noffsinger Chapter 362: The Injured Soldier 1
Chapter 362: The Injured Soldier 1
Perhaps because Bai Jingzhou saved him, he did not hide anything from Bai Jingzhou. Instead, he wiped his tears and talked about what happened in his family.
"My son and his wife had an accident at the end of March. My two unfilial grandchildren took advantage of my absence and directly divided up the land and house left by their parents. They even took care of an old man like me for only three months before completely abandoning me."
"I said that they should leave a share of the family fortune to my grandson, but they insisted that my grandson had died on the battlefield. They also said that the dead can't come back, so there is no need to give him any more family fortune."
"As for me, an old man, they said at the beginning that the two families would take turns to support me, but after a while, no one cared about me anymore."
Bai Jingzhou frowned, "Don't the head of the village and the elders care if they do this?"
"Yes, but it's okay if they do it three or five times. After a long time and too many times, they know that their words are useless and they are unwilling to waste their efforts anymore."
"The head of the village did tell me that if things really don't work out I can sue them for being unfilial, but I, I can't bear to do that."
The old man wiped his tears and said, "I thought I would starve to death in the grass nest at the end of the village, but I didn't expect that my little grandson would come home unexpectedly yesterday."
"He is not dead. He is still alive. Although he is missing an arm, at least he is alive."
The young man patted the old man who was so excited that he was incoherent. "I returned home and found that my eldest brother and second brother had separated from the family. They didn't recognize me and drove me away. The villagers heard the noise and came to watch the fun. Then I realized that my parents had died in an accident and my grandfather was also driven out of the house by them."
"My grandfather found the village elders and the head of the village and asked them to divide the family property for his three grandsons again. The head of the village and the elders agreed, but my eldest and second brothers refused to agree to the redivision."
"They insisted that I had died on the battlefield, and that I, who had appeared now, was just a stranger who looked like their younger brother and wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to share their land and houses."
"I didn't expect that after leaving home for a few years, when I came back, not only my parents were gone, but my two brothers had also become such a disgrace. I was so angry that I said I would go to the county to sue the officials and ask them to prove my identity."
"How could my two brothers dare to go with me to see the officials? They were forced to acknowledge my identity, but they proposed that if they wanted to divide the family again, the money I received when I retired from the army must also be taken out and divided together. They couldn't just divide the fields and houses of their two families."
"The head of the village and the elders of the village persuaded me to take a step back, and I agreed. Then they converted the land and houses that my two brothers had been allocated into silver and asked them to give me 12 strings of cash together."
"So, I took the money, went to pay respect to my parents, and then left with my grandfather."
What he didn't say was that although his two brothers promised the head of the village and the elders to give him twelve strings of cash as compensation, they immediately said that they had no money at the moment and would slowly give it to him when they had more.
Of course he didn't agree. It was agreed that the two families would take turns to support his grandfather, but what did they do? After supporting him for about three months, they started to cheat, causing the old man to become homeless and almost starve to death in the grass hut at the end of the village.
Judging from their character, if he doesn't get the money now, they will definitely deny the matter later.
He firmly demanded that his two brothers give him money immediately, otherwise he would divide their houses or land.
Of course, his two brothers were reluctant to let him share their house or land, so they could only curse him with gritted teeth while collecting money and handing it over to him in the presence of the head of the village and the elders.
Including this amount, he had a total of more than thirty taels of silver in his hands.
This amount of money is indeed not small for an ordinary family, but it is not enough for him. After all, he not only has to support his grandfather, but he also has no house or land, is missing an arm, and has a scary scar on his face.
Bai Jingzhou listened thoughtfully, "The old man is fine. He will recover slowly if he eats better later."
"As for you, my brother, if you don't mind, there are vacancies in our newly opened workshop. You can help run errands and do some chores, or you can be a night watchman and help guard the workshop."
The young man looked very surprised, thinking that he had met a noble person when he went out.
He was about to nod his head and agree when he heard Bai Jingzhou say, "Of course, the premise is that the identity information and personal experience you just revealed are true, and you are diligent and have good character."
Upon hearing this, the young man immediately took out the pass that the village head had issued to him and his grandfather, and said, "You can send someone to check. This is the pass that we just issued to our grandparents, and it has our identity information on it."
Bai Jingzhou didn't hesitate. He took the pass and read it carefully, planning to send someone to investigate the grandparents and grandchildren as soon as he returned to the village.
He motioned for the grandparents to get in the car. The young man looked at Gu Wenxuan who was standing not far away and hesitated.
Bai Jingzhou smiled, "In an emergency, we should make decisions based on our own needs. Don't be too formal."
The young man then helped his grandfather and got into the carriage behind Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou. However, they did not sit on the seats like Bai Jingzhou and Gu Wenxuan, but leaned carefully on the floor of the carriage next to the door.
Bai Jingzhou had become accustomed to the clear hierarchy in this world. He sighed secretly and didn't say anything more.
After returning to Baijia Village from Zhuangzi, Bai Jingzhou asked someone to investigate the grandparents.
Gu Wenxuan asked him, "Do you want to help these soldiers who were sent back home because of their injuries?"
Bai Jingzhou nodded. "Jiang Bei lost an arm, and the disability allowance he received was only 18 taels. For those families with houses and fields, this money might be enough to help them get through the difficult times, but for someone like Jiang Bei, 18 taels is not enough."
Although he got back twelve taels of silver from his two brothers, thirty taels of silver was actually very little for two people who had basically lost their ability to work and had no house or land.
In the village, it costs at least three or five taels to buy a foundation and build a house. The price of land is now higher than in the turbulent times. An acre of medium-sized land can be sold for seven or eight taels. With this calculation, if the grandparents and grandchildren build a house, the remaining money can only buy another three acres of land.
With the grain production these days, three acres of land cannot feed the two of them.
Gu Wenxuan did not object. She said, "Then you should be careful. Soldiers are different from orphans and abandoned babies after all."
Bai Jingzhou smiled, "Don't worry, I just provide disabled soldiers with a job that allows them to be self-reliant, nothing else, and I will never give others the opportunity to slander us."