Chapter 460: The Five Tyrants of the Capital (Part )At this moment, Feng Moqiu realized it, Feng Jingchun also realized it, and Dong Jinbao not only realized it, but also blushed. Oh my God, he actually wanted to build a new house for the old Yu family and send Dong Guier to be a son-in-law. What would the villagers think? They must think that he is a bigger idiot than Feng Moqiu! Lu Wen didn’t have any enlightenment. He was a killer, and killers didn’t need enlightenment. As for He Xiaojiu, she was not going to help the Zhong family. Such a family and such people were hopeless and she could only stay away from them. She would take San Ya away and let her stay away from them. Before leaving, the children cleaned up for Grandma Fu. They ate Grandma Fu’s peanuts. To the villagers, peanuts were a delicacy that they would only eat during the Chinese New Year. They had nothing, but they had hands. He Xiaojiu said to San Ya, "Take us into the mountains. We want to find some mountain products." San Ya agreed to take them up the mountain, but did not dare to take them deeper. However, the villagers had searched the nearby areas thoroughly and there were not many good things to be found. Finally, He Xiaojiu found a few bird eggs. She ran to Grandma Fu's house and gave them to Grandma Fu. Grandma Fu refused to take them. He Xiaojiu put the eggs down and ran away. Grandma Fu looked at her from behind and smiled: "They say city kids are spoiled, but this kid is so kind, generous, and polite. What a good kid." In the following days, the Five Hegemons still went to work in the fields and taught people to read as usual, but Dong Jinbao was no longer lazy. He followed the Yu sisters to work in the fields and go up the mountain to chop firewood. Even Lu Wen went to pull weeds in the vegetable garden. Although He Xiaojiu still lived in Old Zhong's house, Old Mrs. Zhong had injured her waist and could not get out of bed, so she simply sat on the kang every day and complained about other things. He Xiaojiu pretended not to hear anything and just ate and drank as he pleased. Once, Old Mrs. Zhong was sitting on the kang and tried to hit He Xiaojiu with the broom, but not only did she miss He Xiaojiu, but He Xiaojiu got a big bump on his head instead. From then on, Mrs. Zhong was temporarily at peace, at least she didn't dare to attack He Xiaojiu anymore.
As for the other members of the Zhong family, they are no match for each other, but He Xiaojiu is not afraid of them. If they hit her, she will hit back. If they scold her, she will scold back. She will take revenge on the spot and will never let it last overnight. If she sees them bullying San Ya, He Xiaojiu will let San Ya bully them back no matter how they bully her. Now the Zhong family members dream of He Xiaojiu getting out of here as soon as possible. They no longer have any thoughts of subduing He Xiaojiu. They only hope that after He Xiaojiu leaves, they can beat San Ya up to vent their anger. In the blink of an eye, a month passed, and people from the capital came to deliver next month's food rations and also brought them a whole month's worth of morning and evening newspapers. After receiving the rations, the five people began to read the newspaper. Among them, He Xiaojiu, Feng Moqiu and Dong Jinbao could basically recognize all the words in the newspaper, but Feng Jingchun and Lu Wen were not so good and could not finish reading a whole article. As she read, He Xiaojiu's eyes lit up. She handed an evening newspaper to Feng Moqiu and said, "Look, this is the third youth essay contest! The first place winner gets fifty taels of silver, and the second and third place winners get thirty and ten taels of silver respectively." As soon as he finished speaking, Feng Jingchun said, "Sister Jiu, are you short of money? I have money. When I return to the capital, I will give you the New Year's money." Dong Jinbao: "Forget it. If Sister Nine is short of money, she must be short of big money. Your New Year's money is not enough." He Xiaojiu waved his hand: "I am not short of money for the time being. If I am short of money, I will ask you for help." While they were talking, Feng Moqiu had already finished reading the rules of the essay competition. The Evening News' youth essay writing competition has been held twice so far. Participants are welcome to participate, regardless of gender, but must be under fourteen years old. The competition is divided into auditions and written tests. The written tests are currently only held in Beijing and Jinling. Therefore, the participating teenagers either live in these two places or live not far from them. For example, the first place winner of the first North Division was from Hejian, and the first place winner of the second South Division was from Yuhang. What is being collected now are open audition manuscripts with the theme of homesickness. They can be poems or articles. The preliminary round is the open audition. In the evening, he will select 100 finalists each from the capital and Nanjing from the many participating manuscripts, for a total of 200 people. Feng Moqiu told everyone about the essay contest, and Feng Jingchun asked, "Brother, do you want to participate?" Feng Moqiu shook his head: "It's not me, it's the two sisters of the Lu family. I've read their articles and they are very talented. I want them to try their skills." When Uncle Lu brought his two daughters home, Feng Moqiu took out the evening paper to show them. Both of their eyes lit up, but soon dimmed again. Lu Xiaomai said, "The Master won't let us participate." Lu Xiaodao said: "The teacher asked us to focus all our energy on the official examination." Over the past decade or so, many women have entered officialdom by passing the official examination. Local government offices have subsidized schools that recruit female students, and girls do not have to pay tuition to study. But even so, there are still not many girls in each school, and girls with good academic performance are even rarer. Lu Xiaomai and Lu Xiaodao study well, and their teacher hopes that they can change their fate and cross classes in the future by passing the official examination like Xu Qiuli did. For children from poor backgrounds, this is undoubtedly the most beautiful dream, but it will take at least ten years. The Lu family is very poor, and the sisters Lu Xiaomai may have to get married before they can take the official examination. Will their in-laws support them in taking the official examination?
