When Fang Yingwu returned to Shanghuaxi Village, it was already dusk. Facing the setting sun, he dragged his long shadow and turned around the hillside, only to see a crowd of people in front of him.
More than a hundred people from the whole clan, men, women, old and young, gathered at the entrance of the village, no less than no less, but everyone looked excited and talked enthusiastically to each other. It was like a festival. This situation only occurs during the most lively festivals.
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Someone with a keen eye saw Fang Yingwu appear on the mountain road and shouted: "Brother Qiu is back!" The crowd froze, held their breath, and looked at Fang Yingwu together.
They are all from the same village, and Fang Yingwu is basically familiar with them, and generally knows their respective personalities, some are gentle, some are impatient, some are generous, some are stingy, some are hardworking, and some are lazy...
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But at this moment, Fang Yingwu discovered that everyone's expressions when facing him seemed to be carved from the same mold, exactly the same, with no difference.
It seems that there is an invisible force that naturally divides Shanghuaxi Village into two types of people, one is Fang Yingwu, and the others are just the second type.
It seems that the person who brought the good news has already been here. I am afraid that this will become the norm in the future, Fang Yingwu thought. This is the result of striving for the top, so you should try your best to adapt!
The clan leader, the second uncle, came over excitedly, as if reporting work, and the other party responded: "Several messengers came during the day to report that Fang Xianggong's high school was solved, and you were also at the top of the list. The whole clan collected the wedding money.
, have already sent them away."
Fang Yingwu nodded, "Thank you for your trouble, second uncle."
Brother Qiu is still so approachable, and the second uncle seemed to be secretly relieved. He reported again: "The doors and windows of your old house have been smashed, and it is uninhabitable now. So I have tidied up two clean and good houses in the ancestral hall. You
Let’s live there first and slowly renovate the old house later.”
Smashing doors and windows? Fang Yingwu was stunned for a moment, and then he understood that this is also a custom. If a family is successful, others will inevitably smash the windows, cut down the thresholds, and then renovate and repair them. This is called changing the door, which symbolizes that the door will be different from now on.
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The crowd automatically separated, allowing Fang Yingwu to pass. Accompanied by the clan leader's second uncle and the village chief Fang Fengshi, Fang Yingwu walked around in front of his house. As expected, the courtyard was in a mess, with doors and windows broken, and fences and walls torn down.
If it's overturned, it's really uninhabitable.
On the yellow soil wall of the house, there are two big words of good news - "Good news, the master of your house, Fang Baoqingzhi, won the first place in Zhejiang Dingyouke Township Examination, Jie Yuan. The Beijing News has been listed in the Huangjia!" and "Good news, the students of your house have won the first place in the provincial examination."
Fang Yingwu won the first place in the county examination!"
Fang Yingwu looked at the villagers who were still watching him from a distance, and felt helpless. He said to his second uncle, "Just tell the villagers to disperse, otherwise I will be really embarrassed."
The second uncle smiled and said: "This is a big happy event for the whole family. They all want to see if your family needs help, so they can lend a hand."
Fang Yingwu said solemnly: "Actually, what I want to do most right now is to pee."
This... the second uncle waved to the crowd, "It's time to disperse. I'll call you if I need anything!"
Then Fang Yingwu, his second uncle, and Fang Fengshi walked to the ancestral hall together. This time, Fang Fengshi reported the work: "The bed is new, the bedding is also new, and a set of tables and chairs have been purchased. They are all useless to me.
My son is preparing to get married, so I will move it here for you to use."
Fang Yingwu was speechless, and after a while he said: "How can I be so virtuous, young man..."
"This little property is worth nothing! I will send you the land deed later and change it to your name." Fang Fengshi said generously.
The second uncle coughed, and the other party said dissatisfiedly: "Don't talk about this matter alone now, we will handle it together with the whole village later."
These were all expected. Fang Yingwu, who had read the historical materials, smiled bitterly. How could he not know the meaning?
People can be exempted from taxes. If someone from a family wins the election, it is normal for the whole family to donate land and take the initiative to become tenants. It is not unusual to have hundreds or thousands of acres of real estate under their name overnight. This is the most realistic
When one person attains enlightenment, chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.
Suddenly feeling something moving behind him, Fang Yingwu turned his head to look, only to find a woman silently following his group.
"Sister Lan? Are you here too?" Fang Yingwu was surprised. There was a large crowd just now, and he really didn't notice that Sister Lan was among them.
Wang Lan held the handkerchief, lowered her head shyly and said: "Father said that the slave family will come to greet you..."
The second uncle and Fang Fengshi suddenly had expressions of understanding on their faces and took the initiative to move forward.
Fang Yingwu looked at the sky and saw that it was almost dark. For a woman to meet another man at such an ambiguous moment, everyone knew Sima Zhao's intentions!
Isn't it time to "moon above the willow trees, make appointments after dusk"? Then Master Wang is finally willing to put down the book, and is he willing to let Sister Lan come to him at this time? I'm afraid she doesn't need to go back at all.
Looking at the delicate and shy woman, Fang Yingwu's heart moved, but was suppressed by reason.
Forget it today, firstly, he is too tired, and secondly, he does not want to become a public porn star in this fresh period when he is constantly being watched by the villagers.
So he stepped forward and said: "I am still me, there is nothing to welcome. There are many things at home tonight, and I really can't take care of you. You can come over tomorrow."
Wang Lan nodded lightly, "Then you go to bed early and don't get too tired. I'm going back to my house first. I'll go see you tomorrow morning."
