Chapter 173

Chapter 173 Anticipation

After the initial excitement, Lin Dashan was left with nothing but joy.

Suddenly coming into wealth didn't inspire any grand ambitions in him; his limited perspective led him to think only of buying more fields with the money, which could then be passed down, allowing them to accumulate more and more land for their descendants.

However, acquiring land was no simple matter. Compared to other villages with more mountainous terrain, Sweetwater Village already had a relatively large amount of farmland, but all of it was owned, with no unused or available plots for sale.

Farmers relied on their land for survival and valued their small plots dearly. Unless absolutely necessary, no one would ever consider selling their family's land.

With this idea in mind, Lin Dashan decided to visit the village chief's house and ask him to keep an eye out for any families in the village looking to sell their land. If there were none in Sweetwater Village, he would consider neighboring villages, though that would mean the land would be farther away and more troublesome to farm. Ideally, he preferred land within the village.

When He Guixiang finished making the pancakes and brought them over, Lin Dashan stuffed a few large bites into his mouth and declared grandly, "Tomorrow, we'll cook that pheasant we have at home, and have Brother Liao bring back a few pounds of pork belly!"

Mentioning Old Man Liao reminded Lin Dashan that he hadn't returned yet today.

Old Man Liao had been away for the past couple of days. Although he usually kept to himself, he actually had quite a few relatives. This time, he had been invited by a cousin who had married into another village.

Over the years, many had tried to cozy up to Old Man Liao, since he owned land and cattle but had no sons. Under normal circumstances, Old Man Liao wouldn't even give them the time of day, but this cousin shared some history with him, so he didn't refuse the invitation. He had been gone for two days already.

If the purpose was simply to catch up, there would have been no need to wait until now to invite him. It was clear there were other motives behind it.

Though it wasn't right to compare, having others' misfortunes as a backdrop made Lin Dashan feel even more content with his own life.

If they managed to acquire a few more fields and couldn't farm them all themselves, they could hire villagers with less land to help. Heh, wouldn't that make him a landowner then?

Too pleased with how things were going, Lin Dashan couldn't help but show off the next day. The villagers all knew that Zhou Ye had carried the black bear to town and sold it for money, and they inquired openly and discreetly about how much he got. Lin Dashan, being an honest man, answered directly when asked.

When the villagers heard it was fifty strings of cash, they were first shocked, then overwhelmingly envious. With fifty strings, Lin Dashan's family was undoubtedly among the wealthiest in the village!

Whether sincerely or not, the villagers congratulated him one after another, showering him with endless compliments.

Lin Dashan puffed out his chest, brimming with pride. Of course, he hadn't forgotten his wife's reminder to mention that the fifty strings were the betrothal gift from A Ye. A few days prior, A Ye had specifically hunted the black bear to save up for this betrothal gift.

Upon hearing this, the villagers envied not only Lin Dashan but Lin Shu as well.

Just look at the son-in-law Lin Dashan had picked—not only capable but also exceptionally good to his daughter. Though it was no wonder Zhou Ye was smitten; Lin Dashan's daughter was beautiful and had been raised as a young lady in the marquis' household for over a decade. For Zhou Ye to marry such a young lady was certainly no loss!

"Dashan, when are you slaughtering that wild boar at your place? I'll come help!" one villager asked.

Lin Dashan grinned widely, showing his teeth. "A Ye said we'll rest today and slaughter it tomorrow. Come by tomorrow morning. If you want some pork, bring something to trade for it."

"Sure thing!"

When He Guixiang learned that her husband had made the fifty strings of cash common knowledge, she remained calm and unsurprised.

Having been married to Lin Dashan for many years, she knew his temperament well. She had only told him about the fifty strings because she knew he would spread the word.

This fifty strings was the betrothal gift from A Ye. Even though she felt it was a bit excessive, she had still told Lin Dashan the exact amount.

He Guixiang's reasoning was that she didn't want to shortchange A Ye. Whatever betrothal gift A Ye gave, she wanted the villagers to know the exact amount, even if it would inevitably stir envy or even jealousy.

At the Lin family old residence.

Lin Datian's wife, Zhang Lamei, was so jealous upon hearing the news that her chest ached with pain. She lay in bed moaning.

