Chapter 843 Stopping the sedan chair to complain about injustice
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, during the Lantern Festival, Jia Zhu was on her way back to the Yamen when she encountered someone who blocked the sedan chair and complained about injustice.
That day, at the invitation of a group of wealthy households in the county, he went to the largest restaurant in the city to enjoy the lanterns and celebrate the Lantern Festival.
I declined a lot of straightforward dramas about rich families giving away beauties, and I still felt pretty good.
At least, he feels he has done a good job in terms of official conduct.
Unexpectedly, when we were returning to the Yamen in a sedan chair, a young woman with disheveled hair suddenly appeared on the way, fell to her knees and shouted that she was wronged, and called the county magistrate for help.
Jia Zhu was surprised. He was young and energetic and was influenced by the stories in the story. He did not drive away the woman who did not follow the rules, but took her to the county government office.
When I arrived at the county government office and asked what the specific grievances were, my scalp immediately felt numb.
Sure enough, whenever someone stops a sedan chair and complains about injustice, it is not an ordinary situation.
This time, Jia Zhu was in trouble.
The young woman with disheveled hair who stopped the sedan chair to complain was first admitted that she was wrong and knew that her behavior was against the rules. But she bluntly said that if she had not done so, the Yamen would not have accepted her case at all, and she would not care so much about human life.
Judging from her statement alone, the woman who blocked the sedan chair to complain was quite knowledgeable. She was not an ordinary woman, but she was dressed like an ordinary village woman.
Later, after explanation, we found out that the young woman was originally a maid of a landlord's family in the town below. She had been studying with the lady since she was a child and had a lot of knowledge in reading and writing.
When she was fifteen years old, she fell in love with a country boy who delivered firewood to the landlord's house.
The country boy was flattered and naturally had a crush on the pretty maid, who had a gentle temperament and the two soon fell in love.
She didn't want to ruin the reputation of the landowner's lady because of her own affairs, so she begged the lady to let her go.
The young woman, who was the maid of the landlord, gritted her teeth and gave up all her body, as well as all the wealth of the country boy, to redeem herself.
It can only be said that she arrived at a good host's house and met a kind-hearted young lady.
After learning about her situation, neither the landowner nor the lady meant to embarrass her. They did not even accept the ransom money from her, so they gave her a deed to let her go.
The maid who was freed followed the country boy back to the countryside and quickly got married, causing a sensation in the entire village.
There was nothing she could do about it. The country boy she fell in love with was an orphan whose parents had both died. The bare walls of his house were the best reflection of his family.
How could such a poor boy not cause a sensation when he was able to marry a beautiful wife?
Fortunately, the maid has really good taste. Although the country boy has no parents or brothers to help him, he is diligent, bright and motivated.
I had accumulated a certain amount of money by selling firewood and mountain products.
After marrying the maid, he got in touch with the landlord's family in the town through her relationship, and his small business flourished. He even rented a hilltop and two ponds in the village, and his life gradually became prosperous.
The maid also has a healthy belly. She has had two little boys in her arms in the past three years, and the husband and wife are well-managed and loving, so her life is quite smooth.
Their two sons are also very spiritual. They study very diligently and diligently under the guidance of the maid. The eldest son was admitted as a scholar when he was just in his early tenth year.
It can be said that their family's life at this time is definitely happy.
Not only did he save a lot of money, but he also built a big house and purchased some fields, which made him a pretty good family in the village.
As long as the two sons make breakthroughs in the examinations, their family will rise from a penniless family to a family of squire.
Unfortunately, their family's happy life ended here.
If the trees are beautiful in the forest, the wind will blow them away!
The country boy is so outstanding. He has accumulated considerable wealth in a short period of time. At the same time, his wife is beautiful, virtuous, and his son is striving for success. He is a perfect winner in life.
Villagers with the same surname in the same village naturally have all kinds of envy, jealousy, and hatred in their hearts. They feel that God is unfair and the country boy is so lucky.
From the perspective of fellow villagers and fellow tribesmen, the most appropriate way of survival for a country boy is to struggle in the mud to survive, instead of having a quality of life that surpasses that of almost all villagers and tribesmen, and even the possibility of becoming the father of an official.
Jealousy can drive people crazy, but it can also easily destroy a fragile, seemingly prosperous family.
The country boy didn't notice anything unusual, but the maid noticed something was wrong. She reminded the country boy many times, but she didn't get a positive response.
There is only one surname in the village, which is also a clan. The village head is the clan leader, and the country boy is also a member of the clan.
In his opinion, since they are all members of the same clan, even if there is any friction, it can be easily resolved with the coordination of the clan leader.
As for the clan members possibly coveting their family's property, that is impossible.
The country boy also teased the maid for being too cautious. If the villagers, that is, the clan members, were really so concerned, he might not be able to live to adulthood.
But he didn't know that the mentality of the people was completely different when they were poor and when they were rich.
In addition, the village chief is also the clan leader, and he is an out-and-out ruthless person.
From what the maid heard and saw, the village chief's hands were covered in blood in order to annex the tribe's fields.
That is to say, his methods were concealed and his actions were all hidden within the clan's rules. In addition, his annexation of the land was not fast, so he did not attract the attention of the clan members.
But the maid grew up in a landlord's house in the town. Not only did she read and read, but she also heard a lot of gossip.
Among them, there are the methods used by powerful people from various places to annex fields. The variety of methods is truly chilling to the bottom of people's hearts.
The methods of the patriarch of the village where she lived were obviously too clumsy and conspicuous compared to the powerful ones in those places.
The small bluestone square in front of the ancestral hall in the village was stained with the blood of the clan members who had been punished, and in the pond not far away there were many corpses that had been sunk in the pond.
The lynching methods used by the clan leaders and elders were so brutal that the maids could not help but tremble after hearing or seeing them.
Just thinking about how these cruel lynchings might happen to me and my family makes me feel horrified.
The maid kept an eye on it and quietly dug a very secret cave on the mountain top rented by her husband as a refuge in an emergency.
Because the caves in the mountains seek to be hidden, it is impossible to transport too many goods there, mainly dry food that can be stored for a long time.
The maid hid this secret from her husband, and took her eldest son, a scholar who was already quite sensible, to dig it out bit by bit.
Unexpectedly, this hidden backhand was quickly used.
Shortly before the Chinese New Year, the maid's husband was suddenly arrested by people sent by the clan leader. He was said to have stolen the clan's property and he wanted to be punished in his eyes.
They did not allow the maid to inquire about the situation, and resorted to brutal lynching, breaking her husband's legs and leaving him crippled...