Brother so proud

"Whose house is this?"

At night, with the bright moon in the sky, He Ze took Lin Yu to ride the moonlight to the back door of a courtyard in Shijia Village.

"Shi Qiangxi, his family pays three times the actual tax every year. It has been like this since Shi Xingwen's father was around, more than ten years."

"Boom, boom, boom..." He Ze knocked on the courtyard door of Shi Qiangxi's house.

"Who is it? Here, here...don't knock!" The person who opened the door was a white-haired old man, half hunched over. Seeing that they were strangers, he vigilantly covered the door, only showing half of his head. ,"who are you?"

"Old man, our husband and wife are passing through this place and want to come in to ask for a drink. I wonder if it's okay?" He Ze showed sincerity on his face, and he spread Lin Yu's right hand to show him, a glistening red mole showed brother Lin Yu son's identity.

Old Man Shi's vigilance dropped a little, "Okay, come in."

After successfully entering the courtyard, He Ze and Lin Yu glanced at each other while old man Shi was pouring water, and were about to get to the point, "Old man Shi, actually, the head of Shi Dashan Shi village instructed me to come here today, he said, Shi Lizheng in your village charges your family twice as much tax every year, is there such a thing?"

Shi Qiangxi shook his hand, and the bowl in his hand slammed on the ground with a loud bang, "What's the matter...don't listen to people's nonsense!"

"You say what Village Chief Shi said is nonsense?"

Shi Qiangxi paused for a moment, then murmured, "How can you believe what he said!"

"But you are indeed mentioned in this report letter." He Ze held up the two pages of letter paper, "This letter was written by Village Chief Shi himself, signed and stamped, he would never risk going to jail to make a false accusation Bar?"

How could Shi Dashan, who was about to reap the benefits of being a fisherman, leave such a big handle!But when He Ze told a lie, he didn't show any trace on his face.

"This, this..." Shi Qiangxi became anxious all of a sudden, "What the hell is he trying to do, him?"

"Uncle Shi, I advise you to tell us the truth. We came here at the order of County Magistrate Zhou. In the final analysis, it is for the people around us."

"This, I can't talk about it!" Shi Qiangxi put his head in his hands and squatted on the ground dejectedly, "The county magistrate is far away, so how can he care about our affairs here! Listen to him, how can you not listen to him!"

"Old man, no matter how big the official here is, he can't be bigger than the county magistrate, right? County magistrate Zhou has always been honest and caring for the people. Now that Shi Xingwen's matter has reached his ears, how can he ignore it? Think about it, if this matter is not Zhou Xingwen The county magistrate said, how dare Village Chief Shi write this to us?" Lin Yu took the letter paper in He Ze's hand and shook it.

"It was really written by Shi Dashan?" Shi Qiangxi finally raised his head, but he couldn't read.

"Of course." He Ze didn't change his face.

"You can really let the county magistrate take care of the affairs of our village. Some villagers said they would sue him before, but they couldn't even enter the gate of the government office..."

"The county magistrate didn't know before, and was blinded by the people below, otherwise why would he let us come here late at night?"

Hearing his words, Shi Qiangxi was a little excited: "Really, it's possible! Then, if I say it, I won't be guilty, right? I gave him money, but I didn't ask him to do something, not even once!"

he emphasized.

"Really not once?" He Ze was a little suspicious.

"Not once! My lord, I promise! I know it's against the law and I can't do it." Shi Qiangxi hurriedly explained, "My two sons set up small businesses in the town, and they can earn a lot in a year. Money, my wife and I guard the courtyard and the land in the village. We can always get the tax money that the two father and son ask us to pay every year. He is an official, and he is in charge of all major and minor matters in the village. He has the final say on where to dig the aqueduct, we can't fight it, and we don't want to lose Ansheng's life, so let's forget about the hardships."

Shi Qiangxi had runny noses and tears when he said this, "But you guys are here, it's good if you come, this year my eldest daughter-in-law gave birth to us a grandson, and next year I can finally give them a few more children." New clothes."

Lin Yu felt a little uncomfortable hearing that, he stretched out his hand and tugged on He Ze's cuff.

"Old man Shi, how did Shi Xingwen's father ask you to pay more tax money back then, and how much more did you pay over the years, explain it clearly, I will write it down, and you can do it with your fingerprint later? The days are not far away, and the days will always get better."

"Hey! Hey!" Shi Qiangxi's face was flushed. He didn't know whether it was the joy that had been suppressed for many years or the hope for future life. He recalled: "In the first year, our family was 15 years old. Xiaotou is only eleven..."

Coming out of Shi Qiang Xi Yuan, He Ze let out a long sigh of relief, turned his head and said to the people around him, "Okay, let's get the first one done! There is a long way to go."

"I understand." Lin Yu looked up at him with a very arrogant expression.

"Ok?"

"We've got a heavy burden on our shoulders, and we've got a long way to go. Right?"

"Smart!" He Ze didn't hesitate to praise himself.

Lin Yu rolled his eyes at him, "You're still talking about teaching me to read, and it's only been a few days?"

"... Isn't this busy?"

Fortunately, he was really busy, so Lin Yu didn't make things difficult for him anymore.During this period of time, he went up the mountain less frequently. Because Uncle Xu lived next door, he learned a lot of characters, and some simple poems were half-understood.

