readsfreenovel Chapter 402
Chapter 402
Hearing their father's words, Du Laoda and Du Laosan were both somewhat tempted. However, their village lacked water, and the city was no different. Everyone knew a drought was coming, leaving them uncertain. Who would dare to easily hire workers now? Finding a job wouldn't be easy.Seeing her husband's distressed face, Old Lady Du could not help but comfort him, "Old man, we still have enough grain at home, so you don't need to worry too much." As for water, they could only take it one step at a time and see if the heavens would leave them a way to survive.
Speaking of grain, this year the imperial court had exchanged eighty percent of the sweet potatoes and potatoes grown in their fields for wheat, sorghum, and silver.
Fortunately, both she and her old man had experienced natural disasters in their youth and were terrified of starvation. They never felt secure without food at home, so at the time, they had chosen half grain and half silver.
They had planned it all out perfectly: after another year of farming, they could exchange their harvest for silver to renovate and expand their house.
The Du family had three sons and two daughters. The youngest daughter was married off at the end of last year, and all three sons had taken wives. With two grandchildren already born, it was obvious that the house was running out of room.
The youngest son, who had been complaining of hunger, first saw his parents acting as if they hadn't heard him, solely focused on burning incense. Now, hearing their conversation, he was quite reluctant to leave his newlywed wife to go find work.
"Father, Mother, if you ask me, you shouldn't be burning incense every day. We could save the money spent on incense and candles to buy some meat."
He patted his belly. He had thought that with a good harvest this year, they could eat meat a few more times. Who would have thought they would encounter a drought? It hadn't rained for months, and his parents were too stingy to spend their newly acquired silver on meat.
At the thought of meat, Du Hetao almost drooled. Since the autumn harvest, he hadn't tasted a drop of grease until New Year's Day, and even then, it was just a tiny bit!
He glanced at the idol enshrined in the main room and said with great dissatisfaction, "If you ask me, this 'Divine Maiden' isn't as efficacious as you think. Otherwise, every household in our village has been praying for so long, yet not a single drop of rain has fallen. I say we might as well..."
"I'll beat you to death, you bastard! How dare you speak disrespectfully of the Divine Maiden! I think you're tired of living!" Old Man Du didn't wait for his youngest son to continue his nonsense; he picked up a broom nearby and threw it at him.
"Father!" Du Laosi tilted his head to dodge it. "You can't be so unreasonable! Was I wrong? The Divine Maiden just doesn't work!"
"You're still talking! Still talking! I'll teach you to keep talking!" Old Man Du stood up abruptly, looked around, and upon spotting a large broom by the door, grabbed it and swung it at his youngest son.
"Today, I will beat you to death, you ungrateful wretch!" Nearly fifty years old, Old Man Du chased after his young and strong son, huffing and puffing.
"Father, even if you beat me to death today, I'll still say the same thing. The Divine Maiden doesn't work. There's really no need to burn incense. Wouldn't it be better if we saved the incense money and our whole family had a meal of meat?"
Du Laosi kept dodging his father, running ahead while his mouth never stopped running.
Old Man Du had just stopped to catch his breath when he heard his youngest son's reckless words again. He turned to his eldest son and said, "Du Laoda, help me hold your brother down. Watch me beat him to death today!"
Old Lady Du looked at her husband, his old face red with anger and panting heavily from exhaustion, and then at her youngest son, whom the couple had always favored a bit more since childhood. The words of plea she wanted to say remained unspoken after she cast a glance at the Divine Maiden's statue.
Since her youngest son dared to speak recklessly about the Divine Maiden, it was right for his father to teach him a good lesson. A person shouldn't be an ungrateful wretch.
Hearing his father's words, Du Laoda put down the basket he was weaving and went after the jumping Du Laosi. He had wanted to beat his younger brother for a long time, but because their parents doted on him, he had never had the chance.
