Chapter 21 – I want to separate from this family

People in Hexi Village were frightened by Jiang Zhen.

Some of them were also brave and ruthless, but none of them were as reckless as Jiang Zhen.

Go to the yamen? How dare he even think about it!

The villagers in Hexi Village saw that Jiang Zhen’s temperament had changed. They could not provoke him again, so they just wanted to stay far away from him to avoid getting involved.

“Eldest Jiang, if you have something to say . . .” Jiang Ping, the Hexi Village head, said in a soft voice. He really thought that Jiang Zhen had become crazy and turned into a madman . . . They’d better not mess with him.

“Isn’t that what I was saying to you?” Jiang Zhen smiled in a friendly way to the people before him.

But those villagers of Hexi Village didn’t find his smile friendly at all and thought that this smile was horrible, making some people even unconsciously lower their heads.

The event on this side of the Jiang family was even greater than the last time, and the people in the village basically came to watch the excitement and tightly surrounded the Jiang family house.

Ordinary people would certainly be afraid when seeing this scene, but Jiang Zhen was calm.

He was not afraid of these villagers. These people thought that the life of the yamen officer was in their hands. But regardless, he still had the ability to climb the roof and escape. Of course, he didn’t want to be a fugitive, and he always wanted to live a good life in the village. It was expected, as he had now found someone who was willing to let him in.

It was a pity that, at this time, there had to be such a scene, messing up all his plans.

“Eldest Jiang, can you let the official go?” Jiang Ping asked again. Jiang Zhen’s knife reached Yang Jing’s neck, making him shiver. Jiang Ping was afraid that Jiang Zhen would accidentally hurt Yang Jing. This jinx who was able to do anything to his parents and dared to fight against a yamen officer, they couldn’t let him really kill people!

“I can let him go, but I have conditions,” said Jiang Zhen.

“Elder Brother, if you have any conditions, just say them. Just don’t kill anyone!” Jiang Chengxiang hurriedly said.

Just before, Jiang Zhen stabbed him in the thigh with the bamboo pole, and he was bleeding, but his wound was not very serious. In fact, Jiang Zhen didn’t want to kill, so he naturally was lenient.

However, although this wound was not very serious, Jiang Chengxiang now had that feeling of “my life is over.”

Who was Yang Jing? This was the man who he had tried hard to get close to! It didn’t matter if Eldest Jiang beat him, but he beat Yang Jing . . . I don’t want to think about it. He knew that Yang Jing would come to seek problems with him in the future . . . Now, Jiang Chengxiang was only hoping that Yang Jing would spare him in the future for the sake of his efforts to save him now.

“I already said it.” Jiang Zhen chuckled. “I want to separate from you.”

Separation? Jiang Chengxiang was stunned. Before, he had thought of threatening his eldest brother with separation, but he didn’t expect that his big brother’s condition would be the same after he had taken advantage.

Why would his eldest brother want to separate from them? If he left the Jiang family, where would he go to eat in the future?

Now, he had a place to eat but was still holding Yang Jing hostage to force them to separate their families, mostly trying to split up their family fields . . . Jiang Chengxiang’s eyes widened suddenly, and he looked at Jiang Zhen in horror.

If the land of the Jiang family become divided by Jiang Zhen, he was afraid that they would soon change from a wealthy family to a very ordinary one in the village. And he will certainly not be able to live such a comfortable life in the future.

“All right, separate and get out of this house!” old lady Jiang shouted, wanting to get rid of this star of disaster.

“Shut up!” Butcher Jiang shouted at his wife. Even in this situation, this woman dared to shout at Eldest Jiang. She simply didn’t want to live any more.

At the sight of his eldest son with a knife on the yamen officer’s neck, Butcher Jiang felt great regret.

He always knew that his wife was very bad to his eldest son, but he indulged it because he was not close to his eldest son, and he gave up on him a long time ago.

It cost money to marry and raise a son. He thought it was enough to have two sons to start their own family and inherit the family name. So he just didn’t care about his eldest son, allowing him to be treated badly and become an old bachelor. He intended to allow him to work for the family for the rest of his life. This way, when his two younger brothers separate from each other, they could get a little more money and not become poorer because of the property division. The eldest son, because he would not have his own children, of course, wouldn’t need to be given a share of the property. As a result . . . things reached this point.

If he had known this, he would have been nicer to his eldest son.

“Eldest, the separation is always a matter of good discussion . . .” Butcher Jiang eased his breath. He didn’t want to become separated from Jiang Zhen, but he didn’t dare to stop him. He hoped that Jiang Zhen would ask for less things.

Yes, Butcher Jiang has decided to split up the family. He didn’t dare to stay at home with such a lunatic.

“Big Brother, what do you want?” Jiang Chengxiang asked. As long as he thought about Jiang Zhen splitting the property, his heart became painful to the point of it dripping blood. But he must agree with Jiang Zhen’s request in order to save Yang Jing. After all, this was the only way to make Yang Jing less angry with him.

Jiang Zhen could naturally see the thoughts of the Jiang family and found it somehow funny. These people . . . they really deserved it.

If they settled quietly down, he would leave the Jiang house in a month’s time. Although they would lose a laborer, they would not lose money . . . But now. . . Now he should get some benefits from the Jiang family, and as for the yamen officer . . . it was enough to let the Jiang family drink the pot they made themselves.

“Let’s divide the family like other families do,” said Jiang Zhen.

In Hexi Village, there was no rule about parents dividing the family property. When their sons become another family’s relatives, they would divide their families. But when a family had several sons, the family property will be divided into several parts. Then they will only set the rules on how much food and money each son will give to their elderly.

