Chapter 38

Lin Qingshuang bit her lip and said nothing.

Seeing her like this, Aunt Lin was both angry and heartbroken: "You child, why can't you understand? Yes, Jiang Li is good, but he is determined not to be a live-in son-in-law for our Lin family, and there's nothing we can do. Listen to your mother's advice and forget about Jiang Li sooner."

Forget him? How to forget? That was the person she had held in her heart for eight whole years.

The more she liked him, the more she regretted why she hadn't just married him back then, instead of dragging it out, thinking Jiang Li would eventually give in, only to end up benefiting that ugly monster, the Du woman.

Besides having a good father, how was the Du woman worthy of Brother Jiang?

A ruthless look flashed in Lin Qingshuang's eyes, but her tone was calm without a ripple: "Mother, I told you long ago, I will not marry anyone but Jiang Li in this life. Don't you remember?"

"That was before!" Aunt Lin was anxious. Her daughter was going down a dead end: "Before, Jiang Li was all alone, and if you wanted to marry him, your mother would have agreed without a word. But now he has already taken a wife, and you two are impossible in this life. Do you still want to marry over as a concubine?"

Lin You Tian slammed his teacup onto the table and said with a dark face: "Shuang'er, you are my, Lin You Tian's, daughter. Lin You Tian's daughter will never be a concubine for anyone, do you hear me?"

Be a concubine? How could that be.

Lin Qingshuang found it funny: "Father, Mother, don't worry, I will never be a concubine."

And on the village road over there, Jiang Cheng was walking while looking at Du Ruo like she was a god: "Eldest sister-in-law, you are too amazing! You bought so much land for 【missing number】 taels of silver, a full half less!"

He asked suspiciously: "How did you know the village head would definitely sell?"

Ten taels of silver was a killing price; he was really afraid Lin You Tian would beat them out with a stick.

"Are you stupid? Do you really think someone would want to buy that broken land to build a house?" Du Ruo rolled her eyes at the child and patiently analyzed it for him: "Don't even think about what kind of place that is. That's at the foot of the mountain. Not to mention whether there are wild beasts, if there's a heavy rain for days, there might be a landslide. Building a house in that place, unless you don't want your life."

Jiang Cheng suddenly realized. That's right, why didn't he think of that.

"I understand! So the village head was just bluffing us, the purpose was to raise the price!"

Du Ruo nodded and praised: "A child worth teaching."

Actually, there was another reason.

Publicly, as a village head, those few plots of land had been abandoned for so long, and now that there was finally a fool willing to buy them, Lin You Tian naturally wouldn't bear to refuse. Privately, that fool was the Jiang family's Second Branch, with whom he had a grudge. It couldn't be more perfect; Lin You Tian must have really wanted to sell the land and watch the Jiang family's Second Branch make a fool of themselves.

But whether this joke could actually be watched... that was hard to say...

The group had just walked to the clear pond when they bumped into Yao Yulan carrying a basket of pig grass. Seeing Du Ruo, Yao Yulan's eyes immediately brightened by several degrees.

"Sister-in-law!" She hurriedly approached.

Du Ruo stopped and asked suspiciously: "Sister-in-law Yulan, looking at you sweating like this, what's the rush?"

Yao Yulan smiled: "What else could it be, rushing to watch the fun."

Fun? Du Ruo was confused.

Seeing she didn't understand, Yao Yulan explained: "It's your family's eldest aunt. Didn't Jiang Zongbao run to your house to steal things last night and get punished by the old man to kneel in the ancestral hall? Early this morning, the old man had people catch Jiang Zongbao, not allowed to be given food, and not allowed to get up until he knelt for twelve hours. And guess what?"

Du Ruo shook her head; she couldn't guess.

But she could imagine that Cao Shi, who loved her son like her life, definitely wouldn't watch her son suffer.

"As a result, after kneeling for only one hour, Cao Shi couldn't hold back." Yao Yulan curled her lip and continued: "Cao Shi ran outside the ancestral hall and started making a scene, causing a bunch of people to watch the fun. She didn't dare scold our old man, so she vented all her anger on your Second Branch, saying you are an August luffa, a moldy chestnut, black-hearted and rotten-livered, and so on—it was very ugly. So, I heard about this and was just planning to go home and tell the old man to punish Jiang Zongbao for another ten or eight hours, to see if Cao Shi still dares to be arrogant!"

Du Ruo chuckled.

Yao Yulan rolled her eyes at her: "It's a pity you can still laugh. That Cao Shi tells everyone bad things about you, saying you rely on being the daughter of a government official to be unfilial to elders, heartless to brothers, overbearing and wasteful—she's almost calling you the number one poisonous woman in the world!"

