Splendid peasant girl busy farming

Chapter 11968

Liu listened intently from the side, occasionally interjecting with a few questions.

Yang Ruoqing didn't ask a single question, because from what she overheard their conversation, she already knew that, just as Liu had said that morning, they were indeed overly frightened.

“I think we should hear what Qing’er thinks about this,” Wang Hongtao suddenly steered the conversation toward Yang Ruoqing.

The village elder nodded, "Yes."

Yang Huazhong gave a wry smile, "It's certainly necessary to listen to Qing'er's opinion on other matters, but this matter is a bit mysterious. My Qing'er is young and inexperienced, and besides, she doesn't understand that industry."

Wang Hongtao shook his head: "Third brother, you mustn't say that. Have you forgotten what happened at the beginning of the year when the black snake and the dragon appeared in the river behind the village?"

"In the end, it was Qing'er and Tang Yazi who found the Dragon-Slaying Sword, subdued the black dragon, and restored peace to the surrounding villages!"

Yang Ruoqing raised her hand to interrupt Wang Hongtao and another village elder's lavish praise of her.

“Everything has its reasons, it’s all about chance and coincidence, not about the personal power of me or Tang Yazi,” she said, her gaze falling on Yang Huazhong again: “Father, regardless of whether I can help, I would like to hear your concerns.”

Yang Huazhong sighed, "You're right, we do have concerns."

"Tell me."

"Well, how should I put it? Old Mai and his wife insist that they were possessed by evil spirits last night and the night before. But we can't spread this kind of thing around in the village. It will make everyone panic. There are only ten days left until the Lunar New Year, which is the time when people pay the most attention to auspiciousness. If something mysterious happens at this time, the villagers will be unsettled. Not only will everyone be afraid, but what we fear most is that some idle people or people with bad intentions will take this opportunity to do bad things. That would be terrible!"

After hearing what Yang Huazhong said, Yang Ruoqing understood.

No wonder Yang Huazhong insisted that Mai Lao Er and Tie Shi solve their problems by taking medicine, instead of directly consulting a fortune teller or asking Master Yuan to perform rituals.

After all that, Yang Huazhong was considering the stability of the village, so he wanted to characterize the incident involving Mai Lao Er and his wife as a case of delusional disorder caused by their prolonged imprisonment and the resulting mental stress.

It's no wonder Yang Huazhong wanted to cover it up like this. After all, whenever similar mysterious things happened in the village before, a series of unsettling events would always follow in the days that followed.

For example: strange noises are coming from someone's woodshed, or someone's chickens and ducks are mysteriously disappearing from their backyard...

It was only later that they learned the strange noises coming from the woodshed were from the family's unruly daughter-in-law and a man outside stealing from each other. To prevent her in-laws from finding out, the daughter-in-law spread rumors that her woodshed was unclean, hoping to keep others away from it.

For example, those who lost chickens and ducks were all human-caused, but they all blamed it on some mysterious thing...

To give a recent example, in the first month of the lunar calendar, an old man in a village died of illness. His body was hidden under the earthen bed by his son, and eventually it grew together with the roots of the old maple tree in the village.

After this incident was exposed, the villagers felt a chill run down their spines whenever they passed under the old maple tree.

However, it made things convenient for some disreputable men and women in the village, and the area under the old maple tree became their favorite place for secret rendezvous at night!
Therefore, in conclusion, what Yang Huazhong fears most is that a bunch of troubles will arise as the year draws to a close.

“Dad, I understand your concerns, Uncle Hongtao and I.” Yang Ruoqing picked up the teacup in front of her and took a sip. She had brewed tea for the others, but for herself, she had only brewed water.

"Qing'er, what do you think about this?" Yang Huazhong asked habitually.

Yang Ruoqing put down her teacup and gently shook her head: "I don't understand. Whether it's illness or possession, this is something that Mai Lao Er and Tie Shi have to face and deal with themselves. Why are you village heads and elders so eager to take on this task?"

Yang Huazhong and the other two were dumbfounded. They looked at each other in bewilderment. The old man from the second village stroked his white goatee and chuckled, then remained silent.

Wang Hongtao slapped his thigh, looked at Yang Huazhong, and had a mischievous smile on his face.

