Qin Official

(third chapter)

Outside Humo Township, there is a village with thirty or forty households. Because it is close to the warehouse, it is named "Kuli". !In a poor alley in Kuli, there was a shabby house with a broken urn as a window and a straw mat as a door. Early that morning, an angry voice came from the door.

"That bitch was obviously too mean, so she was expelled by me. She is a thief. It has nothing to do with her. I don't know what bad-tongued person said it. How much hatred must there be? She wants to ruin my brother's reputation. It’s clean!”

Uncle Chen is thirty-four or five years old. Although he is tall, his waist has been bent early due to years of hard work in the fields. His face is tanned and his forehead is covered with wrinkles.

Today, he went out to work early in the morning and heard the rumors outside slandering his younger brother. He was an impulsive person, and suddenly he was trembling with anger. He argued with those who were talking nonsense, and almost got into a fight. Finally, Chen Ping persuaded him to go home.

"Everything happened because of my brother. It was my brother's incompetence that dragged down my brother and sister-in-law."

Chen Ping, who is only 18 years old, is different from his elder brother. He is dressed in coarse linen clothes, which cannot hide his tall and straight figure. His face is handsome and his appearance is like a crown jewel. Although he is a bit thin, but because his elder brother gives him all the good things first He eats, and has never been hungry for so many years, so he doesn't look like a child from a poor family at all, and has more of the elegant temperament of a scholar.

Although he learned Huang and Lao's techniques, they were not the mainstream in Yangwu County.

"It's not your fault, it's not your fault, it's my fault for marrying a bad wife."

Uncle Chen was so angry that his stomach ached. He sat on the couch covered with wheat straw and panted. His old habit had returned. Years of overloaded work had taken a toll on the human body.

Despite this, Uncle Chen still held himself up, carrying the wooden hammer for weeding, and said to Chen Ping: "My brother is a man who wants to do big things. He can't be distracted by such vulgar words. I will go to the fields to see." Look, this year’s clothing and food are expected to be harvested in the summer, so we can’t relax at this time.”

Chen Ping watched his brother go out, looked back at his home with nothing, and sighed.

The whole house consists of three mud houses with thatched roofs and a small courtyard surrounded by a broken fence. When I walked into the largest main house, I saw the pits inside, a long-cooled earthen stove, and the walls were blackened by firewood smoke. Apart from that, there is nothing else, and the house is really empty.

Next to the main house is Chen Ping's sleeping place, which is even narrower and can only accommodate a floor bunk full of wheat straw. Fortunately, the windows here are opened very large and the lighting is excellent. The sunlight shines in from the broken urn. Shining on the bamboo scroll that had been turned loose and untied...

This reminded Chen Ping of the past.

Chen Ping's parents have passed away, so Chen Ping has lived with his eldest brother Chen Bo since he was a child and was raised by Chen Bo. The relationship between the two is more like father and son than brothers.

Uncle Chen is a kind and filial man. He always thinks that his parents died early, leaving only Chen Ping, a younger brother. The eldest brother is the father, and he should be responsible for everything about his younger brother. He didn't want his younger brother to suffer, so he didn't ask Chen Ping to go to the fields to help early like other poor families. Instead, he indulged Chen Ping and let his nature take its course.

Chen Ping didn't like to work since he was a child. He loved socializing and reading. Although he was worried that this was not a career that the poor people in Luzuo could afford, Chen Bo would rather suffer a little for himself and support his brother's ideals. He gritted his teeth and maintained everything by cultivating 30 acres of poor land, and sponsored Chen Ping to study in neighboring counties. . Uncle Chen felt that his younger brother was different from him and was destined to be extraordinary in the future. How could he be buried in the mud and dirt of the fields?

So on weekdays, while his brother Litian and his sister-in-law were weaving and making food, Chen Ping only had to stay here to light up and read books.

But now that this series of things have happened, how can he still understand even a single word?

Years later, the conspirator who was full of deceit and deception is still an eighteen-year-old young man who has not experienced too many twists and turns at this moment.

He has the appearance of a rough jade, but has not yet been sculpted by time.

After counting the time and confirming that his brother had arrived at the edge of the field, Chen Ping came to the yard, picked up the hemp rope for tying firewood, silently left the house and walked outside.

