Life of Country Folks in the City during the Song Dynasty

Chapter 2

No matter the dynasty, it's never a good thing to not have a penny or two on hand. But with my current status, what kind of money-making business can I come up with?

In the darkness, Gu Zao opened her eyes wide, but she had no clue whatsoever.

Gradually, the third sister beside him began to snore softly, and Gu Zao also drifted off to sleep.

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Gu Zao heard rustling sounds coming from next door. It must have been Fang Shi getting up. Soon after, her third sister woke up as well, and Gu Zao got out of bed as well.

After a hasty wash, Gu Zao followed her third sister to cook breakfast. It was just reheating the leftover vegetable porridge from last night. After cooking the rice, Fang Shi was nowhere to be seen.

Gu Zao sensed something was wrong. Could it be that Fang Shi had been holding back her anger all night and couldn't contain herself, so she went to that little furball's house to make a scene early in the morning?

Just as he was feeling uneasy, an old woman barged into the courtyard; it was the same woman who had given Gu Zao directions yesterday afternoon.

"Second sister, third sister, your mother went to Maotuanzi's house and is making a scene. She's throwing a huge tantrum. You two should go and see!"

Gu Zao and her third sister exchanged a glance. Her third sister had already run out quickly, and Gu Zao hurriedly followed. Even Gu Qingwu put down his half-eaten breakfast and rushed after her.

Mao Tuanzi's house wasn't far; it only took half an hour to get there. When Gu Zao arrived, he could only hear Fang Shi's incessant cursing, but he couldn't see anyone. It turned out that the open space in front of Fang Shi's house was already crowded with villagers watching the commotion, and there was no way to find a gap to enter.

Gu Zao was anxious. Together with her third sister, they pushed through the wall of people and finally managed to squeeze in, only to be dumbfounded.

Fang was seen grabbing a tall, thin woman's collar with all her might, cursing, "You thief who stole my hoe, may you die a horrible death!" The woman was no pushover either; taking advantage of her height, she grabbed Fang's hair and shouted that she was innocent. Behind her stood a man in his forties, presumably Mao Tuanzi, who stared blankly at the two fighting without uttering a sound.

Gu Zao rushed forward, trying to pull Fang Shi and Mao Tuanzi's wife apart, but he was no match for these two women who usually worked in the fields. He could only yell at Mao Tuanzi, "What are you standing there for? Separate them now!"

Mao Tuanzi suddenly realized what was happening and tried to intervene, but it was too late. Fang Shi ripped Mao Tuanzi's wife's clothes off. With a hiss, the woman, distressed by her clothes, tore off a handful of Fang Shi's hair. Fang Shi yelled and kicked her. The woman lost her balance and fell backward, hitting her head hard on a stone. She lay motionless, but blood quickly began to flow from her wound.

The onlookers were stunned.

"Oh no! Granny Gu has killed someone!"

Finally, someone shouted, and the scene instantly descended into chaos.

Fang stood there blankly, staring at the motionless, still bleeding woman on the ground.

bribery

Gu Zao snapped out of his daze, reached out and touched the woman's nose, feeling a slight warmth emanating from her. Overjoyed, he shouted at the stunned little ball of fur, "Quick, get a cloth!"

The little furball shuddered and ran quickly into the house. A moment later, it came out with a cloth whose original color was indistinguishable. Gu Zao didn't care whether it was clean or not, folded it up, turned the woman over, and tightly covered the wound on the back of her head.

But the blood kept seeping out, soon soaking through the cloth in Gu Zao's hand, dripping from between her fingers. Seeing the woman's face turn as pale as paper, Gu Zao panicked, unable to think of any way to stop the bleeding. If this continued, the little woman might really bleed to death.

Just then, the old woman who had come to deliver the news earlier was now holding a large handful of incense ash. She pushed through the crowd, got closer, took off her cloth, and smeared the ash on the wound on the back of her head. She then covered it tightly with the cloth again, and after a moment, the bleeding finally stopped.

Gu Zao breathed a sigh of relief, watching as everyone and Mao Tuanzi helped his wife into the inner room. He turned around to look at Fang Shi again, but she was nowhere to be seen. She must have come to her senses and sneaked away.

Gu Zao instructed her third sister, who was already stunned, and Gu Qingwu to go home. After thinking for a moment, she went into Mao Tuanzi's room.

The woman, nicknamed "Fat Dumpling," was lying on the bed surrounded by people. Several children were tugging at her sleeves and crying pitifully. Everyone was talking at once, but she still didn't wake up. When Gu Zao came in, they all glared at her angrily.

Gu Zao gave a wry smile, nodded slightly to everyone, and then looked at the little dumpling and asked, "Do you have any sugar at home? Make some strong sugar and give it to her; she might wake up."

