Chapter 261 "He told you himself..."
"He told you that himself?" Li Hongguo was not very convinced. Jinshu's willingness to side with Du Min didn't seem like a lack of ambition.
Du Min started walking towards the village and said, "When I leave, you can ask him. If he's willing to come with me, I'll take him with me."
Li Hongguo felt completely at ease after receiving this promise from him.
As Du Min entered the village, the villagers invited him to their homes for a meal. At first, Du Min refused, but later he became too lazy to say anything.
His attitude, in the eyes of the villagers, became evidence that he had forgotten his roots and looked down on his clansmen after becoming successful.
Yin Caiwei stood outside the courtyard, observing him from afar. Seeing that he didn't seem to be injured, her only concern vanished.
"Are you adjusting well to life in the countryside?" Du Min asked as he approached.
"I'm not used to it," Yin Caiwei said truthfully.
Du Min choked, "Can't you be a little more polite? This is where I grew up, doesn't it appeal to you?"
"I don't think this place appeals to you either?" Yin Caiwei glared at him, poked his chest with her finger, and asked with a raised eyebrow, "You've been hiding a lot from me, haven't you?"
"Haven't I kept things from you enough?" Du Min deliberately misled the situation.
"Keep pretending." Yin Caiwei was too lazy to pursue the matter. She was now completely indifferent to Du Min. Whether he was lying or pretending, as long as it didn't affect her, she didn't care. Besides, even if she knew he had deceived her, she couldn't change anything, nor did she want to.
"If you're not used to it, there's nothing you can do. That's just how it is in the countryside. Just find something to have fun with." Seeing that she chose not to pursue the matter, Du Min relaxed. "Let's go inside."
Yin Caiwei turned and walked into the courtyard.
"Second sister-in-law, why didn't you come out to greet me?" Du Min complained as soon as she entered the door.
"Weren't there enough people to welcome you? I heard that when you disembarked, a whole bunch of people knelt down at the ferry crossing," Meng Qing said jokingly.
Du Min hissed and changed the subject.
"Third Uncle, are you hungry? Shall we eat first or chat first?" Wang Zhou asked.
"Bring the food, I'll go back to my room to change my clothes and then come out." Du Min disliked the smoky smell on him.
Lunch consisted of a pot of rice with beans, a bowl of tofu and vegetable soup, a pot of fried tofu, and four plates of stir-fried bean sprouts.
Du Min sat down at the table and immediately remembered the aroma he had smelled at the grave. If he wasn't mistaken, Du Lao Er must have stewed chicken. He ate two bowls of rice soaked in tofu and vegetable soup, and when he was no longer hungry, he thought about going to the thatched hut for an extra meal.
However, before he could leave the village, the villagers gradually surrounded him. Fearing that the villagers would discover the secret of the thatched hut, Du Min dared not take him there and could only stop.
The villagers approached Du Min with one simple purpose: to seek connections. Some asked him to pull strings for them because they had failed the prefectural exams; others asked him to help them get a way to the capital for the exams; still others asked him to recommend them for admission to the prefectural or county schools.
Du Min refused, saying, "I am currently observing mourning for my father and have no official position. I have no ability to help."
"The Prefect of Suzhou even came to your father's funeral. Isn't he the one in charge of supervising the prefectural examinations? You could have just said hello to him," Uncle Du loudly exposed his lie.
"Dr. Xu from the prefectural school has also come to pay respects to your parents. If you inform him, how could he refuse?" someone else questioned.
Du Min felt a surge of anger rising in his chest; he hadn't encountered anyone speaking to him like this in years. Suppressing his rage, he asked, "Why are they willing to give me face?"
“You’re a high-ranking official now, do you think they won’t respect you?” someone chimed in.
“Didn’t I say? I’m observing mourning for my parents, I have no official position or post.” Du Min repeated his previous words, and said with a half-smile, “If you don’t give me any face, how can you talk about outsiders?”
“Oh dear, you’re wronging us. At your parents’ funeral, the whole village helped out from dawn till dusk. Today you’re back, and most of the village went to the ferry to welcome you. If this isn’t showing you respect, we don’t know what else we should do,” a woman retorted logically. “Lord Du, the things we ask of you are just a matter of asking a few words, and you won’t even help us with that? And these are all your relatives.”
Seeing that Du Min's expression was not good, Uncle Du was worried that he would offend him if he pushed him too far, so he said in a casual tone, "You are all officials. If they help you once, you should help them once in the future. If you give and take, your relationship will be closer."
"Uncle, you know I have to repay favors? Are favors so easy to repay? I owe you a little favor, and now I'm being forced to take care of your children and grandchildren's education, exams, and official positions, accumulating even more favors for you. What price will I have to pay in the future?" Du Min was impatient. He clearly refused: "I don't want to owe favors, and I don't want to repay them."
"So you mean you're not going to help your nephew anymore?" Uncle Du's face darkened. "You blame us for pressuring you, but did we have no choice? How many letters have I written to you over the years? Begging you to help the villagers and clansmen, but you either don't reply or you only reply after a year or two. Are you really that busy? What did you say when you went to Beijing for the imperial examination? You promised that you would help the clansmen when you became successful, but it's been over twenty years and the clansmen haven't received a single favor from you."
