I'm the Farmgirl You Can't Mess With

Chapter 1168: Reporting to the Authorities


Chapter 1168: Reporting to the Authorities

Even if she had to sell herself as a slave, Madam Zhao was unwilling to stay here anymore. She begged Little Treasure to bring them out of the village.

Little Bear ran in with dew all over his body and looked at Little Treasure eagerly. Little Treasure nodded and said, “Auntie Zhao, don’t worry. We’re going to the county next and I can take you and your daughter with us. I’ll get someone to report it to the authorities immediately. Go back and pack your luggage. We’ll leave tomorrow.”

Little Bear wandered around at the side and said, “Considering they have bad intentions, it’s best to keep them in the dark and act quietly before the authorities arrive.”

Madam Zhao kowtowed and said, “Thank you, Young Masters. I know I have to keep it a secret. I definitely won’t reveal it before the authorities arrive.”

Otherwise, the entire village would probably surround them.

After the three of them finished planning, Little Treasure gave Madam Zhao some reminders before she opened the door and left.

At this moment, the morning sun had already risen, and the sky was dyed red. As cold and fresh air surged into his chest, Little Treasure felt that the pent-up anger from the night had finally dissipated a little.

The village chief quickly brought Patriarch Zhang over to ask for the mother-and-daughter duo.

Little Treasure didn’t stop them from seeing Madam Zhao and her daughter. He only said worriedly, “As Niuniu hasn’t woken up yet, the doctor said that it’s not appropriate to move her around. Since she still has to take acupuncture and medicine later, why don’t you stay here for now and carry her away only after she wakes up?” He did not mention a word of the cause of Niuniu’s suffocation.

The village chief heaved a sigh of relief and quickly agreed, before asking Little Treasure indirectly when he was planning to leave.

Little Treasure said in embarrassment, “I didn’t sleep last night, so I plan to impose on you for another day and only set off tomorrow. I hope you do not mind it.”

The guard captain quickly took out an ingot of silver worth five taels and stuffed it into the village chief’s hand. Smiling, he said, “Consider this a payment for the accommodation. Please accept it, Village Chief. We’ll have to trouble you with regards to our three meals a day.”

The village chief’s eyes widened. The best room in the best inn in the county only cost 80 copper coins a day. A catty of pork belly cost 20 copper coins. Even if their family ate a catty of meat every day, it would only cost 600 copper coins. The other party was only staying here for two days, but he had given them five taels of silver…

The village chief held the silver and nodded. “Please stay with peace of mind. Let me know if you have any instructions, and we’ll make sure to get it done for you.”

Patriarch Zhang kept glancing at the silver and was not in the mood to persuade Madam Zhao to go back anymore.

When Mother Zhang and Zhang Erzhu’s family saw that the patriarch did not bring Madam Zhao back, their expressions immediately changed. They hurriedly asked, “Those outsiders are unwilling to let her go?”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Patriarch Zhang glared at them and took a sip of water. “They’re leaving tomorrow. I don’t think they intend to meddle in this matter and only care about resuscitating the girl. The village chief thinks that there’s no need to offend them at this time. So, we’ll just let Madam Zhao and Niuniu stay with them for a day.”

Mother Zhang muttered, “That’s my daughter-in-law. How can she live among a bunch of men?”

“Do you have the money to hire a doctor to buy medicine for Niuniu after taking her back?” Patriarch Zhang said angrily, “Let me say this first. Madam Zhao can remarry, but Niuniu has to live. She’s Dazhu’s bloodline. If I find out that you want to harm Niuniu again, I’ll open the ancestral hall and sink those responsible into the pond!”

Mother Zhang’s expression changed and she did not dare to say anything else.

Patriarch Zhang snorted coldly and stood up to leave. When he reached the door, he stopped and asked, “Didn’t Dazhu leave behind more than 20 taels of silver? Get your hands on that money soon as possible. We can’t let Madam Zhao remarry with our Zhang clan’s assets.”

Mother Zhang nodded repeatedly and said, “Since Madam Zhao isn’t at home, I’ll bring Erzhu and the others to search for the money.”

Just as Madam Zhao was hesitating if she should go home and pack her things, a guard returned and said, “The Zhang family is rummaging around, seemingly looking for money. Sister-in-law Zhao, I think you shouldn’t go back. Otherwise, you won’t be able to return.”

Little Bear raised his eyebrows and looked at Madam Zhao. “Where did you hide the money? I’ll help you retrieve it.”

