He waved his hand to signal the anxious servants at the gate to remain silent and gestured to the people behind him to be quiet. Yang Mengchen then entered the gate and walked to the reception hall outside. Through the open window, he could clearly see the situation inside the hall, a hint of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes.
Madam Yang Zhou and Shen Qiulan were sitting on the left, with Qiao Niangzi and a few servants standing behind them, their eyes warily watching the people of Huangsha Village.
An old man with a square face and slightly fairer skin than that of a farmer, sporting a mustache, was seated in the main seat. His narrow eyes twinkled calculatingly and enviously.
This was Xiong Wang, the Lizheng of Huangsha Village, with a dozen young men sitting to his lower left.
Shen Chang’an, the Village Chief of Huangsha, sat alone in a corner of the living room. His honest face looked somewhat anxious and uneasy, and his gaze towards the mother and daughter-in-law Yang Zhou was full of apologies.
Hearing Xiong Wang’s interrogation, a hidden sharpness could be felt in Madam Yang Zhou’s words, "Jiujiu is busy harvesting the rice and will definitely not be able to return soon. Why don’t you go back first, and I will speak to Jiujiu when she returns."
She was naturally not going to be polite to a mere village Lizheng who dared to pressure her beloved granddaughter and daughter-in-law Sansan.
"Ninth Sister Yang’s grandma is right, we should go back to harvesting the rice first, and discuss other matters in a few days," Shen Chang’an quickly nodded in agreement.
Ever since the Shen family started making some money from selling cakes, the Lizheng accused the Shen family of not taking enough care of the villagers.
Not long ago, after hearing that Ninth Sister Yang had financed the purchase of fruit saplings for the people of Stone Village and bought their fruits, the Lizheng spoke to him several times about asking Ninth Sister Yang to also buy saplings for the villagers, citing that her maternal grandparents were from Huangsha Village. He argued that Ninth Sister Yang was forsaking her own people to help outsiders, calling it forgetfulness of her roots, and it took several admonitions before the Lizheng finally calmed down.
Unexpectedly, this morning while he was harvesting rice in the field, the Lizheng, accompanied by a group of young adults, found him. Without any discussion, they dragged him to the Yang family and directly demanded that Ninth Sister Yang must find a way to improve the lives of the people in Huangsha Village. The mother and daughter-in-law Yang Zhou said they would discuss it when Ninth Sister Yang returned, but the Lizheng stubbornly refused to leave, which even he felt was too much.
Unfortunately, the Lizheng had strong backing, and he was helpless. freewebnøvel.coɱ
Glaring fiercely at Shen Chang’an, Xiong Wang barked arrogantly, "The issue isn’t resolved yet, why would you return?"
"Ninth Sister Yang is busy and can’t return, right? It’s useless for us to stay here," Shen Chang’an argued defensively.
"Madam Yang Zhou, haven’t you sent someone to call Ninth Sister Yang back yet?" Xiong Wang glared angrily at Madam Yang Zhou.
Holding back her daughter-in-law who wanted to speak, Madam Yang Zhou sternly said, "All the servants at home are busy drying the rice, and indeed we cannot spare anyone to find Jiujiu."
In her youth, she was quite fierce, and very few in her parental village dared to provoke her. After marrying into the Yang family and due to life circumstances, she had to restrain her fiery temper. If Xiong Lizheng really thought she was easy to bully, he was gravely mistaken.
Outside the house, Yang Mengchen secretly gave a thumbs up: He always remembered his grandmother as gentle and kindly, not expecting her to have such a strong side. Not bad at all!
Enraged and embarrassed, Xiong Wang pointed his finger at Qiao Niangzi and ordered imperiously, "You, go call Ninth Sister Yang back now!" Since becoming the Lizheng of Huangsha Village, not to mention Huangsha Village, even people from other villages were very respectful towards him. That Madam Yang Zhou dared to defy him was infuriating.
Qiao Niangzi did not move an inch.
"Madam Yang Zhou, why would you keep such disobedient servants? You should sell them right away," Xiong Wang condescendingly instructed Madam Yang Zhou on how to manage her affairs.
"This is my home, it’s not your place to point fingers!" Madam Yang Zhou also flared up, "Jiujiu has said, they are not only servants of our family but also part of our family. No one can drive them away or even think of selling them without Jiujiu’s say!"
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