Chapter 32: The Five-Year Minimum Sentence Beast

For two consecutive days, the Song family was busier than ever in the evenings.

“Liangzuo, don’t worry! Your aunt is skilled at farming; how hard can it be to dig up some vegetables? It’s just a small task,” someone would say.

“Liangzuo, look at this! These were all dug up by your aunt. How much do you think we can sell for?” another would chime in.

“Liangzuo….”

People came in waves to deliver their freshly dug herbs. Song Liangzuo took his role seriously, evaluating the herbs brought to him meticulously. Aside from some mishaps on the first day, about ninety percent of what the villagers were now bringing in was suitable for medicinal use.

Originally, Song Liangzuo intended to only collect dried herbs, but since people were bringing fresh ones directly to him for review, he decided to keep them fresh and dry them later himself.

This change brought immense joy to those delivering the herbs, as it saved them some effort.

In Daliushu Village, with just over sixty households, anything that happened would quickly become common knowledge. Naturally, news about the money-making opportunity through herb digging spread like wildfire.

In the yard of the Song family, the news reached them as well.

“Dad, Mom, I heard we can earn money by digging wild herbs. Should we go do it too?” Bian Xiuqin couldn’t contain herself during dinner.

Liu Cuiyun, her mother-in-law, shot her a glance and snapped back, “Do you have what it takes? Or are you preparing to go beg nicely at their place? Let me be clear: unless I’m dead, you’ll have to listen to me. If anyone dares to go, I’ll let my son divorce you!”

Bian Xiuqin, noticing her mother-in-law’s anger, fell silent but felt a pout forming in her heart. It was all about face! What did face matter when there was money to be made?

But she kept those thoughts to herself and glanced at her husband, Song Wangjian, only to find he was completely ignoring her.

In frustration, she lifted her foot from underneath the table intending to kick him but ended up hitting Song Wangshui, who was sitting nearby.

“Ow! Who kicked me?” Song Wangshui complained, startled.

Bian Xiuqin realized her mistake and pretended nothing had happened, lowering her head to push the rice around in her bowl.

“What’s wrong?” Chen Kaiyun asked quickly, putting her bowl down as she noticed the exchange.

Liu Cuiyun surveyed everyone at the table, her gaze lingering on her oldest daughter-in-law.

Before Song Wangshui could respond, she picked up her chopsticks and said, “Can’t you all just eat quietly? Don’t you think there’s enough work to do in the fields? Tomorrow, everyone will go pull weeds in the bean field!”

With that, Song Wangshui also fell silent.

After dinner, it was supposed to be Bian Xiuqin who cleaned up the dishes, but feeling resentful, she groaned, holding her stomach as she headed outside, calling back, “Third sister-in-law, can you wash the dishes today? My stomach isn’t feeling well. I’ll help you next time.”

Chen Kaiyun’s gaze turned to the second sister-in-law, Bian Xiuli, who looked back innocently as if it had nothing to do with her, smiling, “Third sister-in-law, I don’t think it’s my turn to wash. Since our dear eldest sister isn’t feeling well, I’ll check on her later; you handle this!”

With that, Bian Xiuli also stood up and left, leaving poor Chen Kaiyun stuck with the dishes.

After Bian Xiuqin returned to her room, she didn’t hold back her frustration towards Song Wangjian, and it wasn’t until Bian Xiuli came by with her sewing basket that he finally stepped out.

Seeing her older brother depart, Bian Xiuli leaned close and whispered to her cousin, “You’re usually so clear-headed, but today you seem confused.”

Bian Xiuqin shot back, pointing to herself, “Me? Confused?”

“Of course! Mom just said not to interact with the family from that house; we can send our kids over instead—Chengyu from your house and Chengwen from mine. I hear that aside from Chunzhī, Jin from the second uncle’s family has dug up the most. We should let the children privately trade with Jin; we can share the profits when he brings the payment back. This way, we don’t involve the families directly, and whatever they earn can stay with us,” Bian Xiuli explained.

Upon hearing this, Bian Xiuqin was overjoyed, slapping her thigh. “That’s the idea! But what if Mother and Wangjian and Wanghe find out?”

Bian Xiuli shrugged nonchalantly, “If they find out, we’ll just deny it. We can tell them the kids were just playing. Mom will only scold us a bit; she wouldn’t really do anything. As for your husband, what could he possibly do? If he gets mad, we can just deal with it later.”

Bian Xiuqin was convinced by this plan and immediately called in the children playing outside and began instructing them.

Just like that, the children from both families approached Song Jingjin, the son of their second uncle, the next day. Jin discussed with his little aunt about trading herbs, and they quickly struck a deal where the kids would provide five extra pieces of herbs in exchange for their services.

Meanwhile, Song Liangzuo was unaware of these developments. He simply noticed that the herbs from the second uncle’s family were more plentiful than on the previous days, assuming they were just getting better at digging.

As he prepared to head to the county the next day, he cheerfully hummed a tune while packing the dried herbs. Why was he feeling good?

It was simple: the shampoo he created worked wonders for his hair! While he didn’t care much about whether his hair was smooth, he did notice that his scalp was no longer itchy. He had even gotten everyone in the family to wash with it; otherwise, even if he no longer had lice, it would still spread.

He believed that with another two or three washes, he would finally say goodbye to the lice on his head.

Just as he was getting into a pleasant groove, he suddenly heard someone calling out from the door.

“Song Liangzuo, are you home?”

Looking up, when he saw who it was, his small face visibly dropped.

It was none other than Lin Shanye, the boy who had caused him so much trouble a few days ago.

Song Liangzuo stood up, hands on his hips, and puffed out his little chest, angrily saying, “Lin Shanye, what are you doing here?”

Noticing that Lin Shanye was carrying a worn bamboo basket, he decided to poke fun at him, “You’re not here to deliver herbs to me, are you? Didn’t you refuse to take me into the mountains?”

Lin Shanye took a moment to compose himself, stepping into the yard and showing him what was in the basket. “I’m not here to sell herbs; I caught a pangolin. Can you help me sell it?”

A pangolin?” Song Liangzuo’s gaze fell into the basket, and sure enough, there lay an unmoving pangolin. Without thinking, he blurted out, “That’s a five-year minimum sentence beast!