The little dumpling looked distressed and said, "Where would we find something as precious as candy at home?"

The people around looked at each other, probably thinking the same thing.

Before long, the same old woman who used to smear incense ash on the little dumpling's wife brought over a rough porcelain bowl, her hands trembling. She said that her grandson had been craving candy a couple of days ago, so she went to the town market to buy some, but hadn't finished it yet. When she saw Gu Zao mention it, she hurriedly went home to make some and brought it over.

Gu Zao thanked her repeatedly, and had Mao Tuanzi help his wife up. He then pried open her mouth and forced her to drink the bowl of sugar water, half-sprinkling and half-drinking.

Whether it was the effect of that bowl of sweet soup or not, after a while, the little woman finally groaned and opened her eyes.

Everyone wore happy expressions, and their gazes towards Gu Zao finally softened a bit.

Gu Zao apologized to Mao Tuanzi repeatedly, and after going along with what others had said, promised to send a basket of eggs over in a couple of days before leaving Mao Tuanzi's door.

She rushed home, only to see Fang suddenly dart out from behind the door, her face pale. She grabbed her sleeve and asked anxiously, "How is it? That woman isn't really that fragile; she might have died from the fall, is she?"

Gu Zao shook her head: "She's awake."

Fang let out a long sigh of relief and patted her chest: "Thank goodness. Thank goodness. I scared myself for nothing. It was just a light kick, nothing that delicate."

Gu Zao added, "But we have to compensate her with a basket of eggs to help her recover, otherwise we'll report you to the authorities for assault."

Fang jumped up and down, yelling, "That little brat is trying to extort money! Where am I going to get so many eggs to compensate her! If she wants to eat, she should go eat them herself!"

Gu Zao sighed, looked at Fang Shi, and said patiently, "Mother, after all, you were in the wrong first. First, we didn't find the hoe in her house, and second, she fell to the ground bleeding because you kicked her. You should compensate her with a basket of eggs, consider it a loss to avoid further trouble."

"Pah!" Fang spat viciously on the ground, but her voice was much softer. "She pulled out a lot of my hair, and why didn't she compensate me with wood ear fungus!"

Gu Zao shook her head, ignoring her, and went inside on her own, while Fang Shi continued to mutter curses behind her.

Gu Zao didn't raise chickens at home. After inquiring about the market price, she found that an egg cost five coins, and a basket of thirty would cost one hundred and fifty coins. She herself didn't have a single coin. Two days later, seeing that Fang Shi still stubbornly refused to spend money to buy eggs, she was a little worried. She was sitting at home looking at her third sister's embroidery patterns, thinking about ways to make money, when suddenly a group of people rushed in from outside. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Mao Tuanzi's group.

Her heart sank, and she quickly stood up to greet him.

"Uncle Tuanzi, I owe you eggs. I will definitely send them over in a few days."

Gu Zao smiled ingratiatingly and spoke cautiously.

"Eggs? Even if your family had ten baskets of eggs, you couldn't make up for it. Get your mother out here; she's going to see the magistrate!"

Behind the fluffy little girl stood a man, looking menacing.

Gu Zao was startled and looked at Mao Tuanzi, asking, "Uncle Tuanzi, Auntie, she..."

The little dumpling sighed, a troubled look on her face: "Second sister, to be honest, my wife has woken up, but she doesn't recognize anyone now. She's in a daze all day long. What am I supposed to do!"

Gu Zao was greatly surprised.

Originally, I thought that everything would be fine once my wife woke up, but I never expected that she would suffer from such a sequela. This is really troublesome.

Just as she was hesitating, Fang Shi came rushing out of the house, her finger poking Mao Tuanzi's nose: "You little brat, you think you can bully me now that my husband has died and I'm all alone? You even extorted eggs and that's not enough, what more do you want? Your wife is pretending to be stupid, isn't she!"

No sooner had Madam Fang finished speaking than one of her relatives behind Mao Tuanzi jumped out in anger and slapped Madam Fang's finger down: "You old hag, you always cause chaos and disorder, and now you've made my niece mentally impaired, and you still won't admit it. It's no use talking to her anymore. When have you ever seen her be reasonable? You'd better take her to the authorities!"

As he spoke, he rolled up his sleeves and dragged Fang Shi towards the door. Fang Shi desperately braced herself with her feet and spit a thick wad of phlegm at the man's face.

The man was furious. He shouted, and six or seven strong men behind him surrounded her, grabbed Fang, and dragged her out the door. Fang screamed like a pig being slaughtered, her voice audible for miles around.

