Chapter 933
Chapter 933
Xue Shao climbed out of the water, and a gust of night wind made him shiver.
Xue Shao's heart stirred, and he looked up thoughtfully at the dimly lit sky.
Xi Jin fell on the ridge of the field, scrambled to his feet, and anxiously helped Xue Shao up, saying, "Young Master, you're soaked to the bone."
Xue Shao snapped out of his daze, wrung out the water from his robes, and comforted him, "It's alright, let's hurry to the village and find some lodging."
The villagers are simple and kind-hearted. As soon as night falls, the village is dark, and everyone goes to bed regardless of whether they can fall asleep or not. Especially since it is raining tonight, it is even easier to sleep.
But when Xi Jin knocked on the door, the villager opened it anyway. Seeing their disheveled state, with their clothes soaked through, the villager still opened the door and invited the two inside.
A sound gradually came from inside the house, waking the whole family. An old man came out, wearing a coat, coughing as he asked, "Young man, who is it?"
The villager replied, "It was a gentleman who was passing by with his page, and they asked to stay the night."
The entire farmhouse was dark, and both father and son were night-blind, so they had to get very close to see Xue Shao clearly.
He is approachable at first glance; he is clearly a scholar.
The old man smiled and hurriedly went to the kitchen to light a torch. He then woke up his wife and daughter-in-law to boil water and cook for them.
Xue Shao declined, saying softly, "We've already eaten and aren't hungry. Thank you for your hospitality, but I'd like to ask my aunt to help me brew some medicine."
The old man readily agreed.
The family's surname is Wang, and the son's name is Wang Jin, who is about the same age as Xue Shao.
Xue Shao handed the medicine bag he was carrying to Wang Jin. He had taken it out of his spatial storage when they reached the village entrance.
Seeing that his lips had turned pale, Wang Jin quickly handed the medicine to his wife: "What is this medicine for?"
Xue Shao said, "It's for preventing and treating colds."
A look of confusion flashed across Wang Jin's eyes. Why did they prepare medicine to prevent colds in advance?
But he didn't think much of it. After handing the medicine to his wife, he quickly pulled Xue Shao into the house and took off his clothes to give to him.
As for Xi Jin, he simply wet his outer garment, took it off, and dried his hair.
Xue Shao was stunned as he held the clothes.
Wang Jin smiled sheepishly: "If you find these wet clothes unpleasant, why don't you change out of them and go to bed to cover yourself with a blanket? I'll have them dry your clothes in the sun, and you might be able to wear them tomorrow."
Xue Shao realized that some poor families did indeed only have one set of clothes per person. In the past, there were even families where an entire family only had two sets of clothes, one for the man and one for the woman.
But this is in the Ming Dynasty, and in Hangzhou, why is it like this?
Xue Shao felt a pang of sadness. He smiled at Wang Jin, took off his clothes, dried himself with a cloth, wiped his hair, and then changed into the old clothes of Wang Jin and his son.
After the medicine was brewed, he and Xijin each drank a bowl, wrung out their clothes and hung them in the kitchen to dry. The two of them then shared a room with the father and son.
There was nothing they could do; their family only had three thatched huts.
After a busy half hour, when the lively farmhouse courtyard quieted down again, the rain outside had become as thick as a curtain of rain.
Xue Shao sat on the edge of the bed, watching the rain outside the window. Wang Jin remade the bed, and his father, leaning on a stick, also sat on the edge of the bed, looking out.
The room fell silent for a moment, with only the sounds of Wang Jin and Xi Jin making the bed.
The thicker the rain outside the window, the wider the old man's smile became. He laughed and said, "Since the second day of the second lunar month, Hangzhou has had four rain showers, each time just a little bit. Tonight's rain is good, very good. Spring rain is as precious as oil."
Xue Shao nodded slightly: "I hope it rains until morning and then the sky clears up. That way, not only can the wheat be harvested in abundance, but the rice seedlings can also grow rapidly, and we can transplant them before April."
The old man looked at Xue Shao with a smile: "Young master, you know about farming?"
Xue Shao: "My family also has a few acres of poor land. In the early years, before I went out to study, I had to go to the fields every spring for planting and autumn for harvesting. The school also taught me how to do that."
“They do teach it. Our village and county schools teach it, but they don’t teach it much in the city anymore. It’s strange, though. The smart students in the city don’t learn farming. How will they encourage farming when they become officials in the future?”
Xue Shao smiled and said, "Judging from what you've said, sir, you've been to school?"
The old man became proud and straightened his back slightly, saying, "I studied for a few years. When I was young, Emperor Taizu Gao opened schools and ordered eligible children to enroll. I followed him and studied in the school for three years."
He then pointed to Wang Jin and said, "Although my son is a bit slow, he was fortunate enough to attend school when he was young and studied for a few years, so he knows a few characters."
Xue Shao asked with admiration, "Are there many students in the village who go to school?"
