The government officials were surrounding him, and few dared to look at them.
Only one Jiang Sheng looked over blankly. Because he was young and his clothes were ragged, he really didn't pose a threat. The government officials didn't take it to heart and clapped their hands and returned to the county government office.
The bloody man Zhang Qiquan struggled to get up, staggered to the corner, and fell to the ground again.
In Jiang Sheng's head, this man was a bad guy, but his wife was quite good, and the scene of crying was still in his mind.
She began to hesitate whether to lend a hand or not. If she pretended not to see it and lost her life here, she would be blamed in the future.
The brothers seemed to be thinking about it too.
Just when the donkey cart was about to pass Zhang Qiquan, Fang Heng cursed in a low voice and stopped the donkey cart.
Zheng Ruqian and Fang Heng got out of the car and carried Zhang Qiquan onto the donkey cart. Several children used their bodies to block the sight of the people around them and rushed towards Shilipu Village without stopping.
When they returned to the village, they were afraid of carrying the unconscious Zhang Qiquan back. The Zhang family couldn't help blaming them, so they simply put Zhang Qiquan in a ruined temple.
Zheng Ruqian went to boil hot water and help him scrub the ulcerated area.
Wen Zhiyun ground the gold sore medicine and bandaged his wounds.
After finally packing up, Zhang Qiquan slowly woke up.
He seemed to think he was dead. When he opened his eyes and saw the Buddha statue standing there, tears burst out of his eyes.
A child's head stuck out next to Leng Buding, and he was scared to cry again, "W-where is this?"
Jiang Sheng pursed her lips and looked at him. The anger when her business was robbed was still vivid in her mind, and her tone was not very good, "The entrance to the village."
"You...I..." Zhang Qiquan was not stupid and calmed down for a moment, "You guys saved me, thank you very much."
Jiang Sheng curled her lips. She didn't want to save her. The third brother had stopped the car, so she had no choice but to go down and carry him.
Fang Heng's face was expressionless, and he didn't want to save her, but the way his sister was about to cry made him feel unbearable.
Zhang Qiquan was rescued by accident and had no idea there were so many twists and turns. He said with red eyes, "I did that to you back then and you still saved me. I'm nothing. I'm not even as good as a child." I have wasted more than twenty years of my life.”
He raised his hand as if he wanted to slap himself.
But the pain on his body made him gasp.
Xu Mo in the corner finally spoke, "Why did you offend the government? The newly appointed county magistrate is not someone to be trifled with."
As soon as these words came out, Zhang Qiquan's eyes were filled with hatred.
"Not only was he not easy to mess with, he was simply arrogant. In the past, there were many county magistrates who loved the people like sons, but they were framed by him, and committed suicide in grief. Later, there was a conscientious doctor Wen, who refused to treat his concubine. He would make excuses and beat me to death. But I, an ordinary civilian, just want to sell some furs, bones and flesh in a remote corner of the county, but I have to be snatched away by them and beaten up."
"I was not convinced, so I went to the county government office to play drums, but it ended up like this."
Zhang Qiquan smiled sadly, "These are the parents, and this is the Qingtian Master of Xieyang County. With them here, Xieyang County is really prosperous, and I am very lucky."
The ruined temple is located at the entrance of the village, some distance away from the houses of the people in the village.
Unable to suppress his grievance, Zhang Qiquan covered his face and started to cry.
It's quite scary for a man with a crown to cry like this.
Jiang Sheng did not dare to speak and hid timidly behind Zheng Ruqian, forgetting to even hold grudges.
"I know you're miserable." Xu Mo said calmly at this time, "But the county has rules and you can't sell in private. If you want to do business, go to the market. Doing business in your own stall is aboveboard. It's no better than selling things secretly. .”
Not only county towns, but all larger cities have this kind of rules, mainly to control market prices and avoid too much fluctuation.
Overall it's good, but if there's a drawback, it's that you have to pay a certain booth fee.
But it's not expensive, it can cost up to ten or twenty cents a month, and the Zhang family won't be unable to pay it.
"More than ten or twenty cents?" Zhang Qiquan smiled, "That's the price set by County Magistrate Xu. The current stall fee in the market is two hundred cents."
It has doubled more than ten times.
Suppose a butcher makes a net profit of 20 taels of silver a day, which means he can earn half a tael of silver a month. It is not a problem to pay a stall fee of more than 10 or 20 taels of silver.
But after paying the stall fee of 200 yuan, his income will be cut in half instantly. Who can be happy?
Some vendors are still persisting, while others have turned around and gone home, preferring to sell less in the town rather than pay stall fees in the county.
Others, like Zhang Qiquan, who are extremely short of money, take desperate measures and sell in secret corners.
The result was that he was beaten until he was covered in blood.
The world is difficult, and people are even more difficult.
After Zhang Qiquan vented his anger, he got up from the ground with difficulty, "Thank you very much. I will repay my kindness one day. I am going home."
The moment he was about to walk out of the ruined temple, Fang Heng suddenly asked, "When you said selling furs, bones, and flesh, do you mean mutton?"
Otherwise, he could not imagine what animal could be sold for its fur.
Zhang Qiquan was stunned. This was a secret in his heart and he shouldn't have revealed it. However, several children reached out to help, so he reciprocated the favor. "It's game I hunted in the mountains. Although the process is dangerous, the skins, bones and flesh can be sold at a good price." .”
"If I hadn't been caught by the government officials, I probably should have saved enough money for the New Year."
Zhang Qiquan staggered away.
The ruined temple fell into silence.
Xu Mo didn't expect that the county would undergo such earth-shaking changes just a few months after his parents passed away.
Fang Heng didn't expect that there were not only mushrooms but also game in the mountains. He felt that he should use his time and energy instead of just driving donkey carts.
Wen Zhiyun never expected that his father would lose his life because he refused to treat a concubine.
The string of things coming together is so heartbreaking.
It can be expected that the day this county magistrate comes to power, the sky in Xieyang County will turn gray, and bloody things will continue to happen.
Xu Mo straightened his back, walked to the door of the ruined temple, and looked in the direction of the rising sun.
He figured it out.
Now he not only has to go to school, but also work hard for the imperial examination.
He wants to be a scholar, and he wants to be a good official. If there are no good officials in this world, then let him be a good official with Xu Mo!
