Farmer girl swaps husbands: buys a sickly villain and pampers him

Chapter 129 Beating the Autumn Wind

"Sister, Yaoguang..." Zhang Yingdi ran in from outside. "Dad, Mom, and Zhang Jizong are here."

Zhang Jizong, just by hearing his name, you can tell that he is the only brother of the three Zhang sisters. Zhang's parents had three daughters, and they finally waited for this only son. You can imagine how high his status in the family is.

The Zhang family married off their daughter, Zhang Zhaodi, for a betrothal gift of five taels of silver. This gift was used to pay for Zhang Jizong's tuition, buy him a new set of clothes, and buy him some study supplies. However, within two years, he skipped classes and got into fights, and his teacher persuaded him to drop out. The Zhang family married off their second daughter, Zhang Pandi, because her husband, a bricklayer, promised to build them a new house in lieu of the betrothal gift, and so sold her. As for marrying off their third daughter, Wang Huanzhi, it was because the Wang family gave him a betrothal gift of twenty taels of silver to bring him good luck. This money allowed Zhang Jizong to marry a new wife and buy him three acres of good land.

The villagers said that the Zhang family had become wealthy by selling their daughters, and that their once shabby little thatched cottage had been transformed into several large tiled houses, all thanks to their daughters. Upon hearing this, Zhang's parents, Wei and Zhang Laosan, took their anger out on their three daughters, saying they would marry sooner or later and it didn't matter who they married. They also deliberately spread unpleasant rumors to tarnish the family's reputation.

Over the years, the Zhang sisters rarely returned to their parents' home. They would only return when Wei and Zhang Laosan sent word that they were feeling unwell. Of course, ever since Zhang Zhaodi became a widow and took care of her daughter, she rarely returned, as she was often not even allowed to sit at the table when she brought her daughter home. Not to mention Zhang Pandi, who had lived a life worse than pigs and dogs in recent years. With no support from her parents, she couldn't leave. And then there was Zhang Yingdi, who had to stay home to care for her ailing husband, so she couldn't leave.

The last time Zhang Zhaodi went back to her parents' home, she not only received no concern, but also returned with a lot of anger. It had been almost a year since they last saw them. Normally, they wouldn't have thought much of their three daughters, but today they had actually found their way to the city, and had even accurately found Taoyaofang. It seemed they had heard about them from somewhere.

A few people went out from the backyard and saw four adults and a crying child sitting in the tea area next to them with resentful faces, as if they had come to collect debts.

"Dad, Mom, Ji Zong, sister-in-law, why are you here?" Zhang Zhaodi asked worriedly with a sad look on her face.

"What's the matter? You are living a good life in the city, while my parents and younger brother are almost starving to death in the countryside. Now we come to you to ask for help, and you act like this?" Wei cursed in a shrill voice.

"Shhh..." Zhang Zhaodi anxiously made a gesture to keep quiet. "There are officials everywhere. Please stop shouting. It would be bad if they attract the government officials."

Wei's face froze. She looked around and saw an officer poking his head at the door.

"Madam Zhang, is someone causing trouble?"

"No, no," Zhang Zhaodi said, "My mother spoke a little loudly, please don't be offended, sir."

The officer retreated.

Zhang Laosan suppressed the fierce look on his face, looked outside furtively, and said in a low voice, "What have you done wrong? Why are the police guarding you outside?"

"The city has been in chaos recently, with patients everywhere. The officials asked us to take care of those patients in our store. Look, the people queuing over there are all infected with the disease. Grandma, grandpa, uncle, you have to stay away from them." Su Yaoguang said in a low voice.

"My God, why do you have to take care of those patients? Those who are infected with the disease are terrible. There are patients in our village. They spread the disease from one to another and cough up blood every day. It's scary!" Wei looked at the patients in fear.

The commotion here caught the attention of the people in line, and they turned around to look. They were no longer those elegantly dressed ladies, but a group of people stricken by the plague, and one could see how terrifying their faces were. They just stared at Wei, Zhang Laosan, and the others without saying anything, which frightened the few people who had been so arrogant just now. "Dad, Mom, we can't stay here. These people are sick, and they deal with patients all day long. Who knows if they're infected too? Our Xiaobao can't take that risk."

"Daya, we won't bother you to take us in. Just give us one thousand taels of silver and we'll go back to the countryside." Zhang Laosan changed his original plan to stay here and enjoy himself.

"One thousand taels?" Su Yaoguang was surprised. "Grandpa, we don't even have ten taels of silver. Where can we find one thousand taels?"

"Such a big shop, and you tell us you have no money?" Wei said in a shrill voice, "Zhong Lanhua across the street said your business is booming, and you can earn hundreds of taels of silver every day."

"Let alone now, business wasn't this good even before. To be honest, we've spent all our money just on rice and grain during this period. Our store's business was already bad, and that Zhong Lanhua across the street has been against us at every turn, taking away all our business. She deliberately lied to you, letting you see the jokes of my mother and me. That Zhong Lanhua across the street has hurt my mother, and you still believe her?"

Zhang Jizong's daughter-in-law Hua looked around the store.

"I think so. If their store was doing well, why would it be so empty? Look at the dust on the table, and the mess everywhere."

Hua couldn't bear to see her three sisters-in-law living well. The worse Zhang Zhaodi's life became, the happier she felt. After all, the three Zhang sisters were the most humble of beings, and she was the one who had contributed greatly to the Zhang family's legacy.

"Since grandma and grandpa and my uncle and aunt are here, Yaoguang, as a junior, is shamelessly asking to borrow a hundred taels from you." Su Yaoguang twisted her fingers and said awkwardly, "The rent is almost due, and I need to pay a hundred taels of silver soon, but I really can't come up with it. I heard that my uncle and aunt have made a lot of money over the years. Can you lend it to us first and then pay you back when you make money later?"

Wei, Zhang Laosan, Zhang Jizong, and Hua: "..."

They came here to ask for money, not to give it away. Is this girl mentally ill or stupid?

Zhang Zhaodi and her two sisters were trying to hold back their laughter.

"We have no money. If we had money, would we still come to you?" Hua said, "You just said that you have spent all your money on buying rice. Does that mean you have rice now?"

"Rice is selling for a hundred coins a pound now. We don't know how long this rain will last, so we grabbed some and kept it at home. But we don't have much left."

"Then get us some rice and flour," Zhang Laosan said. "One hundred kilograms."

"We don't even have 100 kilograms ourselves." Zhang Zhaodi frowned. "We still have some cornmeal left. We can give you 20 kilograms of cornmeal, but we only have 5 kilograms of rice."

"You're sending beggars away?" Wei said, "We are your parents. You should be filial to us. Do you want us old bones to starve to death in this year of natural disasters?"