"Liangsheng, do you think that when the court is held later, the county magistrate will punish us if he inquires about our village's affairs?"
On the eaves outside the yamen, Lu Pan and others looked tall and strong, but when they stood outside the court, they felt a little nervous. When a common people meet an official, their aura is three points lower.
He carefully looked towards the door: "I don't know if the people from North Village will come. They are led by the head of the village."
"Uncle Pan, the village head is on their side, so there is nothing to be afraid of."
Lu Liangsheng straightened his robe. Although it was a little worn out, it still made him look energetic. Then he touched the silver in the package.
"At worst, if we can't win the fight, we can just give in and give them the crops from our fields as compensation."
Lu Qing crossed his arms and shouted loudly.
"You have to fight for it first. It's hard to grow the crops, but I can give them away for free. I won't feel bad!"
"That's right, we have to explain it to them first, otherwise they will think that our village has really cut off its water supply!" Others also said this. As soon as the conversation stopped, Lu Erdan's man turned his head and lowered his voice: "Look, the people from Beicun are here."
Two men came over from the street, one was thin with a mustache, and the other was tall and wore a short white coat. When they came over, they also saw Lu Liangsheng and his nine companions under the eaves.
Without saying a word, he stood under the eaves on the other side.
Soon, a voice rang out in the courtroom: "Court open!"
The sound of more than ten wooden sticks hitting the ground was heard, and an officer came out from the door and waved to Lu Liangsheng and others, as well as the head of the village and the people from Beicun.
"Everyone, come in."
Lu Liangsheng nodded to Lu Pan and the others, and they walked into the court together and stood between the officers on both sides. Then, the village head and the people from Beicun also came in.
No one spoke on either side. After a while, two figures came out from the back hall. The one in an official robe walked up to the first seat and sat down. The other one, who was about fifty years old, sat down at a small table at the side, picked up a pen and ink, and looked at Lu Liangsheng in the hall with a smile.
The young man looked at the old man, roughly guessing his identity, and bowed politely.
"Lujia Village, Lu Liangsheng meets the chief clerk."
The old man behind the small table smiled and nodded in return. He looked the boy up and down and said, "What a good young man."
In the hall, the head of the village and the man from Beicun were inexplicably panicked when they saw this. If Lujia Village had any connection with the chief clerk and the county magistrate, they would be doomed to fail.
The old man seemed to know them, smiled and waved at the two of them.
"The county magistrate has always handled cases impartially. If there is indeed misconduct in the village where this young man lives, he will never cover it up and you can relax."
The county magistrate sat in the first seat, stroking his beard with a scrutinizing look.
"It is so."
In fact, the so-called court case was nothing more than the county magistrate accompanying Chief Wang to see the young man in front of him. Disputes between the two villages over river water happened every day. If they were all brought to court, he would basically have nothing to do.
Moreover, it is hard to say who has the upper hand and who has the disadvantage in this matter, and the river water flows out of the mountains. If we really want to solve it, we can send an officer to bring the head of the village and people from the two villages to the mountains to find out the truth. It would be a bit of an exaggeration to bring it to the court.
As soon as the county magistrate finished speaking, the village head in the hall stepped forward and bowed, "Your Excellency, there is only one river in Qixia Mountain between the two villages, one upstream and one downstream. It must first pass through Lujia Village and then return to the downstream. In previous years, the two villages have fought many times for water for irrigating farmland. This time, they must have held a grudge and cut off some of the water upstream, which has caused the water level downstream to be low and difficult to store water."
The man from Beicun also nodded and echoed, "Yes, County Master, the crops in our village fields are not growing well this year, so the harvest is naturally much less. I'm afraid the women and children in the village will starve in the winter."
The county magistrate raised his hand and asked the two to stand up straight, and turned his gaze to Lu Liangsheng.
"What's your rebuttal?"
Lu Pan and the other eight people clenched their palms in the back and urged quietly: "Liangsheng, the county magistrate is asking you a question, speak up quickly, don't let them take advantage of you."
In front, the young man was also organizing his words. After a moment, he raised his hands to salute.
"Reporting to the county lord, the river that flows around the two villages originally flows out of the mountains. If Lujia Village has no water, they could have come to check it out. Why didn't they come here, but ran directly to the county lord?"
As soon as the words fell, the village head shouted: "It's because the people in your village have always been arrogant, and we are afraid of being beaten! Now you dare to quibble in front of the county magistrate!"
Lu Liangsheng pursed his lips, loosened his clenched fingers, and laughed.
"Whether they are violent or not, whether you have seen it or not, there is no conflict between the two. If the people of Lujia Village beat you up and then went to the county government to file a complaint, then we would have no words to argue, right? Then there is no need to go to court to argue with the county magistrate today, just issue the verdict directly."
The person being questioned was speechless.
… This young man has good handwriting and is also very good at speaking.
The county magistrate actually already had an outline and direction in his mind. This kind of matter didn't need to be too difficult, so he reached out for the gavel.
"This county decided..."
"County Master!"
Just as the final word was spoken, Lu Liangsheng suddenly interrupted, took a half step forward, and bowed to the county magistrate and the chief clerk.
"I would like to inform the county lord and the chief clerk that I would like to keep the peace on this matter."
"Oh?" This surprised the county magistrate and the old man over there, and even the head of the village and the man from the north village were stunned.
After a moment, Lu Liangsheng's voice continued.
"Bei Village's harvest was poor this year. Although it's not Lujia Village's fault, the two villages are neighbors after all. If the women and children in the village starve or even die because of the harvest, I will feel sorry for them. If the two villages share the burden, even if they don't have enough to eat, no one will die, and..."
