At the Cen family's home in the northwest, Miss Cen sat in her room crying. She could still sit in such a nice house now, but she wouldn't be able to live there anymore. She waited for the Cen family from the capital to arrive. Perhaps they hadn't arrived yet, but as soon as word of the verdict came, they would have to accept it.
"Stop crying." Seeing her daughter crying so hard, what could Madam Cen San do? She and her husband had already told her daughter to marry that captain. That captain was a decent man in the northwest, but his family was simple, and her daughter could make a living there.
When their daughters get married, they will have someone to serve them. People from humble backgrounds like these noble ladies like Miss Cen. These noble ladies can teach their children and make them more outstanding.
"Mother." How could Miss Cen not cry? She was doomed.
Miss Cen knew she couldn't find a better family than the one she had with the captain, and that those people would definitely laugh at her. Furthermore, since she had been the one who had sent the maid to talk about canceling the engagement, she had done it herself, so she couldn't talk about resuming the engagement at this point.
If Miss Cen had not done that and the two families had not cancelled the engagement, the captain might not have chosen to cancel the engagement at this time.
Miss Cen's eyes were red. She had believed herself to be a noble lady, a girl loved by many. But after arriving in the northwest, her situation had become increasingly worse.
"What will happen in the future?" Miss Cen asked, "Will it be like what happened with the Liu family before?"
Miss Cen knew that there were still people from the Liu family in the northwest, doing business. They did that when the Liu family's title was not restored.
"It's different." Mrs. Cen San also wanted to say that they could do that, but the Cen family's sin was more serious.
The Cen family couldn't possibly have the same freedom as the Liu family. They needed to atone for their sins and do more. This was what Mrs. Cen San heard from Mr. Cen San. Their situation couldn't be better than the Liu family's original situation; it could only be worse.
The Liu family also produced Liu Yulian, who knows how to research culture medium to increase the yield of grain crops. But what did their Cen family produce?
You can't just say that the girls of the Cen family should follow the three obediences and four virtues, that would be completely useless.
Mrs. Cen San knew that those who had taken a fancy to the Cen family's daughters in the past were actually also interested in the Cen family as a large family. If the Cen family as a large family fell, then the Cen family's daughters who followed the Three Obediences and Four Virtues would not be so useful.
Miss Cen was not one to follow the Three Obediences and Four Virtues. She boldly asked her maid to go to the Qianhu family to talk about breaking off the engagement. She did not obey her father's wishes. When people outside knew about Miss Cen's behavior, they all thought she was ridiculous.
Those people don't think that the daughter of the Cen family is that good. They think that the daughter of the Cen family is unfilial and does not respect her parents at home. After the daughter of the Cen family gets married, other people can't expect her to be filial to her parents-in-law.
Mrs. Cen San originally thought that this incident would only have an impact in the northwest, but who could have imagined that something bad would happen at home so soon? This was unavoidable. Miss Cen would never be able to marry into such a good family again.
"What's the difference?" Miss Cen asked.
"You'll know later." Mrs. Cen San didn't know what would happen next.
"But..." Miss Cen burst into tears.
"Why are you crying?" Madam Cen San frowned. "I asked you to get engaged before, but you didn't want to. What else can you say now? During this period of time, eat whatever you want, but that's just a few things. Later, it will be difficult for you to eat what you want."
Since there was no further news from the capital, they could still relax a little, stay at home a little longer, and even have something to eat.
Once news comes from the capital, they will no longer be able to live so well.
Mrs. Cen San loves her daughter, and she loves her other children too. Her daughter is naive. If her daughter is still engaged to that captain, and as long as that captain has not cancelled the engagement, then her daughter can still marry him.
In this dynasty, Qianhu was a fifth-rank military officer, and Qianhu was divided into principal, deputy, principal fifth-rank, and junior fifth-rank.
Military generals are not highly regarded by people. Even though a thousand-householder is a fifth-rank official, there are still some people who look down on him.
Miss Cen just looked down on that captain. She thought that the captain had not read many books and that he was not a good person.
"Mother." Miss Cen wondered how she could not stop crying.
"Okay, stop crying." Mrs. Cen San hugged her daughter, "Life will always go on."
