Chapter 108 Getting Beaten Up
Gu Wudong took the memorial but didn't dare to look at it too much. He only glanced at the approval document before returning the memorial. "You're really amazing. Even the Minister thinks highly of you."
Du Min smiled faintly and said, "You've been busy with me for quite some time now. Take advantage of your holiday to rest at home for a few days. You don't need to come to the county office during this time."
Gu Wudong agreed and left with the letter.
The clerks in the county government office were all on vacation, but Du Min was still busy. After reading the memorials, he went to the archives to look through documents from previous years to see how the Yellow River floods were managed.
"Third Uncle, where are you? My dad told me to come and call you. We should go to my uncle's house for dinner." Wang Zhou ran over to call him.
Du Min responded, put down the document, and went outside to see Zhou kneading snowballs. He threatened, "I'm going to call your mother!"
Wang Zhou scoffed unhappily and kicked the snowball away.
Open flames were not allowed in the office. Du Min sat inside all day, his body stiff with cold. When he came out, the cold wind made him shiver and his neck tucked in. He couldn't understand why Wang Zhou dared to play in the snow.
"Aren't you cold?" Du Min grabbed his hand.
"It's not cold," Wang Zhou stubbornly insisted.
Du Min glanced at him, then immediately returned to the government office to complain: "Second sister-in-law, your son is secretly playing in the snow again."
Wang Zhou pinched him angrily.
“He also pinched me,” Du Min continued to complain.
"Take it back." Meng Qing was too lazy to resolve the matter. She put on her rabbit-skin hat, took Du Li's arm, and the couple left first.
Du Min rolled his eyes inwardly, and then followed Wang Zhou, who was holding his hand.
A heavy snow fell in the afternoon, covering the ground in a white blanket with few footprints. The streets and alleys were deserted, with only the cold wind swirling and sweeping through the alleys.
"It's so cold!" Meng Qing hid behind Du Li, using him to shield her from the wind.
Du Min looked up at the sky and thought, "I wonder if people will freeze to death in this weather."
Meng Qing paused, turning her head to speak to him. But when she turned around, she noticed two men following her not far away. When they saw her turn around, they quickly lowered their faces.
"What's wrong?" Du Min also turned around.
“The charity school can donate 1,000 strings of cash. Use it to buy warm clothes for the elderly and poor,” Meng Qing said. “Third brother, don’t come back tonight. Stay at my mother’s house.”
Du Min nodded, "Hurry up."
The four quickened their pace, and as they approached Xingjiaofang, Du Min turned back again, only to find that there was no one left on the road behind them.
"Second Sister-in-law, you said the charity school is going to donate a thousand strings of cash to the government?" Du Min was still thinking about this. "Really?"
Meng Qing nodded, "We'll talk about it when we get home."
"They're here, they're here." Meng Chun was waiting outside his house. When he saw them arrive, he complained, "It's almost dark, why are you so late?"
Meng Qing smiled and said, "Come earlier next time."
With the Lunar New Year approaching, she relaxed a bit.
Du Min walked last. Before entering the door, he took a look at the footprints in front of the door, but unfortunately, the snow on the ground had been trampled flat by Meng Chun.
"Come inside quickly, the mutton stew is ready." Meng's mother came out to greet him, and she reached out to cover Wangzhou's face. "Grandma's hands are warm, let me warm them for you."
Wang Zhou wrapped his arms around her waist, "Grandma, you're so kind!"
The four geese heard his voice and honked in the goose shed.
Wang Zhou immediately ran to visit his goose friend.
“You go in first, we’ll wait for Wang Zhou to come with us,” Du Min said.
"The mutton is already stewed, don't delay any longer," Meng's mother instructed.
Du Min nodded. After the voices had faded away, he quietly approached the gate and peered out through the crack, but night had already fallen and he couldn't see anything outside.
Suddenly, the sound of a door opening came from next door. Du Min quickly opened the door and went out. He saw a dark figure walk into the Lu family's house.
"Third brother? Where did he go?" Du Li came out to look for him.
Du Min came in upon hearing the noise. He closed the door and said, "I dropped my purse outside. I'll open the door and see if it's there."
"Found it?"
"No, it looks like it fell on the road. Come on, let's go inside and eat." Du Min pushed Du Li away.
Today, Mencius' parents bought a big, fat sheep and stewed it in fish soup. It has been stewing for half a day now, and the aroma is wonderful.
Du Min entered the room and sat down next to Wang Zhou. He took a bowl of mutton soup and drank a few mouthfuls, and the chill on his body quickly disappeared.
"Second sister-in-law, are you really going to donate a thousand strings of cash to the government in the name of the charity school? When did you come up with this idea? You didn't have this plan when you were negotiating with Minister Zheng in Chang'an, did you?" Du Min asked impatiently.
"Pretty much." Meng Qing nodded. "Minister Zheng can't give me much benefit, so how could I wholeheartedly make money for him? And since the Free Academy is nominally affiliated with the Ministry of Rites, I can't take much money in my private capacity. Instead of giving the remaining money to the Ministry of Rites, it's better to distribute it through you. You benefit, the Free Academy gains recognition, and the remaining profits go to the Ministry of Rites. With a legitimate reason, he can't complain if he doesn't get a little profit."
Du Min exclaimed, "Wow! Second sister-in-law, you're so kind!"
After saying that, he snatched the spoon and said, "Second sister-in-law, give me the bowl, I'll serve you some mutton."
