114 Chapter 114: The Wang Family’s Farce
Fortunately, although the three of them were a little drunk, they were not dead drunk.
Qin Xiaoyao reminded Qin Dahu and Qin Erhu to take good care of Qin Dazhuang before returning to the courtyard dwelling. She then went to the kitchen to wash the dishes with Madam Liu and Song Yun.
When she reached the kitchen, Madam Liu refused to let her help.
“You go out and accompany Big Girl. Just leave the kitchen chores to Yun’er and me.” Madam Liu immediately chased Qin Xiaoyao out of the kitchen.
“If you’re tired, just go back to your room and sleep for a while. Take care not to let the alcohol go to your head later.” Madam Liu said with concern when she smelled the alcohol on Qin Xiaoyao.
“Hehe! Mother, I’m fine. I didn’t drink much!” Qin Xiaoyao replied with a smile.
Seeing the worry on Madam Liu’s face, she added, “Alright, Mother. I understand. Then I’ll go and chit-chat with Big Girl.”
“Go on.” Only then did Madam Liu smile.
Then, she turned around and continued with her kitchen chores.
Qin Xiaoyao had no choice but to leave the kitchen.
Thereafter, she went to the stone table in the courtyard where Big Girl Li was sitting.
Big Girl Li was sitting on the stone bench, enjoying the breeze. When she saw Qin Xiaoyao coming over, she smiled.
“Sister Sanya,” she called out to Qin Xiaoyao.
Qin Xiaoyao answered her and sat down on the stone bench beside Big Girl Li.
“After eating my fill, I came to the courtyard to get some air. It’s so comfortable…” Big Girl Li said contentedly. As the breeze blew, she closed her eyes in enjoyment.
The weather today was the coolest in recent days. There were dark clouds in the sky, and it looked like it was going to rain.
Seeing this, Qin Xiaoyao also followed suit, closing her eyes to enjoy this moment of peace.
After a while, Big Girl Li said, “What should I do, Sister Sanya? I really feel like moving in to become your neighbor right now.”
Qin Xiaoyao laughed.
“Sure. Work hard to save money, and when the time comes, you can come and live in town with your Daniu.”
Big Girl Li’s eyes became a little dejected.
“Forget it. Erniu hasn’t gotten married yet. No matter how hard Daniu and I work, we won’t be able to buy a courtyard dwelling anytime soon.” As she spoke, she swept her gaze across the courtyard before her once more.
Seeing that there was a large open space at the side, she said, “It’s such a waste to leave such a large piece of land empty.”
Qin Xiaoyao chuckled.
“Indeed, it’s a pity. I’m preparing to grow some vegetables and fruit trees.”
Big Girl Li nodded.
“Speaking of which, I want to talk to you about the Chinese Toon trees,” Qin Xiaoyao continued.
Big Girl Li was puzzled.
The season for selling Chinese Toon shoots had already passed. What use was there for the Chinese Toon trees?
“I was thinking of getting some branches of the Chinese Toon trees to make plant cuttings. In addition, if there are suitable Chinese Toon seedlings, I want to get them transplanted directly.”
Seeing Big Girl Li’s look of surprise, Qin Xiaoyao continued, “Although the location of the Chinese Toon trees is on the outer ring of the deep mountains and near the front-most mountain, it is still dangerous.”
“Even if we can sell Chinese Toon shoots again next year, I don’t want you to go into the mountains again.”
Qin Xiaoyao thought she might as well take this opportunity to stop Big Girl from entering the deep regions of the mountains again in the future.
As for the Chinese yam, it would be at least the year after the next when it would appear in the mountains again.
When the time came, she could just tell Daniu to look after her well or go into the mountains together with Big Girl.
“If we transplant the Chinese Toon trees out here, firstly, you don’t need to go into the mountains anymore, so it’s safer. Secondly, if the things are planted in our own fields, no one will hanker after them.”
Big Girl Li thought for a while and nodded.
“Alright! I’ll bring this up to my family and ask them to allocate a piece of land to grow the Chinese Toon trees.” Although the Chinese Toon shoots could only be sold for less than two months a year, their price was high.
If there were enough Chinese Toon trees, it might be more profitable than growing grain.
