Chapter 9: Dodging Debts

The past three days had been exhausting for the entire village.

Sorting through the Dihuang harvest was no small task—piles upon piles of the crop, stacked like small mountains in the courtyards, had to be meticulously separated. It wasn’t just time-consuming but also required significant manpower for such detailed work.

The Zhang family worked tirelessly, burning the midnight oil to get it done.

Thankfully, they had a large courtyard. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been enough space to accommodate so many people.

Jing Xi sneaked a couple of peeks and saw that everyone had dark circles under their eyes from staying up late.

And the more they sorted, the more defective ones they found.

Since the Zhang family had planted the most, they also had the highest proportion of substandard crops.

While other families had finished their sorting, the Zhang family continued working overnight. It wasn’t until the very last hours of the third day that they finally completed the task.

When Wang Cuihua saw that nearly a third of their Dihuang was damaged, her face fell—longer than the donkey in their yard.

Jing Xi, however, was secretly delighted. She estimated that the defective batch weighed close to a thousand jin (approximately 500 kg).

Less than two hours after the Zhang family had finished, the Long family’s buyers arrived.

This time, they brought only two trucks instead of the full fleet.

The Long family even brought their own scale, weighing each batch before loading it onto the trucks.

Jing Xi already found the Zhang family annoying, but now she thought the Long family was just as petty. They gave off no air of being a wealthy and prestigious family—just overly calculative businessmen.

Once the loading was complete and the final payments were made, it turned out the village still had to refund the Long family 1,020 yuan.

Jing Xi glanced at Wu Jun, then at Wu Dazhuang, as if silently asking, Did you replace the money you embezzled?

Wu Dazhuang, brimming with confidence, took out the money without hesitation.

The Long family counted it twice, confirmed there were no discrepancies, and then drove away.

Xie Aiguo’s expression was serious. “Alright, let’s distribute the money first. Wu Jun, bring the account book over. After that, we’ll discuss what to do with the leftover Dihuang.”

At the mention of splitting the money, the villagers quickly followed him into the Zhang family’s house.

The money was distributed in no time.

As for the defective crops, the villagers discussed for a long time but couldn’t reach a consensus.

Those with small amounts of defective Dihuang decided to take them home and try making pickled vegetables for personal use.

However, the Zhang family’s massive pile of defective crops was a serious issue.

After the villagers dispersed, Jing Xi decided that she would visit Aunt Liu’s house the next day.

Aunt Liu’s family had been fortunate. Since they had been careful during the harvest, they didn’t have much damaged Dihuang.

Jing Xi wanted to see if she could buy some from them and experiment with making pickled vegetables using her special space.

The Next Morning at Aunt Liu’s House

Around 8 a.m., Jing Xi arrived at Aunt Liu’s home. The family was seated in the courtyard, trimming radishes and potatoes.

Aunt Liu’s household consisted of four people—her husband, Liu Jianchang, and herself, whose real name was Zhang Rui. They had two daughters, two years apart, both attending high school in town and only coming home during holidays.

Jing Xi calculated the date and realized today was the start of the school break.

As soon as she stepped through the gate, Aunt Liu greeted her warmly.

The two daughters also stood up. “Jing Xi, you’re here! Are you looking for our mom?”

Jing Xi greeted them according to her memory of their names. “Uncle Liu, Sister Liu Yan, Liu Chun—you’re home for the holidays?”

The two sisters nodded.

They weren’t particularly striking in appearance, but both took after their mother, with round faces and an honest, down-to-earth demeanor. One look and you could tell they were easygoing and kindhearted.

Jing Xi felt an instant sense of familiarity—it was true, children raised by good parents usually turned out well.

Aunt Liu smiled. “Did you come over for something today?”

Jing Xi nodded, and Aunt Liu handed her a small stool to sit on.

“Auntie, it’s perfect timing that your whole family is here, so I’ll just be direct. You still have some Dihuang that the Long family didn’t take, right?”

Aunt Liu nodded. “Yes, about fifty or sixty jin. Not a lot—it’s stored in the shed.”

“Have you decided what to do with it?”

Aunt Liu shook her head. “No idea. If it doesn’t spoil by next year, we might just feed it to the pigs. Some people say it can be pickled, but pickled vegetables aren’t common around here. If the pickling fails, it’ll just go to waste, so it might be better to use it as pig feed.”

Liu Jianchang nodded in agreement. “Exactly. Even if we pickle it, we wouldn’t know the right way to do it. We don’t even know how to eat it properly, so we might as well feed it to the pigs.”

