Although Chief Zhao was just a village chief with little power, he was adept at cultivating relationships with superiors and subordinates. The taxes collected on a daily basis would first go through him.
Although there wasn't much left, selling that grain to grain shops would bring in an extra twenty strings of cash a year.
Including his allowance as the village head, he earned approximately 45 strings of cash a year. His ancestors also had some assets and a considerable amount of money.
Now, he can only live on 45 strings of cash. If he could really take over Guhu Lake again and raise a few hundred fish, he would have money again.
"Mom, my stomach hurts so much!"
"Mommy, my tummy hurts so much! Ah..."
Huang Jingui quickly picked up her youngest son and asked, "Yaozu, Yaozu, what's wrong? Guangzong, did you eat something and get an upset stomach?"
Zhao Guangzong said, "Mom, we didn't eat much. It just started hurting after we ate!"
As the saying goes, emperors favor their eldest sons, and common people love their youngest children. Zhao Village Chief and Huang Jingui basically gave all the clam meat from that plate to Zhao Yaozu.
Zhao Guangzong only ate two bites.
"Damn it, I'll go fetch the doctor!" Village Chief Zhao hurriedly left.
The doctor Zhao Guangzong invited was an old man named Zhang, who was also a resident doctor at Xue Huaimin's pharmacy.
After examining her through observation, listening, questioning, and palpation, Dr. Zhang shook his head and said, "Let's save your eldest son first!" He then noticed the emaciated little girl beside him, adding, "Your daughter is also quite ill!"
"Your youngest son is probably beyond saving!" Dr. Zhang said.
After taking Zhao Guangzong's pulse, he prescribed a medicine. Huang Jingui and Village Chief Zhao immediately knelt down and said:
"Doctor, please save my child!"
"It's not that I don't want to save him, but he ate too much and is completely exhausted. He's also deeply poisoned. You might as well save the money and do something worthwhile," said Doctor Zhang.
Huang Jingui stood up abruptly, "Bah, what are you! You're just a quack doctor who puts on plasters! How could my perfectly healthy son die?" "It's clearly your own fault for being a bad doctor, yet you blame it on eating too much clam meat! Other families eat clam meat too, and they're fine! If I had known, I would have invited Doctor Xue!"
Dr. Zhang, enraged, pointed at Huang Jingui and said, "You fed him dead clam meat, which is poisonous. Everyone knows you can't eat it. You didn't even give him more water. You were so ignorant, and three or four hours have passed. You even blame me for not being a good doctor!"
Huang Jingui was speechless for a moment because of Doctor Zhang's words. She knelt down with a thud beside the dying Zhao Yaozu: "My son, my darling!"
She glanced at Niu Zhaodi to the side, and Niu Zhaodi was so frightened that she instinctively dodged away. She grabbed Niu Zhaodi and pinched her hard.
"Why wasn't it you who died? It would have been so much better if you had died! If you hadn't picked up those dead clam shells, your brother wouldn't have died! What was the point of you being born?"
Village Chief Zhao remained silent.
Dr. Zhang couldn't stand it anymore and said, "You're clearly ignorant and biased, yet you blame the baby! So many people go through life without having a child, not even a girl, and you still insist on abusing her!"
Huang Jingui cried for a while, then suddenly hated Niu Dajia again. Huang Jingui believed that if Niu Dajia hadn't picked up so many pearls and lake shells from Guhu Lake, she wouldn't have asked her daughter to go and collect lake shells.
That lake was clearly owned by her family.
There is no need to hold a grand funeral for a child who dies young. According to custom, when a child dies young, only a thin coffin can be bought, and two mourners can be hired to bury the child hastily. No funeral can be held.
Then set off a few rolls of firecrackers.
They hired three or four mourners to carry the body out for burial.
The news that Zhao, the village chief's youngest son, had died after eating poisonous clam meat spread quickly.
Chen Yu said, "We clearly wrote that dead clams cannot be eaten!" The Niu family had collected too many dead clam shells a few days ago, probably thousands, and they couldn't get rid of them all at once, so Niu Da temporarily put all the dead clam shells on the lakeside.
It was only today that it was finally cleaned up.
Fortunately, the weather was cool, so the clam meat didn't smell bad. However, they did write that dead clam meat shouldn't be eaten, and most people know that dead clam meat shouldn't be eaten.
Unexpectedly, this happened.
Xiao Fubao, along with the newly arrived Ji Ying and Ji Duo, watched Xiao Heng and Niu Yong feed the fish on the shore of Guhu Lake. Xiao Heng and Niu Yong then took a boat to the middle of the lake.
"You little beast, you're here! Give me back my son's life! My poor son!" Huang Jingui and Village Chief Zhao originally planned to bury the child here in Guhu, but when they saw that Xiao Fubao was also there, they rushed up and pushed Xiao Fubao.
Xiao Fubao was pushed to the ground, and Ji Ying quickly shielded Xiao Fubao behind her.
Ji Duo said, "You unreasonable woman! What does your son's death have to do with Xiao Fu Bao?"
Huang Jingui looked at the seven or eight-year-old boy in front of her and said, "And where did you come from, you bastard? What business is it of yours if I pushed her? And who are you, you little bitch? Get out of my way!"
Zhao, the village chief, was also very saddened by the death of his son. Together with Zhao Guangzong, they tackled Ji Ying and Ji Duo to the ground and began to fight.
The children playing on the lakeside path quickly ran over and told Chen Yu and Niu Da what had happened.
Niu Taisho weeds.
Chen Yu is busy making pickles.
Upon hearing this, he rushed to Guhu.
All I could see were several people locked in a huge brawl, their bodies mangled and bloody, making it impossible to tell who was who. Fortunately, their clothes made them easy to identify.
"Oh dear, what's going on here?" Chen Yu and Niu Da quickly separated the group, only to see Zhao Lizhang, Huang Jingui, Zhao Guangzong, and Ji Duo, Ji Ying, and Niu Yong fighting against each other.
When three large ones face three small ones, the smaller ones are naturally at a disadvantage.
"Second brother, what happened? Where is Xiao Fubao?" Shen Yu asked in surprise, her heart pounding.
Niu Yong was beaten the worst by Village Chief Zhao, and he couldn't even open his mouth to speak.
Ji Ying cried out, "Auntie, Xiao Fubao, they threw Xiao Fubao into the lake! Xiao Heng jumped in and pulled her out!"
Chen Yu and Niu exclaimed in shock, "What? Throw them into the lake?"
Guhu Lake is very deep.
The rotten seashells that were dredged from the bottom of the lake were all collected by three or four skilled fishermen hired by Niu Da, who could hold their breath for fifteen minutes.
Shen Yu's legs went weak, and she turned around and collapsed to the ground. Looking at the gradually calming lake, she cried out, "Little Fu Bao, my daughter! Heng'er!"
Niu Da, along with Zhao Lizhang's family, pounced on them like a fierce wolf. He had worked in the fields for many years and was always full of energy.
Sometimes, pulling the cart would take us through jungles, where we would have to fight wild animals to survive. Although I hadn't fought one in years, I still had that same strength.
Neither the Zhao father nor his son were a match for him. The others tackled Huang Jingui and surrounded Huang to beat her.
"If anything happens to my daughter, not only will you lose your position as village chief, you'll lose your life here!"
Niu Da regretted that he couldn't swim.
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