Du Min sneered, "In the past twenty years, have any children in the village received tuition for their early education? Isn't the clan school supported by the produce from the clan's farmland?"
"That doesn't count, that was back then..."
"You all live in the village and know about my promotion, how could people in the county town not know?" Du Min was too lazy to listen to old grievances. He interrupted the previous person who was bringing up the past and said, "I, Du Min, have become famous in Luoyang. Any of my clansmen with a bit of ability can easily achieve their goals just by virtue of this connection. Getting into the county school or the prefectural school requires my help. How much talent do they have? Probably just straw in their heads. Even if they climb the ladder to heaven, they'll fall down and tarnish my reputation for nothing. As for taking the prefectural exam or going to the capital for the imperial examination, why would I need to help them? Trying to cheat? If you're tired of living, don't drag me down with you."
These words were spoken without any politeness, and everyone present was so angry that they glared and gritted their teeth.
That wasn't all. Du Min pushed through the crowd and walked out, declaring, "If you want to use my connections for favors, you'd better come to me with real talent and ability. Only if I approve of you will you be qualified to use my name to do things."
The villagers all stared at Du Min's retreating figure. Just as he was about to leave the village, someone shouted angrily, "Du Min, don't be so arrogant. We all know what you did back then."
Du Min stopped when he heard the noise. He turned around and looked at the group of ungrateful people, saying provocatively, "What have I done? Go ahead and sue me."
The villagers are speechless. Du Laoding is dead, and Du Min is still a high-ranking official. They have no evidence, so who dares to sue?
"Who said that just now? Now look what's happened, they've completely offended someone," someone complained.
"It was Wu Shuanzi who said it."
The villagers couldn't do anything about Du Min, so they could only vent their resentment on an old man named Wu Shuanzi, making him apologize to Du Min, or even asking Uncle Du to speak kindly to Du Min.
After criticizing, condemning, discussing, and deliberating, the group dispersed. Du Min also arrived at the thatched hut. Meng Qing, Du Li, Yin Caiwei, and the four children had already eaten. There was a bowl of chicken soup and a bowl of chicken left in the large earthenware pot, which were reserved for him.
Seeing that his anger hadn't subsided, Du Li asked, "Do you still have an appetite?"
Du Min waved his hand, "I'm not eating."
Upon hearing this, Du Li immediately told the four children to share a bowl of meat and a bowl of soup.
"Dad, you really aren't going to eat? My second uncle hasn't cooked in years. Don't you miss his cooking skills?" Xi Mei asked.
Wangzhou directed Wangchuan and Wangshan to bring out the chicken and chicken soup, saying, "Third Uncle, give my father some face and let him eat."
Du Li disagreed with this explanation, saying, "I don't need him to give me face. If you're not going to eat, bring it over for me to eat."
"Bring it here, I'll eat it." Du Min glanced at Du Li, "You don't have as many children as you care about me."
Du Li thought to herself, "You've never cared about me either."
"Dad, eat quickly. My second uncle works very hard cooking. In this hot weather, the thatched house is hot and stuffy. When the soup is very flavorful, he doesn't dare to open the door to let in a breeze. He sweats a lot while simmering a pot of soup." Ximei felt that her father was a little ungrateful.
Du Li felt a sense of comfort, "Xi Mei is the most considerate."
"You four should go back to the village and get some sleep. When it gets cooler, those who need to study should study, and those who need to practice calligraphy should practice calligraphy," Meng Qing said, urging them to leave.
"Second sister-in-law, I'll go back with them first." Yin Caiwei walked out from the shade under the tree.
Meng Qing glanced at Du Min, who looked up at Yin Caiwei. After thinking for a moment, he did not try to stop her.
Yin Caiwei put on a sun hat and beckoned the children to follow her.
"The day we returned, we ran into Governor Zheng at the foot of Ruiguang Temple. He was there to get Dr. Xu's confession. The Lu family somehow heard rumors of your disrespect towards your parents and sent people to Wu County to find witnesses, but the officers were foolish and tried to bribe Dr. Xu to identify you." Meng Qing sneered. "Dr. Xu probably knew you had a good relationship with Governor Zheng, so he leaked the information to him. Governor Zheng arrested two people, and he asked me if I wanted to submit a memorial impeaching Lu Sima for framing you. Caiwei was there too, and I didn't dare say much, only saying I'd decide after you returned. Do you want to go to the city to see him, or have him come to us?"
Du Min spat out the chicken bone, pointed to the grave mound a few feet away, and said, "Both old men are dead, and I have no leverage over them anymore. I'm not afraid of anyone now."
“But if this matter gets publicized, it will inevitably affect your reputation,” Meng Qing said. “In order to eliminate the impact of the stigma, I’m having you and your second brother live in a thatched hut in front of the grave to observe mourning. Stealing food is one aspect, but another is to cultivate a good reputation for you. Don’t be arrogant in front of Governor Zheng. Take this opportunity to humble yourself and let him help you promote your reputation for filial piety, so as not to affect your reinstatement three years later.”
