Chapter Sixteen: Warning Signs

  Fang Ming chatted with He Yuqing for a few more sentences, listening to him talk about the world's customs and not mentioning his own recruitment at all. Knowing that this kind of family master had an arrogant heart and couldn't put down his face, he appeared resistant.

  But such a talent, how can it be let go? Moreover, without obvious refusal, there is still hope. Fang Ming made up his mind and asked him to return, and he would ask for advice day and night in the future, and eventually make him change his mind.

  He immediately ordered them to set off again, and this time they were much more harmonious. Everyone had become their own people, and even Xie Jin's face had a few more degrees of warmth.

  Fang Ming walked halfway, suddenly sensed that Qingyu Village Temple Li Dazhuang asked to use the divine strike technique, his heart was shocked, but he still released the divine power and ordered to speed up.

  As soon as he returned to the head of Qingyu Village, a figure rushed up and cried out: "Master! You've finally come back, I was worried to death waiting for you!"

  Fang Ming saw He Dong and asked in confusion: "The Venerable has only been in the mountain for more than half a day, what big thing happened?"

  He Dong's eyes were filled with tears as he bowed and said: "...Not long after Master left this morning, someone from the Zhang family of Qingxi Village came. They are landlords and have over a hundred hectares of land in Qingyu Village, with more than ten tenant households. Originally, the wheat harvest was good, and it was reasonable for them to come collect rent, but they raised the rent too high, wanting eight-tenths, almost forcing the tenants to bankruptcy. Now they say that if the villagers agree to demolish the temple land, they will lower the rent back to five-tenths; otherwise, from now on, they will follow this rule..."

  Time went back to last night.

  The surname Zhang is a big surname in Qingxi Township, but when it comes to the Zhang family, it specifically refers to the Zhang Huai Zheng's household. Zhang Huai Zheng is the head of the Zhang family and the village elder of Qingxi Township. The ancestral spirit of Qingxi Township, Zhang Qing Yun, was his great-grandfather.

  Zhang Qingyun had been a ninth-grade Gong Cao, and he had also accumulated some family property to pass down. He even managed to get his descendants the position of village head in Qingxi Township, allowing them to inherit the family business. After his death, he was worshipped as an ancestor and became a protective spirit for Qingxi Township. Naturally, he took extra care of his own lineage, providing ample protection and blessings. The later generations of the Zhang family were also quite accomplished, managing the family business well and making it flourish. In Qingxi Township alone, they had over 500 mu of land, making them a large household.

  That night, Zhang Huai Zheng was restless and even the newly acquired fourth concubine couldn't arouse his interest. He had spent a lot of silver to redeem her from the County City's Flower Pavilion, where she excelled in music, singing, and serving others. Normally, he would spend the night with her. But that concubine, relying on her favored status, refused to obey, enraging Zhang Huai Zheng, who slapped her before she calmed down.

  At this time, the butler who had been watching from the side came up and asked: "Master, would you like a bowl of lotus seed tea? It's effective in clearing heat and detoxifying."

  This steward has been with him for decades, and if nothing unexpected happens, his son will also be the steward of the Zhang family. Zhang Huai Zheng slightly suppressed his anger and said: "I'm feeling uneasy tonight, I always feel like something is going to happen."

  The housekeeper's eyes rolled, saying: "Recently it's harvest time, and we need to go down to the village to collect land rent. Is Master worried that the lower village is not safe? After all, Qingyu Village was almost destroyed last time. Master has ancestral protection, so he must be fine, but a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall, Master can send someone down."

  The Zhang family is considered a big household, but this land rent is the heaviest burden. In previous years, Zhang Huai Zheng had to personally go down to the village to supervise the collection of rent. The steward's words were somewhat self-serving; if the master didn't go himself and instead sent his subordinates to collect the rent, they could naturally embezzle some extra money, and this steward would also get a share.

  Zhang Huai Zheng's eyes narrowed, grasping something, and said: "What did you just say? Say it again!"

  The old steward's eyes lit up, and this matter had a way out: "I'll say it, whether to send someone else to the village to collect rent."

  "Not this sentence, the previous one."

  The old steward was really confused and said: "...the master has the protection of his ancestors, he will definitely be fine..."

  Zhang Huai Zheng clapped his hands, "It's this sentence! I've been restless tonight, fearing that our ancestors are warning us!"

  Regardless of the butler's complexion, he ordered: "Hurry up and prepare the lanterns, I'm going to the ancestral hall!" The butler was confused, but still respectfully followed the order and went to make preparations.

