Chapter 60

Regarding Li Xinyue picking up wild ginseng on the mountain, Jiang Jinshi didn't ask much; such accidental events have a certain probability of occurring, and in his view it was just Li Xinyue's good luck.

In fact, this was certainly not wild ginseng; it was artificially cultivated ginseng that Li Xinyue bought from the mall system using points, which is why the pharmacy owner could see its weaker medicinal properties.

At dinner, Jiang Jinshi learned from Jiang Li that their mother had gone to Liu Family Village to visit her grandparents, so for the time being only the three of them were at home.

Moreover, Jiang Li excitedly told Jiang Jinshi about her encounter with a wild boar together with her sister-in-law.

If picking up wild ginseng was still within Jiang Jinshi's comprehension, then this he truly could not understand.

According to Jiang Li's account, a heavenly thunderbolt struck the wild boar directly, which is why the two were saved.

Jiang Jinshi immediately wanted to ask, 'You mean you two were in the tree, but the lightning hit the wild boar on the ground instead?'

Are you a relative of the Thunder God and Lightning Mother?

But this matter cannot be verified; what is certain is that the two indeed encountered a wild boar on the mountain and sold some silver, something the whole village knows.

Saying this, Jiang Li worried that Jiang Jinshi might have designs on her sister-in-law's silver, but she didn't dare say it, instead continually blinking her big eyes at Jiang Jinshi.

Jiang Jinshi didn't notice, but as he kept looking at the repaired house, the drafty spots had all been patched up.

He now has money to rebuild a house, but he feels it's unnecessary; in his view, the family will eventually move to the stronghold.

Suddenly thinking of something, Jiang Jinshi asked Jiang Li, 'Uncle Big and Uncle Second didn't come to cause trouble, did they?'

After all, fifty taels is not a small sum; he doesn't believe those two greedy uncles could resist such temptation.

Jiang Li tilted her head, thought for a moment, then answered: 'No, and even when the sister-in-law was dividing the wild boar, they didn't come.'

Hearing this, Jiang Jinshi was full of doubt; if they had changed their ways, he would never believe it even if beaten to death; perhaps they were secretly hatching some bad scheme!

Here Jiang Jinshi remained silent, while Li Xinyue beside him was thinking about when she would go up the mountain again.

The day after the wild boar incident, she sold the boar and bought plenty of food and condiments to bring home; in her spare time she went up the mountain again and unexpectedly discovered that same high-quality nanmu wood she had previously recycled.

The system doesn't show a recycling price for twigs that are too small, but she doesn't dare cut them directly; now that village traitor is still loitering at the mountain foot every day!

Even the points exchanged for artificially cultivated ginseng come from her accumulating and trading in wild vegetables and worthless herbs.

However, this efficiency is really too slow; relying on picking wild vegetables, she doesn't know how long it will take to find a good place with mountains and water to lie flat.

Although lying flat is not her original intention, living in such an era, personal safety really cannot be guaranteed.

After her careful observation over this period, the village traitor can basically be confirmed as Wang Gui, the widow Wang.

Every day someone goes to the foot of Little Jiang Mountain, especially after Li Xinyue's 'wild boar incident,' many villagers occasionally go up the mountain, hoping heaven will also bestow them something.

Only Widow Wang goes to the mountain foot every day, rain or shine, pretending to look for wild vegetables, yet she never goes up the mountain.

This abnormal behavior stands out conspicuously among all villagers, so she has become Li Xinyue's primary suspect.

Is there any way to make Widow Wang overextended?

Li Xinyue was concentrating when a gold hairpin was handed to her.

Jiang Jinshi also doesn't lack this gold hairpin worth thirty taels of silver; after thinking it over, he decided it would be better to give it to Li Xinyue.

During the few days I was away, she kept the household in perfect order and bought many things for home; this hairpin can serve as a reward!

Li Xinyue took the hairpin blankly, then after reacting teased, 'Copying books for a few days can earn a gold hairpin?'

Jiang Jinshi met Li Xinyue's teasing gaze, feeling inexplicably guilty: 'This… this is because I write copied characters well; the employer rewarded… rewarded me.'

'Oh! Your employer is a woman? Otherwise why would they reward you with a hairpin?' This line might fool others, but Li Xinyue won't believe a word of it; even if the employer were a woman, it's impossible they'd reward a man with a hairpin!

Now Jiang Jinshi has basically shot himself in the foot; he spoke without thinking earlier, and now he doesn't know how to smooth it over.

