Chapter 38
"What are you angry about?"
“Angry…” Mai Xiang gritted her teeth and lowered her head.
She was angry that when you were bullied just now, neither she nor your mother helped her.
"I'm not angry." Gu Ran smiled and shook his head. "I didn't take your ointment because Pei Liuniang's ointment is already available. I'll keep your ointment for your mother, father, and brother!"
"real?"
"real!"
It was indeed true. Gu Ran had not expected their help from the very beginning. After all, they had just met by chance and she was not related to them. She could not expect too much from them. It was already good enough if they did not cause trouble for her.
This is what Gu Ran thought when he first met them: as long as they live in peace and harmony, it will be a sunny day.
Because there was no expectation, there was no disappointment.
As for Pei Liuniang, haha, isn’t she her accomplice?
She hadn't thought about how reliable this accomplice was, but it was still acceptable to receive some benefits, such as temporary companionship, eating some of her dried meat, or using the ointment she handed over with peace of mind at this time.
An accomplice!
Seeing that Gu Ran was really not angry, Mai Xiang finally felt relieved. She offered a few awkward words of comfort before returning to her mother.
Gu Ran took the ointment, unscrewed the lid, saw the white paste inside, and was about to touch it with his fingers, but was caught by Pei Liuniang.
"?"
"I'll do it."
Pei Liuniang took the rag and wiped Gu Ran's face carefully again, then cleared the dust off the wound and applied ointment.
Now that the application was complete, Gu Ran stretched out his hands and asked Pei Liuniang to treat the abrasions on his palms near his wrists.
When falling to the ground, people will subconsciously protect themselves, and the first thing they will do is to support themselves with their hands, so this is where they get hurt the most.
Gu Ran was afraid that when he set off tomorrow, the officer would see that he had too few visible injuries and think that his injuries were not serious. So he asked Pei Liuniang to tear some strips of cloth, wrap them around his wrists and palms, and then wrap them around his forehead. In this way, a seriously injured patient was rescued.
"I want to change my clothes."
After treating the wound, Gu Ran said, "Can you help me apply some medicine to the wound on my body?" As she said that, she took off her cotton prison uniform. When she was about to grab her undershirt and lift it up, Pei Liuniang quickly grabbed it and pushed it down.
"?" Gu Ran looked at her in confusion.
"You, clean the wounds on your body yourself, and change your clothes yourself." Pei Liuniang said with a slight stutter, stuffed the ointment into her hand, and then turned around quickly, "I, I'll help you watch."
In the Great Sheng Dynasty, it would be embarrassing for a woman to look at another woman's body?
Gu Ran felt relieved when he thought about it.
So he turned around, with his back to Pei Liuniang, grabbed his clothes and looked at the wounds on his body: he was kicked in the abdomen, hit hard in the back, and stepped on. These three injuries were probably the most serious, followed by various minor abrasions.
Gu Ran applied ointment to each wound one by one, waited for a while, took off his undershirt, still wearing the small inner garment, and put on the newly issued prison uniform.
After putting it on, I realized that the dirty places on the prison uniform had been wiped and it was much cleaner.
Was it Pei Liu who cleaned it up?
Gu Ran was delighted. He glanced back at Pei Liuniang and raised the corners of his mouth.
Having an accomplice is pretty good.
After what happened that day, no female prisoner dared to cause trouble for Gu Ran anymore. Even the female members of the Qin family stayed away from him when they saw him.
Gu Ran felt relieved and at ease.
When they set off the next day, Shan Yi, whose leg had been broken, was left at the Quzhou government office.
It was impossible for the officials to escort such an exile who could not walk, especially since Shan Yi was pregnant. It would take a donkey cart just to move her, and someone would need to take care of her eating, drinking, defecating and urinating on the road. How could the officials do such a troublesome thing?
So he handed over the documents to the government at the Quzhou government office and had Shan Yi detained there.
She has no relatives and no one to take care of her. Unless a miracle happens, Aunt Shan will be left in prison waiting to die.
Without Aunt Shan, the group of female prisoners suddenly felt less oppressive and the atmosphere became much more harmonious.
