Linxia

Chapter 15, Smoking Grass

Qiao Cunzheng called the old men from each family to discuss the places to go to the provincial capital. Since their own interests were involved, these old men would slam the table and curse. They argued in the morning but no results were achieved, so they continued in the afternoon. In the middle of the afternoon, they barely reached a consensus.

After returning from the village meeting, Master Fang Zuwang called the fourth branch of the Fang family.

"The result of the discussion in the village is that the big families like ours will send one family to the capital, and we will look at the remaining people. If there are not enough people, we will use those who have not yet established their own families to make up the difference."

Obviously, the latter part is referring to orphans and widows like Guihua Sao - that's how it was in that era, if there was no man to support the family, others would look down on you, and such things that you didn't want to do would often be assigned to you.

"Dad, this means that no matter what, one of our families has to go to the provincial capital?" The people from the fourth branch of the Fang family all looked unhappy.

"That's it."

Old Master Fang nodded and said, "After we get to the capital, those who are willing to stay will have their families pay to buy the land; those who don't want to stay can just go there for a meal. Big brother, second brother, third brother, fourth brother, which of you is willing to go?"

There was silence - no one was so stupid as to take on such a hard job.

"Then let's smoke some grass!" Mr. Fang paused and said, "The eldest wife is supporting us two old men, so we won't..."

The so-called "drawing grass" means drawing grass roots to try your luck and compare their length. However, since the old man is with the first wife, he is naturally biased and does not want the first wife to participate.

"Why?" Fang Wang was ignited like a firecracker and interrupted the old man: "Dad, let me be fair. Yes! At the beginning, it was agreed that the eldest wife would support you, but the eldest wife also took the most of the family property. So, one thing is one thing, and the eldest wife cannot make an exception in this matter. We have to treat everyone equally! Otherwise, I will go to the village chief to make a big fuss. I am not afraid of being laughed at by outsiders."

She was not afraid of offending the old man. Anyway, the old man did not favor the second wife, and he had always been a fierce person.

"Nonsense!" Fang Zhonggui scolded his wife: "Brother, if you participate in this, if you win the lottery, will you let our parents go to the capital with you?"

Facing her husband's rebuke, Fang Wang was not afraid: "Isn't this easy to handle? If the eldest wife wins the lottery, let Dad and Mom stay, and we can take care of the remaining three wives!"

"This..." Fang Zhonggui was speechless for a moment, as if he had been unable to refute what was said.

"My second uncle and second aunt are playing a double game to squeeze the first wife!" Fang Lin thought to himself.

In fact, Fang Zhonggui and Fang Wangshi had acted very well and sincerely, but for him, who had long seen through the second wife's routine, he would not be deceived because of his preconceived ideas - of course, he would not find trouble to expose it and let the first wife participate, so as to reduce the probability of winning, which would also be beneficial to the third wife.

"Okay, no need to say more, we, the eldest branch, will participate. It's true that we, the eldest branch, don't let others take advantage of us, but we also never think of taking advantage of others." When Fang Liu said this, she glanced at Fang Jiping intentionally or unintentionally, causing the latter to lower his head in shame.

"Ugh!"

Grandma Fang sighed softly. She sided with the fourth wife and originally wanted her to stop smoking weed. But now that the first wife had set an example, she naturally couldn't say that.

When Mr. Fang saw that the eldest wife agreed, he didn't say anything else. He pulled out four blades of grass and said, "One person from each of the four rooms will draw one, and the longest one goes."

"Master, how about the shortest one?" Fang Lin suddenly said.

"Yes, Dad, let's go with the shortest one!" Fang Liu also said.

She had heard that when comparing the longest words, some people would deliberately truncate them, so it was better to compare the shortest words. In fact, the third room was honest, so she was not worried. She was worried about the second and fourth rooms.

"Okay, then the shortest one." Old Master Fang glanced at Fang Lin.

Each family sent someone to smoke weed. The first family's wife was the eldest lady Fang Liu, the second family's wife was the second lady Fang Wang, and the fourth family's wife was the youngest uncle Fang Jiping.

"Dad, Mom, let me take care of our family. I have better luck." Fang Lin said.

It wasn't really because of luck, but because Mr. and Mrs. Fang were too honest. It would be better for him to go there himself and act as a supervisor to guard against possible tricks.

"Okay, then my son will go." Fang Sun bypassed Fang's father and made the decision directly.

Tian Xuan gave him an encouraging look.

"Don't worry." Fang Lin whispered and followed forward.

"Aunt, Second Aunt, Uncle, you are the elders, you go first and I will go last." In this kind of situation, the probability of going first is the same, he doesn't care and says it generously.

"Linzi's words are always pleasant to the ears."

"Second Mother will not be polite to you."

"Then my uncle will come first."

……

The three of them said this, and they were really rude. They walked forward and smoked, leaving the last one for Fang Lin.

'Fortunately it's the shortest one.'

Second mother Fang Wang said secretly, and proudly showed off her own grass roots, which were obviously quite long.

The eldest aunt Fang Liushi followed suit and showed hers, which were only slightly shorter than the second aunt's. Fang Lin did not hide it, as his own was also a little shorter than the eldest aunt's. He looked calm as he looked at his younger uncle Fang Jiping.

Others looked over as well.