Qin Xiaoyao laughed.
“There’s no need to set land aside specifically to plant them. The Chinese Toon trees are easy to grow. We can just transplant some and plant them around the house.”
“Fortune Mansion and Fortune Restaurant are buying our goods at a high price because we are the only ones who can supply them. If there’s too much supply, the price may drop.”
“In addition, we have an agreement with Boss Fang. We can’t sell the Chinese Toon shoots to other people.” Therefore, there was not much advantage in planting them in large swathes.
After all, it was not wise to offend their personal God of Fortune just to grow their Chinese Toon shoots business.
Big Girl Li nodded.
“Then we’ll do as Sister Sanya says!” she answered.
Anyway, she only needed to listen to her Sister Sanya.
Qin Xiaoyao smiled and patted Big Li’s shoulder.
“Then we’ll start work after we get back to Brook Falls Village.”
She would set aside a piece of land in the courtyard to plant the Chinese Toon trees, as well as some vegetables, melons, fruits, and so on.
“Alright!”
The two of them continued to chat for a while.
Madam Liu and Song Yun finished their work, came out of the kitchen and brought up the matter of going back to Brook Falls Village.
The reason was that Madam Liu was still thinking about going back to receive the goods.
...
Even though it was the last day for them to receive goods, she did not want to miss out on the last chance to make money.
Qin Xiaoyao had no choice but to agree.
Hence, the group set off and returned to Brook Falls Village.
Back at Brook Falls Village, Qin Xiaoyao went into the mountains with Big Girl Li to dig up the Chinese Toon trees.
For the small trees, they simply dug up the whole tree. For the big ones, they cut some of the branches to use as plant cuttings.
As for Madam Liu, apart from receiving the goods, she had already arranged for her daughter and youngest son to pack up the things they needed to move to their new home.
She took some time to pack the things she needed to bring and put them aside, waiting for the day after tomorrow to move.
At the same time, in the Wang family’s residence near the Song family’s old home.
The Wang family’s residence was really lively at this time.
Zhang Mazi had brought people to fetch Wang Xiaomei today. He was prepared to bring his future daughter-in-law home in advance to marry his retarded son. (In ancient times, weddings took place at dusk.)
To his surprise, Wang Xiaomei’s brother, Wang Dashan, had returned home.
...
Wang Dashan, who had been working in town and hadn’t returned home for a while, finally heard the news from somewhere and ran back from town.
Wang Dashan was different from his parents. He truly doted on his sister.
When he found out that his parents had betrothed his sister to a retarded guy in order to arrange a marriage for him, he couldn’t allow that to go through.
After he returned, he quarreled with the Zhang family.
When the Zhang family saw this, they were also dumbfounded.
It was only then that they found out that Wang Dashan actually didn’t know about this.
However, they had already given the silver and obtained her indenture, so it was no surprise that they were unwilling to let her go.
The two sides could only face each other in a standoff, with neither side giving in.
It didn’t take long for the news to spread in Brook Falls Village.
The people nearby all came to watch the show, and some even went to invite the village chief.
The Zhang family wasn’t afraid when they saw so many people. Instead, they looked angrily at the Wang family.
“Don’t think you can bully us just because you have more people. My family gave you ten taels of silver as a betrothal gift, and we have Wang Xiaomei’s indenture too. Even if you go to the government office to sue us, Wang Xiaomei is still a member of the Zhang family!”
“Bullshit! My little sister is only twelve, not even of marriageable age. How can she get married?”
“As long as I, Wang Dashan, am here, don’t even think about taking my little sister away! Otherwise…”
“Otherwise, even if I have to rush to your village personally with a kitchen cleaver, I’ll kill that idiot of yours and get my sister back!” Wang Dashan was also forced into a corner, and he roared angrily at Zhang Mazi.
“You…” Zhang Mazi was so angry that he almost choked.
He just wanted to spend money to get his retarded son a wife. He didn’t force them to do this. The Wang family took the initiative to approach him first.
How did things turn out like this?
If he had known that Wang Dashan didn’t know about it, or that he was such a muddlehead, he would never have sent the betrothal gifts to the Wang family!