The Formidable Lady of the Poor Scholar’s Household - Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Farmer Qian Sishui Seeks Help from the Village Chief

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Jealousy often turned into rage, and it couldn’t be more true for. It was Wang Xiaoling. Seeing that September was coming, Qian Sishui took her basket and went to harvest corn as well.

The students at the academy had not been given a vacation yet, so Qian Sishui was the only one in the field breaking corn cobs.

Even though she protected her hands and face, Qian Sishui’s hands were unsurprisingly red and swollen after a full day’s work.

After thinking for a while, she decided that the only choice she had was to hire someone to help her with the harvest. She would let Village Chief Liu know about the arrangement once she found someone for the job.

Shi Jinhua had even planted rice! This stunned Qian Sishui. She knew neither to farm nor harvest. In fact, she didn’t even know where the Shi family’s fields were.

When Village Chief Liu saw Qian Sishui’s confused expression, he tapped the pipe in his hand. “Alright, Sishui, you don’t have to worry about it. There are people who don’t have any land and will look around for work. We call them nomads around here.”

When he thought about how Qian Sishui was the only woman in the family, the Village Chief felt a little apprehensive. He was afraid that she would have a bad reputation. However, when he thought about how strong the young woman was, he suddenly felt that her worries were unnecessary.

“Without food, the wage is 25 copper coins a day. Your family has a lot of land, so you’ll need at least six or seven people. One day’s worth of wages will be…” Village Chief Liu calculated…

“Six for 150 coins and seven for 175 coins,” Qian Sishui replied.

Village Chief Liu was speechless.

The boy next to Qian Sishui immediately mocked, “Grandpa, you’re so dumb! You’re not even as good as Sister Sishui at such an old age!”

‘Is it possible to educate him now?’ Village Chief Liu thought to himself.

Qian Sishui looked at the five or six-year-old boy with his hair tied into a ponytail. He was wearing a kid’s bib and a pair of pants, his feet bare.

‘I’m so envious. It looks so cooling,’ Qian Sishui thought.

“This is my good-for-nothing grandson, Liu Zhaonan. On the day he was born, he faced the south. That’s why we chose this name. His nickname is Nannan.” Recently, when he heard the women in the village talk about names, he suddenly felt that his grandson’s name was a little inappropriate! His name sounded similar to living a hard life!

Wouldn’t this mean that his whole life would be full of hardships? This time, he felt uncomfortable and stared at his grandson for a long time without saying anything.

“Grandpa, why are you looking at me?” Liu Zhaonan still didn’t know that his name had offended his grandfather.

“Yes, I have to go find Jinhua when he comes home.” A scholar probably knew a thing or two about names.

“Hey! Jiang! Come out!” Village Chief Liu shouted at his eldest son.

A man walked out of the backyard. He was tall and strong and looked very honest.

“Dad, Sister Qian.”

“This is my eldest son, Liu Jiang.” Village Chief Liu introduced, “If you don’t mind, you can get him to help you find people to work in your fields. We finished harvesting my family’s land yesterday, so there’s nothing much to do these few days.”

“Brother Liu Jiang.” As Qian Sishui spoke, she took out 660 copper coins from her purse and handed it to Liu Jiang.

“This is too much. Just pay half the deposit first. You can settle the rest after the work is done,” Liu Jiang said.

Seeing that, Village Chief Liu said, “Just take it. She’s the only one in her family. The people who come to the village are all men. It’s not convenient for her to appear in front of them.”

When Liu Jiang heard this, he immediately scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. “I didn’t think so far ahead.” He took the money. “Sister Qian, don’t worry. I’ll take good care of this for you.”

“If you could consider all this, I would wake up laughing in my dreams,” the older man said.

Village Chief Liu did not hide his disdainful expression. As the village chief, he had no clue who would be the most suitable candidate to take over his role.

When Qian Sishui left the village chief’s house, Village Chief Liu called his eldest son into the room.

“Father.”

The money in his hand was probably the most money he had ever received since he was born.

When Liu Jiang’s wife, Zhang Hongying, saw Qian Sishui giving her husband money, her heart stirred.

“Put down the money.” Village Chief Liu knocked on the table.

Liu Jiang quickly put it down and stood obediently at the side, waiting to be lectured.

