Jiang Zhi pointed at his nose and scolded him, while Li Laoshi nodded vigorously, agreeing repeatedly.
On the other side, Xu Genyou and Tian Gui, seeing her arrive, knew she had something to do, so they put down their tools and came over.
"Auntie!"
"village head!"
After joining the team, the two of them have been working together for a long time and now they have a great understanding of each other.
Jiang Zhi nodded: "We have the roots, but Er Rui said we're still short a few logs. We'll have to trouble you to go to town and buy them."
Xu Genyou nodded silently. He knew the town's situation best, and he was the one who bought the timber in front of him.
Standing nearby, Tian Gui interjected, "Village Chief Jiang, let me negotiate for the timber!"
"Huh? Why?"
Jiang Zhi turned to look at him and waved for Li Laoshi to leave.
Newly felled trees can only be used as auxiliary materials; the timber for actual construction must be purchased.
Previously, Xu Genyou would take Errui to choose jobs, so why is Tian Gui trying to steal them now? And right in front of everyone?
Tian Gui glanced at the silent Xu Genyou, then at the people around him who were eager to hear, and after thinking for a moment, beckoned Jiang Zhi to the side: "Village Chief, come over here and we'll talk."
Jiang Zhi glanced at Xu Genyou, then walked away to the side.
Tian Gui whispered, "Last time, Errui and Genyou went to buy timber, and the Wang carpenter's family found out, so they sent Genyou's younger brother to solicit business..."
Jiang Zhi chuckled softly: "You're here?"
Tian Gui nodded: "Xu Genbao hadn't been in the village long when his mother, Liu, scolded him and drove him out."
He said if they still wanted to be considered members of the Xu family, they should bring their wives back and build their own shacks, farm, and live a simple life! They wouldn't betray their own kind or turn against their own.
"Xu Genbao was too ashamed to come back. He was scolded and forced to return to town. Yesterday, I heard that Genbao's wife ran to the main road outside and cried and cursed for a long time!"
“I’m worried that if Xu Genyou goes to town, his younger brother and sister-in-law will stop him and say some unpleasant things.”
Jiang Zhi thought for a moment and said, "Alright, it's better to avoid trouble. The timber is the most important thing. If the Wang family dares to cause trouble and delay the house repairs, I'll go to town, drag them out, and give them a beating."
I can ignore it for the sake of Xu Genyou and Sister Liu, but if it delays my business, then don't blame me for being impolite.
Tian Gui said with a smile, "Gen You's family knows what's important and they've already scolded him away."
Errui is now in charge of purchasing materials, and he has been given the money to use as he sees fit.
There was only one rule: all money had to be entered into the ledger.
Xu Errui had gotten into the habit of writing down everything, though his writing wasn't neat, it was better than not being able to answer his mother's questions.
After a quick look around the construction site, Jiang Zhi headed straight for Xia Xiucai's house.
Like other families, the Xia family's shack was built with the help of others, consisting of two small rooms against an earthen wall.
One room was where Xia Xiucai and his wife lived, and the other room was where Xia's mother lived with her grandson Xia Yuan.
The earthen stove for cooking was outside the shack. It was fine when the weather was sunny, but on rainy days, they would either go hungry or eat dry rations.
Normally, Xia Xiucai, who had mental problems, didn't associate with anyone, and his shack was always deserted.
Today, however, there were quite a few people standing outside the Xia family's shack, mostly women and children, some of whom were carrying small bundles of herbs.
Unaware of Jiang Zhi's arrival, everyone formed a circle, peering inside to see what was inside.
What's inside?
Jiang Zhi also became interested and quietly walked behind the group, peeking inside as well...
Hey! It's a little boy lying on a small stool, writing on a stone slab with a charcoal stick, writing neatly and meticulously.
Beside her, Xia's mother was weighing the medicine. After weighing it, she read out, "Lin Xiaohu, two catties of mint!"
Five catties of field peach and moneywort..."
She would read out a sentence, and the child next to her would make a mark after the name on the stone tablet, then count out a few coins and hand it over.
