Chapter 47: Not Easy

Chen Fan felt that it was completely unnecessary to mobilize this village for the autumn harvest. Judging from Shiyu’s description and the people he had encountered in this village, the men and women here enjoyed a harmonious relationship, the common folk were diligent, and the village was prosperous. There was hardly anything for him to worry about; he could even study the village chief’s governance methods and apply them to other villages. Thus, Chen Fan simply decided to start inquiring about the abduction of women.

"Shiyu, there is one thing I don't quite understand. According to what you've said, the men plow and the women weave in your village, and everything is very harmonious. How were your sisters abducted? In other villages, men do not cherish their wives the way the men in this village do. They treat them merely as chattels and do not care whether they live or die from moment to moment. Since the men of your village love their wives so dearly, how could they have been so careless as to let villains find an opportunity?"

"My lord, during that period, some suspicious-looking people did indeed come to our village carrying wine and food. However, our village is not short of food or drink, so no one went to mingle with them. Seeing that they had come from afar and not knowing what their intentions were, the village chief still treated them with courtesy and gathered some of the men to dine with them at the village tavern. After some conversation, he discovered they were a bunch of scoundrels and petty thieves, so he issued an order of expulsion and drove them away.

A few days later, a group of refugees flooded into our village. They were all men, and we found it rather odd—it seemed impossible for so many men to become refugees all at once. Seeing that they were covered in grime, the village chief arranged for them to stay at the tavern. After talking with them, they claimed they originally lived in the county town. Because of their gambling habits, they had lost all their household possessions and were forced to wander the streets. Later, they borrowed high-interest loans in hopes of turning their fortunes around, only to lose everything again and be hunted down by debt collectors. Fleeing in terror all the way east, they heard that this place was the most prosperous and had the best public security, so they came to see if the village chief and the others would be willing to take them in, as they could no longer return home.

At first, the village chief and the others didn't entirely believe them. But after these men washed up, they didn't look like the previous group of people, and they worked very diligently and honestly for us. So the village chief and the others believed their story! When the Mid-Autumn Festival arrived on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, they treated them quite hospitably. Never did they expect that these men would drug all the villagers! By the time I returned from the county town, I heard that my sisters had all been carried off!"

Having finished, Wang Shiyu stamped her foot fiercely in a surge of emotion.

Chen Fan pulled her into an embrace, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "Well, the timeline certainly matches up. This should be a relatively southern region, where the autumn harvest usually begins on a large scale around September. Striking on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival—the timing is indeed correct. Now that September has arrived, the autumn harvest will presumably begin on a large scale very soon. I must quickly finish mobilizing the autumn harvest across all the villages!"

Wang Shiyu stood there, reluctant to move. She was filled with anger and anxiety for her sisters, despising those despicable scoundrels. Her fists were clenched tightly, and her body began to tremble slightly. Chen Fan did not understand why Wang Shiyu's emotions were running so high, but he knew she was furious. He quickly tried to comfort her, patting her back.

"Don't be angry, Shiyu! Those villains are indeed no good! If they fall into my hands, I will punish them severely without leniency!"

Chen Fan spoke very calmly, in an ordinary tone of voice. However, he did not expect that not only did Wang Shiyu fail to calm down, but she actually dared to give him a cold shoulder.

"Then what will you all do? My sisters have been missing for so long, and only now have you yamen officials sent people! Besides, since you are so formidable in a fight, why didn't you go and beat those men to death? They must simply be local ruffians from the county town! Wretches who traffic in women! Aren't you an upright official renowned for the integrity of the Left Guardian? Don't you respect women? Didn't you carry firewood to your wife's door to apologize? Why didn't you go and find them? What did my sisters do wrong? I feel like I will never see them again in this lifetime! Even if you catch them, what can you do to those men anyway? They'll just be let off lightly with a minor sentence! Meanwhile, my sisters might be suffering unspeakable torments!"

By this time, her eyes were shimmering with unshed tears. She glared resentfully into Chen Fan's eyes, biting her lower lip, stubbornly holding back her tears to keep them from falling.

Chen Fan had never been in a relationship, alright? He couldn't figure out why her emotions had suddenly exploded like this! The two of them were newlyweds; no matter how distressing the matter was, it shouldn't so easily overshadow their joy. It seemed she was a deeply emotional woman who always kept her sisters, brothers, and elders in her heart. Even though she truly liked him and they were now legally married, she would not shy away from attacking the yamen's inefficiency just because he was an official there. In other words: "I don't care if you're my husband! Even though you're an official in the yamen, your yamen failed to maintain public security, so I'm blaming you right along with them. I won't save you any face at all!"

Chen Fan thought to himself: How can this be blamed on me?! I've only been an official for a few days! And the yamen shouldn't be blamed either, alright? We are currently casting a long line to catch a big fish; we can't reel it in just yet.

Chen Fan felt aggrieved and annoyed. Why should she talk to me—and us at the yamen—like that? Being an official in the yamen is exhausting work! As an official, Chen Fan had devoted his heart and soul to his duties!

"Now, Shiyu! Please don't be angry! The yamen has its own difficulties, too. I have held office for less than two months, and Magistrate Cao has been in his post for less than a year. Yet he hasn't been idling either! Within this single year, he has nearly resolved the grain shortage in Zeng County. If not for malicious individuals working in the shadows to traffic women on a massive scale, and if not for our shortage of manpower, the autumn harvest wouldn't be such a massive problem. Counties in the vicinity are all experiencing sudden, organized, and large-scale abductions of women. It is evident that powerful forces are at work behind the scenes. Therefore, it is impossible for us to easily uncover who is pulling the strings!"

"But the practice of abducting women has been going on for a long time, and you have never resolved it!"

Wang Shiyu's emotions flared up even more, shouting out the final few words.

Chen Fan felt something was wrong. Why couldn't this young lady's emotions be calmed down? Was he not sincere enough?

"But the yamen has never given up on managing this matter! I don't know what the situation is like in other counties, but ever since we took office, we have been trying to figure out how to solve this issue! At the very least, we have never given up!"

Chen Fan raised his voice to match Wang Shiyu's tone!

The corners of Wang Shiyu's mouth twitched upward briefly, but she still put on a pretense of anger and said, "My brother has already told me all of this! Don't say these things anymore! You, you, you——"

Chen Fan was even more baffled. Since Wang Shiyu had said those things, how else could he respond to comfort her? What else was he supposed to say?

Chen Fan watched Wang Shiyu, who was momentarily at a loss for words yet trying hard to think of something to say, waiting to see what she would come up with.

*Oh dear! What on earth am I saying?! How did I back myself into such a corner? What else could he possibly say if not this?!*

"You officials are all the same! You always claim how difficult things are for you, but do we—do we common folk have it easy?"