Faced with such a confused person, it is impossible to reason with her - in fact, there is no need to argue with her. After all, they came to Xiaoji Village to complain to the village chief, not to be life mentors for Old Lady Wang.
She just couldn't figure it out for the rest of her life. What could she do if she determined that Shen Qing had seduced her son away and should be given money? What Shen Qing wanted was to get a result for this matter, not to change someone's idea: besides, once a prejudice is formed in people's minds, it is easy for them to be stubborn and difficult to change. Especially, Old Lady Wang’s ideas are different from those of normal people!
The head of Xiaoji Village was named Zheng, so Shen Qing said, "Head Zheng, this old lady Wang has been in your village for many years. You should know her better than us. Let's not talk about this. Her four sons climbed over the wall and entered our yard in the middle of the night. I caught them red-handed. No matter how hard I tried, they were wrong. What do you think we should do about this? If it doesn't work, then report it to the authorities. I have never seen Wang San, and I don't know where he is. There is no need to explain it to you. But I think the officials in the government office should be able to find out that Wang San has nothing to do with our family."
These words made Village Chief Zheng blush: What kind of environment and climate is there in their village? How could someone like Old Lady Wang emerge? She has brought shame to other villages! He himself found what Old Lady Wang said untenable. After thinking for a while, Village Chief Zheng did not explain to Old Lady Wang and directly asked someone to bring the remaining four sons of the Wang family over: "You have done such a thing and brought shame to the whole village! Now there are two options before you. Either each of you will be beaten with eighty sticks and compensate Brother Shen with one tael of silver to comfort the mother and son; or you don't have to be beaten, and your family will get out of the village today, and you will no longer be people of Xiaoji Village from now on."
Both of these punishments are quite severe: the former is needless to say, eighty strokes of the cane is just a joke. If he continues to fight, I’m afraid he’ll lose half his life! However, the latter sounded better, but once their family was driven out of the village, the houses and fields would belong to the villagers, and they would not be able to take anything away except some valuables and cash.
The Wang family boys and old lady Wang were all dumbfounded. How could they really not be given any chance to survive? "Village Chief, my mother asked us to go here. Shen Qing seduced our third child..."
Village Chief Zheng became impatient. After all, they are all men in their twenties, and they can set up their own household in other families. What about these? Maybe it's true that children who are raised in a biased way have no future. Apart from supporting old lady Wang, they don't have any ideas of their own or any sense of right and wrong! Maybe in this family, it is only the runaway Wang San who can live a decent life.
"You went just because your mother asked you to? Your mother was talking about the imperial decree? If your mother said that you were a prince who was exiled among the common people, would you still go to the capital to seek recognition from the emperor?"
The boys of the Wang family were choked and speechless, and old lady Wang burst into tears: "Village chief, you have lost your conscience. You followed the people from other villages to bully us orphans and widows. How can you not stand by us..." When she went to Lantang Village to find trouble with Wei the matchmaker before, it was not the turn of the village chief of Lantang Village to step in. The neighbors and the relatives and friends of the Wei family were enough to make things difficult for her.
Why am I not treated like this even though I’m in my own village, which is clearly my home ground? The village chief actually favors outsiders, and the villagers are all waiting to see them make a fool of themselves. Old Lady Wang is really sad!
"I'm on your side? Who do you think I am? The Lord? How can I be on your side? Can I make the village chief listen to me, or stop the victims from reporting to the police?" Village chief Zheng was so angry that he almost laughed. If he was right, who wouldn't want to protect the people in his own village? But how can he protect himself in this situation? Should he lie with his eyes open like Old Lady Wang? "I advise you to make your choice quickly, otherwise people will be really angry and report to the government. Not only will your son be beaten with a stick, but he will also have to go to jail. It's not certain whether he can come back alive." If they just fight in their own village, no one can be killed.
One option would make her son suffer, the other would make her give up the family wealth. Old Lady Wang was unwilling to choose either one and kept crying. But things in this world are not what she thinks they should be. It's not like she can escape by not making a choice. Faced with Shen Qing's threat to report to the police, the Wang family boys knew that they could not escape no matter what, so they could only grit their teeth and choose to be beaten - they would rather die than give up their money!
Village chief Zheng even felt a little secretly disappointed in his heart: if he could take the opportunity to drive this family out, their village would definitely be much more peaceful, and the customs of the people would be improved to a higher level!
