They've all separated, so what does it matter to me if they get poorer and poorer?

Chapter 257 The Lou Family Feud

In Xu Zhichun's view, it's better for the villagers to earn the money than for outsiders to earn it.

We'll hire more people then, so we can clear the land sooner and benefit more families. After clearing the land, there will be planting and weeding the following year, which will also require manpower.

If the workshop is established, even more people will be needed.

Yang Ming and Yang Xiaoan thought it was a good idea when they heard her say that, so they agreed and hurried back to finish their own work.

After clearing the wasteland, we'll need to inquire about building a house. Everyone in the village made money this year, and many families have said they want to do major repairs or even rebuild their houses.

Especially for those elderly people who have worked hard all their lives, they used to live a very frugal life and couldn't even dream of it. They would work themselves to the bone all year round and save every penny they could, and if they had a few coins left over at the end of the year, they were considered to be doing very well. For many families, it was just enough to feed themselves for a year. How could they even dare to think about building a new house?

Not to mention the old brick and tile houses.

It's different now.

Getting tens or even hundreds of taels of silver in hand, shouldn't we improve our lives?

Being able to live in a brick house built by myself makes this life worthwhile.

Furthermore, being able to leave a magnificent brick and tile house for one's children and grandchildren makes this life worthwhile.

It's a worthwhile thing to do, so why not do it now?

With a large population needing to build houses, labor will be in high demand, so we need to make arrangements in advance.
Yang Ming and his son Yang Xiao'an were both very energetic. After returning home that day, they shouldered hoes and carried machetes to their waists and set off to clear the wasteland.

Unexpectedly, Zeng Xiaojuan and her daughter Qiao'er almost got into trouble.

The Lou family actually came to our door.

Because Xu Zhichun had a lot of things to take care of at home recently, he didn't go to the city to set up a stall. The shop they bought was ready to use after a couple of simple renovations. Now they no longer need to set up a stall in the market; they've moved into the shop.

It saves me a lot of trouble every day.

Zeng Xiaoyan and Aunt Zhu'er didn't even need to go every day. If Qi Tian didn't have any work to do on a particular day, he could drive Aunt Zhu'er there.

Everyone in the village knew that Xu Zhichun and Zeng Xiaojuan were close. As soon as things got out of hand at their house, someone immediately ran to tell Xu Zhichun and also went to the village head's house to tell him.

Upon hearing the description, Xu Zhichun immediately realized the situation was dire. The Lou family, including Aunt Lou San and Aunt Lou Er, were no pushovers, and Aunt Xiaojuan was in for a beating.

Xu Zhichun rushed over and heard Lou Sanshen and Lou Er's family cursing and Qiao'er's heart-wrenching cries from outside the courtyard, as well as Zeng Xiaojuan's angry and frustrated voice, which was suppressed and intermittent.

A large crowd of villagers gathered in the courtyard to watch the spectacle, making all sorts of noise and chatter.

Aunt Lou cursed Zeng Xiaojuan with a thousand and ten thousand insults, calling her shameless and despicable. She also instigated Lou Er and Jiang Shi to take Qiao'er away, claiming that Qiao'er was a member of the Lou family and that no outsider should be her father.

Zeng Xiaojuan naturally refused to let them take Qiao'er away, crying and trying to protect Qiao'er, who was frightened and cried loudly.
When Xu Zhichun arrived, the village head's wife was already there. However, faced with the Lou family's aggressive and assertive demeanor, she was not very clear about the details and felt somewhat at a loss.

After all, who can stop someone from coming to your door and taking away your bloodline? Not even the Heavenly King himself could stop them. Zeng Xiaojuan tried to explain, but Aunt Lou was so domineering and loud that she didn't give her a chance to explain.
"Stop! All of you stop!"

Xu Zhichun stepped forward to protect Zeng Xiaojuan. Qiao'er, who had been dragged away by Lou Er, suddenly broke free from Lou Er, crying "Sister-in-law!" and ran over to Xu Zhichun, throwing herself into her arms and hugging her tightly, tears streaming down her face: "Sister-in-law, save me! Sister-in-law, save my mother, waaaaah!"

"You ungrateful wretch! I've wasted my time raising you! It's all because of your heartless and wicked mother. May she be struck by lightning and die a horrible death for raising my precious granddaughter into this state!"

Zeng Xiaojuan, filled with anger, shame, and rage, cried out, "You old man, you're spouting nonsense—"

Aunt Lou interrupted her sharply, raising her voice and pounding her chest loudly: "How am I talking nonsense? It's clearly you, you slut, putting on airs and pretending. If you were a good person, if you hadn't been talking badly about us behind our backs, how could this girl have turned out like this? You've managed to fool her so much that she doesn't even recognize her own grandmother and father at such a young age. You've got some skills!"

Lou Er glared fiercely at Zeng Xiaojuan, wishing he could skin her alive. He sneered like a venomous snake, "Mother, why bother talking so much to this slut? If she were any good, she wouldn't have done these things. Let's take this girl and leave."

"That's right! The bloodline of the Lou family will never be allowed to flow outside and call someone else 'father.' Zeng Xiaojuan, you are truly shameless! You left the Lou family's door and remarried the next day. Could it be that you were already having an affair? Despicable! Truly despicable!"

Zeng Xiaojuan glared at her furiously and roared, "What nonsense are you spouting! What nonsense are you spouting! It's clearly you, you shameless people, you vicious people who can't tolerate my daughter and me! How dare you slander me, frame me, how dare you throw mud at me! How dare you, ahhh!"

The Lou family was stunned, and Jiang's eyes widened in disbelief.

Is this still the same Zeng Xiaojuan who was timid, cowardly, and afraid to say a word? Was it all an act before?

"You've gone too far! How dare you talk to me like that! I'll beat you to death!"

Aunt Lou San simply couldn't tolerate her daughter-in-law, whom she used to bully and abuse at will, and who would beat her for fun when she was happy and to vent her anger when she was unhappy, now daring to yell at her and accuse her. She was so shocked and furious that she felt like she was going to eat someone alive, and she pounced on Zeng Xiaojuan to hit her.

Xu Zhichun stepped forward to block her: "What are you doing?"

The people of Liangjia Village had all seen what kind of person Zeng Xiaojuan was. On the contrary, although the Lou family's accusations sounded reasonable, the villagers didn't think much of their behavior and naturally took their words at face value.

However, since it was none of their business and it was someone else's family affair, and they weren't very familiar with Zeng Xiaojuan, they hesitated to intervene. But seeing Xu Zhichun step forward to greet them, things changed.

Since Xu Zhichun had taken charge of this matter, they naturally wanted to help. So they all stepped forward, pulling and tugging, and managed to pull Aunt Lou away.

"Hey, let's talk this out, why did you have to resort to violence?"

"That's right, taking action won't solve the problem."

"I'm telling you, your sister-in-law is really too fierce. Be a little gentler."

"Yes, don't say such harsh things, they really don't sound nice."

"Hey!"

Aunt Lou yelled angrily, "What's it to you! Mind your own business!"

People weren't happy to hear that, and they all started talking at once, trying to teach her a lesson.

Aunt Lou couldn't possibly out-argue countless other mouths, and finally experienced the bitterness of having something to say but being unable to speak.