Chapter 200: Utterly Wolf-Hearted
At this exact moment, Lin Sanniang’s desire to learn characters became more intense than ever before.
As it turned out, being unable to read and calculate accounts meant being cheated and humiliated by others!
Lin Sanniang immediately said to her three children, “Taoya, Xing’er, Brother Shu, Mother must earn money to send you all to the academy, to study, read, and understand proper reasoning! We will never let anyone bully us again!”
The three children nodded their heads repeatedly. Just as they were about to speak, an elderly woman nearby, her hands trembling, held out a tax deed.
“Lady, could I trouble you to look at this? What is written on it, and how much tax is our family supposed to pay?”
Lin Sanniang felt a bit put on the spot; she didn’t recognize many characters either. The only reason she could remember the flaws on her own family’s tax contract was that she had been cautious from the start, knowing Sun Dade held ill intentions, so she had forced herself to memorize it. She had merely matched it with the characters she learned today.
But she couldn’t understand the document the elderly woman brought over.
Lin Sanniang felt a pang of pity in her heart. She said to the elderly woman, “Elderly relative, I do not read many characters. I only recognize a few numbers…”
Just as she was about to refuse, the elderly woman was quite tactful, pulling Lin Sanniang to the side and using the lantern hanging at the Sun family’s gate to let Lin Sanniang help her look.
“Recognizing numbers is plenty, Lady. You just need to tell me how many people this is paying for, and how much grain.”
Seeing the elderly woman’s white hair, wrinkled face, and piteous, pleading look, Lin Sanniang ultimately softened her heart. With the thought that a single glance couldn’t hurt, she held up the deed and began to inspect it.
To her surprise, upon looking, she actually recognized a few characters.
Lin Sanniang read them out one by one:
“…Jingtian Three…”
“Yes, yes! Our place is Jingtian Third Alley!”
“…Ding…”
“That’s it, that’s it! My family’s surname is Ding!” Grandma Ding said excitedly.
Lin Sanniang paused, then continued reading: “People… three individuals.”
Grandma Ding nodded frantically. “Yes, yes, three people in my family!”
Lin Sanniang didn’t recognize the characters after that, skipping straight to the very end: “There is also a ‘three’ here. According to the government’s announcement, three individuals should mean three dou of grain.”
Grandma Ding froze. “It’s truly three dou?”
Lin Sanniang nodded. “I recognize all the numbers. There are only these few characters on this document: Jingtian Third Alley, three people, and this last one should also be three dou of grain.”
Grandma Ding’s back bent low. She clutched the document, her lips trembling, her face filled with absolute disbelief.
“There is only me and my old man at home, along with a simpleton son we raised. Now that my old man is paralyzed, I lead my simpleton son to cultivate the fields and eke out a living, enduring who knows how much hardship…”
“That absolute fiend Sun Dade actually swindled even our grain! There are only three people in our family, yet he informed me that we had to pay six dou of grain this time!”
After Grandma Ding finished speaking, she bowed deeply to Lin Sanniang. “Thank you for the guidance, Lady!”
Then, she charged straight into the crowd, joining the neighbors to hurl blows and slaps directly at Sun Dade and Sun Zhang-shi with total fury.
Brother Shu blinked his eyes. “Mother, they are striking people.”
Lin Sanniang responded instinctively, “Striking people is wrong, Brother Shu shouldn’t learn…” But she had barely spoken a few words when she suddenly snapped out of it, swallowing the remaining phrase back down.
“Striking people is wrong, but if we are bullied and others strike us first, then we must strike right back!”
Xing’er grew excited. “Mother, can we really strike?”
Before Lin Sanniang could speak, Xing’er bent down and scooped up a small stone, accurately shattering the paper windowpane of the Sun residence.
“Have fun swindling my family’s grain! Have fun plundering my family’s fields!”
The actions of Sun Dade and Sun Zhang-shi left all the neighbors thoroughly unable to restrain their fury. They stormed into the house, dragging out several of the Sun family’s children and servants to beat them. The old matriarch was sick, so no one touched her, but the ragged quilt covering her body—which reeked of waste—was snatched away by someone anyway.
Sun Zhang-shi wailed to the heavens, “Plunder! Murder! Someone come quick! Report to the officials!”
However, no one paid her any heed—Lin Sanniang had slapped Sun Zhang-shi earlier, and Sun Zhang-shi could still scream about murder; the neighbors had long since grown sick of hearing it. Furthermore, this time the neighbors had come precisely to demand an explanation from Sun Zhang-shi and Sun Dade.
Before it could even escalate to the government’s jurisdiction, the neighborhood warden arrived first. The warden was also hopping mad with fury: “Sun Dade! I saw that you were an educated man who could read, which was why I had you help process the grain loans. You actually dared to line your own pockets, bringing down such a catastrophic disaster!”
“It’s over, it’s all over! How am I supposed to explain this to the district official and the county magistrate tomorrow! Sun Dade, oh Sun Dade, you’ve completely ruined me!”
Catching sight of the neighborhood warden, Lin Sanniang immediately led her children over, imploring the warden to demand justice.
“Our two families divided our property long ago, yet my deceased husband’s land was entirely plundered by my eldest brother-in-law. I implore the warden to demand justice on our behalf and return my land!”
The warden was still hesitating. At this moment, everyone was demanding that he deliver justice; for the time being, it wasn’t the turn of Lin Sanniang, who belonged to an outside neighborhood.
But Lin Sanniang had been tempered at the manor for a long time, and it wasn’t as if she hadn’t encountered difficult guests. Her ability to maneuver, hint, and guide had already reached a minor level of mastery.
