Because of her ignorance, Madam Qian had no idea what consequences she would have to bear for the things the Qian family had done.
Speaking of which, it was also related to those around her who indulged her.
If they had restrained Madam Qian when she first had an outburst, making her know her limits and the severity of her actions.
Perhaps they wouldn't have spoiled her to the point of being so arrogant and ill-behaved.
It's the same in how people interact; they constantly test each other's bottom lines.
When they reach the edge of the bottom line, repeatedly stepping on it a few times, they will know where to stop next time.
But this time, Su Xiaoqi was determined not to indulge Madam Qian anymore.
She was tired.
Moreover, they had already moved out of the Zhao family's old house, so they no longer had to endure Madam Qian's threat of kicking them out.
Therefore, Su Xiaoqi showed no mercy this time, and her every word terrified Madam Qian.
With Shen Yun's additional remarks, Madam Qian finally became afraid.
Her heart trembled. Did the things she had done and was doing have such serious consequences?
Madam Qian left the Shen family's new house in a daze, muttering about the matter all the way, unable to let it go easily.
Watching Madam Qian's retreating back, Su Xiaoqi clapped her hands, finally having dealt with her.
Of course, Madam Qian was not one to admit defeat easily.
What she had said wasn't enough.
It could only scare Madam Qian temporarily.
She was not one to learn her lesson; she would need stronger medicine later. In any case, she absolutely could not indulge her.
Su Xiaoqi and Shen Yun exchanged a look.
On this matter, the couple were of the same opinion.
After dealing with the troublesome Madam Qian, Su Xiaoqi spoke to Shen Yun about what they needed to do next:
"We've kept them waiting for over half a month. It's time to give them the seeds.
We can't let such small matters delay the farming season."
Once the right farming season was missed, they would have to wait another year.
However, they now had a problem.
That was, the village head Zhao Baoren, who had previously cooperated seamlessly with them, now had a rift with them.
Although no harsh words had been exchanged between them on the surface for the time being, nor had there been any arguments.
A crack had already formed, and they could never go back to how things were.
Especially when Su Xiaoqi heard that Zhao Guanggun had gotten into trouble.
A couple of days ago, he slipped while trying to scale the courtyard wall of Widow Huang in the middle of the night and fell.
Now he had broken his other leg as well.
Su Xiaoqi twitched the corner of her mouth, thinking that Zhao Guanggun was truly deserving of his name.
Even in such a state, he was still thinking of frivolous things. Now, he had finally ended his own legs with his own hands, becoming completely crippled.
Su Xiaoqi narrowed her eyes and said:
"Zhao Guanggun shouldn't have had trouble climbing a courtyard wall that's only about three feet high.
The wall is only about a meter high, so even with one leg injured, Zhao Guanggun could have easily climbed over it.
The fact that he fell means Su Xiaoqi couldn't help but suspect something."
Shen Yun said calmly, "There were sharpened bamboo stakes on top of the wall, and the wall surface was coated with wax oil, making it very slippery."
Let alone three feet high, even if the oil was applied on flat ground, it could make someone stumble.
That was why Zhao Guanggun had broken his leg.
"Could he also be targeting us?" Su Xiaoqi knew very well that Zhao Baoren was not a wise and understanding person.
If he couldn't let go of the matter of his daughter's marriage, he would definitely vent his anger on them.
"What are you afraid of? He's just a village head." Shen Yun was fearless; he didn't take Zhao Baoren seriously at all.
His previous pretense of cooperation was merely out of temporary necessity.
Given Zhao Baoren's character and the shady dealings he engaged in within the village, how could he possibly care about him?
As Shen Yun had predicted.
Zhao Baoren was furious.
However, for the moment, he couldn't figure out whom to direct his anger towards.
Was he angry at his unmanageable daughter, or was he angry at Shen Yun and Su Xiaoqi for being ungrateful?
For not giving any face to him, the esteemed village head.
For betraying his own daughter so readily.
He thought that his family must have had too smooth a life recently with his support and help.
That was why they didn't know their limits and didn't realize that Zhao Family Village was Zhao Baoren's territory.
He decided to teach them a lesson.
Although he thought so, he waited for several days and couldn't find any opportunity.
As a village head, his power was limited; he was only responsible for tax collection and household registration.
Shen Yun held academic honors, and his tax and land payments were irrelevant to him.
He couldn't find any way to deal with him.
Unwilling to give up, he incited the villagers to stay away from the Shen family.
To isolate them.
But the villagers were not his puppets; they didn't do whatever he said.
In the past six months, the Shen family had brought numerous benefits to the villagers.
Making their lives visibly better.
People weren't stupid; they were afraid of missing out on more benefits by staying away from the Shen family.
And soon, the corn and potato seeds were to be distributed.
Let alone outsiders, even his own brother, Zhao Baoyi, did not agree with this.
He thought it would be enough to conduct some minor actions privately to warn the Shen family.
If things escalated too much, the other party would certainly not give them seeds.
By then, if everyone else was planting and they weren't, wouldn't that be bad?
"Besides, the buckwheat we harvested on the mountain still needs to be sold to his family..."
"No need, there's someone to buy the buckwheat," Zhao Baoren looked at his niece, Zhao Xiaohua.
She had mentioned before that Su Xiaoqi's price for buckwheat was too low.
So he had asked her to inquire in the city.
Zhao Xiaohua quickly said, "I went to the city and asked. We were all deceived."
Zhao Xiaohua recounted what she had seen and heard while going door-to-door about buckwheat.
"My heavens, she bought ours for only two coins a jin, and the cheapest she sold it for was fifty coins a jin. This, this is too unscrupulous."
Zhao Baoyi, who had just been saying they shouldn't break ties with the Shen family openly, couldn't stand it anymore.
Seeing that the time was right, Zhao Baoren called him over and whispered a few words in his ear.
Zhao Baoyi's eyes lit up.
He told Zhao Xiaohua to continue investigating, to find out the clear truth, and absolutely not to let the Shen family off easily.
On the Ghost Festival, all the permanent residents of the Shen family returned, except for Zhao Liushun.
The family prepared offerings and set them up in the courtyard to pay respects to Shen Yun's deceased father, Shen Zhongwen.
Su Xiaoqi looked at the name on the memorial tablet and was momentarily stunned.
She had seen this name in a novel.
That person was clearly alive and well, and held a distinguished position.
Su Xiaoqi's brows furrowed deeply. She wanted to say something, but she heard Zhao shi's suppressed sobs.
Shen Xiaomei also started to cry.
Shen Yun quickly went forward to comfort one and then the other.
Old Madam Yu, with a dark expression, couldn't help but say, "What are you crying about? He caused you to become a widow at such a young age and raise two children by yourself..."
Listening to Old Madam Yu's words, there was considerable resentment.
Su Xiaoqi sighed, swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue, and thought to herself: Perhaps these two people merely shared the same name.