"Wait, isn't there one more place we haven't searched?" someone in the merchant caravan shouted.
Everyone present knew exactly where he was referring to.
"As if the official's wife would be interested in your paltry things!" a villager immediately jumped out to defend her. "She hasn't thrown her weight around using her status, which is already a show of goodwill to us common folk."
"Exactly! She has so many carriages, almost half as many as all of you combined. How dare you try to drag her into this?"
The County Magistrate's face darkened instantly. "What? You want to search an official family?"
'The hierarchy of scholar, farmer, artisan, and merchant isn't just for show,' he thought. 'These are mere merchants, yet they dare to have such ideas.'
"Your Excellency, you are mistaken. If we are to be treated equally, then everyone should be treated the same," a merchant said, stepping forward under the glare of the crowd.