Mrs. Cen San came to find her daughter because she wanted her to hide some money so that they wouldn't have to wait until the verdict came out, when they would have no money and it would be even more difficult to hide the money.
When Miss Cen heard Mrs. Cen San asked her to hide the money, she was stunned. How much money could they hide now?
"We originally wanted to let people go out." Mrs. Cen San sighed, but there were soldiers guarding outside, and those people would not allow them to arrange people to go out at will. They just pointed at people and asked them to go out to buy things.
It was difficult for Mrs. Cen San to get her confidants to hide the money, so they could only find ways to hide some money in their clothes.
They might not be able to wear the jewelry by then, so it would be difficult for them to hide the items in the jewelry. Mrs. Cen San thought of various ways to hide the banknotes. She should be able to tie her hair with cloth strips. Without jewelry, those people would not let them leave their hair untied.
So could they hide the banknotes in their hair?
Mrs. Cen San had no choice but to pay more attention for the sake of her family.
“…” Miss Cen was helpless. How could things turn out like this?
Miss Cen was silent. What future could she have?
In Shiyuan Village, Liu Yanqing went to the county town and bought a lot of things. Lin Xiaowan was pregnant, so their family needed to prepare a lot of things.
When Liu Yanqing returned home, he told Lin Xiaowan that Cen's house was heavily guarded.
"They're finished," Liu Yanqing said. The Liu family was also heavily guarded before the incident. "The Cen family is surrounded by those soldiers, waiting for the judgment of the capital."
"What's going on?" Lin Xiaowan asked puzzledly.
"I don't know." Liu Yanqing had inquired a little, but not everyone knew what had happened to the Cen family. It was impossible for Liu Yanqing to rush to the capital for a piece of gossip; he had to come back. "But something must have happened to the Cen family in the capital. If nothing had happened to the Cen family in the capital, they would never have been surrounded like this. It must be something serious."
Liu Yanqing didn’t know what big thing had happened in the Cen family, he only knew that the Cen family members couldn’t escape.
Why weren’t the Cen family members thrown into jail?
Liu Yanqing was just thinking about whether the Cen family was thrown into jail or not, it had nothing to do with him.
"You said that their daughters married so many wealthy families, some to the emperor, some to princes, and some to high-ranking officials." Liu Yanqing asked, "Why didn't those people help them?"
"No one pulled us in at the beginning," said Lin Xiaowan.
"That's quite different." Liu Yanqing said, "There aren't that many girls in our family who marry into such a good family. The Cen family is much larger than ours."
The Cen family is so huge, it will fall down eventually.
"It seems this person still can't make a big mistake." Liu Yanqing sighed, "No matter how powerful a person is, if he makes a big mistake, he will still get into trouble."
"What about you? You are not such a high-ranking official, so what are you thinking about?" Lin Xiaowan doesn't care about the Cen family. They just need to live a good life now.
"Isn't it because we were exiled before?" Liu Yanqing said, "If the Cen family was also exiled to the northwest, then the Cen family in the northwest would have made a huge profit. They didn't walk here from the capital, but we walked here from the capital."
When Liu Yanqing thought about how hard it was for them to walk, he felt that the people from the Cen family should also take a walk.
Although they have no grudges against the Cen family, this does not mean that Liu Yanqing cannot watch the fun.
"You'll know when the time comes." Lin Xiaowan said.
"Yes, news will come from the capital within a month." Liu Yanqing nodded. "Are you hungry? Do you want anything to eat?"
"Just eat some fruit." Lin Xiaowan didn't want to eat anything else.
At Widow Zhang's house, Miss Lin San saw Miss Lin Si who had fled to their side, and she was helpless. She couldn't help her sister, and the Lin family wanted to sell her sister to marry her brother.
Those people may not necessarily be selling their bodies in indentures. They may just be arranging a marriage for Miss Lin Si and asking her to pay more for the betrothal gifts.
"Sister, that man is a widower." Miss Lin Si didn't want to marry him at all. "I heard that he beat his previous wife to death."
