"The old man can rest easy now." Elder Lin sighed in relief after hearing everything and clasped his hands together, saying, "We’ll head back first and wait for your good news."

Gu Jin’an nodded, then followed Third Grandpa and Gu Dashan to escort Elder Lin. As soon as they reached the gate, they unsurprisingly saw Village Chief He.

Village Chief He hurried over with a cane as he saw them, anxiously asking, "Good Brother An, did your family lend them silver? You mustn’t lend it! A group of people has arrived at the village entrance, all elderly from nearby villages, shouting they want to borrow money from your family to pay the tax."

The Gu Family was famous for their wealth in the ten miles and eight villages. Since the Lord Emperor’s decree to heavily tax came down, the villagers turned their thoughts to the Gu Family, hoping to borrow money to weather the storm.

But there were so many villagers in the ten miles and eight villages that even if the Gu Family went bankrupt, it wouldn’t be possible to help all the villagers pay the tax.

In truth, if Gu Jinli’s private money were included, it would be possible to pay taxes for the people of Tianfu County. But why should Gu Jinli help them pay?

The wickedness in people is nurtured, and Gu Jinli certainly doesn’t want to spend money nurturing their bad intentions.

"All the elderly from each village? Haven’t their village chiefs come?" Gu Jin’an asked.

Village Chief He shook his head, "The village chiefs didn’t come, only some elders and children."

Elders and children?

Heh, Gu Jin’an chuckled. They’re trying to use the bitter meat strategy, but unfortunately, it’s a trick his family won’t fall for: "Village Chief, rest assured, our family hasn’t lent money to the Zhou Family or Lin Family."

Elder Lin chimed in, "This old brother, the Gu Family indeed didn’t lend us silver, but instead asked us to go back and wait for a few days. They mentioned that a new bank will open in the county after a few days, and everyone can then borrow money to pay the tax."

"Really?" Village Chief He perked up and pointed at Zhou Erlang, whose face was obviously injured, "Good Brother An, was this done by your family?"

Gu Jin’an nodded, "Yes, it was Zezi who hit him, as he was pestering our family for silver."

"Well done!" Village Chief He was immensely pleased, knowing that villagers seeing the wounds on the Zhou family’s lad would definitely think the Zhou Family turned against the Gu Family, believing the Gu Family hadn’t lent them money.

He raised his cane, pointing at Zhou Erlang, "Boy, listen up, although the First Place Gu Family is from the same town as you, do you understand the current situation? You’re swaggering to their house asking for silver, are you trying to ruin them? What if you attract bandits or villains? It would endanger our whole village!"

Da Feng Village had lived well relying on the Gu Family, so although the tax was heavy, it wasn’t the biggest concern for Village Chief He. What he worried about was someone risking danger for silver, threatening their village.

With so many people in the ten miles and eight villages and just a few hundred in their village, if surrounded, they couldn’t possibly withstand it.

Village Chief He recalled when he went to the county to escort victims, hearing from government officials fetching people from the prefecture, that the victims were flooding in, surrounding the entire prefecture... Thinking of this worried Village Chief He, fearing villagers might follow suit and surround Da Feng Village.

Gu Jin’an smiled, appreciating Village Chief He’s progression, hearing him speak so sensibly.

Gu Jin’an: "Village Chief, let’s go, we’ll check out the village entrance."

"Ah? You’re going to the village entrance? It’s risky seeing them now." Village Chief He was very concerned about Gu Jin’an, this golden egg, being the pride of the entire He’an Prefecture, fearing he’d be entangled if he went out.

Gu Jin’an said, "Village Chief, there’s no need to worry. I’m just going out to reassure them."

It’s also a chance to spread the news of the new bank... Master Ouyang feared Tianfu County would become chaotic before the bank opened, thus decided to release news of the new bank to first stabilize the folks in Tianfu County, offering them hope, preventing them from taking risks, so that Tianfu County could remain stable.

"Alright then," Village Chief He agreed, and the group, escorting the Zhou family, grandly went to the village entrance.

There was indeed quite a crowd gathered at the entrance, about a hundred people, all elders with children, each dressed in rags. And there were others standing on the roadside in the distance, seemingly young men from various villages observing the situation.

Gu Jin’an’s face darkened as he called out to those elders with children, "Dear villagers, rest assured, a new bank will open in the county after a few days..."

He straightforwardly explained the county’s plan to open a new bank providing loans to farmers.

"What? First Place Gu, are you serious? Is there really such a bank?" The elderly from nearby villages were incredulous, thinking Gu Jin’an was lying to deceive them.

Gu Jin’an thoroughly explained, seeing their disbelief, he sternly stated, "Five days, within five days you’ll know the truth of my words."

He also warned, "I advise everyone to hurry back and peacefully wait for five days, rather than doing anything violating the Criminal Law, otherwise Squad Leader Luo won’t be lenient with you."

Everyone knew Luo Wu was Gu Jin’an’s brother-in-law and feared the government, so hearing this, they dared not stir trouble: "First Place Gu, we believe you, we’ll head back now, inform the villagers, we’ll all wait for five days... If there’s no such bank lending money to us after five days, we’ll return."

Village Chief He felt indignant hearing this, return, return, they just wanted to force the Gu Family to lend them money!

Gu Jin’an ignored those people and instructed He Datian to clear the roadblocks at the village entrance, releasing the Zhou and Lin families.

However...

On the way back to Niugou Town, Zhou Erlang was unlucky, encountered a robbery, got severely beaten, almost crippled.

After beating him, the bandit leader warned him, "Remember, if your family dares spread anything bad about the Gu Family or Miss Gu, I’ll castrate you and sell you to the Capital as a eunuch!"

The Zhou Family weren’t good people and had set sights on the Gu Family sisters. Gu Jinli feared the Zhou Family might use rogue methods, first ruining their sisters’ reputations, then propose marriage once their reputations were tarnished.

Thus, taking the initiative, Gu Jinli had Feng Jin gather people to abduct Zhou Erlang, severely beat him, and issue a warning.

Zhou Erlang terrified, swore viciously he wouldn’t say anything to tarnish the Gu sisters’ names. Finally, tied up until nightfall, when Elder Zhou paid ransom with broken silver, Zhou Erlang was carried back.

After this incident, the Zhou Family was submerged in gloom, tried leveraging the Gu Family’s reputation to borrow money from wealthy households in town, but ended up captured by the Si Li Square’s government officials, detained overnight.

This detention finally made them behave, promptly returning the gifts they had collected.

...

Qin San Lang was aware of everything concerning Gu Jinli, and upon learning about the incident, he was furious... What kind of scoundrels dare have ideas about his wife, assuming he’s dead?!

Qin San Lang again dispatched San’an to discipline Zhou Erlang, beating him until bedridden.

Mrs. Zhou Hu, seeing her son repeatedly beaten, thought he must be entangled by something filthy. She sought a witch for a talisman paper, burned it for Zhou Erlang to eat, which almost resulted in his death.

Mrs. Zhou Hu thus believed Zhou Erlang was indeed entangled by something filthy, a powerful creature beyond ordinary witches’ ability to handle. She continued to seek talisman water, feeding it to Zhou Erlang, nearly sending him to heaven.