Picking Up a General to Plow the Fields

Chapter 497: Envy of Madam Li

 

“I won’t give up.” Cui Shao Xi approached Ah Jian and whispered in a low voice.
Gritting his teeth, he said: “I don’t understand why you’re better than me.
Fang Zhou is a discerning person, she will eventually realize who is more suitable for her!”

Ah Jian raised an eyebrow and whispered: “You still don’t understand? I hadn’t deliberately given you a chance just now, would you have been able to talk to her alone? But she kept her distance from you, always cautious.
Can you really not understand her thoughts? Do you know what that’s called? Stalking!”

Cui Shao Xi turned pale with anger but before he could speak, Ah Jian continued: “And if you do this again after we get married, I will definitely beat you up!”

The young master’s eye went wide and he choked!

The dull pain in his heart, perhaps because there were too many people around, suddenly felt suffocating.

 

All around him were people in small groups, smiling and filled with happiness and joy.
Only him, only him, so out of place.

Cui Shao Xi breathed a long, deep breath, standing there in a daze.
In such a lively scene, only he was alone.

“Min Zhi! When did you arrive? Why didn’t you send a letter in advance, only coming so suddenly! Otherwise, we would have waited for you to go out tonight!” Su Jing He smiled, patting his cousin on the shoulder.
Seeing the other man in a trace, he was worried he would be knocked over.

“Cousin!” Cui Shao Xi greeted him with a smile but didn’t answer.
Maybe he didn’t hear it at all.

Su Jing He wasn’t actually looking for an answer, as long as he stopped acting so stupid.
He really hated to his teeth right now.
Didn’t he disdain Xin’er? Then why was he acting just like her!

“BANG! BANG!”

With a burst of loud noise, fireworks exploded into the sky, colorful and splendid, making everything brighter.

Each flash of light illuminated the smiling faced vividly.

The crowd exclaimed and praised, boiling with excitement.

In this instance, Cui Shao Xi saw the scene he wanted to see the least: the two of them standing together.
Though they weren’t standing very close and Lian Fang Qing was even between them, it clearly made people feel that they were a good match.

It was if, even if they were separated by thousands of mountains and rivers, she would always be his and never have anything to do with others.

Cui Shao Xi’s cheek twitched fiercely and he turned away.

“Cousin, tomorrow I will go and greet my uncle and aunt.
Help me to tell Second Uncle!” After saying this, Cui Shao Xi didn’t wait for Su Jing He to respond before suddenly ducking into the crowd and disappearing.

Su Jing He was speechless.
Shaking his head, he sighed bitterly.
Forget it, don’t think about it.
In any case, his wife was beside his side and others could toss around by themselves! After he lost half his life tossing, he would finally understand.

As Cui Shao Xi left, Lian Fang Zhou noticed him out of the corner of her eye.
She couldn’t tell how she felt and laughed at herself.
He would give up in time.
No man could stand a cold reception again and again, not to mention a proud and noble young master.

The next day, before meeting Cui Shao Xi, Lian Fang Zhou and her family went home.

Not wanting to meet Cui Shao Xi again was one of the reasons but also, after the fifteenth of the first month, farmers were already getting busy making preparations for the spring ploughing.

Even her own workers were getting ready.

On the other side of Luozhi mountain, Li Er and li San had started planting fruit trees on the valley slopes.

After filling the ponds with water and letting them settle for a few days and disinfecting, as soon as the weather was warmer and the temperature consistent, they could start to stock fish and shrimp.

At this time, there were no places dedicated to hatching fry and they basically depended on wild fish.

Fortunately, there was no shortage of money and it was convenient.
Spring was the time of the year when all kinds of fish were waking up and spawning after hibernation and fishing was not difficult.

 

Before the spring ploughing and there was still some free time, Aunt Zhang’s family began to tear down their old house and build a new one.

Last winter, Aunt Zhang and Uncle Li went out to burn charcoal.
Although it was not as good as the year before, they still made forty or sixty taels of silver.

Originally, Aunt Zhang wanted to split half with Lian Fang Zhou and when Lian Fang Zhou refused, Aunt Zhang went out and bought her a pair of silver bracelets and hairpins.
Lian Fang Zhou didn’t know what to say and could only smile and thank her.

The silver from the charcoal, plus the wages from when she and Madam Zhao went out to help collect cotton, and the thirty taels of silver Li San He received at the end of the year, added up to more than 100 taels, which was enough to build several houses with excellent courtyards.
Even their furniture could be replaced.

On the day the construction started, Lian Fang Zhou, Lian Ze, and the others all went to congratulate them.
Madam Zhao was very affectionate towards Lian Fang Zhou, praising her and saying that it was all thanks to her that they could be like this today.
If she ever needed help in the future, Madam Zhao promised that their family would help.

The other aunts and sisters in the village were also extraordinarily friendly to Lian Fang Zhou, expressing goodwill.

That the Li family was able to make enough money to build a new house so quickly, who didn’t know it was thanks to the care of Lian Fang Zhou’s family? When she had work, the easiest jobs were always offered to Aunt Zhang and Madam Zhao first and the wages were always higher.
Li San He used to be a farmer but now he was a big shopkeeper.
They had heard that he was in charge of several oil mills and handled hundreds of thousands of taels.

It had only been two months since he went to work there and they heard that he had already earned dozens of taels of silver.
Let alone one year, this was worth as much as two three years as a farmer!

Even if everyone knew this, they could only sigh and envy.
This was everyone’s fate, envy wouldn’t change anything.

Who told Aunt Zhang to be kind to the Lian siblings? This was a thank you! Their families were not their relatives, so what was the use of envy?

Everyone sighed that Aunt Zhang’s family was really lucky that the poor family they helped turned out to be so prosperous!

 

Even though they were envious, the crowd praised Aunt Zhang with a smile and commented on her great vision.
Aunt Zhang smiled and was very calm.

Lian Fang Zhou helped them both secretly and openly and she could only feel grateful.
Helping them back then was only out of good conscience and today could be regarded as a kind of reward.
As for her vision and good luck, what did she care?

In the past, everyone stayed out of it but there was still hope for the future.
In short, they couldn’t be as stupid as Lian Li and Madam Qiao and offend Lian Fang Zhou to death!

The Lian family had a big business now and there was no doubt that they would hire people again.
It never hurt to have a good relationship with her.