The couple who came to Zhao Xiu were the sons of the eighth room outside, his father fell ill last fall, and his condition has not improved much since then. Zhao Xiu also went to visit the patient with her grandmother Zhang in the lunar month last year, so she naturally knew it in her heart.

Now the couple asked Zhao Xiu for help in the name of his father's serious illness and the family's savings were almost exhausted, and they had to sell their land for money, but Zhao Xiu couldn't say anything to refuse for a while.

There are rules for selling clan land, and it is necessary to give priority to selling it to people in the family to avoid the outflow of clan land. Now the most wealthy in the Zhao clan, in addition to the other six rooms of the merchants, that is, the second room with the name of the Gonghou Gate, it is not surprising that the cousins and sisters-in-law first approached Zhao Xiu for sale.

But the problem is that his family has as much as 200 acres of land to sell, which is not a small amount.

The sister-in-law also said: "We have all inquired, now in Songjiang Mansion, the price of one acre of high-quality fertile land is twelve taels, if my sister wants to buy it, it is all our own family, we are willing to pay an affordable price, even if it is ten taels per mu?" Two hundred acres is two thousand taels, for my sister, it's not trivial? But it's really life-saving money for our family. ”

Zhao Xiu was originally quite sympathetic to them, but as soon as he heard this, he felt that something was wrong.

Although she has never bought or sold land, she still understands the price of goods when she listens to her grandmother and Lu's mother talk about the family's feed-in on weekdays. Songjiang land price, only the best fertile land is twelve taels and one acres, but here is Fengxian and not Songjiang, the local land price, the best field is only six or seven two acres, the middle field can buy one acre in three or four taels, and the inferior one can fall to two taels. Although the fields under the names of the Zhao clan could not be inferior. However, the price difference between the middle and upper grades of land is too far, even the two hundred acres of land in the outer eight houses are the most fertile and fertile fields. can't reach 1221 acres, and the sister-in-law still looks like "giving a discount to her family". "Dropped" to ten taels per mu, if Zhao Xiu didn't know the price level of the outside world, wouldn't he have made a loss-making transaction?

Two thousand taels of silver is nothing to the small second room, but whose money is not blown by a strong wind, why do you want to do it knowing that you are going to suffer a loss?

Zhao Xiu glanced at her cousin and sister-in-law a little unhappily, suspecting that they were bullying her for being young, not knowing the market situation, and wanting to take advantage.

So she put on a small face. Yan said to them: "Buying land is not a trivial matter, my grandmother is not at home, I am too young to be the master, I have to wait until my grandmother comes back to make up my mind." Since my uncle is seriously ill and my cousin and sister-in-law have no money to ask for a doctor to get medicine, then report it to the Zongfang and ask the Zongfang to help. When the clansmen live together, they should have watched and helped each other. Know you're in trouble. We will not sit idly by. He also instructed Bi Lian, who was standing aside: "You go and send a letter to Brother Jing and Sister Jing, and say that the uncle in the outer eighth room is seriously ill and the family has no money to hire a doctor, so please go over and take a look." See if there's anything you can do to help. ”

Before Bi Lian could respond, the pair of cousins and sisters-in-law changed their faces, and the cousin hurriedly smiled and said, "How can this be done?" The family is not so poor that they can't open the pot. How to work well? My father has always been strong, but he can resist everything by himself. Never ask for help. My husband and I came here today to risk angering my father. If his old man knew, we would even be alarmed, and I am afraid that he would break my leg. Still is...... You don't have to tell Zongfang, do you? ”

The sister-in-law also chimed in: "Yes, yes." She paused and smiled meaningfully, "As for buying land, my sister doesn't have to underestimate herself too much, it's only two thousand taels, she can buy such a good land, and if my grandmother is at home, she will agree." We also wanted to wait for her old man to come back, but my father-in-law's illness really couldn't be delayed. My sister has the money to fund Brother Huai'er in the sixth room to study, and she also buys new and interesting things with the sixth room, so she doesn't have the money to buy a few pieces of land? If my sister thinks the price is too high, she can negotiate again. ”

Zhao Xiu was unmoved: "Sponsoring Brother Huai'er to study, that is what my grandmother said when she was at home, it doesn't cost much to buy a few small things, but buying land is a big deal, I don't dare to make my own decisions, let's wait until my grandmother comes home." If my cousin and sister-in-law are really short of money, I still have the money to be sent to the Ten Thousand Buddha Pavilion on May 13 to make the money for the Garan Bodhisattva Christmas Festival. After that, I asked Brother Jing to come forward and tell the clansmen that I couldn't let my uncle run out of money for treatment. ”

After finishing speaking, she asked Lu's mother to get the silver, and then picked up the tea bowl, hinting that she was going to send it off. Seeing this, the cousins and sisters-in-law were anxious and a little at a loss, and when Lu's mother sent a small package, they found that it was only twenty taels of silver, which was a hundred times different from their original goal, so how could they accept it?