It's as if they're saying: "Third Brother, how's it going? I told you we were meddling in this, weren't we?"
Yang Huazhong glanced at Wang Hongtao, but didn't argue with him. Instead, he continued speaking to Yang Ruoqing, "This can't be called meddling. After all, the person fell ill because of the shock and fright they suffered from being locked in the dark room by us. Our village can't just stand by and do nothing..."

Yang Ruoqing raised her hand, directly interrupting Yang Huazhong.

"Father, you only saw that we locked the person in the dark room, but you ignored the whole story!"

"There are so many people in Changping Village, why are we only detaining that couple?"

Wang Hongtao chimed in, "That's right, they were locked up because they did something heinous and heartless! They weren't handed over to the authorities and were only detained for three days, which is already out of consideration for the villagers and their children who have no one to take care of them! Otherwise, the situation would have been much more serious!"

Yang Ruoqing gave Wang Hongtao an approving look, "Uncle Hongtao is right!"

Yang Huazhong glanced at Wang Hongtao, gave an awkward smile, and said, "Hongtao is right, so what I said is wrong?"

The old man from the second village then slowly spoke up, "The third brother is just too honest. He can't stand seeing other people in trouble, so he softens and easily overlooks the mistakes others have made. Hehe, he's a good person!"

The old man from the second village said something that was just trying to smooth things over, and it was as if he said nothing at all. But if you think about it carefully, you can find a faint hint of sarcasm in his words.

As the head of the village and the leader of the entire village, one should distinguish between public and private matters and prioritize rules over personal relationships.

Instead of seeing someone in distress and immediately setting aside right and wrong, they wholeheartedly want to help the other person through their calamity.

Because some calamities are man-made, but also divine punishment, enduring calamities is both real and justifiable!
Take Mai Jia for example!
Wang Hongtao smiled and continued, picking up where the second village elder left off: "It's common knowledge that the third brother is soft-hearted. As the village head, he truly puts the safety of the villagers first. In the surrounding villages, a village head like the third brother who cares so much about the villagers is really one of a kind."

"However, I don't recommend that Lao San be lenient with villagers like Mai Lao Er. Just do what needs to be done, because we've already been lenient with them before!"

Yang Ruoqing, Wang Hongtao, and even Liu Shi understood the meaning behind the old man's words, but Yang Huazhong was a little confused. He looked at the old man with a clear look of bewilderment. He remembered that on the way back from the Mai family, when he insisted on helping the Mai couple cure their illness, the old man hadn't said anything like that. The old man had insisted on curing them first, so why the sudden change of heart?
After gathering information on Wang Hongtao and the second village elder's attitudes, Yang Ruoqing glanced at Yang Huazhong's reaction and expression, and sighed inwardly.

My own father is a good person, but it's a bit difficult for him to hold onto and do a good job as the seemingly insignificant village head.

As the saying goes, those who can hold onto a position are definitely not just nice guys.

A purely nice person can never climb to that level on their own. Anyone who can climb to that level is not as simple as they seem on the surface; they all have the means and courage behind them.

The truth is, Yang Huazhong got to the position of village head because Yang Ruoqing and Luo Fengtang pushed him to the top.

Wang Hongtao was different; he became the village head at a young age by relying on his own efforts.

When the Luo and Yang families were looking up, Wang Hongtao took the initiative to befriend them. He had three sons, two of whom worked for Yang Ruoqing's transport team, and his two daughters-in-law worked in the herb-gathering team to earn extra money.

The youngest son, Wang Liang, whom Yang Ruoqing often refers to as "Baozi Brother," has taken over Yang Ruoqing's teahouse after retiring from the transportation team. Together with several other brothers who also retired from the transportation team, they have made the teahouse a resounding success.

So even though the Wang Hong family and the Yang family were at odds back then, it didn't affect Wang Hongtao's interactions with the Yang family and the Luo family.

Smart people, with their rational minds, always put their own interests first. If they can eat and drink their fill by following the Luo family, they'll be on their side!
Sure enough, when the village elder announced the official withdrawal of the village elders' council after the New Year, Yang Ruoqing and Luo Fengtang directly recommended Wang Hongtao to the village elders' council to fill the vacancy left by the village elder's departure.

“What the Second Village Elder and Uncle Hongtao said makes sense.” Yang Ruoqing put their words together and looked at Yang Huazhong again: “Dad, as for the Mai family couple being frightened in the dark room, in my opinion, whether it’s something they imagined or there really was something supernatural, they deserve it. We shouldn’t feel sorry for them or help them clean up the mess.”

