Tenant farrs’ hos were already scarce on entertainnt, and most people liked to gather for a bit of excitent. With the autumn harvest still so ti away, most were idle, and it didn’t take long for the commotion caused by Lian Manman and the others to draw a crowd at the Lian Family’s front gate.
After the two strings of firecrackers had been set off, Lian Manman glanced around and felt that enough people had arrived, so she stopped knocking the small iron pot and signaled to Lian Yeye with her eyes.
Lian Yeye then kneeled to the crowd with a thump. Before she could even speak, tears were streaming down her face. This was not so performance; it was the result of long-suppressed grievances and sorrow.
"Hey, with the pot banging and firecrackers going off, I thought it was so good news! What’s this? What’s happened?"
"Isn’t that Yeye? Why is she kneeling down? What’s going on?"
"What happened to Yeye’s head? Why is it wrapped up?"
"Why even ask? Aren’t your eyes on your face for a reason? Can’t you see the blood seeping out?"
"Yeye, if you have sothing to say, just speak up. It breaks my heart to see you like this."
"Uncles, aunts, and elder relatives, Yeye does have sothing to say. However, it’s not bad news," Lian Manman interjected.
With blood still seeping from her forehead and kneeling there crying, nobody believed Lian Manman’s words.
"...My grandpa and grandma, along with my second uncle under the lead of my eldest uncle, are all going to beco officials and live the good life. They’ve split our household apart. We’ve just divided our ho," Lian Yeye choked out. "The witnesses who were here for the division just left, and my grandma along with my eldest and second uncles imdiately demanded four hundred taels of silver from us."
There was a bit of exaggeration in Lian Yeye’s words. For example, the idea that the division was sothing that the three of them had begged for on their knees, or that Lady Zhou was the one demanding the money while Lian Shouren had run off and Lian Shouyi, although present, hadn’t spoken a word.
But why were Lian Yeye and her family forced to divide the household if not out of coercion? The demand for money from Lady Zhou was certainly not her idea alone. Lian Yeye’s statent was in no way an unfounded accusation against anyone.
That’s the right way to put it!
With Lian Yeye’s family separating at this critical juncture, the village was already buzzing with gossip. When Lian Yeye ntioned four hundred taels of silver, so people gasped aloud.
For tenant farrs who scrape by from the soil, silver coin is not easily earned. Not to ntion four hundred taels, even seeing forty taels of solid silver is rare for many. To earn four hundred, so families might not manage it in their entire lifeti.
Lian Shouren was off to beco an official to make a fortune and enjoy great happiness, and before leaving, he decided to strip his brothers, who relied on farming, clean.
The Lian family’s affairs, even if they themselves kept tight-lipped, were to so extent known by the villagers. Since Lian Shouren was forrly a Scholar and had married well, now that he was becoming an official, everyone was hesitant to speak of it openly. Though they didn’t say much, in their hearts, everyone had their own asure.
"Oh dear, Yeye must have been scared silly by the four hundred taels," said Lian Manman, standing beside her, "My grandma isn’t demanding this money without reason. It’s the inco from the fields we’ve leased this year, plus the harvest from the eighteen acres jointly cultivated for three years by my grandpa, my grandma, and my eldest and second uncles, as well as the garden in the backyard, also cultivated for three years. Oh, and there’s also the chickens in the house and the pigs in the sty. All together, that’s worth a total of four hundred taels."
"I’m young and not so good at calculations. My grandma said that this price is cheap, that it’s a bargain for us," added Lian Manman.
"Even if we sold everything, we couldn’t co up with four hundred taels of silver. That ti with Sister Manman, it was life itself at stake. Where could we find such good fortune now? We can’t cultivate so many gardens and fields. Then my grandma scolded my father and my fourth uncle for being unfilial. She even knelt before my father and fourth uncle, calling them ’masters,’" Lian Yeye cried. "With that, my father and fourth uncle almost lost face to carry on living. I’m begging you, uncles, aunts, and elders, please help us."
As she spoke, Lian Yeye moved to kowtow again.
"Yeye, are you out of your mind? You’ve already knocked your head enough; if you keep doing it, you’ll split your head in two," Lian Manman hurriedly went over, held Lian Yeye back from kowtowing, then turned to call out to Lady Zhao, "Third Uncle’s wife, co help persuade Yeye. No matter how hard it gets, we have to find a way to survive, right? Otherwise, if people hear that my eldest uncle is about to take office and soone dies from kowtowing at ho, wouldn’t they think my uncle had driven them to it?"
User Comments
0 comments from readers