Seeing Jiang Jinshi scratching his head, not knowing how to answer, Li Xinyue puffed out a laugh: 'Thanks! I'll accept the gift.'

She also couldn't be bothered to calculate the hairpin's origin; saying these things was just to tease this book-addict and add some fun to her boring life.

Anyway, she will eventually leave here; this hairpin, as the first gift she received upon coming to this world, still holds some commemorative significance.

Jiang Jinshi remained silent, silently cursing himself in his heart.

Usually he spouts nonsense nonstop, yet he stutters in front of this girl; could it be…

Does she have some buff bonus?

……

After dinner, Jiang Jinshi strolled through the village; now the river's flow is getting smaller and smaller, and even at night villagers are drawing water by the riverbank.

The villagers naturally noticed this as well; unease had already begun to spread through the village.

Even more serious than the water shortage is that most villagers' food supplies are nearly exhausted.

No crops in the fields, no water in the river, no food at home—who wouldn't panic!

Initially they thought they could wait for disaster relief from the Imperial Court or the prefecture, but as days passed, they only saw more and more refugees on the road, while the authorities still took no action.

Just as Jiang Jinshi was silently sighing, a person stepped out of the darkness behind him and lightly placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Jinshi, we haven't seen each other for a while!"

Jiang Jinshi turned around, and upon hearing those words goosebumps spread instantly over his whole body.

This person was none other than Widow Wang; her household had long run out of grain, and earlier someone had found her, asking her to monitor the villagers of Da Jiang Cun, reporting anyone who went up the mountain to chop firewood in exchange for silver.

She had thought she would make a fortune, but for some reason the news leaked, causing her to stake out for days with no gain.

For the past few days she had survived on wild vegetable porridge, but starting yesterday even wild vegetables ran out; counting today, she has gone two days without eating.

She had originally intended to go find her former lover for relief, but instead she unexpectedly encountered Jiang Jinshi on the road.

Although his attitude toward her was completely different from before, thinking that his family had recently become filthy rich, Widow Wang still decided to give it a try.

She believed Jiang Jinshi still certainly had feelings for her, after all his earlier gaze toward her could not be feigned.

His daughter-in-law has been selling wild boar and wild ginseng lately; the money must be in Jiang Jinshi's hands, and even scraping something from between his fingers would be enough to feed her for a while.

With this thought, Widow Wang pinched her voice and approached Jiang Jinshi, her hand lightly resting on his shoulder, subtly leaning toward his neck.

Jiang Jinshi turned, stepped back one pace to evade Widow Wang's hand, his tone thick with disgust.

"Aunt Wang Gui, do you have phlegm stuck in your throat?"

Widow Wang's eye corner twitched involuntarily; she kept telling herself to stay calm, for the sake of food!

So Widow Wang, brazen as ever, pressed close to Jiang Jinshi again, but this time without a strained voice; it sounded much more normal.

"I'm not some raging flood beast, Jiang Jinshi, why are you avoiding me?"

The plaintive tone was just right; if Jiang Jinshi didn't know her true nature, he might truly think she was a lovesick woman.

"Aunt Wang Gui, I…"

Widow Wang placed her index finger on Jiang Jinshi's lips and whispered lightly, "Don't call me aunt; actually… the age gap between us isn't that big."

"What does age have to do with it? Seniority can't be taken lightly," Jiang Jinshiyi said, his face solemn as he counted on his fingers, "You are my great-uncle's cousin's goddaughter's sister-in-law's maternal cousin's brother-in-law's granddaughter-in-law! So with that relationship, I must call you aunt."

Widow Wang stared dumbfounded at Jiang Jinshi, unsure whether his words were true; who could untangle such a relationship?

But this time Widow Wang would not let Jiang Jinshi escape easily; she decided on a bold move, lunged forward and hugged Jiang Jinshi, her voice trembling as she poured out her feelings.

"Jinshi, what's wrong with you? I know you have me in your heart; actually I've always liked you. I know you care about reputation, but I don't; right now I just want you!"

With those words, Widow Wang couldn't believe Jiang Jinshi could still resist; such a little man…

Easy to handle, huh!

The next moment, a great force came from his shoulder, and Wang Gui was shoved straight to the ground; looking into Jiang Jinshi's eyes, there was only deep disgust, no trace of joy.