After another half month of smooth journey, Gu Ran and others entered Fujian and arrived at the first provincial capital: Puzhou.
Here, all prisoners will have their identities and appearances checked according to the official documents received by the Puzhou government office early in the morning, and then prepare the first case record in Fujian. Then, based on the criminal records of the official residences where they committed crimes, they will check what crimes they have committed, whether they are minor or serious offenses, and based on their performance during the exile journey, the officials will decide together with the chief officer to which area in Fujian each prisoner should be exiled.
In other words, whether the exile's future living place is good or bad is basically determined by the Puzhou government.
Many prisoners who understood this were worried.
Once the place of exile is determined, it cannot be changed.
People like them, after being escorted to the reform site by Puzhou officials, will be registered by the local government and basically have to be inspected by officials sent by the government every thirty days.
To see if you have settled down peacefully and whether you are likely to run away.
Second, see if you work hard and pay taxes to the government on time.
During the Dasheng Dynasty, each person could own 20 mu of land, and the tax was one-thirtieth.
Basically, the prisoners exiled to Fujian could be allocated ten acres of land per household, regardless of the quality of the land. As for the other ten acres, they had to reclaim the land and cultivate it themselves.
Within two years, taxes will be paid to the government at the rate of one-tenth of ten acres of land. From the third year onwards, taxes will be paid at the rate of one-tenth of twenty acres of land. After at least the fifth year, starting from the sixth year, one will enjoy the same tax system of one-thirty as ordinary citizens.
That's what exile is all about.
First, there is a large amount of human resources to transform the barren land in Minzhou into fertile fields, and second, to increase grain income for the court.
Five years later, the exiles who have settled down in the border areas of Minzhou will naturally multiply and prosper. As they have more offspring, the demand for arable land will increase. Naturally, they will take the initiative to reclaim more wasteland and cultivate it in order to obtain more food to sustain their family.
In this way, there will be more and more fertile land in Minzhou, the population will increase, and the amount of grain harvested will naturally increase.
Minzhou is a wilderness, but naturally it has become fertile and livable as the scope of human activities has expanded year by year.
Whether in the east or the west, the territorial development was similar and was all built in this way.
As early as the founding of the Dasheng Dynasty, it had increased its efforts to develop the southern border, because the climate in the southern border is more suitable for growing rice as the staple food than other places, and often one crop can produce two or even three seasons.
In Fujian, there were many areas that were once unsuitable for ordinary people to live in. With the increase in the number of immigrants ordered by the imperial court, more and more fertile land was reclaimed. However, for the vast wilderness and forests, the number of immigrants was far less than the demand, so more and more exiles were sent here.
When the exiles who finally arrived in Fujian were discussing their possible destinations and inquiring about settlement policies, Gu Ran found Chen Jie Guan, and Mrs. Qin and Qin Zhikai of the Qin family also found Chen Jie Guan.
The two parties came together for the same goal: divorce.
Gu Ran was unwilling to be tied to someone who had nothing to do with him at all, and the Qin family was afraid that if they allowed Qin Zhikai and Gu Ran to be husband and wife, they would get into trouble: first, they were afraid of provoking revenge from bandits, and second, they were afraid of being implicated and being exiled to the wilderness of Fujian.
Chen Jie Guan was the one who had been privately entrusted by Prime Minister Qin's disciples to help take care of the Qin family during their exile. Therefore, as long as it was permitted by government decrees, he had never made things difficult for the Qin family.
I didn't expect to hear them all saying they wanted to divorce.
Although I don't know how dirty the Qin family women were in private, but from the fact that Gu was seriously ill in Qingyi and everyone in the Qin family thought she was going to die, so they abandoned her, it can be seen that Gu was really not valued by the Qin family. It was inevitable that she would be dissatisfied with the Qin family after she came back to life.
"Have you thought it through? If you divorce Qin Si, you will be the only woman in the household in the future. You will be responsible for paying the tax for cultivating ten acres of land. In addition, you will need to reclaim ten acres of wasteland within two years. Can you, a woman, do it?" Chen Jieguan asked.
