The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 311 Ruining the Reputation

Chapter 311: Chapter 311 Ruining the Reputation

Startled awake, he looked at Song Chongjin’s surprised expression, his whole being felt wrong, "You... what did you say?"

"Kneel down? Call me daddy?" Song Chongjin’s eyes narrowed slightly, smiling as he repeated it.

"Uh, I... I was talking in my sleep, just pretend you didn’t hear it! Uh, right, what did you just say, I don’t think I caught that clearly either—" Wang Yongzhu wore a surface smile, but inwardly cursed.

He really wanted to send Song Chongjin two words, ’Ha ha.’

Just being friendly and you’re already in a rush to become a son-in-law?

What are you trying to do?

Song Chongjin, seeing Wang Yongzhu’s wary expression, didn’t know what to think, a hint of sadness flashed through his eyes, and after a long while, his mouth curved into a slight smile, "I didn’t say much, just asked if squeezing like this made it any more comfortable."

Then he stopped talking and bent his head to continue massaging Wang Yongzhu’s arm.

Wang Yongzhu looked at Song Chongjin incredulously, was this still the same Song Chongjin?

Another look, no switcheroo, right? Could it be that he too had been transported through time? Impossible!

Wang Yongzhu, a bit dumbfounded by the way Song Chongjin went along with his words as if he really hadn’t heard anything and as if he hadn’t said anything, failed to notice the darkness in the eyes of Song Chongjin, who was looking down.

Meanwhile, the villagers of Qilidun, after setting out to fight for water, spontaneously gathered at the riverside. By close to midnight, under the illumination of torches, they first heard the babbling sound of flowing water, and then they saw a silver line rushing down the river channel.

"Water! There’s water!"

"The water’s coming!"

Everyone started murmuring excitedly.

The downstream river channel had been blocked, and the river quickly filled with water. The inlets to the irrigation ditches had been dug out, and water gurgled into the ditches meant to irrigate the fields.

People from every household were guarding their plots of land. This was a race against the clock, where speed determined who could get the water first for their fields.

Wang Laozhu had taken Jindou and Jinhu early on to dig a large opening in the embankment of his field, waiting for the water from the channel to flow in.

Because his rice paddies were in the midsection of the channel, by the time the water slowed down at his location, though it could flow into his own rice paddies, Wang Laozhu was still anxious; that speed was simply too slow. With his more than ten acres of rice paddies, when would they ever get filled?

He called out to Jindou and Jinhu to set up the waterwheel for manual irrigation.

The households further downstream, seeing this, hurriedly set up their waterwheels as well, and under the light of the torches, every family was bustling with activity.

Before long, the young men who had gone to fight for water also rushed back and headed towards their own fields to help out.

When Wang Yongping arrived at the field, he looked around and, unsatisfied with the size of the openings, took a shovel and quickly dug a few more, speeding up the water flow into the paddies. Only then, satisfied, did he move on to work the waterwheel.

Wang Laozhu then asked, "Why are you alone? Where’s Zhuzhu?"

Wang Yongping briefly recounted the events, "Little sister and the Song family brothers are staying there to keep watch, worried that Jinquan Bay might block the river channel again in the middle of the night. Concerned about home, we came back first."

Wang Laozhu gasped for breath, "Are you a pig-brain? You all came back, leaving your sister and a young man from the Song Family—unmarried and alone—in that wild land. Aren’t you afraid of what people will say about your sister behind her back? Does her reputation not matter to you?"

Wang Yongping was also aggrieved, "I did say that, but Zhuzhu told me to come back, claiming that everything was fine!"

"If your little sister told you to die, would you do it?" An exasperated Wang Laozhu asked.

Jumping off the waterwheel, he was determined to drag his daughter back home, utterly furious.

If they didn’t act quickly, with so many people gathering to fight for water, if word got out, his daughter’s reputation would be ruined.

He hadn’t walked far when he ran into Old Granny Zhang.

While the menfolk like Jindou were busy with their fields, no one was taking care of his daughter’s land, and this was on Old Granny Zhang’s mind.

Taking advantage of the absence of the Wang Family, she sneakily ran to the edge of her daughter’s field. The water was still quite strong where it reached the upper reaches of her land, and with only a few large openings made, the water poured into the field. This somewhat eased her worries.

Then, thinking of checking on her own field, she encountered Wang Laozhu on her way there.

Wang Laozhu dragged her to the side, explained the situation, and added bitterly while stamping his foot, "Once I drag that maid back, we’ll have to have a serious talk! In the dead of night, how can she stay alone with a young man from another family? Doesn’t she care about her dignity at all? The Wang Family’s reputation will be tarnished!"

Old Granny Zhang was initially somewhat anxious when she heard this, but she wasn’t as flustered as Wang Laozhu. These days, with her old yet sharp eyes, she had realized that the young Song Chongjin was truly smitten with her daughter.

He found excuses to be near her, and even the repurchase of their family’s land was greatly aided by him. His blatant courtship had flipped the dynamic between them completely around.

As for her daughter, Old Granny Zhang wasn’t quite sure how she felt. To say her daughter had lost interest in Song Chongjin didn’t seem quite right, as she hadn’t seen her daughter push him away.

To say she had an interest in him, however, appeared too cold; whether Song Chongjin visited or not, she remained the same—indifferent, neither thrilled nor saddened.

But a mother knows her daughter best. Ever since her daughter changed her ways and started to act more prudently, if she wanted to avoid suspicion, she would certainly not have let Laosi stay.

Not keeping Laosi around meant she knew what she was doing.

She, an old granny, couldn’t drag her daughter down. Even if, heaven forbid, her daughter’s reputation soured—which, spit—wasn’t as if her daughter’s reputation had always been sterling anyway?

Hearing Wang Laozhu’s words again, she found them particularly grating, "Tsk! What reputation does the Old Wang Family even have? Wasn’t the reputation already ruined by that wench Lin Xinghua and that beast Laosi? What does that have to do with my daughter? Now you swagger around being respectfully called ’Old Brother’ by outsiders, do you really think you’ve become something special? Aren’t you just basking in my daughter’s glory? Putting on airs for what? If you dislike my daughter for tarnishing the Wang Family’s name, then let’s separate the households! After that, I suppose the Old Wang Family’s name will be all clear, eh?"

At the mention of dividing the household, Wang Laozhu fell silent.

He just pointed at Old Granny Zhang, "Keep spoiling her! Sooner or later, it will lead to trouble!" he said, huffing away in anger.

After returning to his house, Wang Laozhu moodily went to bed to sulk. After all, he was getting on in years; after staying up most of the night and exerting himself with physical labor, he just couldn’t hold up, and soon he was snoring loudly.

Old Granny Zhang, having followed at Wang Laozhu’s heels, stood at her doorway and glanced at the straw pile—she surprisingly didn’t see Lady Lin. She muttered to herself before entering the house and started calling out for Lady Jiang to prepare breakfast.

The two women busied themselves early in the morning, steaming buns and brewing mung bean porridge.