Bang bang bang! Bang bang bang!
Mo Qianshang returned from outside that morning and took a rare afternoon nap. She had only been asleep for a quarter of an hour when she heard someone knocking on the courtyard gate.
She frowned and got up. She heard Xiao Yao answer the door, and as soon as the door opened, she heard a voice that made her unhappy.
"Wow, I never expected this house to actually be built, and it's so big!"
Mo Qianshang immediately recognized the voice as that of Xiao Liushi, but besides her, there were other voices all around, indicating that quite a few people had arrived.
She came out of her house and passed through the courtyard gate, where she saw at least a dozen people, all from Fushou Village.
Mo Qianshang frowned slightly and glanced at the children peeking out of her room: "You all go back to your rooms and don't come out."
She tightened her outer garment and walked to the door. Little Yao made way for her, and Mo Qianshang then saw that there were at least thirty people there.
"Oh, why are so many people here? Has something big happened in the village?"
The village chief of Fushou Village stood at the front, and Xiao Liu stood a little behind him: "What else could it be? You two women ran away from the village and settled here. Shouldn't the people in this village find you and bring you back? Otherwise, how will we register your names with the government?"
Mo Qianshang didn't think they were making such a big fuss just to talk about this. Even a fool could see that they must have known all along that her house was built and were now looking for an opportunity to do something wicked.
"The village need not trouble itself with my household registration, and the same goes for Sister Yao's. In the future, if the village has any problems, there is no need to come to us, and we will not come to the village for any problems. Let's just live in peace."
As Mo Qianshang was about to close the door, someone cautioned her, "Madam Mo, what are you saying? You came from our Fushou Village with us. How can we abandon you for life or death? If someone investigates later and finds out so many people have disappeared for no reason, won't the village be in trouble?"
Mo Qianshang rolled her eyes: "When Sister Yao was being beaten at home, why weren't you afraid of getting into trouble? What are you doing here now, pretending to be something you're not?!"
A villager who was speaking was shut up after being rebuked by Mo Qianshang.
Liu thought for a moment and said, "Oh, don't say that. The villagers are just worried about you. After all, we finally managed to escape here together. Now the houses in the village have been built, and everyone has started planting. It's too dangerous for you women and children to be up here on the mountain. Why don't you come back to the village with us?"
This young lady Liu spoke in a very affected tone, sounding gentle and sweet, but unfortunately Mo Qianshang wasn't a man and wasn't swayed by it.
"Thank you for your concern. We are living here just fine. Why would we want to go back to the village? Do you think the village will give us better houses or more land? If not, please go back."
Seeing that Mo Qianshang was unmoved by reason, someone couldn't hold back any longer and asked, "Mo family, we heard that you bought land in a nearby village and hired people from that village to farm it. Is that true?!"
Mo Qianshang raised an eyebrow, understanding dawning on her. These people had indeed heard the rumors and were now here to demand an explanation.
She didn't expect to keep the large-scale land purchase a secret for long. As long as the people of Fushou Village knew about Dongshan Village and the two villages started interacting, it would be hard to guarantee that they wouldn't find out about this from the people of Dongshan Village. However, the villages were indeed too close, and it took them only a month to guess that she was the one who bought the land.
"Yes, it's me, so what?"
Seeing that she admitted it so readily, the man became angry: "Mo, since you have money, how can you do this! The people in our own village have no houses or land. If you want to buy land and farm it yourself, why don't you just give the money for the land to the village and let the people in your village clear the land for you to farm?"
"In this way, you will not only become a landlord, but the village can also use the money you used to buy the land to build houses for everyone. Isn't that a great thing? Why did you go to another village to buy land!"
Mo Qianshang almost laughed at this logic: "So that's why there are so many people here today, coming in such a menacing manner. Turns out they're all here to extort money from us?"
The village chief, after listening to the others talk for a while, finally became dissatisfied: "Mo Shi, don't speak so rudely!"
Mo Qianshang rolled her eyes: "I haven't said anything even worse yet!"
She stood on the steps of the courtyard gate, hands on her hips: "Although I don't have it now, I did have the money to buy land back then, but you want me to buy land in the village? What land is there in the village?"
She sneered: "The land you call yours wasn't even fully cleared when I bought it. It was just scattered wasteland that hadn't been cultivated. You're building houses and clearing the land just so you can report to the government after the deed is done. By then, you'll have increased your household registration and cleared the land yourself. The county will have no choice but to grant you residency."
Mo Qianshang laid out the facts, and the people of Fushou Village were speechless: "If I'm not mistaken, you haven't registered everyone yet, have you? Does the county only register able-bodied young people? When you left your homes, you abandoned many elderly people. Now you're treating the remaining women and girls as if they're not human either?"
She scoffed, "If the villagers won't stand for it, then you've set your sights on me. As long as I register my household in the village and pay money to open up more land for the village, maybe the government will take more women and children in return for the land. Your plan is brilliant, but you don't even need to ask me if I'm willing!"
The people of Fushou Village were completely silent. They hadn't expected that after just a brief encounter and before they could even say anything, Mo Qianshang would be able to clearly explain their recent experiences and thoughts.
You should know that the villagers had been discussing this method for a long time, and they had even sent people up the mountain to look at the houses and to Dongshan Village to look at the land. They thought they had made all the necessary preparations.
But now that Mo Qianshang has said it so casually, none of them know how to explain it.
Mo Qianshang looked around, her gaze finally landing on the village chief and Xiao Liushi, but she didn't get a chance to hear them speak.
"That's all you wanted to say? Nothing more? Really?"
She looked like she hadn't had enough, which almost made Xiao Yao, who was initially angry, laugh. She had never imagined that she could live such a blissful life. The carefree days she had spent on the mountain this past month felt like a dream to her.
She only does housework every day. Mo Qianshang is not very at ease when she goes out to collect firewood. She tells her to take her time and not to hurt her eyes when she makes a few more clothes.
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