Usually, his sister-in-law did these tasks. Now that his sister-in-law was driven away by his brother, it was Chen Ping who had to do the work of collecting firewood for cooking. He couldn't let his brother drag his tired body back, facing the cold stove and even the bowl. I can't even eat hot food.

That's right, Chen Ping has a high heart and is unwilling to live a toiling rural life day after day. He longs to be like Taigong Wang, whom Huang Lao admired, and one day escape from poverty, meet the Ming Lord, become the leader of a county, or even a country. !

But no matter how high your heart is, it is still a sincere conscience!

At least, that must be the case for the closest relatives who raised him.

…

As Chen Ping walked out of the house, a group of young country girls were washing their clothes by the ditch outside the house. When they saw the handsome Chen Ping approaching, their eyes lit up at first, and then they thought of something, or turned back and ignored him. Or he deliberately spit on him and said something loudly, causing everyone to burst into laughter.

Chen Ping ignored it and continued walking. His destination was the woods outside the city.

This forest is supposed to be the private hilltop of Xi Zhang, a powerful villager. However, the patriarch of Xizhang, Zhang Fu, took care of the village party and simply opened the forest completely so that the villagers can come here to collect firewood at will. So here, Chen Ping can meet many people who also come to collect firewood, and some of them are neighbors in the same area.

After seeing Chen Ping, they all smiled meaningfully, and various questions floated from their mouths.

"Chen Ping, after so many years, I rarely see you collecting firewood. Where is your uncle and sister-in-law?"

"Chen Ping, your family is obviously so poor, but your uncle's stomach growls when he is working. What do you eat every day to become so tall?"

"Your sister-in-law said that what you ate was bran kernels. Is it true or false?"

"Chen Ping, I heard that your brother-in-law drove away your brother-in-law? Why was that? Could it be because..."

Every word he said was malicious, and every word he said was an attempt to hurt Chen Ping.

In the eyes of many villagers, Chen Ping is a freeloader. He has gained a good body in vain. At the age of eighteen, he has accomplished nothing. He neither works in farming nor in business. He holds a roll of rotten bamboo slips and shows off all day. Are you a reader yourself?

It's a pity that other than that, Chen Ping didn't have more bad things for them to criticize. Now it's good that he has committed an even bigger scandal. He is a wife thief!

So everyone was extremely excited. When they saw Chen Ping, they whispered and pointed, and deliberately used words to stimulate him.

They really wanted to see the handsome man who was famous throughout the township reveal his ugly true face!

Then he pointed at him and said contemptuously: "Look, he is indeed a despicable villain."

Chen Ping's family is poor, but he has ideals. Because of his elder brother's pampering, Chen Ping does not have to work as hard as his peers, but can do things that they find relaxing and comfortable, such as studying and studying abroad. Therefore, in the eyes of the villagers, he is wrong.

This is how gossips come about. Any changes in his family will be magnified, and people will always speculate on dissidents with the greatest malice.

But Chen Ping's handling method was different from Chen Bo's. He just smiled without any reply, which made those who ridiculed him feel that they had punched the target in vain, which was quite boring.

Lao Tzu said that if you talk too much, you will be poor and it is better to keep it.

Chen Ping understood very well that everyone's psychology has congenital shortcomings, and they like to listen to small talk. You tell them the truth, they often don't believe it, and are willing to use rumors to describe you and paint you as ugly as they think you should be.

Therefore, the cost of refuting rumors is ten times a hundred times that of spreading rumors, and he will not waste his efforts.

Under the boos, Chen Ping silently did his own thing. He lifted the firewood behind him and started walking back. He had already collected enough firewood for three days.

In the past, he was not engaged in production and rarely did this work. He seemed a bit unfamiliar. Although the firewood he carried was not much, it made Chen Ping feel very heavy. It was as if all those slanderous words combined made him breathless. .

Although Chen Ping learned from Huang Lao, he knew that he could not become a saint. He was not worried about his current situation, but worried about the future.

People in the world only value clothes but not people. Most people comment on and measure a person's level, good and evil, right and wrong based on trivial matters.

Chen Ping was very worried that today's slander of "stealing sister-in-law" would follow him for the rest of his life and become an indelible mark on himself, even though he had never done this at all.

This will greatly affect his reputation in the county. Although the Wei State is about to be destroyed, and Hufu Township has returned to the Qin State, a person's reputation and reputation in the township party still determine whether he is recruited as an official and how everyone behaves. key.

