Women Wearing Men: The Growth Path of the Bastards of the Aristocratic Family

Chapter 14

After hearing the whole story, Gu Kaizhen took a deep breath and let it out slowly.The people in Xuejiacun and Wangjiazhuang were all tenants under his name, and the two villages paid him rent every year. Now that something happened, he couldn't just sit idly by.

After ordering someone to help Second Aunt Wang up, Gu Kaizhen said softly, "My condolences, ma'am, your husband is gone, it's useless to cry, it's better to deal with the funeral affairs as soon as possible. You two villages live next to each other, and there are many marriages. It’s not good to make too much noise.”

"How about this, as long as you withdraw the lawsuit, I will pay 50 taels of silver for the funeral expenses and [-] taels of silver as compensation. Now that your family has no young man, I will hire another person to plant the land that was originally rented, but within ten years The harvest, except for the rent, still belongs to your family, what do you think?"

Even in a bumper harvest year, the farmer’s family’s annual balance is only three or four taels of silver. Gu Kaizhen gave 60 taels of silver at once, and let their family enjoy the harvest for ten years without farming, which is already quite kind.

Hearing this, Second Aunt Wang quickly wiped away her tears, knelt down and kowtowed: "Thank you, Master Gu! Thank you, Master Gu! I'll listen to you! I won't sue!"

He nodded with satisfaction, and said to the pale-faced Shuiyangzi: "There is still water... Shuiyangzi, there is Wang Mancang's blood on your hoe, it can't escape, no matter whether you killed the person or not, you You have to go to the county government. Don't worry, if the people don't raise officials, they won't let you pay for your life. Even if you want to go to prison, I will take care of your family's livelihood. How about ?”

After finishing speaking, Gu Kaizhen turned around and looked at the sweat-drenched Xue family village, and said coldly: "It's just such a river, you actually advocated building a dam to stop the water, what a skill! People come to make arguments and you still turn a blind eye , from now on, you are not allowed to stop the water! As a Lizheng, you don’t restrain the villagers, causing the villagers to fight and kill people. The county magistrate punishes you for your crime!"

Xue Quanfu's legs went limp, and he collapsed on the ground. Before he could speak, the villagers of Xuejia Village eagerly said in a few words: "Master Gu is clear! If the water is not blocked, the crops will die of thirst, and there will be no harvest this year." !"

"Someone died in Wangjiazhuang, but if there is no harvest, everyone will have nothing to eat, and there will be more than one or two people who will starve to death!"

"We are not allowed to block the water. There are no villages downstream after Wangjiazhuang. They will definitely build the dam high. By doing this, Mr. Gu will see that the people in Wangjiazhuang are full and let the people in Xuejia Village starve to death." !"

"Why not use well water?" At this moment, Gu Yunji, who was silently watching the whole time, suddenly asked.

"On the way here, I saw that there is a well in your Xuejia Village, just at the east end of the village. The well water is muddy and heavy, with many leaves floating on it. It has not been used for many years. Although the water is muddy, it can be used It’s okay to use it for irrigation, but when it’s used a lot, the groundwater will flow, and the well water will naturally clear up, and even people can drink it, why don’t you use the water from this well?”

The crowd fell silent for a moment, and after a while, an old man hesitated and said, "Young master, I don't know, that well is unlucky."

"Unlucky?" Gu Yunji sneered disapprovingly, "Didn't you say that the fields were dry and the harvest would starve you to death, so it doesn't matter if it's auspicious or not?"

The old man dodged his eyes, as if he was afraid of something, he hesitated and said: "Ten years ago, there used to be a family next to that well, but later, the family thought it was inconvenient to go to the river to fetch water, so they dug a well in the yard. "

"Unexpectedly, there have been many strange things since then. First, the male owner did not know what the disease was. No number of doctors could find out the cause, so he died of the disease. Then his old mother suddenly became insane, ran madly to the river, fell down and drowned. The hostess couldn't stay any longer, and took the child back to her mother's house, and the family fell apart like this."

"After that, every night, there was always whimpering and crying from that well, which frightened people. Later, the village invited a Feng Shui master to come and see, and said that the well was drilled in the wrong place, and it was pressing down on the well. The soles of the mountain god's feet were flat, and he couldn't sleep well, so naturally he didn't give the family good fruit to eat. Mr. Feng Shui performed several rituals and offered a plaque to the mountain god to stand in the ancestral hall. No one dares to use the water from that well anymore.”

"Hahahahahaha... Pressing the soles of the mountain god's master's feet, this statement is too outrageous, thank you for believing it." Gu Yunji couldn't help it for a while, and laughed out loud.

"Let's not say whether this is true or not, killing people and causing their wives and children to be separated. What kind of mountain gods are clearly evil spirits! You should break off the confession card and use it as firewood! You even confessed it. If there are gods, they will be tortured by the world day and night. Incense, why are there so many people displaced? Sitting on the altar but ignoring the sufferings of the world, in my opinion, a false god!"

The old man was so frightened by his ignorant words that he almost pouted, waved his hands again and again and said, "Master! Master, be careful! Be careful! As the old saying goes, there are gods above your head, so don't be disrespectful!"

Gu Yunji was too lazy to argue with them, and said, "Hmph, I don't think you have reached that point yet. When it's time to eat tree bark and grass roots, you won't care about mountain gods or not. That's all, it's six It’s the month, and it’s almost the rainy season, so where will the drought go? If you don’t want to use well water, don’t use it, anyway, you have to follow my father’s advice, don’t build dams!”

At this time, the county government officials came, and after listening to the Gu family's father and son, they also knew that this matter was just a ball of thread. He was almost appeased, so he pretended to be peaceful, and only took away Zhenghe Shuiyangzi from Xuejia Village, and the matter was over.

On the way home, Gu Kaizhen asked: "I see the situation today, you seem to be very indifferent to ghosts and gods, why?"

Gu Yunji couldn't say that he was a firm materialist, so he had no choice but to pull the banner of Confucius and replied: "Confucius said, respect ghosts and gods and stay away from them. My son thinks that the so-called ghosts and gods are nothing more than people encountering things that cannot be changed. And I don’t want to sit and wait for this matter to come, and thus give birth to a little hope pinned in nothingness.”

"It doesn't rain, the land is dry, people can't let the sky rain, but they don't want to sit back and watch the crops die of drought, so they pray to the Dragon King for rain; the family is seriously ill, there is no medicine and stone, people can't get rid of the pain, but they don't want to see their family members leave, so they pray to the gods Blessing. And so on, the reason why people pray to gods and worship Buddhas is because they encounter powerless things and pin their hopes on other things.”

"But blindly believing in vain gods and ghosts will not improve the status quo. People should not pin their hopes on the gods, but on themselves. When you are alive, you should focus on the present. To prevent drought, you should practice early. Canal, store more water. If you don’t want to get sick, you should exercise more frequently and eat moderately. Although human power is small, it can also move mountains and fill seas, build lakes and rivers. As the saying goes, ghosts and gods are of no benefit, and everything depends on human effort.”

"Ghosts and gods are useless, it's up to people..." Gu Kaizhen murmured, feeling a little absent-minded for a moment.

After a while, he came back to his senses, looked at Gu Yunji who was galloping in front of him, and said to himself: "It's useless to be a ghost. It depends on man's efforts. It's really enlightening. My son, I don't know how much you still have." of……"

(End of this chapter)