Chapter 87 Chapter 87 Reward
On this day, Kang He and Fan Jing went to the outer village to slaughter pigs. There were three families in Tieshi Village who wanted to slaughter pigs, two of them were slaughtering New Year pigs, and one was slaughtering pigs to sell to them.
Just get it ready and go over to get it done.
Kang He sat in the car, calculating how many copper coins he had earned from slaughtering pigs at the end of the year.
After a while, I found that I had earned at least five strings of cash.
The pork stall had been open for a long time, and everyone knew that there was such a place where pigs could be slaughtered. If they couldn't hire a butcher to slaughter the New Year pig, they now had someone to call.
People were happy to ask the couple to slaughter the pig, and even if the day they asked was tight and they couldn't get a number, they were still willing to wait.
It turned out that Kang He and Fan Jing had previously gone to various villages to slaughter pigs, and they would always take some things away from the farmers in the village to save them from going to the city.
They slaughtered pigs in the village and sold them in the village on the same day. When the farmers in the village came to buy the meat, they would give them a profit of one or two copper coins per pound of pork, which was specifically to benefit the farmers.
Their reputation has been good over the past two years, and the villagers remember their kindness. They always invite them to slaughter pigs.
Last year, Fan Jing was too busy to go out to slaughter pigs, but this year he went all over the place.
"Dajing, hurry up and stop at the edge."
Upon hearing this, Fan Jing glanced at Kang He and said, "What are you doing now?"
"I ate two extra bowls of hot soup before leaving. The snow on the official road melted into puddles, and the car was shaking and bumping along. It was really unbearable."
As he spoke, the donkey cart stopped, and Kang He stood up from the cart in a hurry, adjusted his belt, and rushed into the woods beside the official road.
Fan Jing let out a breath of cold air, thinking that this guy was really troublesome.
He took out the water bag and drank some hot water. The boiling water he had filled his bottle with before leaving was now lukewarm.
"You won't go with me?"
When Fan Jing heard the sound, he turned his head and saw Kang He poking his head out from the front of the woods.
"What's the point of going together?"
Fan Jing said, "What can we do if the cart and donkey are left on the official road without anyone watching?"
Kang He said, "You only care about the cart and the donkey. Aren't you afraid that I will let someone take them away?"
"Come on, come quickly!"
Fan Jing thought, "You're such a grown-up, if you don't follow me, who can stop you?" He frowned, his face full of disdain, but he still jumped off the cart.
"I've already gone back."
Kang He smiled and pulled the person along: "You keep watch with me, I'll be steady."
"What's so solid about it? When two people stand together, you have to take another look at anything you don't want to see."
Kang He looked at the longbow in his hand and said, "You say you don't want to use it, but you still hold the bow. Who would dare to look at you when you hold this bow?"
"I shoot birds."
Kang He felt a chill in his back: "This is not a good fight."
Fan Jing glared at him and asked, "Are you going or not?"
"Go, go."
The two of them went into the woods together, making the snow crunch under their feet. Kang He walked a little further away from his teacher to relieve himself.
Fan Jing glanced at the man's back and had no interest in staring at him.
He listened to the birds singing in the trees and looked for any jays or wild pigeons. If he saw any, he would catch a few and make soup with them. Eating them in this weather would be warming and nourishing, and it would be just the right amount of good meat for Dafu, who had just been weaned.
Fan Jing pricked up his ears and became a different person as soon as he entered the forest, becoming extremely alert.
His eyes followed the woods and he suddenly stood still. He did not hear the sounds of pigeons and cuckoos, but he heard a strange sound first. He frowned and walked towards the sound with light steps.
When I got there, I saw a sneaky-looking woman at the foot of the woods. She was wearing a gray cotton coat and a dark green scarf on her head. She was leading a donkey towards the city.
If it weren't for the donkey, it would be difficult to detect people.
Fan Jingyin hid behind a big tree, thinking that he was hiding in the woods in such weather. He must have either stolen someone's donkey or something else.
He raised his hand and shot an arrow. The bamboo arrow just brushed past the woman's nose, and with a dull sound, it stuck firmly into the tree.
The woman was suddenly hit by a cold arrow. Her eyes rolled back and her legs went weak with fear, and she almost fell to her knees.
"My mother!"
After a while, the man came to his senses and turned around to see a figure with a windproof cloth covering his face leaning towards him.
