Hongtao felt tired and sleepy, so he went to take a nap. Shi'an saw Qingyu sitting in a chair in a daze, seeming to have something on his mind, so he walked over and asked, "What's wrong?"
Qingyu pondered for a moment and then said softly: "Everything is connected with cause and effect. Brother, you know that today's small evil will cause a bloody storm in the future."
Shi was quiet for a moment, poured her a cup of tea, and said slowly: "Now that you've come, let's make peace with you."
Qingyu stared at the tea foam in the tea cup and smiled slightly, "We have guests tonight."
"Uninvited guest?" Shi'an frowned slightly.
Qingyu shook his head, "Bi Shui Bi. Bi Lin, he came to get close to us to show his goodwill." After a pause, he added: "Although it is a good show of goodwill, it is also a hand that opens the curtain."
"See you then?"
"Whether we see you or not, it's just a matter of sooner or later." Qingyu blew lightly on the tea foam in the cup, then looked at Su'er and said: "Elder brother, there is a bit of trouble there."
*
In the scorching heat, the tenant farmers in Pingpo Village did not take a break. Instead, they planted medicinal materials in the fields despite the hot sun. There was no time to waste the seedlings and seeds, so everyone was hurrying up.
On the ridge of the field, Zhufeng put a straw hat on his head, took off the water bag from his waist, drank a few sips of water, and then felt that his dry throat felt better. Then he pinned the water bag on his waist, took off the straw hat and fanned himself.
While continuing to walk into the fields.
"Brother Sanqi, you are planting very fast. It seems that this land will be gone after planting, right?" Zhufeng came to a field and said to the farmer who was bending over to cultivate.
Luo Sanqi straightened up when he heard the sound, wiped the sweat from his face with a sweat towel, and said with a smile: "Yes, this piece will be gone after it's done. Let's ask the boss to see if I did it right?"
"If you know how to grow crops, as long as you know how to grow these seedlings, there is nothing wrong with them." Zhufeng smiled, knelt down and looked at a few plants, and then said:
"Midsummer is when downy mildew occurs in rhubarb. After you finish planting, you must quickly spread the ash fertilizer on the plants. Not too much, but not too little. Just spread it evenly."
Luo Sanqi said hello, and seeing Zhufeng getting up to leave, he asked again, "Boss Zhufeng is going to patrol the land? It's such a hot day."
Zhufeng nodded as he walked, "Yes, we all have to go and see. If you are busy, I will leave first."
"Chasing the boss, walk slowly." Luo Sanqi bent down and continued to plant seedlings, but before he could insert one into the soil, he heard someone calling him from the roadside.
"Luo Sanqi, Luo Sanqi, go back quickly, something happened."
Luo Sanqi's face tightened, and he stood up and asked the man urgently, "What happened?"
"The village head has brought people to collect the tenant rent. There's a commotion. Go back quickly." The man on the road waved anxiously.
Upon hearing this, Luo Sanqi hurriedly put the medicinal seedlings on hand into a basket on his back. There was no shade, so if the seedlings were exposed to the sun, they would die, so he put the seedlings on his back and ran home.
Zhufeng hadn't walked a few steps. When he heard this, he couldn't walk any further and hurriedly followed Luo Sanqi's footsteps.
The two returned to Luo Sanqi's home, but before they even got close, they heard a burst of yelling and swearing.
"...What kind of logic are you talking about? The tenancy agreement is clearly 70%, so why are you asking for 80% now?" A woman shouted at the top of her voice.
"That was the old one. Now that the owner has changed, it doesn't count. It has to be counted as the new one. Whose family this land belongs to now, then we have the final say.
Why? Just because this land doesn't belong to you, you can't be the master." Zhuangtou roared back angrily.
"I don't care. The one I signed is for 70% of the whole year. I don't recognize the new one." Although the woman was a bit playful, it was obvious that she still made sense.
"The old contract has become invalid. If you don't recognize this new contract, then you won't be able to sow this land."
The woman's face turned red and her neck was thick with anger, and her voice seemed to penetrate the whole village, "If you don't want to plant, you won't plant. You think I'm a stranger."
But the head of the village chuckled: "Okay, this land is rented all year round. Since you don't want to rent it, you should first pay off the rent for the first five months.
