74 moan
◎He hugged her greedily◎
"I was thinking of you, so I came here," Shu Yao said, scalding his bowl and chopsticks again. "It just so happened that an oxcart arrived in the village today."
When she finished sowing seeds this morning and was going down the mountain, she happened to meet an oxcart heading into the city. The people on the cart were the parents of today's exam candidates. They were going to the city to pick up their children. She thought about it and realized that everyone else had someone to pick them up. If Ji Shijing left the exam room and no one was waiting for him outside, would he feel disappointed?
She suddenly remembered that when she was taking the college entrance examination, parents were waiting for their children outside the school gate with flowers in their hands, while she was all alone. It was really a bad feeling.
She didn't want Ji Shijing to experience the same disappointment.
After hearing what she said, Ji Shijing paused for a moment while holding the cup. The sunlight fell on his long eyelashes, causing a slight ripple.
Some people still miss him.
He looked up and looked at her seriously: "I did well on the test today."
Just then, the food arrived. Shu Yao picked up a large chicken drumstick and placed it in his bowl. "I knew you could do it. Come on, eat that large chicken drumstick and replenish yourself. You've been exhausted these past few days."
Ji Shijing gripped his chopsticks tightly and said "hmm".
At noon, the two of them strolled around the capital again. When they reached the gambling house, Shu Yao saw Ji Tianbao. He was dressed shabbily, with his hair piled on top of his head like a chicken coop. He hadn't washed it in several days. The dark circles under his eyes were like ghosts, and he looked half-dead and haggard.
He yelled that he wanted to go into the gambling house, but the thugs threw him out without any courtesy, cursing loudly: "You think you are the eldest master of the Ji family? Bah, get out of here!"
Ji Tianbao was thrown to the ground like mud. It took him a long time to stand up. He was unconscious. After spitting twice at the door of the gambling house, he staggered into the brothel opposite.
Shu Yao was a little frightened by his current appearance. Logically speaking, Master Ji must have donated a lot of money to Ji Dayong's family when he was alive, which was enough for them to live a rich life in Youyang County in the second half of their lives. How come Ji Tianbao has become so destitute now?
Just as he was thinking about it, Ji Tianbao was driven out by the people from the brothel opposite.
Ji Tianbao cursed a few words, then staggered away with a jar of wine in his hand, drinking.
Ji Shijing naturally noticed Ji Tianbao. He saw Shu Yao kept looking at Ji Tianbao, and he felt inexplicably depressed. What was so good about that idiot?
The two of them strolled along the street and bought some daily necessities.
Two more steps ahead would bring them to Zui Xiang Fang. Shu Yao stopped, feeling a little emotional, and then pulled Ji Shijing back.
Ji Shijing had the same idea. He was afraid that he would run into that prince again when passing by Zui Xiang Fang. It was obvious that the prince was not a good person, so he didn't want Shu Yao to meet him.
We found an ox cart heading back to the village at the city gate. The cart was shaking so much that we didn't reach the village until the sun was setting.
As soon as she arrived at the village, she found that the two stone lions at the entrance were tied with red silk, which was only used at weddings. Shu Yao was a little confused.
An auntie who was also on the oxcart slapped her thigh and suddenly realized: "Oh, in two days it will be Yue girl's wedding day."
Shu Yao also remembered that the village chief had given her wedding candy a few days ago.
The village chief's daughter's wedding was definitely more grand than that of the other villagers.
The people on the ox cart were talking about it.
"This girl Yue married well. I heard she married into the town."
"Who is that man?"
"I'm not sure about that, but I heard he's in business. He has acres of fertile land and countless shops. He's not short of money, so if Yue gets married, she'll be a wealthy woman."
"No wonder the village chief is so happy. The buffet will probably last for several more days."
“…”
Shu Yao listened to the villagers' chatter. When she got off the ox cart, she said to Ji Shijing, "Let's go have a drink together in a couple of days."
She didn't know what wedding banquets were like in ancient times, and she was looking forward to it.
In the evening, the village chief called everyone to a short meeting on the big square. Each household sent a representative to sit on a small stool and listen to the village chief's speech.
Shu Yao came over yawning. Jiang He pulled her to sit next to him. Seeing that she looked like she had just woken up, he couldn't help but ask, "Sister, are you sleeping so early?"
Shu Yao tied her coat in a new knot. "I'm sleepy, so I just want to go to bed early." She looked at Jiang He and found that the little girl was still unhappy. She pinched Jiang He's cheek and said, "Have you been sulking with your aunt these past few days?"
Jiang He pouted angrily, "Sister, what's so good about Chen Er? Why does mother think so highly of him?"
Shu Yao thought about it seriously and said, "I don't know either. Maybe it's because he has a good family background. You won't have to suffer if you marry him. And your child will be a 'rich second generation' when he's born, so you don't have to worry about making a living."
Jiang He was puzzled: "What is a rich second generation?"
Shu Yao: "Well... she's a child from a wealthy family."
Jiang He nodded, not quite understanding.
Shu Yao sighed. If you marry a rich man, your child will be a rich second-generation and you will be the wife of a wealthy family. If you marry a powerful man, your child will be a powerful second-generation and you will be the wife of an aristocratic family.
…
The usually empty lawn was bustling with activity tonight. Seeing that most people had arrived, the village chief motioned for everyone to be quiet, then he brought a stool and sat in front of everyone.
He cleared his throat and said, "As everyone knows, my daughter Yue is getting married the day after tomorrow. You must all come and have a drink at the wedding."
