She spoke very clearly, one word at a time, making sure that the farmers outside could hear her clearly.
The room was silent for a long time and no one spoke; even the sound of fallen leaves in the autumn wind could be heard outside.
Lin Yue's eyelids twitched and he didn't even dare to raise his head.
This matter was indeed discussed last night, but the steward who went to the capital to question him hasn't returned yet-----Wei An kept saying that he would return all the extra rent that the farmers had paid over the years, which was a considerable expense-----Originally, this huge sum of money had never come into Wei Yumin's hands for more than ten years, and naturally, it had not come into the hands of the Wei family. But now, not only can the Wei family not collect this year's rent, they also have to pay out for the income of more than ten years.
Farmers all said that they paid more every year, and in the end, they paid more than double what they paid ten years ago.
This village has a pond for raising fish and trees on the hill for raising chickens and ducks. Every year, the village head only pays 1,100 taels of silver to the higher authorities. If there is heavy snow or chicken plague, the amount paid is even less, and the lowest is only 400 to 500 taels.
The rent that the farmers paid every year totaled nine hundred taels of silver, except for those years when there were natural disasters and the rent was reduced by half.
This is not a small amount of money, and the tenants said that they were asked to pay more than double. That is, if Wei An really wants to compensate them for the money they have paid for more than ten years, he will have to pay at least nearly 10,000 taels of silver.
Ten thousand taels!
What a huge sum of money!
I'm afraid that when Wei An gets married in the future, his dowry will probably be just this amount.
But Wei An made the decision for his superiors without any hesitation.
In the end, the matter was not finally settled because the managers did not dare to make a decision on their own and they had no money, so they had to go to the capital first.
But now that Wei An has said this to the farmers, they have to decide on it even if they don’t want to.
Lin Yue sighed, thinking that this girl was decisive, but she didn't think straight. If she could find the village head, it would be easy to deal with, maybe she could recover some losses...
But if we can't find the owner of the farm, then wouldn't this farm just be lying there for the past ten years in vain, without any income at all
He was worried, but the farmers were all ecstatic. At first they suppressed their disbelief, but when they were sure they had heard it right, they all couldn't help cheering.
In recent years, life has become unbearable, and many of them have even sold their daughters just to keep their one acre of land and have food to eat for a long time.
They thought they were being forced into a desperate situation, but they never expected that the returning master would be so kind. They all knelt down and kowtowed to Wei An.
Wei An immediately had someone stop them, and gently told them not to kneel: "I just want you to bear witness that I have never sent anyone to speak to Madam Xu's family again. If the government invites you to ask, I hope you can tell me what you have to say."
He paused again before asking, "Does the man who went to Madam Xu's house to deliver the message have any relatives in the village?"
Everyone looked at each other, and finally someone came out and nodded: "She is our village's witch..."
No wonder, these people can be said to be alive even though they are dead.
Threatening a Miss Xu is an easy task.
She nodded and told Lin Yue: "Find someone to bring everyone from this witch's family here."
She wanted to see who was so powerful that he would take advantage of the situation to cause trouble and add a murder to her head.
After just a few words, people from the yamen came again. Those yamen runners knew how powerful they were. They had never entered the Wei family's villa before, and now they were just waiting outside in the rain. They said they had found out that the witch had been to Madam Xu's house that night, and they wanted to take her to the yamen for questioning.
Wei An sent someone out to deliver hot soup and an umbrella, and only then did he let Wei Jie come forward and hand over the witch.
After several farmers were summoned to give their testimony, Manager Lin came back. He went downstairs to change into clean clothes before rushing to see Wei An: "The matter has been resolved. It has been found that it has nothing to do with our family, and it was not our servants who threatened us."
Wei An asked the maid to pour him some tea, nodded and told her about Liao Sheng.
Lin Hai's brows knitted immediately: "I tied him up and tortured him!"
Wei An did not hand over Liao Sheng to save trouble. Otherwise, when Liao Sheng arrived at the yamen, he was a member of the Wei family and people might spread rumors about him, and finally people would say that Liao Sheng was a scapegoat for the Wei family.
But if you say that Liao Sheng has any other uses, he has none.
"How did you torture me?" She sneered and shook her head. "They did it without anyone noticing. I asked, but the witch didn't see anyone. She just had someone tell her to go to Madam Xu's house through the window and say these words. But who was it? She shook her head and didn't know."
"There's no need to talk about Liao Sheng. He was already confused by the wine he drank. Even if the person who instigated him was standing right in front of him, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to recognize him."
That being said... Lin Hai's frown did not relax at all: "But are we just going to let it go like this and suffer such a loss?"
It is obvious that someone is deliberately plotting against Wei An and the Wei family.
This matter is not a big deal, but if someone wants to make a fuss about it, especially the censors who are so eloquent, they can immediately make up countless stories, saying that the Wei family is harsh on their servants and disregards human lives. I'm afraid they can skin the Wei family alive!
It's really a sinister intention!
What's more, the enemy is in the dark and I am in the light. If I don't find the person, I will feel uneasy.
Wei An smiled and said, "Let's not just let it go. What else can we do? We can't dig deep into the ground if we can't find the person."
However, Lin Hai felt that things were not that simple. He glanced at Wei An and waited for Wei An's instructions.
Our Seventh Young Miss has never been someone who would swallow her anger in silence.
Even if she has to endure the loss and anger, the person who offended her will rarely have a good ending afterwards.
The calmer she was, the angrier she would probably be.
Sure enough, after a while, Wei An asked, "Has the news of our sentencing of Liao Sheng and the witch spread out?"
Lin Yue immediately stood up and replied: "In reply to Miss Seven, I have already let the farmers spread the news. According to your instructions, the farmers have all gone home happily and told them the good news that you are going to make up for the deficit."
Wei An nodded with a smile: "Very good, you go to the government office in person, take the Wei family's name card, and pass on a message for me. Tell He Zhizhou that if he can get it done for me, Dingbei Marquis Mansion will definitely remember his kindness."
She paused for a moment, and when she saw Lin Yue bow his head and agree, she said, "Go and ask Fourth Brother to come in."