The fight between hundreds of villagers from three ethnic groups outside Zhonghuaxi Village is already a sensational event in the Huaxi area. There is no need to wait until Sister Lan's father-in-law, Cheng Kaishan, Father Cheng, moves the village chief of the same tribe to serve as reinforcements.
The matter has already passed.
The three villages of Huaxi are in the same li, and the leader of the li is Cheng Kaitai from Xiahuaxi. This man is in his fifties, tall and strong, with a beard and a very ferocious appearance. In fact, he was also very good at fighting when he was young. Now
He is so famous in Huaxi that everyone should respectfully address him as Mr. Cheng.
The position of village chief, who replaces the government in carrying out rural self-governance, is theoretically held by ten first-class households in turn. However, this rotation system is becoming more and more in name only, and in recent years there have even been signs of hereditary succession in which the father dies and the son is replaced.
Cheng Kaitai also had this idea and wanted to pass on the position of district chief to his son. But he had two worries. First, his son's character was too soft and not like him at all. In his opinion, how could he control him if he was not domineering enough?
Live on the ground?
The second worry is that he will not be able to get through with the government, and this requires money. He has served as a district chief for many years and often interacts with county government servants. He can find ways to do this. But there is not a small amount of money to do this. There is not much money.
I can't spend ten taels of silver.
In Huaxi, where poverty is common, only big households like Wang can afford such a huge sum of money in one go, and even big households like Wang would suffer from heartache for a long time.
Therefore, in order to collect money, Mr. Cheng wanted to use his power to allocate corvee to create a vicious plan. He wanted to introduce new rules and hand over all the corvee in Huaxi this year to Shanghuaxi Village in the name of annual rotation.
If there is a family that cannot survive the heavy corvee, they can only pay corvee silver instead. If they don’t even have any silver, they can only go bankrupt and sell their land. Mr. Cheng’s idea is to make a fortune from it. As for Shanghuaxi Village
The life and death of the villagers cannot compare with their own business.
But on the afternoon of May 3rd, Chief Cheng Kaitai was preparing for the Dragon Boat Festival at home while scolding his weak and ineffective son. At this moment, he suddenly heard the news of a melee between the three clans. Mr. Cheng immediately dropped what he was doing and thought about it.
this matter.
He was very angry. When the villagers had a dispute, they didn't come to him to mediate. Instead, they started a fight without permission. It was like they didn't take him seriously.
Isn't it true that he has not established his power recently and will be forgotten? If the tiger does not show his power, then he will be treated as a sick cat. This is unacceptable!
However, he also knows that the people in mountain villages are not very knowledgeable, and the matter of three melons and two dates can lead to life and death. If there is such a thing as clan fighting, it is enough to find the source and deal with it with dignity.
In addition, Mr. Cheng also noticed a sign that deserves attention. What are the dozens of people at Fang's house in Shanghuaxi doing to join in the fun and fight?
After thinking about it, Mr. Cheng decided that this was because the Fang family was not satisfied with being assigned to do corvee work and took the opportunity to retaliate. This kind of sign must be suppressed severely! Otherwise, how can it work in the future!
Having made up his mind, Mr. Cheng was about to send his son to inform all parties when he saw his cousin Cheng Kaishan and grand nephew Cheng Huainan coming together.
Cheng Kaishan knew that his cousin was a domineering man, so he dragged people to fight in a neighboring village this time, just to make him unhappy. But he had no choice but to pay a "cost" for his help.
It's better to go without trouble or not.
But this time things turned out like this, Cheng Kaishan still had to look down and find his cousin. "Brother, you don't know, your eldest nephew died of a serious illness the year before last, leaving daughter-in-law Lan at my house.
My family is not very rich, and it is difficult to feed an extra mouth. If you are poor, you will not pay attention to keeping the rules. This is not true. Huainan has fallen in love with my daughter-in-law Lan. He has already given me a betrothal gift and wants to marry her back.
Who would have known that at this juncture, my in-laws hid Mrs. Lan and said they would keep her for the rest of their lives. This makes it impossible for us to achieve good things here. Isn’t that hateful! Shouldn’t a married woman return to her husband’s family? Please?
Brother, seek justice for me!"
Cheng Kaitai snorted coldly and glanced at Cheng Huainan next to him, "Do you really want to marry a widow?"
Cheng Huainan is in his twenties, with a deer-headed and rat-like appearance, which is very unpleasant. He is a very young person in the Cheng family. Although he is similar in age to Cheng Kaitai and Cheng Kaishan's sons, and he is also a good match in age to Sister Lan, but in detail, he is
Cheng Kaitai is the grandson of Cheng Kaishan, so he has a more humble attitude in front of Mr. Cheng.
"That's what I really mean, and I won't say anything about it! I'd like to ask my uncle to fulfill your wish. I'd like to express my gratitude to my great-nephew."
Cheng Kaitai still didn't understand, "She looks neat, but she's not her first marriage. Why is she worthy of your pursuit? Tell the truth."
Cheng Huainan had no choice but to tell the details: "My uncle is not aware of something. My grandnephew and I know by chance that Sister Na Lan is literate and very smart. If we marry and have children, she will be the material for studying in the future, and she may be able to achieve something."
Guangzong Yaozu, even the enlightenment teacher does not need to be hired..."
Cheng Kaitai couldn't help but laugh loudly, "You bastard, you just want to improve your bloodline. You would rather marry a widow than raise a scholar.
