Shen Qing was calculating the silver in her hand, thinking that a donkey wasn’t much for her at the moment, when she suddenly heard shouting outside.

“Aunt Zhou, who are you looking for? I’ll call someone out. If there’s something, you can talk about it outside; it’s not convenient to enter the yard.”

“Hey, do you know what kind of relationship Aunt Zhou and I have? We were so close that she used to bring me food! It’s just that some misunderstandings happened in between, but now I’m here personally to find her, and you dare to stop me?”

Zhou Chuncao’s voice came in rudely.

Shen Qing frowned.

What was she here for?

“Sorry, Aunt Zhou, but the yard is really not accessible right now. Please wait a moment, I’ll call my aunt to meet you.”

“There are so many unmarried men in the Jiang family, and you, an unmarried girl, stay at the man’s house every day. What face do you have to stop me?! Who do you think you are?”

Shen Qing recognized the voice of Guan Li, knowing that her temperament could handle stopping Zhou Chuncao, so she didn’t rush out.

Upon hearing those clearly insulting words, she got up and, with her cloth slippers on, rushed outside.

Unmarried girls are sensitive about their reputation, and Zhou Chuncao’s words were bound to make Guan Li cry in anger!

Guan Li looked at Zhou Chuncao’s smug face and said sharply, “I don’t know who I am, but I can tell you, you’re not even a leek stalk!”

“You know I can stay at Aunt’s house every day, and you can’t even step into the yard. So tell me, do I have the right to stop you?”

“People can’t just grow old without wisdom. If I were your age, I’d know which places are accessible before anyone could stop me. I certainly wouldn’t argue with a younger person after being stopped—how embarrassing would that be?”

“Oh, by the way, you have no dignity to lose, no wonder you can ignore your face.”

Zhou Chuncao was stunned, and Shen Qing, who had rushed out, was also stunned.

The former was angry, while the latter was impressed.

This child had a strong core; she wouldn’t let words from others make her doubt herself.

In the yard, Jiang Shui and Guan Xiaoshan laughed out loud.

Guan Xiaoshan, blushing, said, “My sister is just like that.”

Jiang Shui followed up, “That’s what makes her good! She won’t be bullied by anyone.”

Guan Xiaoshan instinctively puffed out his chest and gave a soft “Hmm.”

Zhou Chuncao pointed at Guan Li’s face, angrily stammering, “You, you, you…”

Guan Li, calm and composed, said, “Aunt Zhou, we live in the same village. Don’t think I don’t know your little schemes. A person might not have everything, but they should have some backbone, right?”

In the past, even though Aunt Jiang wasn’t kind to others, she had nothing bad to say about Zhou Chuncao and Sun Xiaomai.

But those two would ignore her completely. Now, Aunt had changed, and if they didn’t go up to her, they felt awkward.

So they came over, probably because Aunt was earning silver now and they wanted to get some benefits.

With Guan Li around, she wouldn’t let them disturb Aunt.

“You have no backbone, at least that’s better than having no shame!” Zhou Chuncao, realizing this, straightened her neck and said.

Shen Qing coldly looked at Zhou Chuncao and said loudly, “What shame? The betrothal gifts have long been prepared. It’s just that Xiangxi hasn’t returned yet. Once he’s back, we’ll pick a good day and send the betrothal gifts to the Guan family.

But even without sending them, I already consider Ah Li as my second daughter-in-law.

The Jiang family treats her like a member of our family.

I’ve got to ask: We, the Jiang and Guan families, have no objections, so why is it that an outsider like you is saying it’s not possible?

Isn’t that a bit too meddlesome?”

Zhou Chuncao had originally thought that Shen Qing would be moved to tears and return to her old way of flattering her after she came in person, giving her a way out.

But to her surprise, even though Shen Qing didn’t greet her, and even though she couldn’t get into the yard, Shen Qing didn’t even scold Guan Li.

Instead, she called her an outsider?

Shen Qing had always said that Zhou Chuncao was her best friend!

Ah, it must be because of the rumors she heard about her hooking up with other men, which hurt her feelings, and she was still upset.

As always, she was petty.

“Fine, I was wrong before. I shouldn’t have said you were looking for a wild man. Back then, I didn’t know you were earning silver from making brushes, but after so long, you should be done being angry, right?”

Shen Qing: … Who are you? When did we get so familiar?

“What anger? Didn’t you lose a fat duck? That duck was really delicious. If I haven’t calmed down, are you going to compensate me with another one?”

Mentioning the duck, Zhou Chuncao felt heartache as if her heart was bleeding.

She couldn’t even bear to eat that duck herself!

And because of this, she had been scolded fiercely by the head of the household and had been criticized several times by her eldest son, both openly and covertly.

She took a deep breath and looked at Guan Li, trying to stir things up. “What are you talking about? Waiting for Xiangxi to come back with the betrothal gifts? Isn’t that just fooling you? Jiang Xiangxi is already 19 years old. What has he been doing all this time? Why wait for him to return from his month of labor service?”

“You, an unmarried girl, stay with your future in-laws all the time. If it were me, I would’ve just gone to my in-laws without waiting for any betrothal gifts!”

Guan Xiaoshan was about to speak up, saying that they came to earn wages and that his sister wasn’t staying without reason, but Aunt Jiang wasn’t that kind of person.

Shen Qing raised the corner of her mouth and said before him, “You said it yourself, that’s you. I’m not like you.”

“Don’t talk about uncooked rice, even if it’s already popped into popcorn, what a girl deserves, I won’t take a single penny away!”

Zhou Chuncao’s chest heaved violently. She snorted, “Fine, I’ll wait and see.”

What a show!

She knew the situation with Huo Bing all too well.

If there was any money involved, she was sure Shen Qing wouldn’t give a single penny.

If she didn’t mind the betrothal gift money, would she have waited until Jiang Xiangxi, at 19, still hadn’t made a move?

Only today, when she came here, was she willing to send it?

She really thought she could fool everyone.

She looked at Guan Li with contempt, thinking there was really a fool here.

“No need to wait, you’ll see soon enough.” A deep voice came from afar.

The three of them turned to look at the source of the voice.

They saw that Guan Li, who had just been mocked and belittled by Zhou Chuncao, wasn’t embarrassed but turned red when she saw the person approaching, showing a shy expression.

Shen Qing: … Love really does look sweetest when the young ones are in it!

She urged Guan Li, “Go ahead. You haven’t seen him in over a month.”

Guan Li pursed her lips, then finally ran over.

However, she stopped a few steps away, and the two of them whispered to each other.

Shen Qing, seeing Jiang Xiangxi for the first time, squinted her eyes slightly under the sunlight and carefully observed him.

As the Jiang family’s main laborer, Jiang Xiangxi was tall and solid.

Unlike the muscles built in a gym, his strength came from the actual physical labor he had done, making him strong and robust.

However, after a month of labor service, his figure seemed even more lean.

If it hadn’t been for Jiang Xiangdong sending white steamed buns and pork cracklings from time to time, he would have probably lost even more weight due to the harsh conditions.