Chapter 259: Chapter 238: On Purpose

Xiao Man tickled his palm and said with a smile, "I know of a Cultivation Technique that might boost the power of your Wind Blade. Want to give it a try?"

From behind, Qiu Xiaohu suddenly popped out, yelling, "Sister Xiao Man, me, me, me! I followed Grandpa and learned all the Tai Chi Boxing moves!"

Gu Shaojun: "..."

’This kid is definitely doing it on purpose!’

After dinner, Gu Shaojun sat around with everyone, drinking tea and making small talk.

Tang Qingshan had brought Grandpa a tea set that he was very fond of. Influenced by Tang Qingshan, Grandpa had become addicted to drinking tea. In the past two years, after getting rid of that crowd from the Mo Family Courtyard, their little family of three had been living a stable and comfortable life. Grandpa was no longer in a frantic rush with everything he did. Now, he brewed tea for guests with a respectable, practiced air.

After washing and putting away the dishes, Xiao Man pulled up a small stool and sat down next to Grandpa. She poured herself a cup of tea and listened as everyone discussed the newly announced national policies.

"It’s about dividing the fields among the households!" Secretary Mo said excitedly. "After this year’s autumn harvest, we’ll survey the lines and partition the land. Our village has a fair number of good paddy fields, and the initial estimate is that each person can be allotted around 1.7 or 1.8 mu. After the land is distributed to each family, the production team will still exist, but only for collective labor like repairing irrigation systems or dredging rivers. Otherwise, everyone will work for themselves. When you go to work, or *if* you work at all, is your own business. The production team leader won’t be in charge anymore, and there’ll be no more work points. All the grain you harvest, apart from a certain amount of public surplus grain you turn in at the end of the year, will be yours to keep!"

This would be a huge boost to the farmers’ motivation. The land is never lazy when the people are diligent! As long as you were willing to work hard and look after your fields, how could you worry about not having a bumper harvest? And with a bumper harvest, profits were sure to follow!

With profits, could a prosperous life be far behind?

As the group discussed the wonderful new situation and bright future, their spirits were high, and their laughter was clear and loud.

Xiao Man nudged Grandpa and whispered, "Grandpa, now that the fields are being contracted out, the village’s forested areas and hillsides will probably be contracted out too. Do you remember what I told you? That hill out front..."

"I remember, I remember. All in good time!" Grandpa chuckled.

"We can’t be too slow!"

"I’ve already mentioned it to Captain Guan!"

"Oh, that’s more like it!"

Xiao Man still had to continue her education, step by step. She actually wanted to just take Grandpa and Grandma with her to make her schooling more convenient, but they had already fallen in love with the home they had just established and were reluctant to leave. Last time, Grandma Tang had offered to find them a courtyard house in Beijing where they could also grow vegetables and flowers, but Grandpa had said, "A courtyard in Beijing is surely nice, but it doesn’t have high mountains and deep forests like we have here. We wouldn’t get used to it!"

Xiao Man knew that Grandpa would never be willing to give up his herbs in this lifetime. But he was getting on in years, and was always climbing mountains and venturing deep into the forests. If anything happened, she was away at school and couldn’t rush back immediately. So, she figured it would be best to contract a mountainside and have Grandpa switch to cultivating herbs. Grandma could help him, and the elderly couple could work together. She could even have Mo Chengfu partner up with them, so it wouldn’t be too strenuous.

As for the herbs they would plant, Xiao Man was already cultivating seedlings in the Treasure Pearl Space Medicine Garden. Their medicinal effects were dozens of times better than wild-growing herbs, so they were guaranteed to fetch a high price.

Several of the young men gathered around Gu Shaojun, discussing military campaigns and battles. The mood was exuberant and the atmosphere was lively. Gu Shaojun glanced over at Xiao Man from time to to time. He saw her sitting obediently beside Grandpa; the two of them would whisper to each other for a moment, then listen intently to Secretary Mo talk about contracting the farmland, both their pairs of eyes sparkling brightly. He couldn’t help but smile, sighing to himself, ’It seems whisking this young lady away is going to be impossible for now!’

Meanwhile, Liu Fengying had originally intended to use the fact that it was Saturday—when Tang Yaxuan would be staying overnight at her maternal grandmother’s—to go back to her parents’ house and get some money for cooking oil and salt from her daughter. But she unexpectedly ran into Xiao Man at the gate. Her attempt to get chummy failed, and Gu Shaojun’s Basic Wind Blade struck her, making her leg go numb to the bone. After that, she was scolded by Granny Han and the others, and even got a beating from a large auntie. So, she just collapsed on the ground, wailing and playing dead. She only crawled up after everyone had left, but by then her leg really was stiff and clumsy. She had no choice but to find a wooden stick to use as a crutch, cursing with resentment as she limped slowly on her way. By the time she finally made it to her parents’ house, the sky was pitch-black.

Due to the rumors at school, Tang Yaxuan was forced to leave campus on Saturdays to "go home." In reality, she would never deign to return to the Mo family. Instead, she used her money to rent a room from Liu Fengying’s sister-in-law. She would stay there for Saturday night and return to school the next day like the other students. She swore she would never, ever set foot in Gongdao Village again!

When she saw Liu Fengying arrive, Tang Yaxuan didn’t care in the slightest about her own mother’s sorry state. Wordlessly, she frowned, pulled a five-yuan ration coupon from her pocket, and threw it at Liu Fengying. Then she shut the door, unwilling to spare her even a single word.

Liu Fengying looked at the coupon on the ground, and the resentment stuck in her chest immediately dissipated. She bent down, picked it up, and tucked it into her pocket. Then she sidled up to the door and started speaking to her precious daughter in a gentle, coaxing voice.

Tang Yaxuan ignored her at first. But her ears perked up when Liu Fengying mentioned that Xiao Man had come back to the village from the county middle school today. Not only had a soldier driven her home, but she was also strolling through the village with a young man who had never visited before—one who was even more handsome and dashing. Tang Yaxuan’s heart immediately seethed with agitation and indignation. ’All of that! That was the kind of treatment *I* used to receive, and now it’s all gone! It’s all that Mo Xiaoman’s fault! Why is she still alive? Why didn’t she just die for good? Why did she have to crawl back and snatch away my happiness?!’

Tang Yaxuan furiously wiped away her tears, opened the door, and let Liu Fengying in. She questioned her in detail, "What did the person who came back with Mo Xiaoman look like?" Liu Fengying gestured for a long time but couldn’t give a clear description. Finally, she stuck out her two legs for Tang Yaxuan to see.

"That young man with Xiao Man... I heard them say he’s from the Gu family and studies something called Ancient Martial Arts. Look! He wouldn’t let me get near Xiao Man. With just a wave of his hand, and I don’t even know how he did it, he tore my pant leg from several paces away! It was like it was cut with a knife. Luckily, my skin wasn’t injured, but this leg of mine is still aching even now. It was terrifying!"

"From the Gu family? He studies Ancient Martial Arts?"

Tang Yaxuan mumbled the words, her face suddenly turning pale. It felt like a knife twisting in her heart. "Could it be Brother Shaojun? No, no! It can’t be! Brother Shaojun is mine! We’ve had feelings for each other for years, and he’s always been so good to me. He knows exactly how I feel. He’s a man of integrity—he would never be unfaithful!"

If Liu Fengying hadn’t been limping and unwilling to walk in the dark, Tang Yaxuan would have run to Gongdao Village that very second to see if that man was truly her Brother Shaojun.

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