Chapter 047 Seizing Power
Grandmother Huang also heard the argument and remained silent for the first time. She just drank the porridge in the bowl with her eyes slightly closed, and remained silent about everything.
Those in the second house are so spoiled, they need to be taught a lesson.
Otherwise, how would they survive in Qianzhou?
Little Meizi poked her head out and said with a smile, "Auntie, if you close your mouth you won't be able to eat!"
When Huang Cui'e saw Xiao Meizi, she immediately loved her and gave her another spoonful. "Be good, Xiao Meizi, eat more. Eat until you're fat and make them mad!"
Xu Zhenying gave his aunt a thumbs up in his heart.
I have to say that Huang Cui'e's words really made her feel refreshed.
It also made her start to think about a question: How to make the Xu family concentrate power in herself?
Xu Zhenying relished the feeling of being in control. To her, the Xu family was a team she could exploit. Humans are social animals, and no matter what they did, cultivating manpower was paramount. From the distribution of food during exile to the reclamation of wasteland in Qianzhou, every task required someone to take the lead.
Given the grudge between her and the second wife, she really didn't want to follow the second wife's orders.
Xu Zhenying had originally thought that once the supplies were returned, she would have the power to distribute them, which would allow her to better control the Xu family. But then she realized the supplies were too heavy, and she didn't want Miao Shi to carry so much alone. It would be better to distribute them to the other branches, and even do them a favor.
The Xu family waited eagerly until night. The twenty people had no intention of looking for wild vegetables, so they just waited at the door of the post station. Finally, they saw Liu Jieshi.
Liu Jieshi had a cold face and threw the things on his shoulders to the ground. The pots, pans, and other things crackled and broke into pieces. The crisp sound was heartbreaking.
How many things will be broken?
Seeing Liu Jieshi's gloomy face, no one dared to step forward to take the things.
Xu Zhenying, on the other hand, was not afraid. He stepped forward and bowed to Liu Jieshi, smiling slightly and saying, "Thank you, sir."
Liu Jieshi stared at Xu Deyuan.
Xu Deyuan felt a numbness on his back. He put on a tough look on his face, but his hands were actually shaking.
"What are you standing there for, Aunt, Fourth Aunt, let's move things." Xu Zhenying shouted under Liu Jieshi's gaze.
Huang Cui'e also took the risk. While carefully looking at the stick in Liu Jieshi's hand, she pulled out several bundles at an extremely fast speed.
Liu Jieshi said nothing in the end.
He didn't know why Zhao Bantou suddenly changed his mind. Perhaps he heard some rumors, so he didn't dare to take any action against the Xu family.
Liu Jieshi turned away in anger.
Huang Cui'e saw him leave, patting her chest repeatedly, and said in fear: "Mother, I was scared to death, I thought he was going to punish us again. Sixth girl, you are too brave, aren't you afraid that he will beat you?"
"Don't worry, Auntie. Since we've forced him to return the things, we've already torn our relationship apart. Now, no matter how much we show weakness, he won't let us go."
Grandmother looked worried. "What should we do? We still have a long way to go to Qianzhou..."
"Don't be afraid, Grandma. If we can't deal with him, there will naturally be someone who can."
Fourth Aunt looked at her, "Sixth girl, what do you mean?"
Xu Zhenying only said vaguely: "Anyway, Zhao Bantou will take care of us from now on."
Miao interrupted, "Alright, don't ask anymore. No matter what happened between them, as long as the things are returned, it's fine. Let's quickly count these things and see what we'll have for dinner. Everyone's been hungry these past few days, so let's get something delicious to nourish them."
Even my grandmother, who was always very careful with her finances, said, "The third elder brother has a point. Let's prepare something good tonight so that we don't get robbed someday. It's better to eat it sooner rather than later."
When the younger ones heard that there was something delicious to eat, they were all excited.
"Aunt, what are we having for dinner?"
"I want to eat meat buns."
"I want to eat pig's trotters."
Someone swallowed.
"Why are you in such a hurry? Let's pack our luggage first."
Only Xu Lezhi snorted and turned his head away. "She's really good at winning people over. Now it's almost her turn to be the head of the Xu family."
Xu Minglu also echoed: "That's right, Daddy doesn't care about her, why does he let her steal the limelight?"
Although Xu Minglu said this, her eyes were fixed on the luggage. She was just hoping that the second room could get more.
The second house has more people, so it should get the biggest share.
But she would never be able to ask Xu Qingying for help, even if she was beaten to death.
