Chapter 31 A Young Man's Broken Heart
Deep in the dense forest.
Cheng Wanwan came out, followed by her three other sons.
She walked straight up to Sun Shuiqin and said, "I just heard you say that it was that kid Zhao Shagen who was bothering you. That kid usually seems honest and simple, but I never expected him to do something like this. Since he insisted on giving you this grain, then I'll return it to him and throw it right in his face."
She reached out to take the grain, but Sun Shuiqin couldn't bear to let go.
She clutched the grain sack tightly, her lips trembling as she stammered, "Auntie, I...I..."
“Miss Sun, my Er Gou likes you, and you like Er Gou too, so why don’t you get engaged soon?” Cheng Wanwan continued. “You’re beautiful, and Zhao Shagen is definitely not the only man pursuing you. Once you’re engaged, anyone who dares to bother you is going against the Zhao family, and I’ll tear their face to shreds!”
Upon hearing this, Zhao Ergou's face suddenly turned bright red.
From the moment he first met Sun Shuiqin, he had already planned out what the wedding would be like, and even named their children. His greatest wish was to marry Sun Shuiqin.
Sun Shuiqin lowered her head, her fingers nervously twisting together. After a long while, she finally said, "After I marry into this family, where will I live?"
She had visited Dahe Village many times and knew the Zhao family's situation very well. There were only three rooms. Unless Zhao Ergou's older brother and sister-in-law moved out of that room, she and Ergou could not live alone. Otherwise, they would have to share a room with her mother-in-law, which was a nightmare.
"Are you still worried about not having a place to live?" Cheng Wanwan laughed. "I've already thought it all out. I'll have Er Gou build a thatched hut next to the house. It can be as big as you want. It'll be a place for your kids to live when they're born..."
Sun Shuiqin's eyes widened: "A straw shed..."
Her family was so poor, living in mud-brick houses. She didn't ask for a tiled house, but it shouldn't be worse than the one she lived in before she got married.
Zhao Ergou was deeply moved: "Mother, you've been so good to me. Shuiqin and I will definitely take good care of you in the future..."
He had always thought his mother would let him and his wife sleep in the main room or on a makeshift bed on the floor. Having their own thatched hut was something he had never imagined.
"Being filial to me is one thing, but I can still move around." Cheng Wanwan's smile grew even gentler. "After Shuiqin enters the family, she doesn't need to stand in front of me with any rules. Your sister-in-law is pregnant and it's not convenient for her to do chores. From now on, all the housework, such as washing clothes, cooking, and cleaning, will be left to Er Gou's wife..."
Sun Shuiqin's face grew increasingly stiff.
She clutched the grain sack tightly in her hands, tears welling up in her eyes instantly: "Auntie, it's not what you think... I... there's nothing between Er Gou and me. I've always treated Er Gou as my own brother, and I never thought of marrying into the Zhao family..."
Cheng Wanwan twitched the corners of her lips, never expecting to hear such teasing talk between brothers and sisters in ancient times.
She glanced at Silly Er Gou and saw that the boy's eyes were wide open, his face full of disbelief. Even after things had come to this point, the boy still had illusions.
She asked, "Miss Sun, have you really never considered marrying into the Zhao family?"
Sun Shuiqin nodded quickly, her eyes glistening with tears, and said, "It's all a misunderstanding... I really thought of Brother Er Gou as my older brother..."
“Our Er Gou has four cousins, we don’t need another sister like you.” Cheng Wanwan’s face gradually turned cold. “If you have no intention of marrying into our Zhao family, then don’t come to borrow grain. If someone sees you, it will damage Er Gou’s reputation. Also, this jade bamboo shoot in your hand is a loan from me to Er Gou’s future wife. It has nothing to do with you. Return it.”
Before Sun Shuiqin could understand what was happening, Cheng Wanwan snatched the jade bamboo shoot from her hand.
She bit her lower lip in embarrassment. No wonder the people of Dahe Village said that Zhao Ergou's mother was a difficult woman. It was true. She could even ask for things back after giving them away. Luckily, she didn't agree to marry into the family, or she would have suffered terribly in the future.
"Forget about the ten jin I lent you before. It's not that our family doesn't need those ten jin of grain, it's just that—" Cheng Wanwan's voice was even colder, "I don't want you to come to the Zhao family again, and I especially don't want you to come looking for our Er Gou again. Go back to your Guihua Village right away."
Sun Shuiqin's tears were almost falling. She dared not linger any longer, fearing that Cheng Wanwan might say something even more embarrassing. She picked up the grain bag and quickly headed towards Guihua Village, her figure soon disappearing into the dense forest.
Cheng Wanwan turned to look at her sons beside her, thinking that the four boys would be surprised by her fighting power, but they were surprisingly calm.
Well, if the original owner of this body had encountered something like this, she probably would have pounced on Hua Sun Shuiqin and scratched her face. She was just too gentle.
Her gaze fell on Zhao Ergou, who looked completely lost and dejected.
The boy's heartbreak came so suddenly; he must be devastated.
She calmly changed the subject: "Ergou, you are the smartest child in our family. Think carefully about how to divert the water from the mountain down the mountain."
Zhao Sidan disagreed, thinking he was also very clever.
He must come up with a good idea faster than his second brother.
The mother and her five children dug for wild vegetables and mushrooms while pondering how to attract customers.
"Mom, I've got it!" Zhao Sidan said excitedly. "There are many bamboos on the mountain. The bamboo is hollow in the middle. If we remove the nodes and connect all the bamboo, can we bring the water from the mountain to our doorstep?"
Cheng Wanwan couldn't help but exclaim, "Sidan, you're so clever! But the bamboo has a small diameter, so the amount of water that can be drawn down the mountain isn't enough to meet our daily needs. Is there a better way to bring the water from the mountain into the rice paddies? That way, even if it doesn't rain, we won't have a complete crop failure this year."
She already had a rough idea in mind.
"Mother, can we dig a ditch?" Zhao Ergou said slowly, "We can dig a ditch from the valley in the mountain, and the water will flow down the mountain automatically, as much as it can carry..."
Cheng Wanwan laughed: "Ergou, you and I are thinking the same thing. Now there is another problem. How long is the distance from the top of the mountain to the bottom? How many people are needed to dig the ditch? How long will it take? You need to think about these things carefully."
Zhao Ergou stood up, took four or five steps, about ten feet, and estimated, "It's this long. One person can definitely dig it all out in an hour. From the foot of the mountain to here, it would take about two or three thousand people to dig it for an hour..."
Cheng Wanwan continued to guide the discussion: "There are about four or five hundred able-bodied men in the village. If they all come together, how long will it take?"
Zhao Ergou scratched the back of his head: "Mom, I can't figure it out..."
Cheng Wanwan sighed, realizing that this was an arithmetic problem that even seven- or eight-year-old children in modern society could solve, yet few people in ancient times could do it.
The first thing I did after life settled down was to teach these boys to read and do arithmetic.
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