Chapter 216: Chaos
As soon as Mrs. Zeng left the Song family gate, Mrs. Song issued a gag order and kept the matter under wraps.
Song Huai was beaten until he was unconscious. The doctor came and looked at Xiao Zeng and then at Song Huai.
Song Huai only injured the outer skin, which looked horrifying to see the bloody mess, but actually did not hurt the tibia. The torturer was very measured.
Song Huai fell into a coma. He was afraid and couldn't bear the pain, so he fainted.
The doctor treated Song Huai's injuries and prescribed several decoctions to remove blood clots and relieve pain. After learning that Song Huai's life was not in danger, Mrs. Pei wiped her tears and ordered the maid to escort the doctor out.
When they arrived at the second door, the maid gave the doctor a letter of thirty taels of silver for the consultation fee, which was also regarded as hush money.
The doctor travels to and from wealthy families all the year round, and has long been accustomed to seeing these dirty things. He has also developed the ability to just say nothing about them.
Soon, Song Baiqing, who was busy with errands and came home less and less, hurried home after being informed by the servant.
Seeing that Song Huai was fine, he went to visit Xiao Zeng.
Little Zeng had already woken up. After learning that Zeng would not break off the engagement, her health suddenly recovered.
Seeing Song Baiqing, little Zeng had a dark face, jumped up and hit him with her fist, "You taught me a good son. His hair is not even long yet, so he went to hook up with a girl from the Dai family, and asked me to stay with the eldest sister." This old face is lost in front of me.”
"That little brat, hitting him with twenty hits is an advantage. I wasn't there at the time. If I had been here, I would have had to hit him with at least thirty hits. To be fair, he doesn't have a long memory."
"And you." The punch was like hitting a wall, bang bang bang, "How dare you and your wife hide such a big thing from us? Don't tell me you don't know. It's spread all over the world. You If you don’t know, the crows outside are all white.”
Xiao Zeng is a little old woman, not very strong, but she has to hit one place specifically, and it hurts even if she hits too many times.
Song Baiqing didn't dare to stop him, let alone talk back. He could only grit his teeth and hold on, letting little Zeng vent his anger.
When Mr. Song saw that his wife was the first to teach his son a lesson, he snorted and sat aside, watching his wife beating his son without saying a word to stop her.
After Xiao Zeng had beaten him enough, he slumped on the chair tiredly and continued to curse, "When that little bastard is healed, take him to the Chu family and apologize to Yu Niang. ”
"I did something wrong, and I was pulled out by someone. I didn't even know that I was being plotted against. Idiot."
"When he offended the girl from the Dai family, he ignored his fiancée and didn't even meet her. He thought that after getting engaged, their precious girl would be there waiting to be his wife."
"Based on Yu Niang's title of county head and a generous dowry, I tell you, there are many young people in the capital lining up to marry her."
He pointed his hand at Song Boqing's nose and scolded Song Boqing so hard that he didn't even dare to raise his head. He suffered for more than an hour before he came out of Xiao Zeng's house.
Without even looking at Song Huai, he prepared his horse and went out to meet Peony.
……
When Mrs. Zeng returned to Chu House, she saw Xia Zihan waiting for her at the second door all the way away. Her eyes were red and her throat was heavy with sobs.
"Grandma."
Seeing Mrs. Zeng's expression, Xia Zihan's smile froze for a moment, and she came over hurriedly, "Grandma, it's okay if things don't work out. I'm just twelve years old anyway, and I still have three years left. What about time?”
Xia Zihan pretended to be relaxed and comforted Mrs. Zeng.
Zeng's heart ached even more.
Her granddaughter, who is so sensible, was betrothed to such an unworthy person. It was all her fault.
"Yu Niang, grandma..." She wanted to say something, but couldn't.
"Grandma, this is not your fault. Don't blame yourself." Xia Zihan felt worried, and she helped Zeng and walked in step by step.
"I'm still young, and there are still three years before I get my haircut. Time is neither long nor short. Who knows what else will happen during this period."
"Grandma, didn't you say that the plan can't keep up with the changes? Maybe there are some changes in my affairs. Let's not be in a hurry and wait slowly. We will always find a suitable opportunity."
"Even if there is no chance, it doesn't matter."
"This time, my cousin was driven to the Military and Horse Department by the emperor. I'm afraid it will be difficult for him to get ahead again in the future. Now the old man of the Song family is only hoping that cousin Huai can pass the exam to be a scholar, a scholar, and a Jinshi. When the time comes, Even if the emperor looks down on the Song family, Song Huai can still get a job with his own efforts."
"Cousin Huai failed the exam this time. I heard that he didn't get enough rest and fell asleep in the middle of the exam. This was an accident. After three years, Cousin Huai will definitely fail again. By then, with his hard work, , will definitely be in high school.”
"Grandma, compared to those children from aristocratic families who spend all day doing nothing serious, eating, drinking, whoring, gambling, playing with birds and walking dogs, fighting and racing, Cousin Huai, who studies hard and wants to gain fame by himself, is already perfect. A rare species.”
