Chapter 145

145. Chapter 145: The Fate of Zhao the Scoundrel

Zhao the Scoundrel did not die.

This was something Jiang Xiaoxiao had not anticipated.

She didn't know whether to say he had a tenacious life, or that evil people stink for ten thousand years and even the King of Hell refuses to take them.

"... You all don't know, but when the villagers went to dig wild vegetables this morning and found him at the foot of the slope, there wasn't a single piece of intact flesh on Zhao the Scoundrel's body. He was a bloody mess, and even the clothes he was wearing had been torn to shreds by wild wolves..."

The Village Chief rambled on.

Zhao Dasao, who was listening nearby, turned pale instantly, and the Chinese cabbage she was picking dropped to the ground.

"Then how is he now?" Chunmiao picked up the cabbage and handed it back to her mother.

The Village Chief took a sip of the brown sugar tea Jiang Xiaoxiao had handed him, cleared his throat, and said, "That Zhao the Scoundrel can be considered lucky. To be surrounded by so many wild wolves and still survive after rolling down the slope—when the villagers found him, they saw he was still breathing, so they carried him back... Now, Widow Xu is accompanying him to see a doctor in town."

"Widow Xu is willing to accompany him to see a doctor?" Chunya, standing nearby, asked in surprise.

"She has to be willing even if she isn't. Such a big thing happened, and even Zhao the Scoundrel's own mother rushed over from the neighboring village!" The Village Chief took another sip of the brown sugar tea and continued, "You all don't know, but several chunks of flesh were bitten off Zhao the Scoundrel's face. When Widow Xu saw him like that, she was scared to death and naturally didn't want to go with him. She even held her belly and said she was pregnant and couldn't look at anything bloody, but Zhao the Scoundrel's mother didn't care about any of that; she grabbed Widow Xu by the hair and dragged her off..."

Jiang Xiaoxiao: "..."

Well, this Widow Xu has met her match; there will be a good show to watch later.

"I think this Zhao the Scoundrel just did too many evil things and is facing retribution!" Qiulian Niang spat, then turned to look at the silent Zhao Dasao. "I say, Zhao Sister-in-law, you have no relationship with Zhao the Scoundrel anymore; don't be soft-hearted and get involved in his family's mess."

Zhao Dasao lowered her head and said nothing.

Jiang Xiaoxiao watched, frowning almost imperceptibly.

Zhao Dasao was probably feeling heartache; after all, he was the man she had lived with for over ten years and had children with. It would be strange if she didn't feel heartache after such a big incident.

But a beast like Zhao the Scoundrel is not worth even a shred of sympathy!

This outcome is what he deserves!

She must find a way to prevent this; Zhao Dasao's life has only just started to get better, and she absolutely cannot go and help scum like Zhao the Scoundrel out of pity.

"Village Chief Uncle, Zhao the Scoundrel has such severe injuries, I'm afraid it will cost a lot of silver to treat him. Can his mother afford it?" Jiang Xiaoxiao asked.

The Village Chief shook his head. "Zhao the Scoundrel's mother lives with his elder brother, and naturally, his brother is unwilling to give the silver. This morning, his mother was borrowing silver in the village, and the villagers barely scraped together one tael for him... However, this little bit of money, let alone curing him, would be lucky if it just keeps his little life."

"Sigh, I don't think his injuries can be treated without a dozen taels of silver." Jiang Xiaoxiao sighed deliberately, then took Chunya's hand and said, "Sister Chunya, fortunately, you have already separated from Zhao the Scoundrel, otherwise, to scrape together this money, his family would definitely have sold you and Sister Chunmiao to human traffickers..."

As soon as she finished speaking, Zhao Dasao seemed to wake from a dream. She stood up abruptly and said, "He dares! I have already divorced him, he has no relationship with my family, and Chunmiao and Chunya are not his daughters. If he dares to sell my daughters, I will go to the County Yamen and sue him!"

After saying this, she put on a fierce face and ordered, "Chunmiao, Chunya, from now on, if you see the Wang woman come to our house, don't care what she says, just lock our door tight and don't let her in! If she dares to ask our family for money, just chase her out with a broom!"

The Wang woman was Zhao the Scoundrel's own mother, and that shrew was on par with the Li Family Old Woman.

"Okay!" Chunmiao and Chunya nodded vigorously.

Jiang Xiaoxiao: "..."

Very good, the mother and her two daughters are all clear-headed now.

The Village Chief came to the Jiang house this time not only to talk about Zhao the Scoundrel but also to say that the County Yamen would send people to the village tomorrow to collect taxes and grain, telling everyone to prepare.

This was a major event. Every year after the autumn harvest, the County Yamen would send people to collect grain and head taxes village by village, verifying them in person; there was no room for any deception.

After speaking, the Village Chief immediately got up and left. Time was tight, and he still had to notify every household; he couldn't afford to delay.

Knowing that tomorrow was the day for tax collection, everyone's mood became heavy.

Handing over fifteen percent of the grain was one thing, but that head tax—this year, the starting age for children's tax had actually been raised to six years old, which truly made things worse for many already impoverished families.

Many families had four or five girls in hopes of having a boy, and each child required a head tax of two hundred wen. This head tax for the children alone could crush many families.

"Sigh, if it weren't for Xiaoxiao helping our village find a water source, and Xiaoxiao's mother teaching us to dig ditches, our village might not even be able to pay the grain tax." Some of the men working at the Jiang house sighed one after another. Having experienced the drought of the past two years where they almost couldn't pay the grain tax, they were now genuinely grateful to the Jiang mother and daughter from the bottom of their hearts.

"It's only right." Jiang Wei smiled faintly.

"It's even more right for us to thank you." Qiulian Niang gripped Jiang Wei's hand tightly. "Just take this time when you let us use the heated kang to dry the rice; if it weren't for the method you thought of, even if we harvested this rice, it would have been ruined by this overcast and rainy weather, and we wouldn't be able to sell it at all."

"Exactly, exactly. Xiaoxiao's mother, you and Xiaoxiao are both great benefactors of our village," everyone chimed in.

Master Zheng, who was silently arranging for people to work nearby, couldn't help but be surprised when he heard these words.

Finding a water source?

Digging ditches?

He had previously lived in town and heard that some villages around Yong'an Town had lost many crops due to the drought, but only one village had found a water source and dug ditches to divert water down the mountain, which saved the crops of the entire village... So it turned out this great deed was done by the Jiang mother and daughter.

As far as he knew, this Jiang family didn't have a single mu of land in the village, so the benefits of diverting water to irrigate fields didn't fall to their family at all, yet they still racked their brains to find ways to save the crops in the village fields. The Jiang family were truly kind-hearted people...

Master Zheng felt a wave of emotion, and even the way he looked at the Jiang mother and daughter carried a bit of respect.

Time soon reached the afternoon, and the people working at the Jiang house were about to finish their work and go home.

Just then, a burst of crying and shouting suddenly erupted in the courtyard of the household closest to the Jiang house.

"Dad, please don't sell me..."

In the courtyard, a fourteen-year-old girl was kneeling on the ground, kowtowing heavily, pleading with the man in front of her.

The man in front had a cold and hard expression and didn't say a word, while the woman beside him was already crying her eyes out: "Child's father, why don't we think of another way? Yanzi is our own daughter, how can you bear to sell her?"