Since ancient times, the imperial court has only managed prefectures and counties, and the vast rural areas below prefectures and counties are autonomously governed by gentry.

The court-local officials-country gentry-parent chief-parent, this five-level structure constitutes a strict patriarchal system, which also makes society extremely stable and unchanged for thousands of years.

This Fan Tieniu incident was a conflict between the Fan family and the Lu family, and it was related to the two families, so the squire mediated.

There are two modes of squire mediation. One is to find a squire who is recognized by both parties.

Another model is that both sides find a few squires and everyone sits together to judge the matter.

If you are from the same village, most people choose the first mode, but if you are in different villages or even in different towns, you will usually take the second mode.

Jiaobaowan Village belongs to Hengtang Township, while Jiangwan Village belongs to Mudu Town. The two families cannot find a gentry that they jointly recognize, so they can only choose the second model.

Since Fan Tieniu married into Jiaobaowan Village, the mediation site could only be conducted in Hengtang Township and at the Shuigen family of Li Zhengzhou.

There were several large tables in the yard, several benches surrounded by sequins, and several old men wearing leather hats and satin fur coats sat chatting on the bench, with tea, melon seeds and snacks on the table.

A fat middle-aged man who looked quite active was holding a plate of good snacks and candies on his face, and invited a few old men to enjoy it with a smile on his face, and chatting and laughing with them from time to time.

This lively and fat middle-aged man is Fan Tieniu's father-in-law Lu Yuanwai. His family has 600 acres of land and seven or eight cows. He is a landlord in Jiaobaowan Village. His family is large and there are relatives from their family everywhere in Hengtang Township.

Mr. Lu has a lot of wealth, but his only regret is that he has no son and only one daughter.

In rural areas of Jiangnan, such families usually recruit son-in-law.

Yuanwai Lu began to pay attention to his son-in-law since ten years ago.

During a gathering, he accidentally met Fan Tieniu who helped him carry the load home. He fell in love with Fan Tieniu at first sight. He was honest, had a good personality, and was easier to control.

More importantly, Fan Tieniu is strong!

A man carried a load of 200 kilograms and walked a few miles to send him home without any breath.

Mr. Lu found Fan Dachuan, who happened to be worried about his youngest son going to the county school. The two hit it off. Mr. Lu took out a betrothal gift of 200 taels of silver and made a marriage contract. In this way, Fan Tieniu came to the Lu family to be his son-in-law.

In the countryside of Wuxian, there are quite a few son-in-laws, but there is a characteristic of recruiting son-in-laws. Both parties must not be in a good match. Generally, women are rich and men are poor. The economic foundation determines the family status.

Therefore, son-in-law usually bows his head and acts honestly. It is common for the father-in-law to beat him a few times and the mother-in-law to scold him.

The problem is that the Fan family is also a small landlord. Fan Dachuan has 80 acres of land and there is also a Fan family in Mudu Town. Although Fan Tieniu is honest and weak, he also has the dignity of the children of the big family in his heart.

So he couldn't stand the discrimination like his son-in-law, nor could he stand the father-in-law always yelling at him to beat him, and fled home every few days, and then the Fan family sent him back and negotiated with him.

After a long time, the Lu family felt embarrassed. In addition, Lu Yuanwai is a mean person and is very petty. It is usually enough to find a son-in-law fifty or sixty cents of money, but the Fan family asked him for two hundred taels of silver, which made Lu Yuanwai very unhappy.

Mr. Lu has always been thinking about the more than 100 taels of silver he spent, and is determined to make money back, so he really treats Fan Tieniu like a bull.

Contradictions accumulate day by day.

The fuse of this conflict was that Fan Tieniu wanted his daughter to take his surname. He believed that his son had already given him the surname Lu. What is his daughter's surname is not important to the Lu family, but it is a way to regain dignity for himself.

In order to coax Fan Tieniu to grow 200 acres of land, Lu Yuanwai agreed to him, but when the autumn harvest came, Lu Yuanwai found that Fan Tieniu could grow another 100 acres of land, so he regretted it and refused to admit that he had promised Tieniu.

Honest people are angry, and the conflicts accumulated over the years break out.

On the other side of the yard, Fan Dachuan sat upright, with four sons standing behind him. They said nothing and looked serious, which was in sharp contrast to the active Lu Yuanwai.

The patriarch Fan Dazhi sat on the other side, looking very uncomfortable. He actually didn't want to come, but for the sake of face, he was not good not to come.

He thought that Fan Dachuan was blamed for this matter. Why did the great Fan family members become son-in-laws for others? They also implicated the reputation of the Fan family?

At this time, Li Zheng Zhou Shuigen came out, and Li Zheng was mainly responsible for collecting taxes for the government, but if there were conflicts between the neighbors, he would make a move and ask the gentry to mediate, and then sign as a witness.

Zhou Shuigen clapped his hands and said, "Since everyone is here, let's start!"