After all, because he has two younger sisters who are still studying, Brother Lu couldn’t even find a wife, let alone a husband’s family. There has only been one Xu Qiuli in this world, and Xu Qiuli has lived a life of wandering. If the government had not intervened, Xu Qiuli would have died before he could even take part in the provincial examination, let alone become the top scorer. For the Lu sisters, taking the imperial examination and becoming the top female scholar were too far away from them. They came from a poor family, and their whole family had to save money to support their studies. Matchmakers refused to visit them, and the villagers ridiculed them. Feng Moqiu said: "You don't need to tell the Master about this. Just write it. After you finish writing, I will find a way to submit it in your personal name." Most essay competitions like this are held in the name of academies or schools, and there are only a handful of individuals participating. The two sisters exchanged glances and saw hope in each other's eyes: "Okay, let's write it, and write it now." Homesickness, missing my hometown. The Lu sisters have been away from their hometown since they can remember. Their hometown exists in their father's memories, their mother's sighs and their own imagination. After the article was written, Feng Moqiu took them to find the head of the village. The head of the village originally would not care about the little girl's affairs, but after Feng Moqiu stepped in, the head of the village agreed. The next day, the village head asked his son to go to the nearest post station to Zhaocai Village and send the essays of the Lu sisters to the capital. A few days passed in a blink of an eye, and there was still no news about the evening paper's auditions, but a disaster quietly befell the Zhang family. That day, Sister Zhang and Feng Jingchun were working in the fields. When they were about to finish work, it was already dark. The two of them hurried back, but before they walked out of the fields, two people emerged from the sorghum field. Feng Jingchun had never seen these two people, and Sister Zhang obviously didn't know them either. They looked like scoundrels, and they were not good people. Without saying a word, they came up and grabbed Sister Zhang. Feng Jingchun saw this and punched one of them. The man shouted, "Take the big one away first, and I'll deal with the small one. Little girl, I wanted to let you go, but you rushed to come up, so don't blame your uncle for being rude." The man didn't take Feng Jingchun seriously at all and reached out to hug her. Although Feng Jingchun was young, she was not bad at all in martial arts. But she was too young after all, and the man was tall and strong, and he could even fight Feng Jingchun to a draw. Seeing that she could no longer hear Sister Zhang's cries for help, Feng Jingchun was anxious and was knocked to the ground by the man without paying attention. Feng Jingchun hugged the man's calf and bit it hard, and the man screamed in pain. When Aunt Zhang didn't see the two girls come back, she came out to look for someone. She happened to meet He Xiaojiu. Hearing that Feng Jingchun had not come back either, He Xiaojiu followed Aunt Zhang to look for someone. Before they reached the edge of the field, they heard a man's scream. They were both startled, and He Xiaojiu ran towards the direction of the sound. Pushing aside the sticks, He Xiaojiu immediately saw Feng Jingchun lying on the ground. "Jingchun, how are you?" As He Xiaojiu spoke, he pounced on the man who was being bitten by Feng Jingchun while holding his legs. Feng Jingchun spat out a piece of bloody meat: "Don't worry about me, go and save Sister Zhang, she's been dragged away!" He Xiaojiu chased in the direction Feng Jingchun pointed and saw a man lying unconscious on the ground with his pants half removed. If it were any other little girl of eight or nine years old, she might not have any idea what was going on, but He Xiaojiu was different. Her mother, the emperor, not only let her witness beheading and childbirth, but also taught her from a young age that girls should know how to protect themselves. He Xiaojiu immediately understood what was happening, but unfortunately she didn't have a knife in her hand, otherwise she would have castrated the beast with her own hands! He Xiaojiu kicked the man in the vitals. The man was caught off guard and fell to the ground. The rotten flesh there was in excruciating pain. How could He Xiaojiu let him go like this? Before he could get up, He Xiaojiu kicked him a few more times. At this time, Aunt Zhang came over after hearing the noise. Seeing the scene in front of her, she almost fainted. She held up her unconscious daughter and tried to feel her breath. He Xiaojiu said, "Sister must have been drugged. She's fine." Later, villagers arrived one after another and tied up the two injured men. Someone recognized them as two scoundrels from the neighboring village. The head of the village sent someone to send a letter to the neighboring village, asking their head of the village to come over. The head of the neighboring village, relying on the fact that he was a native local tyrant, had always looked down on the people of Zhaocai Village. But now that the people of his own village were incompetent, he had no choice but to come and apologize. In front of everyone in Zhaocai Village, he beat the two men to death. The head of the village and the elders of the Zhang family forced them to pay twenty taels of silver and twenty kilograms of millet. He Xiaojiu and Feng Jingchun both thought that the matter was over, but the facts proved that they were too naive.
