Chapter 819: Not what she wanted
It was not a problem for others to follow their path but it would be troublesome if they were to only share weal and not woes together with them.
Su Wan was not worried about being copied as she was the only one who knew what she wanted to do but she was afraid that others would follow suit without carefully taking precautions which was why she deliberately decided to go to the mountains in the night.
When Lin Chen heard Lin Yu's words, he immediately awakened out of his reverie and gasped, " Oh no! I nearly caused trouble!" It was a good thing that his brothers stopped him, if he had gone to the mountain early in the morning then it would have really a lot of trouble.
"Third brother, make sure to discuss before doing anything from now on," Lin Rui said to Lin Chen with a gentle smile. " We are no longer living in the Dong Tong town and our status is no longer the same either. Many people are eyeing our family if we make even the smallest mistake, they will definitely create trouble for us."
Lin Rui had been studying with Headmaster Yuan for a long time and knew that as officials they could do and could not do. Even if the position of the county magistrate of the Big Ocean City was an empty title many people were eyeing it. As long as it was the position of an official even if there was no power attached to it, anyone would want it.
With Su Wan becoming the first woman official, it was already a tricky situation and they could already imagine the trouble that would come together with this position.
Lin Chen smiled with slight embarrassment, he looked at Su Wan who shook her head and then said, "It's fine. As long as we are together nothing would happen to our family just make sure to keep an eye around you from now on."
Though this was her first time sitting in the position of an official, Su Wan knew that she was being eyed. She was not a fool to hand dark materials to her enemies for use.
With Su Wan governing the entire Lin house, no one left the house instead they stayed at home and made use of the time to take a much-deserved break as they were sure that from now on they wouldn't have the time to take a rest for a very long time.
On the other hand at the Lai family, Qi Zhen was sitting at the patriarch's position while listening to the report of the guard.
" Are you saying that they did not leave the house other than calling Yan Zhao?" he asked the guard who was responsible for patrolling around the city.
The guard nodded and replied, " Head Yan left the house of the county magistrate with a smile, I think the magistrate this time knows what to do."
Everyone knew that Yan Zhao was a smart and honest man, and for him to smile after visiting the magistrate pointed to only one thing and that was —— that the magistrate was the same kind of person.
" If that is the case then father it is going to be troublesome," Qi Zhongde spoke to Qi Zhen with a frown. If the magistrate was honest as well then it might not be a good thing for their family as the magistrate would make them pay taxes, something they have been able to avoid till now.
As they were land owners with more than a hundred mus of land which was not open to the citizens of the town, they needed to pay at least fifty per cent of the land taxes but they have avoided paying the taxes for more than ten years thanks to satisfying the greed of the magistrate by handing them some cheap benefits.
But if the magistrate was honest, then they would have to pay those hefty taxes that they avoided till now.
Qi Zhen's eyes flashed with annoyance. He did not want to pay those taxes either, after all, fifty per cent of the land taxes was almost ten thousand taels of silver. They could do a lot with that silver, how can they pay it to the government?
" If we can not avoid it then we destroy it," Qi Zhen was a straightforward man. If he could make use of something then he would keep it if he could not then he would destroy it. Wasn't this the reason he left his second brother to die?
When he could make use of his second brother he kept him close but when his little brother rebelled he made sure that his brother would not be able to survive and his descendants would die along with him.
Su Wan did not know that Qi Zhen had created an animosity with her without even her knowing but even if she knew she would not have cared about him. After all, she was not the kind of person who cared about when and how to cross a bridge.
As long as she had an obstacle in front of her, she would deal with it accordingly.
While the Qi family was thinking of a way to deal with her, Su Wan went to the mountains with Lin Jing and Lin Chen. She even brought the special guards given to her by Fei Qinfan to make sure that they wouldn't meet with any wild animals.
But their family of three were fortunate, with the winter being too harsh all the animals in the forest seemed to have gone into hibernation even after walking deep into the forest where the wild animals normally lived, they did not find any wild animals, only then did Lin Jing and Lin Chen heave a sigh of relief.
However, the second they heaved a sigh of relief, they heard Su Wan's loud yelp which made them take their weapons out and look around vigilantly even the shadow guards who followed Su Wan started to look around while making sure they were not under attack.
--------------