After Zhou made those harsh words, the old woman naturally dared not cause any more trouble.
The next day, Fang Qing and Zhao went to the county town to see Zhou and her child.
Since Fang Er hadn't named the child yet, Zhou Shi continued to call him Doumiao, following the name Douya.
The bean sprouts were well cared for by the Zhou family; they were plump and white, and they would even smile when they saw the bean sprouts.
“Bean sprouts are our saviors,” Zhou said.
"You're giving her too much credit," Zhao said with a smile.
“My sister-in-law doesn’t know, when I first gave birth, I didn’t know what I was thinking. My mind was in a mess. I just didn’t want to live anymore. Luckily, my mother came and took me back to the county town. Later, I found out that it was Douya who delivered the message to my parents.”
"Think about it, if I had died back then, Doumiao would definitely not have survived either, so Douya was our savior."
Zhao was unaware of this matter.
But thinking about it, wasn't Douya her savior? If it weren't for Douya, she would have been kicked out of her home by the old woman and taken away by slave traders, and she doesn't know how she would have survived.
The two former sisters-in-law talked for a long time. Zhou wanted them to stay for dinner, but Fang Qing thought about Zhao Shi'an at home, so she went back with Zhao Shi early.
After Fang Daniu came down the mountain and learned about this, he scolded the old woman for being foolish.
But now that the family has separated, he won't interfere anymore.
Before going up the mountain, Fang Daniu would always do the chores at home, such as heavy work like carrying water.
Fang Qing's family has three large vats: one for drinking and the other two for domestic water. These three vats of water are enough for them to use for several days.
That day, Fang Daniu returned from the mountain and saw that the water in the jar was all used up, so he took a carrying pole and a bucket to fetch water.
There is only one ancient well in the village, and the villagers all draw water from it.
Fang Daniu was about to fetch water as usual when the old woman suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"Fang Daniu, you can't drink the water from this well!"
As she spoke, she pushed Fang Daniu.
"Mother, what are you doing?"
“This well was dug by your father and the village chief. Every household paid for it, but you didn’t. You can’t eat from it!”
"Mother, don't be unreasonable. This is the village well. Everyone can drink from it, so why can't I?"
"You just can't. I'm telling you, from today onwards, if you want to drink water from this well, you have to pay!"
Fang Daniu was exhausted from coming back from the mountain, and seeing her like this made him even angrier.
“Mother, if you continue like this, I’ll have the village chief come and settle things with us.”
"Fine, then let the village chief and the others come over! You think I'm afraid of you?"
Seeing her like this, Fang Daniu had no energy to argue and went home with the empty buckets.
Fang Qing and Zhao Shi'an were chopping vegetables and mixing chicken feed in the yard when they saw him return with a grim expression and an empty water bucket.
"Dad, why didn't you fetch water?"
Fang Daniu threw the bucket on the ground.
"Your grandma guards that well and won't let me draw water."
"That's the village well. Why should we be allowed to drill it just because she says so?"
“Back then, every household paid money to dig the well. Your grandma said that now that we've separated our family, if we want to continue using the water from that well, we have to pay money.”
Fang Qing put down the kitchen knife in her hand.
"Is she even being reasonable? The well has been dug for so many years, and now she's bringing this up with us? I think she's just deliberately making things difficult for us."
Need I say more? Fang Daniu saw it all.
It's definitely because Fang Er still holds a grudge against them because of the divorce they had last time.
"Then what will we do for drinking water in the future?" Zhao asked, standing at the kitchen door.
Fang Daniu was silent for a moment, then said, "How about we just pay the money..."
Fang Qing interrupted him before he could finish speaking.
"Dad, why did you give in to her? She's clearly only after money. If you give her the money, wouldn't that just satisfy her?"
"So what should we do?"
Fang Qing frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "Go find the village chief. Even if you want money, you should give it to the village, not my grandma."
Fang Daniu didn't want to go to the village chief about this, but since Fang Qing had already spoken, he had no choice but to go to the village chief's house.
When the village chief heard about this, he brought Fang Daniu to the well and sure enough, he saw the old woman sitting by the well chatting with someone.
"Big Cow's mother, what's wrong with you? Why are you asking Big Cow for money when he needs water?"
The old woman became even calmer when she saw the village chief approaching.
“Why can’t I ask him for money? The well was paid for by the household. Now that he’s separated from me, he has to pay me.”
"That's right, we have to pay, otherwise how can we justify drinking everyone's water?"
Fang Xiaoshuan's wife chimed in from the side.
"You're all so petty..."
“Village chief, don’t be so quick to judge us. I’ve already consulted several households, and they all agree that Da Niu can no longer drink water from this well.”
"Is that really what everyone is saying?"
"yes."
The village chief looked at Fang Daniu with a troubled expression.
He was at a loss for what to do.
Fang Daniu looked at Fang Qing beside him.
Fang Qing stepped forward and asked, "Grandpa Village Chief, how much did each household contribute when the well was dug?"
"It's been decades, and I remember it was ten coins per household."
"Alright, then our family will pay the ten coins."
Just as the village chief was about to nod in agreement, the old woman changed her mind.
“Who said there were only ten coins left? Fang Daniu has been drinking from my family’s water since he was born. Later, he got married and had Douya, so it was a family of three. I’ll give him a discount and charge him five taels of silver.”
Everyone was stunned when she said that.
What is it?
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
