The little girl of the landlord's house

Chapter 55

Xu's eye sockets turned red immediately, she couldn't help but lowered her head and wiped the corners of her eyes, and walked slowly into the ancestral hall.

Worshiping the ancestors was just a formality. According to the ranking in the clan, everyone kowtowed their heads, and then everyone sat down and listened to the second old man talk about the things in the Xie family this year.At the beginning, the Xie family's ancestors took root in the Xie's house, and the several sons divided the family and each had their own land. It's just that some people were not successful and lost all their fields, and some were very capable and took all the land from these clans. After returning home, this has been passed down from generation to generation, and in the area of ​​Mrs. Xie, because the other brothers are all concubines, when the family was divided, not much land was allocated, which was enough for them to make a living.

But people like the second old man, even though he was born in the village, only wanted to go to the city to make a lot of money, and he didn't guard this ancestral property well, so that in the end the fields were gone, and the money was spent in the city. I also spent all my money, so I could only come back empty-handed and do odd jobs by Mrs. Xie's side.

But such a person can't do things well even if he does odd jobs. Since he cheated some of Xie's orchard away, Mrs. Xie stopped letting the second master take care of business matters.He was busy with his affairs, so he had no choice but to let the second old man take over as the patriarch. Giving him hundreds of thousands of silver every year to spend on the clan members was considered a peace of mind.

This day has been living like this, so when it comes to Mr. Xie's area, it's just like this.For things that usually require money to be spent, the second old master would send someone or go to Xie's house in person. If there is nothing to do, basically he will not see anyone.

Xie Yujiao heard these things from the mouths of the two housekeepers. Although she sounded quite dissatisfied, think about what Master Xie did before. There will be trouble.Xie Yujiao is someone who likes to buy peace with money, so she asked the two butlers to follow the old rules.

The second old man saw that the big guys were all sitting with teacups in their hands, and smiled a little on his face. He fought with Xie Yujiao a few times, and found that this girl seemed to take soft things rather than hard things, but in fact he didn't. You know, Xie Yujiao doesn't like hard and soft things for people like him.

"A few days ago, I heard that the county magistrate gave the boss's son a name. It's really gratifying. The boss finally has a successor."

After hearing this, Mrs. Xu said with a smile on her face: "I gave him a name, called Xie Chaozong, and his ancestors blessed him, so he was born."

The second old man smiled, and frowned slightly, Mrs. Xu saw that he seemed to have something to say, and said, "Second uncle, if you have anything to say, just speak up."

The second old man frowned, looking embarrassed, and seeing Mrs. Xu asking, he opened his mouth and said: "It's like this, the grain harvest this year is not good, and the harvest in the field is just enough for our rations. I wonder if I can Next year, let Butler Tao plant the paddy at the front of the village for others in our clan, what do you think, eldest daughter-in-law?"

The people in this ancestral hall are all people of Uncle Xie Yujiao's generation, so naturally there is no place for her to sit, so she just obediently stood behind Mrs. He began to glance at the face of the second old man.

Mrs. Xu never cared about the affairs of the field. She didn't even know how much rice or wheat an acre of land could produce in a year. How could she answer the question of the second old man?

Xie Yujiao saw Xu Shi looking over, and said bluntly: "Since Second Uncle has opened his mouth, then this matter is naturally appropriate."

Seeing Xie Yujiao's immediate agreement, the second old man, although a little unbelievable, had a smile on his face, and was about to say thank you, when Xie Yujiao continued: "There are now ten families in the village planting that piece of land together. , the annual harvest is about 600 shi, equivalent to 120 taels of silver, and the rent for our family is 100 taels. If the second uncle’s family wants to plant that piece of land, I will do it conveniently, and the land rent will be [-] taels. "

When the second old master heard this, he immediately gasped in his chest. When he asked Mr. Xie for the land to plant, Xie Yujiao didn't say that he would collect the land rent. Xie Yujiao was so cruel, and his family still collected money?

"Boss daughter-in-law... this... this... is it inappropriate for my family to charge so much land rent?"

The second old man knew that Mrs. Xu was soft-hearted, so he simply asked Mrs. Xu directly.

Seeing what Xie Yujiao said so clearly, Mrs. Xu also knew that if she agreed, her family would lose at least 100 taels of silver a year. Although the amount of silver was not much, Xie Yujiao reckoned that she would be depressed for a while.Mrs. Xu was already impatient with dealing with this group of greedy clansmen, so she said: "Nowadays, Jiaojiao is in charge of our family's affairs. She said she wanted to collect money, so she will definitely collect it. If I remember correctly, When the boss was there, he really handed over the one on Yangshan Mountain to your family to take care of. In the past two summers, you often sent some fruit in, but this year I haven’t seen it. Is the orchard still there? If Tian The harvest here is not good, anyway, the fruit can be sold for a lot of money?"