Not to mention, if she were alone, based on her performance during exile, she probably wouldn't be assigned to a good place.
"This is my business. Lord Chen doesn't have to worry about me." Gu Ran insisted.
"That's right, Lord Chen. This is a matter between our Qin family and her Gu family. I hope Lord Chen can help us." Qin Zhikai also hurriedly expressed his opinion.
"Since both of you insist on doing so, I will listen to your opinion!" Chen Jieguan glanced at Gu Ran again, and led the Qin family and Gu Ran to the Puzhou Ministry of Revenue.
Soon, the Puzhou Household Department prepared two divorce agreements for the Qin family and Gu Ran, and issued two separate household registration certificates.
Gu Ran breathed a sigh of relief holding the divorce certificate and household registration that proved that she had severed her relationship with the strange man. Qin Zhikai also breathed a sigh of relief when he looked at the divorce certificate and household registration that did not have Gu Ran's name on it, proving that he and the Qin family had no connection with Gu Ran anymore.
"As for the place of exile, please wait outside. Once the decision is made, the names will be announced."
"Yes, sir."
When Gu Ran walked out with ease, the Qin family members all smiled with satisfaction.
"Finally got rid of this trouble."
Mr. Qin Sanye breathed a sigh of relief, glanced at his fourth brother, and Qin Zhikai nodded slightly.
"That's great. We don't have to worry about being hunted down by bandits because of her misbehavior." Grandma Qin San breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's right. Women from families like that shouldn't have married into our Qin family." Mrs. Qin nodded. "Now we can trace back to the origins of our Qin family."
"Brother, look, she doesn't have the Qin family to rely on. How can she survive in the future?" Qin Sanniang also walked to her brother's side. "Master Chen said that she has to cultivate ten acres of land and open up ten acres of land by herself. Is that up to her?"
"She may think she is very capable, so a mere twenty acres of land is no problem for her!" Grandma Qin San sneered.
"Don't come back to my brother in the future because you can't make a living and regret it!" Qin Sanniang nodded and looked at her brother worriedly.
"That won't do. Even if she comes back, I will never get back together with her." Qin Zhikai shook his head repeatedly.
That shrew who could fight with a thief in public was so uncivilized, yet so vicious and ferocious, he would not accept her even if she was given to him.
"Alright, this matter is settled. From now on, our Qin family and the Gu family will go their separate ways."
When the Qin family walked out and returned to the outside of the prison, the local officials from Puzhou were already calling out the names of the prisoners.
When they arrived in Puzhou, the escorting officers and runners had completed their mission.
Later, the Puzhou officials will review and check the prisoners handed over, and evaluate the performance of the officials and officials based on the number and condition of the prisoners delivered, and sign a document.
The dismissed officials would return to their place of work to receive their rewards according to the document.
Of course, on the return journey, some officials would also receive tasks assigned by the Puzhou government, such as helping to transport tributes or supplies, and escorting some important criminals who were to be returned to Beijing for trial, and other official duties. Some officials would return home on their own.
In short, Chen Jieguan and Li Jieguan have nothing to do with Gu Ran and the others.
This is indeed the case.
After they were imprisoned, they never saw the officers who escorted them again.
Gu Ran already knew where he was going to settle down.
Xiaxi Village, Yongchang County, under the jurisdiction of Jianzhou.
It is one of the most remote places in Fujian. It is said to be deep in the most desolate forest in Fujian. It is sparsely populated and has a harsh environment. Almost few people can survive there for a long time.
The Qin family members who found out where Gu Ran had gone breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, I broke up with her early, otherwise I would have followed her to Xiaxi Village.
Gu Ran listened to what others were saying and still maintained an attitude of making the best of things.
"Sister Gu, we were also exiled to Jianzhou, but not to the same place as you."
Uncle Mai was also a serious criminal and was also assigned to the remote Jianzhou, but they went to a small village in Nanyu County.
Gu Ran turned around and asked his accomplice, "What about you? Liu Niang, where were you sent to?"
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