Her eldest daughter-in-law had entered the family at the beginning of the year and discovered she was pregnant two months later. Now her pregnancy was showing. With the men in Ping Er's family busy working in the fields, only she and her mother-in-law were at home. At first, since she was pregnant, she didn't have to do anything, and her mother-in-law would affectionately refer to her belly as "my precious grandson." But ever since her mother-in-law started feeling unwell and frequently complained of chest pain, many of the household chores fell to her. How could she, pregnant as she was, handle such labor?

"Mother-in-law, the chicks haven't been fed yet, but my back aches so much I really can't do it," the eldest daughter-in-law called out toward the room, her belly protruding.

Inside, Zhang Lamei grumbled a few complaints but eventually came out clutching her chest to handle the chores. Her daughter-in-law was carrying her precious grandson, so for his sake, she endured it.

Once the child was born, she would make sure this lazy woman made up for all the work she'd slacked off on!

"Mother-in-law, are you feeling unwell again?" the eldest daughter-in-law asked with feigned concern, though she knew exactly why her mother-in-law was upset. Her condition had started after hearing that Zhou Ye from the second uncle's family had hunted a black bear and sold it for fifty strings of cash.

Zhang Lamei snorted inwardly. This lazy woman was only good at putting on a show. Knowing her chest hurt, she couldn't even bother to do a little more work. Just because she was pregnant didn't mean she couldn't work? When she was carrying her second and third children, she had worked just fine with a big belly.

"This chest pain comes and goes as it pleases. Even if I were dying, I'd still have to work. My life is so hard!" she lamented, pounding her chest and wailing twice.

The eldest daughter-in-law's expression soured. It wasn't that she wasn't working; she was just tired and had asked her mother-in-law to handle the remaining chores. Her mother-in-law made it sound like she did nothing at all. But she didn't argue, pretending not to understand.

"Tell me, how is Lin Dashan so lucky? Back then, he bought a strong man with just a bag of grain, and it actually turned out to be the right move. Look how capable Zhou Ye is—going into the deep mountains from time to time to bring back wild game. In the past, it was just some mushrooms, pheasants, or wild rabbits, but this year, it's been one thing after another—first a wild boar, now a black bear! Now the whole village knows he sold that black bear for fifty strings of cash! Fifty strings! When have I ever seen that much money?"

Hearing this, the eldest daughter-in-law tried to console her. "Mother-in-law, no matter how much money the second uncle's family has, it has nothing to do with us. Don't dwell on it; it'll only make your chest hurt more."

In her opinion, her mother-in-law's frequent chest pains were caused by her own inability to let things go and constant anger. The family was already divided, so why keep fixating on others?

But Zhang Lamei insisted, "What do you mean it has nothing to do with me? Even after the division, I'm still Lin Dashan's sister-in-law!"

The eldest daughter-in-law knew her mother-in-law wouldn't listen to reason. If she could, her condition wouldn't be getting worse.

Zhang Lamei rubbed her chest thoughtfully, then suddenly asked, "What do you think? If I went to borrow money from Lin Dashan for medical treatment, do you think he'd lend it to me?"

The eldest daughter-in-law's eyelids twitched violently upon hearing this.

Seriously, Mother-in-law, how could you have the nerve to borrow money from the second uncle's family?

She had married into the family after the three brothers had already divided the household, but it didn't take much asking around to learn how unpleasant the division had been. Her mother-in-law had especially offended the second uncle's family. How could she still have the audacity to borrow money? That was really thick-skinned.

Zhang Lamei, however, spoke as though it were perfectly natural. "No matter what, Datian is his own elder brother. If his sister-in-law is critically ill, how could he stand by and do nothing? The reason my condition hasn't improved is because the town doctor's skills are too poor. If I could see a doctor in the county, I might get better. But going to the county costs money! Our family has nothing but a few fields—where would we get that kind of money? Lin Dashan got fifty strings. I'm not asking for much, just two or three strings. Do you think it's possible?"

The eldest daughter-in-law: "..."

She forced a stiff smile. "Daughter-in-law hasn't interacted much with the second uncle's family and doesn't know their temperament, so I can't offer any advice."