He looked at the two families. There were too many members of the Lu family, dozens of people came to men and women, while there were only four or five people from the Fan family, which seemed very asymmetric.

Zhou Shuigen smiled and said, "Both sides should invite squire!"

His implication was that this matter was judged by the squire, so others should not interrupt.

Mr. Lu quickly stood up to introduce the gentry he invited, "This one is Mr. Li, this one is Mr. Wang, and Mr. Zhao, are all respected gentry."

Several old men nodded slowly and put on their airs.

Zhou Shuigen asked Fan Dachuan again, "Is the gentry invited by Mr. Fan..."

Fan Dachuan pointed at Fan Dazhi next to him, "This is our patriarch, he is here to mediate the Fan family."

As soon as he finished speaking, Mr. Lu’s brother jumped up, “It’s not possible to do things like this. Our Lu family invites all other surnames. The two families have conflicts, so how can we ask our own people to judge.”

It really makes sense. The Fan family looked at each other in a glance, and they found that they were a little wrong.

At this time, Zhou Shuigen said to the patriarch Fan Dazhi: "President Fan, let's talk with you one step."

The two of them came to the side and muttered for a moment. Fan Dazhi came over and said to Fan Dachuan, "Second brother, I really don't have the convenience of being a mediator, but I can tell you about it, just treat it as the Fan family's opinion."

The situation suddenly changed and became three gentry responsible for mediation. They were invited by the Lu family, and the Fan family lost their voice.

Fan Tiezhou frowned and said to Zhou Shuigen: "Why do we come to mediate again tomorrow."

Fan Dachuan waved his hand, "No, just today, let's solve the problem, we will go back!"

Fan Dachuan was a little impatient. He also thought that his third son was too spoiled and ran home at any time, unlike being a son-in-law.

Especially Fanning's analysis last night made him realize that the Lu family did not want to divorce. If the other party's request was not too much, he would be ready to agree.

Zhou Shuigen laughed and said, "Since both sides agree, let's start. This mediation was proposed by Mr. Lu, so Mr. Lu first said, what is the Lu family's attitude?"

"We are determined to ask for a divorce!"

The person who spoke was Lu Yuanwai's brother, named Lu Ashui. He was originally a lawyer and now works as a civil servant in the Wuxian County Government. He is eloquent and very smart. The list he has drawn up by the Lu family.

"We think Fan Tieniu has no intention of being the son-in-law of the Lu family, and he runs back to his parents' home at any time. Our Lu family is discussed, just like we abuse Fan Tieniu. We are also shameless families and cannot afford to lose others. Since Fan Tieniu doesn't want to be a son-in-law, then divorce."

Zhou Shuigen nodded and said to Fan Dachuan again: "What about the Fan family's attitude?"

The Fan family was dealt with by the fourth brother Fan Tongzhong. He was a scholar, and he read the most books and was more eloquent.

In fact, the second son Fan Tiego thinks it is better to let Fan Ning come forward, but both Fan Dachuan and Fan Tiezhou disagree. Fan Dachuan thinks that children come forward will be laughed at, while Fan Tiezhou is unwilling to be involved in this matter.

Fan Tongzhong walked out and said calmly: "There are rules for being a son-in-law who is a son-in-law who is a son-in-law who is not said to be beaten and scolded casually and not given food. It is what the son-in-law who is in the family should bear. My third brother was abused by the Lu family. This is a fact, and the Lu family cannot deny this."

Lu Ashui snorted, "The son-in-law is half a son. Since he is raised by his son, he will curse his father-in-law and mother-in-law when he is disobedient. Isn't this normal? Which son-in-law in the family will not be scolded? Since Fan Tieniu can't stand it even if he scolds him a few times, then don't be a son-in-law in the family. Divorce! My brother and sister-in-law are old and can't stand such a strong son-in-law."

The Lu family’s strategy is very clear, which is to force the Fan family to divorce and seize the Fan family’s weaknesses.

Zhou Shuigen looked at the clan leader Fan Dazhi, "Where is the opinion of the clan leader Fan?"

Fan Dazhi said slowly: "I agree to the divorce too!"

Fan Tiezhou looked at his father in surprise. How did his father talk to the patriarch? He had not yet gained moral prevailing before he had a moral advantage and would suffer a great loss in the end.

Fan Dachuan didn't say anything. In fact, he had a fight with Fan Dazhi this morning. He blamed his family for not caring about him. Fan Dazhi blamed him for doing things randomly and making his son a son-in-law for being a son-in-law in the family, and losing the face of the Fan family.

So Fan Dazhi also came with anger. He had only one attitude: divorce and dismiss this marriage. As for the price of dismissing this marriage, it was Fan Dachuan's affairs and had nothing to do with him.

Fan Dachuan also sighed and said, "Since this marriage makes everyone unsatisfied, it's better to leave."
Chapter completed!