According to these rules, Jiang Zhen can receive something after dividing the five mu of paddy field and six or seven mu of dry land. Even if Butcher Jiang and his wife would share money, so much land was already worth a lot of money.

“Eldest, you’re not even married. You can’t do that.” Butcher Jiang said in a low voice that all the bachelors in the village live with their brothers . . . Of course, he was mainly reluctant to give up land to Jiang Zhen. The land price on this side of Hecheng County was high. One mu of paddy field can be sold for 22 silver coins or more, and the dry land can be sold for 15 silver coins at least. Jiang Zhen wanting such a big share is simply going too far!

Old Madam Jiang was even more reluctant. In her opinion, Jiang Zhen was born by her, so it was her right to beat and kill him. Why should she give him anything? But before she could say anything, Jiang Chengxiang covered her mouth.

“If you didn’t let me get married, how could I be married?” Jiang Zhen sneered. Who knows how much Eldest Jiang wanted a wife?

Butcher Jiang felt regret again. Why didn’t he marry off Jiang Zhen? That way, they not only would get a bride price, but also push this disaster to someone else.

“But if you don’t want to split it that way, we can do another division,” said Jiang Zhen.

This so-called another division is not going to give you more, is it? Jiang Chengxiang’s heart beat like a drum, but Butcher Jiang asked, “What kind of division?”

“I was born and raised by you, but you have killed me once before, and it will cost you,” said Jiang Zhen. “Before I was 15 years old, I had been eating at home but also needed to work. I did a lot of work . . . This work should be worth your favor of parenting. I don’t want anything else from you.”

What does Jiang Zhen mean? He doesn’t want anything?

The people present looked at Jiang Zhen puzzled. At this time, Jiang Zhen added, “After I was 15 years old, I was basically doing all the work in the family fields. You can say that I was working as a long-term worker for you. It has been a whole decade since then. I don’t want anything else. Just pay me for my long-term job.”

In Hexi Village, the head of the family should cover long-term workers’ meals. In addition, he should also pay for their work.

Zhao Jinge worked as a long-term worker in Zhao Dahu’s house. No matter what the food was, Zhao Dahu’s house must give him some food. In addition, they will also pay him for his work at the end of the year.

This year’s copper coins have a value similar to the dollar before Jiang Zhen’s crossing. According to the memory of Eldest Jiang, pork is sold for about a dozen copper coins a kilo, whole grain is a few copper coins a kilo.

A silver coin or two are worth about a thousand dollars.

Of course, in view of the imperfection of the ancient market, people basically did not have any money in their hands these days, so the wages were generally very low. It was very kind of a host family to pay a long-term worker for one year’s work five or six silver coins. Generally, they would only pay three or four silver coins and the rest was paid in copper money and grain.

“I have been a long-term worker for ten years, but I don’t want much. Just give me 40 silver coins. In addition to farming, I have done a lot of work at home. You have to give me for that another five sacks of grain,” said Jiang Zhen. He didn’t want to have anything more to do with the Jiang family in the future, and he didn’t want to provide for old Butcher Jiang and his wife in their old age. Naturally, it would be impossible for Butcher Jiang to divide his family property equally, so he might as well draw a clear line and leave.

Jiang Zhen sincerely didn’t want much. He can only buy two mu of paddy field for 40 silver coins. People in Hexi Village all thought he was very kind, but the Jiang family didn’t seem to be very happy.

They had thought of Jiang Zhen as a long-term free worker for the rest of their lives! How could they possibly let Jiang Zhen leave with 40 silver coins and five sacks of grain? 40 silver coins! Where do they get so much money?

However, even if they don’t want to see Jiang Zhen’s face anymore, when they looked at Yang Jing in his grasp, they could only compromise.

“Big Brother, we’ll give you everything you want. Just let go of Brother Yang quickly!” Jiang Chengxiang agreed to Jiang Zhen directly.

“I can’t do that,” said Jiang Zhen.

“You want to go back on it?” Jiang Chengxiang was surprised.

“Of course not,” said Jiang Zhen, “but you wanted to hurt me this time. I must get compensation for it. On the west side of the village, there is a thatched hut. It should also be given to me. In addition, you will renovate the thatched hut for me and clean it up! When you have made it livable for me, I’ll let him go!” said Jiang Zhen, patting Yang Jing’s face with his knife.

Before, Jiang Zhen dared to live in the Jiang family house because the Jiang family didn’t have the ability to kill him. Even if they wanted to poison him, they couldn’t get the colorless and tasteless poison in order for him not to find out. But now, he had offended a yamen official, so he had to prevent others from plotting against him and couldn’t live with the Jiang family any longer.

Because of this, Jiang Zhen directly asked for the separation from the family. As for the Jiang family, let them make a house for him . . .

He offended a lot of people, and in order not to affect Zhao Jinge, after the separation, he can’t live in Zhao’s’ house immediately. He can only live alone for now.

Thinking that his relationship with Zhao Jinge might be forced into secrecy and the marriage would need to be postponed, Jiang Zhen’s mood suddenly became even worse, and at the same time, he gave Jiang Chengxiang a sinister look.

Jiang Chengxiang’s heart shook, and he became worried. The house in the west of the village was really run-down. It will take a lot of time to clean it up. If Jiang Zhen doesn’t let Yang Jing go during this period of time, he was afraid Yang Jing would suffer and hate him..

But now, what can they do but listen to Jiang Zhen?

“Jiang Chengxiang, what are you still doing here? Go and get that house ready!” Yang Jing shouted. He still had a knife near his neck. The Jiang family needed to hurry up and get things done!