Chapter 26 The Scholars in the Village

"Everyone, please be quiet!"

The village headman raised his hand and pressed it down, and the indignant villagers finally shut up.

“Dahe Village and Guihua Village are neighbors. More than 20 years ago, a dispute arose over land boundaries. The two villages have lived together peacefully for over 20 years. If Dahe Village makes the first move and it goes all the way to the county magistrate, all of us in the village will suffer,” the village head said slowly. “But Dahe Village will never allow anyone to take away our grain!”

"What if we can't call them?"

"We can't just let Guihua Village steal our grain and then fight back, can we?"

"The people of Guihua Village are all bad news!"

Some in the crowd were angry, while others looked disgusted.

The two villages are close to each other, and many people have married into Guihua Village or have daughters who have married into Guihua Village. Naturally, they do not want the two villages to have conflicts.

"Are you really going to break ties with Guihua Village just because of Sister-in-law Zhao's words?"

"There are some hooligans in Guihua Village, but not everyone there is unreasonable. If we rashly attack them, it will be our fault in Dahe Village."

"What if Sister-in-law Zhao misheard?"

Cheng Wanwan suggested, "Why not set up a patrol team, with each household sending one person to take turns on duty? If any unusual activity is discovered in Guihua Village, it won't be too late to retaliate."

The village head thought the idea was good, but before he could even nod in approval, someone objected.

It was Zhang Wulai, the village's number one lazy bum. He stood on the edge of the field with his hands behind his back and sneered, "There's a ton of work to be done in the fields. Who has the time to take turns on duty? You, woman, have given everyone this ridiculous job with just a few words. If the village head, such an upright man, agrees to this idea, I'll have to wonder if this widow, Sister-in-law Zhao, has hooked up with him!"

In short, they smeared both of them.

The village head was over fifty years old. Hearing this, he was so angry that his beard stood on end, and he wished he could kick Zhang the scoundrel into the rice paddy.

Cheng Wanwan sneered: "If the village head agrees to my idea, then he's hooked up with me. If everyone else in the village agrees, doesn't that mean everyone is having an affair with me?!"

Zhang Wulai said arrogantly, "Besides the village head, there's no way anyone else would agree!"

“This is a great idea, why don’t we agree?” Old Man Zhao came out. “Our eldest daughter-in-law proposed this method for the sake of the whole village. Zhang Wulai, in order to shirk his responsibilities, made malicious speculations. Our Zhao family will remember this debt.”

Cheng Wanwan was slightly taken aback.

Unexpectedly, at a time like this, the Zhao family would unconditionally believe her.

Old Man Zhao gave her a firm look, then continued, "Decades ago, everyone in Dahe Village was surnamed Zhao. Going back several generations, we were all one family. Everyone was united, and there were very few conflicts. But in the last ten years or so, more and more people with different surnames have come in, and disputes among the villagers have gradually increased. This time, the establishment of the patrol team can be considered a matter for the Zhao family. People with different surnames don't need to participate. Of course, the patrol team established by the Zhao family will only protect the Zhao family's grain."

The village head nodded: "Later, the Zhao family will hold a meeting at the Zhao family ancestral hall."

“Village head, this won’t do!” An old woman who looked to be in her seventies or eighties stepped forward. “If Zhang Wulai doesn’t agree, that’s his business. None of us said we wouldn’t agree! Although my family’s surname is Zhu, we’ve lived in the village for fifty or sixty years and have long been a part of Dahe Village. How can we back down at a time like this? My grandson may be young, but he’s clever. Let him join the patrol team!”

The old woman pushed out a little boy named Zhu Huzi, who was indeed clever.

The Zhu family is truly tragic. Years ago, they fled to Dahe Village to seek refuge, but soon after, their pillar of support, Old Zhu, died suddenly. His three sons and two daughters also all fell ill and passed away, leaving behind this little grandson, who was raised entirely by Old Mrs. Zhu.

