Chapter 52

52

On the day of weighing the wheat, the Cheng family's door was crowded with people, all wanting to see how effective this fertilizer was.

The final number was three times the usual number, and this was after the disaster.

The villagers who were originally on the sidelines became excited and ran over to ask Cheng Yeran about the price of the fertilizer.

Cheng Yeran said: "All fertilizer matters are decided by the village chief, so let's ask him."

The villagers who were originally jealous of him because he not only had a lot of grain but could also earn money from fertilizers didn't want to think about it and felt bad for him. If they had this method of making fertilizers, they would definitely keep it secret. How could they share it with their relatives?

Cheng Yeran is still young. He was tricked away by his relatives with just a few words. Isn't he a big fool?

But if he doesn't give the recipe to the village chief, then those people in the village who are jealous of him will do bad things, and his family will never have a peaceful life in the future.

Now Cheng Yeran just gave a copied fertilizer formula to the village chief. Not only did he divert the villagers' jealousy, but he could also get a share of the money from the workshop every year. No matter how you look at it, he is making money.

There is also the rumor that he cannot have children because of impotence. It seems to be disadvantageous to him, but this disadvantage is only a disadvantage in terms of face. The benefits he gets are indeed real.

In the past, the villagers were always jealous of his family because they made money, and there were many people who wanted to make trouble for his family. But now, when the villagers mentioned that he made money, they always added a sentence: What's the use of making so much money? You can't even have a child.

It was as if those who were jealous of him had gained tangible benefits by his inability to have children, and they even felt superior to him.

…

After harvesting the grain, it's time to repair the house.

Shen Yuntang said that there was no need to look for outsiders, and that he could just ask his father and his fourth brother to come and help. He felt relieved since they were all family members.

Cheng Yeran thought it was a good idea. It would be better to give the money to his family than to let others make it. He also calculated the wages for his brothers. Shen Yuntang was in charge of the money. After Cheng Yeran told the amount, Shen Yuntang was responsible for settling the wages.

Before the two confirmed their relationship, Shen Yuntang always felt that it was not right for him to manage the money, and he felt uneasy. But since the two confirmed their relationship, he felt at ease, just like in his own family, when his grandmother was alive, she managed the money, and later his mother managed the money.

This money belongs to her husband, her husband's money is his money, and he has no mother-in-law, so he should be in charge of the money.

There was a brick kiln in the village, so the two of them went to the kiln and bought some bricks and piled them in the yard. Their first task was to tear down the eyesore fence and build a wall.

But when they were about to tear down the fence, Aunt Li ran over to stop them, "This fence belongs to us, you can't tear it down!"

There was only a fence between their two houses. After it was demolished, the two yards were connected and there was no obstruction.

"My family paid for building the courtyard wall, so your family doesn't have to pay. So with this calculation, your family is making a profit." Cheng Yeran was repeatedly troubled by the old lady, and they were all trivial matters. He couldn't do anything to the old lady. He could do nothing except say a few words to her.

He just wanted to build the wall quickly so that he wouldn't have to see it and be bothered by it.

"That won't do. This is the wood my old man chopped in the mountains and carried back piece by piece. You can't just tear it down." Aunt Li hugged the fence tightly and cried, as if she was holding her old man instead of wood.

If Cheng Yeran hadn't seen her old man standing behind her, he would have thought that her old man was dead.

"Your old man is not my old man. If you don't move out of the way, I will tear down your house as well." Cheng Yeran said as he took an axe and prepared to chop.

Aunt Li was afraid that he would cut her too, so she wiped her tears and said, "If you insist, build it next to the fence."

"Build it close to the fence? What's the difference? Do you care so much about those broken pieces of wood?" Cheng Yeran didn't understand what she meant. It was not until Shen Yuntang came over and whispered something in his ear that he realized that Aunt Li wanted to occupy this area. The fence was originally built between their two families, with one family occupying half of the area. If it was built close to the fence, then their family would have one less area and Aunt Li's family would have one more area.

When they build the courtyard wall, Aunt Li's family can tear down the fence and occupy more land.

Cheng Yeran was speechless. He didn't even let go of such a small area. He was really taking advantage of it.

Although the place is small, Cheng Yeran is not going to give it up. "You are really good at taking advantage. Why do you get all the advantages? Do you think you are the king of the world? I said that the wooden board you put here is occupying my land, I will burn it for you now."

