"How much silver should we pay?" Xu Wanli asked.
“Four taels of silver plus twenty cash for the workmanship of the two sets of clothes Aunt Liu made,” Jiang Hua replied.
"You're robbing me! You just said it was four taels of silver, and now it's twenty more!" Madam Xu exploded instantly.
"You said it yourself, just now. I was in a good mood just now, but now I'm in a bad mood. You've wasted so much of my time," Jiang Hua said dismissively.
“Four taels and twenty coins, not a single coin less. If you don’t pay me back, I’ll report you to the authorities. Anyway, my family doesn’t have any students who can pass the imperial examinations.”
As if guessing what Madam Xu was going to say, Jiang Hua added, "You've already touched the fabric, I don't want it, it's bad luck, I only want the money."
"Jiang Hua, don't go too far!" Zhou Yingxuan couldn't stand it anymore and shouted sternly.
"Who do you think you are, lecturing me?" Jiang Hua sneered at Zhou Yingxuan, who was frowning in anger. "You think you're so great?"
“Jiang Hua, I won’t hold what happened on the mountain against you. Let’s just forget about the four taels of silver and twenty coins,” Zhou Yingxuan said after a pause.
"Shut up. I haven't settled accounts with you for this yet. You'd better not talk to me right now. I don't want to hear it." Jiang Hua finished speaking, not even glancing at Zhou Yingxuan, and looked at Xu Wanli instead.
"Village Chief Xu, I have said all I need to say. Whether or not to report this to the authorities is up to you."
"Xu Da Gui, give the money to Jiang Hua!" Xu Wanli said repeatedly. Meeting Jiang Xingzhou's cold gaze, he felt that if he didn't handle this matter properly today, Jiang Xingzhou wouldn't let him off so easily.
"Village chief, where did we get so much money from?" Madam Xu tried to sit on the ground and throw a tantrum again.
"The Xu family!" Xu Wanli's face darkened; he felt as if he were about to die of anger.
Sure enough, women are all talk and no action; they only know how to take advantage of small things. If it weren't for the fact that Xu Yaozu was a student who had to pass the imperial examinations, he would have left long ago.
Realizing that Xu Wanli's tone was a bit off, Madam Xu wisely stopped her tantrum.
“Didn’t you take fifty taels of silver from Xiao Jiang a few days ago? Hurry up and give it to him as compensation!” Xu Wanli said in a deep voice.
"Mother, why don't you hurry up and get the money? Otherwise, if we report it to the authorities, it will affect Yaozu's career." Xu Dagui saw the anger in Xu Wanli's eyes and quickly said to his mother.
"What a money-loser, why doesn't he just die?" Madam Xu muttered reluctantly as she slowly went into the inner room to get the silver.
Before long, Madam Xu came out with silver in her hand, reluctantly walked up to Jiang Hua, and threw the silver directly at her.
The four taels of silver and twenty copper coins rolled directly onto the ground. When Xu Wanli saw this, he felt like killing Madam Xu.
really--
"Husband, let's report this to the authorities," Jiang Hua said to Jiang Xingzhou beside her, ignoring the silver and copper coins rolling on the ground.
“Okay,” Jiang Xingzhou replied.
After saying that, Jiang Hua and Jiang Xingzhou took Jiang Jingyi's hand and prepared to leave.
"Jiang Hua, wait a minute." Xu Wanli quickly called out to Jiang Hua.
"Give me, the village chief, some face. I'll let this matter drop and let it go. As for the silver that fell on the ground, I'll have them pick it up and give it to you."
Jiang Hua stopped in her tracks: "In that case, let's give the village chief some face."
"Hurry up and pick them up!" Xu Wanli looked at Madam Xu and Madam Xu with exasperation, gesturing for them to pick them up quickly.
The silver was retrieved exactly as it had been lost, and in the end, Xu handed the retrieved silver to Jiang Hua.
"It would have been better to do this earlier. All that trouble resulted in losing money in the end," Jiang Hua said, casually putting the silver in her hand into her purse.
"Cousin, you should be forgiving. After all, they gave birth to you and raised you." Lin Shuyan couldn't bear it and stepped forward to help Madam Xu.
"I always said that it's better to have a child who isn't your own than your own. If I had known this would happen, I should have drowned him in a chamber pot when he was born," Madam Xu complained, holding Lin Shuyan's hand.
“Jiang Hua, the money has been paid, are you satisfied now? We’re all from the same village, we’ll see each other all the time, there’s no need to go too far with some things,” Xu Wanli suddenly said, lecturing.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Hua's smile vanished immediately, and Jiang Xingzhou's expression also darkened.
"Village chief, what do you mean by that?" Jiang Hua stared at Xu Wanli and asked, "Shouldn't you pay compensation for what you stole?"
"From what the village chief is saying, it seems like I'm in the wrong. Is it because my family doesn't have any scholars, so I deserve to be robbed?"
“That’s not what I meant,” Xu Wanli immediately denied.
"What do you mean, Village Chief Xu? Tell me, I'll listen right here today," Jiang Hua said coldly.
“Jiang Hua, you encountered a tiger on the mountain before. You knew the tiger was going to attack Yan Yan, and you were so close, yet you didn’t help her.”
"You've caused Zhou Yingxuan to suffer such serious injuries. You're from the same village, yet you'd do something so cold-blooded just to get Zhou Yingxuan."
"Shuyan and Yingxuan are in love, yet you want to kill your cousin!" a woman shouted.
“Jiang Hua, I didn’t want to bring this up, but you went too far,” Zhou Yingxuan said, shaking his head in disappointment.
"I remember you weren't like this before. You were a very kind girl. How did you become like this?"
"Yes, cousin, I am Xin Yue Xuan Gege, but I can't bear to see you do anything to hurt Xuan Gege. If staying away from Xuan Gege makes you happy, I can stay away from him."
Lin Shuyan glanced pitifully at Zhou Yingxuan, then looked at Jiang Hua and said.
"Yan Yan, this has nothing to do with you. You don't need to compromise yourself for her," Zhou Yingxuan said affectionately as he walked up to Lin Shuyan.
"How about we build a stage for you two?" Jiang Hua looked at them, wishing she could hug them.
"Zhou Yingxuan, aren't you the one who knows best what happened that day? Did I attract the tiger?" Jiang Hua retorted.
"Knowing there are tigers in that place, you still insisted on going there. Did I force you to go?"
"If it weren't for my husband that day, would you still be standing here unharmed?"
"But you were so close to Yan Yan, why didn't you save her?" Zhou Yingxuan asked, stepping forward with dissatisfaction.
"I'm powerless, why would I risk my life? If she hadn't suddenly screamed, would the tiger have pounced on her? Does she even have a mouth?"
"Or am I her father or her mother, risking my life to save her? I'm not stupid," Jiang Hua said quietly.
"You!" Zhou Yingxuan was speechless with anger.
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