Chapter 9 Don't worry
The next day, Guan Zhiwei went to borrow a shovel from her neighbor.
The neighbors were a family of three. The man looked honest, with a hunched back and a deep, muffled voice, but he was easy to get along with. Last time Guan Zhiwei went to borrow a shovel, he lent it to her without hesitation.
His wife, on the other hand, was extremely beautiful, with a captivating charm in her eyes and brows, but she had a rather unpleasant personality; she was sharp-tongued and mean-spirited. The last time they borrowed a shovel, she scolded the children in the house, saying that the world was hard, things were precious, and that not appreciating them would bring divine retribution, and so on.
The boy, about six or seven years old, was probably angry about the unexpected disaster. He secretly threw small stones at Guan Zhiwei, who caught them. The boy was full of praise.
That all happened last time.
This time, when Guan Zhiwei went to borrow a shovel again, the male neighbor didn't come out; only his beautiful wife did.
Madam Feng asked with a strange look, "Are you tilling the land again?"
Guan Zhiwei hummed in agreement and said seriously, "The land wasn't turned over properly last time, let's turn it over again."
"Spring is almost over," Madam Feng muttered, feeling that this excuse wasn't very good.
She raised an eyebrow slightly, her eyes sparkling: "If you don't have a harvest in the fall, you can come to my house to borrow some. We can talk it over and make it work."
Guan Zhiwei thought to herself, why are they being so enthusiastic?
She opened the page, and her charm value was still zero.
Is the system working its magic again? Is the man impotent and starting to push the woman away?
She muttered to herself, "She's a married woman, you have no morals."
What does this have to do with me? You're scaring people to death.
Guan Zhiwei frowned; she felt the system was talking nonsense.
"Whoosh—" A small pebble was thrown over.
Guan Zhiwei raised her hand and caught it.
"Wow, do you have eyes in the back of your head?!" the little child exclaimed in astonishment.
Madam Feng's face changed drastically, and she gritted her teeth and cursed, "A-Tu, what are you doing! Quickly apologize to Guan Xiaoniang, you little rascal, you have a face like a bear, and you only do bear-like things!"
A-Tu stuck out his tongue and ran away.
Madam Feng's hands trembled slightly like willow branches. "Mrs. Guan, I'm really sorry. It's my fault for not taking good care of this child. Please forgive him, he's a magnanimous person."
Guan Zhiwei disagreed: "I quite like children. Anyway, there's only a wall between us, so he can come and play with me."
Madam Feng's pretty face paled slightly: "Our family never climbs over walls, and my son has never done it either, so don't worry."
What's there to be worried about?
Guan Zhiwei was baffled.
But since they were being kind, she felt she had to reciprocate, so she smiled and said, "Don't worry."
Madam Feng: "..."
Guan Zhiwei took a shovel home, turned over the muddy ground, and shoveled tirelessly at the same speed, like a diligent old ox.
"You're amazing." Atu, perched on the wall, peeked out with his head and half his body, his eyes sparkling as he looked at her.
Guan Zhiwei looked up, leaning on her shovel, and said, "Didn't your mother say that you don't have the habit of climbing over people's walls?"
“My mother even said you’re scary.”
What's so scary about me?
“Yeah.” Atu said, puzzled, “You don’t look scary at all.”
Guan Zhiwei gave a thumbs up, "You have good taste."
Inside the house, Feng Niangzi could be heard calling for her son. A-Tu stuck out his tongue and said, "I'm leaving now. I'll come back to play with you another day."
Guan Zhiwei happily exclaimed as she turned the floor: "I'm very popular!"
The system was speechless.
Don't you think living with a neighbor like you is a terrible thing?
"What's so scary about me?"
The soil, mixed with blood, became sticky. She shoveled it up one shovelful at a time, buried the blood-soaked soil deep inside, sprinkled lime on it, and then filled the courtyard with clean soil.
Guan Zhiwei belatedly realized, "I killed the person who wanted to kill me. Why would I kill my neighbor for no reason?"
[Your neighbor might also be thinking about this problem when they can't sleep at night.] The system chuckled mischievously.
The shouts and clashes of weapons last night kept me awake at all.
Everyone knew that bandits had broken into the neighbor's house, so no one dared to go out.
Everyone thought Guan Zhiwei was dead.
She emerged safely the next day.
She went to her neighbor's house again to borrow a shovel to bury the ground.
Who died last night?
And who killed him?
It's really not hard to guess at all.
"So when I told Madam Feng, 'Don't worry,' the subtext was more like, 'Behave yourself, and I won't kill your whole family.' Did that put her at ease?"
[Tsk tsk tsk.]
Guan Zhiwei doesn't like discussing issues with the system; sometimes it seems like the system is stupid, and other times it's annoying.
She quickly put the matter out of her mind and began to take stock of her inventory. She had acquired a total of seven scalpels, and three wooden sticks were chopped up and thrown directly into the stove pit as firewood.
The blade has a curved shape, which is good for chopping, but it is too thin and has already cracked after a fierce battle.
I don't know if it will affect the price.
Guan Zhiwei took the knife to sell, but found the blacksmith's shop closed. She knocked on the door for a while.
After a long pause, a wary voice came from inside: "Who's there?"
"I."
Guan Zhiwei added: "Little Guan."
Brother Yao opened the door, quickly pulled her inside, and scolded, "What kind of time is this to dare to run around like this? Even the emperor has ordered her locked up."
The shop was deserted and quiet. The stove hadn't been lit for a long time, with remnants of embers floating around. Dust mingled with the sunlight. The walls were covered with all sorts of hammers, pliers, chisels, punches, and other tools. Sister Ning was a diligent person; she would tidy up after each task. Although it looked messy, it actually had its own order.
Guan Zhiwei jumped over a pile of charred charcoal, steadied herself, and said, "I don't see anyone on the road."
"A couple of days ago, I don't know which army it was, they entered the city. They killed people who were selling vegetables on the road without asking them a single question."
There was fear in Yao Ge's eyes, but he didn't want to show weakness in front of the younger generation, so he suppressed it and used anger to dilute his fear.
He frowned and said gruffly, "What are you doing here?!"
"Selling goods." Guan Zhiwei said honestly, "You pulled me so hard, my things are all outside."
Brother Yao cautiously opened the door, and was shocked. He retrieved her belongings, his face a mixture of emotions.
"Where did you get so many knives?"
"It's..." Guan Zhiwei mumbled, "I picked it up by the roadside."
Brother Yao said meaningfully, "When you were picking up these things, didn't anyone stop you?"
"No, they're all lying down."
Brother Yao didn't say anything more. He bought the knife for 150 yuan a piece, but Guan Zhiwei bargained with him and asked to sell it for 200 yuan a piece.
The two argued for a long time, and their noise eventually disturbed Sister Ning and her daughter in the back room.
She came out and asked, and then decided to give him 1,500 copper coins.
Brother Yao looked helpless.
Guan Zhiwei beamed with joy.
Sister Ning smiled broadly: "My eldest son is about your age, a young man who isn't as capable as you, but he's an honest and kind person..."
Guan Zhiwei stopped laughing and decided not to haggle anymore. She picked at her fingers and said, "A thousand copper coins will do."
"Hey, I like you and want you to be my daughter-in-law. If you don't want to, fine, but I'll still make money, right?" Sister Ning patted her on the shoulder and gave her the same amount of money.
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