Miss Lin Si was afraid of death. She originally thought she could handle it. But she still ran away a few days before her wedding. She ran to Miss Lin San because she didn't want to stay in this place anymore.
"Sister, can you help me and lend me some silver?" Miss Lin Si knew that she didn't have any silver on her. If she went out, she might starve to death on the road.
Miss Lin Si was planning to borrow some money from Miss Lin San, even if it was just a few copper coins, so she could leave early. She had already asked someone to find out if there was a caravan going to the capital, and she could go with them.
When the time comes, she will do something and persevere.
Miss Lin Si didn't want to stay in this haunted place any longer, she wanted to run away.
"I don't have much silver here, just two taels. Please save it." Miss Lin San knew that her brother needed two taels of silver to get married, so she gave her sister two taels of silver to see how she would act.
Miss Lin San hoped that Miss Lin Si would escape and never come back. As for whether the money was returned or not, that was not important. What was important was that Miss Lin Si could get rid of those people.
"Third sister..." Miss Lin Si was a little touched. She originally thought it was just a little bit of money, but she didn't expect Miss Lin San to give her two taels of silver.
"It's all small change and some copper coins. I have some food at home, I'll pack some for you." Miss Lin San said, "If you want to leave, leave quickly."
If Miss Lin Si was deceiving her, Miss Lin San would have accepted it. Miss Lin San just wanted to help Miss Lin Si, and it would depend on whether her sister fought hard or not. Miss Lin San thought that this was the only time, if Miss Lin Si handed the money to the Lin family, then she would not say anything.
"Okay." Miss Lin nodded.
After taking her things, Miss Lin Si left Zhang's house immediately. She was going to the town, to the county seat. She had to hurry. She had finally made contact, so she was ready to leave quickly.
As for whether she would be sold to a brothel or to a mountain village.
Since Fourth Miss Lin has accepted it, it's better than staying in the Lin family.
When Miss Lin Si arrived at the county town, the caravan was about to depart. They should have set out in the morning, but there were fewer bandits in this area, and some of them had stopped being bandits.
Some of the bandits originally came from nearby villages, and being a bandit could cost them their lives if they weren't careful. They became bandits because they had no food at home.
Since the imperial court started selling culture fluids, some bandits have planted some crops in the mountains, and they also planted their own crops. They found that the culture fluids were very useful, and they harvested a lot of grain.
A few days ago, there was talk of digging a ditch, saying that after digging the ditch, some drought-stricken areas would be much better. However, the ditch has not been dug yet, so it's just a rumor.
In this case, who would want to be a bandit? Some bandits just went home.
The caravan even consulted a fortune teller, who predicted that they would depart in the evening. The caravan was superstitious, and since there were no bandits nearby, they decided to leave overnight.
When Miss Lin Si arrived, she arrived just in time. The person who passed the message to her was a man from her village. That man also planned to go on a business trip with her, and he felt sorry for Miss Lin Si, so he agreed to take her with him.
Before Mrs. Lin could react, Miss Lin San rushed to the Lin family with the Zhang family.
Miss Lin San said that Miss Lin Si had stolen her money and ran away, saying that Miss Lin Si stole the money for the Lin family's younger brother. Miss Lin San did this because she didn't want the Lin family to blame the Zhang family, so that the Lin family wouldn't say that the Zhang family hid Miss Lin Si.
How could Widow Zhang not know what Miss Lin San was planning, but she still asked her family to go to the Lin family to settle the score with them.
After Miss Lin Si left, Miss Lin San knelt in front of Widow Zhang. Miss Lin San told her about Miss Lin Si's plan and the money she had given her. She said she couldn't let the Lin family rely on the Zhang family, so it would be better for them to go to their house first.
Widow Zhang agreed with Miss Lin San's approach. She simply felt sorry for the woman. Well, well, since Miss Lin San was already her granddaughter-in-law, and Miss Lin Si dared to run away, then as an old woman, she would just help them.
When people get old, they tend to be soft-hearted.
Widow Zhang naturally warned Miss Lin San at that time. Later, in the evening, Widow Zhang still rushed directly to the Lin family with her family.
