After a few more busy days, all the wheat was finally dried. According to the village head, the tax collectors were expected to arrive in a couple of days, so Zhou Song had everything prepared in advance.

The taxes this year were the same as previous years, not too high but not low either, depending on each household’s harvest. After the taxes were collected, the grain merchants from the town would start coming by to inquire about buying grain. Those who wanted to sell could get ready, making things easier when the time came.

The combined harvest from several nearby villages would usually be too much for a single grain merchant to handle, so multiple merchants would come, allowing households to decide who they wanted to sell to based on the offered price.

Zhou Song, of course, intended to sell his grain as well. But this year, when he was sorting it, he hesitated. Compared to previous years, he left more for his family to eat. He planned to set aside some to be milled into fine white flour.

After all the busy work, the weather gradually started to cool down. The heat that had been so stifling was gone, and the villagers had more free time, often visiting each other more frequently.

As usual, Zhou Song still only kept in touch with Lin Erzhu’s family. His wife, Liu Fang, was getting more and more pregnant, with her appetite growing as well. The nausea and vomiting had passed, and now Lin Erzhu was worried that she was eating too much and that the baby might grow too big, making it difficult to give birth.

Zhou Song didn’t understand his concern—whether it was about eating too little or too much.

Today, Zhou Song planned to go to the town. Yesterday, he borrowed a bullock cart from the Lin family. The Lin family didn’t usually like lending out their cart, preferring to take a few people along when they went to town themselves. But Zhou Song was considerate. Each time he borrowed it, he’d bring a wild rabbit or pheasant as a gift, and after using the cart, he’d always feed their old ox well before returning it. Naturally, the Lin family was happy to lend it to him.

Qi Shan Village was quite remote. Even by cart, the nearest town was over two hours away. Usually, people left early in the morning and didn’t return until the evening. In the past, when there was no cart to borrow, going to town meant walking. They had to leave before dawn, and it would already be dark by the time they returned.

Fortunately, traveling to town wasn’t necessary too often. Some peddlers would come to the village from time to time, selling daily necessities like oil, salt, and needles, reducing the need to go into town.

Zhou Song’s trip today had two purposes: he wanted to buy some cloth to make a couple of outfits, and he also planned to take a sack of wheat to be milled into flour.

When Lin Erzhu heard he was going to town, he wanted to go too. With the baby coming in a few months, he wanted to buy some soft, fine cloth to start making small clothes and swaddling blankets. Now that the busy farming season was over and they had some money to spare, there were many people in the village who wanted to go to town, and they asked if Zhou Song could give them a ride.

Zhou Song calculated how much space might be left for goods and agreed to take two people who asked first: an aunt who was always warm-hearted and her daughter, and a quiet middle-aged man.

That aunt had previously tried to match her daughter with Zhou Song, but after he politely declined, she didn’t push it further. She had already arranged a match for her daughter, and this trip to town was to buy wedding supplies.

Since the aunt’s daughter was the only unmarried girl in the group, she was given a seat on the edge, next to her mother, so she wouldn’t be bumped into by the men.

Zhou Song was driving the cart, and Lin Erzhu sat beside him, chattering away, not caring whether Zhou Song was listening or not.

As the ox cart reached the village entrance, they spotted a familiar horse carriage in the distance, along with two familiar figures standing beside it.

“Brother Song, isn’t that your aunt and Zhou Xiaofu?” Lin Erzhu craned his neck to get a better look, then patted Zhou Song on the arm.

Zhou Song’s expression darkened. He snapped the reins and drove the ox cart closer. As they approached, they could hear what Hu Lan was saying beside the carriage.

“We’re all from the same village. It’s just a ride. What’s so inconvenient about it?”

Wu Lanshu, who was sitting on the carriage’s shaft, had been pestered by her for a while and was starting to lose her patience. However, since Hu Lan had her hand on the carriage, driving away might knock her over. If that happened, she might demand compensation, and Wu Lanshu wouldn’t be able to handle that.

“I told you, this carriage is full of women and Kun Ze. It’s not appropriate for your son to get on.” Wu Lanshu patiently explained again.