“Quite a lot,” the old man said. “After all, it’s on the outskirts of Hangzhou, not far from the city. Whenever the court has a good policy, we are the first to enjoy it. Eight out of ten school-age children in the village go to school. The remaining two are either because their parents don’t love them and only care about themselves, or because they are as stupid as oxen and cannot be taught.”
Xue Shao could tell from his speech that he had not only studied for three years.
Sure enough, although the old man had only studied for three years in his childhood, he would find books to read whenever he had the chance.
The more books you read, the more of the world you see, and your insights and thoughts become different from those of ordinary people.
"Unfortunately, I still couldn't make a good living," the old man shook his head and sighed, "but that's just how things are in this world; good results don't always come from hard work."
The old man never stopped striving throughout his life to improve his family's life.
The Wang family was once wealthy. At their peak, they owned 28 mu of land and almost built a large brick and tile house.
The old man pointed to the wall and said, "Over there, in the open space in my backyard, the foundation has already been laid, and the house is almost up."
Xi Jin listened in a daze. He loved hearing stories of getting rich and powerful. He always looked for stories about achieving great things and becoming wealthy when reading novels. He didn't like stories about poor but talented men marrying rich girls and rising to great heights.
So he hurriedly asked, "Why wasn't it built later? How did your family business fail?"
The old man said, "When the foundation was being laid, my eldest son went up the mountain to quarry stones. He was using gunpowder to blast the stones when he was accidentally hit by a flying rock and rolled down the mountain. He died."
Xi Jin opened his mouth slightly, looking at Xue Shao like a child who had made a mistake.
Xue Shao remained calm, simply looking at the old man with gentle eyes.
The old man's face showed no sadness, and he had clearly let go of the past: "The family felt that the feng shui of the new house was bad, so they stopped. Later, my third son was conscripted into the army and sent to fight in Luchuan. He never came back. I had four sons and three daughters in my life. My second son and eldest daughter were weak and died after three or four years of raising them. In the end, only this youngest son was left by my side."
"The family's land was sold off after my wife fell ill and my youngest son got married. Eight mu of land were sold, leaving only twenty mu. Last year, due to a typhoon, we sold another ten mu to survive..."
Xi Jin was heartbroken, yet relieved: "There are still ten acres of land left."
The old man shook his head slightly and said with a wry smile, "I'm afraid that by the time autumn comes, the remaining ten acres of land will also be gone. If I'm lucky, I might be able to keep two acres."
"Ah? Why?"
Wang Jin said indignantly, "Isn't it all to pay off the loan!"
The old man stopped Wang Jin from continuing his resentful words and said softly, "We signed the contract voluntarily. We can't blame anyone but ourselves for not being smart enough. If we hadn't taken out a loan and had instead sold the land directly, we might have been able to keep a few more acres."
Wang Jin: "But the land price they offered was too cheap. Normally, a mu of top-quality land in Hangzhou costs 20 taels, and a mu of medium-quality land costs 15 taels. But after the typhoon last year, they lowered the land price to 5 taels for top-quality land, and then to 3 taels. And the grain price... Isn't this going to force us to our deaths?" The old man sighed and remained silent.
Xue Shao asked, "Who did you sell the land to?"
“Master Wang from the East City,” Wang Jin said angrily, “is from our Wang Family Village. He said we were one family five hundred years ago, but he’s been ripping us off.”
The old man muttered under his breath, "They were indeed one family five hundred years ago..."
Wang Jin snorted: "That's what they said when we bought the land, but it wasn't the same when they came to take it back after the typhoon."
Xue Shao asked, "Was the loan also borrowed from them?"
Wang Jin nodded.
Xue Shao then asked, "How much did you borrow, and how much will you repay?"
What was borrowed was grain, and what was returned was also grain.
Borrow a peck of land, collect interest monthly, and the interest will compound every peck of land, with the land as collateral.
Wang Jin squatted on the ground, clutching his head, and said, "I was so hungry I was blind. When I went to his house, all I could see was grain. I didn't hear what he was saying at all. He said he'd lend me one dou (a unit of dry measure) and pay interest on it. I thought that if I borrowed one dou, I could pay him back in a year when the harvest came. If he wanted interest, it would be twelve dou, plus the principal of one dou, so I could pay him back thirteen dou at most. So I borrowed three dou of grain. Little did I know that even one dou would incur interest. With this compounding interest, don't ask me how much I owe now; I can't even calculate it."
Xue Shao: ...
Xue Shao rubbed his slightly dizzy head, patted Wang Jin's head, and laughed, "This matter is not insurmountable. Tomorrow, you will come with me into the city to file a complaint at the county government office and have the magistrate set a fixed interest for you."
Wang Jin looked up, bewildered: "Huh?"
Xue Shao smiled and said, "In the Ming Dynasty, lending money at exorbitant interest rates is illegal, and borrowing grain at high interest rates in the name of natural disasters is also illegal."