The Lin family originally thought that Miss Lin Si was working outside, and they had never thought that Miss Lin Si would actually go to Miss Lin San to ask for money. They thought that if Miss Lin Si got the money, that would be the best, but the fourth daughter could not go home for the time being and could not let the Zhang family catch her.
"What silver? We didn't see it." Lin's mother did not see the silver either. "She hasn't come back yet."
"What do you mean she didn't come back? Did you hide her?" Widow Zhang said bluntly, "You thought you weren't in our village, and since we came late, you could hide her."
It takes time from discovering that the silver is missing to determining who took it.
When Widow Zhang said this, she wanted others to believe that it was the Lin family who hid the fourth Miss Lin.
"Really not." Lin's mother said.
Mother Lin was afraid when she saw the Zhang family members holding hoes and sticks. She thought that if her fourth daughter really took the silver, she could use it to marry her son. But she hadn't seen her fourth daughter yet, so she was afraid that she didn't get the silver at all.
"You said there's nothing left?" Widow Zhang cried out. "Oh my! Come and take a look! This is outrageous! They actually let an unmarried girl come to our house to invest money. My granddaughter-in-law was also sold by them. They are really killing me."
Widow Zhang is a very bad person. She wants others to know that the Lin family stole the Zhang family's money.
If Miss Lin Si disappeared, it would have nothing to do with the Zhang family.
"Who knows if you sold your fourth daughter to a place where we can't find her, and then you'll say we forced her to death," Widow Zhang said. "My life is miserable. I shouldn't have let my grandson marry such a bad grandson-in-law, inviting a wolf into the house."
Miss Lin San stood timidly to the side, but she wasn't unhappy. Widow Zhang had only said a few words to her, which were inoffensive.
When the villagers in the village where the Lin family lived saw this scene, they pointed fingers at the Lin family. They all knew that the Lin family sold their daughter, and they couldn't help but wonder if the Lin family wanted to blackmail the Zhang family. The Zhang family was also pitiful.
However, Widow Zhang was powerful, and the villagers thought it would be difficult for the Lin family to gain an advantage over the Zhang family.
In Shiyuan Village, when Liu Yanqing was in the village, he saw Widow Zhang and others walking out angrily with hoes in their hands.
Liu Yanqing wondered what had happened.
"I don't know whether I should go out and fight." Liu Yanqing sighed.
"Why do you care so much?" Lin Xiaowan said.
"They help my younger sister manage the farm." Liu Yanqing said.
"This has nothing to do with you. If they don't work hard, someone will naturally replace them." Lin Xiaowan didn't care what the Zhang family rushed out to do. Anyway, Widow Zhang was not someone who was willing to suffer losses.
In the capital, Liu Yulian did not have a map in her hand. The map was not an ordinary map, so how could she read it?
But Liu Yulian still wanted to take a look, so she found someone who knew how to dig a canal.
Qin opened the Zhengguo Canal, which was more than 300 miles long. This allowed a lot of land to be irrigated, and there were many fertile fields.
The areas where Liu Yulian and others were exiled suffered from drought, some even more severe. Liu Yulian had once seen a TV show where villagers used clay pots to collect water, and the water simply dripped through cracks in the rocks, not just splashing out.
Digging canals requires manpower and material resources, and it would be impossible to dig them when there is not much grain. However, if grain production can increase, the court will have more grain to use to dig canals.
The imperial court also had a dedicated water conservancy bureau. Why didn't the bureau dig more canals? There were various reasons. For example, there were insufficient manpower and food. Ordinary canals might not be useful; water might not flow through them. Furthermore, without cement in ancient times, the water might have seeped into the ground along the way, preventing it from flowing through.
"Divert water from the south to the north." When Liu Yulian entered the palace, she told the emperor that this was a major project. "Build canals according to the location and height of the land, so that water from the south can flow to the north. With cement, the water will flow easily instead of seeping into the ground."
Liu Yulian had not thought of this at first, but someone from the research institute suddenly said that it would be great if the water from the south could be transferred to the north.
It’s not that some people have thought so before, but it’s not very realistic because the project is too big and there are other reasons.
Liu Yulian said this time, not to take credit for it. "I don't know how to build a canal, but running water is now available in the village."
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