Chapter 538: Consolation
Editor: Atlas Studios
“Second Prince…” Mu Yangling thought about it seriously and realized that she only had a vague impression of this person. She didn’t expect he was someone capable of forcing the Emperor to give up the throne.
“Get someone to continue to keep an eye out. If there’s any news from General and Fourth Master, send it back quickly.”
Bai Li agreed and asked, “Fourth Madam, should we tell General and Fourth Master our address so that they won’t worry?”
Mu Yangling thought for a moment and shook her head. “Let’s wait a little longer. We’ll contact them when this matter blows over as it’s still too dangerous now. By the way, how many officials’ families have gone missing?”
Bai Li said in shame, “I don’t know if it’s because the Imperial Court is deliberately keeping the news under wraps, or if this place is too backward, we can’t get any news about this.”
“Just get someone to keep an eye out. Don’t worry too much. Seeing as it’s already very late today, get Chen Ming to find the village chief and Junior Officer tomorrow. Since we have to stay here for a long time, we’ve got to try our best to build a good relationship with them.”
Bai Li agreed.
The village chief and Junior Officer were already prepared. Almost as soon as Chen Ming invited them, they came.
This was a remote and poor small mountain village. The richest family in the village had three brick houses and 60 acres of land, all left behind by their ancestors. In the end, this Zhu family bought more than 100 acres of wasteland not far from the village a year ago and got people to convert the forestland into farmland. They even bought a mountain in the village and built a huge courtyard on it. Even the courtyard was made of bricks, looking extremely imposing.
However, the village chief and Junior Officer were not very happy, for they fear that the Zhu family would bully the villagers. Putting everything else aside, was the Zhu family really willing to only farm those 100 acres of wasteland?
When they gained a foothold in the village, they would probably want to buy land from the villagers.
Although Junior Officer and the village chief were not knowledgeable, they had heard and seen some of the methods the landlords usually used. Some duped owners into owing money and then collected high interest, forcing them to sell their land. Some even bribed the officials and turned the fields into wasteland before turning them into their land…
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Shuddering at the thought of the various methods, the two of them really wanted to see what kind of temperament the Zhu family had. If the Zhus were truly wicked people, they would inform the villagers to stay away from them.
It was impossible for Li Jinghua to come out to meet the two of them, and she felt that she could just let Chen Ming meet them. After all, the village chief and junior officer were outsiders. However, Mu Yangling had grown up in the countryside and did not have any taboos. In addition, she wanted to build a good relationship, so she personally came out to meet them.
When the village chief and junior officer saw a woman come out, they frowned slightly. Mu Yangling said with a smile, “This must be the village chief and junior officer. I’m the Fourth Madam of the Zhu family. Our Eldest Master and Fourth Master are still in the north and have to make arrangements before coming back.”
As they had to avoid the Imperial Court’s eyes and ears, they changed the surname from Qi to Zhu. After all, Qi Xiuyuan’s mother’s surname was Zhu.
When the junior officer heard this, his expression softened slightly. He hurriedly asked with a smile, “I wonder what business Eldest Master Zhu and Fourth Master Zhu are doing? Why did they think of settling down in a small place like ours?”
“Our Eldest Master and Fourth Master are doing some small business in the north. Initially, we could only barely make ends meet. Now that there’s a war in the north, we can’t stay in the north any longer, so they sent us and the children here first. Speaking of which, this is fate. One of our cousins’ maiden families is nearby. We were supposed to go to their village and have already bought the fields. However, the Daoist priest that Fourth Master invited passed by this place and said that the mountains here have excellent fengshui and are conducive towards one’s health. Our children are a little weak, so Eldest Master and Fourth Master decided to build our home here at the last minute.”
The junior officer perked up and asked, “So the Zhu family has farmland in the north?”
Mu Yangling nodded with a smile. “One to two hundred acres. It’s not much. We’ve handed it all over to the estate manager to manage.”
“Then why are you still buying wasteland in our village?”
“Since we’re building a house here, it won’t make sense if we don’t buy some wasteland. Moreover, it’s convenient to plant something nearby in the future.”
