Uncle Xia and his younger brother blushed as red as the paper on which couplets were written, their feet shuffling on the ground, unsure whether to look up or not.

Uncle Xia snorted, "We didn't expect her to get so sick back then. She was sick for only a few days before she passed away. It was her own fault for not being healthy. It had nothing to do with me..."

"And you, Sun Tiehu, don't be so smug!" Uncle Xia added. "You're cured, aren't you? Your family sold all their land to pay for your treatment. You and your mother don't even know how they'll eat next year. What are you being so arrogant about?"

"That's right, why don't you beg me for a favor, and next year I'll rent you one or two acres of our land! One acre of land costs one bushel of tax, and now everyone pays 50% to 60% of the rent. But since we're from the same village, I'll give you a discount; you can pay 50%—of course, the tax will be deducted from your harvest!"

The villagers exclaimed in surprise, "You're making him pay half the rent and taxes too? So you're just renting out the land, not doing any work, and you're getting half the grain for nothing? Xia Wei, Xia Li, you've got a really good plan!"

Uncle Xia and his younger brother proudly raised their chins and said, "There's nothing we can do. What can we do when our family has so much land? If you feel sorry for him, then you should rent out your land!"

The villagers were speechless.

Renting is out of the question; who has extra land?

My family worked hard until the New Year to barely make ends meet. We rented out the property, and although I did less work, my income was low, which wasn't enough to feed us!

The crowd looked at Sun Tiehu with pity.

What good is it if Sun Tiehu is unwilling? He can only bow his head in shame and indignation to these two scoundrels. Unless someone is willing to rent him land at a low price, but how is that possible?

However, when they looked at him with sympathy, they did not see the unbearable shame and indignation on Sun Tiehu's face as they had imagined!

Even so, Sun Tiehu was still smiling!

"Hehe, you two brothers are really kind-hearted, but there's no need for that."

A cold smile appeared on Sun Tiehu's thick, dark face.

Even the most good-tempered person would not tolerate being provoked and humiliated by these two guys again and again, let alone the fact that he was never an honest man.

"Qingzhai said he'll rent all seven mu of his land to me, and he'll only charge me 30% of the rent! He'll charge me 50% of the rent for your two mu of land. I suggest you go ask around and see if anyone else needs to farm!"

"What? He lets you farm his seven acres of land?"

"Damn! They're giving it all to you, and only taking 30%?"

Before Uncle Xia and his younger brother could speak, several idle men who usually loafed around jumped out from the crowd, their faces grim.

The villagers recognized them immediately and shouted.

"Hey! Aren't these the same guys who rented the Xia family's land before? After Xia He passed away, they took advantage of the situation and bullied the Xia family's orphans and widows, forcing them to lower the rent to only 10%! Xia Qingzhai was furious and tore up the lease with them, preferring to leave the land vacant rather than rent it to them again..."

"Qingzhai did a great job! Who told these guys to kick someone when they're down! Are they planning to wait until next year, when Qingzhai and his mother are destitute and helpless, begging to come to their door to let them plant the crops?"

“Those lazybones, even if they plant, they won’t get more than a few bushels of grain per mu! Sun Tiehu is a farming expert. He can manage ten mu by himself, and that’s only the yield of wheat per mu.”

"Hahaha, those guys deserve it!"

The idlers glared resentfully at Sun Tiehu, who grinned menacingly and raised his arm to show off his muscles: "This matter is settled! Qingzhai is my benefactor. If you dare to harass him, I won't let you off the hook!"