"You are unreasonable! You are so unreasonable!" Aunt Li screamed, "If you dare to do this, I will hang myself at the door of your house, just like you forced Uncle Zhang to death."

"Don't slander him. Uncle Zhang was pushed into the river by Widow Li, and he deserves it." Cheng Yeran thought he was recording a show, and for the show's effect, he said bad things about Uncle Zhang, but Uncle Zhang was not a good person either. If he hadn't fought back, Shen Yuntang would have been forced to death by the dirty rumors spread by Uncle Zhang. Why should he feel guilty for treating a bad guy? He has never blamed himself for this matter.

Cheng Yeran asked him, "You compare yourself to Uncle Zhang. Are you going to harm my family like you did to Widow Li? Be careful or your family will be destroyed."

"You!" Aunt Li didn't expect him to be so vicious. "You are the reason why your family is ruined. Your parents were killed because of you, the unlucky star!"

"Okay, I will kill them and you too. If you don't let me build this wall, then don't build it. Just tear it down so it will be more convenient to kill your whole family." Cheng Yeran said as he smashed the fence with an axe. Aunt Li's two sons rushed over to stop him.

"You dare to scold my mother, do you want to die?" The two sons of the Li family were about the same height and build as Cheng Yeran. When they rushed up, they were confident that they could beat Cheng Yeran.

Cheng Yeran didn't want to kill anyone either, so he threw the axe aside and knocked them down easily. "I haven't solved the problem of you pulling up my wheat last time, and now you're here to deliver it to me? Fine, I'll kill you two first, and let your mother feel the feeling of having her family torn apart."

Aunt Li's house did not close the gate, and many villagers came to watch. Although they loved to watch the fun, they would actually come up to stop the fight when they saw people fighting.

Soon they were pulled apart, but Aunt Li's two sons were beaten black and blue, while Cheng Yeran had no injuries at all and his hair was not even messy.

Last time, Cheng Yeran had a fight with some of Zhang Bo’s sons and beat them up badly, but as time went by, everyone gradually forgot about the incident. Now they remember it again.

Aunt Li's son also remembered it, grimacing in pain and feeling a little scared. Fortunately, the gate was not closed, otherwise they might have died here today.

"Otherwise, we should ask our cousin, the village chief, to come over and help us measure it. We should calculate it according to the quantity on the title deed so that no one can take advantage of anyone else." Shen Yuntang pulled Cheng Yeran over. He was very scared just now, afraid that Cheng Yeran would not go easy on him and really beat him to a disability or even to death.

If it's just a minor friction, it's fine, but if someone is really hurt, no one can protect him.

A few days ago, Cheng Yeran told him that he wanted to go to the county town to study. Since this is what Cheng Yeran wants, he can't let anything hold him back. If he really hurts someone, he will be disqualified from the imperial examination.

He asked the village chief to measure the area just to scare Aunt Li, telling her to stop making trouble and let their family build the courtyard wall.

Who knew that after he said this, Aunt Li's face changed immediately, as if she was very scared of something. Her two sons helped her up and went back to the house, and then Old Man Li came over and apologized to them with a smile.

Old man Li apologized to them with an honest look, "It's all because of my wife's ignorance. I will take down the fence right now. After all, we are neighbors, and the most important thing is to get along with each other."

The people watching nearby didn't notice anything was wrong. They were afraid that Cheng Yeran would continue to go crazy, so they advised Cheng Yeran: "Forget it, you have already beaten his son, and they have agreed to remove the fence, so stop making trouble."

Shen Yuntang and Cheng Yeran looked at each other, and both felt that this matter was not simple.

Cheng Yeran smiled and said to Old Man Li, "That won't do, Uncle Li, you said we are neighbors and we should get along well. If one family takes advantage of another family, the family that is taken advantage of will definitely be dissatisfied and hold a grudge over time. How can we live in harmony? I, Cheng Yeran, am definitely not a person who likes to take advantage of others. Today, in front of all the aunts and uncles in the village, let's measure it. I will not take a single cent more from your family."

Old man Li's lips turned pale. "It's inevitable to take more or less. Just follow this.

Nanfeng

Just build the line, there is no need to be too serious about it, we don’t care. ”

"You don't care, but I do. I'm afraid Aunt Li will cause trouble for me, so I have to measure it clearly today." While Cheng Yeran was speaking, Yuanbao had already very considerately invited the village chief.

