The old man was dressed in a dark blue cloth robe. Although it is a cloth coat, it is not the kind of coarse cloth worn by the villagers, but a medium material in the cloth. The old man was of medium height, ruddy complexion, and very white compared to the swarthy men of the village. His hands, which were exposed outside his sleeves, were noticeably different from those of people who did farm work and heavy body work, not so rough and not calloused.

Obviously, he lived a prosperous life in the village and was not of an ordinary position. Because of what he had just shouted, the women of the Sapo immediately fell silent.

Steward Zhang had a gloomy face, and pointed to the newly planted more than a dozen vegetable acres that had been trampled on the edge of the vegetable field, "Sun Lizheng, this is the vegetable seedlings that the master took a lot of effort to get from afar, one or two silver each, not counting the silver spent everywhere." ”

A woman cried out in a sharp voice, "A tael of silver? Phew, if you want to slander someone, no way, isn't it just a few vegetables? ”

Sun Li was shouting at the woman to stop talking, and then stared at the unsightly vegetable seedlings that he stepped on. When he found out that it was a vegetable seedling that he had never seen before, he felt a sudden burst in his heart, "Steward Zhang, they are ignorant women, don't be like them, I'll let them admit their mistakes." ”

Steward Zhang waved his hand and interrupted him, "Sun Lizheng, I have looked for you before, because the boy in your village stole a few of our clothes from here, and also stole seventeen bud grain flour buns from the stove house. At that time, you said that you would let the villagers take care of their children, but I did not hold them responsible, nor did I say that I would return my clothes, nor did I say that I would return the steamed buns. Unexpectedly, they came to steal again today. Some of the thieves fled; The one who stole the steamed bun was caught squarely, and it was a kid named Sun Da Niu. How old are they? That's when you start to learn badly. I went to inform their father, but their father was not there, but my mother was there. As a father and mother, they should have taught them a good lesson when such an unseemly thing happened, but they didn't want them to come to make trouble and destroy the vegetable seedlings of the master's baby. ”

Sun Lizheng had a smile on his face, "Steward Zhang, don't worry, these restless boys, as well as these ignorant women, should be taught, and I will take them back." ”

Steward Zhang bent down and grabbed a broken vegetable seedling, "Sun Lizheng, is it because we are too good at talking, we don't wantonly shout and beat you like other big families, you don't know who you are?" ”

That's to the point.

Sun Lizheng's face changed at that time, and the woman who was making trouble just now also felt the change in the atmosphere.

Steward Zhang's eyes were a little scary, "What are you guys?" How dare you want to climb on our heads and spread wild! Did you inquire about our master's personality before the trouble? Mr. Gu, you come to sue them. ”

Gu Yuanbao listened and took a step forward, "Our master is benevolent and never oppresses the villagers, but he will not let go of anyone who bullies the door, whether he is powerful or a farmer like you." Our master can sit down and laugh with the poor villagers about the crops with a pleasant face, or we can never turn over those who are bullied and suppressed. Our master does not allow us to oppress the villagers, let alone anyone to oppress us. ”

Steward Zhang felt satisfied, nodded at Gu Yuanbao, and said to Sun Lizheng, "Since you are so unreasonable, well, the stolen clothes must be returned, the stolen steamed buns must also be returned, and the thirteen vegetable seedlings will be trampled to pay thirteen taels of silver." If we delay our work for half a day, we must also give some corresponding compensation. ”

The women gasped and began to shout again.

Steward Zhang didn't hear it, and only spoke to Sun Lizheng, "Sun Lizheng, if you want to take care of this matter, then let them compensate honestly, and we won't do it." If you don't want to care, we can either ask them for it ourselves, or we can ask the official to help you, and you can stay away. ”

Sun Lizheng realized that the matter was strict, "Wait, wait, Steward Zhang, you dissipate your anger, eliminate your anger, you have something to discuss." ”

At this time, a woman shouted, "Father, why are you afraid of them? There are five grandmothers' rich uncles and three uncles who are officials, who dares to bully us? ”

Sun Lizheng's face was pale and pale, very ugly, "Erya, go home, if you don't speak, no one will treat you as a mute." ”

The woman pulled a child in her hand, "Father, it's your grandson who they've wronged." Da Niu is notoriously honest, how can he steal people's things! "This woman is none other than Sun Lizheng's fifth daughter-in-law.

Sun Lizheng blushed angrily, and yelled at his fifth daughter-in-law in a few steps, "If you don't go home, I'll give you a letter of resignation tomorrow." ”

The woman was scared this time, and pulled her son Sun Daniu to leave in a hurry.

