Chapter 23

“Why? Sister-in-law, don’t push your luck!” Fan Qian’s face turned grim, his tone icy.

Shuiqing showed no fear, raising her head as she said, “Because you pushed Xinghui! My demands are reasonable.”

“You—”

“I also think it’s reasonable!”

An elderly voice rang out, causing everyone to turn their heads.

An old man with a wooden cane was walking towards them.

It was the old village head of Shanshui Village!

Everyone hurriedly made way, allowing the old village head to walk to the front.

Fan Qian, who initially wanted to ask who thought it was reasonable, saw the old village head already standing there and silently closed his mouth.

Shanshui Village was a mixed-surname village, but the villagers with seven or eight different surnames highly respected the old village head because he handled matters fairly and justly, earning everyone’s heartfelt admiration.

“Eldest Fan, your family has always had a good life. You just split from the family yesterday, and today you go to steal from the second house?” The old village head’s sharp eyes stared at Fan Qian as he asked.

Sun Jinhua wanted to speak, but the old village head glanced at her, “Do you want to be sent to the authorities or dealt with by village rules? Go back to your Sun family; you are no longer a resident of Shanshui Village!”

Sun Jinhua, thinking of her own family, shook her head like a rattle drum.

She couldn’t go back. At Fan’s house, she ate the best and did the least work. At Sun’s house, her mother scolded her, pinched her, and she couldn’t even dream of having black bread, only the thinnest wild vegetable gruel to barely fill her stomach.

She didn’t want to go back to the days of waking up hungry in the middle of the night!

“Since you don’t want to go back, listen to me: First, return the mushrooms, not one less; second, Sun Jinhua must compensate the second house with a sack of rice for taking their belongings. From now on, without the second house’s consent, your family is not allowed to take anything from their fields or forests! Lastly, Sun Jinhua injured someone, and it’s a fact that Er Ya is hurt. You must pay for her medical treatment.”

Fan’s mother, hearing the first part, had no objections, but when she heard the second part, she couldn’t stay still—a sack of rice!

That was rice, worth at least 900 wen. She only got to eat a bowl of rice during the New Year and holidays, and now they had to compensate that girl Er Ya.

There was also a third demand. She rushed out and shouted, “Money? What money? We don’t have money to pay!”

“Fine, since you don’t have money, give the six chickens in your yard to Er Ya for her recovery,” the old village head calmly responded.

Fan’s mother stood frozen.

The villagers watching the scene burst into laughter.

“Hahaha, only the old village head can do this!”

“Let’s see if you dare bully the second house again. After splitting up, you still want to steal from them openly? Our Shanshui Village won’t tolerate it.”

Villagers who had received the old village head’s fair judgments before expressed their stance: “Eldest Fan, if you don’t accept the old village head’s decision, you can go see the authorities or be dealt with by village rules!”

Villagers previously punished by the old village head now saw Eldest Fan’s family looking dejected and couldn’t be happier, shouting, “Every country has its laws, and every family has its rules. You used to tell me the same. Oh, you also said our village, though poor, always reasoned things out. What’s wrong? Now your family doesn’t want to reason anymore?”

The four children of Eldest Fan couldn’t stay still, rushing out and pleading with their father and grandmother, “Dad, don’t let mom be dealt with by village rules. If she goes back to Sun’s house, grandma will surely beat her to death.”

“Grandma, please, think of the fact that mom gave you four grandsons.”

“Yes, grandma, aren’t the four of us worth more than a sack of rice and a few chickens?”

Mother can’t go back to Sun’s house! If she leaves, dad will surely remarry, and with a stepmother comes a stepfather. Who knows who will end up with all the stuff then?

Sun Jinhua was moved to tears.

Sons were indeed the best!

She glanced at her daughters beside her, useless except for stopping her from taking mushrooms from Daya and Erya!

Fan’s mother’s face was extremely ugly.

Grandsons were her guarantee for old age and the continuation of the Fan family line. She couldn’t upset the four grandsons.

She looked at the sharp-eyed old village head and compromised, “…Fine.”

After speaking, she looked at Hu Shuiqing and her three daughters, threatening them in a low voice, “Eat, eat, eat. Don’t you fear shortening your lifespan eating this old lady’s stuff?”

Shuiqing, having gained real benefits, didn’t care and smiled brightly, “Mother-in-law, don’t speak nonsense. How is this your stuff? It’s clearly Sun Jinhua’s, and she’s the head of the household now, isn’t she?”

Fan’s mother choked, her hostile gaze immediately shifting to Sun Jinhua.

The villagers didn’t care, eagerly helping to move the rice and catch the chickens.

They didn’t do it for anything else—just seeing the bad guys suffer made them happy~

The old village head, seeing everything accounted for, turned to leave.

Yan Qiuxinghui and his five children thanked the old village head profusely.

The old village head waved it off, slowly walking away with his cane.

Shuiqing knew that with so many people around, giving gifts would make things difficult for the old village head, and he surely wouldn’t accept. If he did, managing village affairs would become hard.

But she already had a plan to repay him…

“Elder sister, Yan Qiuxinghui, Jianghehu!” a cheerful voice pierced through the noisy crowd, clearly audible.

Shuiqing turned and saw a bull cart loaded with goods, surrounded by strong men.

The young man speaking was particularly robust!

Tall and burly, with broad shoulders and a thick chest, his arms looked capable of punching a pig to death!

“Uncle!”

Before Shuiqing could react, the five children cheerfully ran towards the burly young man.

A similarly built but slightly shorter older man next to him scolded, “A bunch of ungrateful brats, only seeing your uncle and ignoring your grandfather?”

“Grandfather!” the five children called out in unison.

The older man immediately smiled, pointing to the bull cart, “Grandfather brought pork. Your mother will cook it for you for lunch!”

The cheer was even louder.

In the yard, the Fan family gritted their teeth.

A sack of rice was gone.

The last six chickens were gone.

Now the second aunt’s family brought pork. In the past, most of this would have ended up in their stomachs.

“Grandma, I want to eat meat,” the youngest, Sizhu, licked his lips and made a request.

“If you want meat, ask your mother!” Fan’s mother flicked her sleeve and slammed the door shut.

The seven people in the yard drooled at the thought of pork.

Outside the yard, Shuiqing guiltily spoke, “…Dad, why are you here?”

In her memory, her original father was a fierce butcher. He married off his daughter to a scholar hoping to elevate their family status, but the son-in-law never passed the imperial exams year after year. Now, at twenty-eight, he was still a mere scholar.

Her father’s attitude towards her husband grew more disdainful over time.

Wait, a butcher named Hu, and she was Hu Butcher’s daughter.

Fan Jin, nearly thirty and still a scholar.

Shanshui Village, located in the south, rarely saw snow in winter…

Boom.

Shuiqing felt a dizzying realization—could she have not just traveled back in time, but into a famous novel most people in China had read?