Fang Jiping looked unhappy and spread out his hands. His was the shortest!
"That's it. The fourth room will go to the capital city!"

……

After the weeding was over, each room went back separately, and Room 4 was shrouded in low pressure.

Although Fang Sui'an was young, he was sensible. He knew that his family had to go to the provincial capital. Thinking about the hardship and fatigue on the way to the county town, and hearing that it would take longer and be more hard and tiring to go to the provincial capital, he shuddered at the thought: "Dad, Mom, are we really going to the provincial capital? Can we not go?"

Fang Jiping remained silent.

Fang Qinshi paused for a moment, and did not give a direct answer, but just said: "There is no way, this is all fate, all fate!"

"I don't want to go! I'm going to find my grandma!" Fang Sui'an heard this, said loudly, turned around and ran away.

"An An!"

Fang Qin looked at her son's back and did not chase him. Although she knew that her son would not be able to change anything if he went to see Grandma Fang, she still had a hope in her heart.

"Head of the family, tell me, why did it have to be ours? The children of the first, second and third wives are older, so it's easier said than done, but our An An is so young... It's not as easy to go to the capital as it is to come to the county, it takes seven or eight days to walk! We are not afraid of the sun and wind, but for our son... What if something unexpected happens..." As she spoke, her voice gradually turned into sobs.

"Don't worry, let me think about it, let me think about it."

The government distributed a small amount of firewood for each household to use to make fire and boil water. At this time, the flames jumped and crackled, reflecting Fang Jiping's flickering face, and no one knew what he was thinking.

……

The next morning, after breakfast, Fang Lin went out to gather information as he had nothing to do. He wanted to get more intelligence and analyze whether the sprouts of capitalism had really emerged in Daxia society and what stage it was in.

Unfortunately, they were all ordinary people and did not get any useful information. They returned empty-handed, which was expected.

When he came back, he saw Fang's mother sobbing softly; Tian Xuan was comforting her; Fang's father was silent, not saying a word.

"What's wrong?" Fang Lin's heart skipped a beat, and he had a bad feeling.

Seeing her son coming back, Fang Sun whimpered and complained, "It's your father. Last night, your uncle got up to sleep and broke his leg. Your grandma brought him here to beg for mercy, and your father, who was so proud, softened his heart and agreed to go to the capital for the fourth room."

Fang Lin's face changed slightly.

His father was just too honest. He treated his uncle as his younger brother, but his uncle didn't necessarily treat him as his elder brother! As soon as he heard this, he knew there was something fishy going on. His uncle's broken leg was probably intentional.

'He broke his leg last night, but he didn't say anything. He went to look for grandma early in the morning. He brought grandma to my house when I was not around, thinking that my father was soft-hearted and wanted to save face!'

"Okay, okay, I thought the eldest lady was sharp-tongued and merciless; the second uncle and the second aunt played the good cop and the bad cop respectively; the last time the young uncle dragged the second and third wives to take the blame, his method was a little crude and his scheming was not that great, but I didn't expect that this silent young uncle, when pushed into a corner, would be so ruthless that he could even take action against himself!"

These thoughts flashed through Fang Lin's mind, and facing the terrible situation at this moment, he still remained calm - because he knew that panic was the most useless emotion when facing difficulties.

"The most urgent task at the moment is to persuade Dad to change his mind and take back his previous words as soon as possible. After all, whether in the eyes of the old Fang family or outsiders, Dad is the one who makes the decisions at home, and only when he comes forward can it work."

Fang Lin thought about it and didn't tell his father about his guess about his uncle. His father might not believe it and it might also arouse his rebellious psychology. Instead, he spoke up to affirm his actions: "Dad, you have good intentions, but my uncle broke his leg, and it's not just our third house's business. At most, we can do it again with the first, second, and third houses! And you took over the risk directly and put the burden on our family. If anything happens..."

Uncle Fang's expression was slightly moved.

Before, Grandma Fang brought her fourth brother, who was limping with a cane, over and said that his fourth brother had broken his leg and that the fourth roommate's An An was so young... He got so excited that he agreed without knowing why. In fact, he regretted it the moment he said it, but he couldn't save face.

Seeing his father wavering, Fang Lin added in a more serious tone, "Dad, we came all the way here, and we know how difficult this journey is. You can imagine that it will be even more difficult on the way to the capital. Yes, our family is a little better than the fourth branch, and we don't have half-grown children like An An, but who can guarantee that there will be no chance of an accident? If something happens on the way, there will be no regret medicine... Dad, you can't take our family on the adventure!"

Uncle Fang looked like he was struggling. It was obvious that he had been persuaded and was just lacking a bit of face.

"Dad, time is urgent, let's go look for him together!" Fang Lin gave another way out.

"Let's go!" Fang Shuyou was silent for a moment and stood up.

The two went to look for him, but it was too late. Qiao Cunzheng had already reported it after making the changes.

It turned out that after Fang's father agreed, Grandma Fang brought Fang Jiping over immediately, and made a fuss and pulled Grandpa Fang to change the document at the last moment before Qiao Cunzheng handed it over.

Fang Lin glanced at his uncle, then glanced at Grandma Fang. Although her eyes were extremely calm and she was clearly a junior, they subconsciously avoided her.

"Grandpa, grandma, let's go back and get together with the four rooms!"

……

(End of this chapter)