Chapter 307: Sensation

Gan Changfa’s tea shed was built under a canopy next to his house, with only five tables and a few wooden posts. It catered to passersby, horse-drawn carriages, and people looking to rest and drink tea—a small-scale operation, and they did not welcome those who occupied seats without spending money.

"Aunt Changfa, you really are stingy, treating your fellow villagers like this. What’s wrong with resting at your tea shed?" someone complained, understanding Aunt Changfa’s fiery temper, wisely getting up to leave without further ado.

Gan Changfa had a better temper than Aunt Changfa and shouted at the backs of the people leaving, "Elder Mi who smells like night-blooming jasmine flowers should know; you can go ask him."

Looking back, the people retorted, "Ask him? We might as well wait for the main house to set up a shop."

Elder Mi was a stubborn mule; if he didn’t want to speak, even if you burnt his house, he wouldn’t speak. And being childless, he had less to lose than them and wasn’t afraid at all.

The guests currently drinking tea were displeased: "Shopkeeper, we’re trying to enjoy our tea, what’s with this talk of night-blooming jasmine? It’s turning our stomachs."

Aunt Changfa glared at Gan Changfa and hurriedly apologized to the guests: "Please don’t be upset, guests. He’s just a blabbermouth. Your pancakes are ready; I’ll bring them to you—picking out the largest and most stuffed ones."

The customers thus settled down.

The town’s people didn’t stay curious for long, as the heads of the Qin, Gu, and Luotian families soon came with their tools to measure out the wasteland, marking out two parcels of two and a half acres each.

Seeing this, Aunt Changfa hurried over and asked, "Elder Gu, did you buy this land? Oh my, you really struck it rich being able to purchase such a large plot."

Pointing to the tea shed behind her, she continued, "That’s my place, as you all know. From now on, we’ll be neighbors across the street—let’s look out for each other, shall we?"

Third Grandpa explained: "We only bought the piece close to the roadside, about a dozen acres. The large expanse behind isn’t ours; we can’t afford to buy so much land."

Buying more than a dozen acres was already drawing attention. If word got out that they had bought the entire plot of wasteland, who knows what kind of sinister characters might trouble them. Better clarify that.

Laughing, Aunt Changfa responded, "Buying a dozen acres in town is quite the feat, look at those rich families around town—who among them can just buy a dozen acres all at once?"

When the heads of the Qin, Gu, and Luotian families came to mark the land, many people from the town, upon hearing the news, quickly gathered, and chiming in, said, "Elder Gu, you’ve kept this well hidden! We’ve been guessing for a month and never figured it was the Gu Family’s tofu stall that bought the land."

Third Grandpa said, "We only bought a dozen acres; it’s not something worth making a big deal about."

Hearing this, the crowd commented in awe, "You’re too modest, sir. Buying over a dozen acres in town is no small feat."

"Indeed, that’s over a dozen acres; enough to construct ten shops!" Ma Laoqi, wearing a greasy gray cloth garment, sourly remarked, his upward slanted eyes filled with envy as he looked at Third Grandpa.

Gu Daya’s family also wanted to build a shop, and Qi Kangming, who had come along, hearing this, looked toward the speaker unfavorably and said, "If you’re envious, big brother, you could work hard for a few years, and anyone who’s not lazy can surely buy a few acres in a few years. This wasteland is vast. Our families can’t purchase all of it. You’re welcome to buy whenever you’re ready."

Some people are like that, feeling uncomfortable seeing you buy something nice and spouting sour grapes.

"You little brat, how dare you talk like that? Mocking me as lazy, do you know who I am?" Ma Laoqi, annoyed by Qi Kangming’s retort, shouted back, his voice loud and poised as if ready to start a fight with Qi Kangming.

As soon as Old Qi finished speaking, his collar was grabbed from behind, and with a smack, he was thrown to the ground.

"Old Qi, are you thinking of going to the county town to carry manure again?" Elder Kong looked down at Old Qi with impatience and anger on his face. "If you start trouble for me again, I’ll break your legs!"

Old Qi quickly scrambled to his feet, apologizing with a smile on his face: "Elder Kong, please calm down, I wouldn’t dare. I was just passing by and saw that someone had bought this wasteland, and got curious to see what’s happening."

Elder Kong sneered, "Curious about the excitement? Do you know who is protecting the Gu Family? It’s County Captain Jiang. If you want to die, keep hanging around here. I guarantee you won’t make it past the Dragon Boat Festival."

"What?" Old Qi was shocked, not realizing the Gu Family was under the protection of Lord County Captain. He quickly apologized to Third Grandpa, "Elder, please forgive me. It’s my mistake for not seeing the big picture, it’s me being meddlesome. You go ahead with your work, I’ll take my leave. When your shop opens, I’ll definitely come to support."

As Old Qi was slowly retreating, he wasn’t paying attention and was tripped by Gu Jinli with a leg. With a thump, he fell face-first into the mud, his face smeared with bits of green grass.

Old Qi looked up at Gu Jinli: "Who are you!"

Damn it, did he really think Old Qi was a coward, even daring to bully him as a mere girl?

Gu Jinli smiled sweetly, and said to him, "My surname is Gu, I was the one who saved the County Captain’s granddaughter."

... Old Qi was choked up by these words, his face turning a colorful shade, somewhat disbelieving as he looked towards Elder Kong.

"What are you looking at? You think Lord County Captain is protecting the Gu Family for no reason? It’s because Little Xiao Yu saved the Captain’s granddaughter," Elder Kong kicked Old Qi, "Don’t embarrass yourself here, just scram."

"Hey, hey, hey, I’ll scram right away." Old Qi hurriedly fled, still muttering to himself, wondering if he was unlucky today.

Seeing this, Aunt Changfa and others burst into laughter: "Old Qi, next time you come, you better ask around about the new people in town, so you don’t even know how you die."

With the Gu Family really on the rise, Aunt Changfa wanted to forge good relations with them, saying to Gu Jinli: "Little Xiao Yu, don’t worry about Old Qi causing trouble; he’s just a coward, only bullies the weak and fears the strong."

Then, she swiftly revealed all the details about Old Qi to Gu Jinli, exposing three generations of Old Qi’s family.

"His family isn’t in Qingfu Town, but in Hukou Town upfront, he’s just a porter who carries goods for others, used to come to our town three to five times a month. Last year, someone found him a wife, and he took his mother to the neighboring county for a match-making, and just at the beginning of this month, he brought his new wife back."

He also brought back a stepson.

But that wasn’t something to be mentioned to a young girl, so Aunt Changfa kept it to herself.

"Anyway, you don’t need to be afraid of him; a greedy coward won’t dare to mess with you."

Hearing this, Gu Jinli and Third Grandpa were relieved.

After this incident, everyone in the town knew that the wasteland was bought by the Gu Family’s tofu stall, who bought over ten acres in one go, ready to mark the ground and build the shop.

This event caused a sensation in the town, becoming the talk of the town among the locals, always ending with admiration and praises: "Don’t look at the people from Gu Family’s tofu stall as refugees; they are capable. They managed to buy land and build a shop in town in just half a year."