Jing Xi’s eyes lit up. “Auntie, how about selling some to me? I’d like to try making pickled Dihuang. If you leave it for the pigs, there’s a chance it might freeze in this cold weather and be completely ruined.”

“You want to try pickling it? Sure! Why sell it? Just take some,” Aunt Liu said generously. “Yan’er, take Jing Xi to grab a bag of it.”

Jing Xi took out ten yuan from her pocket. “Auntie, I can’t just take it for free. I’ll pay. It’s not much, but I insist on buying it.”

Aunt Liu laughed. “Buy it? Nonsense! Just take it. If it turns out tasty, bring us some to try.”

Jing Xi grinned and nodded. “Alright then, Auntie! Thank you so much!”

Liu Jianchang and Zhang Rui chuckled, while Liu Yan got up to grab a sack.

Jing Xi intended to take only a small portion, but to her surprise, Liu Yan carried out an entire basket—at least twenty to thirty jin.

“Let’s go, I’ll help you carry it back,” Liu Yan said. “It’s too heavy for you to carry alone.”

Jing Xi didn’t refuse. Their houses were close to each other, anyway.

Liu Yan helped carry the basket to Jing Xi’s house before preparing to leave. However, Jing Xi still felt uneasy about taking things for free, so she insisted—after much persuasion—on giving Liu Yan five yuan.

Seeing that she really had no way to refuse, Liu Yan finally accepted the money and handed it over to Zhang Rui when she got home.

Zhang Rui knew that Jing Xi was a sensible child. Earning five yuan took a lot of hard work. “Forget it, just keep it. That child doesn’t like owing people favors. If she manages to pickle the Dihuang well, we can learn from her too.”

After Liu Yan left, Jing Xi locked the door and entered her space. She pulled the entire basket of defective Dihuang inside, then found an old, worn-out jar to use as a container.

As soon as she entered her space, she noticed that the Dihuang seeds she had planted had grown significantly. Yesterday, they had only been tiny sprouts, but today, they had doubled in size.

She was utterly amazed.

She washed the Dihuang clean with spring water, let them dry, and set aside about a jin (half a kilogram) for her initial experiment.

Using the only seasonings she had—salt and soy sauce—she added a ladleful of spring water.

Then, she sealed the small jar tightly and moved it out of her space.

Barely five minutes after stepping out, she heard footsteps outside her door.

Peering through the gap, she saw a child standing there, calling for her to hurry to the village committee office.

Could it be? Had the village finally allocated her land?

Jing Xi quickly made her way there. Upon arrival, she saw Xie Aiguo and Wu Jun standing by the window, smoking.

“Leaders, you called me over today—does this mean my land has been approved?” she asked.

Xie Aiguo glanced at Wu Jun, then at Jing Xi. Taking a deep puff, he exhaled a ring of smoke. “Well, Jing, here’s the thing. I initially thought that piece of land wasn’t in use, so I had Old Wu assign it to you. But when we double-checked later, we realized that this land had already been allocated to Old Wu’s family last year. He got so busy that he forgot, which led to this whole mix-up…”

Jing Xi immediately understood—so they were backing out now?

“Yes, Jing, this is my fault,” Wu Jun added. “That day when the village head asked me, I completely forgot about it. We called you here today just to explain the situation…”

Jing Xi waited a few more seconds with a polite smile, but neither of them mentioned any form of compensation.

At that moment, she knew exactly what was going on.

The land had likely never been assigned to Wu Jun’s family last year.

More likely, Wu Jun had originally wanted the land himself, but when he heard that Xie Aiguo was giving it to her, he was unwilling to let it go.

She suddenly recalled Wu Jun’s expression that day—when Xie Aiguo had offered her the land—he had looked like he was suffering from constipation.

Jing Xi was furious.

With this delay, even reporting Zhang Qiang to the police would be too late.

Besides, the issue had originally been Zhang Qiang’s fault. The village officials had stepped in as mediators, drawing her in with false promises, and she had been foolish enough to believe them.

Jing Xi lowered her head slightly. “Alright, leaders, I understand. It’s fine, I won’t blame the village for this. But does the village have any other compensation measures for me?”

Xie Aiguo shook his head. “Not at the moment, Jing. How about this—if there’s any available land next year, the village can reconsider and allocate some for you?”

Jing Xi nodded.

Then she turned and left.

They thought it was fun to play tricks on her?

Fine. Let’s see how this plays out.