It wasn’t just that her statement was true—her young master and Wang Cuixiang and her daughter were in the carriage—but even if the carriage were empty, she still wouldn’t want them to get on.

Wu Lanshu remembered that young man. She had seen him before in the fields. Not only was he arrogant, but he had also dared to look at her young master with a disgusting gaze. It was already a courtesy not to chase them away immediately, considering that they were new to the village and didn’t want to offend anyone. But letting him on the carriage? Absolutely not.

“He can sit up front with you. What’s the harm in that? It’s really inconvenient for us to go to town. If we walk, we might not make it back before dark. I’d really appreciate it.”

Hu Lan, realizing Wu Lanshu wasn’t being firm in her refusal, signaled to her son to climb up, thinking that once he was on the carriage, they couldn’t possibly kick him off. After all, it would look bad if word got around.

She had actually been waiting at the village entrance for Zhou Song. Yesterday, she had tried to borrow a cart from the Lin family, but they told her it had already been lent out.

A while back, she had a bit of a falling out with Zhou Song over something in the fields, so she was worried he might hold a grudge and refuse to take them. That’s why she decided to wait here, thinking that when Zhou Song arrived, with so many people around, he wouldn’t leave his own aunt behind.

But instead of Zhou Song’s cart, she saw this horse carriage. She had heard that a new family had recently moved to the eastern village, and they owned a horse carriage. She had never ridden in one before, so she thought she’d give it a try. But who would have thought it would be so difficult to convince them?

“Hey, you…” Wu Lanshu never expected them to be so shameless. Before she could stop him, the plump young man had already climbed halfway up the carriage.

Zhou Xiaofu was just about to sit down on the carriage shaft when he felt a strong tug on the back of his collar, yanking him off and sending him crashing to the ground. He landed with a loud thud and immediately cursed, “Which bastard pulled me?”

Rubbing his sore behind, Zhou Xiaofu looked up to see a face as terrifying as the King of Hell’s, and he shivered with fear.

“Zhou boy?” Wu Lanshu, seeing who had intervened, was momentarily surprised, then delighted. With him here, she figured the troublemakers would surely be handled.

“Xiaofu!” Hu Lan hurried over to help her son up, glaring angrily as she said, “Zhou Song, how could you do this to your own cousin!”

“Oh, so it’s Zhou Xiaofu,” Lin Erzhu said mockingly, crossing his arms as he approached. “From a distance, I thought it was some scoundrel trying to cause trouble. In our own village, of course we have to step in and help.”

Zhou Xiaofu had no shame, but he still cared about his reputation. His face flushed with anger at Lin Erzhu’s taunt, and he stood up, pointing and shouting, “Lin Erzhu, stop spouting nonsense!”

Lin Erzhu gave him a once-over and sneered, “Looks like you’re fine. Sitting there on the ground for so long, were you trying to scam Brother Song for some compensation?”

“You…”

“Alright, Xiaofu, stop arguing with him,” Hu Lan said, noticing that there were other people on the ox cart watching them. She quickly pulled her son back.

Lin Erzhu was known for his sharp tongue, never letting anyone off easily in an argument. If this continued, who knew what more he might say, and that could hurt her son’s reputation.

After calming her son down, Hu Lan turned to Zhou Song and Lin Erzhu, her tone softening. “Lin brother, don’t take what he said so harshly. We were just hoping to hitch a ride, and there was a bit of a misunderstanding. It’s our fault. We just wanted to go to town to buy some fabric for the old folks back home. We were in a hurry. I’m sure you understand, being filial and all.”

Ah, here we go again, Lin Erzhu rolled his eyes. Every time something happened, Hu Lan would try to use filial piety to pressure Zhou Song. How predictable.

“Oh? And what does your filial duty have to do with me?”

Before Zhou Song or Lin Erzhu could respond, the carriage window curtain was lifted, revealing Shen Qingzhu’s face. He glanced sideways at the woman and said calmly, “If everyone claimed they were rushing to show filial piety to their parents, should I let anyone who wants to just hop onto my carriage?”

