PFC Chapter 203 Yang Lin
Chapter 203 Yang Lin
Half a month after their marriage, Yang Lin went to the capital to take the imperial examination. Hard work pays off, and Yang Lin became the top scholar that year.
Emperor Shengde even personally summoned him. It is unknown what the two discussed, but afterwards Yang Lin was sent to his hometown of Qingzhou, to serve as the magistrate of Siyang County.
Back then, Qingzhou was a difficult place to deal with because of the late emperor's affairs.
Because of the investigation into the human trafficking and the scapegoating of others, Emperor Shengde not only suffered a major setback here, but several imperial envoys were also secretly murdered here.
Those who were murdered were all disciples of the Imperial Tutor.
At that time, the court did not have many trustworthy people, which was just when Emperor Shengde was looking for capable people. Yang Lin was from Qingzhou.
Locals know local affairs best, and since Yang Lin also wanted to return to his hometown to take revenge, he and Emperor Shengde reached an unspoken agreement.
Yang Lin did not disappoint the emperor. After arriving in Siyang County as magistrate, he demonstrated the full extent of his newfound power.
This deterrent also purged the corrupt elements in the Siyang County government office.
Fortunately, he had the support of the Yang and Tang families, both of which enjoyed considerable prestige in the area, so the locals didn't cause him any trouble.
Yang Lin served as a county magistrate for three years and was quite successful. After three years, Emperor Shengde transferred him to Puyang Prefecture as the prefect.
Puyang Prefecture was the place in the Daqingshan area where the most people were bought and sold to take the blame in the past. It was also a place with many temples, and the Qingshan Academy was famous here.
Once upon a time, the area around Puyang Prefecture was a bustling marketplace, where noise, hawking, and laughter mingled together, like a vibrant, colorful painting.
Now, the former prosperity has vanished, and the place has become deserted and desolate, as if forgotten by time, leaving behind only loneliness and silence.
The most troublesome thing is the bandits living in Daqingshan.
Emperor Shengde allowed Yang Lin to recruit soldiers and horses in the area to suppress bandits.
Yang Lin not only gained the support of Emperor Shengde, but also received a team of men from Duke Zhenguo Helian Zhen to assist him.
He had the financial backing of the Yang and Tang families and had recruited many people, including some from the underworld...
Yang Lin was also very skilled at being an official; he mastered the principle of "good people don't become officials" to a high degree.
However, he was also a rare good official who wholeheartedly served the people and eliminated harm, and he never mistreated those around him.
...Emperor Shengde also valued him highly. During his tenure as prefect, Emperor Shengde only required him to hand over 70% of the property he had seized to the national treasury, keeping the remaining 30% for himself.
However, apart from his wife Tang Yanran and his youngest son Yang Wenkai, Yang Lin never mentioned anything about his relationship with Emperor Shengde.
Tang Yanran is also a virtuous wife. Because of her, the members of the Tang family never dared to hold Yang Lin back and were all very well-behaved. As a result, the Tang family has gained unprecedented prestige in the local area.
Just after Yang Lin led his men to suppress the bandits again, this time they wiped out the bandits in Daqingshan and seized a lot of money.
But one person escaped this time, which they didn't pay much attention to, assuming he was just a cowardly lackey.
Little did anyone know, the escaped bandit was the son of the second-in-command. In order to take revenge on Yang Lin, he secretly infiltrated Yang's mansion and planned to assassinate Yang Lin.
...During the fight, the bandit was no match for Tang Yanran, but he kidnapped her. At that time, Tang Yanran was already seven months pregnant.
Tang Yanran was no pushover either. While Yang Lin was negotiating with the bandit, she quickly pulled out the hairpin from her hair and, taking advantage of his unpreparedness, stabbed it directly into the bandit's heart.
Therefore, Tang Yanran also received a slap from the bandit, which landed squarely on her chest.
The bandits were captured, but Tang Yanran suffered a miscarriage and internal injuries. During childbirth, she suffered severe bleeding and passed away that very night.