The junior officer and the village chief looked at each other and were silent. Mu Yangling knew what they were thinking, but whatever she said or did now was unnecessary. Hence, she said with a smile, “Now that our family is here alone, please take care of us, Village Chief and Junior Officer. If there are any difficulties in the village in the future, you can tell our family. We’ll help if we can.”
The junior officer and village chief would be more than delighted if the Zhu family didn’t have designs on the rest of the village. How could they dare to come knocking on their door? Therefore, they only bowed and politely declined.
Mu Yangling didn’t insist. After exchanging some pleasantries, she asked Chen Ming to attend to them.
The junior officer and village chief quickly asked Chen Ming who that cousin-in-law of the Zhu family was. Although they might not be from the same village, it was fine if they were from the same area. In the future, if the Zhu family really bullied the villagers, they could intercede with the cousin-in-law.
The cousin-in-law that Mu Yangling mentioned was Teacher Liu’s wife’s sister-in-law. Considering the Zhu family and Teacher Liu weren’t closely-related, the link between the Zhus and that cousin-in-law was even weaker.
The junior officer and village chief’s hearts turned cold when they heard from Chen Ming that the two parties were remote relatives. They could only hope that the Zhu family was a kind family and would not bully the poor.
However, Li Jinghua and Mu Yangling didn’t go out. They left the purchasing of vegetables, meat, and other things to Chen Ming, and the other servants were also arranged by Li Jinghua in an orderly manner. Although their quality of life had decreased a lot, fortunately, they were out of danger.
On the other hand, Mu Yangling arranged the guards into three shifts and set up defenses inside and outside the courtyard. Since the entire courtyard was airtight, as long as there was any abnormal movement, they would be able to discover it before anyone entered the village.
Li Jinghua had seen the defensive map that Mu Yangling had drawn on the paper. Although she couldn’t understand it, she knew that the courtyard had become much safer after Mu Yangling set up those defenses. At least, the outer courtyard was within their sight. No one could pass through the guards and enter the inner courtyard.
Li Jinghua praised, “Are you just talented, or have you learned it before?”
Not daring to say that she had learned it in her previous life, Mu Yangling only said, “Half of it is due to talent. I also learned some things from Haoran.”
Li Jinghua nodded. No wonder she could get along so well with Qi Haoran.
“Mother, Aunt.” Little Treasure ran over and hugged Li Jinghua’s hand. “Go play, go play.”
Mu Yangling reached out to touch his pale face and asked, “Have you eaten the porridge?”
“Yes.” Little Treasure smacked his lips and said, “Delicious. It’s better than milk.”
“His face is still a little pale. Sister-in-law, get the doctor to prescribe a few sets of medicinal cuisine for Nanny Wang later. On top of eating nourishing porridge, he has to drink milk.”
Li Jinghua nodded and stroked her son’s head. She turned to look at Little Bear, who was twisting his body on the couch wanting to bite his own leg, and said, “Little Treasure’s body is still too weak. Though Little Bear is clearly younger than him, he only needed to rest for a night before recovering. Yet Little Treasure is still pale.”
They were both born prematurely, but Little Bear was very healthy, while her son had a weak body because of his weak basis. Thinking that she might only have this one son in her life, she could not help but feel a little sad.
Mu Yangling hurriedly said, “The child is still young. As time goes by, he’ll recover if he eats well. Didn’t the doctor say that Little Treasure’s health has improved a lot?”
Li Jinghua nodded slightly. She patted her son’s head and stood up. “Let’s go, Little Treasure. Mother will bring you out to play.”
Little Treasure looked eagerly at his brother on the couch. Li Jinghua said with a smile, “Don’t worry, I won’t leave your younger brother behind.” She asked the wet nurse to carry Little Bear out to play in the courtyard.
When Little Bear saw that he could go out, he immediately jumped happily in the nanny’s arms and leaned his entire body out, as if he had been locked up for eight to ten years and was now being released. That anxious look made Li Jinghua and Mu Yangling burst out laughing.
