Zhao Hanzhang stood at the door, looking down at the young man who was lying on the ground, and met his eyes that were trying to look up. The two of them stared at each other with big eyes.
A middle-aged man whose clothes were relatively clean but also had several patches walked over with a stern face. His eyes swept over Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan. When he saw that they were holding horses, his expression softened. When he saw that they were still standing outside the door,
There were more than twenty people, all holding horses in their hands, and the expressions on their faces were stagnant.
There was some fear in his eyes, his back bent unconsciously, and he bowed and asked, "What are you doing here, noble people?"
Zhao Hanzhang withdrew his eyes from the young man's face, looked at the middle-aged man and said with a smile: "We are going to the county town and passing by here. Since it is getting dark soon, we want to stay in the village for one night."
The middle-aged man hesitated after hearing this and said, "Our village is dilapidated and the houses are simple. I am afraid that I will wrong the nobles."
Zhao Hanzhang smiled and said: "As long as you have a place to stay, it will be fine. The village is kind enough to take you in. How can we dare to be picky?"
The middle-aged man said: "But we don't have so many houses. It's better for the girl to walk further west. There is a big village down there. Maybe you can stay overnight."
Zhao Hanzhang then looked at Qiu Wu.
Qiu Wu immediately grabbed a handful of copper coins and gave them to the middle-aged man. "The sky is getting dark, and there are many wild animals, snakes and insects outside. Please ask the village chief to be accommodating."
The middle-aged man looked at the copper coins in his hand and pondered, and after a while he nodded in agreement.
He accepted the money and turned around to ask his family to vacate a room for them. Seeing that they wanted to vacate all the rooms, Zhao Hanzhang stopped them and said that they could only use two rooms at night.
The middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief quietly and tidied up only the two largest rooms for them.
Zhao Hanzhang let them go about their business. She walked around the yard curiously, and then looked around at the people in the middle of the yard.
The middle-aged man also noticed that this woman seemed to be the main one in their group, so he followed her around.
Seeing her staring at Wu Erlang, the middle-aged man explained: "This is the villager who committed the crime in our village. He is detained here for punishment. Don't be afraid, girl."
Zhao Hanzhang shook his head: "I'm not afraid, I'm just curious."
She asked: "Although it's uncomfortable to lie down, it's not too uncomfortable. I don't know what he did. Is it enough to punish him like this?"
When Wu Erlang's crime was mentioned, the middle-aged man became furious and said angrily: "This kid secretly cut my family's young crops. This is a small punishment... Because he was discovered in time, let's just keep him in custody like this. He will do it again next time."
If there is such a thing, he will not let it go like this, he will at least pay me double the compensation."
Zhao Hanzhang blinked and asked: "What is the purpose of stealing young crops at this time?"
The middle-aged man sighed, "What else can I do? Of course it's for food, but eating young crops at this time is simply killing yourself."
Wu Sheng blinked and looked at Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan. When he met their eyes, he simply fell to the ground on his cheek and lay motionless on the ground.
Zhao Hanzhang looked at him and narrowed his eyes, "I wonder where the secretly harvested young crops are?"
The middle-aged man pointed in one direction and complained nonstop: "It's better that my son accidentally bumped into me, otherwise he would really cut me off, and I don't know how much he would lose."
Zhao Hanzhang also sighed, "Looking at his age, his parents are old and weak, and his children are young. They are extremely hungry, and they can only eat young crops to survive."
"Bah, he is a bachelor, how can he have children? He has no parents to support him, so he can feed the whole family without worrying about it."
Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan silently lowered their heads to look at Wu Sheng lying on the ground.
Magistrate Gao also widened his eyes with a look of disbelief on his face. He felt hugely hurt. You must know that when Wu Erlang put away the remaining half of the sesame seed cake, his eyes were red with emotion.
He believed that Zhao Hanzhang was like this too, otherwise he wouldn't have given him two more cakes, but...
Zhao Hanzhang looked at Wu Sheng silently for a while, then looked at the village chief and asked: "Why do such people still stay in the village? Not only did they destroy property, but they also ruined the atmosphere, so why not drive them out of the village?"
The young man lying on the ground suddenly opened his eyes, raised his head slightly, and looked at Zhao Hanzhang in disbelief.
Zhao Hanzhang smiled softly at him, but the young man shuddered.
The middle-aged man was also startled and hurriedly waved his hands and said: "No, no, although he is not a good person, he is not a bad person either. Alas, he is just hungry and the world is not good. Alas, how should I put it? Alas,
That’s all, that’s all, Da Lang, untie him and let him go home.”
The young man who was cleaning up the house came out, untied Wu Sheng without saying a word, then pulled him up and left him alone.
As soon as Wu Erlang got his freedom, he immediately smiled and said to the middle-aged man: "Uncle Cheng, I will never dare to do it again, really!"
The middle-aged man cursed: "Go away, it will not be so easy to cut young crops in the future."
He paused and then said: "You can't cut other people's crops, and don't cut your own. If you wait another month, I don't know how much food you can harvest from the current green seedlings. If you cut the green seedlings now, aren't you wasting food?"
Wu Sheng said casually: "Then you have to live until then, otherwise you will starve to death. If you keep the green crops in the field, won't you give others an advantage?"
He sighed and said, "It makes me feel aggrieved to think about it. People are dead, but there is still food left that has not been harvested or eaten. Thinking about this in my heart, I will have a hard time in the next life."
When the village chief saw how generous he was, he was so angry that he stretched out his hand to pat him.
Wu Sheng shrank, but did not move away. The village chief slapped him. He rubbed his shoulders and hissed, "This hurts too. Uncle Cheng, you are full and have strength."
"get out."
Wu Sheng glanced at Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan, patted his butt and wanted to get out, but Zhao Hanzhang stopped him and said: "Since you are a bachelor, you have nothing to worry about. Are you willing to come with me?"
Wu Sheng was surprised, pointed to his nose and asked, "Me? Are you willing to use me?"
Zhao Hanzhang raised his eyebrows and said, "Yes, so are you willing to follow me?"
Wu Sheng's heart suddenly became excited and he couldn't help turning his head to look at the village chief. The village chief was also surprised, but he only thought for a moment and then said to Wu Sheng: "Go, it might be a way to survive."
Seeing this, the villager who had taken five pennies but did not leave took courage and stepped forward, "Your Excellency, do you think I can do it? I can be beaten or scolded as much as I want. I only need a pennies, or you can give me half a bag of grain. I eat very little."
of."
Zhao Hanzhang reached out and patted his shoulder and said: "You have your wife and children at home, how can you leave them alone? Just stay at home and farm. Maybe it won't be long before there is life."
Wu Sheng, who was still hesitant at first, immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Zhao Hanzhang, "I am willing to follow the noble man."
He raised his head, with a pitiful look on his face again, "My lord, I lied to you before. It was a small mistake. You can punish me even if you punish me."
The village chief immediately turned to look at him and glared, "Why did you lie to this noble man?"
Wu Sheng cried and said: "I deceived the noble man into two sesame cakes. Uncle Cheng, as you know, I still have three children at home. They don't know if they can survive after I leave..."