The four spinners were busy with their own work, and Chen Lin's uncle and nephew also had their own work. Chen Ding was busy inspecting the Shatians bought by Wu Yijun in Nansha and other places, supervising and inspecting the cotton planting status of the tenants. Chen Lin stayed in the village - he now faced a major challenge: winning the support of his tribe.
Originally, this was not a difficult matter. Chen Lin was the direct grandson of the eldest member of the clan, so he was naturally a candidate for the clan leader. It was expected that when others reached middle age, grew beards, and became the patriarch of the clan. Moreover, his father has been running a silk mill for the whole clan for many years. Many of the clan's benefits come from this silk mill, and the clan members are very kind to his family.
But now, things have changed. The second uncle relied on the chaos of the situation to usurp the position of being in charge of the case, and then took away the silk shop - the key is that he also got the support of the Australians. Most of the tribesmen are just helpless people. Their father is no longer here. Do they still recognize him? "The eldest grandson" is still a question mark.
Fortunately, after returning this time, Chen Xiaobing took him to meet Li Yaoer, and the two parties had a conversation. Although Li Yao'er didn't explicitly promise him anything, the implication was that he would not stir up the grudges between them, as long as they "do their job well."
If you want to open a factory in Nansha, you have to bring all the tribesmen over. But now he is empty-handed and all he has is "the future". The tribesmen are not stupid. Although the second uncle has done many unpopular things, since he occupies the workshop, he can offer many benefits to bribe the tribesmen. Compared to the second uncle’s ready-made benefits, who would believe his own empty promise?
He thought for a long time in the cemetery. Naturally, once the construction of the textile factory started, the tribesmen would be able to benefit from it, and it would not be difficult to win them over.
However, the top priority is to form its own power in Nansha. Now the second uncle relies on people with foreign surnames to form a militia and suppresses the dissatisfaction of the tribe. He can continue to build a textile factory and unite the tribe to form a "second force."
In the past, he did not dare to confront his second uncle directly - after all, Elder Li's attitude was ambiguous. Now that Elder Li's opinion has become clear, and he has the support of Chen Xiaobing and two elders Li and Zou, he can fight his second uncle head-on!
If we don’t get our clan rights back, we may find it difficult to move forward in the village in the future!
Fortunately, he has an advantage, that is, he was very popular in the village in the past, and many of the young people in the clan had a good relationship with him. If you use means to win over, you should be able to gather a group of people.
Of course, he can't blatantly say that he wants to create a "second militia", but he can definitely recruit young people through "recruitment and training" - this is part of the original plan.
He calculated in his mind that besides Chen Qing, he had seven other descendants of the clan who were his "best friends" in the village. Winning over these eight people first will make the rest of the matter easier.
Not long after returning to the village, he called Chen Qing to serve as a servant again on the grounds that he needed someone to serve him. In the evening, I asked about my second uncle's movements at this stage.
Ah Qing shook his head and said: "Uncle Jiu, my second uncle has actually done nothing these days. He rarely goes to the ancestral hall. Apart from going to Chief Li's place every day to answer questions, he doesn't pay any attention to it. He also goes there often. Eat flower wine in the county seat.”
"If he doesn't serve Chief Li, then who will handle the various things assigned by the Chief? He is still the leader of the village."
"He entrusted all these matters to Mr. Lu."
Chen Lin frowned slightly. He knew Mr. Lu. He was originally the accountant of Silk House. Later, the tribesman who was in charge of the accounts in the ancestral hall had objections because the money was unclear. No one could trust his family, so he hired this person with a foreign surname. Became the accountant of the ancestral hall. He settles accounts quickly, is organized, and is quite upright, so his tribe members trust him.
Mr. Lu has been in Nansha for more than ten years, and his relationship with the Chen family has been "as light as water". The reason is self-evident. If he has a too close relationship with someone, there will inevitably be "private references" problems, which will affect his credibility here. Therefore, his job in Nansha has been stable over the years.
It seems difficult to handle! he thinks. Although Mr. Lu is an upright person, he definitely looks down on his second uncle's various ways. However, he has always been a cautious person and would never get involved in intra-clan struggles. Adhering to the principle of "who supports whom on stage", run your own errands well. As long as the second uncle is still the head of the clan and the shopkeeper of the workshop, he will definitely obey his orders. Unless he has the ability to abolish his second uncle's position.
"What else happened in the village recently?"
"Nothing happened..." Chen Qing blinked.
"Anything is okay."
"The Kun people brought by the second uncle stole the chickens from the silk shop Zhang Ranjiang's house and caused a commotion. The dyer was punched. When he went to report the complaint to the second uncle, he slapped him several times instead. Ranjiang Qi I'm sick, so I stay at home and don't go to work."
"Zhang Ranjiang? Is that Zhang Laizhi?" Chen Lin seemed to have the impression that many workers in the workshop were not from the Chen family. I remember Zhang Laizi as a dyer with good skills, but he was fond of gambling. In his early years, he gambled excessively and owed a lot of debt. He was beaten by his creditor and became lame. After his father helped him pay off the debt, he signed a contract to work in the workshop. Until the debts within the clan are paid off.