When the village chief arrived, everyone fell silent. They were all intimidated by his majesty and waited to hear what he said.

The village chief didn't say much and asked someone to come and measure the area.

When Old Man Li heard this, he almost fainted and his hands were shaking with fear. When Aunt Li heard this in the house, she immediately ran out and lay on the ground to block them: "No one can measure it!"

The village chief simply ordered people to carry her away without showing any mercy.

Old man Li had been standing behind the village chief and said that there was no need to measure. It would be embarrassing if the matter was done too ruthlessly, so he should be more generous and give Cheng Yeran a way out.

The more nervous he was, the more he revealed himself, and other people in the village also noticed that something was wrong and began to talk about it in low voices.

The final result of the measurement was that the Cheng family's yard had one less piece, while the Li family's yard had one more piece.

When Cheng Yeran heard the number, he converted it in his mind. It was five meters wide and the fence was almost ten meters long. Such a large piece of land was enough for his family to cultivate a vegetable garden and build a pigpen.

The villagers were also shocked. They didn't expect the Li family to be so shameless. "Did you see that the Cheng family kid was too lazy to take care of them before, so you just bully them like this? Why don't you just tear down the wall and enclose the Cheng family in your house?"

"The fence is next to the vegetable garden in the backyard. Did the Li family see that the lazy guy didn't grow vegetables in the past few years, and moved the Cheng family kid and didn't notice it, so they bully people like this?"

"What a shame! No wonder he stopped me just now."

Old man Li ran back to the house with an embarrassed face after being scolded and locked the door.

During those years, the lazy man was too lazy to get out of bed, so his family secretly moved the fence towards Cheng's house. They didn't dare to move too much, just a little bit at a time. After a few years, they had moved such a large area.

Not only did they move the courtyard wall, they also went to the lazy man's house and secretly took away a lot of farm tools, tableware, etc.

When Cheng Yeran traveled through time, his home didn't even have a pair of good dishes and chopsticks, so he had to buy them at the market later.

Their family had been selling leftovers to the lazy man for many years, and they also bought a piece of land from the lazy man at a low price. The lazy man knew that the land was sold at a low price, but he was too lazy to bargain, so he let others take advantage of him.

Now that Cheng Yeran is here, it is hard to fool them. Their family is used to taking advantage of the Cheng family. They have hit a wall after trying several times, and this time they suffered a big setback.

Although their family hid, the village had its own rules. The village chief punished them by making them sweep the village roads for three months, and also called old man Li's two sons over and gave them twenty cane strokes each.

Several roads in the village are required to be cleaned by the villagers. On weekdays, they take turns to clean, with each family cleaning for three days, and whoever's turn it is must go. Now the Li family is asked to clean for three months, so the others save the trouble and are as happy as if it were New Year's Day. Some people even told the village chief that three months was not enough, and that a family as bad as his should be fined for a year! Finally, they were scolded by the village chief and those people didn't dare to say anything more.

After working for a long time today, there is no time to build the wall. Everyone has left, and Father Shen and his four brothers also said they will come to build the house tomorrow.

After everyone left and the door was closed, Cheng Yeran's mind was still on the village rules. He asked Shen Yuntang in surprise, "Does our village have such village rules? Is this village rule made by our village chief and has nothing to do with the laws of the court?"

Shen Yuntang gave him some basic knowledge, "There are several major surnames in our village, Cheng, Chen, Li, and Xia. The rest of the surnames came later. The village rules were made by the ancestors of these four families, and the four families intermarried. The ancestral hall of our village was also built by these four families. The village rules are written on the wall over there, you can go and have a look. Minor offenses are punished by sweeping the village roads, and major offenses are punished by sinking into the pond or lighting sky lanterns. There are also people who are hung up and beaten to death by the villagers. The government has no control over our village rules."

"What is lighting a sky lantern?" Cheng Yeran didn't expect the village law to be so strict.

"They were burned alive." Shen Yuntang had never heard of anyone in the village being punished so severely in his entire life. The village chief would usually turn a blind eye to ordinary things.

"Are the village rules so scary? Fortunately, I often give gifts to my uncle, and he supports me." Cheng Yeran hugged Shen Yuntang's waist, "I'm so scared~ I need you to hug me to feel better."

Shen Yuntang pushed him aside. Just now Cheng Yeran was fighting two people at once like a madman, but now behind closed doors he pretended to be weak and acted like a spoiled child with him. "I really can't stand you."

