Chapter 111: You Really Are a Good Kid

Chapter 111: Chapter 111: You Really Are a Good Kid

“Yeah, usually she acts all high and mighty, looking down her nose at people. Now that her family’s hope of having a scholar is dashed, I bet she’s worried even his Tongsheng status will be stripped!” Ms. Niu, Ms. Liu’s neighbor, said with schadenfreude. She and Ms. Liu usually didn’t get along, so why wouldn’t she take this chance to kick her while she was down?

Ms. Liu, watching her eldest son and Ms. Qin scuffling while listening to the mocking words, finally couldn’t bear it anymore. She roared, “All of you, shut your mouths! What happens in my family is none of your damned business!”

“Oh, so now you realize it’s your family’s business and none of anyone else’s? But when it’s someone else’s family matters, suddenly it concerns you, doesn’t it?” Ms. Niu retorted.

Ms. Niu’s family was one of the poorer households in the village and was constantly looked down upon by Ms. Liu, who gossiped about them incessantly. That vicious mouth of hers could rival Zhang Qiaozui’s from the old days.

She glanced at Gu Qingli’s family standing in the shade, a slight smile playing on her lips as her gaze softened.

When the Village Chief first suggested buying wasteland to grow medicinal materials, she had stubbornly borrowed five taels of silver from her maternal family and, adding her own savings, bought five mu of wasteland. Now, the medicinal materials on those five mu were thriving beautifully. Once harvested, she was sure they would sell for a good sum of silver. Hmph! Next year, her children would attend private school too. All this was thanks to Gu Qingli and the Village Chief; without them, her family would never have had the chance to turn their lives around. Fortunes change.

Thinking this, Ms. Niu lifted her chin, looking at Ms. Liu, who was so furious she looked about to faint.

“You—” Ms. Liu gasped, her eyes bloodshot. Like a maddened cow, she charged at Ms. Niu.

Seeing Ms. Liu about to resort to violence, two onlookers quickly pulled Ms. Niu aside.

PLOP! Ms. Liu, having lost her target and unable to stop her momentum, pitched forward and fell flat on her face, getting a mouthful of dirt.

Ms. Niu, stunned for a moment, thanked the two people before glaring at Ms. Liu on the ground.

This old hag! She can’t win an argument, so she tries to fight!

“AAAAH! You villains, you deserve a thousand deaths!” Ms. Liu shrieked. She flipped over to a sitting position, slapped the ground with both hands, and opened her mouth to wail, but her cry died in her throat as she froze, her eyes fixed on the newcomer.

“It’s scorching hot. Aren’t you afraid of the heat, causing such a ruckus here?” The person who had arrived was none other than Gu Chang’an. He bellowed, signaling his two sons to pull apart the still-grappling Chen Dalang and his wife.

Then, he swept his gaze over the crowd. “So you all just stood by and watched them fight? If someone had died, do you think you’d still be enjoying the show? You’d all be hauled off to the County Yamen for a caning!”

At the mention of a caning, the villagers nervously stuck out their tongues.

“Who can tell me what exactly happened?” Gu Chang’an asked.

The villagers exchanged glances. The fight had already started when they came out. They had only heard Chen Dalang’s side of the story and hadn’t witnessed the events firsthand, so they dared not speak rashly. It was one thing to idly gossip, but they wouldn’t dare speak without evidence in front of the Village Chief. Besides, the involved parties were still present.

Seeing that no one seemed to know, Gu Chang’an turned to Gu Qingli, “Xiaoli, do you know what happened?”

Gu Qingli certainly wasn’t going to take the blame. She gestured with her chin towards Chen Dalang and his wife, “Grandpa, they are the ones involved. They know best what happened. You should ask them.”

With that, she signaled to Ms. Jiang and the others and then headed home, having lost all interest in enjoying the cool shade.

Today’s incident was just her bad luck. Chen Dalang being publicly humiliated by Wuqing made things even. If he ever dares to spout nonsense again, she won’t be so lenient.

Gu Chang’an frowned, looking at Chen Dalang and Ms. Qin. Both had scratches on their faces, and their clothes were so torn they were barely decent.

He waved his hand for the crowd to disperse. Then, with a somber face, he led Ms. Liu and the others into Ms. Liu’s house, where Chen Dalang finally explained everything clearly.

Gu Chang’an was so angry he was at a loss for words; no wonder Xiaoli hadn’t said anything and had simply left. Could such a matter be discussed in public? Ms. Qin had committed an act that gravely violated wifely virtues; the village could no longer accept her. If she stayed, it would undoubtedly affect Chen Erlang’s prospects in his official career. The County Exam was approaching, and Ms. Qin could not be allowed to jeopardize Chen Erlang’s future. As the Village Chief, he had to consider the reputation and honor of the entire village above all.

In Gu Chang’an’s presence, Ms. Qin didn’t cry or create a scene. She quietly allowed Chen Dalang to hand her a bill of divorce. And so they parted, each to go their own way.

Gu Qingli paid no mind to the subsequent events. She only heard the next day that Ms. Qin had sought out Gu Qingming but was beaten and driven away by Ms. Yun. No one knew where Ms. Qin went after that. However, word of the affair between Ms. Qin and Gu Qingming still circulated in the village for a while, though as time passed, people eventually stopped talking about it.

Sometime later, Gu Qingli encountered Chen Erlang. His eyes held only astonishment at her beauty; he had no memory of her, much less his previous obsession. However, he had become somber and dejected, a stark contrast to the handsome scholar he once was.

Gu Qingli thought that as long as that psycho didn’t bother her, she wouldn’t care what became of him.

「」

Once June ended, July brought the annual County Exam. Those who had passed the Qualification Examination were eligible to participate, and successful candidates would become respected scholars. They would no longer need to kneel before the County Magistrate, would be exempt from taxes, and could even open their own private schools—they would shed their peasant status.

Private schools also closed for the holidays.

Xiao Han was still young and planned to take the County Exam in a couple of years. So, once school was out for the holidays, the five youngsters, like birds freed from a cage, would run to the mountains every day, hunting and digging for herbs, returning with a bountiful harvest.

Gu Qingli, however, didn’t go out at all, dedicating her days to tending her crops at home. She had told Gu Chang’an about the sweet potatoes and had shown them to him. Although she hadn’t planted many, she indicated that the produce from that one mu could be distributed to the villagers as sweet potato seeds at harvest time.

Of course, they would have to pay silver for them.

“Xiaoli, are you saying these sweet potatoes have a very high yield?” Gu Chang’an asked, looking at the lushly growing sweet potato plants.

“Yes, Grandpa. Each vine can bear three or four sweet potatoes of varying sizes. Some weigh a few liang, while others can be one or two jin. It all depends on the fertility of the soil,” Gu Qingli explained, pointing to the vines that had sprouted from the cuttings she had planted. She demonstrated the length of the original cuttings, the planting distance between each, and the eventual size of the mature sweet potatoes. She also explained how to eat them and what else they could be used for.

Gu Chang’an’s heart raced with excitement. With one mu of land yielding over a thousand jin, the villagers’ food security would no longer be an issue!

“Xiaoli, you truly are a good child, always thinking of the villagers whenever you find something good,” Gu Chang’an said, deeply moved, blinking his old eyes.

He had been the Village Chief for over twenty years, and in all that time, he had never encountered a child as selfless as Xiaoli. Most people, when they had something good, would hoard it, terrified someone else might benefit. Who else would offer something so valuable without asking for anything in return?

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