Chapter 60

When a large group of people marched toward the highlands, those nearby who were picking mushrooms hurriedly went to alert others.

Before long, word spread rapidly, prompting everyone to hastily abandon their mushrooms and converge towards the highlands.

Fan Qian, Fan Damu, and others calmly observed the increasing number of villagers, showing no signs of panic and even a hint of satisfaction.

Coincidentally, just as they were about to reveal the true identities of Mr. and Mrs. Fan, it saved them from having to inform each villager individually.

Shuiqing and Fan Jin were busy digging holes and planting trees on the mountainside.

After the rain, the soil was soft and unsuitable for driving carriages but perfect for digging holes.

They had to take advantage of the relatively warm weather to plant fruit trees for the coming year.

Hearing shouts, they descended the slope and saw a dense crowd gathered in front of their house. Fan Jin and Shuiqing exchanged glances and walked towards the crowd.

“Younger brother, if you didn’t pass the exam, I wouldn’t say much, but I never expected you to be both incompetent in studying and lacking in character!

As your elder brother, it pains me deeply. It’s embarrassing.” Fan Qian looked genuinely distressed as he began to blame Fan Jin.

“Hey, you Fan family folks, if you have something to say, say it directly. How can you accuse Jin of having a bad character right off the bat? From what I see, his character is quite good!”

“If you have something to say, say it. If you have evidence, present it. Otherwise, we won’t acknowledge it!”

“Exactly!”

“Well said!”

A wave of voices defending Fan Jin erupted from the crowd.

They didn’t care about the abstracts; they only knew that the people in front of them had given them tangible benefits!

No one had deducted any weight, nor had they seized the opportunity to ask for anything else, so what else was there to say?

They trusted Fan Jin’s family!

Zhang Jinniu and Zhang Yinniu, each holding a shoulder pole, took a few steps forward, stood in front of Shuiqing and Fan Jin, and frowned their thick black eyebrows. Facing Fan Qian and Fan Daming, they said sternly, “You’d better have a good reason today, otherwise don’t even think about leaving here in one piece!”

“What? You want to fight? Be careful, we’ll report you to the officials!” Sun Jinhua shouted, with her neck stiff.

“Report to the officials? Even if the officials come, I’ll still beat you!”

The scene became chaotic, with everyone arguing. Bai Ziqian took advantage of the chaos and walked behind Shuiqing.

Shuiqing also noticed. This kid looked quite similar to her own—especially since he had also been working outside every day under the sun.

But in just a few days, he seemed to have become more refined—leaner, to be exact.

However, this was normal. The Sun family’s meals were poor, and besides, there was Fan’s mother’s distribution system, which was just about getting full with water.

“Aunt, we’ll talk about the White family later,” said Shuiqing in amazement as she looked at the boy, but his words were interrupted.

“Evidence? Come on, everyone, take a good look. This Mr. Zhao is the evidence!”

Here’s the translation of the text into English:

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Fan Damu reached out and shouted loudly.

Seeing everyone’s gaze turning towards him, he proudly declared, “Zhao Laoye is my cousin’s classmate! He’s the one who bought the chicken head rice as he claimed. Everyone, ask him, did he make Fan Jin buy it? Did he exchange it for rice?”

The chicken head rice was already in the past, and the rice had indeed been brought back home. The crowd wasn’t very interested in whether this Zhao Laoye was genuine or not.

The scene quieted down for a moment.

Fan Damu breathed a sigh of relief and scanned the people around him.

Scared, aren’t you?

“Damu, does it matter? The chicken head rice is in the past, we’re only concerned about picking mushrooms now!”

“You’re wasting our time picking mushrooms just to hear you say these things?”

“You have nothing to do, but we have work to do. Can you stop talking about useless things?”

“You’re so old, no wonder you’ve accomplished nothing. You think you’re smart, but maybe you’re too smart for your own good.”

Accusations came at Fan Damu one after another, leaving him dumbfounded.

It was completely different from what he had expected.

Incredulously, he asked, “You, all of you, do you really think picking mushrooms is more important than rice? Instead of caring about exchanging chicken head rice for rice, you’re concerned about these worthless mushrooms?”

The crowd chuckled, “Heh, mushrooms are valuable now too! You guys just don’t know.”

Seeing the opportunity ripe, Zhao Fugui, with his big belly, took a step forward, cleared his throat, and loudly proclaimed, “Everyone, regarding the promises Fan Jin made in my name, I declare here that I have no involvement! If there’s any problem, you should only look to him.”

“Who are you?”

“Can we find you if we need to?”

“We’ve given the rice, what more do you want us to say?”

They had no idea who this person was from start to finish.

Zhao Fugui’s face turned red as a pig’s liver when questioned. He looked at Fan Jin with dissatisfaction and asked, “Fan Jin, what’s going on here? If you can’t explain it, we’ll have to bring this matter to the master at the academy!”

“What’s there to explain? It’s just that we didn’t want others to know the real big buyer, so we casually said that. We were worried someone might cause trouble, but unexpectedly, this young master Zhao, oh no, this uncle Zhao, came all the way here. It’s not easy.”

Taking over the conversation, Shuiqing said, “Uncle Zhao, originally from a business family, surely understands the affairs of the business world, right? Or has Uncle Zhao always been so honest, never telling a lie or covering up? Truly a model of integrity.”

Instead of lying, he had done dirty things. Was this not a slap in the face?

Zhao Fugui stepped back, and Fan Qian was not happy. He continued to ask, “Fan Jin, you are my younger brother. Who is the big buyer behind this? If you can’t explain, as your elder brother, I can’t let you make mistakes on this path again!”

The villagers around sneered!

Making mistakes, I’m afraid Fan Jin’s two older brothers want to.

“Of course it’s the Bai family.”

Zhao Fugui’s eyes, squeezed into two slits by flesh, lit up. He asked without thinking, “Which Bai family?”

Was it the Bai family he was thinking of?

After asking, he looked up and saw that it was the little servant of Fan Qian’s family who was speaking.

Others were also puzzled.

“The Bai family in the Southern Capital, known as the Bai family of half the city. So what? The Bai family travels far and wide to collect things. What’s so surprising about that?” Dressed in tattered clothes, Bai Ziqian’s experience and the confidence given by the Bai family allowed him to face Zhao Fugui without any fear.

Ignoring the discussions around him, Zhao Fugui sneered, “Empty words, whatever you say is what it is!”

“Auntie, bring out the jade pendant,” Bai Ziqian reminded Shuiqing.

Shuiqing took out the jade pendant, and Bai Ziqian proudly lifted his chin at Zhao Fugui, “Look! Flawless and translucent, made from the finest Hetian jade. Tell me, who else in Guangning Prefecture could possess such fine white jade?”

Facing the flawless white jade, even the least knowledgeable person could tell it was a valuable item, let alone someone like Zhao Fugui.

After scrutinizing it for half a day, he bid farewell and left without turning back in the muddy field.

Leaving everyone whispering and whispering to each other:

“Isn’t this the kid who works for Fan’s family?”

“Is the Bai family really that powerful?”

“Wait, why didn’t he help Fan’s family but instead helped Fan Jin’s family?”

“Who exactly is he?”