Starting from the Greyhound, seventy-two changes.

Chapter 27
Two days passed in the blink of an eye, but the village was still immersed in the pain and sorrow of death and looting by refugees.

As Li Ji Yang and his family had guessed, they escaped a disaster under the leadership of the wise old Master Li.

The village chief finally played his role in the past two days. He took a few militiamen to each household to count the population, cancel the household registration, and...

Count the upcoming autumn taxes.

"The refugees are plundering the land. This is a man-made disaster. The only thing I can do is to go to the village these two days and ask the higher-ups for mercy. Let's remove the people who died this time from the head tax..."

Village chief Chen's house was also looted, but his losses were not as great as those of Mr. Guo's family. Even so, he looked seven or eight years older and had a sense of decadence.

During these two days.

Chen Ku almost confirmed what he had done and there was nothing wrong with it.

They launched a sneak attack and killed the people behind the refugees. As expected, I heard that most of the refugees had dispersed in the past two days.

They were just a mob, with no one organizing them, so of course this was the outcome.

"I just don't know who is behind those two people I killed?"

Chen Ku made some vague guesses behind his back.

Just in time for the autumn harvest and tax collection, they organized refugees to rob the villagers' harvests in various towns and villages.

The result of this was that the villagers had no food to pay taxes, so they had to sell their land...

If we only consider who it benefits, it would of course be those who try every possible means to annex land.

There is no idea or clue, so there is no need to think too much.

I was confident that I had handled the matter cleanly and destroyed the body, and no one would suspect me, but I still felt a vague sense of uneasiness.

"Fear of insufficient strength!"

Chen Ku looked at his palms and clenched his fists slightly.

A thousand pounds of strength is still too weak in this world!
A diagram of the changes in the reflection of the mind.

He once again pondered over the conditions for completing the second transformation.

Introduction to Hua Jin martial arts.

Beast-level evil spirit.

It seems that all needs can be met in Yaowang Hall.

"But I don't know what status I need to reach to obtain the martial arts of Chuanhua Jin?"

Thinking about these in my mind.

Suddenly, a donkey cart came outside the yard.

"Oh, it's Guo Wen, what are these..." The sister-in-law was cooking. When she saw the cart of grain brought by Mr. Guo's son, she was nervous and didn't know what to say.

Chen Ku came out.

Guo Wen looked unhappy:
"My father asked me to bring it over to your family. Take it. I'm leaving now."

After saying this, he unloaded ten bags of millet, and then, without saying anything else, he had the cart pulled away without looking back.

The old mother also heard the noise. She looked at the ten sacks of grain in the yard, looked at her son in astonishment, and asked, "Son, what is the rule?"

When Chen Ku saw the special amount of ten bags of grain, he understood. After figuring it out, he smiled and said to his sister-in-law and mother, "Didn't I go to save Mr. Guo's family? He gave us fifteen acres of land. This is exactly the autumn grain that the fifteen acres of land need to pay. Mr. Guo really thinks about me."

Mother Chen and sister-in-law looked at each other in amazement.

Is this still the wealthy gentry that everyone in the village is afraid of?
How could you be willing to give so much of your heart to their family?

Just because you saved my life.

or……

They both looked at Chen Ku, who was wearing a long gown, and seemed to understand something vaguely, but the mother and daughter's knowledge as a country woman made it difficult for them to explain clearly.

"Anyway, just take it. You won't feel guilty." Chen said with a wry smile, then turned around and carried the food to the side room.

Mother Chen watched her son finish his work easily and said hesitantly, "Son, when do you plan to go to the city?"

Chen Ku could feel his mother's concern and reluctance for him to leave. After a moment of silence, he said, "I'll see that our family has paid the autumn tax, and then I can leave with peace of mind."

Mother Chen warned, "That will be tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. When you go to the county town, don't make yourself suffer. Remember to visit your brother-in-law's house more often. Now that you are better, your brother-in-law may look up to our family again. After all, we are a family and he can help you with something."

Chen Ku nodded. He remembered that this person had an older sister in the city, but since she got married, she already had her own family. Although she helped a lot, sometimes they didn't want to cause more trouble.

In addition, his brother-in-law had a fast-track status in the county, and before his eldest brother got into trouble, the two families had been getting along harmoniously.

But ever since his eldest brother got into trouble, his brother-in-law was often bullied and attacked by his colleagues, and he had long been unhappy with his own family.

Therefore, the subsidies from my sister were actually sent to me without telling me.

"I found out after I entered the city."

Chen Ku dealt with his mother.

At this time, there was another sound outside the yard.

