"Darling, I"m not stupid." Sitting on the ground, Geng Zhishan touched his face only to leave splotches of dirt on his cheek. He did nothing but said seriously, "Here"s what I"ve saved over theses years. Now it"s yours. I"ll continue to earn. Please receive the small sum of money."
While listening, Xie Mengxuan was embarra.s.sed and felt guiltier inside the heart. She gradually gave up the thought of making use of this man. How could she take advantage of his sincerity without guilt?
Lowering her eyelids, she struggled to make her lips curve into a smile. Did she have to marry him? Impossible! If so, she would definitely get punished after returning to her own home.
Observing her aside, Geng Zhishan showed a touch of smugness in his eyes. He thought that the silly girl became guilty right away after he used such a simple trick.
"Darling, cheer up! I"ll always cherish you." Carefully approaching Xie Mengxuan to hold her hand, Geng Zhishan said in a serious voice.
Having taken out her hand, Xie Mengxuan lay down with her back towards him. "Go out! I have to take a rest."
After staring at her for a while, Geng Zhishan held a jar full of copper coins and went out with his head hung low. The instant he closed the door, the corners of his lips slightly raised and a smile appeared in his eyes.
"What a silly girl! You even cannot harden your heart now. Being so kind and lovely, you"re really worth pursuing and cherishing. Since we reunite now, I won"t let you go."
With that, Geng Zhishan restored his face to the ordinary look and returned to the kitchen. There was a pigeon cooing on the ground. He bent to take off the note from its foot.
There was only one word on the white note, "Protect Xie Mengxuan and don"t let her return to Imperial Capital in two months."
Looking at the note, he twisted his eyebrows for a while and then dropped it into the stove. Two months… It seemed that Xie family was about to put all the efforts to protect Xie Mengxuan for the continuation of the family line.
It was not difficult to keep her staying here, but there were some people in this village who wanted to drive her away and came to find her faults for several times. This time they were calmed down at the cost of some treasure. How about next time?
It was still necessary to come up with a once-and-for-all solution. It was a pity that she was unwilling to marry him. Otherwise, it would be no longer a trouble.
Squatting in front of the stove, Geng Zhishan gave out a deep sigh with a worried look on his face. Those who knew nothing about him might think he was considering something pivotal.
The only way to make Xie Mengxuan stay here was to create some accidents while it was also uneasy to shelter her from any hurt.
How about making an accident to cause her other leg unable to walk?
Geng Zhishan broke the branch in his hand. Hearing the cracking sound, Geng lowered his head. Looking down at the sharp end with spikes, his eyes darkened.
"No. Forget it! It is too cruel to my wife."
Since he could not hurt her, the only choice was to cut off her road. Geng Zhishan stood up to look at the gloomy sky. It was going to rain, which seemed to be a good chance to be taken advantage of.
Having come up with the solution, Geng Zhishan felt at ease. He put on bamboo hat and straw rain cape. With an excuse of fishing, he went out to explore the environment and to find a place where others in the village would not be hurt.
It was pouring with rain on this day. In the past, it was the best time for all the guys to drink and to have some fun at home. However, since Cui family received the jewelry of Xie Mengxuan, they were urged to estimate the price of it in the city. They had intended to go to the town, but the p.a.w.nshop there was too small in scale to have anyone experienced. As well they were afraid of being deceived. As a result, they decided to go to a bigger place.
At first, they planned to set off on a sunny day. Whereas, too many people were eager to know the value of these things.
Prompted by the villagers, Aunt Cui"s son, Cui Zhuang went to the city when it was raining and came back in the evening. He was a strong man who did well in farm work. Whoever happened to have other things to do in the village would turn to him for help.
Cui Zhuang returned to his home with the jewelry in his arms. Upon arrival, he dashed to the table and drunk a large bowl of tea and then said in an anxious voice, "Hurry up! Hurry up! Close the door!"
Shocked by his anxiety, Aunt Cui hastened to call the head of the village and quickly closed the door. She asked eagerly, "My son, what happened? Is anyone chasing you?"
"No, no." Cui Zhuang gasped and swallowed hard. "Mum, do you know how valuable these things in my arms are?"
"How much?" asked Aunt Cui. Excited though she was, she didn"t dare to give a blind guess. But according to the appearance of Cui Zhuang, these things might be very valuable.
Alert while looking around, Cui Zhuang held up one finger with his eyes wide open.
Looking at him for a while, Aunt Cui stuttered, "One hundred taels in total?"
This was the highest price she could imagine. With three taels of silver, they could live a good life for a whole year. One hundred taels were quite a huge sum of money.
To her surprise, Cui Zhuang shook his head and said, "One hundred taels for a piece of jewelry. Here"s seven hundred taels in total."
"Oh, My Lord! How valuable they are!" Aunt Cui marveled and immediately took the jewelry out of the package to observe. Gradually she calmed down while her eyes were still bright with a smile on her face.
Aunt Cui, as a woman, old though she was, still loved the jewelry like hairpins and earrings. She could not help putting one on her head and watching her reflection in the washbasin. She smile, "When the idiot brought the girl back, I"ve noted her valuable jewelry, but I didn"t expect them to be such good things."
It could be inferred from her words that she envied that girl and had great affection for these jewelry. When she knew that these could be changed to so much money, she no longer hesitated because she preferred silver after all.
Cui Zhuang was looking at these jewelry as if he had seen the real silver ingot. He rubbed his hands and said, "Mum, are we really going to share these with others? Our family is still suffering a deficit."
The deficit he said was that the village chief had embezzled the money of the village for his own affairs. Moreover they borrowed a lot of money in the past years. The family had been suffering a loss, but others didn"t know.
Aunt Cui rolled her eyes at Cui Zhuang and said, "You don"t have to remind me. I certainly know that. You need to marry a woman someday, and your dad is the village head. So we can"t live worse than others. Since they don"t know the actual price, we"d better tell others that these things are worth one hundred taels in total. Each family should get about three taels. The money left can be used for everyone to have a banquet together."
Finally the village head who had been smoking quietly uttered, "It"s inappropriate. We can"t deceive others."
Cui Zhuang became anxious at his words. Aunt Cui rolled her eyes with anger, "We are not telling a lie. This is the first-come-first-served principle. It"s only us who know the real price. With five hundred taels or so, we"re going to live a wealthy life. We can make up for the money you have taken from the village, and our son can also have a wife. There is no need for us to work so hard by then. Later we might as well do a small business to save some money and leave this place. Do you want to stay here for a lifetime?"
What she said moved the village head. He had been ambitious when young, but failed to realize his dream and led such a terrible life.
"Wait, Mum, there"s someone else who knows the value of these things."