He won't tell him that he already understood the poem he gave him last time.

Looking back suddenly, the man was in a dimly lit place.

Thinking of the corner of Lin Yu's mouth curled up, He Ze took his hand, "Go find someone else tonight, and you can go home."

On the second day, the two followed suit.

There were more than a dozen people written on the paper, some were in Shijia Village, some were from other villages, even two were from Hejia Village.

Some people are forced by Shi Xingwen's father and son's despotic power, some people are for their own benefit, and some people are ashamed like Shi Qiangxi, and Xiaozhi justifies it with emotion and justifies it without a few words. Some people are soft-spoken, and they are more honest than quail when they scare them. There are also those who are hard-mouthed, but after seeing Lin Yu smashing a solid wooden table with his fist and the white silver ingot that He Ze took out, after careful consideration, he chose the latter. By.

Of course, the last type of people is only a minority, so He Ze is not afraid of his betrayal.

On the evening of the third day, the two came out from a family in Shijia Village.This time it went so smoothly, the host almost knelt down and kowtowed to them after knowing their purpose.

He was also the one who sent money to Shi Xingwen.For the recruiting three years ago, no one in Shijia Village wanted to go, and they all gathered money. Later, Shi Xingwen presided over the lottery. At that time, all the people in the village who had money went to Shi Xingwen, and he did the same, but he As a result, his son was one of the three quotas. Since then, there has been no news for three years.

In just three years, I hated the old parents' hair.

"There is one last one." He Ze sighed, "Shi Deyou, it stands to reason that Shi Xingwen should call him Second Uncle. Two years ago, Shijia Village divided the land, and he alone got seven mu of fertile land along the stream, but this A rich man in Shijiacun."

"this person……"

"Ok?"

"The people from the Shijia village we visited before have all mentioned this person. He is not stingy with oil and salt, and he is a hard stubble." He Ze suddenly paused, hesitated to speak, and made up his mind after a while: "Promise me, no matter what you see later, don't be afraid."

It was not the right time and place at this time, maybe it was just an impulse, and he decided to reveal to him the secret he had been hiding all along.

Lin Yu was a little dazed, and seemed to have expected something.

Shi Deyou is an alcoholic, and these days he drank late every night before returning home.When the two went, they didn't choose to knock on the door, but climbed up the courtyard wall of his house and waited for a long time.

When the sound came from the intersection in front of the courtyard gate, the moon was already in the sky, and most people in the village had rested.

"Shh!" He Ze signaled Lin Yu to keep quiet.

The door lock is opened, the courtyard door is opened and closed, and the bolt is dropped.

it has started.

In the yard of Shi Deyou’s house, there is an old peach wood pile. It is near the wall. The wood pile has been blackened due to the wind and rain all year round. There is a dustpan on it, and the dried day lily is confiscated.

So, Lin Yu watched helplessly as the person beside him waved his hand, and a sprout sprouted from the wooden stake at a speed visible to the naked eye. It became faster and longer, and gradually turned into a branch. Stretched along the ground, and then quickly tied one of Shi Deyou's legs.

In the next second, Shi Deyou fell to the ground with a bang.

"Who? Which wicked ghost?" He sat up cursing, and looked around but found nothing.

The branches had retracted.

Lin Yu looked at He Ze in disbelief, but He Ze didn't look at him, but the hand holding him tightened even more, causing him pain.

When Shi Deyou stood up from the ground staggeringly, the branches began to stretch out again.

This time it was on his back.

"Ouch! Who—" Shi Deyou turned around quickly this time, and then almost stared his eyes out of their sockets, and the drunkenness disappeared, "Ghost, ghost! There is a ghost!"

He stumbled and ran towards the door, but as soon as he reached the door, he was tied back by a branch stretching out.

Shi Deyou was so frightened that he cried and screamed, and soon there was a smell of urine, and his pants were already wet.He Ze frowned in disgust, and covered Lin Yu's nose with his hand.

Another branch protruded from the wooden stake, rolled up a cloth towel on the clothes drying pole, and stuffed it into Shi Deyou's mouth.

This time only the sound of whimpering and struggling remained in the yard.

He Ze didn't plan to show up this time.Shi Deyou went to an academy when he was a child, so it is no problem to recognize a few words.

So Lin Yu saw a weird interrogation process, with branches writing on the ground, and Shi Deyou said that Shi Deyou tried to resist several times in the middle, but he was finally honest when the branches were torn apart.

After the interrogation was over, He Ze threw down the confession he had prepared. The branch pricked Shi Deyou's finger, and he pressed it tremblingly.

The evidence collection of the last target person was completed, and He Ze and Lin Yu walked on the trail in Shijia Village, surrounded by silence.

The matter of Shi Xingwen seemed to have settled down. It was obviously something worth celebrating, but the silence between the two of them was outrageous.

When he got to the bullock cart on the avenue, He Ze stopped, and Lin Yu also stopped a meter away from him.

"Just now, are you afraid?" He Ze heard himself asking, "Do you feel scary? I know you may find it difficult to accept this ability, but it has nothing to do with ghosts and gods. I am not a monster or evil thing, you Don't be afraid of me. In our place, this ability is only for survival, it is very useful, I was able to find you on the mountain last time, and..."

He talked more and more, and even started to speak incoherently.