"Chen, is Brother Chen Ku at home?"

"Brother Chen Ku?"

The voice sounded hesitant and fearful, yet also familiar.

"This voice seems to be, Guo Fu, Guo Qiang?" The sister-in-law changed color, she knew the status of these two brothers in the village.

Chen Ku didn't have any other reaction.

Although, he was also curious about what these two people were doing here.

Walk out of the yard.

But he saw that outside the yard were not only Guo Fu and Guo Qiang, but also two other people from the village.

Chen Ku listened to these two people who were obviously older than him calling him "brother" and guessed their purpose:
"Is something wrong?"

He looked at the two men.

Guo Qiang, who was slapped by Li Ji Yang, lowered his head, blushing, and seemed unable to say anything.

On the contrary, Guo Fu, who was kicked by Chen Ku, lowered his head and spoke:
"My seventh master said that the five mu of land that our family rented at the east end of the village was transferred to you. Is that true?"

Chen Ku suddenly realized what they were here for.

He said calmly, "Indeed, Mr. Guo gave me fifteen acres of land, five of which are the five acres you planted this year."

Guo Fu asked in a low voice, "Brother Chen Ku, our family has rented that five mu of land for more than ten years. We have experience in taking care of it and planting everything. So, if we want to rent it from you again, we won't pay the rent as before. We will pay the standard rent so that you won't suffer a loss. Okay?"

Mr. Guo owns more than 100 acres of land in the village, but of course he does not cultivate it himself. Instead, he contracts it out to tenants, including his own children and nephews. Because of their kinship, the rent they have to pay as tenants is less.

Their family cultivated top-quality land, and the original rent was seven dou of grain per acre. However, because Mr. Guo was the seventh master of the family, he treated the land as medium-quality land and only paid five dou of grain per acre.

Now he is willing to rent the land to Chen Ku according to the standard rent, probably because he really can't bear to give up the five acres of land.

As they said, they have been working on these five acres of prime land for more than ten years and they know what to plant, so they will not starve even in years of disaster.

As soon as Guo Fu spoke, the other two villagers who followed him also said, "Yes, yes, that's what we meant, so we came to ask, poor boy, can we rent this land to grow crops next year?"

The two villagers behind, one named Tian Shuhuai and the other named Sun Youhou, were both honest farmers. They had no relatives from the Guo family, so it was normal for them to pay rent. They came here to continue renting land.

But these are what several families said.

But it made Chen's mother and Xu Lan a little dazed.

This, this is really a change.

Life was better when the eldest brother was around, but not this good. How come their family suddenly became the big landlords in the village?

Chen Ku did not refuse the people's intention.

Smiling, he said, "Of course, if you want to continue renting, that's just what I want. I'm also worried about how my mother and sister-in-law can grow crops on the extra dozen acres of land. If you are interested, I still have seven acres of land, which can be rented to you."

The four of them looked at each other.

Guo Fu and Guo Qiang's eyes turned red. They had originally prepared themselves to be ridiculed and embarrassed and to return empty-handed, but they did not expect that Chen Ku would agree so easily.

I am also willing to continue renting out more land.

Chen's mother and Xu Lan were anxious. It was not as if they were unable to work, so why should they rent out the whole house?

But he was stopped by Chen Ku.

So, half a day later, Chen Ku and these people renewed the tenancy agreement with the village chief Yu, and finally rented out all the more than 20 acres of land in his family.

After returning home, Chen's mother was extremely puzzled and tears welled up in her eyes: "My child, our family has been farmers for generations, how can we not leave some land for ourselves?"

Chen Ku looked at them and said:

"From now on, mother and sister-in-law, you have to change your way of life. You can no longer work in the fields and just collect rent. This is the good life."

My sister-in-law said in a mosquito-like voice: "Then my mother and I will no longer be the rich wives of the landlord's family..."

Chen smiled bitterly and said, "That's nothing. When I get to the city and settle down there, I'll bring my family over and become a city dweller. Then, I'll let Huzi study. Who knows, my brother might even see his son become the top scholar in the imperial examination."

My mother and sister-in-law were both attracted by the beautiful picture described by Chen Ku.

A city dweller, studying... and becoming the top scholar?
How dare the country folks think of these things...

Chen smiled bitterly and said nothing more.

In the next two days, he cherished the time he spent at home. Then, when he saw the village chief coming to his house to collect the autumn grain, Chen Ku no longer had any worries.

So, in the early morning of the third day.

Wearing a long gown, he finally walked out of this poor village and headed towards Baojiao County.

Looking forward, the road ahead is long but bright.

(End of this chapter)