Hearing what the village chief said, everyone congratulated him.
The village chief nodded in satisfaction and said, "Yue's husband's family is a well-known figure in the town. Everyone should be careful not to be reckless when drinking tomorrow."
"Oh, there's one more important thing."
Everyone held their breath, wanting to hear what the important matter was that the village chief was talking about.
The village chief chuckled twice and asked his wife to distribute wedding candy to everyone. After the candy was distributed, he said, "Tomorrow, I would like to ask everyone to do me a favor and each household must give a minimum of 500 wen as a contribution."
As soon as these words were spoken, the old people present took a deep breath. You know, in this poor little mountain village, some old people rely on farming to make a living, and their annual savings are only 500 coins. Now, if they are asked to use all the money they earn in a year to pay the membership fee, they are naturally not happy.
Some people who were very emotional immediately stood up and retorted: "Village head, this is not right. Five hundred coins is our hard-earned money for the whole year. If we take it all away, how will we eat and drink in the future?"
"You won't let us starve to death after a wedding banquet, will you?"
More and more people stood up to oppose it, and there was a lot of complaints.
Shu Yao was eating the wedding candy. The village chief must be crazy about money and is trying to show off his wealth.
Sure enough, seeing everyone's outrage, the village chief was a little scared. He just wanted to save face in front of his future son-in-law, but he didn't expect the villagers to be so uncooperative.
He was just testing the waters. If no one objected, then the deal would be done. If someone did, he would step back and say, "Everyone, be quiet. I understand you can't come up with that much money. How about each household contribute 200 coins?"
The noise in the crowd quieted down, and the village chief took the opportunity to say, "I will hold a banquet for three consecutive days and treat everyone to three days of drinks. What do you think?"
Two hundred coins was not a small amount of money for them, so the villagers were still a little hesitant. Some elderly widows and widowers sighed, saying that they didn't even have a hundred coins.
But at this time no one dared to be the first to speak out, because most families could afford the two hundred coins.
"Village chief, I have a suggestion." Shu Yao swallowed the wedding candy, stood up and said.
The village chief looked at the person who appeared from the corner, feeling a little unhappy, but he continued what she was saying: "Yao girl, what do you think?"
Shu Yao glanced at the crowd and found that most of them were white-haired elderly people. She said, "I propose that we don't charge membership fees for those over 80 years old who have no children."
As soon as the words came out, the village chief's face changed.
Shu Yao explained to everyone, "Eighty-year-olds don't have the ability to earn money. Plus, they have no children and no one to rely on. If we force them to pay, they won't be able to."
"Village chief, I only have eighty cents left on me, and I have thirty cents left to buy a coffin for myself." An old man over seventy years old stood up unsteadily. His hair was gray, his eyes were yellow and cloudy, and he had no teeth in his mouth. He raised his tattered purse and said to the village chief.
Soon after, some more elderly people stood up. They were all childless and lonely elderly people with no one to take care of them.
Some voices in the crowd also spoke up for them.
The village chief glared at Shu Yao. Why didn't he realize that this girl was so sharp-tongued before? It turned out that people became smarter after going to the city.
Under pressure, the village chief agreed to Shu Yao's proposal because he knew that these elderly people really could not come up with the money.
Shu Yao hadn't sat down yet. She continued, "Village Chief, I have another suggestion."
The village chief saw that she had something else to say, and the corners of his mouth twitched, but he still maintained his composure: "You say!" He almost uttered these two words with gritted teeth.
Shu Yao: "Village Chief, these two hundred coins are not a small amount. We have given a gift, so shouldn't you give us something in return?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the eyes of everyone present lit up.
The village chief took a deep breath and asked, "What gift do you want?"
Shu Yao smiled and said, "We'll give you a 200 yuan gift. Village chief, please give each of our households 5 kilograms of pork, okay?"
The village chief's expression almost froze.
The people below agreed with both hands. Shu Yao was helping them to gain benefits, so they would definitely support her.
The village chief was very regretful at this time. If only he had not informed Shu Yao of the meeting tonight, this little girl would have become really difficult to deal with. Alas, what a mistake.
He certainly would not agree to this request, but as soon as he opened his mouth to reject it, someone below immediately said that they would not give gifts. This scared him so much that he changed his words again and again and promised to give each household five pounds of pork. Only then did everyone smile happily.
Shu Yao sat back on the stool. Jiang He admired her and said, "Sister, you are so amazing. You can actually get something out of Yang Baopi."
Shu Yao ate another piece of wedding candy. It was obvious that the village chief was taking advantage of everyone. It was like an unfamiliar neighbor holding a wedding banquet but asking you to give a gift of one thousand yuan. How could this be justified? Every household earned their money through hard work. Why should they give it away for free?
She just couldn't stand the village chief's behavior, so she chose to get some benefits back. No matter how small the fly legs are, they are still meat, and five pounds of meat is enough to eat for half a month.
After the short meeting, the village chief and his family were extremely depressed.
Shu Yao went home and had a comfortable sleep. In her dream, she was holding a large piece of braised pork and chewing it. The braised pork tasted so good that she couldn't let it go.
Ji Shijing looked at the person lying on top of him. He didn't push her away, but let her lick and nibble his neck. He put his hand into her hair and smelled her fragrance. His heart was throbbing, and the feeling somewhere became more and more obvious. He hugged her greedily, and finally, an extremely suppressed moan came from his dry throat.
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