He said he couldn't stand it, but he felt sweet in his heart. He was the only one who could see Cheng Yeran like this.

…

The next day, Cheng Yeran followed his father Shen and his four brothers to build the courtyard wall.

Not only did they tear down the fence, they also tore down the other three walls. As Cheng Yeran said, the higher the better, and it would be best if it was built to be two people high so that no one else could climb in.

Aunt Li hid in the house and watched secretly, not daring to come out. But seeing that their house was getting higher and higher, she could no longer sit still. She came out and pointed at Cheng Yeran and scolded: "Your land has been returned to you. My son was beaten yesterday and is still lying in bed and can't get up. Don't keep going. I have never seen you bully others like this. You built such a high house. Aren't you deliberately going against my family!"

"I'm building my own wall, what does it have to do with yours? If you have the ability to build a higher wall than mine, I will have no complaints." Cheng Yeran rolled up his sleeves, thinking, are we going to have another quarrel today? Why isn't it over yet?

"Even if you call the village chief over today, you are still not in the right. If you build it so high, it will destroy the feng shui of my house. You can't build it." Aunt Li picked up a hoe and was about to chisel the wall of his house.

Seeing this, Cheng Yeran also picked up a hoe and said, "If you dare to touch my wall, I will tear down your wall as well. Don't underestimate my speed in tearing down a house. I will raze your house to the ground tonight. I mean what I say."

Aunt Li was so angry that her eyes turned black. Then she heard Cheng Yeran say, "I will not only demolish your house, but also demolish every house in the village. If you want to blame someone, blame you for being unreasonable and not letting my family build a wall."

Everyone in the village had witnessed how crazy Cheng Yeran had gone. Last time, Aunt Li had also seen Cheng Yeran saying he was going to pull out all the wheat seedlings in the village. She was so angry that her eyes bulged as if they were about to pop out, but she had no way to deal with Cheng Yeran. Seeing that Cheng Yeran was really raising his head to smash the wall of her house, she cried out, dropped the hoe and ran into the house.

Cheng Yeran walked home with a hoe in his hand, and shouted at the Li family: "Whoever doesn't let me live well, I won't let him live well. At worst, we will all die! Let's die together!"

Not only the Li family, but also the neighbors heard his shouting. Other families were also dissatisfied with the height of his courtyard wall, but after hearing this, they gave up the idea of ​​causing trouble.

They heard that men without fertility tend to be crazier. Since he can't have children, he has no weaknesses and no worries. If he really gets angry, he will kill someone. The neighbors have many people in their families, with lots of sons and grandchildren, so it's not worth it for them to fight with Cheng Yeran.

In this way, the courtyard wall of Cheng Yeran's house was built. Cheng Yeran also inserted a row of nails on the top of the wall, saying that it was to prevent someone from eavesdropping.

Shen Yuntang felt that he said this on purpose for Aunt Li's family to hear. It would be difficult for ordinary people to climb such a high wall, let alone see the row of nails. He was just trying to scare Aunt Li's family.

"This time we are finally not afraid of someone spying on us." Cheng Yeran looked at the wall with satisfaction, "But it feels like a prison atmosphere."

"Don't talk nonsense, it's unlucky." Shen Yuntang knocked on his head, "When are you going to build the house? Build it quickly while the weather is still warm. We can still live in the woodshed for a few nights."

"Can I stay at my parents' house for a few nights?" Cheng Yeran hugged him. In the past, when he hugged Shen Yuntang in the yard, Shen Yuntang always said no because people would see us. Now that the yard wall has been built, he can hug him as he pleases.

"I'll go discuss it with my parents." Shen Yuntang thought about it. Although she was married, she had not severed ties with her parents. It was not impossible for her to take her son-in-law back to her parents' home to live for a few days. Moreover, she had a legitimate reason and it was in accordance with the rules.

Cheng Yeran grabbed his fingers and played with them. "Let's wait a few days before building the house. Let's go to the county town first, get the business done, and go for a stroll in the county town. Have you never been far away before?"

"Okay." Shen Yuntang nodded sweetly.

Although he had been to the county town before, he had never gone out for a walk. After Xia Xiaowu became the county magistrate, he never took him out, and did not allow him to go out by himself. Only Cheng Yeran thought about him all the time and cared about his thoughts. He had married the right person in this life.