Yang Lin also lost his life because Tang Yanran ignored his advice and insisted on risking her life to give birth to Yang Wenwen.
From then on, he hated Yang Wenwen.
On the day Yang Wenwen was born, Yang Lin didn't even glance at her before angrily ordering the wet nurse to take her away.
...After losing his beloved wife, Yang Lin lost all his energy and seemed to have lost his soul.
After learning the whole story, Tang's mother brought her youngest daughter to the prefect's residence to help him take care of the children.
During that period, Yang Lin was in a daze all day long, and sometimes he would drink heavily at night. Somehow, he ended up sleeping with his sister-in-law, Tang Yuran.
At first, the Tang family didn't care about these things. They let their youngest daughter marry their brother-in-law, thinking that the good stuff wouldn't go to outsiders, and that their grandchildren wouldn't be mistreated by their stepmother.
And so, under the pretext of taking care of her grandson, Tang's mother and her youngest daughter settled down openly in the prefect's residence.
Yang Lin made a mistake because of drinking, and ended up sleeping with his sister-in-law. He was also annoyed with himself, so he started working like crazy again, and was never home.
However, after that incident, he still did not express any intention to marry Tang Yuran.
He wasn't in a hurry, but the Tang family mother and daughter were. Later, when her brother-in-law finally returned home, Tang Yuran bribed Yang Lin's servant to drug him.
Needless to say, the two slept together again. This time, Tang's mother spoke up, and Yang Lin did not refute her.
However, he said that Yang Lin only had one wife in his life, and that was Tang Yanran.
If Tang Yuran wanted to be with him, she had to become his concubine and also promise her mother that he would not look for other women.
Although Tang's mother was angry, she agreed after hearing his promise.
But Tang Yuran was not willing to be his concubine. She had been jealous of her sister for finding such a good man since she was a child.
She had long since fallen in love with her brother-in-law, but in the past, out of consideration for her sister, she could only keep her feelings to herself.
Now that her sister is gone, her chance has come. She finally managed to get into bed with him, so why would she willingly become a concubine?
Later, the mother and daughter discussed that as long as Tang Yuran gave birth to a child for Yang Lin, she could become his wife, since Tang Yanran was already dead.
Given enough time, Yang Lin will definitely accept it.
When Yang Wenwen was three years old, Tang Yuran became pregnant. For safety reasons, she waited until the baby was fully formed before telling Yang Lin the news.
But instead of being pleased with Yang Lin, she was forced to drink a bowl of abortion medicine by him.
And just like that, a fully formed male fetus was aborted by him.
It's possible that the dosage of that medicine was too high, which harmed Tang Yuran's body, and from then on, Tang Yuran could no longer conceive.
We should demand an explanation from Yang Lin for whatever the Tang family has done.
Yang Lin told the Tang family that, apart from Tang Yanran, there was no other woman in the world worthy of bearing his child.
These words angered the Tang family, and even more so, Tang Yuran.
She channeled all her hatred into little Yang Wenwen.
Looking at Yang Wenwen's face, which resembled Tang Yanran's by seven parts, Tang's mother hated and scolded her because she was a jinx who caused her to bury her child.
If it weren't for her, her youngest daughter wouldn't have ended up like that.
Tang Yuran, because of her deceased son, saw Yang Wenwen's face, which looked so much like her sister's, and a vicious plan came to mind.
This marked the beginning of little Yang Wenwen's ordeal...
After telling them all this, Yang Wenkai said that his father had also regretted it since his sister disappeared.
But out of pride, he searched secretly, unaware that every time Yang Lin sent someone out, the Tang family would abduct them and threaten their families to force them to appease Yang Lin...
On the third day of staying at Gu Chenglin's house, Yang Wenkai found Dongfang Jin, took out the jade pendant that his mother often wore, and handed over all the jewelry and dowry that his mother had prepared for Yang Wenwen.
He made a shocking statement, saying that he had taken a liking to Gu Jingye and wanted him to be his brother-in-law.
He also said he wanted to change Yang Wenwen's name to Yang Wenwen, a name his mother had chosen long ago.