Chapter 75 Chapter 75 Calculation

That day, Chen Yushun felt a little more relaxed and went to Ren's house.

People called him several times, but he lay on the bed and didn't want to see anyone. Things had become so embarrassing, and now that he was feeling better, he wanted to go and put an end to it.

Ren prepared a table full of dishes at home, but the Sun family was deserted, with only these two people sitting at the table.

You looked at me, and I looked at you.

Chen Yushun seemed to have aged ten years overnight. He was still the same person, but his face had become yellow and his body had become much thinner. He no longer had the proud look he once had.

Seeing the man in such a miserable state, Ren Shi couldn't describe the feeling. There was no light in her eyes, as if they were a pool of stagnant water.

"Thank you for coming to see me. I'm sorry that you lost your prestigious position as village chief."

"Back then, when you said I was waiting for you, I didn't even marry into a wealthy family in the city, and I was turned away by many matchmakers.

I waited and waited, from the age of twenty-eight until I was twenty-five or twenty-six, and finally I waited for you to catch the eye of Master Qian. I thought my time had finally come to an end, but now you tell me that to become the village chief, you need the support of a respectable in-law family, and you tell me that you want to marry the daughter of the Xiao family."

Ren had changed from her previous crazy appearance and became gentle and virtuous again. When she talked about the past, she was as calm as if she was talking about someone else's business.

She and Chen Yushun picked up a piece of food with their chopsticks and put it in their bowls. "To help you succeed in your career, I have no choice but to marry someone else. I'm past my prime, and I've offended the matchmaker, so in the end, I can only marry a short-lived person from the Sun family."

Chen Yushun frowned, "If your parents hadn't disliked my poverty, I wouldn't have ended up like this!"

Ren smiled and said, "It's true that my parents disliked your poverty, but you promised them that you would make a name for yourself and never let me down. And why did you later marry a girl from the Xiao family to secure your position as village head?"

"After we got married, outsiders only knew how much you cared for me, but they didn't know how many shameful things Dasheng did for you. In order to teach you to hold your head up in front of the Xiao family, he gave you a lot of money."

Chen Yushun remained silent. He felt guilty, but he had to argue, "You Shanxi and I are not what you think."

Ren shook her head. "It's nothing serious now that things have come to this. You worked so hard to get the position of village chief, and now I've ruined it. From now on, we owe each other nothing."

Chen Yushun was silent when he heard Ren say this. He had originally wanted to come here to end the relationship, but he was afraid that Ren would go crazy and refuse. Now that she said it, he felt relieved but also sad.

He said, "I don't blame you for this. It's because things have been going so smoothly for the past few years that I became careless and didn't take precautions, which is why I ended up being schemed against."

Ren was speechless. She picked up the wine pot and poured two cups of wine. She kept one for herself and gave one to Chen Yushun.

"After you drink this wine, we can go our separate ways from now on."

Seeing this, Chen Yushun said nothing more and picked up the wine cup.

Ren saw that his eyes were filled with reluctance, but his movements in holding the wine were very nimble. She smiled sadly, clinked the wine cup with him, and drank the wine in one gulp.

Chen Yushun also took a sip, but he had been lying down for some time and his body was not feeling well even after recovering, so he couldn't eat too much.

After swallowing some wine, he felt that the taste was a bit strange and he didn't want to drink anymore. Then he thought that if he didn't drink before parting with the party, Ren would think that he was reluctant to leave. Just as he was about to finish the whole cup of wine, he heard a thud.

Ren fell to the ground with her body tilted to one side, blood oozing from her mouth. Chen Yushun was horrified and was about to go over and call out to Ren, but he felt a piercing pain.

The strength in his limbs faded in an instant, and he collapsed to the ground. His internal organs ached, and he tried to crawl out, but he was powerless...

When the people found out, it was already midnight. Seeing that Chen Yushun had been out for more than a night and still hadn't returned home, Xiao started cursing in the house, saying that the man was completely shameless and had gone to the widow's house in the Sun family and simply didn't come back home.

Chen Yushun's son couldn't bear to hear it anymore, so he went to Sun's house to look for her.

When I got there, I saw the lights on in Sun's house and two people lying on the ground.

They hurriedly called Doctor Zhu over, but found out that Ren had died a long time ago, while Chen Yushun was still alive.

For no apparent reason, two people collapsed in the house, one dead and one injured. The villagers were terrified and went to report to the authorities.

People from the county government came to investigate and found that the wine the two men drank was spiked with medicine.

Ren ate a lot, so the poison took effect quickly. However, Chen Yushun only took one bite, so the poison was not serious and he did not lose his life.

