The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 652 - 651 Cause

Chapter 652: Chapter 651 Cause

After the memorial hall was set up, monks and Taoist priests were invited. They sat on either side, one side performing rituals and the other chanting scripture, bringing an immediate bustle to the hall.

Wang Yonggui, Wang Yongping, and Jinhoo, all dressed in mourning clothes, knelt before the coffin in the memorial hall, crying and burning paper offerings.

With no one coming to offer condolences, except for the lively periods when monks and Taoists were chanting or performing rituals, the times of their rest seemed somewhat desolate.

Old Granny Zhang, after all, was advanced in years. She had stayed up from the night before until it went dark again and could no longer hold up.

Wang Yongzhu and Song Chongjin, being married daughters and sons-in-law, were not required to keep constant vigil but only needed to come and weep at the appropriate times.

Thus, the inside and outside affairs were all left for the two of them to manage.

Seeing Old Granny Zhang in such a state, Wang Yongzhu unhesitatingly led her back to the room to rest.

Old Granny Zhang climbed onto the kang bed and fell asleep quickly.

Wang Yongzhu, seeing that Old Granny Zhang had fallen asleep, still frowning as if not fully at ease, tucked in the quilt for her and sat beside her.

She began to call out to the Xiao Tiantian System, "Xiao Tiantian, did you hear that? If you can hear me, come out immediately—"

It took Xiao Tiantian quite a while to respond hesitantly, "Umm, Host, do you need something? I am really busy right now—"

"Xiao Tiantian, are you sure you haven’t made a mistake? Why was I able to exchange for medicine that could treat my big brother’s leg injury before, and even the medicine for Wang Yongzhen’s fever, but when it was my father’s turn, I couldn’t exchange for it?" Wang Yongzhu’s face was frosted over with considerable anger.

Originally, upon arriving and seeing the state Wang Laozhu was in, she had considered exchanging for medicine from Xiao Tiantian to nurse him back to health and prevent any accidents.

However, her suggestion was flatly denied by Xiao Tiantian.

The reply Xiao Tiantian gave was that the store didn’t have any good medicine for that kind of illness, so it couldn’t be exchanged, and then it immediately went offline, not responding to any calls.

Wang Yongzhu felt something suspicious at the time.

And when Wang Laozhu actually passed away, her suspicions grew stronger. Now that she finally had time, she tried calling for Xiao Tiantian again.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Tiantian did emerge.

"What exactly is going on?" Wang Yongzhu had a guess in her heart.

"Host, all the medicines available for exchange in this system come with a premise: they only work if it’s an issue with bodily functions, and the core life force hasn’t suffered severe damage. Like Wang Yongfu’s leg injury or Wang Yongzhen’s high fever, these cause harm to their bodies but don’t threaten their lives. For such injuries and illnesses, it’s fine if the Host wishes to exchange Points—"

"However, Wang Laozhu’s bodily functions have already been damaged by medicine. In your terms, he was ’burning the candle at both ends.’ Even the medical capabilities of his plane of existence couldn’t save his life. Therefore, according to the System and space-time laws, this System can’t provide medicine that could bring an ancestral resident like Wang Laozhu back from the dead!"

Wang Yongzhu understood—In a word, they could treat but not save lives!

"Then why didn’t you explain this beforehand?" Wang Yongzhu challenged. If Xiao Tiantian had explained these rules, she would have been reasonable. Besides, if the system’s store didn’t have life-saving medicine, she couldn’t conjure it from nothing, could she?

If she had such abilities, why would she need the System?

"I was worried you would find me useless," Xiao Tiantian answered with a bashful tone.

...

"I’m not an idiot. If your systems were really omnipotent and could do anything, then how could a host end up in such a plight? Not to mention, power without control and restraint is the most terrifying! If you were that kind of system, I would rather die than bind with you, otherwise, who knows what kind of price I would eventually have to pay? Pies don’t just fall from the sky!" Wang Yongzhu sneered.

She wasn’t a fool; the more imperfect the system, the more real it felt.

If everything could be exchanged and achieved, such a system defying the heavens would not allow her a moment’s rest. It was only Xiao Tiantian’s occasionally erring, dumb and cute system that she could barely accept.

However, there was no need to explain all this to Xiao Tiantian.

What Xiao Tiantian expressed today, however, did arouse her concerns.

Old Granny Zhang was getting on in years, and before, Wang Yongzhu thought that with the system, even a headache or fever wouldn’t be a worry.

But now it seemed that she couldn’t afford to take things lightly; she had to make sure Old Granny Zhang took care of her health to prevent small illnesses from accumulating into serious ones.

Having made up her mind, Wang Yongzhu wasn’t in the mood to talk more with Xiao Tiantian. There were many things still to be done outside, so she simply let Xiao Tiantian ’kneel down and be excused’.

Xiao Tiantian seemed to have more to say, but Wang Yongzhu ignored her outright.

Seeing that Old Granny Zhang was sleeping soundly, Wang Yongzhu felt at ease and stood up to go out and deal with other matters.

In the mourning hall, the dutiful sons and grandsons had to keep vigil all night. The monks and Taoist priests, after chanting for several hours, were also dozing off, swaying slightly.

Song Chongjin arranged everything for the next day and was about to go to the mourning hall when he ran into Wang Yongzhu.

He hurriedly came up to hold her hand, "Are you cold? You must be tired. I had the kitchen make some tremella soup. Have a bowl later to warm yourself up."

Wang Yongzhu held Song Chongjin’s hand back, "You’ve been working hard too—"

They looked into each other’s eyes, and everything was communicated in that glance, no more words needed.

Walking hand in hand at a slow pace, Wang Yongzhu finally spoke, "Starting tomorrow, I’ll take care of the household affairs. We have no outside guests coming to pay their respects. We just need to wait for the masters to finish chanting for three days, then we can move father’s wooden statue to the temple for temporary storage. I don’t know the situation with Wang Yongan yet; you should go check on his dealings with Gao Jin."

As she spoke, she remembered something, "Yesterday, the old lady who chatted with me mentioned the origins of Qi City. She said that Qi City grew from a small town to a county town relying on the mines. It started with the Imperial Court sending troops to station here to guard the mines, and over time, those original stationed troops simply stayed in Qi City."

"Those soldiers got married and had children locally, proliferating their offspring. The leaders with power eventually became local tyrants. These so-called stationed troops from the Imperial Court are better described as the private armies of that generation of soldiers. They have deep roots and a vast network of relations—it is they who are the real power brokers in Qi City."

"Previous County Magistrates, if they didn’t get along with these people, couldn’t stay in Qi City. They either got chased away or couldn’t stand the corruption and left on their own initiative."

"Gao Jin has been the County Magistrate of Qi City for over half a year now, still as steady as Mount Tai. I suspect that Gao Jin has colluded with those tyrants. Didn’t Boss Ma and the others end up trapped in a private mine? Maybe you should follow this thread to investigate?"

Wang Yongzhu suggested.

"I’ve already sent someone to invite Boss Ma and his people to Qi City. I’ve also had someone tail Wang Yongan. In the past few days, it seems Wang Yongan has been attending several gatherings with Gao Jin, all hosted by those tyrants. I suspect Wang Yongan has gotten involved too," Song Chongjin said with a glint of joy in his eyes.

Nothing was more pleasing than having a wife who understood him so well!