"Can you, by doing these things, live up to my great-uncle's cousin's goddaughter's sister-in-law's maternal cousin's brother-in-law's grandson? You shameless scoundrel, I'm going to the village and shout for everyone to catch you and dunk you in a pig trough."

Jiang Jinshi's voice grew louder, as if he swore he wouldn't stop until the villagers were summoned.

Now Widow Wang dared not continue the act, hurriedly waved at Jiang Jinshi, "Stop shouting, stop shouting, or more people will come!"

"Are you still afraid of being found out? You disgraceful thing, I'm going to call the village head to catch you and dunk you in a pig trough." Jiang Jinshi's words never left the pig trough.

Widow Wang was truly frightened; this man was like a block of wood, and if he kept shouting so loudly, the villagers would surely all come.

So Widow Wang sprang to her feet and vanished like a flash toward the darkness, ignoring Jiang Jinshi's shouts behind her.

Jiang Jinshi watched Widow Wang being driven away, a smug expression on his face, then turned and walked toward home.

In a corner not far away, Li Xinyue peered with her eyes at the scene.

She had originally come out to deliver a water bucket to Jiang Jinshi, asking him to fetch some water on his way home; who knew she'd happen upon this scene, and the gossip fire in her eyes still hasn't gone out.

Meanwhile, the fleeing Widow Wang was angrily muttering curses at Jiang Jinshi, calling him a clueless bookworm and a notoriously infamous gambler who dared to treat her this way.

No, she couldn't swallow that feeling; just now she needed to find her former lover, hoping he could do something to give Jiang Jinshiyi a taste of his own medicine.

As night deepened, Widow Wang reached the vicinity of Jiang's actual home's courtyard.

Indeed, her lover was Jiang Gui, Jiang Jinshi's second uncle.

When Jiang Jinshi first crossed over, his mind was still a bit hazy; he only felt the voice of the man on the bed was familiar—it was Jiang Gui.

Widow Wang looked at the silent courtyard, carefully feeling her way to the window below Jiang Gui's room.

"Meow~ Meow~"

Mimicking a cat, Widow Wang curled her body and waited quietly for a response from inside.

This was the secret signal she and Jiang Gui had agreed upon, though back then it was mostly Jiang Gui who came to her.

She hadn't seen Jiang Gui for several days; perhaps the man had grown tired of her body, and she had intended to ignore him for a while, but now she was starving and had to lower herself and take the initiative.

After waiting a long time with no sound from inside, Widow Wang thought perhaps he was sleeping deeply, so she raised her voice a bit and called a few more times.

"Meow~ Meow~"

Then after another half moment, Widow Wang thought she would get nothing tonight and was about to slip away in the dark.

Suddenly, irregular knocking sounds came from inside.

"Thump! Thump!"

Through the wall it was muffled, but in the quiet night such sounds still caught Widow Wang's attention.

Widow Wang pressed her ear to the wall, subconsciously quieting her breathing.

"Thump thump! Thump!"

This time Widow Wang was sure she hadn't misheard, but the response didn't match the signal she and Jiang Gui had arranged.

While Widow Wang was still pondering, the knocking inside grew fainter; driven by curiosity, she finally straightened up and looked inside through the wooden lattice of the window.

"Ah!"

Through the window, Widow Wang saw Jiang Gui bound by his limbs, his head bleeding, and several other silhouettes beside him, though the darkness concealed their faces.

Jiang Gui writhed, bending and extending his legs, forcefully kicking the wooden cabinet beside him.

His head was covered with beads of sweat; each movement seemed to endure immense pain, and the cloth strip clenched in his mouth had already turned a shade of bright red.

That scream shattered the night's silence and startled Jiang Daya, who was asleep.

Since she had drugged and bound several family members, she no longer slept in the former "dog nest"; at this moment she rose from the bed, realized the sound came from just outside the room, and instantly knew her deeds had been exposed.

Daya stood at the bedside, her expression a bit frantic, instinctively trying to flee, but the moment she lifted her foot it froze in place.

"Myself…"

"Where can I go?"

On this vast land, she had lived within a mere acre and a third since childhood; leaving would leave her penniless, not even knowing which road to take.

"Better…"

Since the matter hasn't been exposed yet, why not eliminate this person now?

Rather than face an unknown path, it's better to remove the trouble and let everything stay as it is.

Yet another voice in her mind told her that this person was innocent.

After a struggle, a flash of madness crossed Daya's eyes as she lifted from the bedside the cane stained dark red with blood.