Meng Qing handed him the bowl.
"Qingniang, how much will you get in return?" Meng's mother asked, concerned about her daughter. "How much money will you make? Don't work for nothing."
"Don't worry, I won't mistreat myself," Meng Qing said without revealing his true intentions.
"Don't ask," Meng's father reminded him. The free school was managed entirely by Meng Qing, and whatever the income was, she would write it down.
Du Min picked out a bowl of good meat and handed it to Meng Qing, asking, "Can you give me the money tomorrow? Can you donate a little more?"
“You’re really greedy.” Meng Qing shook his head. “You should gather the village chiefs to get the facts straight first.”
Seeing that there was a way, Du Min stayed up all night and worked on a plan to help the elderly and poor.
*
The next day.
Du Min, along with Du Li and Meng Chun, left Xingjiaofang early. He arranged for the yamen runners on duty to call back the Sihu Zuo and all the yamen runners, and summoned the eleven village chiefs of Heqing County to the county yamen to discuss matters.
Afterwards, with the thousand strings of cash donated by Meng Qing, Du Min led his yamen runners in a donkey cart to the flour shop to buy three thousand shi of flour, to the clothing shop to buy one thousand sets of winter clothes made of reed catkins mixed with cotton, and to buy one hundred quilts.
On New Year's Eve, while the people of the county were decorating with lanterns and colorful decorations to prepare for ancestral worship and the New Year, Du Min, accompanied by Du Li, and his brother led thirty yamen runners in a donkey cart to the countryside.
After they left, Meng Qing and Wang Zhou moved to Xingjiaofang.
After Du Min and Du Li left, they returned approximately every three or four days, and in between, they took another five hundred strings of cash from Meng Qing.
It wasn't until almost the end of the first month of the lunar calendar that the two brothers and thirty constables finally finished their trip to the countryside to comfort the elderly living alone.
However, on his first night back, Du Min was ambushed and beaten, his head was broken.
"Did you see who committed the crime?" Magistrate Sun asked.
Du Min waved his hand, "I drank a little last night and was a bit dizzy. I didn't notice anything wrong before the sack was put over my head. What did the two constables who were with me say?"
"They exchanged a few blows with the assailant and said he must be a trained fighter," said Magistrate Sun. "You should have brought a few more men with you."
Last night, Du Min treated the thirty constables who had accompanied him on his rural journey to a meal at a tavern. They had trekked with him through the freezing cold for a month and hadn't been able to spend the New Year with their families; they had truly suffered. To show his appreciation, he let them eat and drink to their hearts' content. When the feast ended, very few of them were still sober, so he only took two constables with him to escort him back. Little did he expect that, even as they approached the county government office, he and the two constables would be beaten up by thieves who put sacks over their heads.
Du Min sighed dejectedly, "He has no conscience! I've gone this far, and you still can't see that I'm a good official? You still won't stop beating me up?"
“You are a good official to ordinary people, but not to wealthy and powerful families,” Magistrate Sun reminded him. “I doubt you will be able to catch the perpetrator. You should take more people with you when you go out in the future.”
Du Min nodded, "I'll rest for a few days while I recover from my injuries. You can handle the official business at the county office. Spring is coming, so send someone to keep an eye on the Yellow River's water level... Never mind, I'll take care of that."
Du Min lay in the government office for two days, and on the third day he went out to patrol the banks of the Yellow River with the yamen runners. He openly showed the injury on his head and answered without hesitation that he had been beaten by thieves who put a sack over his head while walking at night.
After hearing the news, Master Lu took advantage of his day off to rush to the south of the city. "Cousin, did you send people to beat Magistrate Du? Didn't you promise me you wouldn't harm him?"
Meng Qing stayed in Xingjiao Ward for the entire first month of the lunar calendar, right next to Master Lu. He knew what Du Min had done that month and, to be honest, Du Min was a good official. During the New Year's greetings, he discussed with General Lu about not having anyone keep watch on him anymore.
"He was beaten?" Lu Zhenjiang asked in confusion. "Who beat him? It wasn't someone I sent."
"Really?" Master Lu was somewhat skeptical.
Lu Zhen summoned the two idiots who had been keeping watch, asking, "Did you two assault Magistrate Du?"
The two soldiers who had followed Master Lu to his house years ago and kept watch over him through the wall looked puzzled and fearful.
"Sir, didn't you say we weren't allowed to keep watch anymore? And you're going to beat him up?"
Lu Zhen looked at his cousin, who had studied the classics and made himself into a living Buddha, and asked with his arms crossed, "Do you believe me now? If you still don't believe me, I'll bring out all my soldiers and let you ask them one by one."
Master Lu sensed the displeasure in his words and quickly said, "Perhaps the Wang family was behind it?"
"What? You want to stand up for him? Who cares who hit him? He deserved it." Lu Zhen shooed him away. "Don't bother me. I get a headache just looking at you."
Master Lu got up, and just as he was about to leave, he asked again, "The weather is getting warmer, has my uncle's condition improved?"
Lu Zhen sighed, "The doctor said that even if we survive the winter, we won't survive the summer. It's just a matter of a few months. I've already arranged for people to go up the mountain to dig the grave."
Master Lu remained silent.
“Go and see him,” said Lu Zhenjiang.
Master Lu nodded. He went to sit in the backyard for a while, and as he left, he saw a funeral procession blocked near the Heyang Bridge. Knowing there was something to see, he immediately abandoned his carriage and rushed over.
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