The Big Ocean City had a lot of water but the water was neither useful for drinking nor irrigation, as the water near this city was filled with salt.
Su Wan turned to look at her husbands and said to them, "I think it will be better if we can look for a water vein and then use it to irrigate the land."
"The current situation will not last for long."
"You are right, Wan Wan," said Lin Chen with a frown on his face. "I heard from the people of the city that the Lai family is thinking of buying that well which is used by our workers to fetch water."
The Lai family was not only hateful but also annoying. Since they could not get what Su Wan had, they tried to ruin it for her and their family.
"What?!" The rest of the Lin brothers exclaimed and turned to look at Lin Chen.
Lin Jing, who was often silent also turned sombre as he glanced at his third brother and asked, "Whom did you hear this from?"
"Who else? It is Second Madam Lai's daughter, Lai Xiaoyue," sneered Lin Chen. "She came to look for me after the farmkeeper and his sons were punished. Turns out that the old man and his sons were sent to our farm by the Lai family, they wanted the sons and father pair to exchange the positions of the other farmers with their own."
"Once that happens, the Lai family will become the indirect owner of the animal barn and vegetable and fruit farm."
When Lin Chen found out the truth, he was so furious that he wanted to swing his fists at someone.
"And she did not tell this to us earlier?" Lin Yu focused on the main point. Su Wan had warned the mother and daughter to not skip any information, and yet they did something like this.
He turned to look at Su Wan who seemed calm as if she was not surprised by the information.
"Are you not surprised, wife ?" Lin Yu asked.
"Of course not," Su Wan calmly responded as she picked up her eldest son when she saw him getting fussy.
With a pull of a string, she undid her shirt from the side and then let her son suck the milk.
This was a maternity shirt that she had designed and asked Lin Yu to sew, it was selling quite well with the women of the Big Ocean City.
"The two of them are smart but they are also foolish. They must have thought that if this plan succeeded then they would be able to get out of my grasp, without thinking that even if the Lai family succeeded their identity would be there," Su Wan winced slightly as she felt her son bite her.
"I think we should introduce them to solid food," said Lin Yan with a frown when he saw Su Wan scrunch her nose and brows.
She let her youngest son latch on to her bosom and start sucking milk before she continued, "Though I have done a lot of things for the Big Ocean City, those old officials do not wish to show any respect to me."
"In their eyes even though I am the county magistrate, I am just a woman. So even if they are beneath me for some reason they think that I am working for them and it's not them who are working for me."
Su Wan thought of the things that were going on in the county magistrate's office and her eyes flashed with annoyance.
"If I don't set up an auction for the mountains, the Lai family will stir the hornets' nest. I don't want that so I might as well put it on auction," Su Wan sighed. She also knew that there was no other choice and hated the fact that she was being suppressed by a bunch of old folks who were petty and narrow-minded.
"They are simply useless," Lin Chen sneered. "They don't know how to work hard and help their city but now that you have done so much for the city, they know how to sit back and stir trouble."
Speaking of trouble, the farm keeper and his sons were dragged to the Yamen by the officials. However, the three men refused to admit that they were in the wrong.
"What did we do wrong? We did what we were asked to do!"
"Yes, it was Magistrate Su who wanted to do this, she has been long upset with these old and sick who only know how to eat and drink. So she planned with us to throw them out of the farm!"
The two brothers were taught well by the Lai family. They did not admit that they were in the wrong instead they placed all the blame on Su Wan.
Because of their words, the villagers and the officials were both confused and angry.
"Are you sure you want to go down this path?"Captain Lei was so angry that he laughed. "She is the magistrate of the city and what are you?"
Though Elder Brother Wang was scared, he still stubbornly stretched out his neck and screamed, "So what if she is the magistrate? She was the one who asked us to do it. We have no other choice!"
"Ask her to come here and we will deal with the matter."
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