Chapter 20 If we don’t take action now, it will be dawn!
In the next few days, Zhou Jin deliberately chose to camp at the outermost edge of the exile team. One reason was to lure those who had ill intentions towards their supplies into the trap as soon as possible, and the other was to prevent those people from making lame excuses such as they took the wrong road in the dark after being caught.
However, the brother and sister waited for three days without any movement, and thought that those people had the intention but not the courage to come, and might not come. As a result, on the fourth night, Zhou Yu was dozing with his eyes closed when he heard rustling sounds coming from the grass in the east.
Zhou Yu hurriedly kicked her brother awake, then took out the dagger borrowed from Zhou Jin that was hidden in her sleeve and held it in her hand.
Because Zhou Jin borrowed weapons from Song Yayi, the two of them hid their own daggers in the space.
Zhou Jin opened his eyes when he heard the noise when Zhou Yu kicked him, and clenched the axe lent to him by the yamen runner Song in his hand.
The brother and sister looked at each other in the moonlight, both lying there without moving, only listening carefully to the movement not far away. Maybe because it was also the first time for the other party to be a thief, their breathing was very heavy, and the shackles on their feet often touched each other accidentally, which made it easy for the two to deduce that there were five people on the other side.
Zhou Jin made a gesture to Zhou Yu, meaning that he would be responsible for the fight later, and Zhou Yu only needed to protect Zheng and the others. Zhou Yu rolled his eyes and nodded.
As a result, both of them were ready, but the five thieves did not move for a long time. After a while, they even started to whisper and discuss countermeasures.
Brother and sister...
In the dead of night, the brother and sister had good hearing, so they listened attentively and not only heard most of the plan of the few people, but were also surprised to find that these five thieves were not outsiders, but were actually domestic thieves.
The people who came were their step-uncle, step-mother, their sons Zhou Yao, Zhou Huan, and Qian, five in total.
How could it be them?
Zhou Jin glanced at his equally puzzled sister. Neither of them had expected the Qian family to arrive, and they didn't understand why they were coming to attack their family at this time. They had originally thought that even if they wanted to deal with them, they would have to wait until they reached Liaodong.
Logically speaking, they are not short of food at the moment, so why make such a fuss at this time?
The brother and sister were both confused and could only attribute this to the extremely strange thinking process. They looked at each other again and decided that no matter why they came, they would not let them leave easily!
At this time, Zhou Jin didn't know that the reason why Qian and his men came to rob things was mainly because of the two hundred taels of silver he bribed.
This story starts with Qian. Qian heard from Mr. Zhou that Zhou Zesheng and his family gave him four or five small goldfishes so that he could go out to buy supplies.
Therefore, Zhou Jin had no choice but to give a heavy gift. After spending all the three hundred taels in his hand, he felt that what Zhou Jin said was so unreliable!
She came from a merchant family and had always been very sensitive to prices. Three hundred taels of silver was only enough for a banquet for a wealthy family, but it was an astronomical figure for ordinary people, enough for a wealthy family to live on for several years. How could Song Yayi be so bold that he dared to collect thousands of taels of silver from three families in one shopping opportunity?
Even if he dared to accept it, her family and Zhou Zesheng's family could afford the bribe. However, Zhou Fengsong's family was just a poor family with only a few hundred acres of land. They were only slightly better off than the ordinary wealthy families in Kyoto. How could they be willing to spend hundreds of taels in exchange for a purchasing opportunity?
Qian thought it was impossible!
It can be said that this Qian Shi is quite capable. Once she suspects something, her ability to explore is really strong. I don't know what method she used, but after two days of following the women of Zhou Zesheng and Zhou Fengsong's families, she got them to tell her that they had indeed given gold to Song Yashi when they went out to buy things.
But it was not as much as four or five goldfish. Instead, one family gave a goldfish and the other family gave a piece of gold leaf, which was only worth about fifty taels!
Upon hearing the news, Qian was so excited that she immediately ran back to tell her parents-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Zhou, everything, and suggested that they simply take back the supplies and remaining silver from the third room!
Mr. and Mrs. Zhou were indeed shocked after hearing what Qian said. If what Qian said was true, then Zhou Jin could not have spent all three hundred taels on shopping in the past few days. That kid must have bribed him with at least two hundred taels!
I have to say that Qian did tell the truth.
Even when the Zhou family was wealthy, Mr. and Mrs. Zhou were extremely stingy. After the whole family was sentenced to exile, they regarded the little money they had as their last capital. They thought that they might have to rely on this money for their retirement in the future, so they naturally valued it very much.
If Zhou Jin really had to spend three hundred taels to buy supplies, they would be helpless, but it would be too painful for them to be cheated out of two hundred taels by him for nothing!
Qian came from a merchant family and was always good at accounting. Seeing her parents-in-law's bad mood, she immediately analyzed the benefits of taking back the third wife's property. First, if they took all the supplies from the third wife's family, the food they had from both families combined would be several hundred kilograms, enough to feed their family for two months...
Of course, the family she was talking about did not include Zhou Jin's family, nor did it include the concubines and illegitimate sons and daughters of the first and second wives.
Now they have traveled one-third of the way to exile, and the remaining journey will take about one and a half months. In other words, these hundreds of kilograms of food are enough for them to sustain themselves until they reach Liaodong!
Secondly, by taking back the two hundred taels that Zhou Jin had coveted, he could also let the mother and son of the third house know how powerful he was, so that they would not continue to be arrogant and contradict and despise each other all day long!
It has to be said that Qian knew her in-laws very well, and these words really touched Mr. and Mrs. Zhou, especially Mr. Zhou.
