Chapter 386: To Beat Your Wife or To Love Your Wife?
The next morning, Bai Ruozhu set off with her father for Linjiang Village. Xiaosi originally wanted to follow them, but Bai Ruozhu stopped her. She left Dengdeng in the care of Fang Guizhi. Planning to finish her trip as fast as possible, she found it inconvenient to take Xiaosi with her.
Bai Ruozhu had hidden two bags of medicine powder in her sleeves and already made up her mind secretly.
"Dad, let’s check the extent of the damage to the crops. We can give Zhou Family some money as compensation, but we won’t allow them to farm the land anymore," said Bai Ruozhu after they boarded the horse carriage.
Bai Yihong nodded, "I agree. Yang Family’s third son probably can’t be persuaded. We might as well bear the loss of one season’s crops. I fear the Zhou Family might not survive otherwise."
However, Bai Ruozhu’s decision was not out of sympathy for the Zhou Family but to avoid trouble.
They visited the Zhou Family and then went to the fields to assess the situation. Everything was indeed as the Zhou Family had described; the crops were badly damaged. After negotiating with the Zhou Family, the Bai Family compensated them with some silver and decided not to lease the land for farming to the Zhou Family.
Zhou Family expressed their gratitude towards Bai Ruozhu, seeming rather naive and irritating. Bai Ruozhu couldn’t help but criticize her second brother for finding such a family: naive was one thing, but excessively so.
When the Zhou Family left, Bai Yihong, feeling heartbroken, looked at the damaged fields, mumbling about what might be the best solution. Bai Ruozhu leisurely roamed around the fields. The sleeves of her clothes faintly dropped down, and fine powder drifted out of them.
This powder would cause allergies in people, but it wouldn’t affect crops. Moreover, the effect of this powder would only last three days. If no one touched the crops within three days, the powder would naturally lose its effect.
From the moment she learned about Yang’s third son’s deeds, she started preparing this powder. If Yang’s third son came to cause trouble again in these three days, she would ensure that he ended up itching all over and blistered with pus.
"Dad, let’s go back." After spreading the medicine powder, Bai Ruozhu turned her head and said to her father.
Bai Yihong was still worried and turned to Bai Ruozhu, asking, "What about these fields? Should they be wasted like this?"
Bai Ruozhu smiled and said, "Let’s wait for a few days. Later, we can hire someone to help in the fields. We will pay him wages, and whether the field yields much or little will be our responsibility. Even if Yang’s third son causes trouble, it won’t be his problem. There should be people willing to do it this way, right?"
"This is a good solution; definitely there will be people willing to do it. But if this Yang keeps on causing trouble, it’s no good either, he’s so destructive." Bai Yihong sighed heavily as he talked.
However, Bai Ruozhu began to smile, thinking that he wouldn’t be able to act up in a few days.
They walked towards the entrance of Linjiang Village, planning to find a donkey cart to head back to town. After a while, Bai Ruozhu suddenly spotted a somewhat familiar figure. She stopped in her tracks, observing the woman in the distance intently.
"Huh, isn’t that Xi Ya?" mumbled Bai Ruozhu.
When Xia Ya first visited Bai’s Family to see Yu Hongxiu, Bai Yihong wasn’t present. He had only heard of her but didn’t know what she looked like. Therefore, as Bai Ruozhu pointed her out, he asked, "Is that the distant relative of Granny Wang?"
Bai Ruozhu nodded, wondering in her mind. Xi Ya isn’t from Linjiang Village; why is she here? Looking at her hairstyle, it seemed she was already married. Had she married into Linjiang Village? A thought flashed through her mind: Xi Ya had married Yang’s third son!
After they had found a donkey cart in the village, Bai Ruozhu began to inquire from the middle-aged coachman, "Uncle, just now from a distance, I saw a distant relative of one of our village elders here in Linjiang Village. I wonder if she married into Yang’s family in your village?"
The coachman chuckled and said, "Yang’s third son has recently taken a new wife; maybe she’s the one you mentioned."
Bai Ruozhu and Bai Yihong exchanged glances. They were both thinking that Yang’s third son had just married. Shouldn’t he be enjoying his newlywed life? Why was he still damaging their fields?
"I recall that the girl’s family was poor. She’s pitiful indeed." Bai Ruozhu ventured.
The driver concurred, "Yes, if her family weren’t in such desperate poverty, who would be willing to marry Yang’s third son? Let me tell you a secret: not long ago, Yang’s third son proposed to a woman, but she’d rather become a slave than marry him."
The coachman wore a look of gossip, speaking enthusiastically, "He’s also short-tempered, fond of drinking, and prone to beating his wife so hard it’d echo in your ears. Who in the village doesn’t know this? But interestingly enough, he no longer dares to beat her."
Bai Ruozhu displayed a look of confusion, asking, "Why? Has he suddenly become conscientious?"
"Who knows, anyway, it was said that a few days after his wedding, he got drunk again and started beating his new bride in the yard, but she had a fit, fell on the ground, and started foaming at the mouth, leading him to sober up from his drunkenness. He probably feared that he would no longer be able to take a wife if he ended up beating this one to death, so he seemed to have pulled back." The cart driver shook his head, likely expressing his sympathy for the poor Xi Ya who had been beaten into a fit.
Bai Ruozhu also felt a bit of pity for Xi Ya. Suffering from poverty at home and burdened with relatives like Granny Wang, she was indeed unfortunate. Bai Ruozhu couldn’t help wondering how much silver Granny Wang made from Xi Ya’s marriage to Yang’s third son.
"It’s also quite strange. Yang’s third son is a reckless man. He complained that the Zhou family from our village was interfering with his marriage. He went to the fields leased by the Zhou family and made a fuss. The village head couldn’t do anything about him. But after marrying his current wife, he suddenly calmed down. A few days ago, he even accompanied his wife to visit her parents, as if he’d completely transformed."
The coachman was thoroughly engaged in his tale. Bai Ruozhu exchanged glances with her father. The coachman didn’t know them and had no reason to lie to them. Could it be possible that the Zhou family was lying?
Bai Yihong saw that the coachman was absorbed in the conversation and didn’t immediately say anything. It was only after they disembarked that he asked Bai Ruozhu, "Daughter, do you think the Zhou Family is playing tricks?"
Bai Ruozhu sneered, "Whether they’re playing tricks or not, we’ll know in a few days. Let’s visit Linjiang Village again after three days."
Bai Yihong, unaware of Bai Ruozhu’s use of medicine powder, assumed she wanted to arrange a confrontation between both parties, so he didn’t ask further. However, he was puzzled. Why wait for three days?
Before the three days were up, Yang’s third son came to their stall again. It was Bai Zehao who returned to the west courtyard to ask Bai Ruozhu to go see what was happening, saying that Yang’s third son specifically asked for Bai Ruozhu.
By the time Bai Ruozhu arrived, Yang’s third son was sitting at the stall eating flatbread. Beside him sat Xi Ya, dressed in new clothes and also holding a flatbread, her face adorned with a somewhat shy smile.
Upon seeing Bai Ruozhu, Lin Ping’er made faces at her. When she looked over, indeed, Yang’s third son hadn’t noticed her yet; both his eyes were focused on Xi Ya, revealing a slightly careful and appeasing expression.
Bai Ruozhu couldn’t help but twitch at the corner of her mouth. She hadn’t expected Yang’s third son, such a man, to show this kind of expression!
At this moment, Yang’s third son noticed her. His face instantly turned sour. He dropped the flatbread he was holding onto the table, stood up, and said fiercely, "You help my wife with her illness again, and the debt your family owes me will be considered written off."
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