Chapter 560 - 340: Yang Cheng’s Follow-Up (Part 2)
"I think, Big Brother hasn’t given up yet, and he’s probably still worrying about those twenty taels of silver. We don’t even know how the two nephews are doing."
Yang Xiuyun put her son to sleep; he’s still young and sleeps with his parents.
"The nephews were sent by Sister-in-law to learn a craft, and almost all of the twenty taels were used to pay tuition. Big Brother should give up on that. But today Sister-in-law told me something else, she wants us to help with something."
Yang Xiuyun tucked in the corners of her son’s blanket, thinking about her own life.
Initially, they also lived with their in-laws. Although the in-laws didn’t really like girls, they didn’t skimp on food and drinks for the children and helped care for Xiao Hua, who was already born at that time.
Xiao Cao was born one or two years before they fled, being too young, she was naturally cared for more, and the in-laws didn’t say much about it.
Her mother-in-law passed away during their escape, and after settling in Xiangmu Village, her father-in-law lived with the eldest brother’s family.
The father-in-law was old and couldn’t do much work, so their family sent twenty catties of grain to the eldest brother’s family every month, while Sister-in-law took care of the father-in-law’s daily needs.
Normally, they got along well, without any conflicts between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
Speaking of which, her own family originally fled together too, but they were assigned to a different village. Though a bit far, they still managed to meet every year.
It’s just that information wasn’t always up to date, many things were heard later.
The incident with Big Brother and Sister-in-law today had a significant impact on her.
"Wife, wife? What are you thinking about?" Her shoulder was nudged a few times, bringing Yang Xiuyun back to reality.
"What?"
Zhang Yuan sighed helplessly, "Weren’t you saying that Sister-in-law asked us to help with something? What was it she needed help with? You just spaced out."
Yang Xiuyun laughed, "I got distracted for a moment. Sister-in-law said, probably in a few days, the sister-in-law will instigate the parents to bring her back, and then we should..."
Even though she knew her son was asleep, Yang Xiuyun couldn’t help but lower her voice, fearing someone would hear.
After she finished speaking, Zhang Yuan widened his eyes in surprise, "This, was this also suggested by Uncle Liu?"
To say nothing of Sister-in-law not daring to come up with such a plan, even he hadn’t thought it could be done this way.
"Yes," Yang Xiuyun nodded, "Sister-in-law also said that yesterday Uncle Liu first asked her about everyone’s personalities in the family and their usual ways of doing things, which was why he gave her this advice."
Even borrowing thirty coins from them yesterday was advised by Uncle Liu; without letting the sister-in-law see the money, she definitely wouldn’t easily take the children away.
Zhang Yuan marveled, "Uncle Liu is so clever, he even figured all this out."
Then he continued, "I also noticed this morning that the brother-in-law had a strange look in his eyes, he surely won’t rest until he’s stirred things up about those twenty taels, especially when Third Sister-in-law finds out and will almost certainly make a fuss."
Now, both of them agreed that the culprit was Third Sister-in-law. Even knowing that the elders were partly to blame, as juniors, they certainly wouldn’t accuse the elders.
Especially when Third Sister-in-law was the scapegoat.
Yang Xiuyun nodded, "It’s estimated that for those twenty taels, there’ll definitely be some uproar. When they take Sister-in-law away, we’ll act according to Sister-in-law’s plan."
That way, the parents can release Sister-in-law and continue to earn money.
Who would’ve thought Zhang Yuan would shake his head directly, "Wait for what uproar? Going back and forth, it’s nothing but trouble for the Jiang family. People from their side coming and going, they’re letting Sister-in-law work for them out of goodwill, they wouldn’t pursue it too far. But if others see it, they might think the Jiang family is easy to bully."
"What should we do then?"
Zhang Yuan rubbed his chin, idea brewing, "Got it, tomorrow I’ll go into town. This matter should be settled sooner rather than later, otherwise, it’ll create trouble with the wife’s family."
Yang Xiuyun was still a bit worried, but after being persuaded by Zhang Yuan for a while, she agreed.
The head of the household is right. Whether it’s letting Sister-in-law work as a farmhand, or spending so much to buy Da Ni, it was all because of the good relationship between the Jiang family and their family.
At this point, Third Sister-in-law can’t be allowed to ruin the relationship between the two families.
So, early the next day, just at dawn, Zhang Yuan hurried into town with a cart, arriving right when the city gates opened and becoming the first person to enter the city.
Half an hour later, from the opposite city gate, several burly men appeared, full of murderous aura, some carrying bundles, others with kitchen knives stuck in their waists.
They walked swaggeringly along, glaring at anyone who looked at them, scaring bystanders into a panicked retreat, even causing a child to burst into tears.
This way, they made their way to a secluded little mountain village, and upon entering, someone went to notify the village head.
The village head jogged all the way and saw them surrounding a man, pressing him with questions.
"Stop!" Though the village head was elderly, his voice was powerful.
The burly men turned, giving the village head a once-over, "Old man, who are you?"
The man being surrounded quickly ran away, fortunately unharmed. The village head breathed a sigh of relief and turned to the burly men.
"Gentlemen warriors, I’m the village head here, may I know what brings you here?"
"Oh, the village head, huh." One of them tapped his stick on his palm, "Isn’t there someone named Yang Cheng in your village?"
The village head was shocked, thinking how troublesome Yang Cheng was. Yesterday’s matter from Xiangmu Village had spread through their village by afternoon, creating quite a stir.
Word was, Yang Cheng’s two nephews had been sent back early from the academy, with claims that such students who had sold their sister to afford their schooling were shameless and could corrupt the values of other scholars.
Not just those two nephews, if this went on, anyone associated with the Yang family would have to think twice about getting involved, lest they be sold off too.
So when the village head saw these burly men coming for Yang Cheng, he immediately felt more resentment towards the Yang family.
