Lord He immediately nodded, "Yes, Your Highness Prince Yu. Not only will I draft the laws for the border prefecture, but I will also follow closely behind Your Highness to advise His Majesty. Regardless of what happens in other prefectures and counties, in our border prefecture, no man shall beat his wife without cause."
Ji Chenghe cupped his hands and bowed to Prince Yu and Lord He, "Then your subordinate will follow the two of you, letting Tashajun take the lead and set an example!"
"Prince Yu is wise and divine! Lord He and Lord Ji are indeed officials who are dedicated to the welfare of the people!" Bai Sheng clapped her hands excitedly. In this feudal society, for a man to have such awareness was truly rare.
All the women present also clapped their hands excitedly, shouting in unison, "Prince Yu is wise and divine! Lord He and Lord Ji are dedicated to the people!"
Receiving Bai Sheng's praise, Prince Yu beamed like a flower. He decided to strongly advise the Emperor to enact laws protecting women throughout the Great Xia Kingdom. Only with the protection of women would the birth rate significantly increase.
The border prefecture was already sparsely populated, and a drought had caused a drastic decrease in its population. Developing the border prefecture, however, was impossible without a large labor force.
Seeing Prince Yu's smug look, Lu Ye leaned closer to Bai Sheng and whispered, "Darling, as your husband, I have always respected and cherished you."
Bai Sheng tiptoed hard, raised her hand high, and patted Lu Ye's head, praising, "My husband has always been very good."
Lu Ye immediately became like a large wolfdog whose head was being stroked by its owner, wagging its tail with great joy.
Prince Yu grinned, looking at him with disdain. To be so henpecked, was he even a man? Moreover, showing such affection in front of so many people, where was his dignity?
Lu Ye didn't care about dignity; what was dignity worth?
After Ji Chenghe finished handling Lu Hao's matter, he asked Bai Sheng again, "Bai Sheng, do you have any evidence for your accusation against Wang Quanfu?"
Bai Sheng raised her hand, swept it around to the crowd of onlookers, and declared loudly, "The hundreds of people present are all witnesses! They saw with their own eyes and heard with their own ears that Wang Quanfu, with dozens of thugs, broke into this humble woman's recruitment site, instigated trouble, disrupted the work in this humble woman's workshop, and extorted 200 taels of silver from my elder sister, Lu Hao."
The refugees kneeling nearby all weakly argued in their hearts: We are not thugs. Although the word "refugee" and "thug" differ by only one character, there is a big difference.
Alas, if they had known that this family had such powerful connections, they would not have followed Wang Quanfu into this fiery pit even if they had to eat dirt.
The dozen or so clansmen brought by Wang Quanfu also regretted their actions immensely. Who knew that Wang Quanfu would provoke such capable people? Even Prince Yu, the governor, and the county magistrate were staying in their home.
The crowd of onlookers immediately shouted, "Yes, we are all witnesses!"
A woman said aggrievedly, "We came here today to apply for jobs, and because of Wang Quanfu's interference, our entire day was wasted. Our homes are far away, and this trip back and forth was exhausting. We didn't even get to eat lunch."
"Yes, our losses are small, insignificant. But the losses of the workshop owner are substantial. How much money is lost by delaying work for a day?" another woman chimed in.
Wang Quanfu trembled with fear. He truly had nothing better to do to provoke Bai Sheng without first investigating her background.
If he had known she had such a wealthy and powerful cousin, he would have fawned over her, willingly following her around to clean up her messes and carry her shoes.
A person's luck truly turns like the seasons. Six years ago, when he bought Lu Youdi, the second branch of the Lu family was desperately poor. Now, they had even built such a large workshop and had such good relationships with Prince Yu, the governor, and the county magistrate.
Looking at Lu Youdi, in just over a month, she had become much plumper, her complexion radiant. She even wore lipstick and dressed more elegantly, looking much better than Widow Li.
Wang Quanfu slapped himself several times in his heart, regretting it so much he wanted to bang his head against the wall.
The little slut who had secretly sent him a message through Old Root Head was rumored to be from this village. If he knew who she was, he would skin her alive and pull out her tendons!
Magistrate Ji finally pronounced his verdict: all those who came to cause trouble today would be temporarily detained and punished with five years of labor, to be followed by Prince Yu and Lord He in reclaiming sand and planting trees in the border prefecture.
The dozen or so Wang family clansmen who had come with Wang Quanfu all knelt on the ground, shouting their innocence. Prince Yu roared, "If you dare to make another sound, you will be punished with ten years of labor!"
The Wang family clansmen immediately shut their mouths, daring not to utter another word. Each of them hated Wang Quanfu thoroughly in their hearts. This bastard, this scoundrel, had dug such a huge and deep fiery pit for them. They would never let him off the hook!
After dealing with Wang Quanfu and the others, Bai Sheng ordered people to bring out plenty of tea, pastries, and fruits, placing them on seven or eight tables, laid out in a line.
Anyone who had come to apply for a job today could take freely. Furthermore, since the morning recruitment was delayed, recruitment would continue in the afternoon, so Bai Sheng's family would cover lunch.
In the workshop's large kitchen, several large pots were simmering with hot meat porridge. Tian Guihua and over a dozen people, including Mi Mian, were vigorously kneading dough and steaming meat buns. At noon, everyone would receive a large bowl of meat porridge and two meat buns.
The people on the scene cheered upon hearing this news.
My heavens! This employer is too generous! To cover lunch for hundreds of people, how much money must that cost?
They were determined to get this job; perhaps their family's livelihood would depend on it in the future.
After everyone received a pastry and a large bowl of tea to appease their hunger, Prince Yu and the other two did not leave. Since they were already there, they might as well eat lunch before heading to the sand reclamation camp.
Wang Quanfu and all those who had come with him were bound at the hands and feet, squatting on the side, watching others eat and drink. Some women seemed to deliberately tease them, smacking their lips loudly and exclaiming while eating, "Delicious, delicious, too delicious!"
When everyone had eaten their fill and drunk their fill, Bai Sheng walked forward and said to Yang Ming, "Xiao Ming, drag Wang Quanfu over here. I have something to ask him!"
Yang Ming responded with a "Yes" and strode towards Wang Quanfu.
Qian Zhaodi, who was helping to serve tea and water alongside Granny Zhong and others, suddenly stiffened, and the teapot in her hand almost fell to the ground.
She secretly glanced at Bai Sheng, seeing her and Lu Ye sitting leisurely in the main seats, holding hands and whispering and laughing with each other from time to time, showing no intention of questioning anyone. Perhaps she was looking for Wang Quanfu for Lu Youdi.
Qian Zhaodi breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps she was overthinking it. When planning this matter, she had not approached Wang Quanfu directly but had sent word through Old Root Head from Sanyang Village in Qili Town.
Old Root Head earned his living by delivering letters for people and was very tight-lipped. She had given Old Root Head a full tael of silver, so Old Root Head should not betray her, right?
Upon hearing that the employer wanted to see Wang Quanfu, everyone crowded around. Was the employer going to settle accounts?