Cheng Kaitai, the head of the village, was very proud of his power and asked Master Wang in a cold voice: "Your daughter married into my Cheng family a long time ago and is a member of my Cheng family. Now you hide your daughter and cause a fierce fight among the villagers. Why?"
reason?"
Master Wang wanted to defend himself a few words, but Cheng Kaitai waved his hand again to stop Master Wang from speaking. "I won't waste any time trying to reason with you today, so you don't have to defend yourself. There are only two ready-made truths for you to choose from."
Master Wang had to ask cautiously: "I would like to hear the details."
"The first reason is that you can keep your daughter. But in the past, when brother Kaishan married Sister Lan, he paid you a betrothal gift. But now that brother Huainan has fallen in love with Sister Lan, he has also paid brother Kaishan a gift.
bride price.
So, you first return Kaishan’s betrothal gift, and then pay Huainan’s betrothal gift, and then you can naturally keep your daughter at home! Of course we have nothing to say.”
Master Wang Shu was shocked and said: "How can there be double compensation!"
Cheng Kaitai rolled his eyelids, "I'm not here to argue with you, I'm just trying to reason with you, just listen! The second reason is, if you send Sister Lan back to Brother Kaishan's house, we'll forget about it and we'll be friends from now on.
The grievances have been wiped out, and you will no longer be allowed to interfere in the affairs of the Cheng family indiscriminately in the future!"
When the Cheng family, who had been defeated yesterday, heard this, they felt very relieved and had regained their face, and they applauded one after another. However, the Wang family was extremely dissatisfied and started yelling and scolding, and the Fang family also took advantage of the situation to help.
Master Wang kept his daughter in order to keep her honest, to satisfy his wish of an old boy with no aspirations to shine in the family, and to obtain practical benefits for his sons such as being exempted from the family's labor service. But that was all twenty years later, and being a widower meant
It will take at least twenty years to keep the standard.
Now that he was asked to pay the betrothal gift, it was because of his immediate interests. Master Wang was very reluctant, let alone being forced to pay double the betrothal gift.
Just when he was struggling, Cheng Kaitai cursed again: "You old Dongheng, don't just rely on a few days of studying and teaching a few students to be arrogant. I can also find people to talk to in the county government.
Everything in Huaxi must be handled by me!
If you annoy me, I will report it to the county government! If nothing else, I will apply for the social studies to be run by the Cheng family in Xiahuaxi Village. At that time, I will hire another gentleman to teach, taking over your job.
.Just guard the two acres of shabby land and drink from the northwest wind!"
These words were very destructive. Master Wang Shu, who mainly relied on Shu Xiu to make a living, his face trembled, his heart trembled, and he said in a trembling voice: "In that case... let Sister Lan go back to her husband's house."
Fang Yingwu supported his uncle and watched coldly for a long time without saying a word. Then he suddenly asked: "When Sister Lan returns to her husband's house, who will decide on the marriage? Our family or her husband's family?"
Cheng Kaitai turned his head and sneered: "You're such a talkative kid, get out of here. No matter what, it's not under your Fang family's control! Wang Dongheng, tell me, who should make the decision?"
Master Wang lowered his head with a bitter look on his face and said, "I'll let my husband make the decision. I don't have anything to say."
Cheng Kaishan and Cheng Huainan each fulfilled their wishes. One was able to sell his widowed daughter-in-law and get a heavy betrothal gift, and the other was able to marry the person of his choice back home. They were both happy in their hearts.
Cheng Kaishan stepped forward and saluted Cheng Kaitai: "Thank you, brother, for making the decision!"
Cheng Huainan was also grinning non-stop, with a shapeless and ugly face that was all red. Everyone saw it, and then thinking about Sister Lan's beautiful appearance, they couldn't help but sigh in their hearts, "Flowers are going to be stuck in cow dung."
”.
At this time, I heard Fang Yingwu's insistent argument: "You didn't sign the document, so it doesn't take effect!"
Cheng Huainan was also worried that things would change again, so he said to Cheng Kaitai: "It is better to choose a day than to hit it. Taking advantage of today's decision, I would like to ask my old uncle to be the middleman and write a copy of the document in public, and all the people of the same clan can be witnesses here. The middleman
The gift will be given separately."
"What's so difficult about this?" Cheng Kaitai wanted to establish his power in public and told his son: "Go and write the document. After you've finished writing, sign the deposit for your father, and then give it to both parties to sign the deposit. By the way, Wang Dongheng also signed it, so as not to regret it in the future.
!”
Not long after, everyone in the Cheng family had signed. When it was Master Wang's turn, he saw that his hands were shaking and he had not yet written.
Fang Yingwu walked slowly to Master Wang, took the document into his hand, looked at it carefully, and smiled at Master Wang: "Mr. Wang, it's better not to sign, otherwise you will have a share if you commit any crime.
"
Cheng Kaitai didn't understand what Fang Yingwu meant, but he didn't want to understand. It was enough to know that this was the troublemaker. Immediately, the other party Yingwu yelled and cursed: "Go home, little kid, don't cause trouble here!"