Shen Qing took the one or two taels of silver as compensation, and after watching the Wang boys being beaten, he returned to Lantang Village with Zhao Youdang and others. He let Old Lady Wang curse and cry, and never even looked at her. Village Chief Zheng, however, felt sorry for the Wang boys as they wailed and nearly died. He gave them a lecture: "You guys are all grown up now. You should stand up after what happened. Although filial piety is important in our village, your mother is acting like that. If you continue to indulge her, this beating will only be the beginning. You will have to keep doing it in the future."
As for Old Lady Wang's personality, people say that she becomes more stubborn as she gets older, and that's true. Even now she doesn't think she was wrong. She hates Shen Qing, Wang San, and even herself. But what’s the use of her hatred as an old rural widow? As long as these guys stop being confused and show the spirit of a real man, this family might still be saved.
The boys hung their heads, not knowing whether they heard it or not.
Shen Qing held the one or two taels of silver. He doesn't need this little money now, but he has to teach the Wang family a lesson. If they were to let it off so easily, the Wang family would feel that there was no cost in making trouble with their family, and the quarrel would never end.
However, Zhao Youdang was quite happy to see the tael of silver. This was not a small amount of money in the village: "It's New Year's Day now, and we can use this money to buy some New Year's goods, and also to calm your mother down. She was really scared yesterday." Not only Miao, but also the second aunt was frightened. Even the two younger ones, Rong and Lianqiao, were sleeping soundly and didn't know anything.
Isn’t it! Even Shen Qing was startled. Besides, he would go to Zizhou with Song Kaiji and others in a few days, and would leave Miao alone at home. After what happened this time, how could he feel at ease? Shen Qing held the piece of silver in his hand and squeezed it again and again, thinking that the time would come when Miao would have to go back to her parents' home to stay for a few days.
But it's okay once in a while. If he often stays there to carry out missions in the future, it will not be a good idea to let Miao live in Shiqu Village all the time.
When I returned to the village, there were quite a few people in the small courtyard at the foot of the mountain, all of whom were friends with the Miao family. On the one hand, we came to visit Miao, but on the other hand, everyone was quite bored and there was nothing interesting to do. We just hoped that Miao and Aunt Lian could tell us in detail what happened last night, so that we could hear something new!
They also like to talk. They were really scared last night. Now they are willing to talk to people they know to seek some comfort: "…At first we thought it was a wild beast, but then we heard voices like people. No matter what it was, we were scared, so we went to the kitchen to get an axe and a kitchen knife to protect ourselves." Second Aunt Lian described it vividly, "In the end, after waiting for a long time, Qing Ge'er showed up. The four men were all knocked unconscious by Qing Ge'er. Four men! Qing Ge'er is really capable!"
Some people were so tactless that they asked, "What's the matter about what those guys said about Qing Ge'er and Wang San? Qing Ge'er was not in the village the past two days. Did he see Wang San?"
"You listen to their fabrications? My family has nothing to do with Wang San!" Miao said unhappily, "Didn't I tell Sister Chunfang before? Our Qing Ge'er doesn't want to think about anything else now, just making money. Forget about Wang San, even if it's Boss Wang or Mr. Wang, my family won't look for him!"
"Then Qing Ge'er was not in the village a few days ago. What was he doing?"
"How should I know? I am just an ordinary and useless woman in the village. Even if Qing'er tells me about what's going on outside, I still don't understand." Miao was a little unhappy. She glanced at the person who asked the question. Yuan was not very familiar with her, but he insisted on staying here to listen to the sisters' gossip. I don't know what he was thinking. "Qing'er is back, why don't you ask him directly."
The person shrank his neck. Miao was a person who was easy to talk to, so she dared to interrupt. She didn't dare to ask Qing Ge'er!
"What are you asking me?" Shen Qing walked in and handed the silver to Miao: "This is compensation from the Wang family."
"How was he dealt with?" The others became curious: "Were they driven out of the village?"
"He was beaten with eighty boards. I saw it. It was someone from Xiaoji Village who did it. The beating was not too severe. It was cold this day so the wound would not fester easily. I think he will heal after lying down for two months. It won't affect the spring ploughing."
"That's fine. Eighty strokes of the cane is not light." Miao said, "Just teach the Wang family a lesson. Don't let me see their family members again!"
But then again, the legs belong to the Wang family. What can we do if they don't learn their lesson, forget the pain after the wound has healed, and insist on jumping around in front of Shen Qing?
Shen Qing sat aside in deep thought, while a few aunts and uncles started chatting. As they were talking, they mentioned that Miao had invested money in a tofu shop, and everyone in the village was very envious. Shen Qing listened for a while, then suddenly interrupted, "I was doing some small business in the city a few days ago, and I met a nobleman from another place who said he wanted to find a village to build a workshop. I think it's a good idea. What do you think, aunts?"
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