In the house in the west of the village, Grandpa Qin was silent for a moment and looked at Qin Laoliu: "Lao Liu, what do you and your wife think? Should you marry Meizi within two months or pay a fine? My family plans to pay a fine. ”
Qin Laoliu Said: "It's better to get married. Meizi is already eighteen years old. You have to pay three taels of silver. How can my family afford it?"
After hearing this, Qin Mei looked extremely pale and was trembling all over. Soon He closed his eyes and fell back.
"Mei Zi!" Mrs. Qin Liu rushed to help Qin Mei and pinched her daughter hard.
"Stop pinching, it's all bleeding." Qin Xiaomi ran over, pressed several acupuncture points on Qin Mei's body, and finally revived her.
But Qin Mei was still shaking: "I won't marry, I won't marry in my whole life... I won't bring trouble to my family, I will go find a tree in the forest..."
Qin Liupo She was shocked and pinched her again: "Meizi, what nonsense are you talking about? Wake up quickly, don't scare your mother."
Qin Xiaomi said: "Don't be afraid, cousin, no one is forcing you to marry, as for the punishment Silver... not only do we not have to pay, but we can also make a huge profit."
Qin Mei was stunned when she heard that, her eyes gradually became clear, and she looked at Qin Xiaomi: "Really?"
Qin Xiaomi nodded: "Well, it's absolutely true. But you have to tell us, why are you so resistant to getting married? Don't let us worry about you."
Qin Mei glanced at Qin Cunquan, fearing that he would be uncomfortable, so she said nothing and kept crying.
Qin Liupo was so anxious: "Speak quickly, it couldn't have been you that night..."
"I didn't!" Qin Mei shouted, she was not harmed by those bad people, But they saw with their own eyes how Cunying was harmed.
Cunying's screams, cries for help, and the appearance of being tortured to death by Boss Ding have become her lifelong fear. She is usually fine, but when it comes to getting married, she can't control it.
Qin Cunquan was afraid that everyone would misunderstand and harm Qin Mei's reputation, so he said: "The clan sister is fine, she must have been frightened by Cunying's death."
After saying that, I once again hated myself for being incompetent and unable to save my sister.
Qin Dashi and his wife thought of their missing eldest daughter, and Qin Dayan and his wife also thought of their daughter who died tragically, and they couldn't help but shed tears.
"That's good, you're scaring me to death." Qin Liupo finally felt relieved and asked Qin Xiaomi: "Girl Xiaomi, what do you mean by exchanging big profits? Hurry up and wait for help. "
Qin Xiaomi said: "I want to give the method of making arrowroot to the county magistrate... In recent years, natural disasters and military disasters have caused the court to be short of food, and arrowroot is a new food, as long as the county magistrate. How to make the handle It is a credit to submit the son to the capital, so the county magistrate must be willing to do a deal with us."
He also said: "The Huang family and the Wu Li family are not good people, we can't stay up all day long. To guard against them, we have to go all out and find the county magistrate to be our backer. In this way, not to mention the Huang and Wu families, even the Sili Fang in the town will not dare to make trouble for us anymore. "
Everyone nodded after hearing this: "It's indeed a good idea."
Qin Liupo said with heartache: "Then we can't make kudzu to eat and make money? Such a good business is gone, and we can't "What a bad luck." I'm just exchanging the kudzu making method for profit."
Qin Liupo: "Can the county magistrate agree?"
Qin Xiaomi: "The county magistrate is an official, and officials want merit. , I won’t be mean to our little business, and the real business I want to do is not eating kudzu.”
"What? Are you hiding other big deals?" Qin Liupo was so happy that she left Qin Mei and rushed towards Qin Xiaomi: "Girl Xiaomi, the day your mother gave birth to you, Liupo went to help deliver the baby. She was very tired. Okay. After you were finally born safely, your big deal, score. One share for the sixth wife.”
Qin Xiaomi chuckled: “Is this what you have been talking about for a long time? It depends on the performance of your whole family. If it is good, then everything will be easy.”
Qin Liupo immediately swore a poisonous oath.
After all the fuss, the heavy atmosphere was gone, and Qin Mei recovered. Grandpa Qin asked Qin Xiaomi: "Xiaomi, tell us what you are going to do next."
