Why are you looking at me like that? I was just giving you a suggestion.
Zhao Shi'an glared at him and looked away.
“If anyone asks you about me again, just say you don’t know me. If necessary, you can even pretend to break off our relationship.”
His words offended Fang Dashu.
"What nonsense are you spouting? Do you think I, Fang Nianci, am a coward who fears death? If I don't care about your life or death, I will have no face to see Fang Qing, nor will I have the face to return to my hometown."
Zhao Shi'an paused, his hand still holding the wine jug.
"We have no real friendship to begin with, so why drag yourself into this?"
"That's none of your business. Go drink your wine. I'm leaving."
With that, Fang Dashu flicked his sleeves and left, his back view still carrying an angry glint.
Zhao Shi'an looked at the wine pot in his hand and pondered for a moment.
He took Fang Dashu's words to heart.
After thinking about it, I decided to write a letter to Fang Qing, telling her to be careful.
*
When the weather turned hot, Fang Qing had been in Xichang Prefecture for several months.
Now, not only is his business doing well, but he has also learned to speak the local dialect quite well, and when he goes to the countryside to promote seeds, he can even chat with the elderly in the village.
"Young lady, how old are you? There are plenty of good young men in our village. Do you have your eye on any of them?"
"Don't be such a matchmaker, you old woman. Look at this girl, she's not a child who grew up in the village."
"So what if she's not from the village? There are plenty of girls who grew up in our village."
“How can this be the same? This girl looks shrewd; she can’t be trapped.”
"There are plenty of people trapped here, you just don't have the guts, otherwise you wouldn't have married me."
"How could I not have the guts? I married openly and legitimately, unlike them."
Seeing that the elderly couple was about to start arguing, Fang Qing quickly interrupted them.
"Grandpa and Grandma, please stop arguing. Thank you for your kindness, Grandma, but I already have someone I like."
"Look, all the good girls have already been booked, so the rest of us can only go through the back channels."
"Girl, I see you have a lucky face. Whoever marries you will be living a life of luxury."
Fang Qing talked with them for a while, and also got a clear understanding of the village's situation. She knew who had the most prestige and who could make the decisions, which was very helpful for the promotion of seeds.
Every village is different. Fang Qing saw that this village was accepting the seeds well, so she planned to go to the next village. Just as she got into the carriage and was about to leave, someone suddenly called out to her.
"Miss Fang!"
Fang Qing looked suspiciously out of the carriage.
A woman was running towards them quickly.
Before the person even got close, Fang Qing noticed that the woman's clothes were disheveled, and it seemed that someone was chasing her from behind.
"Miss Fang, please save me!"
Before she could finish speaking, the woman knelt down in front of Fang Qing's carriage with a thud.
"Miss Fang, please save me! They want to kill me."
The woman was in tears. She glanced back at the dozen or so people chasing after her, and the frightened men were all trembling.
Fang Qing was familiar with the people who had come after her; she had even greeted them in the village just moments before.
But at this moment they were all carrying weapons, looking fierce and menacing.
Fang Qing realized something was wrong and quickly helped the woman onto the carriage.
The moment the carriage curtain fell, the group of people caught up, and the workers and guards that Fang Qing had brought also protected the carriage.
"What happened?"
Fang Qing saw that the woman's exposed arms and neck were covered in bruises, and the left side of her face was swollen.
"They're going to kill me! They're going to kill me!"
The woman was terrified and became incoherent.
"Don't be afraid, tell me clearly, why did they want to kill you?"
The woman covered her face and cried.
“I was sold to Liujiazhai to be Er Mazi’s wife. They forced me to have a son, but I couldn’t. So they sold my daughter. When I tried to run away, they beat me. They made me have a son, and when I gave birth to a daughter, they beat me. They wanted to beat me to death.”
The woman's speech was disjointed, but Fang Qing could roughly guess the cause and effect of the matter.
Fang Qing handed her the handkerchief.
"It's alright now."
She gently comforted the woman, and the woman finally stopped trembling.
Meanwhile, outside, the group was arguing loudly with Fang Qing's guards, demanding that they hand over the woman.
Seeing that they were about to fight, Fang Qing got off the carriage.
"Fang Qing, don't come out."
Zhang Xiaoyi shielded Fang Qing behind him.
Fang Qing sized up the group of villagers.
They all stared at Fang Qing as if she were their enemy, as if she had stolen something from them.
"What is your relationship with the woman in the carriage?"
"She's my wife!"
The middle-aged man with pockmarks on his face, who was in the lead, took a step forward with a fork.
"Hand over my wife!"
"But she said she's not your wife."
"How can she not be my wife? I bought her with my own money, and she's given me several children. How can she not be my wife?"
Fang Qing knew that there was no qualms about buying and selling wives, and that no amount of reasoning with them would be of any use.
"Alright, then you can come back to the county government office with me."
"What's the meaning?"
"Didn't you just say that you bought this woman? But it doesn't seem like a mutually agreeable transaction. I think we should go to the county government to investigate whether your human trafficking documents are in accordance with the law."
As soon as Fang Qing finished speaking, not only Er Mazi, but also the faces of everyone else in the village changed instantly.
"No, Miss Fang, this is our Liu Family Village. Don't meddle in our business!"
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