  The ancestral hall in the village was built with funds from the Zhang family, located in the middle of the village, covering a large area, with three rooms, and quite majestic. Zhang Huai Zheng had something on his mind, his feet moved quickly, almost leaving the servants carrying lanterns behind.

  He quickly arrived at the main hall of the ancestral temple, which was a brick-tiled house, extremely sturdy and very clean on the ground. However, he didn't notice it at this time. It wasn't until he saw that all the spirit tablets in the middle were intact, especially the one with Zhang Qingyun's name, that he let out a sigh of relief.

  At this time, a person came in, but it was Zhang's family servant, who was specifically responsible for the ancestral hall and lived in the side house at night. Hearing that the master had come late at night, he quickly put on his clothes and came to serve, asking: "Sir, do you want to offer incense?"

  Zhang Huai nodded, looking at the clean and tidy ancestral hall, the offerings on the altar were abundant and not missing, the incense smoke curled up, and he smiled and said: "Zhang San, you have done a good job with this task, go to the account tomorrow to receive the reward money... Since I'm here, of course, I'll offer incense to our ancestors!"

  Zhang San's face showed joy, he quickly prepared incense and offerings, and in a moment he brought them up.

  Zhang Huai Zheng picked up the incense, made three respectful bows to the ancestral tablet, and silently prayed: "Ancestors above, if there is anything, please inform me!" He inserted the incense and said to Zhang San: "I will sleep in the temple tonight, you go and tidy up." He also ordered the lantern-bearing servant to return and report the news.

  "...is!" Zhang San quickly cleaned up his own room to let the owner live in, and he could only go to the storage room for one night. The ancestral hall has only three rooms, one is the main hall, the largest, where ancestors are worshipped, on the left is Zhang San's residence, and on the right is the storage room.

  At night, Zhang Huai Zheng was tossing and turning, but he couldn't fall asleep. After struggling like this for the whole night, he finally fell asleep just before dawn.

  In his dream, Zhang San saw a figure, faint and indistinct, seemingly his great-grandfather Zhang Qingyun. Just as he wanted to bow down and speak, he found that his body couldn't move, nor could his mouth. Even with a thousand words, he couldn't utter a single word.

  At this time, the figure walked to the front and did not speak, pointing with his hand on the ground to write a few words, as if writing extremely laboriously, the handwriting was blurry and unclear, and it was written very slowly.

  Zhang Huai Zheng widened his eyes, and finally faintly saw the words "Qing Yu... land... danger". He wanted to take another look, but just then he heard a rooster crowing. When he opened his eyes again, it was already daylight.

  He knew some secrets, understanding that ancestral spirits had the ability to warn, but there were many restrictions and great costs. His own ancestors could only give five words, which was already quite good, and even this would greatly deplete their energy, leaving them unable to send any more dreams for ten years.

  Having spent so much and done such a thing, it must be a big deal. I won't say more, but once back home, my mouth kept repeating these five words over and over again.

  Just as he returned home, his wife, Mrs. Zhang, was preparing breakfast and smiled, saying: "I just thought of sending someone to invite you, but unexpectedly you came back, just in time for a meal together."

  Zhang Huai Zheng waved his hand and said: "You use it first, I'll go to the study room, you go call Old Zhang, I have something to ask him."

  Ignoring Mrs. Zhang's astonished expression, he went to the study and soon butler Old Zhang arrived, bowing and saying: "Master, you called for me?"

  Zhang Huai Zheng nodded and asked: "You're well-informed, do you know if there's anything related to land that has happened recently in Qingyu Village?"

  The housekeeper thought for a moment and replied, "If it's something big, it must be the time when a group of ghosts attacked the village several months ago. Almost half of the people died back then. Master was even planning to buy some land at that time, but unfortunately, Old Man Su from New Village didn't agree."

  "Not just this matter, what else?" Zhang Huai thought for a moment and asked again.

  The housekeeper's eyes lit up, saying: "There is, Qingyu Village has a ancestral spirit, called the Land God, very famous, I heard it's also very effective, it has spread to four villages, even the altar has been changed to a temple, but I don't know that the ancestral spirit can only guard one place, these foolish people... Master, you say is it laughable or not?"

  Zhang Huai Zheng slapped his thigh and said: "That's it!" He thought for a moment, then asked: "Are there any believers in our village?"

