Chapter 134: Stepfather

Related to herself? Du Ruo immediately became interested. "Let's hear it."

"Don't get angry after I tell you." Fu slapped her thigh and laughed. "Jiang Li's wife, maybe you'll have a stepfather soon, hahahaha."

Du Ruo was puzzled. "Stepfather?"

Seeing her dazed expression, the woman opposite took over the conversation. "That's right, didn't your family make a lot of money selling medicinal herbs? Those old bachelors in our village all went crazy when they heard the news. They've been trying to get close to your mother, calling her 'Sister-in-law Zheng' so affectionately. If your family's dog wasn't so fierce, I'm afraid they would have wanted to sneak into your mother's room!"

"..." Du Ruo was speechless.

There was indeed a group of idlers in the village, either because they were too poor to marry a wife, or because their wives had died and they didn't have the money to remarry.

Once the yin and yang were out of balance, people found it easy to lose sleep, so they wandered around the village head and the fields all day long, doing nothing but watching the fun.

Who would have thought that people who were poor in money weren't poor in ambition, actually setting their sights on Zheng Shi, this piece of Tang Monk meat.

Hehe, that would depend on whether they had the ability to eat it!

"My mother is the most law-abiding person, I'm afraid they are wasting their efforts." Du Ruo's tone was flat.

The women also looked disdainful.

"It's a pity they dare to think. Do they think that because your mother is a divorced woman, she is inferior, and any man will do?"

"Exactly, they dare to approach her whether it's fragrant or stinking, not afraid of offending her."

"They aren't going for the person at all; they are clearly going for that white, shiny silver!"

Fu said it most bluntly. "Jiang Li's wife, you must keep a good eye on your mother. Don't let the wolf into the house, or you'll lose both the person and the money, and you won't even have a place to cry."

Du Ruo smiled and didn't say anything.

She knew these things without anyone else reminding her. Zheng Shi was the original owner's biggest worry. Thinking of plotting against Zheng Shi, they were thinking beautifully.

While they were talking, the ox cart had already entered Longquan Cun.

Master Jiang and Jiang Zhan had long been waiting under the willow tree at the entrance of the village. They helped take down the few large bundles and carried them in their hands, and the three of them rushed home on the last tail of the sunset.

From afar, they saw a man poking his head outside the courtyard wall of the Jiang family's second branch.

He was about thirty years old, his hair was as messy as a chicken coop, he was wearing dirty, patched clothes, and his shoes had a hole in them, revealing his black big toe.

Getting closer, one could even smell the sweat odor emanating from him.

Du Ruo and Jiang Zhan looked at each other.

After confirming the look, he wasn't a good person.

Just as she wanted to open her mouth to question him, she heard Master Jiang say in a cold voice: "Gou Laoqi, what are you doing here?"

Gou Laoqi was startled by this voice and hurriedly turned his head to look.

"It's the Master." He laughed sheepishly. "Nothing, just looking around."

Du Ruo rolled her eyes. "Then you are really casual enough, almost flipping into our house."

Gou Laoqi looked at her for a long time before recognizing her. A flash of amazement flashed in his rat eyes, but it quickly dimmed.

Forget about Du Shi; he didn't have the guts. Jiang Li would definitely peel his skin and feed it to the dogs.

He still wanted to be Jiang Li's ready-made father-in-law.

"Haha, it's Jiang Li's wife." Gou Laoqi took out a bunch of messy wild flowers from his tattered clothes and said with a licking face: "Don't worry, I don't have any bad intentions, I just want to give these flowers to your mother..."

"My mother doesn't like flowers, you hurry up and leave, otherwise I'll call the dog." Du Ruo was very unpleasant.

If Zheng Shi really accepted these flowers, would she be able to explain it clearly in the future?

Gou Laoqi touched his head and muttered: "Impossible, I saw that there were small yellow flowers embroidered on your mother's sleeves, how could she not like them?"

Du Ruo couldn't bear it anymore and shouted: "Tie Dan!"

Tie Dan didn't come out, but Zheng Shi was called out instead.

Seeing her daughter suddenly appear in front of her, Zheng Shi was both surprised and happy, and hurriedly stepped forward to check her from head to toe.

"How is it, did everything go smoothly?" She asked hurriedly.

Du Ruo smiled. "Don't worry, Mother, everything is fine."

As she said this, she took the large bundle from Master Jiang's hand. "Thank you, Third Uncle, for helping me carry it all the way. Another day, I'll make a few pumpkin cakes for you as a thank-you gift."

Master Jiang was silent for a moment, then opened his mouth. "Let's make it tomorrow."

Du Ruo: "... Alright."

