Chapter 114 Even wandering ghosts should pity him

The Jiang family, mother and son, became famous in Lijiazhuang and even throughout Zhuanglang County.

The payment of grain and taxes in other villages was temporarily suspended. It is said that a reckless woman got into a fight with the village head and his officers. If she hadn't been lucky enough to be spotted by the governor who was traveling incognito, she would have been beaten to death.

But that reckless woman did what many people wanted to do but dared not.

If it weren't for him, those irregular grain measures would have continued to rob them of their food.

It is said that Lord Xie went to the county government office to personally supervise the investigation of this matter. Once the gods had clarified the matter and the new grain measures were completed, they would continue to collect grain and pay taxes.

Song Chunxue, who knew nothing about this, only cared about the potatoes in the field.

This year's potatoes are big and plentiful, but unfortunately some have gone bad. These days we've been having braised potatoes in a pot every night, along with a couple of side dishes. It's delicious.

The Cheng family was busy finding connections and backers for Cheng Yuan, so they had no time to deal with the Jiang family, which made Song Chunxue happy to have some free time.

Counting the days, Chen Feng has already finished her postpartum confinement, and the eldest son hasn't made any arrangements for a full-month celebration.

Song Chunxue only cared about when they would move out.

If they don't take it seriously, she'll have the fourth brother urge them.

Although the two of them have been quite sensible these days, she won't spend any more time on the eldest son; it's better for them to live further away.

If he finds it difficult to get water, she can lend him a donkey so that he can carry water from the ditch every day until his water cellar is dug.

At noon, Song Chunxue stopped and ate her dry rations in a shady spot about half a foot wide, under the embankment.

The fourth brother will come with a donkey cart to collect potatoes later, and she'll dig for a while longer after we finish eating.

"You dug so much today, more than I did." Li Dazui suddenly came over from a nearby path carrying a hoe.

Song Chunxue ignored him.

I knew he couldn't keep quiet; he'd definitely find a chance to ask him a lot of questions.

But Li Dazui didn't feel embarrassed at all. To avoid suspicion, he walked along the ridge above Song Chunxue and sat down three or four meters away from her.

"Do you want some melons? I just randomly threw some seeds in the ground, and they grew quite a few. I can't eat them all by myself."

"I am not."

"You must feel uncomfortable eating steamed buns, why not eat some melon?" Li Dazui said, taking out a melon the size of a bowl from his cloth bag, and tossing it onto Song Chunxue's lap.

Song Chunxue was almost hit and suffered internal injuries.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, this melon isn't heavy, it won't hurt." Seeing Song Chunxue's bad expression, Li Dazui chuckled to himself.

Song Chunxue didn't plan to eat any more and continued eating her steamed buns.

"You've really become a hero this time, making everyone look at you in a new light. I heard that the three Cheng brothers came to your house and caused trouble that night, but your whole family ganged up on them and drove them away?"

At this point, Li Dazui slapped his thigh and laughed again, "They really have a lot of face. The Cheng brothers have bullied the villagers a lot over the years. They take advantage of their height and like to lay hands on people."

"As you know, not many of us Li brothers are tall. Only my second brother is a little tall. The others are all short. My fourth brother was even lifted up and weighed by them."

Li Dazui cursed, "If it weren't for my fourth brother's good temper, stopping us from arguing with him, we would have already grabbed hoes and shovels and gone to fight him."

Song Chunxue listened quietly; she knew that the fourth brother he was referring to was Li Mengchun.

I used to think the Li brothers were hypocritical, but now I realize they are people of great wisdom.

"Hey, Song Chunxue, why are you acting so aloof now? You've got too much guts to look down on an old bachelor like me?"

Song Chunxue scolded him irritably, "When did I ever fall for an old bachelor like you?"

"What I mean is, you look down on chatting with people like us, in broad daylight and in the open, and you're worried about what others will say? I often chat with other women and men without any problems, but you insist on avoiding me, right?"

Li Dazui pouted and muttered discontentedly, "You big, rich people look down on old men like us who live alone."

Song Chunxue was so angry she laughed; this person was truly shameless.

However, she was curious about what everyone had been talking about lately.

"Then tell me, what are other people saying about me?" Song Chunxue said seriously. "Aren't you the most well-informed? Pick out the nice things to say."

Li Dazui's legs dangled on the edge of the ground. Upon hearing this, he sat cross-legged on the edge of the ground, a smile on his face indicating he was ready to speak his mind.

"Everyone says that when Lord Xie came to your house that day, you dressed up very nicely, and you must have been trying to seduce him, but unfortunately he didn't even look at you."

"..." They just blurt things out without thinking. Which of their eyes saw her seducing someone?

It's fine to compliment clothes on their appearance, but to insult people like that is unacceptable.

However, Song Chunxue was already used to it, and this was already quite subtle.

"Anything else?"

"And what about your five taels of silver? How do you plan to spend it?" Li Dazui asked in a low voice. "It's definitely not a good idea to keep it at home. I'm not afraid of thieves stealing it, but I'm afraid of thieves eyeing it."

"I'm going to Zhuanglang City in a couple of days and I'll spend it all."

Li Dazui almost choked after taking a sip of water.

"What can you buy that will cost you all?"

“Buying land, huh? I want to be a city dweller in the future.” Song Chunxue looked at the fourth brother pulling the donkey cart up in the distance and said seriously, “I want to leave this village in the future and stay away from trouble.”

"Huh?" Li Dazui laughed, "Are you crazy?"

"These days, who buys land in a small town? What can you grow on a piece of land in Zhuanglang City? Besides, the land there isn't fertile; you'll starve to death sooner or later if you buy a piece. Everyone there has gone to Liangzhou to buy land. You're really foolish and have too much money."

Yes, if she could buy a piece of land in Liangzhou, she could see Hongying more often in the future. Their home is only about ten miles from Liangzhou City.

Unfortunately, she had no money, and the journey was so long that she would have to spend the rest of her life on the road.

“I’m willing. Don’t underestimate Zhuanglang City. If the country becomes strong in the future and we have good weather and abundant harvests, the land will naturally become more valuable as the city becomes more populated.” With that, Song Chunxue stood up. “I’m not going to talk to you anymore. I’m going to dig for a while longer.”

Li Dazui remained seated, figuring that working wouldn't interfere with chatting.

He looked into the distance and saw that his eldest brother, Jiang Yeming, seemed to have returned from the new village.

"By the way, your eldest grandson should be a month old by now, right? Are you going to have a banquet? Take this opportunity to get back the gifts we gave out before."

Song Chunxue said calmly, "That depends on what the boss thinks. I won't make decisions about their affairs now."

"By the way, I heard that a Taoist priest came to your house before. Did he say anything, and how many copper coins did he swindle out of you?"

As the fourth brother loaded potatoes into the truck, he teased him, "How do you know everything? Are you a super-hearing machine or a super-vision machine?"

Li Dazui wasn't angry. "Don't make fun of me. You're still young, kid. You don't understand my difficulties."

He sighed deeply, "I live alone. If I don't care about other people's affairs, I won't survive. I found a wife for my son, but she's not even interested."

“Every family in this village is prosperous. It’s just that my short-lived wife who passed away after giving birth to two children, leaving me alone to guard this place for so many years.”

"Now that my daughter is married and my son is never home, I don't even want to go into the yard. After eating, I sit under the tree by the door and lean against it. I'm not in good health and I often cough. If the ghosts and spirits of the village pass by, they would all shed a tear of sympathy for me."

As he spoke, Li Dazui raised his hand and touched the corner of his eye, as if he had really made himself cry.