Transmigrated as A Farm Girl Making Her Family Rich

Chapter 56: Chapter 56 The Noise Continues

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Hongji’s father did not blame the village chief; instead, his accusing gaze stared at his wife and daughter as he said:

“If the money had been paid earlier, we wouldn’t have lost face like this and wouldn’t have had to bother the village chief to make a trip here. It’s truly shameful. Don’t get into trouble again in the future. The money we earn is not even enough to cover for the losses, and it’s a waste of my hard labor.”

“Did you hear what your father said? Don’t go out and fight, causing trouble for the family. Oh, my heart aches. How did it come to losing money?”

Mrs. Lai was most distressed about having to spend money. Had the village chief not come, she would have definitely tried to shirk the responsibility.

“This isn’t our fault. Who told them to be such gossips? And that damn girl, it’s all her fault.”

Ye Shuzhen refused to accept defeat and unwillingly placed all the blame on Daya.

“Still talking? Haven’t you seen Second Sister getting into fights? No kids in the house fight, and here you are, all grown up and still so senseless. You’ve been too spoiled by your mother and me. From now on, do more work, talk less. If you don’t speak, no one will think you’re dumb.”

Hongji’s father felt that today’s embarrassment was not accidental—their daughter was too mischievous.

“Humph, Dad, now I’m in charge of those little brats just like Big Brother. Watch me teach them a lesson.”

After being scolded by her father, Ye Shuzhen was indignant. Why should she have to pay and apologize for fighting with someone else? Annoyed, she slammed her bedroom door and lay on her bed to sulk.

“Are you still lying down? Didn’t you sleep enough this morning? You’ll turn into a pig sooner or later.”

Ye Shuzhi was angry that she had to pay for Ye Shuzhen’s fighting and thought her younger sister was more trouble than she was worth, an annoyance like a useless teammate.

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“Second Sister, don’t talk about me. If we’re discussing who’s plumper, you and Mother are cut from the same cloth. I’m still slimmer than you.”

“That’s because you’re not fully grown yet. Look at how flat you are, hmph.”

The two sisters began to criticize each other’s figures and soon got into an argument.

“What’s going on now? Can’t you keep quiet even in your room?” Mrs. Lai glared at the two sisters with her sharp eyes.

“Mother, they’re quarreling because they have nothing else to do. Why not send them outside to work in the fields with the kids? If they’re busy, they won’t have the time to quarrel.”

Hongji was annoyed with his two sisters. His children were diligent and already out working in the fields, yet they had the nerve to argue in the room. Hearing their voices irritated him. They were of age and yet not as sensible as the children.

“Big Brother, I don’t want to go outside to work.”

“Big Brother, I still have chores to do at home.”

Mrs. Lai was about to scold her daughters, but when she saw her son suggesting that the two girls go outside to work with the kids, she was somewhat reluctant to let her daughters toil hard. She waved her hand at them, signaling them to stop arguing.

Hongji, hearing his sister’s unwillingness to work outside and not seeing Mrs. Lai force them to, had come to expect this. The reason he had spoken up was simply to make them stop quarreling.

The two sisters’ laziness had become a norm in the household. Over the years, he had gotten used to their behavior. They were untouchable, immune to scolding and reprimanding, a result of their parents’ indulgence.

That evening, after a hard day’s work, Hongji had finally carved out four small wooden toys. He still needed to stay up late to polish and paint them.

Painting the toys required different pigments, the clothes and skin had to be different colors, and the immortal wooden statue’s head needed a red dot, while the hair was jet black.

Hongji applied the colors meticulously, as if he were adding the finishing touch to a dragon.

Mrs. Lai, to supervise her son, did not go to her eldest daughter’s place all day and stayed in the courtyard at home. As a punishment for Daya, she did not go to the kitchen to do any work either.

Daya felt pitiable. After coming back from working in the fields with her two sisters, she still had to cook at home, and still ended up being scolded. Today the family had lost money, and Mrs. Lai kept nagging at Daya in a low voice.

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Daya had been enduring it all, wary that grandma might hit her at any moment, taking care of her younger sisters, making sure they ate and bathed.

After Hongji finished his meal, he applied the last coat of paint on the four wooden statues and waited for the paint to dry and set.

Mrs. Lai, seeing that her son had finished painting, wanted to hide the immortal wooden statues in the cloth bag she had prepared.

“Mom, what are you doing? The paint isn’t dry yet, if you pack them now the paint will come off, and the statues will stick together—I would have been busy for nothing.”

Hongji blocked his mother with both hands, all his hard work, for what?

Mrs. Lai had just been about to store away the wooden statues when she hadn’t thought about the paint still being wet; halted by her son, she stood close by, afraid he might change his mind, and also afraid her daughters might snatch them away, her eyes vigilantly fixed on her son and the daughters in the room.

Seeing his mother standing so close, and the unpleasant smell of the paint, Hongji wanted to get to work but also feared the fumes might affect his health.

“Mom, don’t stand so close, can you stand that awful smell?”

“Cough cough, I’m fine, son, step back a bit! You still have to have children,” Mrs. Lai usually complained even about a slightly longer-burning oil lamp at home, but now she stood like a guardian deity in front of the drying wooden statues.

Unable to persuade his mother, Hongji also felt she was right; he had been exposed to this smell for too long doing this kind of work and needed to be mindful of his health.

He went to wash his hands, ready to take a shower and go to bed.

Knock knock knock—the sound echoed from the courtyard gate.

Hongji paused his steps back to his room upon seeing his mother still standing in front of the wooden statues, unwilling to answer the door, and his father also coming over, washing his hands.

He went to open the courtyard gate and, upon doing so, saw Mrs. Zhang and her husband from earlier that day, both holding torches.

“Where is Mrs. Lai? Let her come out.”

“Uncle, Auntie, what brings you here so late? Is there another matter?”

Hongji knew they never showed up without cause, definitely here to stir up trouble again, and absentmindedly scratched his freshly washed hair.

“There’s no point talking to you, you can’t decide anything—let us into your courtyard to speak with Mrs. Lai,” Mrs. Zhang’s tone was filled with irritation, clearly looking for someone to blame, and moreover, here to collect a debt from this family.

“Mrs. Zhang, haven’t we compensated you during the day? Isn’t that enough?” Upon seeing the Zhang couple, Mrs. Lai, not minding the wooden statues, strode forward with a battling stance ready to argue back.

“We would have let it go after receiving the money today, but my daughter’s fever hasn’t subsided, and it’s gotten worse despite the doctor’s visit. We are thinking of hiring an ox-cart to take her to the county doctor, so we need to get some money from you.”

“Dream on about getting money from me. Both parties were to blame in the fight, we’ve already been generous with the compensation. If anyone’s to blame, it’s your daughter’s weak constitution. Thought she could handle work, but my daughter is fine. She must be fragile from never lifting a finger at home.”

As Mrs. Lai spoke, spit flew from her mouth—paying during the day had already been painful enough, parting with more money was like asking for her life.

“My daughter is diligent, everyone is different physically. Anyway, it was your daughter who pushed mine into the river. If you don’t pay, we’ll take it up with the village chief.”

“Hmph, you’re asking too much—how do we know your daughter isn’t just pretending to be sick? Trying to continuously extort money from us, no way!”

The two continued to argue unabated while the men looked on helplessly at each other.

“Old brother, our family truly is out of money; otherwise, we wouldn’t have come over. Consider it a goodwill gesture. You can’t just watch your niece die of illness, can you?”

Mrs. Zhang’s husband didn’t resort to cursing like his wife; he had an honest and forthright demeanor, pleading with beseeching eyes.