Chapter 828: Handing out justice

Yan Zhao was indeed quite furious. Who was Su Wan? She was someone who knew how to clean those stinky and sticky things and turn them into delicious delicacies. With her skills alone she would be able to turn the situation of this place around, however, Su Wan was even more skilled.

She even came up with the idea of a Mermaid Aquarium that suited their city, with her plan, they could not only collect decent taxes but they could even help those who were dying because of cold and hunger.

Just this year more than seventy people died, both old and young because they couldn"t withstand the cold and were starving.

Yan Zhao did not fear reporting it to the higher authorities but his heart ached for those who died, a few of these people were the pillars of their houses and now that they are gone and drowned in the ocean, they left behind their wives and children who have no one to take care of them.

These days the entire city was filled with cries and to make things worse many thugs were eyeing those women whose husbands left. Even though he asked the guards to patrol around the city, Yan Zhao was sure that they would not listen to him and that he alone could not deal with the matter.

He wanted to discuss this matter with Su Wan but now these guys have offended her.

" Take me there," Yan Zhao was an official if not for the fact that he couldn"t say harsh words, he would have said some really nasty words to this little official.

The little official also sensed that there was something wrong and immediately rushed out of the office that belonged to Yan Zhao.

" Madam Su!" Yan Zhao spoke loudly as soon as he walked out of the county office, he stayed on the second floor and because of this, he did not hear the ruckus that was going on at the ground floor.

Su Wan raised her head and looked at Yan Zhao before smiling politely but her words were sharper than knives, " Lord Yan, I did not know that as the county magistrate need to show my ident.i.ty. But that"s not the case, since when does a guard have the rights to stop the commoners from entering the county office?

If you are not allowing the commoners to visit and tell their complaints, what are you all doing in the county office? Getting your salary for doing absolutely nothing?"

The officials all lowered their heads, It looked like they really hit an iron plate this time around. They did not expect that the woman who came to look for them was really the county magistrate. They could only glare at the Lai Baihu whose face turned pale.

He really did not expect that the Emperor would appoint a woman as the county magistrate and what was more Yan Zhao was so respectful towards this woman!

While he worked in the county office, he had never seen Lord Yan treat any county magistrate so respectfully before, who was this woman who could make Lord Yan bow his head like this?

When Lord Yan heard Su Wan"s words, he immediately felt ashamed. Lai Baihu was sent to the county office by the Lai family and he had the backing of the Lai family along with Qi Zhen. For the sake of avoiding trouble, he could only accept this man but he did not expect that he would create so much trouble.

Sometimes he would catch him sometimes Lai Baihu would be sneaky and escape.

However, no matter how many times he punished Lai Baihu the latter did not learn from his mistake.

" Madam Su, it is not that I haven"t punished these people but they just won"t listen to me," Yan Zhao was a soft-hearted person and thus every time someone cried in front of him, he would let the matter go after some soft beating.

But his soft nature while it was a virtue for the commoners, it was a flaw while dealing with the officials. With their thick skin, how could a soft beating teach them a lesson?

Su Wan looked at the officials and Lai Baihu who were looking at her as if they had seen a ghost and scoffed.

" Lord Yan, if you punish them so softly, how can they learn?" Su Wan already knew that the punishment handed by Yan Zhao was not strict and thus these people were riding on his head. " If you want to deal with them then you have to be hard-hearted towards them just as they are hard-hearted towards the commoners.

You might not even know they might have turned those who were in desperate need away or bullied those who couldn"t fight back. If you are soft-hearted toward them then who would be soft-hearted towards the commoners ?!"

" Are they the only ones who have a family? The rest of the commoners don"t? How many mothers lost their sons because they were not saved by the officials? How many women were bullied by men when these people turned their eyes away? Who is going to give them justice?"

Yan Zhao lowered his head feeling a bit ashamed. Su Wan was right, if the officials under him had families, the commoners had families as well. Who was not a man with a family? How could one side of the hand be treated differently?

Su Wan swept a glance at the officials who quickly lowered their heads including Lord Pei. He could see that this woman was not easy to trifle with, seeing this Su Wan sneered but she did not pay attention to them for the moment.

She knew replacing these officials was going to be a hard task as they were appointed by the government.

Instead, she turned to look at Lai Baihu whose face turned pale, however, Su Wan did not show the slightest bit of sympathy for him, instead, she turned to look at the crowd of onlookers and said loudly, " I am the new county magistrate and I am here to a.s.sure you that I will not support those who are corrupted and practice evil deeds.

Today, I will hold a commoners meeting and question Lai Baihu, whoever has been bullied by him, come forward and file your complaint. I a.s.sure you that the Lai family will not make things difficult for you because if they do then I have more than one way to deal with them!"

Seeing that people were hesitant, she added, " Remember this is the last opportunity if you miss it, Lai Baihu will be here and I will not believe a word coming out of your mouth as you choose to remain quiet in this meeting."