"Why would the county magistrate care about this? Officials and merchants are in cahoots."
The old man quickly added, "I only have this one son left, he can't go and fight against the officials."
Xue Shao said, “Under normal circumstances, I would not recommend that you do such a dangerous thing, but times are different now. If you, your brother, or any other family in the village, or any other village in Hangzhou, have any grievances or injustices, this is the most appropriate time to go to the county government.”
Wang Jin looked bewildered: "Why?"
Xue Shao said in a low voice, "Because during this period, not only the Imperial Inspector of Jiangnan is here, but the Imperial Preceptor is also here."
The father and son's eyes lit up. They weren't too concerned about the inspecting censor; they only heard the Imperial Preceptor ask, "Is the Imperial Preceptor in Hangzhou?"
Xue Shao smiled and nodded: "Yes, the Imperial Advisor is in Hangzhou."
He said, “The Imperial Preceptor hates evil as if it were his enemy, and the Zhejiang Provincial Governor Sun Yuanzhen and Right Envoy Yang Zan are seeking favors from the Imperial Preceptor. They will certainly not dare to suppress public opinion at this time. Therefore, if you have any grievances during this period, you can go to the county government to file a complaint. If you miss this period, you should really be careful.”
When the old man saw that Xue Shao dared to address the Provincial Governor and the Right Envoy by their names, he knew that Xue Shao was no ordinary person and trusted his information more.
He gripped the stick tightly, his heart burning with excitement, repeatedly asking, "Is the Imperial Preceptor really in Hangzhou?"
Xue Shao nodded firmly: "It's really here!"
After confirming it three times, the old man's breathing became rapid. He looked at his son and finally gritted his teeth: "Youngest son, go see your fifth uncle and Uncle Qing first thing tomorrow morning. This matter must be kept from the village chief for now..."
Wang Jin readily agreed, his heart burning with excitement.
He would naturally be willing to do everything in his power to save ten acres of land.
This is land that my father and brothers worked hard for decades to save. Was it easy?
Only then did the old man ask Xue Shao, "Young master, you are no ordinary scholar, are you?"
Xue Shao chuckled and said, "I have some official rank, so I'm better informed than others."
This is not just some, it's incredibly well-informed.
However, Xue Shao's clothes were not luxurious. The clothes he changed out of were very ordinary fine cotton, the kind of clothes that many scholars from ordinary families would wear. When he took the clothes to the kitchen to dry them earlier, he noticed a patch on the corner of the clothes.
That's why the old man never imagined he would be a powerful or wealthy person.
Ordinary scholars, even those who have passed the imperial examinations, would not be able to find out such news, would they?
They even dared to call the provincial governor by his name.
The old man lay down, filled with doubt.
Xue Shao, however, sat cross-legged on the bed, not falling asleep. He practiced the exercises three times until he felt slightly warm and sweaty, then he stopped and lay down.
Despite his precautions, he still felt a dry throat and some pain when swallowing the next morning.
Xue Shao suppressed his unease and asked Wang Jin's wife to brew the medicine from yesterday again. He took the medicine and then left.
Wang Jin had already gone to the village that morning to find people to connect with. He had visited several families, and by the time Xue Shao took his leave, he had already found eight young men who were all willing to go with him to the county government office.
Although the young people followed Xue Shao into the city, they were still very uneasy and afraid.
All the way, they kept asking, "Is this really going to work? If we go to sue Master Wang, won't we get punished?"
"Yes, if we're going to beat people with sticks at this time, they can't go to the fields, or it will delay the farming season."
"Buying medicine for injuries costs money."
"I'm afraid we won't win the lawsuit and will offend Master Wang in the end. Not only will we lose the land, but we'll also owe a lot of money."
The more they talked, the more uneasy they became, and their steps slowed down.
Xue Shao knew that if he said a few more words to them, the eight people that Wang Jin had finally managed to gather would fall apart.
He stopped and turned around with a smile: "Gentlemen, I know the prefect of Hangzhou and have some connections with him. As long as what you say is true, I can guarantee that you will receive a fair and just judgment."
Everyone was taken aback and quickly asked, "Is the young master a relative of the prefect?"
Xue Shao smiled and shook his head: "We're not relatives, but we're on good terms. You'll see when you get there."
Without further hesitation, the group quickly followed Xue Shao's footsteps.
Master Wang is very capable, but he's not capable enough to know the prefect, is he?
Xue Shao escorted the people to the entrance of the county government office, watched them strike the large drum in front of the office, and then turned and left.
After Wang Jincai finished beating the drum, he turned around to look for Xue Shao, only to find that Xue Shao was gone. His heart sank.
Just as he was about to go look for it, a constable who came out grabbed him: "Wait, wait, are you the one who wants to file a complaint? Where are you going? Come in right now!" (End of this chapter)