Chapter 39 Family Marriage
"On the mission of the high envoy, I went to the countryside to reorganize the garden. Before I even left the ground, the villagers had already gathered to attack! We have never met each other, so why did the villagers blame me? There are still wounded villagers lying in the garden, and I am If you hurt me, I will support you. They can all testify that the people in the country hate me only because of Shi’s deception!”
Li Tai sat down in the hall and made accusations: "The Shi brothers have made things difficult for me and done evil to me on more than one occasion. There is no shortage of people from nearby townsfolk who have given evidence. Everyone's mouth is worth money. How can I allow the evildoers to slander me! I don't know Shi Lang in the hall." What's the relationship between them and their brothers, but we have a deep hatred for each other. If you don't come with my cousin, I will never allow you to enter this hall!"
Shi Jing felt a little embarrassed for a moment when he saw Li Tai being so energetic, but he just said bravely: "But, but, I forced you to buy flax before. Is it true, Mr. Lang? Although my family and the rural common people live in two places, but Our ancestors have taught us how to run a family and never allow their descendants to stop farming. If it were not forced by external forces, they would never, never..."
"Shilang, there is no need to boast about the simplicity of my family. I also come from an innocent family! I had no job to do, so I went to the countryside to buy materials to start weaving. I did visit the historian. The historian used old hemp as a supplement, and it is still kept in the village to this day!"
Li Tai clapped his hands and ordered his subordinates to fetch the old hemp bags bought from Shijia and throw them in the hall. As for Shijia, who had already returned the hemp money when he wanted to buy ointment, that is another topic. In short, he used the old hemp bags as new ones. Damn, the evidence is conclusive.
Shi Jing's eyes fell on those Chen Ma Ma bags and he hurriedly took them away, as if he was afraid of being stung in the eyes.
"I bought flax in advance, but the Shi brothers deceived me because I didn't know about farming and bought the flax after autumn at the current season price. Although I got advice afterwards, I had already made a contract and never wanted to go back. We talked happily at that time, If I am forced in the slightest, no one will criticize me, but heaven will condemn me!”
The more Li Tai spoke, the angrier he became, as if he had really become a kind and innocent person who was being bullied in every possible way: "Shi Gong lost an official position and was rewarded and gained power, so he sent his younger brother to visit and break the contract. I have a great garden, blue bricks and colorful tiles, He ordered his slaves to destroy him, and the door was broken, and he was living on the grass eaves. Shi Lang was a good man, with clear eyesight. How could he not see anything when he entered the garden? I just want justice and good luck. If you control it, I will kill it!”
"That's it, that's it!"
After Lu Rou listened to Li Tai's accusation, she stood up angrily from the table, pointed at Shi Jing and said angrily: "Since Wang Ye has been hunting in the west, I know that righteousness in the world is declining and confusion of right and wrong is inevitable. But since we gather together to follow this legal system, people's hearts will There should be justice and balance! My cousin has left home and is alone and unable to survive, which is already pitiful.
Shi Lang, you didn't hide in the matter during the trial, so you went to the court of his relatives and slandered the famous tutor as being immoral. Not only did you undermine the reputation of the Li family, but you also made fun of his relatives and friends for being careless and ignorant! If I hadn't come to your door today and heard about it, I don't know how long I would have been deceived by you and misled my friendship! "
"I'm not! I really don't know..."
Shi Jing saw that Lu Rou not only switched sides, but also scolded him for confusing right and wrong. For a moment, Shi Jing became even more speechless and full of regret.
Although the Shang Yuan historians originated from the same family, they had been living separately several generations ago. When Shi Gong went to Jingzhao to appeal, he only said that he was bullied by a new guest from Dongzhou.
The Jingzhao family didn't want to pay attention to it at first, but Shi Gong's miserable request also made the Jingzhao family feel that Li Tai, a new visitor from Dongzhou, was too arrogant and did not take the Shi family seriously, so they sent Shi Jing, a young man, to come forward to calm things down. .
