The Qiantang Chen Clan prided itself on benevolence, generosity, and charitable deeds, but the questioning in the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall that day still uncovered many instances of bullying the weak. Equality between great landowners of the gentry clans and impoverished tenant farmers was impossible; it was enough not to take things too far.
Toward evening, Chen Xian reported the "family scandals" he had gathered to Xie Daoyun one by one. After listening, Xie Daoyun said, "The rest need not concern us. Only matters involving land sales require care. Wherever land was forcibly bought through an abuse of power, every effort must be made to placate the original owners. If they ask for its return, return it."
Chen Xian nodded in agreement and immediately ordered the brothers Chen Chang and Chen Su to take the manor's stewards and accountants to visit, overnight, the tenant farmers who had sold land to the Chen Clan.
The brothers had barely left the fortified manor when County Magistrate Feng Mengxiong sent a messenger galloping over with news. The whereabouts of those men from Shanyin had been established: they had connections with a minor county clerk surnamed Ni. According to his neighbors, the clerk had a younger paternal cousin who served as an accountant at the He Clan manor in Shanyin and had come for a brief stay late the previous month. Feng Mengxiong asked Clerk Zhu how the matter should be handled. The county authorities had not yet alerted the clerk surnamed Ni-
Xie Daoyun said, "Since the clerk surnamed Ni has not falsely accused the Chen Clan, we naturally cannot punish him now. What matters most is finding out as quickly as possible what grounds the He Clan intends to use to bring charges against the Chen Clan and thereby frame Zizhong." After