Chapter 1016 Test of Indulgence (1)
Mo Yan had not expected Zhao Dafu to come forward and openly confess to embezzlement, revealing every detail of the events from start to finish.
What surprised Mo Yan even more was that Zhao Dafu’s embezzlement was actually out of reluctance, forced upon by the tenants of Chen Family Village, and that the duration of his embezzlement was not as long as she had suspected.
This affair dates back ten years. A decade ago, a moderate drought struck the area around Jing City. Although it wasn’t severe enough to cause starvation, the crops significantly underproduced, some even failing entirely. At that time, the Court issued tax relief so that the disaster-stricken citizens could still get by.
Back then, the dozens of families that were tenants of the farmland of Chen Family Village also suffered from the disaster. With little to no harvest to speak of, they would be left with an empty stomach after paying their rent. These tenants had no choice but to turn to Zhao Dafu, hoping he could plead with the owner of the estate, the corrupt official who was executed some years back, to reduce the rent.
Zhao Dafu, not being a man with a heart of stone, agreed to plead on their behalf. However, as a mere manager on the estate, he wasn’t qualified to meet with the master in the main house in the city and could only convey the message of reducing the rent through the head manager. In the end, whether it was due to the corrupt master’s hardness of heart, or the head manager wanting to take his cut, they flatly refused to reduce the rent.
This matter, being about the belly, was something the tenants deeply resented, especially when they heard that other landlords had reduced or even forgiven their tenants’ rents outright. This dissatisfaction peaked when the tenants got together and collectively refused to pay the rent.