The historian knew that Li Tai's backer was Taishi He Basheng, so he went to the home of Yin Cuiqian in Jingzhao to seek help. Because Cui Quan was an old relative of He Basheng and followed He Basheng to Nanliang in his early years and returned to Guanzhong together, he felt that having such a friendship should be able to persuade He Basheng.
But Shi Jing didn't expect that the Cui Lu family in Chang'an City, in addition to being He Basheng's former relatives, also had a close relationship with the Li family in Longxi, especially the Li Tai clan, and their friendship was even greater than with He Basheng. Even more solid!
He invited Lu Rou over, his original intention was to be a lobbyist, but now Lu Rou's eyes were widened and she looked like she was going to tear him alive, and instead she became a teammate for the other party.
"I, I came here under the orders of my elders. I hope that this matter can be solved in a good way, but I didn't expect that the common people in the countryside would be so evil. I listened to evil words before, misunderstood Li Lang, and misled Mr. Lu. , Even though I have tens of millions of regrets, I am too ashamed to defend myself. I beg Lu Gong to forgive me, and I beg Li Lang to forgive me!"
Shi Jing stood up from the table, bowed to the ground in front of the two of them, and wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said in a harsh voice: "I am offending you by asking for an audience. Please forgive me, a shallow and stupid young man, and tolerate me." Go home and tell the story in detail, and then invite the elders of the clan to go to your hometown to apologize!"
"Go quickly, go quickly! Although my relatives are not powerful and supportive, they are upright, can write, and speak well! I didn't know before that my orphaned son came here, and he was besieged and bullied by local thieves. But now Now that I know it, I will never allow the evil spirit to reappear!"
Lu Rou waved her sleeves and said with disgust.
Li Tai was very happy to see that his cheap cousin could protect him so well. When Shi Jing left in embarrassment, he quickly ordered his family to prepare a family dinner to entertain this unexpected relative.
"Apan, thank you for your hard work! In previous years, when we entered the customs, even though we were in a state of disgrace, we always had companions to look after each other. Now that you have entered the customs, you lack the care of your close disciples..."
Lu Rou looked fine, but she had some stuttering. After drinking a few glasses of wine and feeling excited, her stuttering became more serious. Although he is nearly forty years old, he is full of emotions. When Li Tai and Li Zhusheng talked about their experiences in entering the customs, his eyes were red and he patted the back of Li Tai's hand and sighed repeatedly.
Li Tai didn't feel that he was pitiful. He had received some favors from Hui, the protection of He Basheng, and the support of Gao Zhongmi's family. He was much happier than most people in this world.
"Although I am separated from Aye, I am cared for by all the elders. I am not alone in Kansai. When I saw my cousin today, I realized that there are many elders who are here. Before, I was trapped in my livelihood and did not know how to visit diligently. Please don’t blame me, cousin!”
Li Tai poured the village's brewing water for Lu Rou, and asked tentatively: "Do we still have a cousin in Chang'an?"
Hearing Lu Rou talk about Cui Shijun and his cousin before, Li Tai became curious. It seemed that his cousin was quite powerful in Chang'an, and rich historians would come to ask for help.
"That's my cousin, but not yours..."
Lu Rou stutters, and she inevitably gasps for air when speaking.
When Li Tai heard this, he couldn't help rolling his eyes. Your older cousin is quite stingy. Your cousin is my cousin. He's three thousand miles away. I'm six thousand miles away at most. Why aren't you allowed to climb? relative?
Li Zhusheng saw that Lu Rou had difficulty speaking, so he pulled Li Tai beside him and whispered: "If Lu Da is talking about Cui Liulang, Alang really shouldn't call him cousin, he is also a cousin!"
Lu Rou, who was stuttering, patted the table, nodded to Li Zhusheng to show that he was right, and then said: "Back then, I was with my cousin and the others..."
