The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure-Chapter 1654 - 1648: Agreement

The nearby villages were incredibly envious, but they could only watch, as their village did not have Wang Yongzhu and Song Chongjin as their backers.

Neither did they have a great merchant like Ninth Master Lee, who would take everything and pay them every cent of the silver.

There were some shrewd ones who tried to negotiate with the Lizheng of Qilidun, since their villages were close to Qilidun, and each village also had hills like Qili Slope nearby.

These hills were usually idle, with villagers collecting mountain goods and firewood during their free time.

Since Qili Slope could grow tea, and they were nearby, shouldn’t they be able to cultivate it too?

The thought intrigued them, and they also wanted to buy some tea trees from Qilidun to plant. Perhaps in the future, they could use Qilidun’s network to sell their tea and increase everyone’s income.

After all, aren’t they neighbors? They can’t just let Qilidun eat meat while the surrounding villages don’t even get to sip the soup, right?

The Lizheng found this quite interesting, not for anyone else, but because he knew the hardest thing to guard against in this world is people’s hearts.

If Qilidun became prosperous while the nearby villages could only watch, over time, seeing Qilidun flourish, naturally, there would be some imbalance.

It’s been fine for the past two years, but what if in the future, someone with bad intentions emerged? What could be done then?

After all, although Qili Slope belonged to Qilidun, it was also connected to the hills of several other villages.

The hill is so large that they couldn’t guard it day and night, and there weren’t enough people to do so.

If they didn’t agree, it wouldn’t be impossible for people from nearby villages to sneak over at night and destroy the tea trees.

The Lizheng had lived long enough to see the viciousness of human nature, so he naturally wanted to plan ahead and prevent potential problems.

Therefore, upon hearing that Wang Yongzhu planned to take the Wang Family to Jing County, the Lizheng took the opportunity to privately discuss this matter with the Three Wang Brothers.

His intention was naturally to form a good relationship if possible.

Of course, he also had his own selfish motives. If the nearby villages had to rely on Qilidun to buy tea trees and sell tea, naturally, they wouldn’t be able to challenge Qilidun’s authority.

In the future, the nearby villages would have to respect Qilidun, and even the Lizhengs would have to follow his lead.

Having lived more than half of his life, the Lizhengs usually didn’t get along with each other, and suddenly this opportunity arose, making those old fellows submit and flatter him. Who wouldn’t be tempted?

Wang Yongzhu immediately understood in her heart.

The Lizheng’s little scheme didn’t escape her notice.

However, the Lizheng’s considerations were not unfounded. After all, she and Song Chongjin were far away, and if someone really wanted to do something bad and destroy the tea garden, they wouldn’t be able to do anything from such a distance.

If the tea trees were destroyed, even if they found the culprits, what could they do? The loss couldn’t be recovered.

Moreover, in the mountains, the power of clans was strong, and the slightest mishap could lead to conflicts between the villages.

Moreover, if the business were to succeed and form the Cloud Mist Tea brand, the more tea plantations nearby, the better.

Therefore, after pondering for a moment, Wang Yongzhu nodded in agreement.

However, the tea saplings from Qilidun and Yingzi Gully together wouldn’t suffice to meet the demands of the nearby villages, so Ninth Master Lee would need to step in to purchase more, to avoid the risk of them buying saplings that wouldn’t grow well, which would be disastrous.

Nonetheless, Wang Yongzhu made it clear upfront that she wouldn’t oppose the nearby villages planting tea trees, but they weren’t Qilidun and didn’t have that relationship.

If they really wanted to plant, they should discuss it with Ninth Master Lee’s people regarding the purchase of tea saplings and payment methods.

There’s also the matter of tea tree care and tea picking.

Finally, regarding the purchase of tea leaves, she wouldn’t interfere and wouldn’t allow the people of Qilidun to interfere.

Having obtained Wang Yongzhu’s agreement, the Wang Family Brothers felt they could return and report back, naturally without saying much more.

Moreover, they were well aware that the good fortune Qilidun enjoyed was all thanks to their sister’s generosity.

For the other villages, which had no relations with them, why should they care?

Agreeing to introduce Ninth Master Lee’s people to them was already a great favor.

After discussing this matter, the moon had climbed to the treetops.

Wang Yongzhu smiled and suggested everyone go back to rest, and talk more tomorrow.

Only then did everyone realize how quickly time had passed, and they stood up to return to the other courtyard.

Since several children were still resting in the west wing and it was late at night, they couldn’t very well carry them back, so they arranged for a maid to watch over them for the night.

Liu Xiaoqiao and the others trusted Wang Yongzhu. Hearing her plan, they simply relinquished their concern and took the little maid Jinsui with them.

Quan Xiuniang was a bit worried, but seeing Liu Xiaoqiao leave, she had no choice but to follow.

That night, no one slept well; there was both excitement and worry.

Wang Yongzhu and Old Granny Zhang lay on the kang, unable to sleep.

Old Granny Zhang sighed, "It’s been years. Eldest Brother truly has aged! And so have I!"

The remark was poignant.

Wang Yongzhu quickly hugged Old Granny Zhang, "How can you say you’re old, Mother? As for Eldest Brother, it couldn’t be helped. We knew this day would come when he took that medicine. But we can’t just watch him suffer. Tomorrow, I’ll take him to see Master and see if there’s anything Master can do."

Old Granny Zhang nodded, "If there’s something Master can do, great, but if not, we shouldn’t trouble him!"

Wang Yongzhu understood, of course.

They continued discussing the children they had met this time.

Speaking of children, Old Granny Zhang felt joy seeing the Wang Family thriving.

She only said, "Laosi is a fool, but the children he has are at least not like him. Jinfu and Jindao look strong and sturdy, and they’re sharp enough not to suffer losses."

"But that little girl Jinsui, she’s plump and fair, and she does remind me of you as a child. I just like her. Imagine if you and Chongjin had a daughter, how pretty would she be? She’d be like a doll on a New Year’s painting, wouldn’t she?"

Wang Yongzhu was speechless. Earlier, there had been talk of urging her to have children, and now, having seen Jindao and the others, especially Jinsui, it only made Old Granny Zhang even more eager.

She offhandedly remarked, "What if we had a son who took after his father, with a face as dark as someone owes him a few hundred taels of silver? What then?"

"Bah! Nonsense! What’s wrong with Chongjin? He was once the handsomest young man in Qilidun. His face is just a bit darker, but he’s a man, why should he be pale? Like your uncles, all looking like featherless white chickens, and that’s good?"

Wang Yongzhu was at a loss for words and simply pulled the quilt over her head, "It’s late, I’m so tired! Mother, let’s sleep!"

She deftly avoided the topic.

The next morning, before Wang Yongzhu even opened her eyes, she heard the loud, soaring shouts of children from outside, accompanied by their screams and laughter, mixed with Gu Yu’s panicked protests, "No—"

Then there was a loud "bang" as if something had shattered.

A sense of foreboding washed over Wang Yongzhu. She hurriedly pushed open the window and saw that the water tank with water lilies in the corner had a large crack, spilling water and two red carps all over the yard.

The red carps, out of water, flopped about on the ground...