The second old man didn't expect Xu's memory to be so good, and he remembered the orchard, so he smiled awkwardly: "This year's harvest is not good, they are all small fruits, and it will make you laugh when you send them to the house."

As soon as Xie Yujiao heard this, she knew it was prevarication. This year, there was plenty of rain. The peaches, pears, and persimmons in several orchards of Xie's family were harvested very well. She even made a lot of candied fruit and sent them in. Fortunately, the second old man said the harvest was not good.

"Since the harvest in the orchard is not good, how can the second uncle lose money? Our family will take back that orchard first. When I find a better place, it is best to plant a cash cow directly. Plant a piece for the second uncle."

When everyone heard this, they couldn't help laughing out loud, this big girl is really interesting, she is really rich when she is rich, and she is no worse than an iron cock when she is stingy.

"Then...that's not necessary." The second old man's face was a little bad, and he couldn't hold back the smile on his face, so he couldn't help but ask: "Young lady donated a lot of things to the court two months ago, what do you do?" The uncles and brothers in the clan are so stingy, everyone has the surname Xie, a person passed down from the ancestors, it is too unkind for the eldest girl to do so."

Hearing this, Xie Yujiao became angry for a while, walked to the center of the ancestral hall, turned around and glanced at the crowd, saw that there were still people watching the fun outside, and said, "I donate those things to the imperial court to let the imperial court It is used to fight the Tartars, if the north cannot be defended, and the Tartars come to the south, Dayong will be gone, and everyone will be destroyed together, is this comfortable?"

Many of the spectators outside had fled from the north, and when they heard Xie Yujiao say that, they couldn't wait to step up and applaud, and they kept saying, "Well said! You're right!"

Xie Yujiao turned around, looked at the second old man, and said word by word: "Now that the country is facing a crisis, the second uncle doesn't say to help us and contribute to the country, but instead asks me, why should those things be given to the court? what?"

The second old man was immediately stopped by Xie Yujiao's questioning, and he couldn't even speak for a while, and then he heard someone outside applauding blindly, so he could only bite the bullet and said: "I can't afford to be a big girl, I just want to think about my family." The relatives here can live better, if the eldest girl thinks that I am wrong, then let’s talk about it later, there is no need to make it so ugly, and I don’t care about my reputation."

Xie Yujiao is most annoyed to hear the word "fame" now. This is simply a naked, deep-rooted contempt for female compatriots!Unfortunately, as soon as they say they can't stand you anymore, they will pull out the hat of reputation and put it on your head, wishing that you could not hold your head up.

Mrs. Xu knew that the second old master must have angered Xie Yujiao by saying this, and was worried when she heard a sudden commotion outside, and she saw Zhang's mother come in with a smile on her face and said, "Mrs. The tenants here are here, they know that today the wife and the girl came to the ancestral hall to pay respects to the ancestors, and brought a quilt from hundreds of families, saying it was for the young master!"

When Mrs. Xu heard this, she just stood up with a smile, and immediately smiled and said, "They actually made hundreds of quilts? It's not easy."

Just as he was talking, he saw a maid leading a woman in her early fifties, with a round face and a smile on her face, who came in from outside holding a quilt in her hand.Seeing Xie Yujiao standing in the living room, she knelt down with a puff and said, "This is the eldest girl, right? I am a tenant in Jiangjia Village, and people in our village asked me to bring such a quilt to my wife and eldest lady. Thank you big girl for letting us have a safe year this year, old woman, I kowtow to my wife and big girl."

Xie Yujiao hurriedly said that she didn't dare to do it, so Zhang's mother went to help him up, took the Baijia quilt from her hand, and stood happily beside her.I just heard the old woman say: "At the end of the year in previous years, the Jiang family forced debts in various ways, and other villages celebrated the New Year happily. Only in our village, the family didn't even have a grain of rice left. I don’t know how many years I have lived like this. Now the eldest girl bought the land in our village and said that she would not have to pay the land rent for the first year. This is a great kindness! We are a group of old women Thinking, I can't get this benefit for nothing, so I went door to door asking people for fabrics, and made a hundred quilts for the young master, bless him with long life and wealth!"

Xie Yujiao saw that this woman was eloquent, and she liked it when she heard it, so she became coquettish and asked her: "Aren't the common people over there afraid of me? Don't you call me a wicked woman? My second uncle just talked about my reputation." Too bad, I'm afraid I won't be able to get married in the future!"

The old lady didn't understand why she came here for a moment, and when she heard what Xie Yujiao said, she just smiled and said, "How can that be! You are famous for being a good person. If anyone is lucky enough to marry you in the future, let alone let you marry me." People, I’m afraid I’m willing to enter the door as if I’m knocking in the door!”

After hearing this, the second old man's face turned red and white again.

(End of this chapter)