Qin Xiaomi: "Without further delay, we will go to the county seat tomorrow. We will first find Chen Xiaoqi, and then the clerk, and ask them both to help inform the county magistrate about the kudzu powder."
Chen and Guan are both upright and capable, and are the best candidates to help.
Grandpa Qin agreed: "Okay, let's do it." The next day, at dawn, the nine family members got up. After a lot of work, the people who stayed behind saw Grandpa Qin and others out.
Grandpa Qin explained: "No one should go out before we come back. If the Huang family comes to look for trouble, you will move Chen Xiaoqi and Secretary Guan out. If you are still scared, If we don't retreat, they will send us to offer kudzu powder prescriptions. The matter is said, if they still refuse to give up, you will use medicine... In short, we cannot let them take away the girls."
Qin Dashi, Qin Dayan, Xu Erjun and others responded: "Don't worry. We will definitely protect women and children.”
Grandpa Qin nodded, took the prepared dried arrowroot powder, a few boxes of arrowroot powder to eat, and left with Qin Xiaomi, Jiang Dalang, Xu Sanjun and their son.
I arrived in the town at dawn, rented a donkey cart and went straight to the military station on the outskirts of the county.
The government officials are responsible for detecting theft in the county, and the county military post is responsible for resisting the enemy and protecting the county during wartime.
At noon, he rushed to the hilltop of the military post and gave copper coins to the sentry: "Master, we are the Qin victims who have settled in a ghost village. We have something serious to say to Chen Xiaoqi. Please let me know."
Chen Xiaoqi told the sentry not to be embarrassed if victims of the ghost village come looking for him.
So the sentry told them directly: "Chen Xiaoqi is not here. He has gone to the county government on errands. You can go directly to the county government to find him."
"Thank you, Master." Grandpa Qin and the others got on the donkey cart again and drove straight Go to the county seat.
Because I had settled in, I was not blocked. I paid ten cents to enter the city and was released.
After arriving at the county government office, he continued to spend money to ask the government officials to look for Chen Xiaoqi.
More than a quarter of an hour later, Chen Xiaoqi came out in a hurry. When he saw Grandpa Qin, he asked: "But there are victims in the ghost village who have committed crimes? Didn't I tell you to live an honest life? Why don't you listen? If you commit crimes, I and Uncle Guan's family will Everyone will be punished!”
Grandpa Qin said hurriedly: "Chen Xiaoqi, we didn't commit any crime. We came to you today because we have a good thing."
A good thing?
Chen Xiaoqi felt relieved and asked: "What's the good thing? You caught a wild boar and sold it for thirteen taels of silver? Needless to say, this matter has already spread."
"That's not what happened. We made a new food...Chen Xiaoqi has a try." Grandpa Qin opened the wooden box and gave Chen Xiaoqi the kudzu powder cake to eat.
Chen Xiaoqi was also brave enough to eat it and said, "It's fragrant, soft and delicious. You guys are living a pretty good life now."
Then he would be relieved.
Grandpa Qin said: "This is made of Ge Chai."
"What is it?" Chen Xiaoqi didn't remember what Ge Chai was for a while.
"It's something to feed pigs, so it's named because it's as hard as firewood." Secretary Guan came over and took a piece of kudzu powder cake to eat. It tasted really good, but: "Is this really made of kudzu firewood? How about it?" Proof? "
Jiang Dalang opened the bag: "Guan Shuli, please take a look."
Secretary Guan saw the white dry kudzu powder inside, and was shocked. He was afraid that it was white flour, so he quickly grabbed a handful and tasted it: "...it really tastes like kudzu powder."
Chen Xiaoqi was shocked: " Uncle Guan, have you ever eaten pig food?”
Secretary Guan ignored him. He looked at Grandpa Qin and asked: "Old man, bring this good thing to the county government. What do you want to exchange for it? Let's talk about it first. If it goes too far, I'm afraid I won't be able to help you."
If the things are good, he can ask for a price, but the price is too high. Once he angers the Yamen, he will not be able to protect them.
"I just want a place to live and settle down." Grandpa Qin told the story about the unmarried fine silver and the Huang and Wu families.
The official Guan Shuli felt sad and angry after hearing this... He came here to find a way to survive after being forced to have no other options.
Guan Shuli did not hesitate any longer and decided to take over the matter: "Come in, I will take you to see the county magistrate."
(End of this chapter)
< br>