Chapter 33: The Miraculous Efficacy of Water-Attribute Ability

Thus, he said decisively, "Little Lady Jiang, I'll be honest with you: the Huang family announced their engagement yesterday."

"Is it with the Li family?" Jiang Wei asked.

"Hey, how did you know?"

Shopkeeper Zhou clearly did not know the relationship between the Jiang mother and daughter and the Li family, and continued on his own, "I don't know what that Li family is thinking. How could they push their own daughter into a fire pit?"

Jiang Wei, however, felt her brows relax. Things were developing exactly as she had anticipated. Now, she wanted to see how the Li family would reap what they had sown!

Jiang Xiaoxiao, however, was still somewhat puzzled. From Shopkeeper Zhou's previous description, it wasn't hard to guess that the hidden ailment the young master of the Huang family suffered from was likely some form of pedophilia. But why would he suddenly be willing to seek the hand of a maiden from the Li family?

While she was still puzzled, Shopkeeper Zhou continued on his own, "Hey, Little Lady Jiang, you might not know this yet, but the Huang family is in big trouble now!"

"Do you remember that large brown horse that passed in front of the restaurant two days ago?" Shopkeeper Zhou pointed toward the roadside outside and lowered his voice, "That was the County Lieutenant's horse!"

Jiang Xiaoxiao: "..."

So the person they had been treating as a rumor was the newly appointed County Lieutenant...

"In the past, the Huang family committed countless evils and ruined many young girls. The County Magistrate, hindered by the influence behind them, dared not do anything to them. But the newly appointed County Lieutenant is a noble from the Capital, and the influence behind him is not to be underestimated!" Shopkeeper Zhou continued, "Right now, that new County Lieutenant is gathering evidence everywhere, wanting to wipe out the Huang family in one fell swoop!"

Jiang Xiaoxiao was silent. No wonder the Huang family was in such a hurry to marry; regardless of the age, it seemed they wanted to use this opportunity to suppress the matter.

Or perhaps they felt their family was doomed and wanted to quickly find a woman to marry into the house to leave behind an heir for the Huang family.

The mother and daughter left Yuelai Restaurant and headed straight for the bookstore.

Jiang Xiaoxiao had a bitter little face as she watched her mother use all the copper coins earned today to buy books.

She bought a copy of the "Thousand Character Classic" and a copy of the "Three Character Classic," and the two hundred-plus wen earned from selling snow cakes today were all gone.

Tsk, books in this ancient era are really expensive!

Sure enough, it is hard for a poor family to produce a noble son; raising a scholar would empty the family fortune of an ordinary household.

Immediately after, Jiang Wei led Jiang Xiaoxiao to the pork vendor to buy three jin of pork and two jin of large pork bones. When leaving, she saw roasted chicken being sold at the stall next door, the enticing aroma drilling straight into her nostrils, and she couldn't resist buying a roasted chicken.

In an instant, another hundred-plus wen were gone.

Jiang Xiaoxiao was calculating with a clatter in her heart, only to hear her mother say she really wanted to buy a horse carriage so they wouldn't have to walk back and forth to town in the future.

Jiang Xiaoxiao covered her face, helplessly pulling her mother to take an ox cart.

A horse carriage is so expensive; an ox cart is only one wen per person, cheap and steady.

Their ice cream hasn't even started selling yet, and her mother is already thinking about spending money.

Returning to the village, they encountered many farm women on the road going to the river to fetch water as usual.

When a few of the farm women saw Jiang Wei, their eyes glued tightly to the back basket on her back.

Unfortunately, the basket was covered by a piece of coarse cloth, and it was impossible to see what was inside.

Jiang Xiaoxiao glanced sideways at those people. Fortunately, her mother had foresight and had already stored the ice cabinet and the meat they bought into the space; there was actually nothing in the basket.

These gossiping women in the village usually have nothing to do and love to chew on tongues behind people's backs; even buying something has to be done sneakily.

But thinking about it, these farm women in the village have no knowledge and haven't read any books. Having lived in a social atmosphere where men are superior to women since childhood, they simply don't understand that women can be independent and strong without relying on anyone to live.

Furthermore, her mother is only in her early twenties and doesn't look bad; it's understandable that rumors would be spread about her by the villagers.

Thinking this, Jiang Xiaoxiao looked up at Jiang Wei.

It wasn't visible when they were at the Old Li family, but now that they had separated, they were eating better, the nutrition had caught up, and her physique had gradually become fuller. Plus, the mother and daughter never forgot to use face cream every night, so Jiang Wei's face had become increasingly fair and delicate.

Although not extremely beautiful, her features were elegant and refined, and very eye-catching.

The jealous gazes of those few farm women swept over Jiang Wei again and again, and seeing that they couldn't really tell anything, they withdrew their gazes and turned to talk about other topics.

"Hey, have you heard? A novel thing called a snow cake appeared in our Yong'an Town today!"

"I heard about it a long time ago. My man went to town to sell firewood today and took a look from afar. Many people were scrambling to buy it. I heard that thing is delicious and sells for five wen each!"

"Oh my, selling it so expensive! That thing must be delicious..."

The mother and daughter walked past amidst the discussion of the crowd and returned home.

After arriving home and finishing their meal, Jiang Wei started making ice cream and snow cakes again, while Jiang Xiaoxiao watered the vegetable field in the courtyard.

Whether it was the good quality of the vegetable seeds or her diligence in watering, Jiang Xiaoxiao discovered that many of the seeds in the field had already sprouted.

After watering, her ability hadn't been exhausted yet, so Jiang Xiaoxiao went on to feed the chickens and sheep at home.

However, upon entering the sheep pen, she was surprised to find that the milk goat's slightly lame hind leg seemed to be healed?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 34 =====