Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 87 Village Life (I)

Lanshui Village.

Clear bird calls could be heard from the woods in the distance, and a few small birds seemed to be quarreling.

By the side of the path, an ugly, burnt-black man was standing there stupidly, waving at the birds, but they ignored him and flew away with flapping wings.

Zhang Xiaofang was walking with a large bag of food on her back. She turned around and saw his stupid movements and asked, "A Chou, what are you doing?"

Gu Jingnian shook his head, thinking that maybe that wasn't Feng Niang's bird, and maybe Feng Niang wouldn't recognize him even in person.

Now he is ugly and even his shaking head looks clumsy.

"Let's go." Zhang Xiaofang said.

Seeing that she was having difficulty carrying the sack, Gu Jingnian reached out and continued to help her hold the sack.

They took all the game and animal skins in their homes and exchanged them for the money with the wealthy families in the village.

The transaction was obviously a loss. If the grain was sold slowly at the market, perhaps half as much could be bought. However, there was no way out as the county suddenly demanded payment of the autumn tax.

Zhang Xiaofang's family used to have a farmland near a stream, and a house next to the farmland. Later, her mother fell ill, and her father mortgaged the farmland to a clan member to borrow money. Not long after, her parents died one after another, and the farmland was also occupied. The leader was the village chief Zhang Fugui.

Zhang Dashi and Zhang Xiaodao had to make a living by hunting, but the land tax still fell on them.

When Gu Jingnian learned this, he gestured with a hoarse voice as if he wanted to tell Zhang Xiaofang that if the land was still under her father's name, then she should take it back. If it had been sold, there was no reason for her to be responsible for the land tax.

Zhang Xiaofang was not stupid. Seeing his actions, she said, "I know what you want to say, but we still owe them a lot of money. If we want to survive, we have to pay them."

Having said that, she couldn't help but curse, "Damn it, you only know how to bully us." After cursing, she wiped her eyes, and used her thin body to carry the animal skin to exchange for it. She was very aggressive when bargaining, and she got this bag of grain in return.

The two men finally moved the food back to the yard. The various prey and leathers hanging on the wall were gone, and the yard looked a little empty.

In the afternoon, Zhang Fugui came with two officers to collect taxes. Zhang Xiaofang asked Gu Jingnian to hide in the house and not come out.

"He called you a monster. If he sees you again, he will have the police arrest you."

After that, Zhang Xiaofang instructed: "If the officers come into the house, run out of the window and hide in the woods."

Gu Jingnian nodded, and looked out through the cracks in the wooden wall in the house.

Zhang Fugui was seen organizing people to carry burdens and pack the grain, while two county runners stood with their hands behind their backs and looked around the yard. Finally, they took out a warrant for arrest and asked Zhang Xiaofang a question.

"Your family is a hunter. Have you seen this man?"

Gu Jingnian narrowed his eye, which was close to the crack in the wall, and looked carefully. He saw that there was a girl painted on it. She looked very similar to Ying Yao, especially the colorful fur behind her ears, which made him recognize her at a glance.

He then wondered who had instructed these county officials to search for him, Prime Minister Zheng Kuangfu?
But if one wants to catch someone, one must have extremely powerful means to do so. After all, there is a limit to what the local servants can do. They can only search and ask questions, which is better than nothing.

Presumably the county government knew very little about the situation, otherwise, when they heard that a burnt "monster" had appeared in the village, they would have taken it seriously long ago.

If you ask people based on just a warrant, it's very likely that all the county government knows is just the warrant.

In order to confirm this judgment, Gu Jingnian decided to take a risk.

In the yard, Zhang Xiaofang shook her head and said, "I haven't seen it."

The two officers did not ask any more questions. When Zhang Fugui reported the amount of grain, they did not even listen and said, "It's not enough. We still need money for the trip."

Zhang Fugui smiled and said, "Then how about counting the grain in the jar? Oh, look at the animal skin in their hall."

Zhang Xiaofang was furious and started making a scene, but it was of no avail.

Gu Jingnian saw clearly that when Zhang Fugui occasionally glanced at Zhang Xiaofang, there was some contempt and malice in his eyes, as if he was deliberately bullying her.

Seeing that this group of people had taken a lot of things from the Zhang family and were going to leave, Gu Jingnian climbed out of the window on the other side of the house, went around to wait under a big tree beside the path, and picked up a stone and held it in his hand.

After a while, Zhang Fugui and his group arrived.

Gu Jingnian weighed the stone and felt that his arm still didn't have much strength, so he waited until they came closer before he took a look and threw the stone out.

"Oh!"

The stone hit Zhang Fugui right in the corner of his eye, causing his head to bleed and he screamed in pain.

Gu Jingnian ran out from under the tree, made a contemptuous gesture towards Zhang Fugui, and shouted twice in a hoarse voice.

"It's that monster!"

"Catch him!"

Zhang Fugui was furious. He covered his eyes and ordered the villagers to catch him.

Gu Jingnian turned around and ran into the woods. As he ran, he could still hear Zhang Fugui complaining.

"I wanted to burn this monster a long time ago, but he was saved by the Zhang brothers and sisters and has been causing trouble in the village!"

"Haha, it's just an ugly burnt man."

The officers didn't take it seriously and didn't bother to deal with the personal grudge between Zhang Fugui and the village fool.

Gu Jingnian fled into the woods, looked back, and saw the officers standing there motionless, so he knew that his judgment was correct.

When it comes to catching strange people, all the local servants can do is the most basic investigation, and they only touch the surface.