Several women came up to count the remaining supplies, and then sighed again. Only Huang Cui'e cursed: "These bastards have eaten up all our dry food."
Miao also sighed, "Fortunately, except for the dry food, everything else is still there, including the medicine."
Xu Zhenying stood by, not doing anything. She just watched as the women skillfully sorted and put things back in place. Then she asked slowly, "Mom, are you done?"
Miao nodded. "Almost. Besides the dry food, we also took a few bags of millet. The loss is not big."
"Alright then." Xu Zhenying clapped her hands, drawing everyone's attention. She stood in the middle of the crowd, a faint smile still on her face, as if she was born with that smile. "Now that the supplies are back, I'll redistribute them."
My aunt immediately became anxious, "What's wrong? Why didn't you divide it this time like last time?"
Xu Degui immediately became anxious and was about to speak, but Miao held him down and glared at him.
Xu Degui wondered secretly, what happened to Miao today?
Not only did he go crazy and scratch Xu Lezhi before, but now he also condoned Qingying's reckless behavior.
He lowered his voice and said, "What do you mean? We are all family, why do we have to distinguish between close and distant relatives? How could she do this?"
Xu Zhenying glanced at her indifferently, but for some reason he felt condescending. "Ordinarily, we're a family, and now that we're on the road of exile, we should be united and work together. However, I'm a stingy person and hold grudges. Some people eat the food I bought in exchange for marriage, while at the same time calling me shameless, so I might as well make it clear today. Logically, it's the third branch that's engaged to the Zheng family, so the materials obtained in exchange for the broken engagement belong exclusively to the third branch. Even if we didn't split up, the Great Zhou Dynasty doesn't allow children's betrothal gifts and dowries to be used as public funds. What do you think... am I right?"
Xu Deyuan looked extremely embarrassed. If he still didn't understand that Xu Qingying was targeting him at this point, then all his years of struggling in the officialdom would have been in vain.
Rather than being angry at Xu Qingying for breaking off the engagement, he was even more infuriated that someone in the Xu family disrespected him and dared to challenge his authority as the patriarch. He knew that if he gave in today, the people from the third branch would dominate him, and even in the future.
Xu Deyuan has been the resource center of the family since he was a child. When he was young, the family's food and drink expenses were given priority to him. After he grew up, his opinions were respected in major family matters such as sacrifices and weddings. The Xu family, as a big ship, could only listen to his orders.
Now that he had just been exiled, he vaguely felt that his status was being challenged.
He had originally thought that the eldest son would be the one with more male offspring. After all, in the countryside, the family had to rely on male offspring to support the family. The eldest son's three sons were all tall and strong. When they arrived in Qianzhou, they had to rely on the eldest son's labor to open up wasteland, cultivate the land, and grab water.
The second house has only two young boys who are underage, and the rest are four girls, which will definitely become a considerable burden in the future.
As for the fourth house, the fourth son is a free and easy-going person, and his wife does not like to fight for anything. The two of them are not in harmony with each other, and they only have one daughter, so naturally they do not pose any threat.
As for the third wife, she had never even entered his consideration. The third son and his wife were both simple-minded and easy to deal with, and they wouldn't say a word to anyone who pushed them. Furthermore, since he only had one son, who had been frail since childhood, no one would take the third wife seriously.
But for some reason, a girl named Xu Qingying appeared and dared to cancel the engagement on her own, exchanging supplies and making friends with the Fang family, and in the blink of an eye she got rid of Liu Jieshi.
This scene made Xu Deyuan feel a little bit of crisis, and also sobered him up from the chaos and anger in exile.
"Sixth girl, what you said makes sense. In the Great Zhou Dynasty, there is indeed no rule that children's dowries, betrothal gifts, etc. should be added to the public treasury." Unexpectedly, Xu Deyuan actually agreed. Xu Qingying looked at him with a smile, waiting for his next turn of speech.
really.
"But..." Xu Deyuan glanced around at everyone, his eyes gleaming. "We're exiled criminals now, so the usual rules wouldn't be appropriate here, right? Or is it that your niece, as a junior, is so narrow-minded that she harbors resentment over a few angry words from her elders, disregarding their lives and intends to use the distribution of supplies as an opportunity to starve all the elders in your family to death? If that's the case, then if an elder says something you don't like, or if you have a quarrel with your sisters, will you demand justice? Sixth girl, is this how your parents raised you?"
Xu Zhenying raised his eyebrows slightly.