She couldn't recognize the person and just thought she was unlucky enough to run into a hunter who was trying to get his money.
Lian knelt down and bowed twice in the direction of Fan Jing: "Master, I give you my donkey as a gift. Please give me a place to go."
After saying that, he dropped the donkey and tried to run away.
Fan Jing didn't shoot the arrow at her property. Seeing that she was trying to run away, he quickly chased after her.
It was obvious that this woman often walked in the mountains and her legs were very fast, but once she landed in the woods, there was no way she could escape from the hunters. However, Fan Jing caught her in a moment.
"I am not worth the silver, but the donkey is worth the money. Please let me go."
The woman begged for mercy, but one of her hands went to her waist. Fan Jing knew what she was thinking by looking at her action. He shook it hard, and a small knife hidden in the woman's waist fell to the ground.
People just stared at the knife on the snow, but they couldn't get it.
Kanghe went to the bathroom and squatted in a puddle to wash his hands. The snow water froze his fingers and made them red.
He exhaled and rubbed his hands, then turned around and found Fan Jing was gone.
"Dajing!?"
Kang He walked and shouted twice.
“Come this way!”
Kang He didn't see anyone, he just heard a voice.
He heard Fan Jing's voice coming from the other side of the woods. It was a little different from his usual light voice. He felt something was wrong, so he subconsciously grabbed the knife at his waist and ran over quickly.
"Oh my! You're going to break my arm! Kind brother, please let me go."
When Kang He went over, he saw Fan Jing grabbing a woman's arm and hitting her on the back, holding her tightly.
There was a donkey about two or three feet away. The donkey was carrying two sacks and was circling anxiously on the ground.
Kang He almost ran over: "What's going on?"
Fan Jing didn't say anything, but forced the woman who was being held down to raise her head a little. Kang He felt that the face looked familiar, as if he had seen her somewhere before, but at the same time, she looked clearly unfamiliar.
The woman was thin and looked to be no more than forty years old. Her hair, which was wrapped in a headscarf, had fallen down due to Fan Jing's strong control, and it was actually gray.
"You're the old woman!"
Kang He identified the person immediately.
If I hadn't looked at it so closely from such a close distance, I really wouldn't have been able to recognize it for a while.
Fan Jing just felt that the woman was acting suspiciously and something was wrong, so he was so busy subduing her that he didn't even take a look at what she looked like.
Hearing Kang He say this, he was also surprised and turned to look at the woman's face carefully.
I really felt that she looked familiar. Her eyes, nose and mouth were exactly the same as the old woman who came home that day, but her face was not as wrinkled and old as the one I saw before.
The two were horrified. Fan Jing said, "Go and see what the donkey is carrying."
Kang He hurried over and took off the sack from the donkey. There were a few air holes on the sack, so it was still very heavy when he lifted it.
He carefully placed it on the ground and untied it, revealing a child of three or four years old!
The person had already passed out, and he patted his face gently but he didn't wake up.
Kang He quickly untied the other sack, and found a child who was only two years old inside.
"You're such a heartless bastard! You're such a pity you're still out doing such evil things in the freezing cold!"
He was extremely angry. If it wasn't a woman, he would have really wanted to kick her.
The woman thrashed about, trying to pounce on the two children: "They are my children, those are my children!"
"You've been caught red-handed, and you still dare to argue! You had the heart to put your own child in a sack and lead your donkey through this forest, afraid someone would see you on the easy-to-travel official road!"
Kang He said, "You went to the village earlier and deceived people by saying you were a relative of the Xu family in Aozi. Now you've changed your appearance and are stealing children from somewhere else! I only regret that my family didn't catch you that day!"
The woman saw the two men again. Although she didn't see their faces clearly, she remembered who they were.
She knew that she had fallen into the hands of two experts and that it would be difficult for her to escape. Her eyes immediately became fierce.
"It's a pity I didn't get your doll. If I had, I would have made a fortune!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the woman screamed, and Fan Jing hit her arm, making a dull sound.
Kang He couldn't stand it any longer and kicked her: "You still dare to think about my baby? I have two new vicious dogs at home, waiting for you to come to my house, bite off your hands and feet, and tear off your skin and flesh to eat."
The beggar was in so much pain that cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and he dared not shout at the two men anymore.
This woman was so cunning and clever that she knocked the two children unconscious and put them in sacks. Instead of taking the open road, she hid in the woods.
