The Lucky Farmgirl

The county magistrate’s visit to the countryside, according to the chief, must showcase the best side, nothing less. If asked about any difficulties, the answer must surely be that there are none.

So, a day in advance, he spread the word to Qili Village that if the county magistrate didn’t show up it wouldn’t matter, but if he did, they must clean up the village roads and each household should tidy up their homes and bring out their best items.

White rice would be too fake, and even the chief dare not make such a demand, so he insisted that each family prepare meals as they would for the New Year.

Since it had been many years since a county magistrate had visited Qili Village, many of the villagers lacked the experience of hosting a high official, and the village head could only pass along the chief’s instructions.

There was much to do, and everyone met under the banyan tree at the village entrance to discuss it. By the time Manbao and the others returned from the county town, the meeting had just begun, so Manbao listened to the whole process.

She was somewhat angry, feeling that it was bad enough that the chief didn’t admit to any poverty, but now he was even planning to show off their wealth.

Thus, she followed behind Old Zhou to find the village head, hoping to convince him to ignore the chief’s orders and, instead of showing off, to admit to their hardship.

However, before she could finish speaking, Old Zhou had already dragged her back, and while walking away, he turned back to the village head and said, "This child always has a mind full of schemes, don’t you listen to her nonsense."

The village head simply waved his hand, "Uncle Jin, please take her back, I have an idea."

Crying poverty was out of the question. It was such an obvious matter - would he still be village head if the chief settled scores with him afterwards?

But showing off wealth was also impossible, for even if they wanted to, they wouldn’t be able to pull it off.