Chapter 77: Chapter 76: Experience Comes with Age
Upon hearing Song Wei’s words, Old Song was taken aback for a moment, then pulled him aside and said in a low voice, "Third Son, aren’t we being a bit too harsh? After all, we’re from the same village, and there will still be many social interactions in the future."
He was also thinking about giving his son a way out to live well in the future.
Song Wei did not give in, "Little Sister is right, others don’t know my suffering, and they have no right to advise me to be magnanimous. Moreover, the people who humiliated and wronged me back then were them. Now, on what grounds do these people ask me to forgive them?"
Old Song swallowed the remaining words back into his stomach and didn’t say another word of persuasion.
Outsiders thought Song Wei was weak, but as his father, he knew better than anyone. The reason Song Wei willingly endured the outside world’s accusations and insults all those years was because he felt guilty, believing that he caused the death of his elder brother and sister-in-law.
He would rather it was him lying in the coffin, wishing his elder brother and sister-in-law could come back to life, even if it meant they would beat him or scold him.
But the death of the Da Lang couple became a fact; he couldn’t atone for the sin or make up for the fault. Only when being scolded by others did he feel slightly better.
Therefore, he never refuted the outside criticism even once.
However, the villagers took his silence as capital to push further, to the point of plotting to harm Song Wei.
Now they’ve come to ask Song Wei to let bygones be bygones.
In this world, how can you hit someone and then expect them to apologize with a smile?
Thinking of this, Old Song sighed, patted his son’s shoulder, "Alright, no matter what decision you make, your dad will support you. I’ll go invite the village chief and the clan leader."
Song Wei watched Old Song’s back as he left and smiled faintly.
Dealing with unruly people, it’s essentially unrealistic to beat them up, and scolding them back doesn’t match Song Wei’s stable and restrained character, and key is, it wouldn’t have any useful effect.
As the saying goes, strike the seven inches of a snake, attack its weak points.
What matters most to common folk? Clothing and food.
As long as you grasp this point, use the topic of tax exemption on fields, favor some while ignoring others—waive taxes for some families, essentially gifting them two seasons of field tax annually. Then, exclude the troublemakers, so they can only watch from the sidelines. Such obvious differential treatment would certainly rile them up.
Indeed, just like Song Wei predicted, these people are already seriously upset.
Moreover, Zhang Da became the target of public criticism. Others believed that the reason Song Wei didn’t help them with the tax exemption was due to Zhang Da’s careless words, so they started to make noise without explanation, demanding Zhang Da provide an account.
Pushes and shoves from the crowd filled the air, instantly pinning Zhang Da to the ground, fists pounding on his face.
Zhang Da didn’t even have time to cry out in pain before two streams of nosebleed flowed.
Just then, Granny Song returned. Seeing this scene, she hurriedly put down Song Wei’s book basket, and casually grabbed a broom from the wall. She took several steps forward, brandishing it around in a sweep.
She had such strength as if she had swallowed several oxen in one breath.
Wen Wan saw it clearly; Granny had been holding back for a long time, wanting to clean these people up. Now that they had come over on their own causing trouble at her house, Granny conveniently took advantage of it, not holding back at all. After a few sweeps of the broom, none were left standing, all were knocked down.
Unexpectedly swept down to the ground, several people ate a mouthful of dust, and when they got up, they saw Granny Song staring at them with a fierce look, like one with poisoned eyes, and they all shivered together.
Granny Song didn’t ask about right or wrong. She only saw these bastards fighting in her home, pointed at their noses, and unleashed a tirade of curses, "You scoundrels, a bunch of toads jumping into the boiling pot, are you that keen on dying? Daring to bring a fight to old lady’s house?"
As she spoke, she rolled up her sleeves, "Anyone else wanting to fight? Step forward, I’ll accompany you till the end today, whoever’s afraid is a coward!"
Granny Song’s formidable combat power was well known in the area. Anyone blind enough to provoke her wouldn’t only be scolded into submission but might end up a limping cripple.
Zhang Da, already injured by those people before, unable to stop his nosebleed, didn’t dare anymore. He dragged a leg trying to move towards the courtyard gate.
Others saw this, backed away in fear too.
In the blink of an eye, these people didn’t even want their belongings and ran off like hot water scalding their feet, as if they had seen a ghost.
Song Wei did not step in to stop them, implying that he approved of his mother’s rough way of driving people out.
Dog to dog fighting is a good thing, but it was happening at the Song family. If something really disastrous were to break out, none could escape responsibility.
Song Fang finally showed a smile, sidling up to Granny Song, "Mother, you’re still the best. If you hadn’t come back, they would have really turned the place upside down."
Granny Song dusted off her clothes and, glancing at the things on the ground, asked Song Fang, "Are these things they brought?"
Song Fang nodded in confirmation.
Granny Song’s face was full of disdain, "Later, you send these back. With all that commotion, it doesn’t look like they were sincerely coming to apologize. No matter how poor we are, do we need these trifles?"
Song Fang agreed with a "Sure", promptly slung the flour over one shoulder, hugged the chicken with one arm, and tugged the rope tying the goat, ready to return them to the families one by one.
Wen Wan seeing she was short-handed, quickly followed to help, silently giving Granny a thumbs up, indeed, the older, the wiser.
After the two sisters-in-law left, Granny Song turned to look at Song Wei, asked about the situation, and it was as she predicted, those people were not sincerely coming to apologize.
Hearing Song Wei say he wanted to invite the village chief and clan leader to help write a letter of guarantee to sever ties with those families, Granny Song clapped her hands in approval, "That’s how it should be, piss off those scoundrels!"
Then suddenly realizing something, she stared wide-eyed, "Third Son, did I hear you right just now? Granting exemptions on fields without taxing?"
Song Wei knew his mother would say that, smiling, "A four hundred acres tax exemption, excluding all our family fields, the rest to be used for gifting others tax exemptions. At the end of the year, it indeed accumulates a good amount of grain to convert into money.
But Mother, have you considered? My reputation among the neighbors wasn’t great to begin with, and causing a scene just now, if those people decide to make life difficult for me, in no more than two days, my already poor reputation would gain another mark of bullying neighbors.
With too many stains on one’s reputation, it’ll affect both the imperial exams and future service in officialdom. So, I’ve been thinking of excluding those few families.
As for the other villagers, reasoning with them is useless, they won’t listen. The simplest way is to give them benefits, if I just help them with field tax exemption, they will naturally take my side. So when the officials really come to investigate one day, I can have a few more people to speak on my behalf, right?"
Granny Song thought for a while, although feeling a flesh pinch, her son’s reasoning was spot on, she pursed her lips, "Alright, alright, since you’ve got it all arranged, this old woman won’t interfere."
The village chief and clan leader arrived at the Song family in no time.
On the way over, Old Song had already clarified the situation.
The village chief expressed his understanding. Song Wei is a capable person, and the village chief hoped he could rise to prominence in the future and lead the village to prosperity and riches. Naturally, he couldn’t let a few troublemakers ruin his bright future.
Thus, the letter of guarantee was written smoothly.
The witnesses were the village chief and the Song Family Patriarch. After they pressed their handprints, Song Wei also added his, and then, the village chief took the letter of guarantee to those troublemaking families, ordering them to press their handprints on it, marking the final end of severing ties.