If this continues, in a few days, Du Ruo's evil reputation will spread throughout the ten miles and eight villages.

Du Ruo didn't care. The innocent are innocent; the mouth is on others, let them say what they want. Anyway, it won't take a piece of meat off her.

"Let's forget it, don't trouble Grandfather Clan Head, lest someone say he's biased toward our Second Branch again." Du Ruo was very grateful for Yao Yulan's protection, but she really didn't care about these trivial matters.

Since the main person said so, Yao Yulan, who was seeking justice, naturally wouldn't meddle in other people's business.

However, she still warned Du Ruo: "Since it's caused such a scene this time, that side will definitely hold a grudge. Who knows if they will use some underhanded tricks in secret? You should be careful in the future."

Du Ruo nodded: "I know, I won't give them a chance."

The two chatted a bit more and then went back to their respective homes.

That night, Jiang Li really didn't come back. Who knew if he was feeding mosquitoes in a cave or basking in the moonlight on a tree branch.

Du Ruo felt uneasy, always feeling a bit anxious. But soon she comforted herself: she didn't know how capable Jiang Li and Wang Bujiu were, but with Iron Egg there, nothing major should happen.

Thinking this way, Du Ruo felt much more at ease.

The land was bought, which meant she had completed the second task. The system brought up a virtual screen showing her current data.

Host: Du Ruo

Available Points: 10

Level: 1 (Needs 10 more points to upgrade to the next level)

Mall: Locked

"Host, confirm upgrade?"

Du Ruo: "Stop talking nonsense, upgrade!"

As her voice fell, the interface quickly changed from gray to purple, and the data changed significantly.

Host: Du Ruo

Available Points: 0

Level: 2 (Needs 30 more points to upgrade to the next level)

Mall: Unlocked

Finally, she could buy, buy, buy! Du Ruo immediately stretched out her claws and clicked in out of thin air.

Ghost Supervisor seeds, ginseng seeds, chili seeds, beauty cream, slimming pills, quick-acting heart-saving pills... Gosh, there's even hemorrhoid cream, are you kidding me?

Seeing her eyes glowing green, the system was speechless: "Host, there's no need to look like you've never seen the world. These are just the most basic items. When you reach the advanced stage, there will be even more heaven-defying things for you to choose from."

Even more heaven-defying things? The green light in Du Ruo's eyes grew even stronger.

Unfortunately, the next second, the system poured a basin of cold water, ruthlessly extinguishing this light.

"Look, anyway, you can't afford it."

Du Ruo: "..."

She really couldn't afford it; all the points were used for the upgrade, and now she didn't have a single point left.

Du Ruo had to sheepishly close the mall interface. After thinking about it, she asked unwillingly: "Besides that Little Good Morning task, are there no other tasks for me to do?"

"Not at the moment." The system shook its Fuwa's big head: "When there will be, it's uncertain. They are all randomly released based on the host's own situation. All tasks have one ultimate goal: to let the host live in a villa, marry a handsome man, and reach the pinnacle of life."

Du Ruo rolled her eyes.

Forget it. What does that Little Good Morning have to do with her pinnacle? It's more like making her go crazy.

Never mind, anyway, the land is bought, let the seeds be up to fate.

Du Ruo closed the communication channel with the system and entered her dreams with the beautiful wish of getting rich.

The next day, Du Ruo and Jiang Cheng took sickles to the foot of the mountain and started weeding the mountain land. In this era, there were no herbicides, so they had to rely on manpower. Especially since what was growing in the land wasn't ordinary grass, but thorns. Not to mention the effort, one careless move and you'd be stabbed.

"Eldest sister-in-law, don't do it, just watch from the side, I'll do it!"

Jiang Cheng rolled up his sleeves, ready to do a big job.

How could Du Ruo really just watch from the side? Four acres of land didn't sound like much, but looking at it, it was a large area. The more they could clear, the better. Relying on Jiang Cheng alone, it wouldn't be finished in seven or eight days.

The two worked vigorously under the scorching sun. Although their bodies were very tired, their moods were very good.

Especially Du Ruo, who felt particularly close to this sandy land. In her eyes, it wasn't soil, but white, shiny silver.

Just as they were working hard, a young man suddenly ran over, panting, and shouted at them: "Sister-in-law, Third Brother, hurry back and take a look! Eldest Brother is back, he's covered in blood!"

Du Ruo's hand shook, and her finger was pricked by a thorn, a drop of blood oozing out.

She couldn't care about the pain and hurriedly asked: "Is he okay?"

The young man shook his head: "I don't know, there are many people surrounding him, I couldn't squeeze in, so I came to report to you."

Jiang Cheng's face turned as white as a ghost. He dropped his sickle and ran home. Du Ruo also hurriedly followed.