151, the cannibalistic house
151, the cannibalistic house
Before the father and son were about to leave, Lu Youtian came to find Lu Qingfeng and told him that some things had happened in his hometown and that he had to go back to the village. He also asked Lu Qingfeng if he wanted to go back to the city with them.
"Is what happened in your hometown serious?" Lu Qingfeng asked with concern when he saw that Lu Youtian looked not very good.
"Ah." Lu Youtian sighed and told Lu Qingfeng about the sudden death of a niece who had married out in his hometown. "We don't quite understand what happened yet. We need to go back and take a look at the specific situation."
"Oh, I see." Lu Qingfeng also knew that it would be inconvenient for him, an outsider, to follow Lu Youtian back to the village at this time, so he said, "I'm going with you guys. I'll go back to the city. You two go back to your hometown and take a look. If there's anything I can help you with, just let me know."
Lu Youtian nodded, but he was thinking about his own family affairs. They had no reason to bother outsiders. Although they had a good relationship with Lu Qingfeng's family, they could not bother Lu Qingfeng with everything.
When the three of them left, Lu Qingfeng asked his servants to drive a donkey cart to take him back to the city.
A horse-drawn carriage and a donkey-drawn cart were heading back towards Kyoto Prefecture. When they reached the intersection of Shihua Village, the donkey-drawn cart that Lu Qingfeng was riding in continued to go back to the city, while Lu Youtian got on the horse-drawn cart that his son had come to pick him up and went back to the village.
In those days, only the wives of the rich and powerful could ride in carriages, and carriages rarely came into their village. Therefore, when the villagers of Shihua Village saw a carriage coming into their village, they looked at it in surprise, curious about who was sitting in the carriage.
However, this time Lu Youtian was not in as good a mood as the previous two times he came back, so this time the father and son sat in the carriage, and neither of them showed up to greet the villagers.
When the father and son returned to the village, they did not go directly to the Lu family's old house, but went to the old patriarch's house first. Lu Youtian planned to understand the situation first and then return to the Lu family's old house.
Otherwise, if they returned home confused and unclear about the situation, they would do something bad with good intentions. Lu Youtian knew very well the character of his mother and brothers, so he did not rashly take his eldest son home.
The carriage went all the way to the door of their clan leader's house, and then Lu Youtian and Lu Mingfei, father and son, got off the carriage.
Patriarch Lu was not too surprised to see Lu Youtian and his son coming back.
As the old man got older, his physical and mental state were not as good as before. In addition, he had to deal with various trivial matters in the tribe. It can be said that the old patriarch's remaining energy was consumed year by year, and his face revealed a bit of fatigue.
"You two take a seat."
"Thank you, Master Wu."
After Lu Youtian expressed his gratitude, he took his son to sit down opposite the old patriarch.
After the father and son sat down, Patriarch Lu asked, "You two came back because of something going on in your family, right?"
"Yes, that's right. I've been working in the fields these two days and haven't returned to the city yet, so I didn't know what happened at the old house. It was only when Mingfei came to the fields to find me today that I learned about it, and then we rushed back to the village." Lu Youtian's words explained why such a thing happened in his hometown and why his uncle only returned today.
"I only heard Ming Fei say a few words, and I don't really understand what's going on here. It's only been a short time since a good girl got married, and now she's gone just like that."
After all, the one who died was a girl from the Lu family, their niece who had grown up in front of their own eyes. Lu Youtian felt a little depressed and sad when he thought that such a good girl passed away not long after getting married.
Patriarch Lu nodded, and with his cloudy eyes he looked at the father and son sitting in front of him. He sighed and said, "Don't worry about this matter, the two of you."
"We can't take care of this matter, and you two are not suitable to take care of it."
"We can't afford to offend them. Mingfei will continue to study and take the imperial examinations. If nothing unexpected happens, he will definitely become an official in the imperial court. If we offend them now, we're afraid they will hinder the students in our clan and affect their future."
"Besides, your father and mother took the silver, and they have promised not to pursue this matter anymore." Especially the last point, it is even less appropriate for people in their clan to come forward to deal with this matter.
Furthermore, in the heart of the old clan leader Lu, he did not want to offend the powerful because of a girl who married out. He felt it was not worth it to sacrifice the future of his own descendants and the descendants of the clan to get justice for a girl who married out.
Fortunately, those two greedy people, Lu Gensheng and Old Wang, took other people's money and no longer pursued the matter, so he, the clan leader, was spared from embarrassment and trouble. In this regard, he felt that Lu Gensheng and Old Wang had done a good thing.
After hearing the old patriarch's words, Lu Youtian's face grew increasingly gloomy. Although he had anticipated that his greedy mother would do such a thing, when he actually heard her do it, he still felt very sad for his deceased niece.
