Those who always liked to flatter the Zhao family seized the opportunity to say, "That's right! Scholar Zhao is destined to pass the imperial examinations and become a high-ranking official. Would he really rely on a few mushrooms from you?"
Hearing this compliment, Zhao Xiucai's face showed a hint of pride.
"Who said there isn't?" Just as everyone was jeering, Mo Qianshang sneered and said a few words that were like a bucket of cold water being poured over Zhao Xiucai's head, leaving him stunned.
"You two, put your hands out, palms up!"
Mo Qianshang gave the order in a cold voice. Neither of them understood what was going on, but Zhao Xiucai naturally didn't want to listen to an ordinary peasant woman. However, Qin Qianya obediently stretched out her hand. Under the gaze of everyone, he reluctantly opened his hand as well: "What do you want?"
Mo Qianshang stepped forward, grabbed the two men's wrists, and showed them to everyone: "You see, these mushrooms all grow near the roots of trees and close to the soil. My Xiao Liu's hand is covered in mud and dirt, and you can hardly see the color of it anymore."
Zhao Xiucai struggled for a moment, but Mo Qianshang gripped his wrist tightly and pulled it high: "Look at Zhao Xiucai's hands again, they're whiter than a lady's face. Are these the hands of someone who picks mushrooms? Did you pick these mushrooms from the sky, untouched by the dust?"
When she said that, some villagers who had just realized what she meant almost burst out laughing.
Mo Qianshang picked up the mushroom again and showed it to everyone: "Everyone, take a look at this mushroom. My hands are covered in dirt just from picking it up. Zhao Xiucai clearly didn't even touch the mushroom. How can you say it was stolen? Did you wash your hands after the mushroom was stolen?"
The moment he said that, the surroundings fell silent.
Those who previously thought the Xu family must have stolen Zhao Xiucai were now bewildered. Mo Qianshang's words made sense, but... could it really be that Xiucai stole the mushrooms?
The crowd's gazes were as if they wanted to strip Zhao Xiucai naked and see him clearly.
Zhao Xiucai felt intimidated by the stare, his face flushing red. He resented Mo Qianshang for meddling and defended himself amidst the whispers around him: "This...this was clearly what I saw first! I was just about to pick it when your brat beat me to it!"
"Who doesn't know that our scholar is weak? You're just taking advantage of our scholar's poor health, thinking he can't compete with your son, right?" Xiao Zhaohan chimed in, "In the end, it's still your brats who stole our things!"
"Frail?" Mo Qianshang chuckled in exasperation, glancing at the little girl in her arms. "Why don't you have a good cry too? Let's see if you're even more frail than my daughter?"
Everyone: ...
This girl is like a chick. Even if a scholar is not a scholar, he is still an adult!
On the contrary, Zhao Xiucai, though thin, had a ruddy complexion and showed no signs of weakness.
So it's really not certain who's fighting over whom.
After this discussion, even the slowest person would understand. Zhao Xiucai, noticing the change in everyone's gaze, paused, feeling displeased, but pretended to be insincere and said, "In that case, these mushrooms will be given to Qin Qianya to help her recover."
Zhao Xiucai spoke the last few words through gritted teeth, but Mo Qianshang's smile grew even brighter. She gave Qin Zixuan a look, and the third brother immediately took her and held her protectively in his arms, as if afraid that someone would snatch her away.
"Scholar Zhao, you've read quite a few books yourself. What's with all this talk about giving things away? This is called returning something to its rightful owner!"
Lin Hui deliberately spoke very loudly, so that everyone could hear her.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Xiucai's face turned a variety of colors. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but couldn't find the right words, so he could only leave dejectedly.
Seeing his son get the short end of the stick, Old Man Zhao couldn't sit still any longer. He put his hands on his hips and shouted at Mo Qianshang, "Qin family, that's not right! Can't we talk things out? It's your family that beat up my son because you outnumbered him. Do you have any conscience?"
“Indeed!” Mo Qianshang clapped her hands and said slowly, “We’re all from the same village, so let’s talk things out. We can’t just rob people and bully the weak by taking advantage of our status!”
"You!" Old Zhao blushed and stormed off, cursing. "I don't argue with women!"
Seeing that the parties involved had all left, the fun was over for a while, and everyone went home satisfied.
What happened today was neither a big deal nor a small deal, and the onlookers were quite surprised. They never expected that a scholar would steal someone else's things; it was truly an eye-opener for them.
After the outsiders left, the brothers saw Qin Qianya crying pitifully, her eyes also red, and they felt that they had not protected their sister well.
Mo Qianshang got up and washed up. When she came back, she saw the four little ones sitting there with their heads down, all of them looking listless. She couldn't cheer up at all.
She thought for a moment, then secretly redeemed two rolls of noodles from the system, lit a fire, and set up a pot.
We won't be eating brown rice today, so the kids can have some fun too. Kids can handle anything a good meal can't solve!
She also added four eggs and salt, and made hot noodle soup, serving each person a bowl.
None of the children had ever seen such thin, white, and smooth noodles before. Even though they were starving, they just stared at them with wide eyes, too afraid to touch their chopsticks.
"Why aren't you eating yet? Are you saving it for someone else?" Mo Qianshang patted the wooden table and, as the elder, picked up two pieces of food first.
Seeing that she had started eating, the children immediately picked up their bowls and chopsticks, but they only picked up a tiny bit, wishing they could divide each chopstick into a hundred bites.
She sighed inwardly, "If you don't eat, I'll find someone to eat it for you."
Immediately, a chorus of ravenous eating filled the air, and only then was she satisfied.
Kids should eat big bites!
Suddenly, her gaze swept across the cave entrance, and after a while, she looked away.
Qin Baiyi, standing outside the cave, realized that he seemed to be getting more and more exposed. But compared to that, he was more concerned about where Mo Qianshang got the white noodles. He had never seen her knead dough, let alone seen such fine noodles!
As for the children, they naturally wouldn't doubt their mother. They remembered that their mother was protected by a deity, and this was something that couldn't be mentioned.
As they ate their fragrant noodles, the other villagers swallowed their saliva. As Mo Qianshang ate, she heard the villagers stir again: "Hey, did you see that? The Chen family is carrying grain to talk to Old Man Zhao!"
"Is what they're saying true? Is Widow Chen really going to marry her eldest daughter to Scholar Zhao?"
"Her daughter is only seven years old! Isn't this marriage proposal a bit too early? That scholar Zhao is ten years older than her!"
"What do you know? I heard Old Man Zhao has agreed! It seems the matter is settled today!"
The chattering allowed Mo Qianshang to overhear a bit of gossip.
For such a significant event, the Zhao and Chen families invited the village head to witness the event. In front of everyone, Widow Chen opened her sack, which contained golden millet, and another small sack, which contained a lot of loose silver.
Widow Chen beamed with pride: "From today onwards, our two families are in-laws! This bag is my daughter's dowry!"
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