"If it's some kind of mystical matter, then it means that God and the ancestors of the Mack family have appeared to punish those two!"

"If it's just their own delusion, it only proves that they've done something immoral and feel guilty, so they're hallucinating. No matter what, they deserve it and deserve to be punished! Even if they get seriously ill after they get out, they should suffer the consequences!"

Yang Ruoqing's words were firm and her attitude left no room for argument.

Yang Huazhong could only nod. Hearing this, all of his previous anxiety vanished, as if his Ren and Du meridians had been opened. Now he would listen to whatever Yang Ruoqing said.

Because all the things he had done on his own initiative before have now been completely rejected by Yang Ruoqing, Wang Hongtao, and the old men of the second village.

"Qing'er, I don't care anymore, I'll do it your way..." Before Yang Huazhong could finish speaking, Liu burst out laughing.

"Ha, Qing'er, you don't know yet, do you? Your father paid for Wangsheng's medical treatment and medicine, and didn't even let Mai Lao Er pay..." Well, Liu Shi, who hadn't had a chance to interject until now, seized the opportunity to add insult to injury.

"Huh?" Yang Ruoqing raised an eyebrow, casting a questioning glance at Yang Huazhong.

Yang Huazhong gave a dry laugh and said, "The situation was too chaotic at the time. I called Wangsheng over, and he immediately dropped everything and rushed over to treat the couple."

"In such a chaotic scene, Mr. and Mrs. Mai certainly wouldn't have had time to pay the bill. I couldn't let Wangsheng go and collect the debt from them later, and all the fuss would only add to Wangsheng's burden. So I settled the bill. It wasn't much, only about thirty copper coins..."

Um, Yang Ruoqing is truly speechless about her biological father.

Whether it's thirty coins or three coins, what does it have to do with you, sir?

Don't worry about any disputes between Wangsheng and Mai Lao Er's family regarding medical expenses. Wangsheng and Fu Bo, being doctors, are the least afraid of such disputes.

You have to understand that both father and son were village doctors their whole lives, dealing with villagers from all around every day. What kind of villagers haven't they encountered? They've had tons of villagers with outstanding debts!

If they were really stumped by this, how could they practice medicine in the village? Besides, no matter how reckless Mai Lao Er was, he wouldn't dare to argue with the village doctor, because Wang Sheng and his son were the village doctors in Changping Village.

With so many people in the Mai family, someone could get sick at any time. And no matter the era, the thing people are least willing to haggle over is medical treatment and medicine.

If this was the case even in later generations when doctors' clinics were everywhere, how much more so in ancient times when medical technology was backward and medical resources were scarce and strained? Doctors, especially village doctors, were seen by the villagers as living bodhisattvas, and their status in the village was still very high!

If Mai Lao Er really tries to deny the thirty coins, then his whole family's names will not only be on Wang Sheng's blacklist, but the village doctors in the surrounding villages will probably remember Mai Lao Er's family as deadbeats.

So tell me, this old man Yang Huazhong is really... Yang Ruoqing doesn't even know how to describe him.

"It's nothing, it's nothing, thirty coins is nothing." Yang Huazhong probably sensed Yang Ruoqing's displeasure from her expression, so he added another sentence to make amends.

Yang Ruoqing shook her head, "Dad, this has nothing to do with money!"

"If needed, let alone thirty coins, even three hundred coins, three taels of silver, or thirty taels of silver, we can afford it!"

"It mainly depends on whether this matter is worthwhile!"

When Yang Ruoqing said this, she did not avoid the other people present. She wanted to make her attitude clear so that others, especially the Second Village Elder, would understand that they should not be like the First Village Elder, who tried to speak well of the Mai family after receiving some benefits in private.

Both Ercun Lao and Wang Hongtao were shrewd people, and they immediately echoed Yang Ruoqing's words.

Liu curled her lip and said, "Third brother, even if you don't want these thirty coins, I'll go and get them back from Mai Lao Er. Why should we pay for someone like that? We agreed that we would advance the money, not give it away for free!"

Yang Huazhong smiled awkwardly and nodded to Liu, "Whatever you want. If you take it back, it's yours. I don't want it."

(End of this chapter)