I was afraid that it was the donkey walking and making a loud noise, so I wrapped the donkey's hooves with cloth.
It was cold in winter, and the forest was even colder. It had snowed for a few days, and thick snow was piled up everywhere in the forest. No one would easily walk into the forest.
The talented general Fan Jing wanted to shoot birds. He had always had sharper ears than others. He heard the faint grunting of a donkey in the forest and thought it was a bit strange. So he followed the sound and came here. Otherwise, the two children would have really let her sell the donkey.
The two men tied up the woman, led the donkey, carried the child, and took them all to the official road.
After this happened, there was no time to kill the pig. I had to go to the city and report to the authorities immediately.
Fortunately, I happened to meet a group of farmers returning to the village on the official road.
When they heard that the two men had caught the kidnapper, they were all very angry. They rolled up their sleeves and wanted to beat up the woman. Jiao Kanghe stopped them. It would be best to hand over such a bad guy to the government for punishment.
Ever since the kidnapper's whereabouts were discovered in Hepingzi, Xu Yang informed the villagers in his own village and then conveyed the news to the head of the village next door.
The news spread among the villages, and many villagers knew about the incident. However, since they did not see the kidnapper enter the village, many villagers only heard about it and did not take it too seriously. If the village had been on alert, how could the kidnapper have stolen the two children?
Now that the kidnapper has been caught, I only just realize how scared I am.
Two men helped Kang He and Fan Jing escort the kidnapper to the city, and another woman and her husband were willing to help Kang He and Fan Jing take a message to the pig-slaughtering village.
Since we can't kill the pig today, it's better to let people know so that they don't wait in vain.
After rushing to the city, several people took the kidnapper directly to the county government office. The government took the case seriously and arrested the kidnapper.
The two children woke up in a daze at this time. When they saw that they were all strangers, they started crying and making a fuss. They called a doctor to see them. Fortunately, they had only inhaled some drugs and were not seriously injured.
The county magistrate ordered the yamen runners to ride horses to deliver the message to each village. When the two families who had lost their children rushed to the government office to pick up their children, it was already dusk. They cried for a long time while holding their children.
Kang He and Fan Jing saw the child and told his parents to take him home. The kidnapping case would not be resolved in one day, and it would still have to be tried in the county court.
Chen Sanfang closed the shop with Qiao'er and went home in a carriage driven by Yihuan. At the city gate, they ran into Kang He and Fan Jing. When they heard what had happened today, they were so scared that their faces turned pale.
"What a cunning kidnapper! She even disguised herself to steal children from the village. She came to our house with such thieves' intentions, and it's her retribution that she ended up in our hands!"
"Poor thing for those two kids! They've frightened their parents and their kids like that. The official deserves eighty strokes of the cane!"
Kang He said, "Now that we've caught one of her kidnappers, I hope we can follow the clues and catch all the kidnappers in the county."
He didn't believe that only that woman was doing this. If that were the case, there wouldn't be children being lost all over the city.
However, after a few days, it was heard that the kidnapper not only admitted his guilt, but also, unable to bear the torture, gave out all the names of his accomplices and the den of thieves.
The government immediately went to arrest the people based on the clues, and in one fell swoop they caught six kidnappers, seized several food toys that were used to knock out and lure children, and rescued three children.
One of them was a boy from a wealthy family in the city. The kidnapper saw that the boy was handsome, so he stole the child and was negotiating the price with the madam of a brothel when he was caught red-handed.
This time, even a brothel in the city was closed down.
The news spread throughout the village, and everyone was very happy.
On this day, a couple named Xie came to the Fan family with a three or four-year-old child. When they saw Kang He and Fan Jing, they taught the child to kowtow to them.
"Luckily, we met two benefactors who outsmarted that kidnapper and saved our child. Otherwise, we don't know where this child would have been sold to."
"The boy was young and had no memories. He was sold to another place. We couldn't find him, and neither could he. These past few days, thinking about this, my wife and I couldn't eat or sleep well."
"That day in the county government office, we should have let our two benefactors go to hell. We lost our children and our souls along with them. We were not polite enough. After making some inquiries, we found out that our benefactors' families were over here."
Kang He quickly pulled the child up and said, "My husband and I are also fathers. How could we tolerate that kidnapper stealing children from respectable families to make a fortune? Moreover, that kidnapper has such evil intentions that he even came to our house to spy on us."
