noffsinger Chapter 123: Do Good and Leave Your Name Behind
Chapter 123: Do Good and Leave Your Name Behind
Who were these people who were to perform the labor service? The youngest and strongest men in their village.
If they could make these people grateful to Bai Jingzhou and Gu Wenxuan, their prestige in the village would definitely be extraordinary in the future.
Bai Li is a far-sighted man, otherwise he would not treat those families in the village who do not have the surname Bai equally.
He knows very well that in today's world, everyone must work together to increase the chances of survival for everyone, including his family.
It is a pity that his own children and grandchildren do not seem to have much potential at the moment. Despite the foundation laid by him, his father and his grandfather, his two sons were not able to pass the imperial examinations to help him achieve academic success.
He put a lot of effort into it. First, he sent them to school. Then he used his connections to find the old accountant to teach them how to use an abacus and keep accounts. Finally, he helped them get rid of the hard work of digging for food in the fields.
The reason why he did not leave one at home to inherit his position as village head was because he knew very well that neither of his two sons had the ability.
Before Bai Jingzhou emerged as a rising star, he actually wanted to train his nephew Bai Rong to succeed him.
His nephew Bai Rong was filial, righteous, sensible, shrewd but kind. Not only had he attended private school for several years and knew most words, he was also very prestigious among his peers and juniors.
Although Bai Lizheng had never mentioned to anyone that he wanted Bai Rong to take over his position, if things continued to develop naturally, Bai Rong would definitely gain the support of the vast majority of villagers and successfully become the next head of Baijia Village.
However, this year, a change occurred. Bai Jingzhou and Gu Wenxuan, two half-grown children, turned a disaster into a blessing. After encountering a danger, they suddenly became dazzling.
At the beginning, Bai Lizheng considered including Bai Jingzhou in the category of candidates for village head.
But as Bai Jingzhou showed more and more qualities that he admired, Bai Lizheng could not help but begin to doubt whether he was wasting Bai Jingzhou's talent by making him the head of Baijia Village.
When Peng Xuan'an, Mu Jing and his group appeared in front of Bai Lizheng, Bai Lizheng completely gave up the idea of letting Bai Jingzhou be the head of Baijia Village.
He wanted to make Bai Jingzhou the next leader of the Bai family, and he was very sure that Bai Jingzhou would be able to lead the Bai family to a better future.
As for Bai Rong, Bai Lizheng still prefers him to take over his position, but at the same time, he also hopes that Bai Rong can become Bai Jingzhou's right-hand man and help him lead the Bai family to a better future.
Bai Lizheng, who always thinks three steps ahead, made a prompt decision and did what he thought after realizing that helping Bai Jingzhou become famous would be beneficial to his winning the hearts of the people in the future.
He stared at the Bai family members headed by Bai Rong, and distributed old fur coats and dry food one by one. Then he stuffed three common medicines prepared by Bai Jingzhou and a small bag of silver and copper coins he brought from his home to Bai Rong, who was also going to serve in Tai'an City, Pingzhou.
Bai Rong's father died young due to illness. In order to treat his father and prolong his life, Bai Rong almost emptied out all his family savings. Although his family later managed to get by with the help of Bai Lizheng, he could not afford enough money for exemption from military service.
His uncle Bai Lizheng did offer to lend him money, but after much thought, Bai Rong finally rejected Bai Lizheng's kindness.
He knew his family's situation. If Bai Lizheng lent him money, he would definitely not be able to pay it back within three to five years.
If it was just this one payment, it would be fine. At most, he could just be thick-skinned now and repay Bai Lizheng's family more in the future. But the problem is that the world is so chaotic now, and he will most likely be conscripted or forced to do labor service again the year after next or even next year. What will he do then? Ask Bai Lizheng for money again?
It is true that Bai Lizheng has some family wealth, but after all, he is only Bai Rong's uncle, not Bai Rong's father. If he gives all his money to Bai Rong's family, how can his wife, children, and grandchildren have any objections?
In Bai Rong's opinion, Bai Lizheng's family was very good relatives because they were kind to him and never showed any disapproval even though Bai Lizheng had been supporting his family all the time.
He didn't want to lose such a good relative because of over-reliance on Bai Lizheng's family for help.
Bai Rong insisted, and Bai Lizheng couldn't persuade him, so he had to try his best to be considerate for him.
On the one hand, Bai Rong was given money to bribe officials and stewards. On the other hand, Bai Lizheng also gave gifts privately and asked his old acquaintances in the county government to look after his nephew and other villagers in Baijia Village.
Back to the present. As Bai Lizheng expected, the men who got the gifts were all very grateful to Gu Wenxuan's family and Bai Jingzhou's family.
Except for a few weirdos who wanted to snatch things from their sons or brothers, the families of the other able-bodied men with normal thinking skills all wiped their tears and thanked Gu Wenxuan's family and Bai Jingzhou's family repeatedly.
Bai Lizheng did not let them stay at the village entrance for too long. He counted the number of people and the things in the car, and then led everyone to the county town.
It is worth mentioning that Gu Wenxuan, Bai Jingzhou, Gu Yongming, Jia Guizhi, Bai Jingshan and all the men in the Fang family were all in the team escorting the autumn tax.
They were all the best fighters in the village who could spare the time to make the trip. Bai Lizheng had greeted them in advance, and they all agreed to help deliver the silver and food to the county government safely.
I don't know if it was because their team was too large and ordinary scoundrels didn't dare to make any plans, or if the county government had cleared them out in advance, but in any case, on their way to the county town, there were no refugees or bandits who attempted to rob them.
The group delivered the items safely to the county government office. When the county magistrate's secretary brought the clerks and runners to check the items, collect taxes and put them into the treasury, they gave Bai Lizheng a receipt. Only then did Bai Lizheng feel relieved.
He told Bai Rong, who had finished his work and was coming to say goodbye to him, "It's easier to see the King of Hell than to deal with the little devils. When you get there, take out some of your money to bribe the steward who is in charge of supervising you. Don't be reluctant to give it up. Life is more important than money. Do you understand?"
Bai Rong nodded slightly with red eyes.
Bai Lizheng patted him on the shoulder and said, "Hide the rest secretly. If you need money urgently later, you can use it little by little."
Bai Rong said, "Don't worry, I will definitely come back alive."
Bai Lizheng nodded, "Uncle is waiting for you."
He had already explained everything else that needed to be explained, so there was no need to repeat it now.
Thinking of this, Bai Li was waving goodbye to the able-bodied men in the village.
When the other people who came to deliver the autumn tax saw this, they hurriedly waved goodbye to the able-bodied men who were about to leave.