Lu Youtian thought of the girl who had worked hard at home since she was a child. She was sold once by her family when she was alive, and sold again by her family after she died.
Lu Mingfei also felt sad and angry for his dead cousin. He was sad that in this world, there were countless women like his cousin who became tools for their families to exchange for betrothal gifts. Even in later generations, there were still many girls in such a position.
What made him angry was that these women were exploited by their families when they were alive, and even after they died, their greedy relatives squeezed out every last bit of value!
"What did my second uncle say?" Lu Mingfei asked the old patriarch.
"If your second uncle and his wife hadn't agreed, they wouldn't have married off such a good girl to someone else as a concubine. Now that she's dead, they're crying, but it's too late." Patriarch Lu, at this age, has seen through human nature. "Whatever they say now is useless."
"You two haven't returned to your homes yet, have you?"
"Not yet." Lu Youtian shook his head.
"If you two want to go back, go back and take a look. However, I suggest that you return to the city and take care of your own affairs, and don't get involved in these things. Even if you want to, you can't." Patriarch Lu knew that the father and son had made a special trip back, which was very thoughtful of him. However, from his perspective as the patriarch, he didn't want the father and son to get involved in the affairs of the Lu family's old house.
The old man looked at the handsome young man in front of him, and said with hope in his eyes: "Son, when you go back to the city, you must study hard. Our Lu family has not produced any capable officials in a hundred years. In this generation, you and our brother Qin are the only ones who can read. You two should study hard and strive to make a name for yourself in the future."
"A family without capable officials will only be bullied. If you don't want to be bullied, you must become the support of your family members."
"Mingfei will remember the teachings of the Fifth Master." Lu Mingfei stood up and saluted the old patriarch.
Later, the father and son sat in the old patriarch's house for a while, then got up and said goodbye.
***
After leaving the old patriarch, the father and son returned to the Lu family's old house.
Before they even entered the house, the father and son heard the sound of someone arguing in the old house.
In the Lu family's courtyard, Xiao Wang from the second branch of the family was standing with her hands on her hips, arguing with her mother-in-law: "You sold our Dahua once when she was alive, and you sold her again after she died. You only have eyes for the first branch of the family, only for your eldest grandson. When have you ever seen the descendants of our other branches?"
"How can it be considered a sale? That's the compensation they gave us!" Old Mrs. Lu firmly refused to admit that they sold their granddaughter. "I found such a good family for Dahua, you should thank me!"
"Oh! Compensation? Then why don't you give us the silver?"
What infuriated Xiao Wang the most was that not only had the betrothal money of her eldest daughter been paid into the public treasury, but now that her eldest daughter had died, the compensation money given by her parents-in-law had also been used to pay into the public treasury, ending up in the hands of the eldest wife. She had lost a daughter, and she hadn't gained anything at all!
"Take Dalang, who talked about studying all the time. He studied for more than ten years, spent all the money in the family, and only came back with the qualification of a student! We, the second, third, and fourth wives, supported him to study for more than ten years. What benefit did we get?"
"You've taken the money our Dahua risked her life for, and you're giving it to the eldest wife, to your wonderful grandson!"
At this time, Lu Laoer was sitting in the house, listening to the two women quarreling outside. He grabbed his hair in pain with his hands, and did not go out.
Lu Mingfei and his father stood outside the Lu family's courtyard, listening to the two women arguing inside, and the father and son's faces became more and more gloomy.
"Let's go, let's go back." Standing outside and listening to the quarrel inside, Lu Youtian no longer wanted to go in.
Lu Mingfei nodded and followed his father.
The carriage entered the village not long before leaving again.
It was not until the carriage left that the people in Shihua Village realized that the people who had just come in by carriage were Lu Youtian and his son.
At this time, Lu Mingfei and his father were sitting in the carriage. Seeing that his father's face had not been good all the way, he called out worriedly, "Father."
"Dad is fine, don't worry." Lu Youtian wiped his face with his hand. He really didn't know what to say about his niece. "Let's try to come back to Shihua Village less often in the future."
"It's a good thing we separated at the beginning. Otherwise, who knows who would be sold today." Thinking of those years when their family had not separated and lived on their own, all the hard and dirty work at home was done by the couple.
Not only did they do all the dirty work, but they also didn't get a good life at home. Thinking of his niece's death today, Lu Youtian was just thankful that his family had left that quagmire early. Otherwise, who knows who would have been sold by that family for money today.
After all, he himself had experienced such a thing once before. So, what on earth did he expect from such a family? Author's words: Thank you Bole 9492239 (9492239) for your support, mua! To know more exciting content, please leave me a message on Liancheng Reading
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