Chapter 154 The Squire Who Destroyed the River
"To be honest, Miss Shen, I do have something I need your help with today. I have been away from home for more than two months, and I heard that your store has a treasure that can take very realistic photos for people. I want to take a photo and send it to my mother at home. I hope Miss Shen can help me make an appointment. I am just an ordinary person." Ke Meng said.
Shen Zhen smiled and nodded, then took Ke Meng to the photo booth and patiently taught him how to operate it. Ke Meng was a top scholar in the imperial examination, extremely smart, and understood everything immediately, but he pretended not to understand and asked Shen Zhen to personally demonstrate how to take a photo for him.
Shen Zhen had no choice but to take a photo herself. However, at the moment she pressed the button, Ke Meng suddenly came over, so the photo that was finally taken became a photo of the two of them. In the photo, Ke Meng's smile was as bright as the spring sunshine.
In this way, there were eight photos in a set of photo albums. When Shen Zhen printed them out, she picked up a pair of scissors and prepared to cut out the group photo.
Seeing this, Ke Meng quickly raised his hand to stop her.
"Miss Shen, I suddenly remembered that I have something very urgent to deal with. I must leave immediately." After saying that, he quickly reached out and grabbed the photo album, stuffed a dime into Shen Zhen's hand, and then hurried away.
After Ke Meng returned to Baiyun Villa, he would take out the photo and look at it carefully every day. The girl's smile was bright and warm, as if it could melt the ice deep in his heart. Every time he saw her photo, he felt an inexplicable sense of peace and joy. However, as time went by, this feeling of missing her became stronger and stronger. Finally, he decided to take action.
Ke Meng sat at the desk, picked up a pen, and excitedly wrote a letter to his mother. He described in detail the awkward process of meeting the girl, but later he could not hide his love for the girl. In the letter, he also attached a photo sticker, carefully sandwiched in the letter paper. He hoped that through this letter, his mother would understand his sincerity. After writing the letter, Ke Meng gently blew dry the ink and then sealed the envelope. He knew that his mother had been worried about his marriage for so many years. His mother had looked for many noble ladies for him, but Ke Meng did not agree.
At this moment, a major event also happened in Shen Zhi's Bi Bo Villa.
It turned out that just when they were about to plant rice in the paddy field, the water in the branch that flowed through Bibo Villa dried up. This made Wang Hu very anxious. How could they plant rice without water? Wang Hu sent people to check upstream and notify Shen Zhi at the same time.
At this moment, Shen Zhi also received a report from Liu Zhuangtou that some of the rivers in Baiyun Villa were also dry. The water level was normal when they were irrigating a few days ago. How could it dry up overnight? This was too abnormal.
After Shen Zhi learned about this, he immediately reported the situation to the senior officials from the capital. When these officials heard this, they panicked. Everyone knows that water is crucial for crops, not to mention that so much food is grown here. This is something that the emperor attaches great importance to, and it must not be messed up! So, the officials took action and ordered their servants to go to the upper reaches of the river to find out the situation. Some anxious officials even followed them to find the cause.
Not long after, the people sent by Bibo Villa to investigate the situation upstream came back and told everyone that the river water had been diverted to a country gentleman's farm.
After Shen Zhi learned the news, he decided to go to the squire's farm with Wang Hu to find out the truth. When they arrived, they found that the squire had secretly changed the direction of the water source. Shen Zhi had a conversation with the squire and learned that the squire did this because he was worried about the lack of water in his farm. However, his farm was now full of precious herbs that urgently needed water. If the water flow was not changed, it would suffer huge losses.
Shen Zhi appealed to his emotions and reasoned with him, but the country gentleman refused to budge and even uttered a bold statement: "Let me see what you can do to me!" He had a look of disdain on his face, as if he did not take Shen Zhi seriously at all.
Shen Zhi looked at the other person helplessly and sighed secretly in his heart. He knew that such people were often self-righteous and thought they could do whatever they wanted because they had the support of a backstage.
What's even more outrageous is that the squire actually threatened Shen Zhi. A hint of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes, and a contemptuous smile hung on the corner of his mouth. He said, "Let me tell you, my sister is the favorite concubine of the Qingzhou prefect. She will do whatever my uncle asks. If you dare to make trouble again, I will let my brother-in-law put you in jail!" Hearing this, Shen Zhi's face turned very ugly. He didn't expect that a small squire would be so arrogant and domineering. She clenched her fists in anger, but still resisted the urge to attack.
Shen Zhi knew that this matter was beyond her ability, so she decided to report it to the officials from the capital. She returned to Baiyun Villa and told Zhuge Ling and other officials in detail what happened. After hearing this, everyone expressed indignation. Especially Zhuge Ling, his face suddenly darkened and anger appeared in his eyes.
Zhuge Ling decided to personally lead a team to meet the prefect. Along the way, he was filled with anger and determined to teach this arrogant guy a lesson. When they arrived at the prefect's mansion, the other party was sitting leisurely in the yard drinking tea, not realizing the coming storm. Seeing Zhuge Ling and others coming, he was stunned at first, and then showed a look of horror. He never thought that he would alarm this senior official.
Unexpectedly, the country gentleman came with silver bills to honor his brother-in-law.
Zhuge Ling's face was as gloomy as water, and he stared at the squire coldly, with majesty in his eyes. He walked closer to the squire step by step, and asked in a cold tone: "Are you the squire who bullied the people and destroyed the river?"
The squire was so frightened that he trembled all over and stammered, "Sir... I... I didn't mean it."
Zhuge Ling snorted coldly and scolded: "Do you think you can do whatever you want just because you have a relative who is an official? Let me tell you, I will never tolerate such a thing happening!" After that, he signaled his men to take the gentry away and ordered a thorough investigation to see if he had committed any other illegal acts behind the scenes.
Zhuge Ling looked at the prefect who was shaking with nervousness and said, "Are you short of money, Prefect? It seems that you need to find someone else to take charge. Does the Prefect know what you, who claim to be your uncle, have done?"
The prefect had just met the local squire, and before they had said a few words, someone took him away.