"If I am burdened by my reputation and are considered to be a villain with low morals who deceives my brothers and steals my sisters-in-law, then it will be difficult for me to get ahead in this Hufu Township and this Yangwu County."

This is what troubles Chen Ping, but as a person who is being slandered, he cannot defend himself against this kind of thing, otherwise the more smear it gets, the darker it becomes.

say what? If you say "I didn't sleep with my sister-in-law?", the rumors will probably become even more intense.

Stepping into the city gate again, Chen Ping turned his head when he stopped to rest, and looked at his shoulders under his linen clothes. There were red spots, and the thin hemp rope was pinched on his face. It hurt. He didn't do much work. His skin and flesh were already bleeding.

Chen Ping was not worried, but happy.

It's not scary to bleed, it can make Chen Ping feel different from others. He didn't want to carry firewood for a lifetime and leave two red marks and calluses on his shoulders.

The scariest thing is living today and seeing your life remain the same on the day you die.

"It is impossible to rely on others to save me from this matter. I must find a way to get out of this predicament as soon as possible."

Gritting his teeth, Chen Ping stood up again and walked into the inner door again. The women who were washing clothes here were no longer there. When Chen Ping was about to arrive home, he found that they were all gathered outside his courtyard, and the place was already completely surrounded.

"Chen Ping is back!"

Someone with sharp eyes shouted, and the neighbors surrounding the house immediately turned around and looked at Chen Ping. Most of them were gloating about his misfortune, and only one or two looked worried.

Chen Ping had an ominous premonition in his heart. Could it be his brother...

As soon as the hemp rope in his hand was loosened, the firewood on his back fell to the ground with a crackling sound.

But when Chen Ping squeezed through the crowd and walked to the door of his house, he didn't see his brother. Instead, he saw several Qin soldiers wearing armor and swords, standing in his yard at the moment!

The black-faced Qin official wearing a crown, who was obviously an official, had his hands behind his back and was walking around with interest, looking at his vegetable garden, looking at the worn thatched roof, and even wanted to poke his head into the house to take a look. .

"Qin people?"

Chen Ping's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't panic at all on the surface. He opened the curtain door made of bamboo mats, walked into the courtyard, and bowed respectfully to the Qin officials, as if they were his expected guests.

"I don't know if the official is here. It's really a neglect."

The crowned Qin official quickly turned around, looked at Chen Ping, and then muttered a few words in Guan dialect, asking the Qin soldiers on the side to translate.

"You You asked, are you Chen Ping?"

"Exactly the villain."

After Chen Ping learned that this person was the "Heifu" Youyou, he was even more surprised. Why did the Qin official come to the door for no reason? Ke Mian remained calm and observed this person carefully.

But seeing that he was tall and tall, almost the same height as himself, his eyes were fixed on Chen Ping, with an expression as if he could see the jade hidden inside a gray stone...

At this time, the Qin official suddenly burst out laughing, and then said in an extremely stiff local dialect that he had just learned a little bit: "Chen Ping, I am looking for you!"

After saying that, Hei Fu pressed his sword and said loudly to Chen Ping and to the crowd who were watching outside who didn't mind the matter: "I have recently been inspecting the towns and cities and heard rumors that Chen Ping, Chen Bo's younger brother, stole his wife! Although Qin said that The law is the teaching, and the officials are the teachers, but just like Yuan, they also value ethics! This official was shocked when he heard the inquiry. An uncle who steals his sister-in-law is like a brother who invades his own sister. It is a great evil! How can we let it go? ?”

"Therefore, today the officials came here specially to bring Chen Ping, Uncle Chen, Chen's wife, and all the neighbors in Kuli who had heard this rumor to the Xiang Temple for questioning! The case of the wife's theft must be revealed today!"

After saying that, Heifu asked Zhong Ming to repeat what he said in dialect. Regardless of the uproar of the people outside, he smiled at Chen Ping who didn't know why:

"Chen Ping, today you go with me to the Xiang Temple for interrogation. Before you go in, you were covered with a stigma. It is impossible to tell whether it is true or false. But when you come out, you may be found guilty of stealing your wife and be punished by Qin law. Order to punish..."

"Or, your injustice will be vindicated by me personally!"