Village Chief Xu was worried that this would affect Shu Jiaying's reputation. He scolded her with a cold and expressionless face, "The boat was bumpy. Be careful when you get off next time. Go back and take care of my mother first, and clean up my house as well."
“…”
Shu Jiaying really wanted to say that her back was hurting so much, could she wait two days before cleaning?
But she thought about her current status. She was just a domestic worker hired by Village Chief Xu - in ancient times, they were collectively called "slaves". She seemed to have no right to bargain with her "master".
Shu Jiaying nodded reluctantly and rushed to Village Chief Xu's house as soon as she got off the boat.
In order to avoid suspicion, Village Chief Xu took the opposite path, but even so they could not escape the villagers' suspicion of them.
After returning to the home of Village Chief Xu, Shu Jiaying consciously walked to Grandma Xu's room. The smile she had deliberately put on was replaced by the stern face of Grandma Xu.
Shu Jiaying put away her smile and asked tentatively, "Grandma, are you hungry? I'll cook for you..."
"Seeing that you are full, why are you still eating!"
Reach out a hand to Shu Jiaying.
Shu Jiaying immediately realized that Grandma Xu was asking her for money, but she only had nine taels of silver on her, and she had also given one tael of silver to Village Chief Xu, so she would not give any more money to Grandma Xu.
"Grandma, I've already given the money to Uncle Xu. He'll give it to you when he comes back later."
Although Grandma Xu believed Shu Jiaying's words, she calculated that Shu Jiaying went out in the morning and should be back at noon, but this girl delayed until the afternoon.
She still had to ask formally, "Ugly girl, how much did you get for the basket of eggs I gave you?"
Shu Jiaying checked with the village chief Xu and replied calmly, "Boss Wu paid me twenty-five copper coins for thirty-two eggs."
Usually, Granny Xu sold chickens at Wu Laosan's dry goods store for about the same price. She nodded, it seemed that the ugly girl had not lied to her. She asked again, "It's almost dark, why are you back so late?"
"I……"
Originally, Shu Jiaying wanted to say that she was waiting at the ferry for Village Chief Xu to return to the village together, but before she could say anything, Village Chief Xu returned home.
Village Chief Xu replied on behalf of Shu Jiaying, "Mother, Jiaying was hit by a master's carriage at the market after she finished selling eggs for you. The master was afraid of getting into trouble, so he took Jiaying to Zhenghe Hall to have a doctor check her out.
Fortunately, Jiaying was not seriously injured, so the master compensated Jiaying with two taels of silver and left.
Jiaying is a sensible child. She knew that she couldn't do heavy housework in our house during this period, so she gave me one tael of silver, and she kept the remaining one tael of silver to buy medicine in town later.
Mother, here are the twenty-five coins I earned from selling eggs, and the one ounce of silver Jiaying gave me. Take all of this."
Seeing that there was money to be made, Granny Xu immediately smiled. She even said, for the first time ever, "You ugly girl, why didn't you tell me that your back was injured? Wait at home. I'm going to the pork stall at the entrance of the village to see if Butcher Zhang has any fresh pork. I'll cut half a pound and bring it back for you to heal."
Village Chief Xu also agreed: "Okay, I'll go with you, Mom. Let's buy some pork bones to make soup at home. I feel like I haven't tasted oily food in a long time."
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