There was no fighting at the scene and no external injuries, so it must be a personal grudge between the two.

Chen Yushun was in a coma for several days. People thought he might not survive, but he was cured by Doctor Zhu and woke up.

Although the person did not die, the poison stayed in the body for a long time, damaging the internal organs. He would be paralyzed in bed from now on and would have to take medicine to stay alive all day long.

When things got to this point, everyone in the village sighed.

For a while, no one talked about Chen Yushun's past affairs anymore. He was in such a bad condition that he couldn't run for the position of village chief, so he resigned before he even took office.

The village still went through the motions, and Xu Yang naturally became the village head.

For a while, the Xu family was so lively that even Mr. Xu and Xu Tongsheng returned to the village. Many people came to the Xu family to give gifts all day long.

The village head is also an official, and he has a lot of dealings with the county government. He should have prepared a banquet to celebrate, but considering Chen Yushun's experience, it is not good to make things too lively and cause people to talk about it.

Xu Yang prepared two tables of food and invited his relatives and close friends to have a meal together.

The Fan family naturally accepted the invitation, and Kanghe prepared a good gift to send over to celebrate.

Xu Yang acted very quickly. After getting the appointment, he immediately looked up the almanac and found a good day nearby to propose marriage to the Shangyuan family. He was afraid that his family would be ruined.

The wedding date was set for the first month of the lunar year, and it was said that it would be a grand affair, also to celebrate the incumbent village chief.

Although the village had experienced a major disaster, each family was still able to live their lives as usual.

This year, the Fan family had Dou Yicang to help with the autumn harvest. Kang He and Fan Jing were busy with business in the city, so they didn't have to worry too much about the farm work.

It was a bit difficult to manage as I was working on the house and harvesting the crops at the same time. The millet in the fields had to be harvested and transported back home, all by manpower, one basket at a time, which was laborious and slow.

There was only one donkey at home. Kang He drove the donkey to the city in the morning and stopped the donkey at the livestock shop in the city. He would not drive the donkey back until the shop closed in the evening.

Sometimes I would go out to slaughter pigs and would not return until night. If I didn't go out to slaughter pigs, it would be early, and the millet harvested during the day could still be piled on the village road, and it would only take two carts to take it back.

But Father Fan felt that the millet was too moist, so after threshing it in the fields and collecting it, it had to be dried quickly and stored in the warehouse as soon as possible while the sun dried it. If they were unlucky and it rained, the millet would become moldy and sprout, and all their work for the year would be wasted.

After thinking about it, Kang He felt that one donkey was not enough, so he wanted to buy another animal, so that he could have something to use for farming in the village and also to use when going out, and he would no longer be squeezed.

But he was a little confused, not knowing whether to buy a cow or a donkey.

Now I don’t have to worry about money, I can even afford to buy a working ox.

Cows are stronger and have better endurance than donkeys. If money hadn't been tight before, we would have chosen oxen for plowing.

But now there is already a donkey at home. If we mate it with a female donkey, the two animals can be raised together and can even breed and produce donkey babies.

After listening to Kang He's opinion, Father Fan still wanted a donkey. He said that he knew someone who was good at breeding livestock. He would invite him to breed the donkey. When the donkey was born, the family would no longer have to worry about not having enough livestock. If they were too lazy to raise them, they could still sell them.

Kang He agreed to his request, and within two days he brought a strong female donkey home.

At first, I was afraid that the two young donkeys would fight if they were kept together, but I didn't expect that the strong donkey at home saw the healthy female donkey with smooth fur and strong body, and his eyes lit up and he made a "hmm" sound.

At night, Kang He fetched some water to take a shower. When he passed by the barn, he saw the donkey spinning restlessly.

Kang He put down the bucket and took a sour pear for the donkey to eat.

"In the past, I used to go to bed so early that I wouldn't even be woken by thunder. But today, I'm so happy that I can't sleep."

The male donkey took the pear from Kang He's hand in one bite, and without swallowing it, he placed it in front of the female donkey.

"Hey, you stubborn ass, but you can handle things."

Fan Jing came out of the house and saw Kang He taking a long time to get in with the bath water. He walked over with the underwear he would wear after taking a bath on his shoulders.

"How can you even talk to a donkey?"

During the day, I was so tired from talking to guests that my mouth was foaming with words, but I still didn't say enough.

Kang He said, "I want to see if the donkey wants to ride the female donkey."

Fan Jingjue was really bored and stretched out his hand to take the water away. Seeing this, Kang He hurriedly took the water back to the shower room.

Fan Jing glanced at the man helplessly and followed him into the house.