Not long after, a matchmaker came to the door and asked for Sister Zhang's hand in marriage on behalf of a man named Liu Sanqiang. This Liu Sanqiang is the beast who was kicked in the vitals by He Xiaojiu. Liu Sanqiang injured his vitals, and the doctor in the town examined him. The doctor said that although it could be cured, it would definitely have an impact on his offspring. In other words, there was a high possibility that he would not be able to have children. The Liu family learned from Liu Sanqiang that it was a little girl who kicked him. The Liu family thought that the little girl was also from the Zhang family, so they wanted to come to Zhaocai Village to make some trouble. As soon as they arrived at Zhaocai Village, they were persuaded to go back by the head of the village. Only then did they know that the little girl came from the capital and had a powerful background. If they really made a scene, the little girl would not only be fine, but the old matter would be brought up again. The laws of this dynasty severely punish those who commit adultery, and Liu Sanqiang would definitely go to jail. The Liu family was shocked, but fortunately they didn't make a big deal out of it. However, Liu Sanqiang was ruined, and it would be difficult to arrange marriage in the future. The Liu family thought of Sister Zhang, so they asked a matchmaker to go and propose marriage. The matchmaker said, "The eldest sister of the Zhang family was dragged into the corn field, touched and hugged, and did everything she should and shouldn't do. She has lost her reputation. The Liu family is kind-hearted and doesn't mind her embarrassing behavior. The money she paid a few days ago will be used as a betrothal gift." Aunt Zhang picked up a stick and drove the matchmaker out. The matchmaker stood at the door and said that Sister Zhang was worthless. Sister Zhang hid in her bed and cried her heart out. Just when Aunt Zhang went to the kitchen to cook, Sister Zhang was hanged by a rope. When Feng Jingchun came back from the fields, Sister Zhang had already passed away. He stood beside the body of Aunt Zhang's daughter, his eyes dull. That night, He Xiaojiu and Feng Jingchun stole a donkey from a family and ran away from Zhaocai Village. They went to the county government office and beat the drum to appeal for justice, which woke up the sleeping Deputy Judge Zong Qin. Seeing the two of them, Zong Qin was surprised and asked, "Why are you here? What happened?" He Xiaojiu and Feng Jingchun cried and talked about Sister Zhang. They came to complain. The next morning, there was a commotion in Zhaocai Village. A family had lost their donkey and was looking for it all over the village. When Mrs. Zhong heard about it, she ran over and said to the family, "What a coincidence! The little girl who lives in our house ran out in the middle of the night and hasn't come back yet. Your donkey must have been stolen by her." When the family heard this, they became anxious. They heard that these children came from the capital. If the donkey was lost, it must have been lost in the capital. Where could they find it then? At this moment, someone shouted, "Oh no, oh no, the government is here to arrest people!" Someone else said, "Old Wang, your donkey is back too!" Everyone went to watch the fun, and sure enough, they saw Old Wang's donkey. He Xiaojiu led the donkey to Old Wang, apologized, and also gave him the money for renting the donkey, a full one or two taels. Of course, this tael of silver was borrowed by He Xiaojiu from Zong Qin. As a princess of the royal family, she is now penniless. Zong Qin came to understand the situation, and after understanding it, he went to Liujia Village to arrest people. Liu Sanqiang and his accomplice, his cousin Liu Wuqiang, were all arrested, along with members of the Liu family and the matchmaker. Sister Zhang has not yet married, so she can neither be buried in the Zhang family's ancestral tomb nor in her husband's family's ancestral tomb.