Mo Qianshang frowned: "Isn't this meddling a bit too much?"
Village chief Liu Shugen sighed: "Don't even think about talking, it's useless. I tried to talk to them several times before you came, but they were completely unyielding. All they wanted was money, and they wouldn't release the people unless they got it!"
Several families managed to contribute some money, but it still amounted to less than five taels of silver, which was definitely not enough; these people wanted fifty taels.
When people are fleeing, they can't sell their houses or land, and they have nowhere to raise money. There's nothing anyone can do!
Mo Qianchang glanced around and noticed that the old man she had met by the river was also there. He was sitting under a tree at the entrance of the village, basking in the sun with an air of nonchalance.
Extorting people during a famine—it's unbelievable that these people would do such a thing.
However, whether it was her or these fellow villagers, there were some river clams scattered around them, but there seemed to be only about ten of them. Obviously, just like before, they were discovered shortly after entering the water.
Moreover, the places where they were collecting river clams were all outside the village, yet these people arrived so promptly; it's likely they were specifically sent to watch them and extort money.
Mo Qianshang just felt it was troublesome. Although it was a village, it had nothing to do with her, and she really didn't want to get involved!
As a result, under everyone's watchful eyes, Mo Qianshang stood expressionless for a while and said, "They are deliberately trying to extort money from us. Unless we take action, there's nothing I can do to help."
It was one thing before, but now that the people from the two villages are facing off, Mo Qianshang's village has fewer people, so they will definitely be outnumbered.
To be honest, they really didn't want to take action.
Just as Mo Qianshang was about to leave, someone grabbed her arm: "Sister-in-law Mo, please help me, please help me!"
This woman was the wife of one of the people who had been tied up. She didn't know what she wanted Mo Qianshang to do for her, but she just felt that Mo Qianshang definitely had a way.
Mo Qianshang: She discovered that the people in their village were also quite good at blackmailing, but it was "moral blackmail".
What could she possibly do? If she really had any options, the most direct one would be to rush up and beat them all up.
Mo Qianshang secretly rolled her eyes and looked up: "I don't have any other way, but if you need money, I can lend you thirty taels of silver. Whether you can raise it or not depends on yourselves. You need to write an IOU. Think carefully about whether you want to borrow from me."
After she finished speaking, she waited to the side, with the children standing next to her. The youngest, Qianya, tugged at her clothes and even yawned slightly.
Mo Qianshang's eyebrows twitched, and a smile appeared in her eyes. She felt that her youngest daughter was actually quite calm in the face of danger.
The little girl swayed back and forth, clearly very sleepy, so Mo Qianshang picked her up in her arms.
Qin Qianya naturally wrapped her arms around her neck, rested her head on her shoulder, her long eyelashes fluttered, and her eyes quickly closed.
"My daughter is sleepy. You need to decide quickly. I can't wait much longer."
The villagers all felt that Mo Qianshang was colder than before, her face was icy, and she seemed more difficult to get along with than before.
The families of those individuals were anxious and gathered around to discuss the matter, starting to ask others for money one by one.
They currently have five taels of silver. If they can borrow fifteen taels from other families, they will have fifty taels if they include Mo Qianchang's!
However, what others were more concerned about was what Mo Qianshang said: she was actually able to take out thirty taels of silver at once!
Judging from her demeanor just now, she lent out thirty taels without batting an eye. When did Mo Qianshang, with four children, become so wealthy?
The crowd couldn't help but feel a little restless.
Mo Qianshang naturally knew the principle of "not flaunting wealth," but at this moment she seemed completely unconcerned.
Although the children knew that thirty taels of silver was a lot of money, they wouldn't say a word when their mother was discussing it with others.
They had never seen thirty taels of silver before and had no concept of it.
Qin Baiyi, who had just arrived nearby, frowned as he looked at Mo Qianshang in the crowd.
He had only been gone for a short while, so why did he feel that Mo Qianshang seemed different from before?
He had just taken a look at her expression when Mo Qianshang suddenly turned around. Their eyes met, and Qin Baiyi felt a chill, but before he could see the emotion in Mo Qianshang's eyes, she had already turned her head away.
Mo Qianshang moved the arm that was holding Qianya, and her brows furrowed slightly.
She suddenly realized that, perhaps because of the update, she was now very sensitive to Qin Baiyi's gaze. Although she hadn't reached the state of her original body, she was quite close.
So it seems she's been incredibly impatient ever since she woke up.
For example, right now, she's already thinking of turning around and leaving, taking the children back to rest.
She silently asked the system in her mind, "Is my headache a side effect of your update?"
The system replied: "Scanning your body and reporting to you, the headache is unrelated to your update, but related to your current mental state."
Mo Qianshang closed her eyes briefly: "So you mean I'm so upset that I have a headache right now?"
She doesn't recall being so easily irritated; on the contrary, she's quite a rational person.
She attributed this to the fact that her personality had been suppressed too much during the period before the update.
The endless stream of troublesome villagers, coupled with the inexplicable appearance of Qin Baiyi who was kind to the children but always suspicious of her and secretly observing her, all forced her to endure until she could no longer tolerate it and took action.
It's not incomprehensible that emotions accumulate.
Mo Qianshang tried to suppress her negative emotions, while the other families had already finished their discussion: "Sister-in-law Mo, we'll borrow the money from you! We'll lend it to you!"
Mo Qianshang glanced at them: "Wait for me."
She needed writing brushes, ink, paper, and silver, and she couldn't possibly take out so many things in front of everyone.
She carried Qianya, followed by the three children, back home. Avoiding them, she exchanged the inkstone, brush, and paper at the shop. These didn't need to be good and wouldn't cost much money. Then she wrote an IOU, including the cause and effect of the matter and how much money was borrowed, etc.
After finishing writing, she took the red clay with her handprint on it and the thirty taels of silver from her cloth bag, and said to the outside, "Qin Baiyi, are you there? Please watch the child for me."
Then, patting his three sons' heads, he said, "Your little sister is asleep. Be quiet, you can sleep for a while if you want, but don't wake her up, okay?"
The children all doted on their younger sister and were very sensible, nodding repeatedly.
Qin Heming whispered, "Mother, you go ahead. I'll take good care of my younger brother and sister."
Mo Qianshang smiled and thought that these children were quite easy to take care of; raising them was actually worthwhile.
She was using someone else's body after all, so it wouldn't hurt to take on some responsibility for her.
After Mo Qianshang returned, she had all five families put their handprints on the document. Although they were illiterate, there was no other way at the moment. Mo Qianshang also said that if they did not believe her, they did not have to put their handprints on the document.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com