"Third Brother, save me!" Seeing that his mother wasn't intervening, his eldest brother was only listening to their father, and his wife and sisters-in-law had long since hidden in their own rooms, Du Laosi could only seek help from Du Laosan.
Actually, Du Laosan quite agreed with what his younger brother said. In his heart, he felt that the Divine Maiden was nothing special; when faced with a drought, she was just as helpless! Unfortunately, he lacked his brother's courage and didn't dare to say it out loud.
"Father, please calm down. What Fourth Brother said isn't wrong. Who knows when it will rain? Praying to the Divine Maiden is worse than praying to the Dragon King." The Dragon King was the one in charge of rain; his parents were praying to the wrong deity.
Seeing his third brother speak up for him, Du Laosi instantly felt even more justified in his words. He hid behind Du Laosan, and before his eldest brother could pin him down, he darted off toward the altar where the statue of the Divine Maiden Yue Fuguang was enshrined.
Standing by the altar, he spoke to the statue, "'Divine Maiden,' tell me, was what I just said wrong? Is worshipping you really of no use!"
Seeing their youngest son's actions, Old Man Du and his wife were stunned for a moment before reacting and rushing into the room. "Du Hetao, do you want to die!"
Old Man Du's voice was filled with anger and terror, his voice even cracking a bit.
Old Lady Du was closer to the door, but she was so frightened by her youngest son's actions that her legs went weak, and she couldn't run.
The youngest son she had doted on for eighteen years, she never expected him to be such a scoundrel, daring to speak directly to the Divine Maiden's statue like that. Did he not know that the statue could communicate with the divine!
"Little Four, hurry... stop right now!" Seeing her youngest son reaching out toward the statue, Old Lady Du hurriedly yelled to stop him.
Bang!
The echo of the word "stop" was still reverberating in the Du family courtyard, and Old Man Du and his wife had just reached the door, when they saw that right as Du Laosi's large hand was about to touch the statue, the statue exploded on its own!
With a bang, sounding like popped rice at the town market, the statue shattered into powder, covering the face and head of the closest person, Du Laosi.
Following this explosion, it was as if the pause button had been pressed on the Du family courtyard. Everyone who saw it stood frozen in place.
"It's over, it's all over!" Old Man Du slid down against the doorframe to sit on the ground. His weather-beaten face, lined from years of hard labor, suddenly seemed to age ten years, and his deeply wrinkled visage was filled with ashen despair.
If what happened today spread, not only their youngest son but their entire family would never be able to hold their heads up again in Big Willow Village and the surrounding villages.
What good end could come to someone who offended the Divine Maiden and was forsaken by her!
A single spit from everyone would be enough to drown them!
"Father... I... I..." Du Hetao swallowed hard. Only now did he realize the magnitude of the disaster he had caused.
Looking at the faces of his parents and brothers, he felt he was doomed!
Situations like the Du family's were constantly playing out all over the land of Dayan.
Especially after the Lantern Festival, the saying "No rain on Shangyuan means a spring drought" spread wider and wider. The believers' doubts about the Divine Maiden's abilities grew day by day, reaching a point where the imperial court had to step in to control public opinion. The news that blaspheming the Divine Maiden would cause the enshrined portraits at home to spontaneously combust and statues to self-destruct could no longer be covered up. Once leaked, it spread rapidly.
By the time Emperor Mingxi and the others heard this news, they were in the middle of the morning court assembly, and Yue Fuguang had just been appointed by Emperor Mingxi as the deputy chief examiner for the upcoming special imperial examination.
Anyone who had taken or hosted the imperial examinations knew that the spring exams generally featured two chief examiners, one primary and one deputy, who oversaw all matters in the examination hall, including setting the questions and establishing the admission standards.
It could be said that they held great power, but the task was equally heavy!
Yue Fuguang looked down at her twelve-year-old self. Her shoulders were too small; it seemed she couldn't bear such a heavy burden.