Seeing the warden hesitate, Lin Sanniang immediately knelt down and kowtowed, severing any connection between the warden and Sun Dade.
“Today, because I revealed the truth, this Sun Dade even wanted to slaughter us. Fortunately, the warden arrived!”
Lin Sanniang’s face was filled with absolute relief: “I knew the warden is a man who distinguishes right from wrong. This Sun Dade even wanted to implicate you, claiming he held a relationship with you. But the moment I see the warden’s clear, upright manner as you fret for the common folk and stand up for them, I know it is absolutely impossible for the warden to be in cahoots with this wolf-hearted Sun Dade! Helping him hoodwink the common folk and smooth things over!”
Smoke was practically rising from the warden’s head. His mind spun a bit, but he seemed to understand one point clearly—if he helped Sun Dade smooth things over today, then he was in cahoots with Sun Dade. If he helped Lin Sanniang recover her land deeds, then he was an upright official.
Just as the warden was about to speak, Taoya and Xing’er repeatedly chimed in to assist: “Mother is right! With the warden here, he can definitely demand our family’s land back, saving us the trouble of going to the government offices.”
Go to the government offices?
The warden’s cold sweat poured down. He hurriedly pushed through the crowd to find Sun Dade: “Is that Lady Lin’s land deed currently in your hands?”
Sun Dade was unwilling to admit it: “That belongs to my brother!”
“Since it belongs to your brother, your brother’s widow and children are all present. Why is the land deed conversely in your hands?”
“Uh… our two families agreed. My brother’s land was handed over to my care, and I fulfill filial duties to the elder on their behalf.”
“If that is the case, what did they come here for today?”
“Uh… at first it was that girl, coming to, coming to…”
“Coming to do what?”
“Coming to look after the old matriarch!” In the crowd, Grandma Ding let out a loud shout. “This girl arrived during the day; this afternoon she was washing clothes, cooking food, and scrubbing the commode, we all witnessed it!”
The neighborhood was different from the manor; an entire alley shared the well water, and they had to guard against outsiders. Taoya had come to care for the elder this afternoon, washing the old matriarch’s foul clothes that had sat for half a month, which was witnessed by everyone. Originally, they had been afraid she didn’t know the rules and would pollute the water source, intending to keep an eye on her; who would have thought that at this moment, it would serve as Taoya’s testimony.
The warden saw that public indignation was boiling over, and knew in his heart that this matter could no longer be covered up. He stated to Sun Dade with a stern face, “Your words are completely incoherent. You claim the land offsets elder care, yet you still have people come over to serve the elder. Utterly nonsensical!”
The warden handed down his decision: “Since everyone witnessed that Lady Lin’s household is still caring for the elder without any offset, this land should be returned to Lady Lin!”
Sun Dade was unwilling, and Sun Zhang-shi also bellowed, “That belongs to my man’s brother! By what right should it be given to an outsider like Lin Sanniang?”
Grandma Ding and numerous neighbors cursed back: “Can she be more of an outsider than you? That land was left behind by her deceased man. What manner of relation are you to her man? What a thoroughly shameless creature!”
Sun Zhang-shi was filled with absolute terror at this moment—the land left behind by Sun Dayi totaled a full twelve mu! Last year’s harvest had been poor, causing them to sink all their capital from previous years into it. It had been incredibly difficult during this year’s harsh times, and their entire family had poured their hearts into the fields. Seeing that it was already mid-June, with only one month left before the grain matured, returning the land to Lin Sanniang at this exact moment was no different from demanding her life!
Sun Zhang-shi refused to yield, cursing loudly, and the neighbors hurriedly cursed right back upon hearing her. Xing’er blended in among them, repeatedly picking up stones to smash the windows. This paper windowpane had been put up by her and Taoya during the Spring Festival last year anyway! Her uncle’s family ordered them around whenever they had nothing better to do!
The warden saw that the public anger, which had finally been pacified with great difficulty, was stirred up all over again by Sun Zhang-shi, and grew instantly annoyed.
“Sun Tao serving the elder was witnessed by everyone. It was you who failed to keep faith first; this land must be returned!” He then admonished Sun Dade: “If you had kept faith earlier, how would it have escalated to this point!”
The keeping of faith spoken of by the warden didn’t merely refer to the land offsetting elder care, but rather Sun Dade’s conduct toward the neighborhood commoners. He was reminding Sun Dade that if this matter wasn’t handled well, the neighbors wouldn’t let him off later either.
Sun Dade felt a sharp pang of sorrow: “There is only one month left before harvest! Besides, can their family look after the old matriarch moving forward? The old matriarch is currently sick; have they ever requested a physician or delivered food for her?”
Taoya knew the answer to this, opening her mouth immediately: “You didn’t request a physician for Grandmother either! Grandmother wasn’t seriously ill originally; it was you who ignored her! You didn’t give her food! That was how the illness was dragged out and grew severe!”
Someone among the neighbors speculated: “Utterly devoid of virtue! Did you intend to starve your old mother to death to lessen your own burden?”
The warden’s cold sweat poured down again. The people of this era viewed filial piety as paramount. Sun Dade and Sun Zhang-shi had used filial piety to pressure Taoya, and at this moment, they were similarly trapped by filial piety.
The warden led his men inside to take a look. Sure enough, the old matriarch, who had been hale and hearty two months ago, was now reduced to skin and bones.
The warden wished he could kick Sun Dade to death with a single strike. “If a case of an elder starving to death occurs in our neighborhood, the reputation of the entire neighborhood will turn thoroughly foul! Will the young men of the neighborhood still sit for the imperial examinations? Will the young ladies still marry?”
Sun Dade closed his mouth, not uttering a peep.