Lu Liangsheng raised his head and looked at the man from Beicun.
"… Moreover, the two villages have been grudged for many years, so they can become more harmonious."
Lu Pan, Lu Qing and the other eight people also looked shocked: "Liang Sheng... you..."
The man from Beicun on the other side opened his mouth slightly, and didn't react for a moment. His lips opened and closed slightly, and he didn't know what to say.
Then there was a loud bang in the hall.
The gavel fell, and the county magistrate sat there, looking at the young man. The old man behind the small table showed an approving smile on his face.
"good!"
After a while, the county magistrate turned his gaze to the village head and the man from the northern village: "Do you two have anything to say?"
"No, no..."
He had come here originally for compensation, and since the other party had agreed, there was naturally nothing to argue about. However, the young man's words made the man feel quite complicated.
Soon, the verdict came down and the matter in court was settled. After everyone left, the county magistrate laughed and walked to the old man.
"This Lu Liangsheng has a good character."
The old man stood up and bowed, then called a runner and ordered, "Go and keep the young man for me." Then he continued the county magistrate's words, "He is a rough jade, with good calligraphy, and his character is even more rare."
"Mr. Shuhua, are you interested in talent?"
"I didn't have it before, but I do have it now, haha!"
The two looked at each other for a moment and laughed.
…
Outside the county government office, Lu Pan and eight others followed the young man angrily.
"Liangsheng, we have the upper hand, why are you still pushing things out? I really don't understand."
"Yes, our farmland was cultivated with every drop of water and sweat. It is really aggrieved to give it away for nothing."
"… Or, how about going back and telling the county magistrate that what he just said doesn't count? Liangsheng, what do you think?!"
When he returned to the entrance of the yamen, Lu Liangsheng laughed when he heard the uncles and aunts chattering behind him, and pulled them aside.
"Uncle Pan, Uncle Qing, all uncles, we have five hundred taels, and we can live a good life in the next two years. Although we gave away some of this year's harvest, didn't you see the joy on the faces of the county magistrate and the chief clerk? If the two villages continue to have disputes, and one of them has a hard time surviving this winter, the county government will definitely spend money to help. Now Liangsheng is giving these two adults a break, which is a favor."
Lu Pan and others frowned and thought for a while...it seemed to be true.
Before they could speak, Lu Liangsheng spoke again.
"… When Liangsheng was at the market before, he heard an old gentleman who wrote letters in the town say, 'If you make a lot of money without virtue, you will definitely have a disaster; if you are kind and do good deeds and suffer hardships, you will definitely have blessings in the future.' Besides, they have received the grain from our Lujia Village. If there is a dispute in the future, do they have the face to argue?"
Sure enough, the man from Beicun who came out of the yamen gate clasped his fists from afar towards Lu Liangsheng and even Lu Pan and others, obviously expressing his gratitude.
Lu Pan touched his beard and felt a little embarrassed.
"Hey, I'm not used to you being so polite to us."
Just as he was about to leave, Lu Liangsheng was stopped by a police officer. Hearing that the chief clerk wanted to see him, he did not dare to be careless and hurriedly followed the other party to the side yard.
"It's here, you can go in on your own." The officer stopped in front of a door, gave the young man some instructions, and left.
Lu Liangsheng also asked what was going on on the way, but the other party didn't know either. He took a breath and knocked on the door.
The door creaked open and the old man he had met in the hall before came in with a smile to welcome him in.
"You're welcome, just sit anywhere you want."
Although the county magistrate was not there, the old man in front of him was the highest-ranking official and also the elder, so naturally he would not sit opposite him, but stood to the side of the desk.
"What does the chief clerk want to see Liangsheng about?"
"Don't be so nervous. I'm not calling you here for official business." The old man moved the official account book in front of him, took a petition, placed it in front of him, and looked at the young man.
"You wrote this, didn't you?"
The handwriting and content on it were indeed written by Lu Liangsheng that night. He retracted his gaze and nodded: "It was indeed written by me, Chief Bookkeeper... Is there anything wrong with it?"
The old man waved his hand, just smiled, and took the three books.
"Take these three books, Meng Yu, Ce Dui, and Li Yue, back and read them."
Lu Liangsheng took the three books and looked at the old man in confusion.
"Old man, you are..."
"Of course it's for you." The old man looked at the bewildered boy, tapped his fingers lightly on the book, and explained to him: "It's good to read more books and learn more. In class, I saw that you have quick wit and kindness. If you waste it, it would be a waste of the talent given to you by God. Since you can write and recognize words, then study hard and take the exam to become a student next year."
Seeing that he still didn't understand, the old man spoke more directly.
"If you have the qualification of a student, you can take the Tongshi exam, which is held once a year. If you pass it for three years, you can take the provincial exam and pass it. You can also become an official in the future."
"But I never thought about becoming an official?"
The old man smiled and nodded: "Become an official, and your parents and relatives will be proud of you in the future. Even if you can't do it, my Southern Chen will have one more learned man who is well-read in poetry and books."
"As an official..."
Lu Liangsheng walked out in a daze, holding three books, and looked back at the yamen.
"This old gentleman... doesn't that mean I should call him teacher?"
When he met up with Lu Pan and others who were waiting outside, the eight of them were asking him what was going on. At that moment, a team of constables came over from afar. The one riding first on horseback was Captain Zuo. When he passed by Lu Liangsheng, he couldn't help but glance at them.
Afterwards, he dismounted and entered the county government office to report his findings at the Chen Mansion to the county magistrate.