"Now that the child is fine and the kidnapper has been brought to justice, everyone is very happy. I am deeply grateful to you two."
The couple was deeply moved and talked for a long time. It was almost noon when the couple left with their child.
Kanghe invited them to stay for dinner, but the family of three felt embarrassed and just said they would come back to pay New Year's greetings with gifts in the first month of the lunar year.
After the people left, Kang He and Fan Jingcai saw that the family had brought two bags of malt sugar, four pieces of fine cloth, and two baskets of ten quails as gifts.
They didn't ask about the financial situation of the two families whose children were lost, but looking at the Xie family, they seemed to be able to make ends meet, and it was a rare opportunity for farmers to give out these thank-you gifts.
The Xie family came to express their gratitude, and Kang He guessed that another family might also come, but he went there for a long time and there was no news.
One day, when they were at the county pork shop, a very respectable middle-aged man came with two servants carrying a gift box and was very polite.
Kang He and Fan Jing had never seen such a dignified person come to their shop, so they greeted him and asked who he was and what he wanted.
People say that their family is from the city and their surname is Wu. A while ago, their little boy was playing on the street and was suddenly kidnapped by a kidnapper. The family reported the matter to the police but couldn't find him but the search was ongoing.
Kang Heli finally understood. He heard that later when the government cracked down on the kidnappers' den, they rescued three children, one of whom was the son of a wealthy family in the city. He thought he was from this family.
He continued, "This was all the work of the county magistrate. How can we take credit for it? Please don't thank him."
The man said, "If you and your husband hadn't stepped in and captured the kidnapper, how could we have taken advantage of the situation to catch the rest of the kidnappers and rescue our young master?"
"Our husband is deeply grateful. If I don't thank you, I will feel uneasy. I hope you will not refuse."
Kang He refused three times, but people must thank him.
Seeing that the person was really sincere, it was hard to refuse, so he accepted the gift.
After the people left, Kang He and Fan Jing said, "Look, the Wu family is a bit too polite. We rescued their child, but they even prepared gifts to thank us."
Fan Jing said: "It is difficult to be a parent in the world."
Kang He thought about it and agreed. The child was missing and there was no news. They must have been extremely anxious. They reported the matter to the authorities but they were like a headless fly. How could he not be grateful for the clues he got from other sources?
As he spoke, he opened the box and was immediately shocked to find that the box was filled with six silver ingots, each weighing ten taels.
The contents of the other box were quite ordinary, just some festival gifts, but they were not something that ordinary people could use.
Kang He asked, "Who exactly are these Wu family members? Why are they so generous?"
Fan Jing looked at the gift and was also surprised, but he didn't know the Wu family.
It was the beginning of the first lunar month when Third Brother Bao came to their shop to buy some braised goose for people to eat. Kang He invited people to have some hot soup and asked him about it. Only then did he know the whole story.
"There are more than three or two families with the surname Wu in the city. If you're talking about the Wu family that lost their child before the New Year, then it must be the Wu family in West City."
Third Brother Bao said, "The Wu family is a well-known family even in West City, where wealthy families gather. Their family has been engaged in business for generations. The current head of the mansion is Master Wu Ju, and one of his brothers is a high-ranking official in the outer city!"
Kang He also felt that this family had a very impressive background. He said, "How could such a good family allow a kidnapper to steal their child?"
Bao Sange said, "Who can say for sure about this matter? Maybe that kidnapper didn't know the name of the Wu family, and he got upset. Or maybe it's because of his enemies, so he can't explain it clearly."
Kang He sighed when he heard this, but did not ask any further questions. It was no wonder that the Wu family valued the gift so much, as they were a family of scholars.
He gave a braised pig's ear to Brother Bao San to eat, and also brought a jar of wine to give to others, as a way of wishing him a happy new year.
When he had some free time, he learned the words and told them to Fan Jing, saying, "The other day, someone from the Wu family came over, bringing gifts and expressing their love, saying that if you need anything in the future, you can look for them at the Wu family."
"I figured they weren't an ordinary family, but the manager was so polite and reserved, barely revealing anything, and I didn't think much of it. Now I realize they're the kind of people who really deserve to be called to their house if they have any problems."
Fan Jing was not the kind of person who would ask for something in return for a favor. He had already expressed his gratitude for the generous gift that day. If he really encountered trouble, how could he have the nerve to ask for help from others?
