A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 76: Counterattack with an Army

Guozhuang,

The village chief Guo Erlang's kiln was backed by the stone kiln. When Li Yi came here to pawn his pot to borrow money, Guo Erlang's stone kiln stood out from the crowd.

Especially compared with the straw hut where Li Yi lived at that time, it was much more upscale.

But now, Village Chief Guo's kiln is still the same, with only stones at the door and an earthen kiln inside, but Li Yi has already moved into a courtyard house with two entrances and two spans.

"Your presence brings brightness to my humble abode."

Li Yi glanced at Guo Erlang. This local rich man had learned to show off his literary talent. Although Guo Erlang's reputation in the village was not very good, Li Yi still felt good about getting along with him. After all, the first bucket of gold coins he got was from him.

"Why are you being so polite to me, second brother?"

Since Li Yi was granted official titles by Li Yuan twice in succession, each time higher than the last, Village Chief Guo has now lowered his generation by one level. After being corrected by him several times, Li Yi just let him do what he wanted.

"Shi Niang is in the yard, please."

Push open the courtyard door,
He heard Du Liuniang chatting with her niece, and they were talking about him, Li Yi, and the fact that His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin had visited Wuji Thatched Cottage.
"The Second Prince came to Wu Yi's house on purpose and was very kind to Wu Yi. He held his hand all the way and was as close as brothers. Even your brother Erlang, who is a member of the Qin Palace and a military officer, didn't receive such treatment.

I heard that the King of Qin not only rewarded Wu Yi with thirty ingots of gold, but also sent ten bundles of paper to the school, and a lot of pens and ink. Oh, I also heard that the King of Qin originally wanted to recruit Wu Yi to the Qin Palace as an eighth-rank official, but he still felt that the position was too low.
The King of Qin said that you should come first and temporarily serve as an eighth-rank official. Next year, you will be promoted to the sixth-rank official of literature.

"Hehe, it seems like aunt heard it with her own ears." Shi Niang said with a smile.

"There's no smoke without fire, as they say. I also heard that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince admires Wu Yi very much and directly recommended him for the position of Seventh Rank Imperial Censor during the morning court session in the Golden Hall. This was heard by all the court officials themselves."

Guo Erlang coughed at the door.
"Wu Yi just came back from Chang'an. When he heard that Shi Niang was here, he came here without even going home. Liu Niang, hurry up and make some tea."

Du Shiniang turned her head and looked over.
Seeing Li Yi pushing the door open, her eyes were full of joy. She smiled at him, revealing two dimples.

"I went to Chang'an and just came back." Li Yi greeted several women in the yard.

Shi Niang stood up and said, "You must be very tired after traveling nearly a hundred miles. Sit down and rest."

"Thanks,"

Li Yi sat on the stone bench and asked, "Did you get lost again in Mati Temple today?"

"You took us on this tour last time, and I remember everything."

When Du Shiniang saw Li Yi, her eyes brightened up a lot. Today she was also wearing a short jacket with narrow sleeves and a high-waisted skirt. The yellow and green high-waisted skirt was tied directly to her chest. She had a bright yellow shawl on her arm, lipstick on her face, and a flower ornament on her forehead. It was obvious that she was dressed up carefully.

"I came to Sixth Aunt's house today, and since I was on the way, I brought some cloth. Last time I saw so many students at Wuji Academy, most of them were wearing tattered or even ill-fitting clothes. I thought of donating some ramie cloth to the academy and asking the women in the village to help tailor it so that the students can have new clothes."

"Then I must thank you on their behalf. It takes a lot of fabric to make a set of clothes."

Du Shiniang laughed and was very happy to see that Li Yi agreed with her approach.

"Sixth Aunt just said that the King of Qin was here too and gave me a lot of paper and ink as a reward."

"Well, five thousand sheets of paper were given. Now all the children in our school will have no shortage of paper."

"The King of Qin is so kind to you that he even came to Caotang in person to invite you to the palace."

A bundle of paper consisted of ten sheets, each containing fifty sheets. Although the reward was not the jute paper used by government offices, but just ordinary white paper, paper was not cheap in the early Tang Dynasty.

In the past, during the peaceful and prosperous Kaihuang era, a piece of fine paper cost one liter of wheat. Fine paper was high-quality white paper, while three pieces of coarse paper cost one liter of wheat.