It must be said that Xu Zhenying's rebuttal was quite powerful. He didn't address the facts, but played the emotional card instead. He not only weakened his own reasons, but also incited others to stand on his side, and even formed an opposition pattern with her.
Is Second Uncle's brain online? He actually knows how to use filial piety to suppress it?
Even Xu Degui disagreed, scolding her, "Qingying, what are you trying to do? Don't think you're taking credit for these supplies. I'm telling you, your father is still alive, and it's not your turn as a girl to make the decisions at home!"
Miao looked at her husband, then at Qingying, her heart aching.
But she felt her husband and daughter were both right, and she disliked her second uncle's constant meddling in Xu Qingying's affairs. She thought, now that they were exiled, they were all criminals in the same boat. Why should her second uncle and his wife continue to suppress the third wife and blame Qingying like they did in Bianjing?
Even if Qingying did something wrong, it should be her and Xu Degui who should educate her. How could Xu Deyuan, as her second uncle, scold her third wife's daughter like that?
This second uncle clearly doesn't take her third wife seriously.
Xu Zhenying chuckled softly and said to Xu Deyuan, "Second Uncle is so furious, I think he knows who I'm targeting. There's no need to drag so many people into this, and there's no need to accuse me of being an unfilial elder. I can tell you the truth, I'm really only targeting Second Uncle."
"You!!" Xu Deyuan's face turned red with anger. He never expected that Xu Qingying would not play by the rules and would directly confront him.
"Second uncle, you single-handedly transformed the Xu family's fortunes. Your contributions are truly remarkable. But think about how life was for everyone else in the countryside back then, supporting your studies. The whole family tightened their belts, and every expense was borne by you first. You wore a cotton-padded jacket in winter, while your eldest uncle could only wear a single layer of clothing. You ate and drank to your heart's content in restaurants, while your eldest aunt didn't even have an egg during her confinement. You can't forget all of that, right?"
These moving words brought tears to the aunt's eyes, and she couldn't help but glare at Xu Deyuan.
She still remembers that when she gave birth to her first child, her family was extremely poor. Someone from her mother's family sent a basket of eggs. When her mother returned home, her father beat her and she couldn't get out of bed for several days.
"So..." Xu Zhenying continued, "After you achieved success, repaying the other branches was your duty, a way of repaying a debt. There was no such thing as the first, third, or fourth branches sucking your blood. The entire Xu family supported your studies for over twenty years, and you've only just repaid ten years of your debt, and now the whole family has betrayed you and been exiled. Strictly speaking, you've once again implicated our branches. Am I right?"
The eldest aunt jumped up, wiped her tears and said, "That's right! If we hadn't lived frugally back then, how could we have offered you up? You from the second branch, you all treat us like blood-sucking leeches and debt collectors! Don't you see, if I, Huang Cui'e, hadn't worked day and night, you wouldn't have the good life you have now!"
Xu Zhenying patted Huang Cui'e and signaled her to calm down.
"So, logically speaking, our other branches don't owe you any debt. Instead, we were exiled because of you. This is your first offense. When you were exiled to Yu County, you neglected your duties, forcing Liu Jieshi's widowed mother to commit suicide by jumping into Liang. Liu Jieshi harbored a grudge against you, and therefore made things difficult for our Xu family along the way. This is your second offense—"
Upon hearing this, everyone in the Xu family's expression changed. Huang shivered and said, "Does Liu Jieshi really have a grudge against us? Second Brother!"
Huang yelled, pointing at Xu Deyuan and asking, "What's going on?"
Lian Qiuzhi sat in the corner, glaring at him with a cold smile, and said dimly, "Why else could it be? Perhaps he received some bribe and helped Liu Jieshi's relatives slander his poor widowed mother for having an affair. Liu Jieshi was expelled from the family and all his property was confiscated. To prove her innocence, his mother hanged herself a few days after returning home. No wonder Liu Jieshi hates us to the core. He stole people's money and killed their parents. What else can this be but a deep blood feud?"
Upon hearing this, Huang became so excited that she started coughing violently.
Huang Cui'e also jumped up and said: "Second Uncle, how can you do things like this? Aren't you just the Gao Ba Pi from before-"
Gao Baopi was the former county magistrate of Xujia Village. It is said that he would not even let go of passing dogs, and would have people search their bodies to see if there were any valuables.
Therefore, this county magistrate was very famous in several nearby counties. Wherever he went, the villagers would close their doors, for fear that he would take away some of their belongings.
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