"Stop, don't lose the seedlings, don't think about leaving." Xiaojuan said loudly and walked over, "Steward Zhang, Miss said, none of the children who stole things will be spared, and all of them will be arrested." Someone has already been sent to ask for an official errand. As soon as the official arrived, the child who stole the food was handed over to the official to take away along with the woman who had stepped on the bad vegetable seedlings. ”

As soon as these words came out, the women were so frightened that they pulled their children and wanted to escape.

Xiaojuan saw it, "What are you waiting for?" Don't go up and arrest people yet. ”

Steward Zhang waved his hand when he heard this, "Chase, no one will fall, and all of them will be caught." When dozens of laborers behind him rushed out, he added, "Whoever dares to resist, just do it." "The current is no better than before. At present, the master has ordered that even if the other party is a woman and a child, they must arrest the person according to their fate.

In the midst of a cacophony of crying fathers and mothers, the troublesome woman and the seven children involved in the theft were all caught. In the middle, there are women who want to scratch the laborers, and the laborers who have received the order will not care about what will directly push them to the ground.

Sun Li was willing to stop it, but there was nothing he could do. It was useless for him to say good things from the side in a hurry, so he could only watch the woman and child being arrested. He saw a carriage parked not far away, and was about to go over and ask for it, but he was stopped before he could take a few steps.

At this time, three or five men ran from the direction of Sunjia Village, and they asked Li Zheng in confusion what had happened. They had just returned from the field, and as soon as they came back they heard the villagers talking about their women running to the wasteland to make trouble, so they hurried over to see what was going on.

Xiao Juan and Steward Zhang whispered a few words, then turned around and returned to the carriage, "Miss, I will do what you ask." ”

"Then let's watch the play!" Qing Shu lowered the curtain and continued to close his eyes to recuperate. She wanted to see which innocent person was behind the scenes to instigate these ignorant village women.

It only took two quarters of an hour to shake the money out when the troublesome village women quarreled within. Well, it was Lizheng's third daughter-in-law who picked up the concubine and the women of the same village to make trouble. This fact made Sun Li speechless for a long time.

Not only that, but when the village women were divided into two factions and quarreled, they also mentioned one person, that is, Sun Huang, a niece and daughter-in-law of Sun Renen, the richest man in Sunjia Village. Hearing this, the village women were angry when they first heard that their son had stolen something, and they were beating or scolding their son to teach him a lesson. Then Qian Saihua and Sun Huang said that it was the people of Gufu who wronged their children, and the children in the village were honest on weekdays, so how could they steal.

Qian Saihua also said that the people in the ancient mansion were very hateful, and they beat her for no reason last time, she wanted to ask her uncle and grandson to help her get angry, but her father-in-law didn't let her, so she gave up. She also said that if Gufu dared to accuse her son of stealing things, she would have gone to the door so that she would not beat and scold her wronged son at home. She also explained how poor the ancient mansion was, and how the young lady and young master of the ancient mansion were unreasonable.

After the women were picked, they were angry and felt that what Qian Saihua said was reasonable, and then thought that when the young master of Miss Gufu lived in the village, he really did not look like a rich and powerful family in terms of clothing and food. In this way, they became emboldened. One of the women likes to take advantage of small things on weekdays, and she is a shrew, she said that she can't let people wronged her son in vain, and said that she would find the ancient mansion to compensate, so she became the leader and came to make trouble.

already knows what is going on, and Steward Zhang's words are clear: he doesn't care who picks up whom, he gives these people two choices. First, everyone is handed over to the official errand. Second, after returning the stolen things, paying for the broken vegetable seedlings, and paying for the two wages that delayed their work, their families can take them home.

Sun Li just finished talking and wanted to halve the compensation. The women also knew that they were afraid, and they begged for mercy.

Steward Zhang relieved himself and said that he could avoid the two hanging money that delayed their work, and the rest was not to be discussed. Then he left about 30 men to guard the captured women and children, and told the rest to go back to the vegetable field and continue their work.

The men in the house of the troublesome woman came one after another, and Sun Li called them to the side to talk. When these men heard the reason, they rubbed their hands, pounded the ground, or scratched their heads, all of them looking worried.

The women finally knew that they were in trouble, and asked if their boy had really stolen something. The adults are scared, let alone the little ones. They finally confessed, saying that Sun Dafu asked them to steal things. They only ate one of the stolen buns, and let Sun Dafu take the rest. Sun Dafu took the stolen clothes and exchanged snacks with the seller, and only gave each of them a candy. Sun Dafu also warned them not to say his name, otherwise they would beat them, so they did not dare to call Sun Dafu's name first.