Fang Yingwu didn't take the insult seriously, holding a document and saying: "I dare to ask Mr. Cheng, Cheng Kaishan is your clan brother, and Cheng Huainan is your grandnephew. So Cheng Huainan is two generations younger than Cheng Kaishan, and Wang Lan is still Cheng Kaishan's daughter-in-law.
, then Cheng Huainan is actually regarded as a junior Wang Lan?"
Cheng Kaitai instinctively felt that something was wrong, but he snorted and replied: "So what? Although they are of the same race, they are distant relatives and not related by blood. What's more, Cheng Huainan and Sister Lan are of the same age and they don't have the same surname.
, where is the use of taboos!”
Fang Yingwu said seriously: "As a government servant, Mr. Cheng, could he not be aware that Ming Dynasty regulations prohibit widows from marrying close relatives and members of the same clan as their ex-husbands!"
Cheng Kaitai was stunned, "Is there such a thing?"
Fang Yingwu sighed, "You are ignorant and blind, your eyes and ears are so blind! The laws of our Ming Dynasty are clearly written. Anyone who marries a relative who is not a member of the same clan and a wife who has no relatives will be given a hundred sticks each; if he marries a married woman,
Wife, uncles and nephews, each with a staff of sixty and one year of service..."
Before anyone could react, Fang Yingwu increased his voice and continued: "If you take in your father, grandfather, concubines, uncles and aunts, behead them!"
When Fang Yingwu said the word "cut", the whole audience was horrified and fell into silence.
For these mountain village residents, including Cheng Zongjia, who prides himself on being superior to others, the crime of decapitation seems to be a very distant thing, and has nothing to do with them. Unexpectedly, today he heard something from Fang Yingwu
"cut".
Brother Fang Yingwu should not be able to make up laws and regulations randomly. He is half a scholar. He must know more about this than ignorant farmers like them. As the old saying goes, a scholar can know the world's affairs without going out.
Their three villages are enclosed in a valley, and they marry each other very casually without paying attention to so many seniority issues. Is it because Cheng Huainan should be called Lan Jieer's aunt before, and now he should be beheaded for a heinous crime?
But they are not biological aunts, nor are they related by blood! But who can say for sure? Who knows whether the law recognizes this?
In the silence, Fang Yingwu could only be heard sighing: "It's really sad to be legally blind. The Cheng family has committed a serious crime against ethics and they don't even know it."
Cheng Kaitai was the first to wake up. No wonder Fang Yingwu had just deliberately provoked them to sign documents just to get ironclad evidence! It was ridiculous that he thought this was a show of authority in public!
Thinking of this, Mr. Cheng, who had lost all face, gritted his teeth and said with a livid face: "There are many illegal things among the people, and it is not possible that the government will take care of them all. You must know that the people will not sue the officials, and even so, what can you do?
You little guy, do you know which way the county government office door opens?"
"I don't need to bother Mr. Cheng. Of course I know what the county government gate looks like. I met with the county magistrate in private a few days ago and talked about the classics. He appreciated it and gave me five taels of silver as a student aid. In addition, I also met with some
My father's classmate has gained me a lot." Fang Yingwu said as he took out a small ingot from his arms and shook it.
Cheng Kaitai had sent tax money to the county treasury, and when he recognized the small ingot, it looked like a small official minted silver ingot, and there was a larger one worth fifty taels.
At this time, Cheng Huainan, the most important person involved, had a blank mind, but he accidentally caught a glimpse of the marriage documents in Fang Yingwu's hand, and was suddenly startled.
Just now, he was complacent about signing this document, and was overjoyed to get a well-educated and beautiful girl. Now it seems that this damn thing is simply a talisman! A deadly thing! He still took the initiative to make a knife and handed it to him.
Someone else!
Cheng Huainan roared and rushed forward, trying to forcefully snatch the document from Fang Yingwu's hand. But Fang Yingwu was on guard and quickly dodged and hid in the crowd of Fang's family.
The Fang family, headed by Fang Fengshi, formed a circle and protected Fang Yingwu firmly in the middle. Fang Fengshi took the opportunity to raise his arms and shouted: "Everyone in the Wang family has seen it today. This Cheng family is really bullying people. Mr. Wang is also a teacher after all."
A decent person has been bullied to the point of selling his daughter!
We, the Fang family, are filled with indignation and intolerable, but you, the Wang family, are indifferent? It is better to rely on yourself than to rely on others!"
The Wang family and the Fang family suddenly started making a loud noise together, ten times louder than before, completely suppressing the Cheng family. As the saying goes, the Cheng family has committed a capital crime, and Mr. Cheng has become an accomplice.
What a shame.
This time Cheng Kaitai didn't dare to turn a deaf ear. He suddenly thought of a sentence - scholars don't use swords to kill people. He used to sneer at this sentence, but today he really realized it!
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I wrote a lot in one go, so I’ll post two chapters in a row and catch up on yesterday’s chapter. Please vote for me!