"Hmph, if you don't know, I do. I lived with that family for ten or twenty years. Dashan cares about face. What I said back then about him having no sons hit a nerve, but he values relationships. As long as your father-in-law and I are willing to apologize, we can be brothers again in no time. Zhang Qiaohua is just shrewd—sneaking over to your second uncle's place when I wasn't paying attention. Now look how well Lin Dashan and Lin Dashui get along! Zhang Qiaohua and He Guixiang are as close as childhood friends. Pah! Zhang Qiaohua used to dump work on He Guixiang all the time back in the day. She's just good at putting on a show, using small favors to fool people, and He Guixiang, that spineless woman, just forgets all about it afterward."

The eldest daughter-in-law didn't respond to this. No matter what, the second and third aunts were elders, and it wasn't her place to gossip behind their backs.

After grumbling for a while, Zhang Lamei suddenly thought of something, her eyes lighting up slightly. "I heard Lin Dashan's family is slaughtering that wild boar tomorrow. Perfect timing to have the eldest go over and ask for some. You're carrying a child and need nourishment. This is Lin Dashan's eldest nephew's child—how could he have the nerve to refuse us pork? In front of so many people, he definitely won't turn the eldest away. Later, you can teach the eldest to play pitiful, and Lin Dashan will surely soften."

The eldest daughter-in-law immediately looked as though she'd eaten something foul, but she had to agree for now; otherwise, her mother-in-law would nag incessantly.

She couldn't bring herself to do something so shameless, but she did genuinely want to mend relations with the second uncle's family. Who wouldn't want a successful relative who could help out? It was just that her mother-in-law had gone too far in the past; otherwise, the two families wouldn't have gone three years without speaking a word to each other.

On the day Lin Dashan's family slaughtered the pig, the favorable outcome Zhang Lamei had imagined did not come to pass. Although Lin Datian usually lacked assertiveness and let Zhang Lamei make the decisions, this time, when he learned of his wife's plan, he flushed red with anger and absolutely forbade anyone in the family from going to beg for food.

Although what his wife had said back then was harsh, he had agreed with it, feeling that since the second brother had no sons, it was only right that he receive less land. Besides, it had been their mother's wish, especially since their branch of the family had more sons. As a result, the second brother had stopped acknowledging him as an elder brother over the land distribution, and the third brother had followed suit, turning their family into a village joke.

If the second brother ignored him, he would ignore the second brother right back—let's see who could hold out longer.

He never expected his wife to entertain such ideas. Lin Datian would never do something so disgraceful! No amount of chest-pounding, tantrums, or rolling on the ground from Zhang Lamei would change his mind.

Over on Lin Shu's end, she naturally knew nothing about the minor drama unfolding in her nominal uncle's family. After the wild boar was slaughtered and processed, they followed the same approach as last time: villagers who wanted to exchange goods for pork could do so with various items. Lin Dashan stayed behind to distribute the pork among the villagers, while Zhou Ye took the remaining half side of pork to town to sell for money.

If he hadn't hunted that black bear, Zhou Ye wouldn't have planned to share the meat with the villagers, because he wanted to save up as much money as possible.

Now that the black bear had been sold successfully, he was happy to let Lin Dashan casually mention his and A Shu's marriage while distributing the pork.

"The more I see A Ye and A Shu together, the more well-suited they seem! A Ye is capable, and A Shu is clever. Second Uncle Lin, you’ll be blessed in the future!"

"In the future, the children born to A Shu and A Ye will surely be the most handsome in all the surrounding villages!"

"Dashan, now that your family is doing well, will you get some musicians for A Shu and A Ye’s wedding? There are two people who play gongs in the neighboring village, and I know a drummer too—I can help you find them!"

"Second Uncle Lin, my mother said that on the day A Shu and Brother A Ye get married, she can come and help out."

"..."

Zhou Ye had already left and couldn’t hear these remarks, but Lin Shu hid inside the house, peeking through the window at the villagers chatting and laughing with her father, listening with great interest.

Lin Xiaopu also slipped inside and, seeing her expression, asked with a laugh, "Sister, what are you so happy about?"

Lin Shu replied cheerfully, "I’m listening to the villagers praising us. Everyone says A Ye and I are a perfect match."

Pleasing words really can lift one’s spirits—no wonder so many people enjoy being flattered. Hearing the villagers’ comments, she began to feel a sense of anticipation for what was originally just a formality of a wedding.