"You can't ask for more, otherwise I will be jealous of God if he is so perfect."
As they walked, Xia Zihan comforted her in a low voice. When they arrived at Zeng's house, the huge stone pressing on her heart was also moved away.
Mrs. Zeng sighed deeply and said, "I was shocked by your aunt and uncle's style. I'm fine. Don't worry."
really.
The second sister fainted, and Song Huai was beaten to pieces and fell into a coma. She was really frightened, which made her panic. After listening to Yu Niang's words along the way, she thought, yes, she was too anxious and couldn't eat hot tofu in a hurry. This matter had to be discussed in the long run.
Zeng's heart disease was suddenly cured again.
Xia Zihan felt relieved when he saw her eyebrows relaxed.
"Grandma, I'm going to see my father tomorrow. If you don't want to go, you can go too. You are my father's mother-in-law. If my father is moving, you should also go and have a look." I wanted to take Mrs. Zeng out to relax.
Mrs. Zeng is now a widow and cannot go out, but if she stays in the house all day, she is afraid that she will suffer from heart problems.
Since ancient times, there has been no solution to heart disease.
After Xia Zihan kept stalking her and tried to please her, Zeng finally agreed to accompany her.
When Aunt Zhang got the news that Mrs. Zeng was coming, Aunt Zhang was so frightened that her legs went weak. She quickly put down her work, picked up her skirt, and ran out.
Seeing Mrs. Zeng, Aunt Zhang hurriedly knelt down and saluted, "I have seen the old lady."
"Well, get up." Zeng took a closer look at the layout of the hall.
"Well, that's right. Although the place is not big, the decoration is warm and elegant." It can be seen that the honest Aunt Zhang has a good way of running a house.
Aunt Zhang blushed, asked Zeng and Xia Zihan to sit down, and then ordered the maid to brew a pot of the best Biluochun in the house and bring it over.
This tea was specially bought by Xia Zihan for Xia Shiming to drink.
In Xia Shiming's free time, he liked to drink some tea and study some ancient poems. When he moved, Xia Zihan gave him a pack of blood swallows but not much else, so he sent someone to buy two kilograms of them. Biluochun, who was waiting, delivered it to Xia Shiming.
"Old Madam, County Master, would you like to stay for lunch?" Aunt Zhang asked hopefully.
Mrs. Zeng shook her head and said, "No need." Her tone was so cold that Aunt Zhang was so frightened that she didn't dare to speak anymore.
Xia Zihan originally wanted to persuade Mrs. Zeng to stay for dinner, but when she saw Mrs. Zeng’s indifference towards Aunt Zhang, she stopped talking.
However, God was not kind to us. The weather in July was always changing. It was sunny when we arrived, but when we left, it was covered with dark clouds and drizzle.
"It seems that God wants to keep grandma here for a meal." Xia Zihan pursed her lips and smiled.
Mrs. Zeng looked at Aunt Zhang, waved her hand and said, "Go ahead and make a braised snow fish and serve it. The rest of the dishes are as you like."
While we were having dinner, it started to rain heavily outside.
Zeng had to take a nap every day, so Aunt Zhang arranged for her to stay in the room she prepared for Xu.
In that room, there happened to be newly put bedding.
Xia Zihan stood at the window and looked out at the rain.
Suddenly, her heart tightened.
She seemed to have forgotten something very important.
In the year when she was twelve years old, it rained continuously for more than three months in the Jiangnan area, from mid-July to the end of October, and all the grain to be harvested was rotted in the ground.
The people had nothing to gain and they didn't even have enough to eat.
At first, the people thought that it would be the same as the last disaster, and that the court would open warehouses to provide relief as soon as possible and distribute wheat that could be planted in the winter to everyone. In this way, after the winter, there would still be a harvest in the fields in March of the next year. Food, people will not starve to death.
However, the people waited and waited anxiously at home. When September came, the Mid-Autumn Festival was over, there was nothing to eat at home, and the whole family was about to starve to death. Only then did the people react belatedly. .
Chuge, who could pity the suffering of the people, died of old age. Now no one in the court takes the lives of their people seriously.
If they continue to wait, the whole family will starve to death in the end.
Later, many people left their hometowns one after another, hoping to find work outside and earn some money to buy food so that their families would not starve to death at home.
But there were more people to work, fewer people to hire, less porridge and more people, so some unscrupulous merchants began to lower the wages. In the end, even if they were given two steamed buns, people would rush to work on them.
If you don't work, there are people who do it. They work and earn two steamed buns. If you don't work because the wages are low, let alone steamed buns, even water, you can't earn a mouthful.
Many people are displaced and homeless. There are many beggars on the streets. If they can't get food, they starve to death on the streets. Some people start to grab food when they are hungry. There are many restaurants, restaurants, noodle shops, and pastry shops. They were all robbed.
Later, some people even began to rob houses, rob jewelry, rob women... they robbed whatever they saw, which scared the shops in several major cities in the south of the Yangtze River and did not dare to open shops for business.
In such a harsh environment, the people were in chaos, and the Dasheng Dynasty was also in chaos.
(End of chapter)