He took off his clothes, poured water on his body with a gourd ladle, and rubbed it with bath beans.

When I looked down, I found that my belly had grown a lot without me noticing. It was not noticeable when I put on clothes during the day, and it was no different from usual. But now it looks a little round, which is quite different from my previous flat belly.

He counted the days and it had been more than four months.

Looking at the bulging belly, the few scars on the skin were also stretched a little. He felt a little weird, but also felt an indescribable gentle feeling.

He looked at it for a while, then gently poured some water on his stomach, not rubbing it vigorously as if he were washing smoked bacon, but wiping it carefully.

Kang He saw that the man had been washing for a long time and had not come out, so he asked outside several times. Fan Jing dried himself, put on his clothes and went out.

"What's wrong? Why did it take so long to wash?"

Fan Jing shook his head and told him to wash up quickly and go back to the house. There was a muffled thunder and it was about to rain.

Kang He was quick. He wiped himself from head to toe with a coarse cloth and slipped back into the house in less than half an hour.

In a moment, raindrops began to fall.

The roof of the house has been repaired. The original thatched shed has been removed, the roof frame has been re-strengthened, and the tiles have been densely covered.

Nowadays, even with strong winds and heavy rain, rain cannot easily leak into the house. It is also a good fortune that a sudden rain came the day after the roof was built. If it had been completed a day or two later, it might have been wet again.

Father Fan said that the rain was appropriate, as it was just the right time to test the tiles on the roof.

This time, the stone brick floor of the house was paved in just one room. In fact, the roof had been repaired and it no longer leaked, so the muddy floor was not a big deal.

Kanghe saw that the floor inside the house was leaking from the rain and it looked ugly with all the potholes, so he decided to clean it up completely at once.

I had originally considered whether to make wooden floors, as they are prone to insect infestation and rot in the countryside. I thought slate would be more durable.

The rain brought some wind, and the stuffy room became much cooler.

Kang He put a shade on the oil lamp and said to Fan Jing, "We are no longer afraid of heavy rain these days. We need to take shelter and relax."

Fan Jing also felt the same way. In the past, if it rained heavily, the house would be like a war. People would have to carry basins and buckets to collect water, and at the same time they had to use ladders to repair the roof.

Fan Jing has been doing this since he could remember. He looked at the tile roof and thought that after all these years, the problem had finally been solved.

There is only one problem with this tile roof. When the rain hits the tiles, the sound of tapping is very loud, much noisier than that of a thatched roof.

He wasn't used to it the first one or two times it rained, but after hearing it a few times, he got used to it.

Kang He climbed onto the bed. It wasn't hot today because it was raining, so he hugged Fan Jing.

"While the people we hired to build the house are still here, why not add a few more days of work and build us two sheds?"

Fan Jing looked at Kang He: "What kind of shed do you want?"

"We raise chickens, ducks, and rabbits at home, and we just bought a donkey. We need to build a more spacious shed so we can raise more poultry and livestock. If we raise too many of those animals, we'll have to move them farther away from the house. The floor smells bad when people come in and out."

Fan Jing said, "You still think it stinks?"

"I don't mind it, I'm used to it. But I do get nauseous when I see some people passing by the rabbit shed."

Fan Jing glanced at Kang He and said, "That's because of the kids."

Kang He laughed and touched Fan Jing's belly: "How could I not know that it was this brat who made the trouble? I told you this just to tease you.

These poultry don't smell bad, but their poop and pee, when too many and not in a regular pattern, can easily lead to illness."

Fan Jing admitted this.

"Look, nowadays many customers come here to buy chicken, duck, and rabbit meat. They even ask for it in advance when we don't have any. As a result, we don't have enough at home to sell, so we have to go to other places to buy them and bring them to our stall. It's easy to buy from other places, but it's still not as cost-effective as raising our own."

Kang He calculated: "If I raise more chickens and ducks, they will be good for making stews."

"For ordinary farmers like us, apart from making money by raising chickens and ducks, it's hard for us to invest in gold, silver, silk, porcelain, and other things. Without connections and opportunities, we can't support such a big place.

In addition to poultry and livestock, I also want to buy some more land and grow more crops, not just millet and corn. I can also leave some land to grow beans and melons, which can all be sold.

Fruit trees, green peppers, and mountain pepper can all be planted, but trees don't yield a return until later, unlike ordinary crops, which yield a harvest within a year."

Fan Jing said, "For the long term, it's not a bad idea to plant some fruit trees. People don't live only for two years."

Kang He said, "Take your time. No matter how bad it gets, it won't be any harder than before."