Originally, with Wang Wenhe’s position as clan head, his words carried a certain authority. But this time, the clan was not willing to listen to him and several clan elders did not even step forward. Their families also needed to earn money. Who did not want to earn money and send their own child to study? If their child could study well, would they still care about Wang Zhisong? Wang Wenhe had not yet realized that the clan was no longer willing to listen to some of his unreasonable requests, because old lady Wang’s family was really not liked. In fact, if Wang Zhisong was willing to come forward and be polite to the people, some people in the village and clan would still be willing to help. But when Wang Zhisong came back, not to mention being polite with the clan, he was like an eldest daughter who didn’t go out of the door and didn’t walk out of the house. He also didn’t show up for any event that happened at home, so how could anyone still show favor and give him face.

Looking at his father’s instantly hunched figure, Wang Shuping could no longer bear it and persuaded his father to return home. After returning home that night, Wang Shuping once again talked to his father properly. Letting his father understand that the villager’s dissatisfaction with the Wang family was not only because of Wang Shijing and Shao Yunan. The attitude of the clan members said everything. Now there were only two ways in front of old lady Wang’s family: either finish planting the land by themselves or spend money to hire people. They should also forget about getting money from Wang Shijing. Even if Wang Shijing was willing to give it, Shao Yunan would never give it. Did he not see that Wang Shijing paid for the tea leaves collection from money given by Shao Yunan? The two of them were married for a short period of time, but who still did not know that in Wang Shijing’s family, Shao Yunan held the power?

Wang Wenhe was both depressed and frustrated. It would also be false to say that he was not frustrated with old lady Wang, if nothing else old lady Wang called his wife a crazy woman. Making Wang Wenhe furious, but he was after all the patriarch of the Wang clan. In the end, Wang Wenhe gave Wang Shuping three taels of silver and asked him to give it to old lady Wang so she could hire people to work on the fields. It made Wang Qian so angry that she cried, so Wang Shuping hastily pulled his mother out. Wang Shuping’s wife also had an opinion on this matter, but couldn’t speak against her father-in-law, so she simply hid in the house.

Wang Shuping persuaded his mother to not be angry and that his father would figure out this matter one day. Wang Qian listened to her son’s opinion the most, so when her son persuaded her, she finally stopped crying and though still unhappy went inside the house. Wang Shuping sighed and went to deliver the money alone. Wang Shuping’s son Wang Yan, ran out of the house after his father left and went to Zhao Lizheng’s house to find Zhao Congbo.

When Wang Shuping gave old lady Wang three taels of silver, he also told her about both options, which was to do all the farm work with their own family members or hire outside people to help them. Old lady Wang accepted the money with a smile, in contrast to Wang Shuping’s gloomy expression, during which Wang Zhisong still did not show up, not to mention a word of gratitude. Wang Dali, who was embarrassed, tried to give it back, but was pushed back by old lady Wang’s glare. Then Wang Shuping left with a dark expression. When he returned home, he asked his wife to take three taels of silver from their private property and secretly give it to his mother.

Wang Shuping was not separated from his family, but Wang Wenhe and Wang Qian did not mind that their son and daughter-in-law had private money. After all, their son and daughter-in-law often used their private money to subsidize their family. Wang Qian accepted the money, but put it away for money saved for her grandson. She could see that her husband’s money would not be safe before he could figure out this situation, so while Wang Wenhe was still outside, Wang Qian changed all the hiding places of their family silver, not letting Wang Wenhe find even a single coin.

The joke about the Wang family only reached Shao Yunan’s ears on the third day or rather when fourth Aunt Wang told him about it when she came to deliver fresh tea leaves. The farming season began, but Wang Shijing was not busy going to the fields, since Shao Yunan wanted to let him rest. Their family also had a large stock of goat milk fruit to make wine, so Wang Shijing’s focus was not on planting. Planting for a few days at night would also be fine. After making the fruit wine, he went to the county town to find someone to build a house and then hired a few short term workers to plant their land.

Wang Xing, Sun Erjiang, Sun Xiaojiang, and Wang Zhuanghua followed Wang Shijing all this time. Fourth Aunt Wang’s mother’s home was away from Xiushui village, so Wang Shijing didn’t go there to gather tea leaves. But Aunt Wang still asked Wang Xing to go there, not to mention wherever he could pick tea. The art of tea picking was taught to her by her mother’s family, so in the future, even if she was no longer part of her mother’s family, she could have some income. Wang Shijing said that he would collect tea every spring. Wang Xing went back for three days and took his Uncles from his mother’s side to the mountain to look for tea and they really found more than a dozen tea trees. After picking the tea, Wang Xing hurried back and as soon as he came back, fourth Aunt Wang asked him to rest while she herself went to deliver the tea.

Wang Xing did not pick much, there were only about 30 kilos of fresh tea leaves and there weren’t many good quality ones. Auntie Wang did not ask Shao Yunan for money. She just wanted to let him know that her mother’s side of the family also had tea, so next year she could ask them to pick it and send it over. Shao Yunan bought more than 30 kilos of fresh tea leaves from Aunt Wang at the price of 80 copper coins per kilo, which made fourth Aunt Wang feel very embarrassed. During the chat between the two, Aunt Wang also told Shao Yunan what happened at old lady Wang’s house.

Shao Yunan said without a smile, “They won’t be able to get even one copper coin from my house. Wang Shijing doesn’t have any money on him, so if they want some, they would need to come to me.”

