Splendid peasant girl busy farming

Chapter 12075

"What's wrong with you two?" Yang Yongjin asked, looking at their expressions with a puzzled expression.

Xiu Hong knew she couldn't hide it anymore, so she gritted her teeth and stamped her foot: "It's nothing, we just wanted to come back to sleep."

"Come back to sleep? Why?" Yang Yongjin asked again.

Yang Yongzhi laughed: "Second brother, you're something else too. Does a daughter stop being a daughter once she's married? If she comes back to sleep, she comes back to sleep. Why ask so many questions?"

Xiu Hong glanced gratefully at Yang Yongzhi, thinking to herself, "My third uncle is the best; he helped me out of this predicament."

Yang Yongjin frowned, "That's not what I meant. These two are clearly up to something!"

"Did your mother-in-law bully you? That's why you ran back in anger?" Yang Huaming had drunk quite a bit tonight and didn't watch his words, staggering over to ask.

His question drew attention from everyone else, especially Yang Yongjin.

"Daughter, is what your fourth grandfather said true? Your mother-in-law is causing trouble again?" Even in front of Sixi, Yang Yongjin didn't hesitate to use the apt word 'causing trouble,' because Sixi's mother just loved to stir things up. Even Sixi's father said that his slaps were gradually losing their effectiveness...

Calluses formed on my palms from all the beatings, but that woman's ability to withstand blows and falls kept increasing.

Xiu Hong turned her head and glared at Sixi: "You tell me what your mother did!"

Si Xi was so embarrassed that he wanted to bury his head in the ground, but he still took two steps forward and stammered out what had happened that night.

Upon hearing this, Yang Yongjin, Yang Yongzhi, and the others' faces instantly turned cold.

Yang Huaming scoffed, "What kind of joke is this? We've already married her, why bother with all this nonsense?"

Yang Huazhou shook his head. "If it doesn't work, let's go over and talk to her together. I don't believe she would dare not give face to so many of us!"

Yang Huazhong nodded.

Yang Huaming said, "What are you talking about? If you could have gotten the door open, the two kids wouldn't have had to come back!"

"I'm going to get a hammer and smash the door down!" Yang Yongjin was furious and turned to get a hammer.

Yang Yongzhi shouted, "Second Brother, I'll help you smash it!"

Yang Huazhong stopped them: "Don't be impulsive. If you make too much of a scene, it will have a bad impact."

"Third Uncle, Sixi's mother is bullying Xiuhong too much. It's indirectly slapping the face of our Yang family. You can tolerate it, but I can't!" Yang Yongzhi said excitedly.

Yang Huazhong frowned. "This matter... I think we should go and find Sixi's father. Where is he playing cards?"

Yang Huazhong was asking Sixi and Xiuhong.

Sixi and Xiuhong exchanged a glance, both looking completely bewildered. They had no idea where their father was playing cards; they only knew that their father had mentioned at the dinner table that he was very likely to go out to play cards that night, having met so-and-so in the village during the day and made plans to play cards that night…

“Slamming the door is too violent, it makes us Yang family members look like we’re in a bad mood. Going to talk to Sixi’s father to reason with him makes us Yang family members look like we have no temper or means.”

A clear, melodious female voice rang out from behind the crowd, and then Yang Ruoqing, accompanied by Luo Fengtang, came to Xiu Hong's side.

"Second daughter, your aunt will teach you a good way to break this deadlock."

Xiu Hong suddenly raised her head, looking expectantly at her aunt who was smiling and composed in the moonlight.

"Auntie, what's a good idea?" Xiu Hong asked.

Everyone else also pricked up their ears curiously, wanting to hear if Yang Ruoqing was planning to scale the walls and tear down the roof of Sixi's house.

Then, Yang Ruoqing turned her head and glanced at Luo Fengtang, "Tangya, take the things out!"

Luo Fengtang nodded, took out a black lock from under his wide sleeves, and handed it to Yang Ruoqing.

Yang Ruoqing placed the lock and key into Xiu Hong's hand.

It was received with embroidered red hands, but even so, the moment I held it, I could still feel its weight in my palms.

This lock, which doesn't look very big, weighs at least seven or eight pounds.

The heaviness was secondary; it was the bone-chilling cold that made Xiu Hong shiver involuntarily.

"Auntie, what's this?"

"Doesn't your mother-in-law like to lock the door and not let you in? That's perfect, hang this lock outside the yard gate, then they won't be able to go out either."

This is what they call, "You do the first day of the month, I'll do the fifteenth."

Use the way of the person to treat the person's body.