The sister-in-law couldn't help complaining: "My sister's heart is too hard, at a young age, I don't know how to be sympathetic to my elders." It's just two thousand taels of silver, and the county duchess has spent more than this amount of money just on food and clothing for a year, but my sister is not even willing to pay for the treatment of seriously ill elders. ”

Mother Lu shouted: "What did you say? You don't even look at what kind of place this is, you dare to go wild?! ”

The cousin pulled his wife and stopped her from talking, but his face couldn't see where he went: "Sister, don't be surprised, your sister-in-law doesn't know how to understand etiquette, she just talks nonsense, she talks nonsense." ”

Zhao Xiu took a steady sip of tea and glanced at him: "My grandmother is a kind and charitable person, but she has never been wronged, she has been teaching me that you should spend money where it should be." If there are really people living in poverty and having no money to buy medicine, I will naturally not be stingy, but no matter how good my heart is, I can't let others slaughter me as a fat sheep. My cousin and sister-in-law think I don't know what the price of land in the county is? Or is your family's land actually in Songjiang? ”

The cousin and his wife's faces were red and white for a while, and they couldn't speak, so they ran away without forgetting to take the bag of silver with them before they ran.

After they left, Mother Lu scolded: "What a thing! The girl is so kind, according to the old slave's words, she shouldn't even give them the twenty taels of silver! ”

Zhao Xiu said very calmly: "What is twenty taels of silver?" I gave. There's no reason for them to pour dirty water on my head. And I did not ask for their land, but gave them twenty taels for nothing. Aren't you a good person? Or can it be called stingy? She gave Bi Lian a look: "Go to the sect room and report to Sister-in-law Jing." Bilian curtsied. Agreed, turned and left.

Lu's mother was puzzled: "Girl, why bother?" They knew at a glance that they had come to extort money, so what should they do? Grandma Jing is busy, where does she have time to pay attention to these people? ”

Zhao Xiu shook her head: "She is a clan woman, and she has the responsibility to take care of the clansmen, if there is really an elder in any room who is sick and has no money to take medicine, but she ignores it, then it will be criticized." And, too, I want to know what's going on. I haven't heard that the outer eight houses are short of money to the point of selling the family land? ”

Shen got the letter and went to the outer eighth room in person, but when he came back, he was so angry that he went to the old house in the second room overnight and told Zhao Xiu the truth.

It turned out that the owner of the outer eight rooms was indeed in bed because of a long-term illness, and the family's money gradually decreased, but the house, the fields, and the gold and silver were still there, far from the point where he had no money to ask for a doctor to take medicine. The cousin who sold the field to Zhao Xiu was his eldest son. There is also a sibling brother at the bottom, who is now studying in Fucheng, and he is also a very optimistic reading seed in the clan, and he is already a child. He has always been more favored than him at home. The cousin was not convinced, so he took advantage of his father's illness and left the housework in his custody. filled his pockets and greedy a lot of silver. Unexpectedly, someone sued his father. Although his father was seriously ill, he was sane. In a fit of rage, he will check the accounts, and if it is found that he is really greedy for a large sum of money, he will be deprived of his inheritance rights and give the family business directly to the second son.

The man who had been sick for a long time became angry, and in his rage, he fell ill again when he had finished speaking. The family is busy. Seeing this, the cousin and his wife were worried that the inheritance would be lost and the money would not be obtained, so they simply stopped the family from going to Fucheng to report to their younger brother, and then began to use the rights that had not been deprived for the time being to sell everything that could be sold.

Zhao Xiu was also dumbfounded when he heard it: "He is so sure, can he do this?" What if the clan thinks that he is unfilial and has made a big mistake and wants to remove him from the clan? "Didn't the ancients always pay attention to this?

Shen sighed: "He has always been thicker than others, and his father-in-law is an official in the county government, so he doesn't dare to compare with his sister's family, and compared with the ordinary people, he can be regarded as having a head and a face, and he is powerful." If the clan really removed him, he might let his father-in-law play tricks on his brother's exam. His father is also a soft-hearted person, don't look at this son is very angry, after a few days, he will go back and admit his mistake, and the matter will subside. ”

Zhao Xiu is right to think about it, after all, he is a close relative, but he is greedy for family wealth, and he is not filial, even Zhao Jiong, a wicked person who is accused of killing his brother, his name is still on the family tree, what does this cousin do compared to him?

Now that you know what's going on, whether it's Zhao Xiu or Shen, they won't interfere, at most, they will say hello to the other people in the outer eight rooms and let them pay attention, don't let that unfilial son really ask the doctor for the medicine for the money, and the second son, who is studying in the house, rushed home in the name of the Dragon Boat Festival a few days later.

The Dragon Boat Festival is not only a festival for Xiao Erfang, but also a sacrifice day for the old county prince. Zhao Xiu, with the help of Lu Ma and his wife, arranged all the things that should be arranged, and the memorial ceremony and the dipping in the temple were also properly arranged. But when her grandmother was not at home, Zhao Xiu had more things to worry about, and she was so busy that she even had to cut her calligraphy and painting homework by half every day.

After the Dragon Boat Festival passed, she finally took a break, and only then did she hear that there was a new development in the matter of the outer eight rooms.

When the cousin saw that his brother had returned, he didn't care about selling the land, so he took his wife and took the greedy money and hid out, and when his father woke up, and his brother took the clan back to scold him, he knew that he owed a large amount of money to the family, as high as a thousand taels, and if he couldn't repay the debt, the creditor of the family would send him to see the official, and also sue his father and brother.

The creditor has already publicized the matter, and it is impossible to gag his mouth, if the cousin really sees the official, the face of the Zhao family will be gone, and his brother's fame is more likely to be affected. The owner of the outer eighth room breathed a sigh of relief, talked to the creditor, and finally postponed the debt repayment date for a month. At this point, he is really going to sell his land.

Zhao Xiu called Lu's mother to ask: "What about the land in the outer eight rooms?" (To be continued......)