Chapter 763 - 393: A Two-Pronged Approach

Chapter 763: Chapter 393: A Two-Pronged Approach

Qingmu listened to his mother and shook his head. "Mom, you’re getting on in years. It’s our duty as your children to be filial; how could we expect you to do work? I already have a plan. I’m going to have Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma come over and help. We’ll build a few more rooms for them to live in on the east side of the courtyard. With the two of them here, the chores around the house will be taken care of."

The Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma he mentioned were hired laborers for the Zheng Family. They had three sons, who all worked for the Zheng Family as well.

Juhua asked hesitantly, "Brother, but... is the Ma Family reliable?"

Qingmu nodded. "Don’t worry. We’ve known them for a while; they’re from Qingbei Village, too. If you don’t believe me, ask Uncle Liu Heizi. They’re honest, hardworking people. It’s just that with so many sons and grandsons and so little land, they were completely ruined by that corrupt official."

Pu Pao tugged at Juhua’s sleeve from the side. When Juhua leaned down, Pu Pao whispered, "Uncle Ma is a good person. Their daughter, Niuniu, is about my age. I heard her parents wanted to sell her, but when they took her to the market, no one would buy her. Niuniu cried so much that they had to bring her back home."

Juhua nodded, then asked in confusion, "But why did they want to sell their daughter? Did someone in the family get sick and fall into debt?"

Pu Pao shook her head. "No one’s sick. They’re in debt from usury. Uncle Ma couldn’t pay his taxes and was tricked into taking out a high-interest loan. The debt just kept growing, and even selling their land wasn’t enough to cover it. The whole family is out looking for work, but they have nothing to eat. They’ve been foraging in the mountains, and in the fall, they managed to get by for a bit by gathering acorns. They even got into a fight with other villagers over it, who said they were taking too many."

Juhua sighed. But when she thought about her own large family, with two pregnant women, she hardened her heart and told Qingmu it would be best to sign a servitude contract with the Ma Family, buying Uncle Ma, Aunt Ma, and their young daughter. That way, they would have some silver to deal with their emergencies, and the Zheng Family could employ them without any worries.

"It’s always better to be thorough about these things. Even close brothers must keep clear accounts. I’m not worried about Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma—I’m sure they’d be fine with it. As for their little girl, we can just return her servitude contract when it’s time for her to marry."

Qingmu nodded. "That’s a good idea. Actually, they asked me before if I wanted to buy their girl. We hadn’t bought all this land back then, and I figured we didn’t have enough work, so I declined. Now, if we offer to take in the parents as well, they’ll be overjoyed. It’s not like we’re a cruel family."

With that, Juhua felt relieved. She saw Mrs. Wang place a small bowl of pickled bamboo shoots on the table and quickly asked Mrs. Yang, "Besides sour food, are you craving anything else?" Then she turned to Liu Yunlan. "I’m not busy these days, so I can help look after both of you."

Liu Yunlan smiled. "This is my second baby, so I’m not that delicate. It’s not like with Mother-in-law; she’s older and needs to be more careful. Mom, you should just rest and take care of yourself. Don’t worry about all that nonsense. It’s not worth getting angry and harming your health. No matter what schemes the Sun Family comes up with, they can’t stop our family’s rise. Besides, for you to be having another baby at your age—whether it’s a boy or a girl—is enough to make anyone green with envy. If that woman from the Sun Family is so great, let’s see her try and have another!"

Juhua gave Liu Yunlan a thumbs-up and praised her for speaking so well.

With a grain of rice stuck to the corner of his mouth, Zheng Changhe put on a serious face. "That’s right. Dear, you can’t keep getting angry. If you make yourself sick over this, won’t that woman from the Sun Family just die of happiness? You just focus on staying healthy and giving birth to a big, healthy boy. That’ll be the death of her."

Mrs. Wang also chimed in with words of comfort.

Mrs. Yang took a sip of soup and spoke calmly, "I’m not angry anymore. It’s as Juhua said: this must mean our family is on the verge of success. Sigh... To be honest, our families never had any major grudge against each other. How did it get to this point? I’ve thought it over and over, and I believe she’s just jealous that our lives are getting better. Back then, she refused to marry Liu’er to our Qingmu and even mocked us for being poor. Isn’t our current success a total slap in the face to her? That’s why she’s so resentful and won’t be satisfied until she’s dragged us down."

Juhua was surprised to hear her mother bring this up. Worried that Liu Yunlan might get the wrong idea, she quickly said, "Mom, why are you talking about that? She looked down on us for being poor, but it’s not like Brother was trying to marry up. She was just overthinking things."

Mrs. Yang realized her slip and said to Liu Yunlan, "We never had any designs on her daughter. That woman is just too narrow-minded."

Liu Yunlan smiled faintly. "Mom, let’s just ignore her. She can stir up all the trouble she wants, but it won’t change anything."

Qingmu ate quickly, asking Juhua between bites, "Is Huai Zi out?"

Juhua nodded. "He left a while ago."

Qingmu nodded, finishing his meal in a few quick mouthfuls. He took the tea Pu Pao offered, took a few sips to rinse his mouth, and then turned to Mrs. Yang with a serious expression. "Mom, you just get some rest. I swear I’ll make them pay for this and ensure their plans fail. Not only will Laishou continue his studies, but he’ll do it without spending a single piece of silver. Hmph. Do they really think the Zheng Family is a pushover? Since some people don’t know what’s good for them, we’ll just see what happens from now on. They’d better hope they never need to ask us for anything again."