At that time, a dou of wheat in Chang'an cost thirty coins, a piece of good paper cost three coins, and a piece of inferior coarse paper cost one coin.

A sheet of fifty sheets of fine paper used to cost one hundred and fifty coins, equivalent to half a stone of rice.

The country is in turmoil now, and grain prices are extremely high. Although the price of paper is no longer worth one liter of wheat, the price of fine paper has risen to ten cents per piece, and the price of coarse paper has risen to three cents per piece.

Five thousand sheets of coarse paper, worth fifteen thousand coins.

"In fact, Your Highness did not come to visit Caotang on purpose,"

"Oh?"

"Something unexpected happened a few days ago. Someone wanted to steal the recipe from my workshop, so they kidnapped the entire family of a villager from my workshop. I went to the Wannian County Government to report it.
Afterwards, I went to visit your cousin's house and happened to meet His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin. I asked him to help me investigate this matter."

"How could such a thing happen? How dare they kidnap villagers in broad daylight?"

Li Yi smiled and said, "This matter actually has something to do with you."

"Ah?" Du Shiniang was shocked. "I, I didn't. I really didn't kidnap anyone."

"I'm not saying you kidnapped someone. This case has already been solved. The King of Qin personally intervened and the truth was quickly revealed. The cause was a steward of Guabao, the Marquis of Fengxiang Mansion. He saw that my workshop often delivered goods to the Du Mansion and thought it was very profitable.

Greed arose, so he instigated a steward of the Shu Yi Mansion of the Jingzhao Wei family to steal the recipe from my workshop and then seize the yuba business.

Du Shiniang's face flushed red. "I really didn't know about this. My family does have a melon-growing estate in Guabao. How could that servant be so bold as to do this? I will definitely ask my grandmother to punish him severely."

Li Yi said calmly: "The King of Qin's people found out that the Wei family's steward took the kidnapped people to the Wei family tofu workshop in Jiangjunying Village, so the King of Qin took us there to check it out.
As expected, the missing family of Luojiabao villagers were found in the cellar."

"They are so bold." Li Yi said at this time, "The Wei family's steward said that your old lady asked Du Sanlang to arrange it, and also said that you are going to be engaged to their second son."

He looked at Du Shiniang and said, "I don't know if that Wei family steward is just making up stories or if it's really true. If it is, I'm confused because I've always had great respect for the Jingzhao Du family, and I consider you, Shiniang, a friend. The old lady gave me a gold bowl, silver plate, and silver cup last time, and I even specially gave her a pair of diamond glasses that my master left for me in return.
I don’t know how I offended Madam Guo that she treats me like this?
If the King of Qin hadn't intervened, innocent villagers in Luojiabao would have been implicated. You know, when we rescued Aunt Pang and her family from the workshop cellar, they were beaten black and blue. If we had found them a few days later, they would have been dead.

Du Shiniang's face turned pale.
She was smart and had figured out something from Li Yi's words.
Considering that her grandmother had reminded her several times recently, both explicitly and implicitly, not to come here so often, and even asked her father to send someone to take her to Luoyang,
They also said that Wei Jia Erlang was a handsome man.
"I, I," Du Shiniang wanted to explain, but her voice was pale and weak.

"Yesterday, the Wei family sent someone to find me and threw me fifty taels of gold, saying it was the money to buy my prescription. They also said that they were doing it for the sake of Prince Qin's face, otherwise the prescription would be worthless. They already have it in their hands. Before they left, they also said that no matter what the Wei family steward said, they hoped I would not delve into it."

"I also know that I am just a village chief, and I can't pursue the matter with the famous Jingzhao Weidu in Guanzhong."

"Don't the people always sing, Jingzhao Weidu, one foot and five inches from the sky. You are high up in the sky, only one foot and five inches from the sky, but I am in the dust."

Du Shiniang's face turned red and white. "Wuyi, please stop talking. I didn't expect something like this to happen. No matter what, I will definitely give you an explanation. I'm going home first. Wait for my news. I promise I will give you an explanation."

After saying that, Du Shiniang stood up and told Shuying to leave.

When she turned her back to Li Yi, her eyes were already wet.