Gu Zao panicked and hurriedly stepped forward to stop everyone, smiling apologetically, "Uncles and elders, we are all from the same village. My mother is a bit hot-tempered, but she has never really done anything immoral. Everyone has seen what happened to Aunt Tuanzi. It was just an accident, not something my mother did on purpose. We can discuss this. As the saying goes, seeing an official is three parts crime. I'm afraid that in the end, neither side will get a good outcome."

Seeing that Gu Zao spoke logically, Mao Tuanzi's relative stopped and looked Gu Zao up and down a few times before saying, "It's fine if you don't go to see the official, but it's inevitable that the village head will be called to judge the matter. Your old mother can't explain it clearly, and your brother is too young. Go and call your relative to come to the village ancestral hall first thing tomorrow morning to talk."

Gu Zao nodded hurriedly in agreement. The man spat at Fang Shi, ordered someone to release her, and then led his men away.

As soon as Fang was released, she plopped down on the ground and remained silent for a long time.

Gu Zao walked over to Fang Shi and helped her back to the main room. She took the towel that her third sister handed her and wiped her face.

Fang finally caught her breath, but her face was a little pale. She sat there blankly, no longer making a fuss, probably because she was still a little scared.

Gu Zao sighed, pulled her third sister aside, and carefully asked who in the village could speak with authority.

Originally, there were only two major surnames in Dongshan Village: Gu and Mao. Gu Zao's family also had an elder uncle named Gu Da, but a few years ago, the whole family moved to Tokyo to make a living. Now, only some uncles and cousins remain in the village. Since Gu Er passed away, they don't keep in touch much.

Gu Zaoxin knew that these uncles and elders from the same clan were no match for him, but he still gritted his teeth and had Qingwu accompany him. They went from house to house, and sure enough, those people had already heard about the trouble Fang Shi had caused. They couldn't even stay away, so why would they want to invite trouble by speaking up for her? At best, they would just smile and give perfunctory replies; at worst, they wouldn't even open the door. After walking around for a long time, he didn't get home until evening, but he brought back nothing but a belly full of anger.

When Fang saw Gu Zao return, she grabbed him and asked, "Well, did anyone agree?" Seeing Gu Zao shake his head, she sneered, "I told you those people couldn't be relied on. Years ago, when your father was still alive and the family was doing well, people would borrow salt today and vinegar tomorrow. But now that dead old man of yours is gone, who has come to visit us, a widow and orphan? Fine, even if I have to be skinned alive tomorrow, I absolutely cannot let people laugh at me!" As she cursed, she went to feed the pigs in the yard.

Gu Zao frowned, pondered for a while, then quietly went to the cabinet in Fang's inner room, took out a piece of silk cloth that he had seen yesterday, stuffed it into his clothes, and secretly went out the door, heading towards the village head's house at the east end of the village. When he arrived at the door, he hesitated for a moment, but finally pushed the door open and went in.

The village head had already eaten dinner and wasn't home. However, the village head's wife was squatting at the entrance of the main room watching the two black dogs playing with each other. When Gu Zao came in, she stood up, looking somewhat surprised.

Gu Zao gave a forced smile and affectionately called her "Auntie," but the woman there only responded indifferently and didn't really pay her any attention.

Gu Zao didn't mind, leaned over, wiped her eyes, and they were already brimming with tears.

A moment later, Gu Zao left the village head's house, but the piece of silk cloth tucked into his clothes was gone. Thinking of the village head's wife's confident assurances, Gu Zao couldn't help but marvel at the effectiveness of bribing an official's wife. No wonder in later generations, when corrupt officials were exposed, they would bitterly blame their spouses who had whispered in their ear. However, the Sichuan peppercorns of the Song Dynasty were quite potent; even after applying them for so long, Gu Zao's eyes remained uncomfortable for a long time after returning home.

The next morning, Gu got up and saw that Fang was already dressed and ready, her face so tense that she looked like she was about to be beheaded. Gu found it a little funny, but also a little sad. After thinking for a moment, she turned around and gave a few instructions to her third sister and Qingwu, then took Fang's arm and headed towards the ancestral hall at the end of the village.

The storm has subsided

When Gu Zao and Madam Fang arrived at the ancestral hall, there weren't many people inside, but most of them were glancing sideways at Madam Fang and Gu Zao and her daughter, whispering amongst themselves. Madam Fang's face flushed red and then turned pale, looking both ashamed and annoyed, while Gu Zao stood there as if in deep meditation.

Gradually, more and more people arrived, almost filling the ancestral hall. Around 9 a.m., a cough was heard outside the hall, and many villagers automatically made way for it. It turned out that the village head and the two most senior and virtuous uncles from the Gu and Fang families had entered, followed by the aggrieved man, Mao Tuanzi, holding his mentally challenged wife's hand.

