Chapter 24 Mountain Home Hearth 24

Chapter 24: Mountain Hearth 24

The two hurried home, where Qin Banban immediately rushed to greet them.

The little girl looked up at them, asking anxiously, "Mother, Brother Liu, did you get the money?"

Qin Rongshi, who had been reading in the courtyard, also looked up, seemingly awaiting their answer.

Liu Guyu didn't reply, simply stroking Qin Banban's braid before turning to Cui Lanfang. "Mother, please get the family's land deed."

Cui Lanfang understood, nodded, and went inside. Liu Guyu headed straight to the kitchen, taking two large pieces of brown sugar and wrapping them in oiled paper.

This was leftover brown sugar from making ice jelly, originally for his stall, but now it had a different purpose.

As he carried the brown sugar out, he saw Cui Lanfang emerging, holding a contract stamped with a red seal.

"Let's go, to the Village Head's house!"

As Cui Lanfang and Liu Guyu walked out, Qin Rongshi suddenly put down his book. "I'm coming too."

Seeing her mother and brother leave, Qin Banban quickly followed. In the end, all four family members set out together.

The Village Head's family lived comfortably in the village, in a gray-brick tiled house—one of the best, with a ten-foot high wall around the courtyard. An old, tall jujube tree grew within, its green branches extending over the wall, dense foliage casting deep shade, laden with many jujubes of varying sizes.

"Is the Village Head home?"

Liu Guyu stepped forward and knocked on the door.

A moment later, a young man named Fang Wu, the Village Head's son-in-law, opened it.

Chen Qiaosheng had only one daughter, whom he cherished. Unwilling to let her marry away, and with his family's means, he had arranged for a live-in son-in-law.

"Father, visitors are here."

Fang Wu called out. Liu Guyu peeked through the door crack, seeing Chen Qiaosheng sitting in a bamboo rocking chair under the jujube tree, happily munching on a plate of salted peanuts.

Seeing the visitors, he slowly put down the peanuts and stood up, asking curiously, "The Qin family? What brings you here?"

Instead of directly mentioning the land, Liu Guyu handed over the two packages of brown sugar with a smile. "I heard your daughter Minjie has good news? I brought two pieces of brown sugar from home for her to make tea with during her confinement."

Minjie was Chen Qiaosheng's daughter, Chen Min.

Chen Qiaosheng had been Village Head for over a decade, receiving many gifts—some to curry favor, others for help.

A sharp man, he immediately understood that Liu Guyu and the others had come with a request.

With gifts at his door, there was no reason to refuse. Chen Qiaosheng patted Fang Wu's shoulder and quietly said, "Fang Wu, put these away."

Then, he turned to Liu Guyu and the others with a warm smile. "Come, come, come in and sit."

As he spoke, he moved two stools from under the eaves into the courtyard and offered the plate of salted peanuts. "Try some! My daughter Minjie made them. They're quite tasty!"

Liu Guyu didn't stand on ceremony, taking a couple, peeling and tasting them, and offering generous compliments.

It was Qin Rongshi who spoke first.

He sat upright, legs together, hands folded on his knees, back straight, looking as serious as a young scholar.

Qin Rongshi said, "Village Head, we actually came today to ask for your help with something."

*Just as I thought*, Chen Qiaosheng mused inwardly, then chuckled. "Oh, why so formal? We're all from the same village! As the Village Head of Shanghe Village, I'll naturally help if I can!"

Qin Rongshi didn't speak immediately but glanced at Cui Lanfang, waiting for her to retrieve the land deed from her pocket.

He then said, "Our family originally had two *mu* of land. The year before last, we rented it to the Chen family. You witnessed and wrote the lease agreement at the time. But now the Chen family is delaying the rent and refusing to pay. We went to ask for it but got nowhere. We had no choice but to come to you."

Seeing Qin Rongshi speak so logically, Liu Guyu remained silent, sitting to the side and quietly shelling peanuts.

Hearing this, Chen Qiaosheng unconsciously frowned, stroking his beard with a troubled expression. "This matter... Well, the Chen family is in the wrong. But there's a saying: 'Even the cleverest housewife can't cook without rice.' If the Chen family truly has no money, even if I go to ask, they won't be able to pay."

Qin Rongshi said, "That's true. But there's another saying: 'Help in emergencies, not in poverty.' Our family isn't a rich benefactor; we can't afford to be charitable. So we won't rent the land out anymore. We came today to ask you to cancel the lease."

Only then did Chen Qiaosheng understand Qin Rongshi's meaning. After a moment's thought, he found it reasonable and nodded in agreement.

But he still asked, "Just take the land back? And forget the rent?"

Hearing this, Liu Guyu stopped eating peanuts and immediately retorted, "That won't do!"

*So they still want the money!* Chen Qiaosheng began to fret again.

This matter wasn't particularly big or small; it was common in the village, and he, as Village Head, often handled such disputes. But though the matter wasn't major, it was hard to resolve. Take the Chen Guicai family—they were truly poor. Pressing them for money would be like forcing them to sell their children!

Just as he was struggling, Qin Rongshi spoke first.

"Although the Chen family can't pay with money, it's harvest season now. Isn't there grain in the fields? Our family could take grain as payment, right?"

Hearing this, Liu Guyu's eyes lit up. He hadn't expected Qin Rongshi to think the same as him!