After going out and getting on the carriage, Du Shiniang asked the driver to return to the Marquis' Mansion in Fengxiang, Fanchuan as quickly as possible.

Along the way, Du Shiniang's face was extremely pale, and her hands were clenched tightly and trembling all the time.

The maid Shuying had never seen her like this before, and was so scared that she didn't dare to say a word.

The carriage passed Shenheyuan and began to go down a long slope.

Shuying finally mustered up the courage, "Shi Niang, please don't be angry with the old lady. This is actually all Li Yi's fault. Who allowed a peasant like him to dare to provoke the daughter of a famous family? He is just a toad on the beach of the He River, and you, Shi Niang, are the jewel in the crown of the Fanchuan Du family..."

"Shut up." Shi Niang shouted angrily.

Shuying quickly shut up.

Du Shiniang took a few deep breaths, still unable to calm down: "What you just said, do you believe what Wu Yi said?"

Shuying didn't dare to speak anymore.

"Yes, if even you believe it, how could it be false? Grandma could have done it. I never thought that my grandmother, who always loved me so much, would treat Li Lang like this."

"Shi Niang, it's because the old lady loves you the most that she can't bear to see you and Li Yi anymore. It's all for your own good."

Du Shiniang's tears could no longer be stopped.
"What's wrong with Li Lang? Although his family background is not as good as Wei Er's, he is hundreds or thousands of times stronger than Wei Er in every aspect except his family background." Du Shiniang raised her head, not wanting to let the tears fall.

The carriage fell silent.

Guo Erlang's home,

Du Shiniang and her servant left in a hurry.
Du Liuniang's tea was only half cooked.
Guo Erlang had not expected to encounter such a shocking piece of news, and he was still overwhelmed with emotion and had not yet digested it.

"Wuyi, my father-in-law, he really is..."

Li Yi nodded. "This matter was investigated by the people in the Qin Palace. The two stewards of the Wei family explained everything clearly. I usually respect your father-in-law. I didn't expect Du Sanlang to stab me in the back."

Guo Erlang was extremely embarrassed.
What is going on? Everything was fine before, why are they resorting to knives and guns now?

After a long time, he finally figured it out. The matter was related to the passing of Du Shiniang. Everything was caused by her.

"Mrs. Guo asked my father-in-law to take action because of Shi Niang's relationship with you? You and Shi Niang, the two of you?"

Li Yi asked back, "What do you think is going on between me and Shi Niang? Although I know Shi Niang, we've only met a few times. When have you ever seen me behave disrespectfully towards her?"

Guo Erlang thought about it and it seemed not to be the case. He had never considered this aspect before. It was really because of the huge disparity in status that he had never considered this possibility at all.

"Maybe you should keep some distance from Shi Niang. After all, Shi Niang has reached the age of coming of age. There are differences between men and women. If these young men and women get close to each other, it is possible that the old lady will misunderstand." After thinking about this, Guo Erlang felt that Li Yi seemed a little out of touch.

Of course, Du Shiniang was even more ignorant of the limits.

"Second brother, when have you ever seen me take the initiative to look for Shi Niang? It's always Shi Niang who comes to me, including when she writes letters. I only reply politely when Shi Niang writes to me. If Madam Guo really thinks we shouldn't be associating and not suitable to be friends, then she should persuade Shi Niang instead of directly using shady tactics to deal with me, right?"

Guo Erlang was unable to respond. "You can't bend the arm to the thigh. You should be more careful in the future. Jingzhao Wei Du, that's not something we country folk can afford to offend."

"Brother, I used to think so too, but now I don't think so anymore." Li Yi stood up and said, "Brother, I have something else to do. I won't drink tea anymore and will go back first."

Li Yi stood up and left.

On the way home, he was thinking that since Du Shiniang was returning home in such a hurry, there would definitely be chaos in the Fengxiang Marquis' Mansion in Fanchuan.

I don’t know how Mrs. Guo feels, and I don’t know if she will regret her decision to attack him.

He had indeed deliberately said those words to Du Shiniang just now to expose Madam Guo.

But if he didn't do this, Li Yi would find it hard to swallow his anger. Besides, Du Shiniang was also a party to this matter, and she also had the right to know the ins and outs of this matter.

As for what she will choose next, it is entirely in her own hands.

(End of this chapter)