Quick Transmigration: Underdog Turns out to be Untouchable-Chapter 1170 - 1080: The Female Prime Minister (Part 18)

When they returned from the county, Mrs. Wang and Shuangshuang were already waiting at the village entrance for Yin Zheng and Yin An.

Looking at his wife and children, a smile appeared on Yin Zheng’s stoic face. Finally, they had separated from that family, and from now on, they could live their own good life with peace of mind.

The mood among the family of three was light, even Yin An, who was worried about his second brother’s family’s usury debt, couldn’t help but smile contentedly. As long as life was going well, he wasn’t afraid of hardship.

Now, the family of three plus Yin An had nothing but the clothes on their backs. Old Master Yin and Mrs. Zhao were too heartless, forbidding them from even entering the house after severing ties, and not allowing them to take any belongings.

Fortunately, the jade given by the County Magistrate’s Wife to Jade Wang had already been hidden in advance, and the silver notes were also on Shuangshuang, as a precaution against any unforeseen circumstances.

If Old Master Yin and Yin Cheng didn’t believe that Yin Zheng only borrowed two hundred taels of silver and suspected he had more, they might come to search him, which would be troublesome.

Keeping the silver notes with Shuangshuang was the safest option; nobody would believe he would hide something so important with a child as frail as Shuangshuang.

Though they didn’t lack silver, they couldn’t spend it now, as they appeared to the villagers as little pitiful ones with nothing at all.

If they started spending silver now, it would create a reputation of deceitful behavior, and might even justify Old Master Yin and Yin Cheng’s actions.

Unable to use the silver in hand, Yin Zheng was a bit troubled. What to eat, where to live — they had no pots, pans, or bowls, not even a way to cook.

Fortunately, with the weather being hot, they could manage by weaving a mat from grass thatch for sleeping. The rest, however, couldn’t be solved immediately.

Luckily, Yin Zheng had good relations in the village. Just as he was worrying about where to live, Yin Tianqi came on behalf of his village chief father to help Yin Zheng resolve the issue.

"Knowing you have nowhere to stay, if you don’t mind, we have a couple of huts by our field where we usually stay to watch over the land. You and your family, along with Yin An, can temporarily settle there."

With gratitude on his face, Yin Zheng thanked Yin Tianqi repeatedly, "How can I accept this? You’ve already helped us so much, and now I’m troubling you further."

"It’s fine, no need to be formal. You’ve helped us with work plenty over the years, and since you’re in trouble now, letting you stay in that hut saves us from having someone watch the land, so I’m not losing out.

I’ll also lend you two blankets. Although it’s hot now, the beds in the huts are large enough for two people, and spreading the bedding won’t make it feel cold.

As for pots, pans, and bowls, you can temporarily borrow some from the village shrine, where items are stored for families hosting events to borrow. Take a set home to tide over the emergency. You can first take ten pounds of coarse flour from our home for food, and pick vegetables from our garden."

Yin Tianqi was indeed very considerate, thinking of every possible aspect for Yin Zheng’s family.

Yin Zheng, Mrs. Wang, Shuangshuang, and Yin An kept thanking him until Yin Tianqi was a bit embarrassed.

The huts by the village chief’s house were well-built, comparable to some of the poorer thatched houses in the village, except they were a bit lower and smaller. But having a place to stay at this time was already fortunate.

The family thanked him profusely as they saw Yin Tianqi off. After taking the flour he provided and collecting the pots and pans from the shrine, the sky had begun to darken.

Yin Zheng, along with Mrs. Wang and Yin An, planned to go out and dig some wild vegetables, to mix with the flour for making wild vegetable dumplings for dinner. They couldn’t possibly brazenly pick vegetables from Yin Tianqi’s garden.

Before they could leave, their neighbor, Mrs. Jiang, brought over a small basin of vegetable nests and also brought about ten pounds of coarse flour.

Mrs. Jiang usually got along well with Mrs. Wang, having rushed to find the village midwife for Mrs. Jiang’s first child, who came unexpectedly early when no one was home from the fields. Mrs. Wang’s quick thinking tightened their bond significantly.

Mrs. Jiang disapproved of the ways of Mrs. Zhao and Mrs. Feng, and never visited the Yin family, while Mrs. Zhao, in turn, thought Mrs. Jiang being in charge at home was too overbearing and against traditional virtue.

With her fiery personality, Mrs. Jiang quickly left after dropping off the food, not lingering, and Mrs. Wang only managed a quick thank you, without exchanging more words.

With food and shelter temporarily settled, they could endure the clothing situation for a few days. Early the next morning, Yin Zheng and Mrs. Wang took Yin An, who was about to look for work, to help Shuangshuang collect golden thread grass.

They needed to make some money in a proper way soon, so they could legitimately improve their lives. Leaving the Yin family was for living a good life openly, not to endure hardship.

Yin An followed in confusion as they cut, boiled, and washed the golden thread grass, finally sorting the finer strands for Shuangshuang to use.

The villagers, watching as the family busied themselves with the golden thread grass, knew Yin Zheng planned to make accessories to sell, but few thought it would succeed.

Golden thread grass was tenacious and grew everywhere — fields, edges of roads, by water pits — making it easily obtainable. Despite knowing that well-crafted accessories were profitable, most were skeptical of the process.

The hairs-thin, extremely soft golden threads are difficult to weave into anything beautiful, let alone into marketable items.

Creating a simple accessory took considerable time and effort, and even then it wasn’t guaranteed to be worth much.

Though stories of women or girls making fortunes crafting these items abound, those who actually succeeded were rare.

Every woman likely tried to see if she could make a living this way, but few actually could, let alone make a fortune from it.

After all, with golden thread readily available, those not intricately designed weren’t worth buying and people preferred self-made pieces.

So when seeing Yin Zheng’s family working with golden thread, even if nobody said he was avoiding real work — given they had no land to farm even if willing — the general sentiment was skepticism.

Yin Zheng had carpentry skills, but such work couldn’t be secured overnight. The only option left was to try this cost-free venture.

The village didn’t expect that less than two months later they’d be proven wrong, seeing Mrs. Wang happily carrying an exquisitely crafted golden hairpin in a willow jewelry box, stepping out with Yin Zheng and Yin An.