In these seven acres of herringbone land, starting from the first month, sunflowers, leeks, mustards, soybeans, flax, melons, sesames, black beans, kapok...I won’t list them one by one, but the minimum per acre is
The tenancy of two stones and seventy kilograms is equivalent to seven acres of land, and you pay me eighteen stones and ninety kilograms. I don't care if you want the extra, you can keep it for yourself."
"Do you think so?" Luo Sanqi entered the yard, put his backpack on the ground, stepped forward and pointed at the village head and yelled.
The woman looked back, her face suddenly felt relieved, and she stepped forward and said:
"The He family bought the land. From now on, the owner will be the He family. He has to pay 80% of the rent, and the rent must not be less than two stones and seventy pounds per acre. I got angry and said I wouldn't rent it. Anyway, there is no hope for crops this year.
It's better to take care of those medicinal fields."
When the man came back, the village head shook the new deed in his hand and said, "Either you sign it, you will still farm the land, and I will only give you 80% of the tenancy until midsummer and later."
Either you don't plant the land anymore. It's a total of eighteen stones and ninety catties in the first five months. You have to pay me for it. If you can't hand over the melons and beans, you can convert it into silver, and I won't give it to you.
If it’s too high, just calculate it based on the market price.”
In addition to Luo Sanqi's family, there were other tenant farmers in the same situation in the yard. When everyone heard that the village head was so unreasonable, they all yelled,
"How can there be so many? The weather is like this this year, and you still want two or three stones per acre of land. Are you blind or deliberately trying to force people to death? Which piece of land will give you two or three stones now?"
"Yes, isn't this going to force someone to death? Not to mention two or three stones, one stone is impossible, and we didn't hide it secretly. If you don't believe it, go and look in the field."
Zhuangtou smiled and said, "That is your business and has nothing to do with me. If you don't have enough, then move it from other fields. If other fields are not enough, then use money and surplus grain to make up for it."
"You beast, are you still speaking in human language?"
Seeing that the quarrel between the two parties was getting louder and louder, Luo Sanqi said to his wife: "Go and call Li Zheng over."
"I've already asked someone to call him, he should be on his way here," Sanqi's wife said.
Zhuangtou's face became more and more impatient, "I don't care about you so much. Anyway, this is how the contract is stipulated. You have to hand over whether you hand over or not. If you don't hand over, I will let you go to the Yamen first and eat on a few boards.
A few days of jail time and then I'll let you hand it over."
"You..." Someone was so angry that he tried to bully him, but Zhufeng held him back.
"Chasing the boss, they bully people too much." The man was shaking with anger.
Zhufeng glanced at Zhuangtou, pulled the people on his side a few steps away, and asked Luo Sanqi: "Where is the old contract?"
"It's here with me." Sanqi's wife took out a contract from her pocket and handed it to Zhufeng.
After Zhufeng read it, he said to the head of the village: "It is clearly written in black and white here that the annual rent is 70%, which refers to 70% of the actual harvest of the field. The minimum rent is eighty catties.
Furthermore, the time is marked on this contract, and the rent is for a whole year. If the time has not yet come, how can we sign a new contract?"
The head of the village looked Zhufeng up and down. He was dressed very ordinary and was called boss. He thought he was probably a small businessman, so he said disdainfully: "Then let me ask you, who is the owner written on the contract?
Who is the current owner?
The current owner is the He family. If these people have not signed a deed with the He family, then we, the He family, do not recognize it either. If you want to argue, go to the original owner and tell him why he sold the land to us."
Luo Sanqi was so angry that his neck throbbed, "No, I need food, but I need my life. If you can, take my life."
Zhuangtou was used to these methods and had already prepared for it. He said to the ten people behind him: "Go and move. There are some in this house. No matter what, just move enough eighteen stones for me."
Seeing that the head of the village was about to rob him, everyone could still hold on, so they all rushed to stop him and yelled at each other.
Zhufeng was afraid that the matter would end badly, and the He family's status was clearly beyond what Luo Sanqi and other small tenant farmers could handle, so he wanted to break up the fight.
But as soon as he pulled one on one side and blocked another on the other, the two parties became more and more quarrelsome, and finally they started to fight and push each other. Zhufeng couldn't dodge, and he didn't know who pushed him, so he staggered.
He fell down and hit his forehead firmly on the tip of the stone.