"Wow, it has to be Qing'er! She's got a sharp mind. How come I didn't think of that?" Yang Huaming suddenly realized the significance of the situation, and couldn't help but slap his thigh and exclaim.

The others also realized what was happening and clapped and cheered, praising the move as brilliant!

Xiu Hong and Sixi's eyes lit up as they wondered why they hadn't thought of this before, aside from their impotent rage outside the courtyard gate.

"Let's go lock it up right now, so that neither your mother nor any of them can get out!"

As for why Sixi's father, who was playing cards outside, couldn't get in?

What does that have to do with me? First, find the root cause of the problem: why can't I get in!
Watching Xiu Hong and Sixi run off into the distance, Yang Yongjin turned around and bowed deeply to Yang Ruoqing.

"Qing'er, thank you so much for coming up with such a good idea!"

Yang Yongzhi also gave Yang Ruoqing a thumbs up: "Smart, this trick is much better than us smashing the door."

Yang Huazhong and Yang Huazhou exchanged a smile; they had never questioned Yang Ruoqing's wisdom.

If she weren't smart enough and could be led by the nose, how could she have built such a large business?
As for Luo Fengtang, sorry, he was standing next to Yang Ruoqing at the moment, and his gaze towards her was practically drooling.

A surge of pride and self-satisfaction filled his chest!

Look, this is my Qing'er. My Qing'er is the smartest and wisest person in the world!

"Qing'er, what if Sixi's father can't get into the house or get out? What if he gets so angry that he finds an axe and smashes the lock?" Yang Yongjin asked again.

He glanced at the lock just now; it was a brand new lock, not the kind that every household hangs on their doors. It was probably a good lock brought back from outside, and it would be a shame to break it.

Yang Ruoqing shook her head, "Second Brother, don't worry, this lock of ours is so strong that an axe can't even break it, let alone make it drop a few bits of lock dust!"

"Huh? What kind of lock is this? It's so sturdy!"

"This lock is made of ice-black iron from the seabed. The locks in the royal treasury are also made of this material," Luo Fengtang added from the side. Ice-black iron is also divided into different grades. If the ice-black iron used in the locks of the Great Qi royal treasury is grade six, then the lock used to lock the gate of Sixi's courtyard would be grade nine.

Upon hearing Luo Fengtang's explanation, everyone was so shocked that their eyes and jaws almost dropped to the ground.

"Haha, I can't help but laugh when I think about how Si Xi's father won't be able to get in, Si Xi's mother won't be able to get out, and the whole family will be screaming in panic," Yang Yongzhi said.

“They can use ladders to climb over the wall and get out; they won’t be completely trapped,” Yang Huazhou said.

“Fifth Uncle, individuals can climb over the wall, but when they need to fetch water, wash clothes in the pond, and the children need to go out to play, are they supposed to climb over the wall using ladders? That would be incredibly difficult,” Yang Yongzhi added.

Yang Huazhou nodded with a smile, finding the thought of the scene hilarious.

Yang Huaming said, "How arrogant and smug Si Xi's mother is tonight, pretending to be asleep with the door locked. We'll make her cry and repent later. We'll give her the key when Er Yatou calms down."

Everyone nodded, and Yang Huazhong said, "Anyway, we're not getting involved in this. None of us should get involved. The key is in Er Ya's hands. We need to be busy with the Zhou family sending the wreaths these two days. Don't you all agree?"

"Third Brother is right, he must be right, there's nothing we can do to help!"

Once everyone reached a consensus, they dispersed, satisfied.

Back at the Luo family home, Luo Fengtang asked Yang Ruoqing, "Didn't you say you didn't want to get involved in Er Ya's matter before? Why are you suddenly helping her tonight?"

Yang Ruoqing said, "Sometimes I do things on a whim, and what Sixi's mother did tonight really annoyed me, so I helped Er Yatou out!"

Luo Fengtang smiled and nodded, then gently stroked Yang Ruoqing's head: "I love your free-spirited personality, it's interesting."

A beautiful appearance is a dime a dozen, but an interesting soul is one in a million.

How fortunate he was to have met a woman who possessed both qualities as his wife!

That night, Xiu Hong and Sixi locked Sixi's courtyard gate from the outside. Xiu Hong put the key in her pocket and then happily took Sixi back to her parents' home at the entrance of the village.

That night, Sixi slept in the room with Xiao Sanzi and Yongxiao, while Xiuhong slept in her own room.

Yang Yongjin and Cao Bamei tossed and turned until midnight. Although they had put the padlock up and were waiting to see Sixi's family suffer the next day, it didn't mean that the couple wasn't annoyed.

“Sometimes I really don’t understand why other people’s in-laws, no matter how much they don’t get along, will still maintain a basic level of courtesy for the sake of their children,” Cao Bamei said.