Kang He smiled and said, "I think so too. The Wu family is so grateful. I think it's because scholars value gifts, but also because they love their children very much."
He said this with a hidden meaning, referring to the two children he had rescued from the kidnapper that day.
One was from the Xie family. Not only did they bring their children to our house to express their gratitude, they also came to pay New Year’s greetings during the first month of the lunar year. They were mostly kind people.
As for the other family, Kanghe heard from others that they were from a nearby village.
The husband and wife in this family are unreliable people. The husband likes to drink and have fun, and the husband likes to wander around and is not serious. The children in the family often cry because of hunger, and no one cares.
It would be easier for a kidnapper to steal his child than to drink cold water in winter.
I heard that on the day the children were lost, the whole village was told that a kidnapper had been caught on the official road and the two children had been rescued. The couple didn't even realize that their children were missing until the village headman came to their house and discovered them.
Everyone would say that there is no such father.
The child was rescued by someone, and the villagers said that their family should take the child to thank them.
It would be fine if the couple just felt too lazy to do it and refused to go, but they also asked who taught them to rescue the people. Didn't they do it voluntarily?
Kang He didn't know whether the story was true or not, but since the two villages were not very far away and the man had not come to thank him yet, he guessed it was true.
He couldn't help but shake his head. It wasn't that he was thinking about people coming to thank him, but he felt sorry for the child. It was freezing that day, and his little face was frozen red, which made people feel distressed just looking at him.
If I were to marry into a family like this, I wouldn’t know what to do in the future.
In the blink of an eye, it was February. Xu Yang came to the Fan family and gave them twenty taels of silver, saying that it was a reward from the county government.
"Those kidnappers were tried and exiled to the wilderness. Now that the case is closed, the county government will credit you with a merit."
Kang He and Fan Jing felt at ease to accept the commendation. The county government commended those who bravely stepped forward to help others and set an example for the people.
Next, Mr. Wu Jue’s child was missing. He reported the case to the county government but could not find any clues, and the county magistrate was in a difficult position as well.
"If they reward us with a few acres of land, our family will be very happy."
Xu Yang was happy to see Kang and Fan Jing being commended. He had also received verbal praise when he went to the county government office today, so how could he not be happy?
He laughed and said, "One mu of land costs more than ten strings of cash. You still want a few more mu. You are really asking for too much."
Kang He said with a smile: "Farmers are short-sighted. What else can I think about except the land?"
Years ago, he and Fan Jing went out to slaughter pigs and visited many villages. They did find people selling land, but the land was only one acre in the east and seven mu in the west. It would be fine if it was in their own village, but if they bought it from a neighboring village, it would be inconvenient to cultivate and manage it.
Xu Yang said, "Buying good land is like this. It's rare to come across a lot of land that can be sold for ten or eight acres at a time."
He lowered his voice to Kang Heyan, "Don't you see that those who can buy ten or eight acres at once are all wealthy people? Being able to come up with such a large amount of money is one thing, but most of them must have used some tricks to do it."
As for what means, I can tell you, Kang He also knows.
The rich families, on the one hand, are the ones that the poor and small households are willing to sell their land to ingratiate themselves with them, and on the other hand, they don’t have such a sharp eye, as they have plenty of ways to force you to sell your land.
Kang He knew all this very well, and he would never do anything that would force others.
Xu Yang smiled and said, "I know you don't do these things, that's why you can't get the land you want. But don't be upset. If you want to buy land, you can save some money and prepare it."
"What do you mean?"
Xu Yang said, "I just came out of the county government office today, and I heard someone I know at the workshop tell me that they might even be putting wasteland up for sale in a few days."
The world was peaceful for several years. Many people fled or died in the war, and a lot of the land that had been reclaimed was left abandoned. Those ownerless fields were counted and handed over to the court.
Now that the world is at peace, the people should be encouraged to cultivate their land again so that the court can collect more taxes and fill the treasury. The abandoned land will naturally be sold off.
"When the imperial court issued laws and decrees and implemented them locally, the wealthy inevitably exploited them first. The land that actually ended up in the hands of the common people wasn't much, but there was still some. It was all for show, after all."
Xu Yang said, "Those of us who have a few copper coins can just pick up this little bit and spend it."
Kang He laughed and said, "You really dare to say that."
But he was very happy to hear the news.
If he really divides the land for sale this time, he will definitely buy more.
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