Mr. Zhou has long been accustomed to having the final say in the Zhou family. He always says what he means and is very concerned about the Zhou Jin brothers and sisters repeatedly challenging his authority.
Although he felt it was a pity to abandon this grandson, he still preferred an honest and obedient child to a promising grandson who always went against him.
At first, he would rather let Zhou Jinkeng buy it than go through other channels to buy it himself.
First, after his property was confiscated and he was exiled, his old bones were beaten by the yamen runners and officials, so he was afraid of the officials and was no longer willing to actively interact with them.
Secondly, he was not sure whether Song Yazhi and his men would be lenient with the exiled prisoners' smuggling of valuables. He was afraid that if he went to give them gifts, they would catch him and use it as an excuse to plunder all the money they had hidden.
Zhou Jin happened to have the opportunity to go out with them, so Old Man Zhou simply asked him to act as an outpost and explore the way. To be on the safe side, after Zhou Jin left, Old Man Zhou also instructed Feng to disperse the silver bills in her hand and hide them in her own underwear and those of her two daughters-in-law.
Unexpectedly, the officials turned a blind eye to the fact that they embezzled the money, as long as they could get some benefits.
Moreover, after listening to what Qian said, Mr. Zhou found that the yamen runners were not as greedy as he had imagined when it came to accepting bribes. They only needed about fifty taels of bribes to go out and make purchases. He felt that the more than two hundred taels of bribe Zhou Jin had accepted was a huge sum of money.
It's no wonder that Mr. Zhou took the two hundred taels seriously. You have to know that although everyone in the exile team had hidden some silver, it was only a few taels or tens of taels. Only a few families of the direct lineage could hide more than a hundred taels.
The reason why Mr. Zhou was able to hide nearly three thousand taels of silver was purely because he had a relative-in-law who was a sucker. Because he loved his daughter and grandchildren, he gave away all his family wealth and gave away several thousand taels of silver for nothing, just to ask the Zhou family to take care of his daughter and grandchildren more for the sake of the silver, so that they could survive!
Of course, given Mr. Zhou's selfishness, even if he knew that their family's financial resources were now almost comparable to those of Lord Zhou's family in the exile group, he would not be very kind to Zheng's mother and others who brought financial resources to their family.
In his opinion, the third family had already rebelled and had long planned to throw their grandson Zhou Jin into the military camp to die when they arrived in Liaodong. Anyway, they would be far away from their in-laws in the future and would probably never see them again, so there was no need to worry about explaining anything.
So after hearing what Qian said, Mr. Zhou, who was also good at accounting, immediately felt that his daughter-in-law was not named Qian in vain, and his calculation was correct.
He had already planned to give up the third wife, so what difference did it make if he did it sooner or later? As for who to send to the military camp without Zhou Jin? Old Master Zhou figured he had plenty of children and grandchildren anyway. Even without Zhou Jin, he still had Zhou Yao and Zhou Huan!
"Be sure to knock out the people from the third house first, and then do other things!" Old Master Zhou instructed Qian and others before they left.
So this is the scene before our eyes.
Zhou Wangzu and his men's robbery plan was very simple. They would take advantage of the fact that Zhou Jin's family was sleeping, go up to them, knock them unconscious, and then steal their money and food.
However, Qian secretly instructed her husband Zhou Wangye and son Zhou Huan to beat Zhou Jin to death when they knocked him unconscious, so as to prevent him from going to Song the yamen runner for support the next day.
Fearing that Zhou Wangye would disagree, Qian even hinted to him that by the time Zhou Jin died, only Zheng's mother and the others would be left. Wouldn't that mean the family could do whatever they wanted and bully them as they pleased?
Zhou Wangye immediately understood Qian's request and agreed to Qian's proposal.
Qian had long known that Zhou Wangye had been plotting against Zheng, and that was why she had always disliked Zheng. In addition, after Zhou Jin's siblings humiliated her several times, she became even more resentful towards Zheng and her son, and wanted to kill them.
Seeing that Zhou Wangye was as angry as if he had eaten bee feces when he heard the name of Zheng, he hated her so much that he thought to himself, if she could just endure it for a while and wait for Zhou Jin to die, everything would be easier in the future.
Then we'll see how she tortures Zheng's mother and the others! If she can make them reach Liaodong alive, then her surname Qian will no longer be Qian!
After Zhou Jin died, even if Song Yayi wanted to investigate, she could just say that Zhou Jin's death was due to his disobedience and unfilial behavior, and that he was punished by her father-in-law.
Filial piety is the most important virtue in Dayan. Although they are prisoners now, if the grandfather beat his grandson to death in a rage, it would be difficult for the yamen runner Song to control him. He can't ask the grandfather to pay for his grandson's life, right?
What's more, the people are dead. Considering the relationship between Song Yayi and Zhou Jin, which was only over a few wild animals and a few pounds of loaches, it is hard to say whether he will come forward for the third house when the time comes!
Now that Zhou Jin is gone from the Third House, the Zheng family members are no longer a threat and can be manipulated as they please!
Qian was so excited as she discussed the plan with several others that she wanted to kill Zhou Jin immediately. Zhou Jin and his sister were also shocked after listening to the plan they discussed. They didn't understand why such a simple plan that was only vicious in nature would take so long to discuss?
Besides, what were you doing before you came? Couldn't you have discussed it beforehand? They've been waiting for a long time!
The two of them wanted to shout at them at this moment, Hey! Hurry up! If we don’t do something now, it will be dawn soon!
The author has something to say:
Cai Cai's new article "Fei Shi Yan Ran" is being updated. Friends who are interested can go and have a look. Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2022-06-07 13:58:28~2022-06-08 07:08:56~
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated the nutrient solution: 1 bottle of Beichen;
Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!
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