The Zhu family, old and young, shared the ten kilograms of bamboo shoots each person in the village had handed over yesterday. Forty to fifty kilograms were distributed to the Zhu family, plus Hu Zi dug some himself, for a total of over eighty kilograms. This amount of food could feed a couple for a month or two. How could Old Lady Zhu agree to let the people from Guihua Village take it away? She was the first to speak out.

Having experienced the pain of having her grain stolen, Aunt Wang was the second to speak: "Grandma Dashan's idea is indeed good. We'll let Mudfish Dad go."

"And in our family, the child's father is big and burly, so the people in Guihua Village definitely wouldn't dare to steal our grain!"

"We have a large family, so we can arrange for two people to be on duty!"

People from other surnames expressed their opinions one by one, and Zhang Wulai was so angry that his face turned ashen.

These trash all flatter the Zhao family and deserve to be ostracized in Dahe Village.

He couldn't argue with him, so he turned and left.

The village head asked everyone to be quiet and called Tiezhu to register the names of the people.

Tiezhu was probably the most literate person in the village. He hadn't formally studied to read, but he had learned some characters by working for a year with the owner of a restaurant in town.

He spread out a sheet of straw paper, held a brush in his hand, and wrote his name on the paper.

"Wang Yongcheng signed up."

"Zhao Dashan signed up."

When Cheng Wanwan signed up, she saw the words Tie Zhu had written on the paper, and the corner of her mouth twitched involuntarily.

This character is uglier than a dog's crawl. It has a left stroke and a right vertical stroke, and it looks like someone is drawing a house stroke by stroke. The two words "Dashan" are written in a crooked manner.

The key point is that the villagers still praise: "The calligraphy of Tiezhu is really good, it is unique in Dahe Village."

"The headman's family is going to have a scholar."

"When it comes to scholars, the Cheng family village next door is the best. The eldest grandson of the Cheng family has already passed the imperial examination."

What is a "child scholar"?

"I don't know, but it's amazing anyway."

Many people around glanced at Cheng Wanwan.

Cheng Wanwan's surname is Cheng, but she has fallen out with the Cheng family, so they don't want to ask her too many questions.

Tiezhu still didn't know how to write many characters. He would draw a circle for the characters he didn't know how to write. After the whole village had registered, the straw paper was covered with circles of all sizes.

Cheng Wanwan turned her head. Fortunately, she was not a teacher, otherwise she would definitely step forward to correct him.

She turned to leave and saw a child standing not far away.

It was Zhang Dagang, the one who fought with Sidan for the rabbit last time. He was Zhang Wulai's son. He stood there alone, his expression hidden in the shadows, revealing no emotion.

He stood there for a while, then turned and left.

Cheng Wanwan returned home, went straight to her room, and then opened the trading mall.

She didn't know when the people from Guihua Village would come over, so she had to buy something to protect herself.

She looked around and chose a short knife.

This knife is very well designed; it can be folded and hidden in a sleeve, making it an excellent weapon for self-defense.

She swung the knife across the corner of the table and actually managed to cut it off. No wonder it cost five hundred coins. It was really worth it.

"Mother..." Zhao Sanniu pushed the door open and was about to say something, but when he saw the short knife in her hand, he forgot everything he was going to say. His eyes lit up, "Where did this knife come from? It looks so sharp!"

Cheng Wanwan didn't hide after being seen, and said calmly, "I picked it up in the alley when I went back to town last time. It's really sharp."

Zhao Sanniu couldn't control his love for the knife. He stared at the knife with his eyes and rubbed his hands constantly.

Cheng Wanwan sighed and said, "It's yours."

"Thank you, mother!"

Zhao Sanniu went out with a dagger.

Cheng Wanwan finally bought herself an electric shock ring that could knock out an adult with a single discharge, and asked for one or two taels of silver.

She bought it with determination, tied it with a rope and hung it around her neck to protect herself.