The women cried and scolded on the spot, scolding Sun Huang for not being a thing, and scolding Sun Dafu for being a scourge. They scolded Sun Huang because Sun Dafu was the son of Sun Huang who plucked them. They scolded Sun Dafu because Sun Dafu actually taught their children to learn badly.

When noon was over, the men of the woman's house who had caused the trouble either brought money or signed an IOU, and finally ransomed his wife and children and the relatives who had helped him. After returning to the village, the women did not mention how they found Sun Huang's to settle accounts, but only Sun Lizheng.

Sun Li is pulling his grandson and grandson back to go back. It was useless for anyone to ask, so he took a branch as thick as an adult man's finger, held down his grandson and whipped it hard, and shouted from time to time, "Let you not learn well, let you steal things".

Let's talk about the wastelands. The matter has been settled, Steward Zhang and Yuan Bao went over to call Qing Shu back, and presented the nine taels of broken silver and copper plates and four taels of silver IOUs in hand.

Qingshu asked Xiaojuan to collect the silver, and the IOU was handed over to Yuanbao for safekeeping, and then he took someone back home.

It's a new day in the blink of an eye. Qingshu personally brought people to send the pepper seedlings of the three-board car, and checked the account book made by Yuanbao when Steward Zhang took people to plant, and she would point out what was wrong.

After the question of the ledger was finished, Yuan Bao mentioned the matter. Someone came to steal the vegetable seedlings that were planted last night. Fortunately, they found it in time, and chased them out more than two miles to catch the people, and they got all the stolen goods, and they couldn't deny it.

Qing Shu frowned when he heard this, "Where are the people?" It seems that the saying that "a vegetable seedling is worth one tael of silver" has attracted the covetousness of others.

The man's name was Sun Desheng, and he was locked up in an empty room with his hands and feet tied. As soon as the morning dawned, Steward Zhang personally escorted him to the official. Sun Lizheng saw it, recognized it as someone from their village, and begged Zhang Guan not to report to the official in advance, saying that Sun Desheng's family was willing to ransom people with silver. Steward Zhang knew that the young lady would come over today, thinking that the young lady might have other ideas, so he pretended to give Sun Li a face, promised not to report to the official for the time being, and escorted the person back. ”

"Does this Sun Desheng have any background?" Qing Shu guessed that if there was no reason, Steward Zhang would not wait for her to make up his mind and send someone to the official long ago.

"I inquired clearly. Sun Desheng's father and mother died early, and he followed his grandfather and grandmother since he was a child, and lived a poor life. Sun Renen, the richest man in Sunjia Village, is a little related to them. In the past few years, Sun Renen has helped them from time to time, and accepted him as a long-term worker half a year ago. ”

It means that this Sun Desheng is Sun Ren'en's person. Qing Shu asked, "Sun Renen sent him to steal vegetable seedlings?" ”

Yuan Bao shook his head, "The strange thing is that the villagers say that this Sun Desheng is honest and kind, and he will only bury his head in work, and he is not the kind of person who steals chickens and dogs at all." There is also Sun Renen, the villagers praised him for his kindness, praised him for his good character, and said that he would never send someone to steal things. Even Lao Li Tou'er said that Sun Renen was not that kind of person. Lao Li also said that he would pay attention to the movements in the village, and if there was any news, he would definitely tell us that we would know. ”

"Sun Lizheng said that he didn't say who would redeem Sun Desheng and go back?"

"Not really."

While he was talking, Steward Zhang sent someone to deliver the message. Sun Lizheng brought two taels of silver to redeem people, and asked Qingshu if he would let people go.

pulled out two vegetable seedlings for her and returned her two taels of silver, which is a good account. "Sue him, two taels of silver is to compensate for the vegetable seedlings, and if you want to redeem people back, add two taels."

Not long after, Steward Zhang asked Li Tie to send four taels of silver.

Qing Shu muttered in her heart, it seems that this matter is not simple, maybe someone has been thinking about her red fruit for a long time. The red fruit was sold for a lot of money last year, and those who pay attention to it can know that the red fruit comes from her house.

There was no need for her to specifically order, before she left the wasteland, Steward Zhang took the initiative to report, saying that from today onwards, he would arrange for people to take turns guarding the vegetable patch.

Qingshu expressed his support, "Let everyone put sticks at hand." "The law of this era is different from that of modern times, when a thief comes to commit a crime, the master's family will injure and maim him, and the beating is also in vain. Not only that, Qing Shu also left one of the eagle guards beside him and took the others away.

At ten o'clock in the evening, as soon as Qing Shu entered the mansion, the ancient housekeeper hurriedly reported that two men with suspicious identities had come late in the afternoon to pick up the dust purifier.