The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 263: Long-Premeditated

Chapter 263: Chapter 263: Long-Premeditated

Li Jinzhi’s face turned deathly pale, and she finally couldn’t help but start to fear after seeing the contempt and disgust filled in the eyes that turned to her after listening to Wang Yongzhu’s words, "You’re talking nonsense! I didn’t! I didn’t throw anything into your family’s dye vat—"

"So, you admit it?" I merely said that you ruined our family’s dyeing material, did I say you threw something in it? If it wasn’t you who did it, how would you know our family’s dye was spoiled because several kinds of waste were thrown into the vat?" Wang Yongzhu pressed forward step by step.

Who among the surrounding onlookers couldn’t see what was happening?

They all started whispering to one another.

"Tsk tsk, this woman from the Li Family, what a vicious heart she has!"

"Isn’t that the truth? Able to cold-bloodedly cuckold the Wang Family in the past, today she naturally could viciously harm the Wang Family again!"

"Pah, this vixen from the Li Family, just look at her, nothing good about her, a slut who got herself pregnant while still a maiden, and yet you men still treat her like a treasure!"

...

Many disdainful looks and the lascivious gazes from the idlers towards Li Jinzhi made her scalp tingle.

But she couldn’t admit it, if she admitted it, she’d never be able to turn her life around!

Clenching her teeth, "You’re talking nonsense! If I really had spoiled the dye, how could you have dyed this cloth? You just can’t stand to see me! You just want to slander me..."

Seeing Li Jinzhi stubbornly denying it even when pushed to this point, Wang Yongping could no longer hold back, placing the backpack on the table, "Younger sister, I have something to say!"

Wang Yongzhu guessed that Wang Yongping had been holding back, and if he didn’t vent soon, he might just explode, so she nodded and stepped back, giving him the floor.

Wang Yongping stepped forward, trembling hands, "Li Jinzhi, you still won’t admit it? That day, you lied to me, saying that you walked back to Qilidun early from town, but after you sabotaged my sister’s dye at our house and left, it only took us the time of two meals to notice something was wrong with the dye and chase after you. How fast can you walk as a pregnant woman with a big belly? I chased for seven or eight miles but didn’t catch up with you. It was only when I met someone from our village who said they saw you at Eagle’s Gap getting on a carriage heading to town!"

"I asked someone to inquire, and that day you hired a carriage, the destination was Qilidun! Do you want me to bring the person forth to confront you? Moreover, the waste you threw into our family’s dye vat was bought from the Hu Family Shop, everyone knows once you ask! You’re dead set on ruining my family’s dye!"

As soon as this statement came out, the crowd was in an uproar.

If it had been a spur-of-the-moment decision to harm the Wang Family when heading there, one might argue it was a moment of jealous folly from a good woman, but from what the young man of the Wang Family had said, Li Jinzhi had clearly been premeditating this for a long time!

This was horrifying!

What were once merely disdainful looks now carried a hint of wariness! Who wouldn’t be afraid of such a vicious, scheming woman?

Wang Yongzhu, surprisingly, looked at Wang Yongping and thought, these words, and these pieces of evidence, were actually said by him? Since when could her Fourth Brother be so capable?

It was then Li Jinzhi panicked, the hiring of the carriage was one thing, but how was everything she had purchased discovered?

"How did you know that my family was dyeing cloth, and then set your heart on sabotaging us? Aside from my mother and myself, no one else in our family knew of this matter!" Wang Yongzhu asked the question that puzzled her the most.

Li Jinzhi clutched her face in silence.

The owner of the Cloth Store beside them suddenly slapped her thigh, "I remember now! You wretched person, after they left that day, either the second or third day, you came to my store to fish for information, even mentioning you’d help me procure stock in the future. I was impatient and blurted out that they were dyeing cloth to sell to me—"

With that, everything clicked into place.

The Cloth Store owner’s wife was filled with regret that turned her insides green! It was all because of her blabbermouth! If she had kept quiet, wouldn’t she have sold this fabric to herself today?

Seething with hate, the owner’s wife immediately slapped herself, but unsatisfied with just that, she turned around and slapped Li Jinzhi twice, "You malicious and despicable woman! You commit such atrocious acts, you’re no good yourself, and yet you have the nerve to harm others? I should go to the He Family and ask, are they really planning to marry such a shameless, brazen woman with a venomous heart? You’ve caused me to lose out on such a lucrative deal, you have ruined the opportunity for me to make a fortune in this lifetime! Come, come with me to the He Family, I want to ask He Dawei if he is a real man! He can’t even keep his own woman in check! Or is it that the He Family resents my Cloth Store so much they set up this trap on purpose to ensnare me? Let’s go—"

She dragged Li Jinzhi out without caring that she was still pregnant.

The onlookers, who loved a sensational scene, saw a gossip this juicy and stopped eating, left their money on the table, and all followed behind the Cloth Store owner’s wife and Li Jinzhi, heading en masse toward the He Family.

The restaurant suddenly quieted down.

It was only then that Wang Yongzhu apologized with a smile, "Sorry for disturbing Shopkeeper Wu’s business!"

"Not at all, not at all!" To Shopkeeper Wu, Wang Yongzhu now looked like the God of Wealth; how could he mind.

Moreover, he had witnessed an exciting piece of gossip himself! In the past, he only thought of Wang Yongzhu as a clever maid, and her Fourth Brother seemed unremarkable. Having dealt with him once, he had seemed simple and honest, but who would have imagined he had such cunning and methods? Could it be that he had misjudged?

After welcoming the siblings upstairs, Shopkeeper Wu eagerly asked, "Could we take another look at that piece of the uniquely dyed fabric?"

Of course, no problem.

Wang Yongzhu signaled Wang Yongping and the Shop Assistant to unfold the fabric.

Only then did Shopkeeper Wu scrutinize it again, growing fonder and more passionate the more he looked.

Turning his head, he said, "Wang Family Young Lady, I’m going to overstep and call you my niece; I hope you don’t mind!"

Wang Yongzhu shook her head to show she didn’t mind.

Shopkeeper Wu stroked his beard: "My dear niece, what is this dyeing technique called?"

Wang Yongzhu thought for a moment: "It’s called dyeing valves, something I came up with on the fly when the dyes I had were ruined, leaving me with an insufficient quantity."

Shopkeeper Wu was taken aback: "So that Li Jinzhi accidentally did a good deed with her ill intentions! She would be infuriated if she knew, wouldn’t she?"

After saying this, the two shared a knowing smile.

As for discussing business, naturally, Wang Yongping had no role in it. His job was simply to sit to one side and listen.

Although he didn’t quite understand everything, he knew it was a good opportunity to learn.

Wang Yongzhu proposed that she could provide the dye recipes and some unique secrets that were not shared, but instead of silver, she wanted to establish a dye workshop in partnership with Shopkeeper Wu.

Shopkeeper Wu would provide the location, labor, raw materials, and handle sales, while she would supply the technology and recipes.

The profits would be split with him getting seventy percent and her thirty percent.

Initially, Shopkeeper Wu was somewhat reluctant. The profits from this new dyeing method could be substantial, and he had a rough idea about that. It seemed to him more in line with maximizing profits to pay a hefty sum for the recipe outright.