It was difficult for him to speak, and it was also difficult for Li Tai to listen, but he finally figured it out.
In addition to Lu Rou, the Li family's in-laws in Chang'an also include brothers Cui Qian and Cui Fan of the Boling Cui family. These people were all in Jingzhou with He Basheng, and later fled to Nanliang and returned to Guanzhong together. .
The Cui brothers are Lu Rou's cousins, but their mother is the daughter of Li Tai's great-grandfather Li Shao, who is also Li Tai's cousin. Counting together, the Cui brothers are also Li Tai's cousins and have a close relationship with Li Tai. Tai is the same as Lu Rou.
In addition, the wives of the Cui brothers were also from the Li family in Longxi. In addition to their cousins, Li Tai also wanted to be called his cousin-in-law.
After finally sorting out this complicated relationship in his mind, Li Tai couldn't help feeling that the family circle was really chaotic. No wonder aristocratic families want to compile family trees. Once the genealogical relationship is messed up, the relationship between relatives will also be messed up.
The reason why Emperor Gaozong of the later Tang Dynasty issued an edict against marriage against these families was that it was impossible not to do so. The marriages between them for generations were really closely tied.
After Lu Rou and the others returned to Guanzhong with He Basheng in the early years, they were arranged by Yu Wentai to serve as officials in the Chang'an court. On the one hand, the Western Wei Dynasty was really lacking in talents, and on the other hand, it was probably because of the influence of He Basheng.
The best among them is Cui Quan. He is only in his early thirties and has already served as Jing Zhaoyin. He was recently promoted to commander-in-chief and was also regarded as a military and political officer in Chang'an.
Lu Rou, because of her outstanding literary skills, served as the secretary of Zhongshu, and was responsible for writing edicts, announcing condolences, etc. But in the hegemonic government of the Western Wei Dynasty, the emperor could not issue many edicts a year, so his work was very idle, so he had time to go to Shangyuan to meet Li Tai.
"After entering the customs, the grand master took strict precautions and did not allow me and other old relatives to visit at will. I may not see him for a long time. It is rare that he still remembers the old friendship between uncle and uncle and is willing to take care of you, Apan. How are you doing recently, grand master?" "
Lu Rou asked intermittently, and she also missed He Basheng quite a lot. After all, they had traveled all over the country and followed him faithfully for many years, so they must have feelings for each other.
After hearing this, Li Tai sighed again. It was originally a very happy thing to meet relatives in a foreign land, but when he thought about the complicated personnel undercurrents in the Western Wei Dynasty, he couldn't be happy anymore.
Lu Rou and others were already a bit embarrassed as He Basheng's former relatives, and now that they were all serving in Chang'an, they could get involved in political disputes at any minute.
Yuwen Taike has never been a kind and kind person. On the one hand, he was merciful to the generals of the township party, but he would kill the Emperor Yuanshi at any time. Later, my son died so tragically, and it has to be said that it was Yu Wenhu, his nephew, who taught him through words and deeds and learned the truth.
Li Tai saw that Lu Rou's clothes were a little old, so he said: "It was my fault that I neglected to visit before. Cousin, when you are in the capital in the future, you must never accept clothes from strangers, especially those from forbidden areas. If you say goodbye, I live in the countryside and my family is good at weaving. I will definitely have enough clothes for spring and autumn!"
"What nonsense are you talking about? Who would give it to me... At the beginning of the year, Daxingtai took off his clothes and gave it to me, but he doesn't wear it often."
Lu Rou was already a little drunk and couldn't understand what Li Tai said. After hearing the words, she said with a smile.
Li Tai breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this. He was afraid of evil things like the dress code, so he didn't dare to go to Chang'an, but he didn't want to turn around and be implicated by these relatives.
But when he heard that Yu Wentai actually gave clothes to Lu Rou, he couldn't help but have some gossip in his heart: "Daxantai gave me clothes, have the robes and belt been washed carefully?"