Aunt Wang laughed happily. “I don’t think they would dare. If you went to the county school again, Wang Zhisong wouldn’t be able to study anymore.” If you ask her, Shao Yunan’s action was really ruthless and relieved part of her anger. After laughing, Aunt Wang hesitated for a moment. Seeing this Shao Yunan asked, “Fourth Aunt, what can I do for you? Just say it.”

Aunt Wang hesitated for a long time and quietly asked, “Yunan, Zhao Lizheng’s family gathered so many sour red fruit and wild peaches. Are they the ones who made the jam? I heard that some people in the county town began to buy jam and that the price of it is very high.” Sure enough, it has already started to spread. Shao Yunan decided to no longer keep it a secret and said, “Mm-hmm. I sold the method of making jam to Uncle Zhao and now they have signed a contract with Yizhang Xuan restaurant to sell it.”

Fourth Aunt Wang became silent. She didn’t say much about it, but she was a little upset for sure, so Shao Yunan smiled and said, ”Auntie, I wanted to ask Wang Shijing to come to you and tell you something when the farmers are less busy. But if you ask, I’ll tell you the truth first. When I sold this jam recipe to Uncle Zhao, I actually asked Uncle Zhao to take the lead for us. Only in this way can we make money.”

“Ah?” Fourth Aunt Wang was so stunned that even her heartbeat slowed down by half a beat. Shao Yunan said, “Shijing and I, actually figured out a lot of ways to make money and we were actually going to make jam ourselves, but my family’s lack of manpower makes this jam too troublesome to make. I can make it as a snack on weekdays, but it would be too exhausting to do it as a business with only Shijing. In addition, my family is not strong enough to attract too much attention now. If we made money by selling jam, not to mention old lady Wang’s family, we would also have to take into account the thoughts of the ordinary people in the village. Shijing and I are still weak, so we can’t bear it right now. I discussed this matter with Wang Shijing and sold the jam recipe to Uncle Zhao. Uncle Zhao’s family made money which makes many people jealous, but who would dare to mess with Zhao Lizheng’s family?”

Fourth Aunt Wang nodded. “When Uncle Zhao takes care of the villagers, we will follow closely behind to earn money and it will be much safer. Wang Shijing and I collected so many tea leaves because in fact we want to be in the tea business. But this tea-making craft is our secret, so we can’t sell it. But we have ideas for some other small business, which will be available for other families in the future. We will keep in mind those who were kind to our family, so we can repay them. Now it’s the busy farming period, so even If I wanted to teach you something, I don’t have the time to do so. Why not wait till the end of the busy farming season, so we can sit down and have a discussion with several friendly families.” Aunt Wang’s eyes lit up. “Yunan, are you telling the truth?”

“Of course. If I wasn’t afraid that fourth Aunt would have lost control over it, you would be the first person I would give the recipe for the jam to.” Fourth Aunt Wang immediately felt guilty. “Yunan, don’t think like that. Fourth Aunt is just asking. After you and Wang Shijing got married, you have helped our family a lot. Fourth Aunt is also not greedy for money that we shouldn’t earn.”

Shao Yunan said, “Fourth Aunt, it’s not a big deal for one or two families in the village to get rich, but it’s necessary for most people to become rich. Not to mention, if every family has money, would we still need to count on Wang Zhisong? Even if not for ourselves, for the sake of our future generations, we must find a way to earn money. Fourth Aunt, Shijing and I are not only doing this to repay kindness, but also for our own sake. If there are more people with money in this village, there won’t be so much focus on our family. Auntie, can you help me pass these words to Uncle Sun, Zhuanghua, Auntie Zhou and the others? When the busy farming period is over I will treat everyone to dinner.” Fourth Aunt Wang wiped the corners of her eyes. “Hey! Hey! Fourth Aunt will no longer be polite with you. Fourth Aunt will follow you and Shijing and earn money, living a good life and later when Wang Xing has a son we will send him to study.”

“That’s the way it should be.” Fourth Aunt Wang left very excited. Wang Qing and Wang Nizi were listening through the door, so Wang Qing quickly came over and said, “Little father, I will study hard and get a place in the exams.” Shao Yunan snickered as he stroked Wang Qing’s head. “Why did you suddenly come up with such words?” Wang Qing pursed his lips and just said, “If I earn reputation, little father will not have to be afraid of others taking notice of our family and earn money in peace. We also wouldn’t need to be afraid of little Uncle.” Shao Yunan with a ‘hahaha’ said, “Good! Ambitious! Our family will depend on you in the future, so you should study hard. If you don’t study properly, little father will hit you on the back of your hand.”

“I will study hard!” Wang Nizi followed his example and said, “Little father, you should teach me crafts as well, so I can earn money in the future.” Shao Yunan couldn’t help but pick up Wang Nizi and pinch her face. “Good. When Nizi grows up, little father will teach you how to spend and make money. In the future, we will have our own business, so if your future husband dares to disobey, we will deduct his money and make him a poor man.” Wang Nizi blushed, but Shao Yunan with laughter, just pinched her face. “When your father finishes his work, we will take you to the county town to buy some more jewelry and some nice clothes, so we can dress our Nizi into a little beauty.” When Shao Yunan previously came back from the county town, he let Aunt Zhao pierce Nizi’s ears. Wearing jewelry for the first time and such beautiful white jade earrings at that, Nizi didn’t dare to sleep.

Wang Nizi was so overwhelmed that she buried her head in her little father’s arms, refusing to come out and making her little father laugh again. This time Wang Qing also laughed. Even when both of his birth parents were around, he and Nizi were never this happy. Wang Qing liked his little father very much and hoped that he would never leave and abandon him and Nizi like their mother.

Edited by: Jaisland

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