Li Gouwa is Li Jiaojiao's loyal sycophant, how could he tolerate others speaking ill of Li Jiaojiao's family?
“My family is not lazy. How could a scholar like him work in the fields! Brother Zimo is also a scholar!”
Granny Zhao chuckled: "So, are Scholar Li and his son on leave these past few days?"
"Yeah, so what? It's none of your business!"
Granny Zhao was waiting there: "Ye Xuan from our village has all gone to the fields. He's a scholar too. People say the county school is closed for these few days so that the scholars and literati can go home and work in the fields, not so they can go home and play. Hahaha!"
Li Gouwa's face turned pale and then red.
The villagers looked at each other in bewilderment: "Is that so? The academy is taking a break so that the students can go home and work in the fields?"
"Of course, if we can't harvest in time and it goes too late, the grain will be wasted."
The villagers, upon hearing this, had even more to say about Li Zhiyuan's family.
The academy asked them to take a break and go home to work in the fields, but they said that scholars should not work in the fields.
If it were a wealthy family, it would be one thing, but the Li family... although they are a scholar's family, they still own more than ten acres of land, yet they just sit there doing nothing.
He even insisted on having his wife's family do chores; there's no other way.
Then, the whole village started saying that Li Zhiyuan was a bunch of cunning, lazy, greedy, and sly people.
After ruining Li Zhiyuan's reputation, Granny Zhao left with her head held high.
Unable to win the argument, Li Gouwa ran to Li Zhiyuan's house in tears to complain.
Li Zhiyuan's vision went black, and he almost coughed up blood.
Originally, if he had let Granny Zhao in, he would have only been humiliated by her in person.
But he wouldn't let her in! She actually went to the big locust tree and told him! The whole village knew about it!
What's most infuriating is that He Ma and Da Xing, who were sent by the Zhang family, were not motivated to work. After several days of harvesting, they only managed to harvest one acre of grain.
When Li Zhiyuan questioned her, Aunt He rolled her eyes and said, "Son-in-law, haven't you seen your fields? They're overgrown with weeds. You should be thanking your lucky stars that we were able to harvest so much grain!"
Because of the slow pace, only seven or eight acres were harvested. The rest, which couldn't be harvested in time, either fell off and rotted, or got moldy and sprouted, and were all wasted.
Granny Zhao, Li Zhiyuan, and the others were furious to see that the grain yield was only 20% of what it was in previous years.
Zhang Shuiniang secretly resented her family servants for not giving her face, and angrily said:
"That's all you harvested? How did you work? It's because you were lazy and didn't work hard that the rest of the crops rotted in the fields!"
Sunburnt to the point of being charcoal-black, Aunt He had been holding back for a long time. She sneered, "Come on, Miss, count the number of people. One, two! That's it! Only two people. How many do you expect us to recover?"
"How come you're harvesting your land so quickly?"
"Miss, stop with the obvious questions! We've hired farmhands, of course! If you want things to be quick, why don't you spend money to hire farmhands?"
Zhang Shuiniang clutched her chest: "Father sent you to help me..."
"That's right, the master only sent the two of us. What, does Miss expect the master to hire long-term workers for you? Is he really that clueless? Seeing that there are fewer people, he can't even hire some himself."
After saying that, he said irritably, "Alright, we've already collected everything for you, so we're going back now."
After saying that, Aunt He turned and left with Daxing.
Zhang Shuiniang's face turned pale and then flushed, and she trembled with anger.
Li Zhiyuan had been annoyed these past few days, and now seeing He Ma dare to give Zhang Shuiniang such a hard time, he felt a surge of indescribable emotions.
For a servant to treat Zhang Shuiniang like this only shows that Shuiniang is not respected by Zhang Fuhu.
Only then did Li Zhiyuan vaguely realize that Zhang Shuiniang might not have been so favored in her family.
He couldn't help but glance at Zhang Shuiniang; the once aloof young lady didn't seem so aloof anymore...
...
Around 10 p.m., the villagers went to bed early to save on lamp oil.
"Why are you looking for me at this time..." Behind an abandoned thatched hut, Jin Hua's face was flushed.
"How are your parents doing? It's been several days, and I'm getting anxious waiting for them," Zhou Ziyang asked.
Jin Hua laughed and said, "What's the rush... Don't worry, they've been asking around for so long without any results, which proves there's no problem."
"I am naturally a good one."
"Hmph, you're so glib! You... you called me so late just to ask this?"
“No… there’s a fireworks display in the city tonight, I’ll take you to see it,” Zhou Ziyang said.
Under the moonlight, her rosy cheeks and delicate beauty captivated Zhou Ziyang.
He couldn't help but take her hand.
Jin Hua's face flushed, and she felt a sweet warmth in her heart: "It's too late..."
"Don't worry, I'll take you back after we're done watching. I'll use a horse-drawn carriage, which is much faster than an oxcart."
"Hmm... let me think..." Jin Hua also wanted to go, but she also knew that it was inappropriate to go out with a man late at night.
But if she doesn't go, he'll have to go back.
She wanted to see him more often and spend more time with him.
Seeing her hesitation, Zhou Ziyang said urgently, "I want to spend more time with you. I've been missing you terribly these past few days."
Jin Hua's heart trembled, and she nodded: "Then...you have to bring me back before dawn...otherwise..."
Zhou Ziyang was overjoyed, but before he could answer, a cold voice rang out: "Who's there?"
The two men's expressions changed.
Jin Hua was afraid that Zhou Ziyang would be discovered, and that it would be bad if her parents found out that he had come to see her so late. She hurriedly came out and saw Ye Bajin standing not far away with a lantern in his hand.
"Is this... Jin Hua? What are you doing here so late at night?" Ye Bajin approached.
"I...can't sleep, so I came out to look at the moonlight..."
Ye Bajin scratched his head, somewhat puzzled: "If you want to see the moon, you can do it at home. Why do you need to go out?"
"I just... wanted to take a walk..."
"Wait, why do I hear voices?"
"I'm making a wish to the moon. Oh, Uncle Bajin, don't ask. By the way, Uncle Bajin, why are you out so late?"
“Fu Bao caught a chill, I’m going to see Doctor Zhao for medicine. You should go back quickly, it’s dangerous for a young lady to be running around so late at night. Come on, I’ll take you home.”
"Okay, thank you, Uncle Bajin."
Jin Hua looked troubled, and in the end, she had no choice but to follow behind Ye Bajin.
After walking a distance, I looked back, but there was no sound from behind the thatched hut. I didn't know if he had left or not.
Jin Hua wanted Ye Bajin not to tell her parents about what happened tonight, but she was afraid that the more she said that, the more suspicious she would seem.
After thinking about it, I decided against it.
The next day, Ye Bajin indeed told Du about it.
Du's face darkened. "Looking at the moon? She doesn't believe a damn thing!"
Du didn't question Ye Jinhua either, because she knew it would be pointless and would only exacerbate the conflict between mother and daughter.
Du didn't look for Jin Hua, but Jin Hua got anxious first.
After lunch, Du was mending clothes when Jinhua approached her and asked, "Mother, it's been several days, have you found out anything?"
Mrs. Du replied irritably, "No."
These days, she secretly inquired in town, and everyone she met praised Zhou Ziyang.
Not to mention the Du family, even Ye Daquan had nothing to say.
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