"Why are all these in-laws acting like this when we come to our house!" Cao Bamei became more and more angry and sad as she spoke, tears streaming down her face.

Look at other families, the wife's family is the most valued among all the husband's relatives; otherwise, why would they be called Mount Tai of the East?

But when they came to their own home, let alone showing respect to Mount Tai, their daughter-in-law, who had only recently entered the family, was treated so badly!
“Not all of our in-laws are as outrageous as Sixi’s mother. Look at the Wang couple in town, they know how to handle people!” Yang Yongjin said.

Xiuxiu's in-laws, Wang Wei's parents, seemed to be a harmonious and peaceful family.

Moreover, before the two families became in-laws, Yang Yongjin and Wang Wei's father had gone from being business partners to becoming close friends.

Now that they've become in-laws, the two of them eat and drink together in a very harmonious and pleasant atmosphere!
"Forget it, let's not talk about it anymore. They'll do what they say, so let's do what they say. Let's get some sleep and see how they collect their treasures when we wake up!" Yang Yongjin said.

Cao Bamei nodded: "That's right. They can be heartless and pretend to be asleep and not open the door for our daughter, so we can also not unlock the door for them and let them crawl into the house through the dog hole!"

The night passed quickly.

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Sixi's father returned from playing cards all night at a friend's house in the village. He was hugging his shoulders, his stomach empty. He hadn't noticed anything was wrong while playing cards, but when he got off the card table and walked home into the cold morning wind, he felt incredibly hungry and cold all the way, the kind of cold that seeps into your bones.

He hugged his shoulders, his teeth chattering, and jogged until he finally arrived at the gate of his own yard.

He instinctively tried to push the door open, but found it wouldn't budge. He looked up.

Holy crap, there was a lock on the door!

"What the hell? Where did the whole family go so early in the morning after locking the door?" Sixi's father looked at the iron lock on the door, his head full of questions.

Just then, the old lady next door happened to be out early in the morning picking up dog poop on the village road. She looked up and saw Sixi's father squatting at the door with his arms crossed. The old lady was startled and patted her chest, saying, "You little devil, squatting there so early in the morning is terrifying!"

Si Xi's father hurriedly went over and asked, "Auntie, do you know where all my family members have gone?"

The neighbor lady glanced at the yard behind Sixi's father, looking puzzled: "He didn't go anywhere. I heard your child crying late last night!"

"If you didn't go anywhere, then why did you lock the door?" Sixi's father was even more puzzled.

The neighbor lady took one look and exclaimed, "Oh dear, that's right, the door is locked tight!"
"What's going on? Let me go check!" She turned around and went to the outside of Sixi's yard, calling out over the tall wall, "Sixi's mother, are you home?"

I called out twice, but there was no response from the yard.

The neighbor lady banged her manure scraper against the wall, yelling, "Your husband's back! He can't get into the yard. If you keep pretending to be asleep and not getting up to open the door, you'll get a slap!"

The men in the village are rough, and so are the women.

In the village, it's commonplace for men to beat women, just like eating, drinking, and using the outhouse.

In particular, this neighbor lady had personally witnessed Sixi's mother marry into Sixi's father's family and had seen Sixi's father slap Sixi's mother. So these words came out of her mouth as if she were singing, and Sixi's mother really couldn't do anything about this lady.

Because the number of children and grandchildren in the aunt's family was no less than that of Sixi's family. More importantly, Sixi's father and his family were familiar with the men and sons of the aunt's family, and they were together every day, so Sixi's mother dared not do anything to this aunt.

Especially since the old woman had mentioned Sixi's father, Sixi's mother, half-draped in a cotton-padded coat, with disheveled hair, came out of the house muttering to herself. Her eyes, full of sleep, were straining to open, and she headed straight for the courtyard gate.

She was so excited about what she had done last night that she couldn't fall asleep until late at night.

So much so that when she vaguely heard that her husband had returned, she had only one thought in her mind: to quickly open the gate to the yard.

"Coming, coming," Si Xi's mother muttered as she arrived behind the courtyard gate.

He gripped the door bolts with both hands—two bolts as thick as his arm—and casually pulled them to either side, preparing to open the door.

"Huh?"

What's going on?

Why can't I pull the door open?

"I can't open it! What's going on? Are you holding it up outside?" Sixi's mother asked at the top of her lungs.

"I'll teach you a lesson you idiot!" came the shout from outside the door.

"The door is locked, no wonder it can't be opened!" he said again.

Is it locked?
Sixi's mother shuddered; a gust of cold wind blew, and all her sleepiness vanished.