Without giving Wu Tiezhu a chance to speak, he asked Village Chief Wu, "Village Chief Wu, what do you think we should do about this?"
Recently, the news that He Jinshu was going to marry a young man from Shenjia Village had caused a lot of buzz in the village, and Village Chief Wu naturally heard some gossip as well.
It is common knowledge that Wujia Village and Shenjia Village have been at odds for years. Now that the He family wants to marry into the Shen family, it has naturally caused dissatisfaction among many people.
The dissatisfaction was not entirely due to bad relationships, but mostly due to jealousy. They were jealous that the He family had married into the wealthy Shen family, and they were jealous that their family did not have such good luck.
Another reason is that He Jinshu only gave the land tax exemption quota to a few families with whom he had good relations, which naturally caused dissatisfaction among other families in the village.
Although He Jinshu was a scholar and Dong Liguo valued people with books the most, He Jinshu was a rather aloof person and always kept to himself. The people in the village did not have a close relationship with him.
Furthermore, Wujia Village was poor. Once people were living in poverty and even having food was a problem, who would care whether they were a scholar or not? Being able to eat was the most important thing. Therefore, when the news of this marriage came out, some people in the village became even more resentful of the He family.
When Village Chief Wu first heard the gossip, he thought it would be over after everyone talked it over, but he didn't expect these children to actually throw clods of earth at other people's doors.
Thinking of this, Village Chief Wu asked Chen Zhen, "What do you want to do?"
Just as Chen Zhen was about to speak, she heard crying and shouting outside the door. Wu Tiezhu's mother ran in, shouting, "Tiezhu, I heard you were beaten? Who beat you?"
When Wu Tiezhu heard the voice, he immediately ran to his mother, bursting into tears. After hugging her, he cried and said, "Mom, it was that money-loser. He beat me up. It hurt so much."
After saying this, he did not forget to point his finger at Chen Zhen who was standing beside him.
Tie Zhu's mother looked up and saw that it was Chen Chen. She immediately scolded him, "It's you again, you money-loser. Last time, not only did you steal our money, but now you're hitting my son again. What on earth do you want to do?"
"What am I doing?" Chen Chen snorted, "Why don't you ask your son what he did? It really is true that like parents, like son."
"You..." Tiezhu's mother pointed at him angrily without saying a complete sentence.
Chen Zhen was too lazy to nag her and went straight to Village Chief Wu, saying, "Today, this little bastard must go to the He family to apologize. For the next three days, he must shout at the He family's door a hundred times a day, 'He Jinshu is handsome, knowledgeable, open-minded, upright, and friendly to his neighbors.' Do you agree with this?"
Village Chief Wu couldn't help but froze when he heard this. He didn't expect Chen Zhen to make such a request. But it was useless even if he agreed to it. He had to get the consent of Wu Tiezhu and his family.
After all, insulting the scholar wouldn't sound good to anyone, so Village Chief Wu said to Tiezhu's mother, "Tiezhu was wrong in this matter. Just do as this young man says."
"I don't want to, mother. I don't want to say that. Didn't you say that the young scholar married that money-losing woman because he was attracted by the Shen family's money? Then isn't he a traitor to our Wujia Village and a person who despises the poor and loves the rich? What's wrong with what I said?" Wu Tiezhu retorted loudly when he heard what Village Chief Wu said.
Upon hearing this, Tie Zhu's mother also said, "Yes, Village Chief, who are we to say that? Is there anything wrong with what my son said? Many people in the village wanted to propose marriage to He Xiucai before, but what happened? None of them succeeded.
Isn't it because we're poor that they don't want to marry us? Now this guy came to propose marriage and they immediately agreed. Isn't this just being scornful of the poor and in love with the rich? "
Grandma He stepped forward from the crowd and retorted, "Don't talk nonsense. Our Xiaoshu is not that kind of person. He was just too young and didn't want to get married, so he didn't agree to the marriage."
Upon hearing this, Tie Zhu's mother sneered at first, then said, "I remember that Mr. Wu came to your house to propose marriage to his son at the end of last year, right? How come you didn't agree last year, but agreed just a few months later? Isn't it because you saw the Shen family as rich that you went to marry her?"
Grandma He was about to refute her but was stopped by Chen Zhen. Then Chen Zhen asked, "So you don't want to apologize or shout slogans in front of the He family's door?"
Tie Zhu Niang thought that her words had left the man unable to refute her, so she said smugly, "We didn't say anything wrong, why should we apologize?"
Seeing this, Chen Zhen didn't say anything. He directly took out a handful of silver from his pocket, about 10 taels, and said to the onlookers: "Do you see this silver? I'm looking for five people now. As long as you pour a basin of manure on their door every day for five consecutive days, the silver will be yours."
After saying that, he pointed in the direction of Tiezhu Niang.
When the people of Wujia Village saw Chen Zhen casually take out so much silver, their eyes immediately lit up, but due to the friendship between fellow villagers, no one dared to step forward to accept the task.
Seeing that no one moved, Chen Zhen grabbed another handful of silver and said to everyone, "I'll give you one more chance. If no one wants it, I'll go find someone else."
As soon as he finished speaking, a woman who usually didn't get along with Tie Zhu's mother came out first and said, "Little brother, I'll go."
She has been at odds with Tiezhu's family for a long time and has long disliked them. Now she can get some money and vent her anger. Only a fool would not do it.
After she came out, it was like a switch was turned on, and a few more people came out one after another.
When Chen Zhen saw that everyone was gathered, he said directly: "I will give you today's silver first. After taking the money, go and do your work. After you finish your work every day, come to the He family to ask me for silver and money."
After saying that, he gave each person a small piece of silver, about one or two taels of silver.
The first woman who stepped forward took the money and said, "Don't worry, young man, I'll get to work right away."
After saying that, he took the money and walked away with a happy face. Isn't it just pouring a basin of shit? This is not simple.
The others took the money and left the village chief's house one after another.
Tie Zhu's mother looked at those who took the money and left, and said angrily: "You, you are shameless in asking for money. You actually helped an outsider. You are not worthy of being people of Wujia Village."
Chen Zhen stood aside and watched Tie Zhu's mother's exasperated look. He said calmly, "If you don't do as I say, I'll get someone to throw manure at your house every day until you agree. Anyway, you know I'm rich, and I'm not afraid to spend money."
Then he added, "And for those kids I didn't catch, you'd better do as I say. Don't think that just because I didn't catch you, I don't know who you are. I remember your appearance in my mind!
Including the one I captured, there are six of you in total. As long as you are still in Wujia Village, I will find you sooner or later. If you don't do as I say, your family will suffer the same fate as theirs."
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