She called Jiang Zhan, and the three of them were just about to enter the house when Gou Laoqi recklessly rushed in front of Zheng Shi. "Sister-in-law Zheng, I picked these on the mountain specially for you, here you go!"

The flowers were already broken beyond recognition, and the dirt between the fingers holding the flowers made it even more uncomfortable.

Zheng Shi hurriedly retreated, both angry and annoyed.

"I've already said I don't want to remarry. If you keep pestering me like this, watch out, I'll call my son-in-law to arrest you!"

Jiang Li's title as a constable was still useful. Gou Laoqi was a bit cowardly at the time, but he still shouted unwillingly: "If you miss this village, there won't be this shop. You aren't a fresh young girl, and you were divorced by your man and sent back to your maiden home. You should be happy that I'm willing to have you, why are you driving people away..."

Clatter, Jiang Zhan threw the two bundles on the ground and turned to look for a brick everywhere.

Before he could find one, Du Ruo had already kicked the knee of that self-confident man, making him stagger. "Get lost, get as far away as you can! You are not allowed to appear within ten feet of my house in the future, otherwise, I'll make you pay!"

Thinking of the fate of Li Yaozu and Doctor Gu, Gou Laoqi didn't dare to offend her, so he limped away while cursing.

"Mother, has he been harassing you these past few days?" Du Ruo turned her head and asked.

Speaking of this, Zheng Shi had a headache. "Sigh, don't mention it, he climbs the wall every day, and I can't drive him away."

Actually, it wasn't just Gou Laoqi, there were several other men, but Gou Laoqi was the most shameless.

Originally, Zheng Shi wanted to let Tie Dan scare them, but who knew those people had calculated it long ago, and every time they waited until Tie Dan went out before coming, it was annoying to death.

"No problem, it's a small matter." Master Jiang said with his hands behind his back.

Du Ruo asked curiously: "Does Third Uncle have any good ideas?"

Master Jiang looked at her. "Add ten mung bean cakes."

Du Ruo: "..."

She burst out laughing, stretched out her plump claws. "Deal, I promise to let you eat enough at once!"

Only then did Master Jiang nod with satisfaction and slowly say: "The so-called 'hitting a snake by hitting its seven inches', digging a tree by digging its roots. If you want to solve this matter thoroughly, you just need to let the clan leader on his side come forward."

As for the clan leader's words, he figured Gou Laoqi wouldn't dare not listen.

Coincidentally, the two most promising grandsons of the Gou clan leader were both studying in his school, so it was just a matter of passing a word.

After hearing Master Jiang's explanation, Du Ruo understood immediately.

"What a move of 'hitting the cow across the mountain', high!" She couldn't help but give Master Jiang a thumbs up.

Seeing that it was completely dark, Zheng Shi hurriedly took her daughter into the house.

Jiang Wan heard the movement and ran out of the room, pulling her sister-in-law and second brother to ask questions.

Not long after, Zheng Qinghe and Jiang Cheng also brought the dog back from the fields.

Chunhua had already finished cooking.

At the dinner table, Du Ruo selectively told about her experiences in the county. She told it vividly, and the few adults and children who had never seen the world were stunned.

Of course, some things definitely couldn't be said.

For example, Jiang Zhan being framed in the examination hall; for example, her sending poisonous cockroaches to Du Mingzhu.

No matter what, her persona as a kind, cute, and obedient girl in Zheng Shi's mind absolutely couldn't collapse.

The next day, the family was ready to transplant the chili seedlings.

During the time Du Ruo went to the county to accompany the exam, Zheng Qinghe and Jiang Cheng had already turned over the three acres of land in the big house.

The reason it was so fast, speaking of it, was really thanks to Tie Dan.

There weren't many families in the village with oxen. Basically, ten or so families shared one ox. When it was busy farming, even their own people weren't enough, so where would they have time to lend the ox to others?

Jiang Cheng didn't want to open his mouth, so he thought of the dog.

The dog refused at first. It wasn't a human, but its little master's stupid brother was really a dog, actually wanting to use it as an ox.

Had he considered its dignity as a dog??

But seeing Jiang Cheng and Zheng Qinghe's hands blistering from turning the soil, the dog's heart softened.

Fine, just consider that Dog Master owes you!

The dog finally resigned itself to pulling the plow. To avoid more villagers watching, it ran fast. Jiang Cheng almost couldn't hold it, and finally, it turned over all the land in less than an hour.

Since then, one could often hear people in the village training their dogs: "What else can you do besides watching the door and catching mice? Look at Tie Dan, he can even plow the land!" ===== CHAPTER 135 =====