Chapter 1713: The resistance is too great

After hearing Yuan Yongshou's words, everyone looked toward Cao Jingui. Cao Jingzhi stepped forward to check her younger sister's breathing and pinched her philtrum; only then did Cao Jingui slowly regain consciousness.

Seeing her sister wake up, Cao Jingzhi finally set her mind at ease. She asked, "Jingui, what happened just now? Why did you faint?"

Cao Jingui looked at Jiang Zhongping and said, "They are not good people. They want to smear Secretary Su's reputation. They must be treacherous officials wanting to harm Secretary Su, who is a righteous official!"

By this time, the crowd of onlookers had grown larger and larger, packing the Cao residence so tightly that not even a drop of water could pass through. Jiang Zhongping and Yao Ye couldn't leave even if they wanted to. Upon hearing that these two men wanted to smear Secretary Su, the crowd was filled with righteous indignation.

"Beat these two treacherous officials to death!"

"Secretary Su is a righteous official who specifically stands up for us common folk. It must be because he arrested the son of a high-ranking city official last time and offended the big shots above, so these big shots sent treacherous officials to harm him!"

"That's right! Isn't that how it's sung in the operas? Treacherous officials always want to harm honest officials. We must not let these treacherous officials harm our honest official!"

"Secretary Su has done so many good deeds for us in Mayang Village. Now that these treacherous officials want to harm him, we cannot agree to it!"

"Beat them!"...

The enraged commoners surged forward, wanting to beat Jiang Zhongping and Yao Ye. The two men were scared pale. Under such intense emotions, all their status and titles were of no use. They had no doubt that if so many people really laid hands on them, they would be torn to pieces right there.

Yuan Yongshou shouted with all his might, "You cannot lay hands on them! If you do, you will be harming Secretary Su!"

Yuan Yongshou's words made everyone hesitate. Cao Jingui struggled to stand up from the ground and said, "Everyone, do not lay hands on them. Secretary Yuan is right. If you lay hands on them, you will be harming Secretary Su!"

Everyone stopped in their tracks, but they still glared with wide, angry eyes at Jiang and Yao.

Cao Jingui said to Jiang Zhongping, "Director Jiang—I will still call you Director Jiang—one must act according to their conscience. What good does it do you to harm Secretary Su, this honest official? You want to use us to smear Secretary Su's reputation; that won't work. I can tell you, our whole family is clean and upright with Secretary Su. No matter who comes to ask me, I only have this one thing to say!"

Everyone began to chime in: "That's right! Secretary Su has done so many good things for us, yet when he came to our home, he wouldn't even eat a single bite of food."

"If it weren't for Secretary Su, we would probably still be suffering in poverty for many more years."

"We have never seen a good cadre like Secretary Su. You treacherous officials, we never see you when it's time to do things for the common people, but when it's time to persecute people, you show up!"

Cao Jingui added, "You are cadres from the city, so today we will not beat you, but we do not welcome you here either. You should leave!"

Cao Jingui told Jiang Zhongping and Yao Ye to leave, but they didn't dare move, because the angry villagers were still blocking the road.

Cao Jingui said, "Fellow villagers, make a path for them."

The villagers cleared a path for them. The two men, as if granted amnesty, fled in a panic amidst the jeers of the villagers. ===== CHAPTER 1715 =====