  "At first, no one believed it. Later, after hearing that it could bring fertility and a good harvest, several households came to believe in it and even carved wooden statues to worship at home!"

  "What nonsense!" Zhang Huai Zheng's face turned bright red with anger, "You don't even pay respects to your ancestors, but instead you go and pay respects to this unknown character." The tone of his voice made the housekeeper shrink back in fear, knowing that the master was truly angry.

  At this time, Zhang Huai Zheng suddenly laughed out loud and said: "Still able to send children, ensure a good harvest, haha...... I am familiar with the big households in the county, have been to the government office, but haven't heard that anyone's ancestral spirit has such power. Land god, heh heh..."

  He said, "You go and spread the word for me, prohibiting anyone from worshiping the land god again. I'm warning you, people of Qingxi Village, if I find out that someone is still doing it, they'll be punished by family law!" These words were almost spat out from between his teeth, making one's heart run cold. He had already figured it out - what the ancestors were warning about was this matter, and the land god had snatched away his family's ancestral incense, making them sworn enemies.

  The housekeeper was also pale and kept nodding in agreement, knowing that if the ancestral hall was opened, family rules would be enforced, and it was possible to beat someone to death, and the county authorities usually didn't intervene in such matters.

  Just as he was about to leave, Zhang Huai Zheng said: "Aren't you going to Qingyu Village to collect rent? Go! Bring a few more strong men with you and get me 80% of the rent. Tell them that if they want to continue farming on my land, they have to tear down that Land Temple!"

  The housekeeper's body trembled, wanting to kneel down and express his loyalty to the old master, saying he didn't mean it, but also thinking that this matter was not in line with the rules. At this time, seeing the old master's eyes emitting a cold glow, he suddenly felt a chill in his heart and swallowed all his words. He knocked his head and said: "Yes, I will definitely handle this matter well!" Half-bowing his body, he carefully retreated backwards.

  Housekeeper Old Zhang came out of the house, thinking left and right but didn't know the details, but it was definitely related to last night. With this association, there was a bit of a plan in his mind. He first ordered the servants to spread the news, then gathered the village guards and headed towards Qingyu Village.

  At that time, the countryside was not peaceful. Large households all had strong men, and Zhang's family was no exception. Normally they didn't farm, and their families were supported by the Zhangs. They were treated very well. Their main job was to patrol the estate, normally practicing martial arts, tempering their bodies, and enjoying good food. Zhang Huaiyuan even went to the county town to invite a martial arts master to teach them for a month. Now they were called out, and indeed each one of them was robust and powerful, with an intimidating air about them.

  Those around looked at it and didn't think it was collecting rent, but rather seemed to be deliberately picking a fight.

  They arrived at Qingyu Village and called the tenant farmers, about a dozen households, almost half of Qingyu Village, of course, only the poorest half. After all, who would become a tenant farmer if they had enough land to eat?

  The Qingyu Village has a total of over 300 mu of land, the Zhao family occupies one-third of it, and has the right to speak in the village. As soon as he said that, the tenants were in an uproar.

  Qī Dà also came out, trembling and kneeling down, saying: "Master, have mercy! Usually we only pay five percent, but we still have to pay the imperial taxes, it's really unbearable, please give us a way out!"

  The steward sneered and said, "Since this land belongs to the Zhang family, whatever the old master says is what it is. However, if you want to go back to how it was in previous years, that's also possible. The old master has ordered that as long as you demolish that Land Temple, your rent will be reduced to 50%."

  "Then someone shouted: 'How can that be? The land temple is for protecting our lives...'"

  The housekeeper smiled slightly and said, "In the past, when using the altar, didn't it also pass like this? As long as the land temple is destroyed, the altar will remain, and it can still bless you!"

  Qī Dà glanced at Zhuāng Dīng behind the butler, shrunk his neck and whispered: "But we only have this many people, others in the village won't agree..."

  The housekeeper's eyes lit up, this person is soft-hearted, and he knew that the guide was ready. As long as he forced Qi Da to take the lead, let him destroy the Land Temple, this would be an internal affair of Qingyu Village. Then he would not only handle this matter beautifully but also pick out the main relationship from it. After all, it is said that the land god is very spiritual, and he also has a little guilty conscience.

  His face suddenly turned stern, "You are also a villager of Qingyu Village, go and demolish the Land Temple for me. Don't worry, you will be rewarded!"

  With a glance, Zhuang Ding understood and set up the frame, then headed towards the village's Land Temple.