Selling herbs earns money; the child's thin face is full of smiles as he walks away from the crowd amidst the envious gazes of other children.
Tian Tao'er sold five catties of herbs today.
Although it took the three siblings two days of hard work to pick and dry the fruit, they only earned five coins. But that was enough to buy a piece of brown sugar in Pear Blossom Town so that their pregnant mother could drink some sugar water.
Jiang Zhi looked at the little girl who was counting money with her head down. That was Tian Gui's eldest daughter, eleven-year-old Tian Tao'er, who was almost sold.
The little girl was wearing patched clothes and pants, which were clean, but they were too short, exposing her elbows and ankles.
The little girl loved to look pretty; she styled her hair into two small buns and adorned it with a iris flower.
She carefully put the money into a cloth bag, tied the bag tightly, and fastened it to her waistband.
Just then, a woman in the crowd suddenly turned around and walked towards her, saying, "Little girl, you stole my herbs, now give me back my money!"
Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed Tian Tao'er's purse, then pulled hard.
Unexpectedly, the money bag had already been tied to Tian Tao's waistband. Instead of being pulled off, it caused the little girl to stumble.
Tian Tao'er exclaimed, "Aunt Qin, what are you doing?"
The woman had a stern face and long, droopy eyebrows, making her look even more irritable than the original owner of Jiang Zhi's body when she first transmigrated.
Aunt Qin didn't manage to snatch the money pouch, but instead grabbed Tian Tao'er's braid, cursing, "Your shack is noisy every day, and I ignored you because your dead mother is pregnant. Now you're even trying to steal my herbs. Give me the money, or I'll slap you across the face!"
Tian Tao'er clutched her purse tightly, trying to evade the question, saying, "These are herbs my family found ourselves, not yours."
Aunt Qin retorted, "Bullshit! I saw it first, and I was thinking of digging it up a few days later when it was bigger."
Tian Tao'er was so angry she almost cried: "It grows in the wasteland, whoever digs it up owns it! Why didn't you say so when I dug it up? Why are you asking for it now!"
Aunt Qin grinned: "I'll take it after you've dried it!"
Jiang Zhi was stunned: she had been busy harvesting wheat and transplanting rice seedlings and hadn't come to the village for a while, so how did this old hag suddenly appear, and with such an arrogant attitude?
The shout caused the people who were counting to disperse and look over, which blocked Jiang Zhi, who was standing at the back, from seeing her.
Inside, Xia's mother said to Aunt Qin, "Auntie, these children's money doesn't come easily. If you keep making a scene like this, the village chief will definitely be angry!"
Aunt Qin still held onto Tian Tao'er's hair tightly, saying smugly, "If the village chief wanted to manage this, he would have done so long ago. She's busy drinking the wind on the mountain!"
Xia's mother said coldly, "If the village chief finds out what you said, you deserve to be beaten."
Aunt Qin wasn't afraid at all, raising her head and saying, "She controls everything from the sky to the earth, and even the smallest things in between. Does she, a woman, have the right to tell me what to say as the village chief?"
Jiang Zhi walked out and sneered, "You were right, I'm going to listen to your nonsense. Now let the child go!"
Upon suddenly seeing Jiang Zhi there, Qin was clearly startled. She loosened Tian Tao'er's braid, but still looked defiant: "Fine, I'll let her go, but this girl has to pay me back for the herbs she stole."
Jiang Zhi ignored her. At this moment, Xia's mother came over with Xia Yuan by the hand: "Village Chief Jiang!"
Jiang Zhi's expression softened: "Sister-in-law Xia, what did you mean when you said the children's money wasn't easy to come by?"
Xia's mother looked very unwell. Since arriving in Xujia Village, her family had been taken care of everywhere. There were people helping them with farming, and Errui gave them extra grain and oil.
I'm just helping to collect the medicine; I'll have to pay them later.
The villagers are all so kind, but this Qin woman is the most rude. While the adults are all working, she makes up excuses to steal money from the children.
As Xia's mother was considering how to report her, Xia Yuan said in a clear voice, "Grandma Village Chief, she comes to rob us every day, and Yuan'er has written it all down."
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