Dressed as a farmer's widow, she brought her daughter to stock up on food and reached the top

Chapter 525: Seizing the Officials

Luo Jing'an's eyes widened in anger as he stared intently at the official who had come to report the news. "That old bastard from the Long family is clearly blatantly defying me! He used to sell rice at eighty wen a bushel smoothly, but now, just because of a powerless prince, he wants to burn his bridges? Humph, the people shouldn't fight against the government. Doesn't that old bastard understand?"

Although Luo Jing'an was furious on the surface, he didn't really take the matter too seriously. In his opinion, Long Ye's move was nothing more than reducing his share of the profits.

A sinister sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he secretly planned in his heart that he would make that old man come to him crying and beg for mercy.

He swung his sleeves and shouted, "Go! Send a team of men to immediately seal off Dilong Villa for me! See how arrogant that old man Long can be!"

The officer looked embarrassed and looked at Luo Jing'an cautiously. "Master, to be honest, the county government is really short of manpower right now. There are only two brothers left who are guarding the gate and two new patrol officers. The rest of the brothers have been sent to encircle and suppress Futian Village."

Luo Jing'an slapped his head, having almost forgotten about it. Liu Yingying had been handling the encirclement and suppression of Futian Village, and he hadn't paid much attention to it. He had never expected that after so much time, the people he had sent out hadn't returned yet. Now the county government office was deserted, with only a few people available.

Thinking that Liu Yingying was his boss's legitimate daughter, Luo Jingan immediately lost his temper and sighed helplessly. After all, his current position was entirely due to marrying Liu Yingying, so he really had to go along with her in many things.

After thinking for a moment, Luo Jing'an waved his hand impatiently and said, "Forget it, forget it. Just tell those two patrolmen to seal off Dilong Villa. How big a deal can it be? I don't believe the Long family really dares to openly defy the government!"

The officer hesitated, looked at Luo Jing'an again, and said stammeringly, "Master, it's just... I just heard that Master Bowen from the capital is also at the charity event..."

Luo Jing'an snorted disdainfully, a fierce look flashing in his eyes. "I only asked you to seal off Dilong Villa, not to provoke that old man. Be smart and stay away from that old man. Don't make trouble for yourself."

The officer hurriedly nodded and bowed, "Yes, yes, sir." Then he hunched his body timidly and slowly retreated.

At this time, East Street was filled with a cheerful and joyful atmosphere. The people were holding the rice they had just received, talking and laughing with each other, their words full of gratitude to the prince and the Long family.

Most of those busy distributing rice among the crowd were Long Ye's servants, a large number of whom were former bandits. They used to be involved in robbing and looting, and this was the first time they had distributed food to the people.

Facing the people who were filled with gratitude towards them, they all felt a strange feeling. It wasn't that they were unhappy, but rather that they found it difficult to reconcile the sincere gratitude in the eyes of the people before them with their past image as bandits.

Just as the joyous atmosphere on East Street reached its climax, two officials swaggered over. One of them, holding a government seal, slammed it heavily onto a bag of rice that was about to be opened, then shouted at the top of his lungs, "Quiet down!"

In an instant, the originally lively and cheerful atmosphere was interrupted, the smiles on the people's faces stopped abruptly, and they all turned their eyes to the two uninvited guests.

"Listen up!" another officer shouted, pointing triumphantly at the rice. "Everything in Dilong Villa has been confiscated by our master! Including this rice. Don't touch a single grain!"

The two officers exchanged a glance and nodded in understanding. Just last week, the brothers had finally secured official positions. Although they were new, they had learned the ropes quite well when it came to sealing things.

After saying that, the two of them took the seals in their hands and began to seal the rice bags one by one.

"Wait!" Bowen stopped the two people who were about to continue putting up the seal.

The two officers turned their heads impatiently and saw that it was an old man.

Before leaving, Luo Jing'an had specifically instructed them not to provoke the seemingly learned old man. But the man before them, bloated and pot-bellied, looked like a vagrant kept by the Long family. The two men muttered to themselves, not taking Bowen seriously at all.

One of the officers glanced at Bowen and said disdainfully, "Old man, stop meddling in other people's business! If our county magistrate wants to confer a title, then naturally it must be conferred. Can you stop him?"

Another official said arrogantly, "In this area, our county magistrate has the final say. Whoever the magistrate orders to be conferred a title, that's who. You'd better know your place!"

Bowen pointed at the two officials and shouted angrily, "The morals of Dayan are being ruined by short-sighted people like you! If you want to act wild and crazy, go somewhere else and don't interfere with my distribution of food and relief to the victims!"

When the two officers heard this, they were shocked that this old man dared to disregard the authority of the government.

"Hey, old man, do you know what the law is? How dare you mess around here!"

"You dare to disregard the laws of the Great Yan court? You will be arrested and thrown into jail! You will suffer the consequences!"

Bowen was so angry that he no longer cared about his image. He stepped in front of the officer and fought back without showing any weakness, "You dare to talk about the law with me? Fine, then I have to ask you, you keep saying you want to close down the Long family, but do you have any official documents produced by the government? If not, then you are blatantly disregarding the law and acting recklessly!"

The two officers never expected that this seemingly fat and big-eared old man actually knew some tricks that they were not aware of. They became angry and embarrassed, rolled up their sleeves and walked forward to attack Bowen.

Lord Long rushed forward and stopped the two men firmly. "What do you want to do? How dare you be so rude to Master Bowen!"

The two officers were originally a little afraid of Lord Long, but when they thought about it, they were now wearing official uniforms and representing the imperial court, so they suddenly felt more confident.

One of the officers stiffened his neck and retorted, "What do you want to do now?"

Another officer also shouted, "We are just following orders. Do you want to openly go against the government?"

Long Ye's face turned pale with rage, and he shouted again, "How dare you! How dare you speak to me like that! Not to mention you, even your county magistrate would have to show some respect to me!"