Madam Zhao said with a pale face, “My husband didn’t hide the money at home. He hid it in the fields…”

The money was hidden by Zhang Dazhu. Ever since it was hidden, Madam Zhao had never used it. Therefore, she only had a few hundred copper coins in her house now, money earned from selling eggs and shoe pads. There were also the two silver hairpins that Zhang Dazhu had given her in the past. She was currently wearing her gold bracelet and gold earrings, so there weren’t many valuable things in her house.

Last night, Little Bear had eavesdropped on several families and had already figured out most of the Zhang family’s matters. Speaking of which, Madam Zhao was quite pitiful.

She married Zhang Dazhu at the age of 13, but he was forced to enlist for military service as soon as she married into the Zhang family. Because she had no children, she had always been treated as a burden in the Zhang family.

However, Zhang Dazhu’s luck was not bad. After entering the army for less than two years, Qi Xiuyuan rebelled and Great Zhou became Great Qi. Zhang Dazhu’s army unit surrendered without even fighting the Qi army.

Later on, he was dragged to the battlefield to fight with West Xia. Speaking of which, Zhang Dazhu was considered Qi Haoran’s subordinate back then. Although he was one of millions, he was still Little Bear’s father’s subordinate. Because of this, Little Bear had a good impression of Madam Zhao and her daughter.

Zhang Dazhu had contributed a lot to the war against West Xia. While he did not get a promotion, he did receive some reward money. In addition, after the establishment of Great Qi, he also started receiving a military salary, which could accumulate to a fair bit of savings over time.

Because of the chaotic times, his clansmen had long gone into exile and were not in the original village. He had only found his mother and wife in the third year of Taikang.

Hence, it could be said that Zhang Dazhu was lucky. In such chaotic times, many lost their family members to the war. Those whose family members were still alive might not be able to reunite until the day they died. Yet, Zhang Dazhu had merely spent less than three years before he succeeded in finding them.

Later on, Qi Xiuyuan issued an edict to exempt some people from military service. As long as they fulfilled the age requirement or were injured or voluntarily retired, they could get a certain amount of money and leave the army.

After becoming ordinary civilians, they would be allocated 20 acres of freehold fields each. Moreover, local governments would give preferential tax treatment to retired veterans and injured soldiers, exempting them from taxes for five years or even longer.

Zhang Dazhu’s reward, military salary, and the compensation he received from retirement were close to 100 taels. Coupled with the spoils of war he had obtained on the battlefield, he had more than 120 taels of silver when he returned home.

Because he had been away from home for a long time, Zhang Dazhu felt very guilty towards his mother. As soon as he returned home, he took out silver and built a tile-roofed house for his family. Fortunately, he was not stupid and kept his money with him. Even Madam Zhao did not know how much money he had at first.

When her son, who had been away from home for nearly six years, returned, Mother Zhang no longer had much feelings for him. No matter how warm it was, when Zhang Dazhu could no longer fork out money, the warmth between mother and son could no longer be maintained. Zhang Dazhu also knew that Madam Zhao had not been doing well all these years.

After all, his wife had waited for him at home for six years while he was in the army. In addition, Madam Zhao quickly gave birth to his first child, so Zhang Dazhu was very biased towards his wife.

According to the various information Little Bear had overheard, the conflict between the two families completely broke out when Mother Zhang accidentally caused Madam Zhao to miscarry.

It was a son, which Zhang Dazhu had been looking forward to for many years, but his wife suffered a miscarriage due to Mother Zhang’s carelessness. After that, the two families completely separated.

Zhang Dazhu was very influential in the clan. Not only was he willing to split half of the house, but he also paid 20 taels of silver in a single go to sever ties with the Zhang clan.

According to the analysis of the villagers and the Zhang clan, Zhang Dazhu should still have 20-odd taels of silver left. This was because when he returned back then, he had said that he had 100 taels of silver. After deducting the cost of building the house and the living expenses over all these years, plus those 20 taels of silver he had to sever ties, he would only have this much at most.

Even then, it was still more money than anyone in this village had seen before.

After paying taxes and deducting daily expenses, it was already good enough if one could save up three to four taels of silver.

This was only made possible because Great Qi was clean and incorrupt in its governance. It was already not bad for people not to starve to death in Great Zhou.

Hence, Mother Zhang, Zhang Erzhu, and the others had been covetously eyeing the silver that Zhang Dazhu had secretly hidden.

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