With just that one look, Hu Lan inexplicably felt a bit nervous. Her smile stiffened, “That’s not what I meant. We’re all from the same village…”

“Does being from the same village give you the right to take other people’s belongings? Is that your personal rule, or the rule of the entire Qi Shan Village?” Shen Qingzhu raised an eyebrow.

“Shen brother, don’t listen to her nonsense. Our village folk are honest and upright, except for the occasional bad apple.” Aunt Wang, sitting inside the carriage, chimed in from the window, “The rest of us would never behave like that.”

She was on friendly terms with Aunt Qian, and by extension close to Zhou Song, so she knew a lot about the troubles in his family. She never liked Hu Lan, who always acted so fake.

“Exactly! Nobody else in our village would force their way onto someone else’s carriage!” the aunt sitting on the ox cart added loudly. She was known for being enthusiastic and liked to get involved in such matters. Clearly, she had seen that Hu Lan and her son were in the wrong, so she was quick to speak up.

Seeing that no one was siding with her, and with Zhou Song glaring at her son, keeping him away from the carriage, Hu Lan began to feel a bit uneasy. Still, she tried to argue, “I really was in a hurry. The old lady at home has caught a cold these past few days. Besides buying fabric, we also needed to get some medicine. I wasn’t…”

“Ah-choo…!” Shen Qingzhu suddenly coughed lightly, leaning against the carriage window with his hand over his mouth. His fingers trembled slightly as he spoke, “I’ve been unwell since I was young and recently caught a cold. We’re rushing to the town to get medicine. That’s why Wu Lanshu was anxious to leave. But now, after this delay, I’m already starting to feel dizzy…”

“You… you can’t blame me for that! I didn’t know!” Hu Lan was startled by his sickly appearance. She had heard that this new Kun Ze in the village wasn’t in good health and had stayed indoors for half a month after arriving to recover.

If they blamed his worsening condition on her, how much would the medical expenses be? The thought of that made her heart ache. She quickly grabbed her son and started to leave, saying, “Forget it, forget it. We won’t go to town today.”

Watching the two of them hurriedly walk away, Lin Erzhu called out loudly on purpose, “Aunt Hu, aren’t you going to get medicine for Granny Zhou?”

Without turning back, the pair disappeared into the distance. Lin Erzhu smirked and turned to say something to Zhou Song, but he noticed his friend staring at the carriage. Knowing better, he kept his mouth shut and returned to the ox cart.

Kun Ze sat higher up on the carriage, so Zhou Song tilted his head slightly to look at him. “Are you sick?”

Shen Qingzhu lowered his hand from his mouth, his eyes crinkling into a smile. Gone was any sign of the weak and sickly look he had just displayed. “I was faking it.”

Indeed, he had been frail since childhood and often got sick, so he knew exactly what it felt like to be unwell and could act the part convincingly.

Seeing him like this, Zhou Song felt relieved. Remembering the earlier commotion, he clenched his hand by his side and muttered, “I’m sorry, I…”

“Zhou Song,” Shen Qingzhu interrupted him before he could finish, “Do you remember what I told you last time?”

Zhou Song was startled for a moment. Last time… Last time Shen Qingzhu had said, “Even if my actions offend someone, it has nothing to do with you. There’s no need to apologize.”

Seeing that Zhou Song didn’t respond, Shen Qingzhu smiled again. “We’ll be heading off now.”

The carriage window curtain dropped back down, and the carriage slowly moved away. Zhou Song stood there for a while, watching silently before returning to the ox cart.

When he climbed back onto the cart, Lin Erzhu scooted closer and whispered, “That Shen brother looks all refined and polite, but I didn’t expect him to handle your aunt and her son so well. He’s really sharp!”

Zhou Song gave him a cold look.

Lin Erzhu immediately clapped a hand over his mouth and corrected himself, “I mean smart. Shen brother is really smart.”

Only then did Zhou Song shift his gaze away and resume driving the ox cart out of the village.

Lin Erzhu sighed inwardly. Life was truly difficult for him.