With all the main figures present, the buzzing in the ancestral hall grew even louder. Gu Zao glanced at the furry woman and saw that she was indeed listless, following behind the furry girl like a puppet, sitting when told to sit and standing when told to stand. Gu Zao sighed inwardly and glanced at Fang Shi beside her, noticing that she was also stealing glances at the woman, her expression seemingly filled with regret.

After the village head and his two uncles took their seats, he coughed once before looking at Madam Fang and asking, "Madam Fang, what are your plans after you've turned Mao Tuanzi's family into this state?"

Fang's hands were twisted like hemp rope. She glanced sideways at the silly little ball of fur and hummed in a voice so low it was almost a mosquito's buzz: "What else can they do? Tell us about their plans."

The village head whispered something to Uncle Mao, who was sitting to his left, then coughed before speaking seriously: "Madam Fang, the men in Mao Tuanzi's family are useless, and there are so many children in the family. In the past, she managed everything inside and outside the house by herself, and she was known for being very capable. Now that things have turned out like this, it's like the pillar of the family has fallen. Uncle Mao said that five mu of your land will be used as collateral. What do you think?"

Gu Zao gasped. She had only been here a few days and was unaware of the land prices. However, her family only had these five mu of paddy fields left. If they lost all of them, her whole family would be in dire straits.

Sure enough, as soon as the village head finished speaking, Fang rushed to the entrance of the ancestral hall, picked up a stone, and darted back to Mao Tuanzi. She placed the stone in his hand and shouted, "You heartless Mao family! My family only has these five acres of land, how can you make me lose it all? You might as well take this stone and hit me on the head, knock me senseless! Besides, my hoe must have been stolen by your wife, but she hid it well and no one saw it. Is it wrong for me to go and ask for my own things back?"

"Mom, we've found our hoe!"

Fang was jumping up and down, yelling and screaming, when suddenly a voice came from the entrance of the ancestral hall. Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw a boy dragging a hoe backwards, coming over with a happy expression. Who else could it be but Gu Qingwu?

“Mom, I went to the fields this morning and saw that our hoe had fallen into the shallow ditch. It had been soaking for several days and was rusty. You must have fallen in and forgotten about it. Don’t blame Aunt Mao.”

Gu Zao sighed inwardly. Qingwu was indeed honest, but he was just too honest.

The villagers in the ancestral hall immediately began to whisper among themselves, pointing and whispering about the Fang family and showing sympathy for Mao Tuanzi's family. The village head sitting on the seat could not be seen to be anything, but Uncle Mao's head was raised very high, while Uncle Gu, who had been silent since he came in, had his head drooping as if he were asleep.

Sure enough, Fang, who had just jumped three feet off the ground, immediately wilted and stood there dumbfounded. Gritting her teeth, she strode over to Qingwu, grabbed his arm, and raised her hand high: "You ignorant brat..."

Before her slap could land, Gu Zao stopped her.

"Mother, Qingwu hasn't done anything wrong, so what's the point of you yelling and cursing here? Why make yourself a laughingstock!"

Gu Zao's voice wasn't loud, but every word struck Fang Shi's ears. She froze, and her hand slowly fell to her sides.

Gu Zao whispered a few words of comfort to Qingwu, whose face was pale. He then approached the village head and the two uncles, bowed slightly to them, and looked at the village head in the middle. He said solemnly, "My mother is naturally to blame for the accident that happened to Aunt Mao. She is already regretting it, and compensation is only right. However, as you all know, my father passed away long ago, my younger brother is still young, and we only have these five mu of land left. Our whole family depends on it for food. If we give it all to the Mao family, I'm afraid we will really have no way to survive. I beg you, village head, uncles, and Uncle Mao, to reconsider and see if we can compensate less. I thank you on behalf of my whole family."

As he spoke, he bowed deeply to the village head, his uncle, and Maotuanzi.

A buzzing sound filled the ancestral hall again, and Fang stood there, her face pale and ashen.

Uncle Mao called Mao Tuanzi and a few relatives together and chatted for a while. Then, he returned to his seat and said to Gu Zao, "My Tuanzi didn't mean to cut off your family's livelihood. But you've seen what his wife is like. Since you've said so, we'll compromise. Your family will compensate for the three mu of land along the river with your five mu of land, and we'll call it even."

Fang opened her eyes and was about to jump up again, but Gu Zao had already pressed her down.

Gu Zao smiled at Uncle Mao and said, "Thank you for your concession, Uncle. However, with only two acres of barren land left, after deducting the government's taxes, my family will still struggle to make ends meet. I have a suggestion, I wonder what you all think?"