After seeing Sister Lan off, Fang Yingwu went to the vacant room next to the ancestral hall. His second uncle and Fang Fengshi were waiting outside the door. After entering the room, it was indeed cleaned and there were all new furniture.
Fang Yingwu could only cup his hands and say: "I'll accept it, I'll accept it."
Seeing that Fang Yingwu accepted the kindness, Fang Fengshi was completely relieved and said with a smile: "I'll go get some food and drinks. Second uncle and Brother Qiu will wait for a while."
When Fang Feng went out at the right time, his second uncle invited Fang Yingwu to sit down and said, "There are two hundred and forty acres of land in the village. I will make a decision. If anyone is willing, how about entrusting all the land to your family?"
Fang Yingwu shook his head and said: "This is the clan's property. If word spreads about it, wouldn't it mean that my family is taking away the clan's property?"
"Brother Qiu, why are you so pedantic? He's just borrowing your family's name. Are your relatives unwilling to help each other?"
Of course Fang Yingwu knew that this was called "deceitful sending", which was a means of tax evasion. Although it was not recognized by the government, it was also one of the unspoken rules among the people. Of course, the land registration was unclear, and there were many disputes and lawsuits arising from it.
But Fang Yingwu was a little resistant. How could he, who was familiar with the history of the Ming Dynasty, not know that it was precisely because of this rule that the country's finances and taxation became more and more difficult in the late Ming Dynasty, which eventually had a chain reaction and led to a great collapse. As a researcher at that time, he was very interested in this kind of rules.
Tax evasion methods have always been despised.
So he still refused and said: "Second uncle, listen to me. The head of the family is my father, and I have to ask him to make the decision on major matters. How can I, my dear fellow, dare to seize the family's property without permission?"
"The autumn tax is about to be levied, but your father doesn't know when he will return to his hometown. In extraordinary times, there should be extraordinary measures, so just agree to it!"
Fang Yingwu sighed, "Isn't it a benevolent thing to seize another family's inheritance?"
The second uncle suddenly stood up, knelt on the ground with a thud, and said urgently: "My Huaxi Fang family has been the only one in hundreds of years to succeed this time. If you don't take over the land, I will die!"
Fang Yingwu, who was sitting firmly, suddenly jumped three feet high in fright. He quickly knelt down in front of his second uncle, reached out to help him, and said repeatedly: "Take it, take it, second uncle, don't kill me."
Boy!"
He knew very well that as a result, their family would have to add at least one hundred acres of land to their name. This was because their village was still too poor.
No wonder we often hear that poor scholars are criticized for being poor, but who has ever heard of poor people being criticized for promoting others? There are no poor people for promoting people, but there is a saying that gold promotes people, and silver promotes scholars. There are living examples in front of you, and some people cry and shout to give away their fields.
Come to the door, this is the true meaning of the golden house in the book.
But Fang Yingwu still tried his best to keep a little bit of integrity in his heart. He didn't want to sink completely, and he didn't want to become the kind of national worm that he had despised in the research materials. "Second uncle, I also said it before. My family only accepts property belonging to the same clan, and people with other surnames."
Not one of them will be taken! Moreover, my family only takes land, and does not take any relatives with the same surname as slaves!"
After a night of no words, Fang Yingwu was up and down today. He was tired and went to bed early after dinner. He woke up the next day when it was dark. He didn't wake up naturally, but was awakened by the sound outside the window.
Fang Yingwu impatiently put on his clothes and went out to see who was disturbing people's dreams. There was a person standing outside the door, peeping his head. When he took a closer look, it was Mr. Wang, the teacher of Wang School.
Mr. Wang smiled away and the other party cupped his hands and said: "I have already seen that you and your son are not the things in the pool!"
Then he put a piece of silver into Fang Yingwu's hand, "It's not a sign of respect, so I'll take this small gift as a congratulation!"
Fang Yingwu looked down at the silver in his hand and was speechless. Isn't this ingot of silver the same five taels of small ingot he threw to the Wang family for Sister Lan in anger? Mr. Wang is good at settling accounts, so he used it as a gift today.
Sent back.
Master Wang reminded: "A good husband must not forget the agreement we made a few months ago." The agreement in his mouth was of course the agreement that Fang Yingwu would pay Nalan ten taels of silver as his concubine.
Fang Yingwu felt funny when he saw Master Wang worrying about gains and losses, and teased: "I'm still short of money. Didn't you say we'll wait until we make up the money? We can't get the gift now."
"What are you talking about? Money means nothing! Don't you want to admit your debt? You can't be too Chen Shimei!" Master Wang said while waving back.
But I saw Sister Lan holding a package and squirming out from behind the tree, her face already as red as the rays of light on the horizon.
Fang Yingwu could guess that the package was probably filled with her clothes and daily soft goods... Looking at this posture, Master Wang was determined to let her stay in his room today.
Master Wang gently shouted to his daughter: "Don't stand around and be lazy, and don't go into the house to tidy up. Be more diligent at your husband's house!"
Fang Yingwu was afraid that Sister Lan would be embarrassed, so he waved his hand and said, "Go quickly! The house is very chaotic." Wang Lan, as if she had been granted amnesty, hid in the house with small steps.
Looking at the beautiful Pingting's back, squeezing the money in his hand, and thinking of the property that was about to be added to his name and the house that was going to be renovated, Fang Yingwu sighed.
With money, a woman, a house, a house, and just one sedan chair left, he became one of the legendary "Fifth Son to Pass the Imperial Examination". However, he was not the one who won the exam. It was all due to his father's influence. It didn't matter if he missed one exam.
Thinking of this, Fang Yingwu felt a strong sense of emptiness in his heart. Could this be considered his own?