It's a pity that this dyer's bad habit is hard to change, and he has continued to gamble all these years. As a result, he always owes money to the clan, which means he has to work for the silk shop for the rest of his life.
"Exactly, now that the master is ill, several apprentices in the dyeing room are not doing their job well, and they are producing defective products. There is a backlog of silk cloth. My second uncle banged the table and cursed, and asked the militiamen to pick up Zhang Laizi and ask him to work. But when he tried to stand up, he still couldn't do it. He was so angry that he asked someone to hit him with a pole... In the end, Mr. Lu dissuaded him. My second uncle had no choice but to send someone to load the silk cloth on a ship and transport it out for dyeing."
"Ship it out for dyeing? Isn't this a sign of destroying the workshop?"
Although Zhang Zizi is not a good person, his dyeing skills are still first-class. He also has a secret dye recipe that he has prepared for many years. The dyeing effect is unique and he is famous in the county and even Guangzhou. A layman may not be able to tell if it is dyed in a dyeing workshop, but an expert will know it at a glance.
"Mr. Lu said the same thing, but my second uncle said he couldn't wait any longer, otherwise he would have to lose money if the delivery was delayed."
"Haha, if he does this, everyone in the village will probably complain."
"Although it's not true." Chen Qing lowered his voice, "Uncle Jiu, someone in the village said that this Kun man stole chickens - he was not a Kun man at all, but Qiu Xiao, the second uncle's subordinate, and it was the leprous man who did it. . Because my second uncle wanted to protect him, he deliberately spread the word that it was Australians who did it."
"I'm going to see Zhang Laizi tonight. Ah Qing, please try your best to gather a few young people in the clan over the past few nights - I don't know who they are. I have a plan."
"Okay, I'll go do it after dinner!"
After dinner, Chen Lin also quietly set off to Zhang Zizi's house.
Zhang Laizi is not from the Chen family and lives in a relatively remote place. Thanks to this, it is very convenient for him to get there from the cemetery. After passing through several field ridges, we saw seven or eight thatched houses on the river branch, which were inhabited by people with foreign surnames from Nansha Village who were looking for a living. Either farming for the Chen family or doing work.
Zhang Zizi worked in the silk workshop and originally earned a good income. But his bad habits made his house the shabbiest among them. The small courtyard didn't even have a door, a standard wooden door. .
Entering the courtyard, I saw Zhang Laizi's wife spinning yarn in the small courtyard under the sky. Nansha is mostly sandy land, which is suitable for cotton planting, and there are many families growing cotton.
Although Zhang Zizi likes gambling, he finally has a bottom line: his wife and house are not on the gambling table. But this is just talk. He owed gambling debts more than once. If the Chen family hadn't helped him take care of it, his wife's house would have been taken away long ago.
"Sister-in-law Zhang!" Chen Lin greeted.
When Sister-in-law Zhang saw that it was Chen Lin who was coming, she hurriedly stood up and said blessings.
"How is Uncle Zhang doing now?" Chen Lin asked, not wanting to be polite to her.
"What else can I do, just lie in the room and sulk." Sister-in-law Zhang said with a wry smile.
"So the disease is almost healed."
"What's wrong with him? It's just that he made himself angry!" Sister-in-law Zhang continued to spin and babbled, "I said you haven't been beaten enough in your life? In the past, you owed gambling debts and were beaten by others. You hanged me on a tree at the entrance of the village, took off my pants and whipped me, and you endured all the embarrassing things, but now you get punched and slapped on the ear and you get angry, and you say you quit - what will you eat if you quit!"
Chen Lin originally wanted to go in with a few perfunctory words, but he didn't expect that there was obviously something in Sister-in-law Zhang's words, so he went in in no hurry. Let's hear what Sister-in-law Zhang has to say.
"I didn't expect this old guy to be so convincing. He said that when Mr. Just bullying people..." Sister-in-law Zhang sighed, "I told him that Mr. , said with a smile, "Look, I'm talking nonsense again! It's time to slap me!"
Chen Lin secretly laughed at how this lame man, despite his age, still believed such nonsense. No wonder you always lose all your money gambling. He hurriedly said: "Sister-in-law, you are sensible! I think he is much better than Uncle Zhang! The second uncle is indeed Meng Lang this time, I will give you some trouble for him first!"
After saying that, he picked up the straw curtain and entered the house. The room was dark. Looking at the sky outside, we could see that Zhang Laizi was not lying on the bamboo couch, but sitting alone on a broken bamboo chair.
His left eye was purple and swollen to the point where he could not open it, and his right eye was also bruised. It’s true that I can’t work in the dyeing room with this look.
Chen Lin smiled and said: "Uncle Zhang, are you even better? I really can't help you this time."
Hearing Chen Lin's voice, Zhang Laizi reluctantly opened his eyes, quickly stood up from the bamboo chair, and said with some resentment and helplessness: "Master Jiu, don't do this, I can't bear it."
(End of chapter)