“Sigh…” Village Chief Liu was reflecting on himself. Had he been too strict to raise his son that he had become such a simple-minded person?

“There’s only one scholar in our village. You know that, right?” Village Chief Liu asked.

Liu Jiang quickly replied, “I know, Father.”

“In September, Hua will be going for the examination. I’m sure you’d have heard rumors in town about whether our town will soon have a scholar and county official.”

“Do you know what it means for the people in the village to have a one?” Village Chief Liu asked again.

Liu Jiang was not sure, and he said honestly, “Father, I don’t know, but there’s a scholar in the neighboring village. Everyone in the village is very smug about it.”

These words made Village Chief Liu rage. If not for the fact that he was advanced in age, he would have worked hard for a few more years to have a few more sons.

“Forget it.” His tone revealed how he had already admitted his fate. “There are only benefits to having a county official in the village, no disadvantages. The Shi family only has Sishui at home now. Help me take care of her. Don’t stir up any rumors or I’ll skin you alive. If you ruin Hua’s reputation, I’ll chase your family out.”

“Dad, who would dare to offend Sister Qian?” Wasn’t this old man worried for nothing?

Village Chief Liu snorted. “A woman’s jealousy is stronger than a man’s fist.” He knew perfectly well just how concerned that young lady in the village was about Shi Jinhua.

“Also, take good care of your wife. If she dares to even think about taking this money, let me know and I’ll send her back to her parents’ house.” He still regretted agreeing to her son’s request, allowing him to marry such a scheming wife. Most importantly, she was even lazy.

“Dad, my wife isn’t that kind of person.” His wife was really good.

Village Chief Liu sniggered. “You can do whatever you want the day I die. I’m not dead yet. I’ll let you know what I’m made of if you dare to test my limits.” If it weren’t for the fact that he only had one son, he wouldn’t have wanted to see his son’s family at all.

“If anyone dares to tamper with this money, don’t blame me for being ruthless. The nomads in the village also need to support their families.” As he spoke, he glared at Liu Jiang. “Do you hear me?”

Liu Jiang thought to himself, ‘He always kicks up a big fuss over nothing.’

Still, he responded obediently, “Yes, Dad.”

“Alright, let’s go down.” The elder man felt suffocated.

Liu Jiang had just stepped into his room when his wife, Zhang Hongying, grabbed him aside. She had been waiting for a long time.

“What are you doing? It’s broad daylight?”

‘Is she crazy? How shameless can she get?’ the man thought to himself.

Zhang Hongying glared at Liu Jiang. “What’s on your mind? Who wants to do that in broad daylight? You idiot!” As she spoke, she twisted Liu Jiang’s arm.

“Aiya, it hurts.” This woman was really strong.

“It’s good that you know it hurts. Let me ask you, did the Shi family ask you to manage the workers? They even gave you the money?” Zhang Hongying asked.

Liu Jiang thought that it was just chit-chat, and simply answered with a single word in the affirmative. It had been a tiring day.

Seeing her husband lying on the bed, the woman sat on the edge of the bed. “That’s great.” As she spoke, she shook Liu Jiang.

“What’s so great about that?” How great was it that he was helping someone else manage workers? They were all from the same village.

Zhang Hongying rolled her eyes at the man on the bed. “It’s 25 copper coins a day for each worker. Just tell them that 23 copper coins a day is enough, and you can get two more copper coins a day for each person. Isn’t that great? It won’t even be tiring to manage these workers anyway.” She was already over the moon thinking about the money.

Liu Jiang immediately shot up and stared at Zhang Hongying. This woman was courting death!

However, the latter thought that her husband shared her grand vision. She asked excitedly, “Isn’t that great?” In a few days, they would earn dozens of copper coins.

Only then did Liu Jiang admire his father. His wife was really scheming!

“What’s good about it? Go ahead if you want to court death. Don’t blame me for not reminding you. My parents are still in charge of this family. You’d better put away all those scheming ideas. I won’t be able to save you.” As he spoke, anger bubbled within his stomach. He turned around, grabbed his clothes, and left.

When he walked out of the room, he happened to see his mother returning from washing clothes. It was only then that he realized that ever since her wife gave birth to Liu Zhaonan, she had been so arrogant that she had forgotten her duty as a wife.