Yuan Shifei, a notorious gambler from Huai Shu Village, was the first to shout. He had long had his eye on Daling Village. Although Daling Village was a village formed by refugees fleeing famine, the villagers were not only united with each other, but also lived a good life. In particular, the Jin family had opened a workshop in the village, and their business was booming. There was also a school in the village, so children didn't have to travel so far to go to school.
The advisor spoke first: "Yuan Shifei, you're nothing but troublemaker. Tell me, you spend your days gambling and visiting brothels, and you still have the nerve to give opinions about Daling Village? I'm not saying this to be mean, but there are conditions for being a villager in Daling Village!"
The advisor's implication was that someone like Yuan Shifei was not worthy of entering Daling Village.
Yuan Shifei jumped out from the crowd, pointed at the clerk in front of him and cursed, "What are you so smug about? It's just a ditch next to the magistrate. Whether I can go into Daling Village or not is not up to you!"
Yu Lizheng coughed twice and nodded: "What the advisor said is absolutely right. Our Daling Village now has a school and irrigation canals. Every family has enough to eat and wear. It is certainly not a place where filth and evil are hidden!"
Yuan Shifei was speechless after being shut down by one sentence. He thought for a long time before pointing at Li Zheng and scolding, "Who doesn't know that you, a dignified Li Zheng, go to Da Shan Niang for everything? If it weren't for that woman, how would you have repaired the irrigation canal? Do you know that? You'd probably be one of those disaster victims waiting to be assigned to different villages right now, wouldn't you?"
Yuan Shifei's words immediately turned Yu Lizheng's face green, and the people around him began to discuss the matter.
Aunt Liu was well aware of the situation, so she simply pointed at Yuan Shifei and said, "Stop babbling here. No village would want a scumbag like you. Dashan's mother is a talented person, but it's just that she's talented in our Daling Village, not your Huai Shu Village. What else do you have to say?"
Aunt Liu was naturally protective of her own, and when she saw her in-laws being bullied, she naturally had to step in and deliver the final blow, and her blow was flawless.
The magistrate said, "In that case, Yuan Shifei, you should go to Monk Village! There's more space in Monk Village, so your whole family should go there!"
"The monk village is all men, sir. We have women in our family. How will we survive in the monk village?"
The magistrate said somewhat impatiently, "Do you think you have any other choice? Either you figure it out yourselves!"
Yuan Shifei remained silent, fearing that if he said anything more, he wouldn't even get a share of the food.
The magistrate gave the order: "Each household should line up in order, register, and then come up to collect their grain when their name is called. After collecting their grain, they should follow the official back home."
The village leaders pouted indignantly, but Daling Village was able to provide so much grain to aid the disaster victims. Could they do the same? Since they couldn't, what else was there to say?
The clerk had a notebook in which he registered all the disaster victims who came to collect food. He also made detailed notes on which village each person belonged to, the name of the clerk, and so on. If any disaster victim had any problems, they could go directly to the clerk.
Everyone huddled together, waiting to receive their food.
Seeing this, Liang Shuyan clapped her hands and said, "Everyone, line up in order. No grabbing is allowed. Anyone caught grabbing will be disqualified and expelled!"
Upon hearing this voice, everyone obediently lined up, and no one dared to shout or push.
Sanwang clapped his hands and cheered, "Mother, your idea is great! No one will dare to cause trouble now!"
The county magistrate, standing to one side, smiled and thought to himself, "I really didn't expect Liang Shuyan, a village woman, to have such thoughts. She's truly an extraordinary village woman!"
Li Zheng took out two jin of grain from each household, registered them one by one, and praised their behavior on the spot.
“I know that everyone’s food is the result of hard work, but since something like this happened in Huai Shu Village, it’s good that we’ve donated food so we don’t have to take in the people of Huai Shu Village.”
Everyone agreed. Wouldn't it be even more distressing if someone like Yuan Shifei appeared in a perfectly good village?
After the grain distribution was completed, the village leaders led their assigned people back home. The county magistrate was very grateful and said to Liang Shuyan, "Thank you. Thanks to you, otherwise, I wouldn't have known how to handle such a serious matter in Huai Shu Village. If I had been reprimanded by the court, it wouldn't have been as simple as just being demoted. I will report the matter of repairing the irrigation canal and harvesting the grain ahead of schedule to the court, and you will be rewarded!"
Yu Lizheng said somewhat awkwardly, "No, sir, this is all thanks to Dashanniang. As Lizheng, I have to consult with Dashanniang on everything."
"It's settled then! I'll take my leave now!"
After seeing off the county magistrate, Li Zheng and Liang Shuyan returned to Daling Village.
Aunt Liu said happily, "Big Mountain Mother, you really had a great idea. You were so farsighted when we were harvesting wheat, letting us harvest that first. We didn't expect there to be a flood. The irrigation canal we built came in handy, and our village didn't suffer any losses. You are our village's lucky star!"
Jin Wang, however, looked disgusted, seemingly disagreeing with Aunt Liu's words: "Hmph, it's just because we people from Daling Village are lucky. She's not a god, how could she know about the flood?"
Yes, she's not a god, how could she know there would be a flood?
This statement immediately aroused suspicion among the crowd: "Yes, how did she know there would be a flood?"
Aunt Liu spat and pointed at Jin Wang, cursing, "You call yourself a member of the Jin family? You're clearly just jealous. If it weren't for Aunt Dashan coming up with this idea, you would probably have been drowned by the flood long ago. People like you deserve the same fate as Yuan Shifei!"
In the past, Jinwang would sometimes argue back when Aunt Liu spoke, but ever since Aunt Liu and Lizheng became in-laws, people in the village, not just Jinwang, have started to be more wary of Aunt Liu.
The plump aunt followed closely behind: "Jinwang, how can you be so careless? There's a proper account to this digging of the irrigation ditch. It was clearly Aunt Dashan's idea. Now that you haven't been washed away, aren't you feeling very uneasy?"
Seeing everyone coming over to talk to him, Jin Wang stomped his feet in anger: "Forget it, I can't be bothered with a shrew like you!"
Liang Shuyan shook her head: "Forget it, I'm too lazy to argue with him. My family's teahouse is opening in a few days, so everyone should remember to come and support us!"
"Okay, okay, then we'll make a big fuss with drums and gongs!"
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