But what's the use of studying in the village? It's just wishful thinking! What if a scholar comes out of the Fang family? Apart from being nice, it's not a miserable life."
Cheng Huainan nodded and bowed with a smile, "My uncle's teachings are right, but that's what I say, my grandnephew will never be reconciled unless he gives it a try. I also ask my uncle to be kind to Lan in the name of being of the same lineage."
If my sister is taken out of her mother's house and it happens in the future, it will be a credit to our Cheng family."
"Okay! I got it!" Cheng Kaitai had an idea and called his son Cheng Yuanmao over, saying: "Go to Zhonghuaxi and tell Wang Dongheng that he will come to my place tomorrow! Go to Shanghuaxi again and let's go
Several people from the Fang family came to see me!"
Cheng Yuanmao got the instruction and left home to deliver a message. He came back more than half an hour later and reported: "Mr. Wang from Social Studies said that he did not dare to come to Xiahuaxi Village."
Cheng Kaitai slapped the case and yelled: "Why did you spread the word? Didn't you scare him?"
"Dad, Mr. Wang is also a respectable man. He taught his son me before. If he doesn't want to come, just forget it." Cheng Yuanmao persuaded.
Cheng Kaitai cursed: "You worthless thing, don't talk nonsense to my father! Go and send a message again. We will meet in front of the Xishen Temple between the two villages tomorrow. If you still refuse to come, don't blame me for being rude!"
Also, tomorrow you will go with your father to learn how to resolve affairs so that you can take over in the future!"
Cheng Yuanmao walked to the door of the room and suddenly heard his father add: "You also need to tell Wang Dahu not to interfere in this matter, otherwise he will not bother me when he collects grain this year!"
The next day, Cheng Kaitai took his son, Cheng Kaishan, Cheng Huainan and others to Xishen Temple.
It is said that in the countryside, there are village chiefs and elderly people who have their own responsibilities, and it is the responsibility of the elderly to mediate disputes. However, Cheng Kaitai acts domineeringly and is also the head of the Cheng family. He dares to intervene in whatever matters are within his control. He claims to have one-third of an acre in Huaxi.
His lynching was the law.
At the same time, the old man was getting old and lacked energy, so he gradually stopped doing things and only used his name. Mr. Cheng was responsible for everything.
But he said that when Cheng Kaitai left the village entrance, he saw a circle of people gathered in front of the temple from a distance. They must have heard the news and came to watch the excitement. There were people from the three villages. Because of the friendship of fighting together yesterday, the Wang family and Fang family
The family members were slightly close to each other, while the Cheng family members stood a little further apart.
There was also a small circle in the big circle. As he got closer, Cheng Kaitai recognized the social studies teacher Wang Shu. There were two people from the Fang family present, one of whom he recognized was Fang Fengshi; the other was a young man of fifteen or sixteen years old, although he was not very familiar.
I know him, but judging from his temperament, I can guess that he is the son of the missing scholar.
For some reason, Cheng Kaitai disliked the son of a scholar, because he had always disliked scholars, and hated the fact that he always had an inferiority complex in front of scholars. He thought he was no worse than a scholar!
Not showing his thoughts, Cheng Kaitai looked around at the crowd and said: "Things in Huaxi have been uneasy recently. I am a mile long and I only care about uneasy matters. Tomorrow will be the Dragon Boat Festival, so there is no need to delay, and we will take care of things today.
The matter is settled quickly!"
Then he spoke to the other party first, with an extremely arrogant and rude attitude, "Isn't the head of the Fang family that old man Fang Zhili? Why didn't he come?"
Fang Fengshi held back his anger and replied: "Second uncle is old and in poor health, so I will take my place today."
Cheng Kaitai walked up to Fang Fengshi in two steps, suddenly kicked Fang Fengshi to the ground, and shouted sternly: "Your Fang family was very restless yesterday, did you want to rebel?
Whether you are convinced or not, if you, the Fang family, miss the corvee service this year and prevent me from paying my dues to the government, I will not let you go! By then, one by one, you will all be detained in the Yamen and put on a board to show to the public! Punishment
When you have to go bankrupt, don't blame me for not saying the ugly things first!"
The Fang family members who were watching started to get angry, and the Wang family members also started to cheer, but the Cheng family members started to applaud. They had just had a fight yesterday, and their anger was still there, and they were still full of emotions now.
Cheng Kaitai turned a deaf ear to the surrounding noise and yelled at the crowd: "Whoever dares to commit suicide should stand up and let me see!"
Another representative from the Fang family was Fang Yingwu. When he saw Fang fall to the ground, he quickly stepped forward to help him up.
At that moment, Fang Feng's veins popped out, and he clenched his fists and was about to attack, but was held tightly by Fang Yingwu. Before coming, Fang Yingwu had confessed to him, and after thinking about it, Fang Fengshi endured it forcefully.
But the breath still echoes in my heart and I can't get it out.
After Cheng Kaitai's attack was over, he saw that Fang's family swallowed their anger and smiled with satisfaction. This kind of common people are used to eating rather than fighting, so they have to deal with it like this. Even if they want to take action, there are many Cheng family members behind them, and they are afraid that they will not succeed.
? Even when you get to the Yamen, you will know many of your subordinates, and their affection will be biased towards you.
After dealing with the Fang family, Cheng Kaitai walked up to Master Wang, only to see Master Wang shrinking back timidly. He probably felt a shadow in his heart when he saw Mr. Cheng kicking Fang Feng down just now.