Chen Qiaosheng was taken aback for a moment before bursting into laughter: "Good, good, of course, of course... But Chen Guicai's wife is quite shrewish. What if she stubbornly refuses to leave the field and won't let you harvest the rice?"

It's said that pitiable people often have detestable traits. The Chen Guicai family was pitifully poor, but their shameless, selfish nature was also despicable!

The problem was, they were refugees. They had settled in Shanghe Village with official relief, handled personally by the County Magistrate. This made it difficult for him, as Village Head, to drive them out, lest it be said that Shanghe Village couldn't accommodate refugees.

Qin Rongshi only smiled. Instead of answering Chen Qiaosheng's question, he stood up, looked at Fang Wu, walked over, and whispered a few words to him. "Brother Fang, there's something I'd like to ask of you..."

Fang Wu was initially confused, but his eyes lit up as he listened, exclaiming in amazement, "Ah! You're so young, where did you get such ideas? Ah, those who've studied are different!"

Chen Qiaosheng was even more bewildered, spreading his hands and asking, "What is it?"

Neither of them answered. Instead, Fang Wu picked up the family's brass gong and went out.

Liu Guyu also stood up, moved closer to Qin Rongshi, nudged his arm, and asked quietly, "What clever idea did you come up with?"

Qin Rongshi said, "Why not go see for yourself?"

Liu Guyu grew interested and immediately grew restless; even the peanuts in his hand lost their appeal.

Even Cui Lanfang and Qin Banban craned their necks to look outside, clearly curious.

Even Chen Qiaosheng stood up with his hands behind his back, saying as he walked out, "Let's all go take a look."

They went out and saw Fang Wu running along the village path, beating the gong and shouting at the top of his lungs, "Gather round, everyone come see! Young Scholar Qin's family is hiring two strong laborers to help harvest rice! Twenty *wen* a day! Everyone, come see!"

Twenty *wen*?!

Even jobs in town only paid twenty or thirty *wen* a day. This was a good rate!

Hearing this, many people rushed out from their homes or climbed up from the fields, chattering and asking:

"Seriously? Twenty *wen* a day?"

"Qin's land? Wasn't it rented out?"

"Me! Me! I'll do it! My rice has just been harvested, I've got nothing going on right now!"

...

Qin's two *mu* of farmland were adjacent, both good fields.

Fang Wu stopped on the ridge, ceased banging the gong, put his hands on his hips, and said, "It was rented out before! But the Chen family couldn't pay the rent and just had my father tear up the lease! The Chen family can't come up with the money, so they've gotta pay up with their grain!"

Hearing this, everyone thought it made sense, especially those who had caught the drama at the Chen family's door earlier, feeling it was exactly the case.

Moreover, the speaker was Fang Wu, the Village Head's son-in-law, so his words naturally carried the Village Head's authority.

Immediately, people raised their hands to sign up, shouting over each other in a chaotic rush.

Chen Guicai was still in the field cutting rice when he heard the gong, thinking something was going down. He stopped working, grinning as he waited to hear the news.

Little did he know the excitement was about him!

Chen Guicai was stunned, his sickle frozen mid-swing.

He hobbled out, anxiously asking, "What does this mean? The land isn't rented anymore?"

No one paid him any attention. He tried to find Cui Lanfang, who was usually the most approachable, but saw that Liu Guyu, along with Cui Lanfang and a few others, were surrounded in the center. With his limp, he couldn't muscle his way through the crowd.

Following Qin Rongshi's instructions, Fang Wu picked two young, strong, and honest men.

By then, Yu Chunhong had also heard the news and came running out in a frenzy. Before she even got close, she started shouting, "What's the meaning of this! What are you doing!"

As she approached, she realized many people were standing around, all turning to look at her. The two selected men stood in the middle.

Both were under thirty, strapping young men, their thighs nearly as thick as Yu Chunhong's waist.

The previously fierce Yu Chunhong, her bluster vanished at the sight of the crowd, immediately putting on a pitiful act, wailing, "What is this... what are you doing... this is our harvest, what right do you have to cut it!"

This time, even before Liu Guyu could speak, one of the young men shot back, annoyed.

"The land still belongs to Qin! What gives you the right to farm it for free!"

Another quickly added, "Exactly! Getting the land for free and still taking the grain—since when does that fly in this world! Being poor doesn't make you right!"

Yu Chunhong was left speechless. The next moment, she simply plopped down on the ground, wailing and carrying on like a child.

"Oh heavens... my family has elders and children to feed... oh, oh, oh..."

Mid-wail, she suddenly noticed a shadow fall over her. Looking up, she saw Liu Guyu stepping right over her.

Liu Guyu walked over and said to the two men, "You can get started today. It's already past noon, so we'll count it as half a day's pay."

Hearing this, the two strong men couldn't be bothered arguing with Yu Chunhong anymore and hurriedly took their sickles into the field.

Seeing them actually start cutting the rice, Yu Chunhong quickly stood up and ran into the field too, thinking she'd plop herself down right in the path to block them.

But the two men were strong; with one hand, they lifted Yu Chunhong up.

She was tossed aside, stunned speechless.

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Author's note: Babies who haven't bookmarked, please give a bookmark, I'm begging you, otherwise I won't make it to the rankings next week [sobbing][sobbing]

(Rest day tomorrow, sigh.jpg)