"They've actually disturbed the village head..."
The villagers looked at each other in dismay. "Young Lady Lu has gotten herself into big trouble again!"
Lu Xingjia's mother quickly stirred things up among the crowd: "If you ask me, Lu Amian is completely abnormal. How could someone like that be a filial daughter? She doesn't fit in at all in the village."
"What kind of good wife would do this? Running around all day, and causing such a commotion."
"That's right, that's right..."
The villager who brought the news gasped for breath, waving his hands frantically, "No, no! Whew..."
Before the words were finished, the sound of gongs and drums could be heard, and a group of people were seen carrying a plaque covered with an apricot-yellow silk cloth. Amid the cheers and laughter, the village headman's face was creased with a smile: "It's good that you're all here, Chief Lu, how have you been? Something great has happened in your village."
Chief Lu quickly put on a smiling face and said cheerfully, "What brings you here, sir?"
The village head pointed mysteriously at the plaque, "The academy in the city heard about the filial daughter from your village, and many people in the city were deeply moved. Fortunately, the villagers pooled their money, and we managed to deliver it today. Chief Lu, why don't you and I unveil it together?"
Lu Xingjia looked at the clan leader with a livid face and disbelief. He wanted to say something, but his father suddenly pulled him from behind.
Amian blinked and saw that among the group of people who came to deliver the plaque, there were indeed some scholars from the academy.
"Good, good indeed!" The clan chief stepped forward, and as soon as the cloth was lifted, the entire village fell silent! Four large, upright characters shone brightly in the sunlight on the plaque—
"Filial piety and benevolence! Excellent!"
The clan chief led the applause, saying, "Our Lu clan values filial piety the most. Lu Amian, why didn't you explain clearly just now? I almost wronged you."
Why is that?
The gathered villagers fell silent. A village woman stammered, "The...the money for the noodles..."
"Then you've misunderstood. The young benefactor said before that he intended to donate the money to our temple to express his filial piety towards his father!"
"So it seems it really was a misunderstanding."
By this time, the villagers, realizing what had happened, were in an uproar. "Xingjia's mother, what you just said was completely off-topic!"
“That’s right. We’ve all eaten this filial piety noodles, and quite a few people only gave us a penny. How can this be considered making money?”
"Ah Mian didn't do anything to you, she just liked playing with her donkey before, how can you say such things about her?!"
Ah Mian nodded repeatedly, "That's right, that's right."
The clan chief was losing face and glanced at Lu Xingjia's father.
"Let you keep making wild guesses and talking nonsense!" The kind-hearted old man quickly kicked Lu Xingjia in the back of the knee. "You'll be forced to kneel in the ancestral hall all night and recite the ancestral precepts in front of everyone!"
This is a very humiliating punishment.
The clan chief sighed, "Next time, don't be so impulsive. Making wild guesses without knowing the facts almost misled everyone!"
Some members of the clan secretly grimaced, but none of them dared to say it openly.
Lu Xingjia fell to his knees, then was kicked twice more hard. His face was ashen and pale, and he muttered, "How could this be... how could this happen..."
On the other side, A-Mian was being praised to the skies. Wang-Wang was also among the crowd presenting the plaque. He pulled A-Mian forward to take a closer look, then placed the plaque on the donkey cart. They were going to return to Qingshan Village in a grand and glorious manner!
"You didn't expect this, did you? This is a surprise I wanted to give you. I suggested that everyone contribute a hundred or so coins so that our academy can produce a filial son. What's wrong with that?" Wangwang blinked.
Amian said, "I'm so proud today. No one will talk about me like this anymore. Thank you."
"It's nothing, a small matter."
I cooked vegetarian noodles in the afternoon, just like yesterday, but all the side dishes I brought were used up.
The enthusiastic villagers of Lujia Village brought some vegetables from their homes and spread the word to their friends and family, turning the incident into a much-talked-about story that will last for five years.
Lu Xingjia, who was in the ancestral hall, was unable to utter a single word. Several younger members of the village were kneeling with him.
"Oh dear, are they going to call in a family disciplinary officer?"
Nothing can stop people from enjoying a good show, regardless of whose show it is, as long as it's not their own.
The crowd was packed in layers, and the clan chief nodded to indicate that it could begin.
"Child...I know I was wrong."
Lu Xingjia was the ringleader and was therefore beaten the most severely and the most, while the others were all flogged dozens of times.
This was a complete and utter humiliation. After the beating, Lu Xing's parents sighed, "Ah Mian is such a good young lady. We must not make things difficult for her again!"
"……yes."
After the vegetarian noodles were sold out, Ah Mian emptied the copper coins from the bamboo box in front of everyone, wrapped them in mourning cloth, and gave them to the monks in the temple.
“Well said, well said, Benefactor Lu…” Two monks came from the temple. The old monk had a completely white beard. He looked at A-Mian with drooping eyelids and remained silent for a long time: “Benefactor, you are a blessed person.”
"What do you mean?" Wangwang asked hurriedly. Meng Chijian, who was tidying up the trinkets, also heard it and stared at him intently.
Regardless of how the world sees it, Ah Mian, whose parents have passed away and who married in a daze, does not seem to fit the image of a "blessed person" in people's minds.
A-Mian didn't quite believe it either, thinking that the monk would only say such nice things because she had donated several hundred copper coins at once.
The old monk placed his hands together in front of his chest and said, "You are a person of great fortune who does not need to cultivate in the temple. I heard the abbot mention you when I was young, but I never thought that I would actually meet such a person one day..."
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