Novel Full Chapter 677: Magistrate Li
Chapter 677: Magistrate Li
” So, you are here to sell this oil to me as well as bring the woman who was responsible for killing the mers in your village?” Li Meng looked at Village head Gu who had her head lowered in front of her and was acting as quietly as a quail in front of her.
If Li Meng was, to be honest, this was her first time seeing a case like this —— never before had there come a case in front of her as the magistrate where she had to hand down both rewards and punishment to the village head in the same day.
The fact that Village head Gu was able to get the villagers of her village to produce oil from something useless as rice bran was really commendable but at the same time, the fact that she could not realise that her sister was the one who was behind the killing of the mers was truly worrisome as well.
After all, if a woman could not even control her family and backyard how was she supposed to control and lead the villagers of her village?
Looking at the vat of oil that Village head Gu has brought for her made Li Meng really relaxed, after all, she was getting tired of the tyranny of the Qiao family and was almost running out of ideas regarding how to deal with the Qiao woman but now that the problem of oil mill was solved, she was really glad for the help that she received from the Big river village but the same could not be said when it came to the case of a hundred mers being killed in the same village for so many years.
Even though mers did not have any legal rights and were not even considered of any importance, they were in the end humans. Their life mattered in the eyes of Li Meng who was a just magistrate and even if she wanted to overlook this matter of the mers being killed for the successful oil extraction —— her conscious did not agree with her at all.
” Village head Gu, I am not saying that I am not happy with what you have done, in fact, I am overjoyed by this successful oil extraction process but I will have to apologise, I do not think that I will be able to ignore the matter of your sister killing those innocent mers,” Li Meng finally announced her judgement as she looked at Village head Gu with a sigh. ” Even if her majesty the Empress did not give any rights to the mers, they are not animals that can be hacked to death by just anyone, which is why I am afraid I will have to take away your position as the village head, Madam Gu.”
Madam Gu already expected this outcome, she knew that she will not be able to save her position after all, her sister was the one who killed those mers even if the magistrate was impressed with the successful extraction of the oil, she will not overlook the death of so many mers.
” I understand, Magistrate Li,” Madam Gu replied, her head still lowered in shame, in fact, if Magistrate Li did not remove her from the position of the village head, she would have suggested it herself. Madam Gu was once hungry for the position of the village head, she thought that she will be able to live a life of luxury with the monthly salary of three silver tael.
But when she took on the position of the village head she understood that the Village head’s position was much more than just taking the advantage of villagers and getting a salary of three silver taels each month. It was to keep a straight head in the face of tragedy and disaster including a way to deal with the problems of the villagers without looking at them with any bias.
Something that she could not do even when she thought that she will be able to do and this was one of the reasons why she would have handed the position back to the magistrate even if the latter did not ask her.
Magistrate Li was surprised when she saw that Madam Gu did not offer her any excuse. The first time when she saw Madam Gu, she knew that the latter was greedy for profit but because the latter was much better than the other villagers who came to write to suggest their names as the village head, she was the one who was chosen.
More importantly, the post would have gone to Yu Dong if the latter had not refused!
” I see, it’s good that you are showing such attitude while facing the mistake that you have committed, don’t worry, I will not take away your reward for extracting the oil successfully——”
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” Ah, about that magistrate Li,” Magistrate Li was still speaking when Madam Gu raised her head and then interrupted the latter as she awkwardly said, ” I was not the one who came up with the idea of extracting oil from rice bran, its actually someone else, you should hand these rewards to her.”
Magistrate Li frowned when she heard Madam Gu’s words, if Madam Gu was not the one who extracted the oil then why was she the one presenting it to her instead of the one who extracted it? Where was the genius who was responsible for this oil extraction process?
“It’s Yu Dong.” Seeing the gloomy look on the face of Magistrate Li, Madam Gu understood what the latter was thinking and immediately answered. She did not want Li Meng to think that she was actually trying to take the profits of someone else’s hard work!
‘ Ah, so its Yu Dong!’ Magistrate Li seemed to have understood what Madam Gu was trying to tell her. The last time she met Yu Dong was when the latter was called to become the village head of the big river village but the latter refused saying that she did not want to take on such a big responsibility and just wanted to focus on her business.
Back then Magistrate Li agreed but now …. She looked down on the vat of oil and made a decision, there was no way she could let this talent get out of her hands!