The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 267: Calamity

Chapter 267: Chapter 267: Calamity

Li Jinzhi was slapped awake by the slap, and in her frenzy, she pushed over He Dawei’s mother, her eyes bloodshot as she stared at Wang Yongping, "You deceived me! How could you possibly not marry me? Didn’t you promise me in the beginning, swore that you would marry only me, and love only me in this lifetime? Now that I’ve agreed to marry you, why won’t you marry me—"

The distorted expression, nearly insane eyes, made everyone around them have goosebumps.

Li Jinzhi lunged towards Wang Yongping, seemingly determined to get some clarity.

Wang Yongping hurriedly backed away, but was not fast enough to escape Li Jinzhi’s frenzied pace, and she was about to catch him.

A figure flashed out from behind Wang Yongping; it held out a hand to chop the back of Li Jinzhi’s neck, and she rolled her eyes and collapsed to the ground.

"Ah— there’s a dead person—" the onlookers began to shout.

"What are you yelling about? She just fainted; if she really went mad, someone would have died!" a knowledgeable person scolded.

Wang Yongzhu clapped her hands, looked at the He Family members, and both He Dawei and the He elders couldn’t help but take two steps backward.

"Take her away! If I see Li Jinzhi harassing our Wang Family again, I will hold only you, the He Family, accountable!" With that, she stomped forcefully on the ground, and the bluestone slab at the entrance of the grocery store immediately shattered into several pieces.

Silence fell around them, with only a few clear sounds of swallowing saliva.

He Dawei was the first to recover. Nodding like a pecking chicken, he said, "We understand! We won’t let Li Jinzhi go look for you!"

Saying so, he didn’t bother with anything else and dragged the unconscious Li Jinzhi away.

The people nearby also looked at Wang Yongzhu with awe, keeping their distance.

Only then did Wang Yongzhu turn to Shopkeeper Wu, who had been disturbed by the commotion and watched from the grocery store, and apologized, "Shopkeeper Wu, I’m really sorry for the trouble, how much for the bluestone slab? We’ll compensate!"

"No need, no need! My goodness, niece, I never saw it coming, you, you are—" Shopkeeper Wu looked at Wang Yongzhu with a hint of fear and respect in his eyes.

Wang Yongzhu smiled faintly, pretending not to notice, "It’s just natural strength, sorry for making you laugh, Shopkeeper Wu."

Shopkeeper Wu was quick with his praises, completely discarding any contempt from his heart.

After bidding farewell to Shopkeeper Wu, the siblings headed home in the midst of the townfolks’ gaze.

Once out of the town and with no one else in sight, Wang Yongzhu finally spoke, "Fourth Brother, those words you said to Li Jinzhi at the restaurant, who taught them to you?"

Wang Yongzhu knew Wang Yongping well; even if he had become more sensible, he wouldn’t have come up with those words on his own, so there had to be someone guiding him.

Wang Yongping answered honestly, "Those few days when you drove me out and told me not to come home until night, I had nowhere to go, so I went up the mountain. I ran into the Song family brothers; they found me a nuisance following them, and they gave me some advice. I only found that coachman, and the Song Brothers told me where to buy the dye!"

Wang Yongzhu’s expression grew severe, what was Song Chongjin doing?

"Did you mean what you said to Li Jinzhi today? Were they your true feelings?" Wang Yongzhu didn’t bother puzzling over them further, and simply asked Wang Yongping directly.

Wang Yongping was almost ready to bare his heart, "Little sister, your Fourth Brother truly knows his mistake! Every word I said is true! I swear, if I still like Li Jinzhi, if I still think of her, may I never get married in my life—"

Wang Yongzhu chuckled, "If you still think of Li Jinzhi, you’ll surely never get married in your lifetime! Even if you want to, I won’t let you bring disaster upon another girl!"

Wang Yongping...

Nevertheless, even with his simple-mindedness, he could see that his little sister was very satisfied with his performance today, and the worry he had been carrying finally settled.

Returning to the Wang Family home, Old Granny Zhang hadn’t gone anywhere all day and instead waited at home for her daughter to come back.

As soon as Wang Yongzhu stepped into the courtyard, she repeatedly instructed to draw water and told Lady Jiang to start cooking.

As for Wang Yongping, the entire family acted as if they hadn’t seen him; he could only obediently set his carrying basket down and casually washed his hands twice at the well.

Lady Jiang had been keeping water heated in the stove room all the while, and seeing her younger sister-in-law return, she stoked the fire to boil the water and put the already rolled noodles into the pot to cook, even adding two poached eggs on top.

Of course, all of this was for Wang Yongzhu, and it was already good enough that Wang Yongping got to eat some noodles with them.

After dinner, Wang Yongzhu called the whole family into Wang Laozhu’s room.

In front of the whole family, she briefly recounted the events of the day and took out the silver note of One Hundred and Fifty Taels, handing it to Old Granny Zhang, "Here’s the One Hundred and Fifty Taels. I’ve calculated and, together with the silver we had left over from last time, it should be just about enough to redeem our family’s land!"

At these words, the Wang Family burst into an uproar.

Especially Wang Laozhu, whose eyes reddened. For him, without land, there was no foundation; even though his eldest daughter had found a way to make money, he still felt empty inside.

He always felt like he couldn’t find solid ground under his feet.

Now, hearing that they could redeem their family’s land, his heart felt half settled. As long as he could buy back all the land, even if he were to close his eyes in death right then, he could do so with dignity before his ancestors.

"Zhuzhu... this family owes so much to you!" In this moment, Wang Laozhu completely let go of his burden.

His eldest daughter was conscientious! Dependable!

It seemed that in a lifetime of raising five or six children, it was only in his old age that he realized that only his eldest daughter was his reliable support.

Wang Laozhu’s emotions were particularly complex.

There was no need to mention the others; they had all grown up in a farming household and knew the importance of land.

Now that they knew they could buy back their fields, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

In their minds, even if the business deal fell through, at least they still had their land to fall back on, and their family’s life could still carry on.

Old Granny Zhang felt the silver note in her hands, carefully put it away, and looked at everyone’s cheerful and smiling faces, her heart just couldn’t be happy.

Show off for what? Be happy for what? They were all living off their daughter’s blood!

The thought alone pained her heart - no, she couldn’t let her daughter suffer this loss in vain. She had to make things clear today, otherwise, in the future, if the family kept counting on her daughter’s share of the profits, how could they manage?

With a cold snort, she said, "Everyone better calm down! What’s there to show off? Did you earn this silver? It’s all thanks to Zhuzhu! Without Zhuzhu, our family would be drinking the northwest wind right now!"

Following Old Granny Zhang’s words, everyone’s face turned somewhat embarrassed, particularly Wang Laozhu, Wang Yongfu, and Wang Yongping.

As the men of the Wang Family, they were normally expected to hold up the household, but now, the Wang Family had to rely on Wang Yongzhu. To say it out loud, it did indeed feel somewhat shameful.

"Old woman... what are you trying to say..." Wang Laozhu still understood his wife and knew she was surely feeling sorry for their daughter again, wanting to get some benefit for her.

Considering the great contribution their eldest daughter had made, as long as the request wasn’t excessive, he was willing to agree to it.