Du Min swallowed a mouthful of soup, and said hesitantly, "As long as the female saint doesn't lose power, my rise to power won't be a problem."
"Don't make such grand claims. In three years, the Empress may have found capable people to help her. It's hard to say whether you'll have a place." Du Li wanted him to be indebted to Meng Qing.
Meng Qing sensed something was wrong from his expression, and she scrutinized him.
Du Min picked up the bowl and drank the soup.
"There's no soup left in the bowl," Du Li reminded him.
Du Min awkwardly put down the bowl.
"Tell me, what did you do?" Meng Qing asked.
"On the eve of my departure from Luoyang, the Empress Dowager sent an attendant to summon me to the palace. The next morning after the court session, I went to the palace to meet the Empress Dowager, who told me that my father had died." Du Min went around in circles.
Meng Qing listened patiently.
“…Alright, I’ll confess. After leaving the palace, I was unwilling to just slink away like that, so I went back to plead for my life, begging the Emperor not to change the order, and to let me continue to take over the task of investigating the fields after I was reinstated,” Du Min confessed.
"You! You didn't beg for the mourning period? What kind of cowardly escape is this?" Du Li punched him angrily. "I don't think Governor Zheng was resentful when he fell from the position of prime minister. Are you out of your mind? You begged to get rid of trouble, and now that you've finally gotten rid of it, you're pulling it back into your arms. Are you crazy?"
“I did not ask for the mourning period; it was a choice I was forced to make. This is what I call fleeing in disgrace,” Du Min argued. “I am not Zheng Yu. Whether he is willing or not does not affect my willingness. It is a fact that powerful members of the imperial clan are targeting me in the court. My choice to flee to avoid the limelight does not mean that I will not retaliate afterward.”
"You've already escaped this time, and you're still going to take this path to get revenge? Isn't this just another dead end? Can't you take a different path?" Du Li questioned, then waved his hand, "Forget it, forget it, you've already done it, scolding you won't change anything. You're the one who suffers, not me, so it's not my place to criticize you. What are your plans? I mean, three years from now."
Du Min was completely bewildered by his repeated changes of address.
“It’s too early to plan for something that will happen three years from now,” Meng Qing replied. “Things will work themselves out. Maybe the right opportunity will come then. The current situation is just that the time is not ripe yet.”
Du Min immediately felt relieved. "Second sister-in-law, your words have put my mind at ease."
"Reinstatement in three years is no problem. Do you still want the reputation of mourning at my grave? If you want a good name, don't let this opportunity slip by. It's impossible to expect your clansmen to make a name for you," Meng Qing said. "In Jiayufang, where I used to live, the original residents all knew to use my name to build a memorial archway to elevate their status and then sell their houses for money. Although they said they were after profit, I truly benefited. The Wu County Lady's Archway is a unique archway in Wu County. I am well-known in Wu County. After I pass away, Wu County might still have a shrine to commemorate me. The people in your village are no good. Not only are they inflexible, but they are also not united. The clansmen live like scattered people from ten prefectures and eight counties. A minister came from the village, but how many people know Dujiawan? The village is also barren, without even a monument. The banners planted in front of your house were planted by the government the year you passed the imperial examination."
"A bunch of idiots," Du Min cursed. He thought to himself that Li Hongguo might have been right about one thing: he had taken away all the spiritual energy of Dujiawan.
“Only two places in the village are presentable: the clan school and the ancestral hall. The ancestral hall has been rebuilt, entirely with blue bricks.” Du Li shook his head. “The clan school has also been built to be large and spacious, and the teachers are raised like landlords. Wang Zhou said that four teachers couldn’t even scrape together three boxes of books.”
Du Min laughed at the absurdity. He told his brother and sister-in-law about how the villagers surrounded him, asking him to pull strings and open doors for them. "Having such relatives is a disgrace to me."
"Be patient and don't make things worse, lest you cause unnecessary trouble. You still have to live here for three years," Meng Qing advised. "As a compromise, you can go to the clan school to teach for these three years and just get by. Once you've been reinstated and left, you'll never come back for the rest of your life. They won't even know which way your mansion gates open if they want to find you."
"It's fine for me to give lectures at the clan school, but I can't let them think I'm afraid of them." Du Min already had a plan; he wanted to crush the villagers' arrogance in one fell swoop.
"Second Brother, where did the chicken for today's soup come from? Did you buy it in town?" Du Min asked.
Du Li nodded, pointed to the black ash on the grave mound, and said, “I have no official position or job, so I don’t need to be particular about anything. I can go to the city whenever I want. Wang Zhou and his three siblings come to burn paper money three times a day, and I go to the city to buy paper money every two or three days. Under this pretext, I will buy meat at the market.”
"Are you going into town tomorrow? Go to the Gu family and see if Gu Wudong is still serving in Wu County," Du Min said. "Please also ask Governor Zheng to come over when he has time."
"Gu Wudong?" Du Li glanced at him. "Okay, I understand."
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Author's note: See you tomorrow night.
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