Chapter 36 Clearing Her Name

The afternoon sun was even more intense.

The woman stood in the shade of the big locust tree, holding her child, while the others surrounded the village head in the open space.

The village head broke through the crowd and walked to a large rock. As soon as he raised his hand, the scene fell silent. The weather was too hot, and there was no water to drink. Everyone hoped to finish quickly so they could fetch water.

“This morning, my mother took me up the mountain and we found a water source there.”

The village headman didn't intend to keep everyone in suspense; he went straight to the point and stated everyone's hopes.

The villagers were all excited, but they suppressed their excitement and waited for the village head to continue.

“Not long ago, Aunt Dashan discovered jade bamboo shoots on the mountain, and last night she discovered water on the mountain. She told me immediately.” The village head said solemnly, “I know that the villagers have some complaints about Aunt Dashan, but from now on, Aunt Dashan is the great benefactor of our whole village.”

Cheng Wanwan, standing in the crowd, was stunned.

She never expected that before getting down to business, the village head would actually clear her name in front of the entire village.

The original owner had a bad reputation in the village, had a strained relationship with her husband's family, and was not on good terms with her neighbors. Everyone wanted to spit on her.

After she arrived, these relationships improved, but people who didn't interact with her much would still say a few unpleasant things behind her back when they saw her.

As a modern person, she doesn't really care about what others say behind her back. Let them talk, it won't hurt her.

“Aunt Dashan could have chosen not to tell me these things, but she did anyway. She truly considers everyone in Dahe Village as one of her own.” The village head looked at the crowd below. “If you still think Aunt Dashan doesn’t deserve a word of thanks, then you may leave the Dahe Village meeting now.”

The village head was very assertive, and no one present dared to say anything; they could only express their gratitude.

"Sister-in-law Zhao, thank you so much this time."

"Grandma, I misunderstood you before."

"Aunt Zhao, I can't keep my mouth shut, so please don't take it to heart."

Whether the people were sincere or not, at least they did a good job of putting on a show.

Cheng Wanwan smiled and said, "Actually, I didn't do anything, so there's no need for everyone to be so polite."

She wasn't actually that selfless.

As for the jade bamboo shoots, the family of six couldn't dig them all up. Rather than letting them rot in the ground, they decided to sell them to the village head for a good price.

It's impossible for her to handle the water source issue alone; bringing water down from the mountain requires the efforts of the entire village.

"There's a water source on the mountain. Just dig it up and lots and lots of water gushes out. It's spring water, you can drink it directly, it's very sweet." The village head smiled. "Our village has water to drink now. We don't need to exchange grain for water with Chengjia Village and Guihua Village anymore. Dahe Village is blessed by heaven, God won't watch us suffer!"

"There's water now!"

"Great, we have water to drink!"

"..."

The villagers danced with excitement.

"It's not enough for people to have water to drink; we must also make sure that rice plants have water to drink."

The village head suddenly raised his voice, and the crowd, who had just been excited, were all stunned.

How to ensure the rice has enough water?

Why is this so hard to understand?

"Zhao Ergou, come up here and tell everyone!"

The village head gave up his position.

After Zhao Ergou went down the mountain, he went home to change his clothes. Although they were still patched, at least they were cleaner.

He walked onto the stage, somewhat nervous, as this was the first time he had spoken in front of so many people.

"There's plenty of water on the mountain, enough to irrigate the rice. As long as we can get the water into the paddy fields, we'll have a bumper harvest this year!" Zhao Ergou said calmly and methodically. "I've calculated it. It's about 3,000 zhang from the top of the mountain to the bottom. If all four or five hundred laborers in the village work together to dig the ditch, we can dig a canal down from the mountain in two and a half days..."

"Er Gouzi, what nonsense are you spouting!"

"Digging a ditch down from the mountain is just absurd."

"If everyone in the village goes to dig ditches, who will do the work in the fields? This is ridiculous."

No one in the village believed it.

They used to clear land and dig fields, and it would take the whole family many days to dig one acre of land. It would probably be even more difficult to dig a ditch down from the mountain.

Er Gouzi casually said it would only take two and a half days; he's just trying to scam people.

A chorus of mocking voices erupted from below, creating a noisy atmosphere.

Zhao Ergou had never faced such a situation before and stood there somewhat at a loss.

He's only sixteen, which would be considered a high school student in modern times. If he can handle such a situation well, Cheng Wanwan would praise him for his courage.

She stepped onto the stage and stood beside Zhao Ergou.

As soon as she went up, the crowd below gradually quieted down.

The crowd wasn't afraid of her; they were more surprised. In their minds, Sister-in-law Zhao was just a rough, unsophisticated village woman. But now, she looked much younger, mainly because she was cleaner, her clothes weren't so shabby, and her skin even seemed fairer…

Cheng Wanwan used to be a boss who often gave speeches. Everyone below stared at her, but she was not intimidated at all.

She spoke softly, "Father Tiezhu, can I trouble you with something?"

Zhao Anjiang immediately nodded: "Sister-in-law Zhao, please give your instructions."

“Bring a shovel over here, right in front of everyone, and dig a ditch.” Cheng Wanwan said calmly, “Everyone can calculate how long it will take Tiezhu’s father to dig a ditch.”

Zhao Anjiang was in his early thirties, the prime of his life, full of strength. With one shovel stroke, he immediately created a large pit in the ground.

He buried his head and continued digging. In less than fifteen minutes, he had dug a trench ten feet long.

Everyone was dumbfounded. Was digging a ditch really that easy?

“The soil on the mountain is quite hard and mixed with sand and gravel, so a quarter of an hour is definitely not enough. Let’s say two hours.” Cheng Wanwan took a step back. “Ergou, this idea came from you. You should explain it to everyone.”

She stepped down from the stage, relinquishing her home advantage.

Zhao Ergou had already calculated it countless times during the night. He gave everyone a breakdown of the accounts without any stuttering. With Zhao Anjiang's demonstration first and Zhao Ergou's reasonable and well-founded explanation, most of the villagers had been convinced.

At this moment, the village head stepped forward and said, "This is a major event for everyone in our Dahe Village. Therefore, all able-bodied men over the age of sixteen in the village must participate in digging ditches. Everyone go back and prepare, bring your farm tools, and we will set off together up the mountain in half an hour."

A small number of people remained skeptical.

"Village head, what if there isn't enough water on the mountain?"

"Village head, what if the water stops flowing halfway through? My fields are far away, what if the water can't reach them?"

"Anyway, I'm not doing any work!" Zhang Wulai sneered. "It's unbelievable that people actually believe the nonsense spouted by Sister-in-law Zhao, a mere woman. She's just messing around with everyone. Why should whatever she says be the truth?"

A very small minority of people in the crowd agreed with this view.

For example, Aunt Fugui's husband has his eye on Zhao Chengshi, that widow, and she has disliked Cheng Wanwan for a long time.

Then there's Sun, who's always ranked second among the three daughters-in-law in the Zhao family. Of course, if she could give birth to a son, she would definitely be ranked first. Now that her eldest sister-in-law has actually gained the support of the village head, it means that she's going to be at the bottom of the three daughters-in-law rankings. How could she be happy about that...?

"Shut up!" The village head glared coldly at Zhang Wulai. "You can refuse to help, but when the water from the mountain comes down, your family won't get a single drop of water from your rice paddies! Anyone else with objections can leave now! I don't care if outsiders want to leave, but if it's someone from the Zhao family, I'll expel them from the ancestral hall!"

The village head rarely lost his temper, but after his stern words, no one dared to say anything more. Except for Zhang the Rascal, everyone obediently went back to get their farm tools.