bullied, Xu had nowhere to reason her case and was labeled by the villagers in Dajing Village as having improper conduct. The village had already been suffering from population loss, so the village head took it upon himself to give Xu to Liu Dongzi, hoping that Xu and Liu Dongzi would produce children to contribute to the village population.

If Xu did not marry Liu Dongzi, she would be drowned in a pond. Xu had no choice but to move to Liu Dongzi’s house, living with him without even holding a wedding ceremony.

Although Liu Dongzi was extremely poor, after marrying Xu, he did not cherish her. Instead, he frequently suspected that Xu was having an affair behind his back. Whenever his suspicions arose, he would beat Xu first, without any evidence.

Getting beaten up every few days had become a routine for Xu. Fortunately, such days only lasted for more than a year when the government began drafting labor extensively. Liu Dongzi, who didn’t manage to escape into the mountains in time, was caught. Soon after, news arrived that Liu Dongzi had been killed on a work project during a fight.

After her second marriage, Xu became a widow. But being free from Liu Dongzi, who would beat her at the drop of a hat, was something she was willing to bear the title of a widow for.

Having gotten rid of Liu Dongzi, many came to propose new marriages to Xu, but she refused them all. Xu realied she would never find another man as obedient as Sun Fengshou or a mother-in-law as tolerant and accommodating as Grandmother Sun. She hoped to find her son and Sun Fengshou to have a chance to reunite with him.

But Yu State, ah, it seemed too far for her to travel!

She could only live off the single plot of land Liu Dongzi left behind, barely making ends meet, without any means to travel far.

"Xiaolian, please write to Hu or send him a message asking him to come and get me. I’ll be waiting for him in the village, going nowhere!" Xu pleaded tearfully and urgently with Yu Xiaolian.

"I will write to Hu about your current situation." As for whether Sun Hu would come to see Xu or bring her back, that was beyond her control.

After all, Su Jingchen was now the County Magistrate, and if she wanted to send a letter through the posthouse for convenience, she could.

After inquiring with Xu about Sun Daji’s wife’s family and finding out that the Niu Family had not returned since they left Dajing Village, Yu Xiaolian was about to leave.

"Xiaolian, where are you staying now? Where should I go if I want to find you?" Xu grabbed Yu Xiaolian, who was about to leave.

"You don’t need to find me. If Hu replies to me, I will come to find you myself!" After saying this, Yu Xiaolian put away the oiled paper umbrella and got into the carriage.

After visiting the Sun family relatives one by one, a month had passed.

Yu Xiaolian worried about Su Jingchen, who had just entered the officialdom and might be somewhat flustered. After finishing her business here, she hurried back to Yangcheng.

In one month’s time, Su Jingchen and Li Wenyuan had already thoroughly checked the county government’s accounts, exposing numerous loopholes that the County Magistrate Qian could not refute.

Although they didn’t have conclusive evidence to prove that the money on the accounts was embezzled by County Magistrate Qian, the discrepancies and numerous loopholes left County Magistrate Qian with undeniable responsibility.

Just as Su Jingchen was going to report County Magistrate Qian’s negligence to Master Lin of the Government Office, the Secretary of the county government stood up loyally to take the fall for County Magistrate Qian.

"We really underestimated Qian Tu’an, the old fox. I didn’t expect we couldn’t bring him down this time!" Li Wenyuan said in frustration.

While flipping through the medical records of the plague patients in South Bay, Su Jingchen said to Li Wenyuan, "Things cannot be rushed. Qian Tu’an has been the County Magistrate in Yangcheng for more than a decade. His influence is deeply rooted. It’s already commendable that we managed to bring down Secretary Wang in just a month.

Secretary Wang lost his life for him, so Qian Tu’an must have some hold over Secretary Wang. We can observe quietly and pursue the matter slowly."

"What could be so compromising that Secretary Wang would willingly lose his life?" Li Wenyuan was puzzled. Would someone who is not afraid of death still fear threats?

"Everyone has something they care about. For Secretary Wang, the person he wants to protect might be more important than himself!" Su Jingchen said, looking at Li Wenyuan with a slightly pleased expression.

Li Wenyuan suddenly let out an excited "Oh, I’ve got it, I’ve got it!"

"A promising student indeed!" Su Jingchen calmly turned a page of the medical records, "The next move is yours then?"

Li Wenyuan patted his chest confidently, "Leave it to me, don’t worry!"

These days, he had long been unhappy with Qian Tu’an’s snake-like behavior. Now that he had a plan, he couldn’t wait to start getting things underway.