Chapter 44: The Wife is the Best in the World!

This sound was like a thunderclap bursting from flat ground, freezing everyone in place.

Chinu and Yu Hen were the most composed.

The Ouyang father and son abruptly lifted their heads to look at Du Shanü.

Leitie's hand shook, and he directly flung his bowl and chopsticks onto the table, making a crisp sound.

As for A Chou...

Du Shanü glanced over and couldn't help but:

"If you want to drink, drink; if you want to vomit, vomit; don't eat and vomit at the same time!"

This kid held the bowl with a foolish face, letting porridge dribble back into it from his mouth—truly disgusting!

Du Shanü's appetite plummeted, but this time no one spoke up for her.

Ouyang Yan spoke first, urgently:

"You've already said...... that kind of thing, why bother about others vomiting!"

"People vomiting porridge—shouldn't that be allowed?"

A Chou, Leitie, and Ouyang An, like idiots, nodded in unison, blank-faced:

"Exactly, exactly!"

Ouyang Yan added:

"Miss, I don't know if your earlier remark was a joke or sincere, but today we'll pretend we didn't hear it—our lives have just gotten a bit better!"

The idiot gang hurriedly nodded again:

"Exactly, exactly!"

Someone responded, and Ouyang Yan's inner hesitation eased a little:

"The mill has only been operating for four days, with constant traffic, earning barely hard-pressed money; up to now we've made only about fifty taels, including the silver from the stored grain in the mill's warehouse sold at a discount."

"The blacksmith shed's fire never dies, a bottomless pit; we have no one to chop firewood, so we must buy bundles at ten cash each. Ordinary folk can't buy ironware, so our iron comes from dismantling and smelting farm tools, which already carries a markup, costing us considerable silver......"

This is the household's biggest expense, but not the only one.

Another major expense is the cost of building the new house these days.

Originally, following his suggestion, the family should have erected a bright, proper large dwelling.

Even if we couldn't spare much silver to build a splendid "eye"-shaped three‑courtyard layout, we could certainly manage a "sun"-shaped two‑courtyard one.

There must still be a large courtyard: front gatehouse, then hall, then rear private chambers or bedrooms.

With that, life would obviously be looking up, right?!

When he and Xiao An fled Southern King City, they had prepared themselves for a life of wandering—never imagining they could live like this.

Yet Miss didn't heed his advice at all, immediately hiring workers to rammed‑earth build an earthen house!

Each earth brick in that house is as thick as a man's arm; stacked, they block sky and sun—calling it a house is generous; it's more like a blockhouse!

By day it's tolerable, but at sunset the interior is so dark you can't see your hand in front of your face!

All this was rushed into being by hiring locals day labor at daily wages!

One worker's daily wage is forty cash; hire ten, that's four hundred cash!

Not counting the wages of carpenters, tile‑makers, stonemasons, and others!

For country folk, providing meals is standard practice......

When short‑handed, even hiring people to pick acorns costs money......

These little bits add up, feeling like flesh being sliced from his heart.

What kind of household can withstand such expenses?

The family's cash is nearly exhausted, leaving only a warehouse full of grain; no one knows how long the building will go on or where the money will come from......

How about it, Miss......

Opening her mouth, she demands the world?!

According to Miss's remarks the past two days, they've only just shaken off poverty!

Whenever money is mentioned, Ouyang Yan turns into another person, unable to keep up his earlier affected manner.

He clutched his chest in anguish, reckoning the accounts, his fingers flying over the abacus on the table, the clicks sounding like dripping blood.

The three little idiots heard this for the first time, yet it didn't hinder them from expressing agreement, nodding again and again:

"Exactly, exactly......"

"Ouch!"

"Ouch!"

"Ouch!"

After three consecutive cries, the three echo‑bugs that only knew how to say "exactly, exactly" were finally honest.

Du Shanü withdrew her Five Finger Mountain that had been striking everyone's heads, and she was quite nonchalant:

"Money—there will always be some."

"The world—though still far off, early planning is never wrong."

"You needn't worry too much; I now have neither armor nor weapons, so I won't rise in revolt right now. I'm merely thinking that some matters should be discussed with you all beforehand, lest I do something and you panic without recourse."

She had said before that she wouldn't sell cooling ointment for a lifetime.

These days, the common folk constantly chant praises of the Grand Ancestor, and she has never treated it as idle wind.

The rivers and mountains sway, north and south diverge.

Even the Young Emperor was forced into exile......

This is not merely one person's misfortune, but the world's misfortune.

In former times, the Grand Ancestor, this suspected transmigrator's predecessor, could unite the rivers and mountains, making his fame endure through the ages......

She can definitely do it as well.

This vast land cannot produce narrow-minded selfish children.

Even if it was only for the old village head's tearful breakdown upon learning of the grain tax, and even if it was only for the county magistrate's death, upon hearing that taxes were postponed, that night the village elders, holding torches, ran to spread the joyful news......

Du Shanü also wanted to give it a try.

Still that old saying —

She is obsessed with farming, but whoever dares to disturb her planting, she will bury them in the ground.

"If one day I fail to accomplish anything and instead get caught and beheaded......"

Du Shanü drank the last bit of porridge soup in her bowl, then said without hesitation:

"Then just run."

They cut ties and didn't look back.

This way, although she couldn't save herself, she could at least save a few more.

The last gleam of daylight sank into the earth.

Inside the airtight new house, they fell into a long deathly silence.

Everyone's faces showed their own gloom, dullness, worry, and fear......

But there was no doubt.

Even if Ouyang Yan had been the first to question the money, they had never doubted whether Du Shanü could actually accomplish this.

Before them was a water wheel, turning sap into lacquer; behind them was the Chief Commander Crossbow......

These were all visible to others.

Ten days ago, they were still wandering refugees everywhere, but today they sit in a house as sturdy as a fortification, able to happily eat warm food, all thanks to the young lady before them.

Such talent is immeasurable.

The Northern Border tribes relied on fire oil to harass the various prefectures of the Central Plains......

But what if the young lady could also create other great weapons?

"Could that also mean pointing swords at the Northern Border?"

This desire was so strong that not a single person in the room, even upon recalling that Du Shanü was a woman, raised any objection.

Everyone merely sank into their own thoughts.

Until......

Yu Hen, with a plain expression, also set down his bowl and chopsticks, and spoke softly to advise:

"Before, everyone said I was incapable, and that's true; I don't want to argue about it. But now, more capable people are ahead...... what are you hesitating for?"

"If you all stay silent, then let me say: the Wife Master is top-notch, will surely become emperor and drive out the foreign tribes!"

"Even if that's not possible, I accept it. Anyway, I will definitely die together with her."

?? Everyone knows why they're called Da Ou Popu, right..... because, whoever handles the accounts goes crazy, pfft hahahaha!