Xie Ming

The conversation started with the silver particles, leading to the idea of ​​the melon-eaters, and then to the two constables who crashed into the stall.

The old melon farmer regretted his identification at noon, fearing that the man eating the melons might be sued and arrested and put in jail.

I feel sad and sigh in my heart, but there is no good medicine for regret.

"Hey! It's okay, just say it."

"You just said that the people should not fight against the officials."

"What does his lawsuit have to do with you? Since the people from the government came to arrest him, they must have their reasons."

"If you don't cooperate, you will become an accomplice."

"Let's not mess with the wrong people because of this!"

The melon farmer's wife seemed to be afraid, so her words were reasonable.

"Oh, that's right too."

"You are right about that."

"But I always feel that the melon eater doesn't look like a bad person, how come..."

The melon farmer took over the conversation and knew that what the old woman said was serious, but after all, the matter concerned him.

He became stubborn and worried, but he still felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Uh, Ning Ji, this guy is about thirty years old and has a lame horse, right?!"

Suddenly coming!

Just when the old melon farmer was feeling depressed.

Suddenly, a dark-complexioned, wrinkled-faced farmer among the passers-by who had been sitting around the table in another corner suddenly interrupted and started a conversation.

Hearing this, the melon farmer was surprised, and he and the old woman turned their heads to look.

Xiao Lang and his group of three were drinking tea and eating melons nearby, listening to such gossip. When they heard someone else talking, they glanced at the other table.

"Hey, old man, you look at what you're saying, do you know this person?"

"What on earth did he do wrong?"

"I'm just worried about how to return the money to the owner in person."

"If you want to know, you might as well tell me about it."

"Otherwise I'd always feel uncomfortable."

Seeing that the farmer had something to say later, the melon farmer did not hide anything and was determined to find out the details so that he could have a way to spend the money.

Hearing this, the old man who was talking to him threw his pipe away and it knocked against his straw sandals.

"Haha, you, I'm afraid you really can't give me this money."

"This Ning Ji is from our neighboring village, Liuzhuang, which is ten miles away. Have you been to Liuzhuang?"

The old man asked.

The melon farmer was startled when he heard this, and then he looked at the old woman. It seemed that the two of them had seen nothing and didn't know anything.

"Oh, that's the thing. That's the thing."

"Ning Ji is not well-liked in the village. He has an arrogant and stubborn temper."

"The head of their village died last year, and they wanted to choose a new one to take charge."

"There are all kinds of people in Liu Village, with all kinds of surnames. So usually other villages have the chief acting as the chief, but they are different. They need to call for people to elect them."

"On the day of the election, everyone voted in favor because they had received positive feedback from the newcomer."

"Hey, this stupid boy just refuses to join the group."

"Not only did he disapprove, he even said in front of everyone in the village that they were not qualified."

"It doesn't matter what the reason is."

"Even if he got into trouble for doing this, shouldn't his family still hate him?!"

"After that, there were kindhearted people in the village who advised him to ask Ning Ji to apologize to the man."

"Just give in and the matter will be over." "After all, no matter how much he makes trouble, he is from a powerful family and his arms can't beat him. Don't you think so?"

"If you don't agree, you're a jerk again."

"It's better to have less trouble than more. If you insist on being the first to do something, you will definitely suffer the consequences."

Having said this, the old man crossed his legs, took a sip of tea, and continued muttering.

"So later on, as expected."

"The new head of the village targeted him and took revenge on him."

"Well, it's like watering the fields."

"The crops are about to wither. Well, the water that has been opened will not flow through his fields first, but will put his fields last."

"Also, there is a teenage rascal in Zheng's family. Not long ago, he was said to have bullied his daughter in the field. A villager saw it, and the news spread."

"Just think about it, this is too much."

"A teenage girl is at the age when she is ready to find someone to marry."

"If this matter gets out, how can that girl face people?"

"So Ning Ji couldn't stand it any longer. On the night of the first month of the month, regardless of the howling wind, he took a butcher knife and sneaked into the courtyard of the village head's house."

"Chop off the head of a lamb in the village head's house and put it on the kang of the village head and his wife at night."

"Haha, this is really strange. It happened without anyone noticing. It sounds really fresh."

"It was early the next morning when the village head's wife woke up and saw the bloody sheep's head. She immediately collapsed."

"The village chief is so angry that he is determined to kill Ning Ji."

"So a few days ago, they said they went to the county through connections, but I don't know what connections they have."

"Anyway, in two days, someone from above will come down and arrest Ning Ji and put him in jail."

"This matter has spread all over the village, and notices for fishing at sea have been posted."

"They said the case was serious and they wanted to arrest him and sentence him to ten or eight years in prison."

"Think about it, how can anyone stay in that prison?"

"It's not a crime that can be punished by death, but if someone is willing to pay you to do something bad, it would be easy for you to die in prison unjustly, wouldn't it?"

"Alas, I feel pity for my daughter and mother at home."

"When my wife heard about this, she ran away early in the morning."

"All that's left is an old lady lying on the kang with a daughter like this."

"It will be difficult to survive in that village in the future"

The old man who was passing by talked a lot, and finally refilled his pipe with tobacco, lit it and started smoking again.

"Ugh"

"This, what is this?" The melon farmer felt even more depressed when he heard about the man's experience.

"How about waiting until tomorrow morning, I'll go to Wu Er's house in the village and borrow a donkey cart, and I'll go there just for him."

"I can't give the money to him personally, so I'll give the money to his daughter and send it back to his mother."

"Anyway, we have to pay back the money."

The melon farmer made up his mind and looked at the old woman.

When the old woman in charge of the family saw the man's situation, she felt sympathy for a moment.

Knowing that it was a matter of this nature, it would be difficult to go against my wife's will, so I did not try to stop her. I thought that if he could go there once, he would be able to put his mind at ease.

In the half-ruined melon shed and teahouse on the dirt road between the fields, a group of people were lamenting the fate of the melon eater Ning Jizhi!
Suddenly, a group of cavalry came towards this side from the other end of the forest road not far away.

The horses stepped on the dust, galloped and arrived in a flash.

The melon farmer and the country guests passing by at that table, when they saw this scene, all of them shrank back unconsciously, wishing they could lower their heads and hide under the small table, fearing that they would suffer disaster if they just took a quick look.

(End of this chapter)