When the villagers stopped chasing him, Gu Jingnian turned around and followed them. He saw the officers go to Zhang Fugui's house and did not come out for a long time. It was getting late, so they must have stayed there.

Only then did he turn back to the dilapidated courtyard on the edge of the village.

Zhang Xiaofang was standing in the yard with her hands on her hips, sulking. She got angry when she saw him.

"You are so stupid! I told you to run when they came into the house, but why did you run when they didn't come in? I was worried that you would get lost."

After saying that, she muttered to herself, "It would be better if it ran away. I can't afford to keep it anyway." Gu Jingnian was unable to speak. Noticing the mess in the yard, he swept the floor with a broom. When he saw that there was no food left in the kitchen, he gestured a few times and prepared to go to the woods to dig up some wild vegetables.

Zhang Xiaofang understood and said, "Where can we find anything to eat? Wait for brother to come back and I'll ask him to buy some food."

That evening, the Zhang brothers came back from hunting, but they didn't get much, and Zhang Xiaodao even sprained his ankle.

Not long after, Gu Jingnian heard the quarrel between Zhang Xiaofang and Zhang Dashi.

The reason was simple. In order to marry his brother, Zhang Xiaofang saved some money and planned to use some to buy food. When Zhang Dashi heard this, he wanted to buy more food so that his younger siblings could have more food. Over this matter, the brother and sister ended up arguing with each other.

"I don't want to marry a woman!"

"If you don't marry, will you be worthy of your parents?!"

"I would be sorry to my parents if I didn't raise you well!"

"I have to save it up for you to marry. I have the final say!"

"Stop arguing." Zhang Xiaodao shouted, "If you get tired of arguing, you'll have to eat more."

Gu Jingnian didn't get involved in their affairs. He was so hungry that he slept for a while. He dreamed again of the feeling of being carried by the phoenix to soar into the sky that night.

When he woke up, the Zhang siblings were still arguing in a low voice, so he went over and gestured a few times.

Zhang Xiaofang understood his actions and asked, "Do you want paper and pen?"

Gu Jingnian nodded.

"What do you need paper and pen for?" Zhang Dashi asked, "We can't understand your handwriting."

Zhang Xiaodao suddenly had an idea and asked, "A Chou wants to write a letter home, right? Is your family rich?"

Gu Jingnian couldn't explain it clearly, so he just nodded.

Zhang Xiaofang said, "Then when you go to exchange food, ask the half-blind man to borrow some paper and pen."

The half-blind man is a fortune teller in the village. He is one of the few people in the village who has a good relationship with the Zhang brothers and sisters.

At night, Zhang Dashi exchanged some food and the four of them ate half full. Gu Jingnian waited until the Zhang brothers and sisters fell asleep, wrote a short letter in the moonlight in the yard, left the yard, and went to Zhang Fugui's house in the dark.

He went around to the backyard, climbed over the wall, walked quietly, and looked inside each house, looking for the two officers.

Suddenly he saw a candlelight in a room, so he went to the window and looked inside.

There was a woman inside, who was lifting up her skirt to urinate into the chamber pot, revealing her white buttocks.

Gu Jingnian had seen her before. She was Zhang Fugui’s daughter, Zhang Cuihua, who had scratched Zhang Xiaofang’s face with her fingernails two days ago.

As soon as the rustling sound was heard, Zhang Cuihua seemed to sense something. She suddenly turned around and saw a figure by the window.

"what!"

Screams suddenly filled the yard.

"Dad, someone watched me pee!"

There was a sudden commotion in the yard. Gu Jingnian quickly hid in the dark and took the opportunity to see clearly where the two officers lived.

They had a quarrel with Zhang Fugui.

"Damn it, what do you mean? Are you doubting us? I'm sleeping soundly and I don't have the interest to watch your ugly daughter pee!"

"Zhang Fugui, I'm warning you. If you try to ruin my reputation and my wife finds out, you'll see what happens..."

Gu Jingnian waited until they had finished arguing and settled down, then he went to the officer's door and slipped a note inside.

He didn't do anything else, just left the same way and went back to sleep.

The next day, he woke up before dawn and went to fetch water with Zhang Xiaofang.

Zhang Xiaofang never fetches water during the day, for fear of being provoked by villagers and getting into a fight with them.

The two of them came back with water. It was dawn. Gu Jingnian gestured to her and said something in a hoarse voice.

"You said... you wanted to see the half-blind man?"

Zhang Xiaofang could now actually understand what he was saying.

Gu Jingnian nodded.

So that morning, after the Zhang brothers went out hunting, they went to the fortune teller's house in the village.

The half-blind man was very old, his hair was all grey, and his left eye had no pupil, so he was obviously blind. He was not doing well, and his house was very run-down. Apart from a few more books, it was worse than Zhang's brothers and sisters.

"I'm returning the paper and pen I borrowed from you." Zhang Xiaofang said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Compared to what your father helped me with before, it's nothing. By the way, what is this?"

"A Chou, my elder brother rescued me..."

Gu Jingnian felt more relieved after listening to the two people's greetings. He picked up a pen and wrote on the paper: "Muramasa is in trouble. If you help him, you can make some money."

When the half-blind man looked down and saw the words on the paper, a look of surprise immediately appeared in his one eye, and soon the surprise turned into excitement and joy.

Looking at Gu Jingnian's burnt face, he saw the determination and calmness hidden in those eyes, and thought that this Ah Chou must not be an ordinary person.

He did not speak, but picked up his pen and wrote: "How can I help?"

(End of this chapter)