The Delicate Darling with Her Rough Man

Seeing everyone’s curious gazes on him, the brigade leader raised his hand.

The surrounding chatter instantly died down.

”I know you’re all curious where these things came from,” the brigade leader announced. ”I’ll tell you now—they were developed by Gu Zhiqing.”

”For the past few days, Gu Zhiqing has been at home figuring out the water pump and this corn machine. She developed them both, and we all owe her our thanks.”

’So it was Gu Jiaojiao who made them.’

Upon hearing this news, many people immediately started singing her praises.

”I’ve been saying Gu Zhiqing is our lucky star! Just look—now she’s gone and invented all these things. She’s truly incredible.”

”She’s remarkable. Who knows how she learned to do it, figuring out things like this.”

In the crowd, Aunt Leng and the others who had been planning to stir up trouble were struck dumb by the brigade leader’s words.

’If Gu Jiaojiao made all these things, what trouble could they possibly cause? Even if they did, no one would side with them.’

’Maybe they should just forget it.’

The women exchanged glances and muttered to each other. Before they could say anything more, they saw Gu Jiaojiao walking down the mountain with a woven basket on her back.

It was filled with wild grasses.

To others, they were just weeds. To Gu Jiaojiao, they were medicinal herbs.

As she came down, her gaze fell upon Aunt Leng.

Aunt Leng silently looked away.

’Forget it. Better not cause any trouble.’

Gu Jiaojiao’s lips curled into a smirk. Her gaze shifted to Li Hongmei. Li Hongmei quickly looked away, her eyes darting to the ground. Finding nothing of interest there, she looked up at the sky.

’Yep, nice. Lots of clouds in the sky today.’

Gu Jiaojiao paid the two women no mind, instead walking into the crowd. When the villagers saw her approach, their eyes lit up, and they stared at her as if she were some kind of rare treasure.

”Gu Zhiqing, you’ve been up on the mountain! You must be tired. If you need anything gathered from now on, just let me know. I’ll go up and get it for you.”

As he spoke, the man glanced at Gu Jiaojiao’s basket, then lowered his voice. ”Gu Zhiqing, those wild greens you picked aren’t edible. I accidentally picked some and brought them home once. Eating them gave me diarrhea, and I was stuck in bed for days before I recovered.”

Gu Jiaojiao knew he meant well, so she explained that they were medicinal herbs and not to be eaten casually.

After a brief explanation, she walked over to the brigade leader, glanced at the pump, and asked with a beaming smile.

”Brigade Leader, how are these working out?”

”Great! They work great!” the brigade leader replied, nodding emphatically. He had personally tested them all, and they were excellent.

Gu Jiaojiao nodded. Resting a hand on the water pump, she let out a soft chuckle. ”I heard some people were going to ask the brigade leader for a ruling today, complaining that I don’t do my share of the work and act like some pampered city girl. I came over specifically to hear all about it.”

At her words, the brigade leader’s smile froze.

It was true that some people in the brigade were unhappy about Gu Jiaojiao taking leave from her work duties. However, it was only a small minority; most people were perfectly fine with it.

He had brought these inventions out today partly to let those people see with their own eyes, intending to put them in their place.

But from the look of it, Gu Jiaojiao had no intention of letting the matter drop so easily.

And Gu Jiaojiao certainly wasn’t going to let it go.

’They’ve pulled these petty tricks behind my back one too many times. If I don’t put them in their place once and for all, they’ll keep thinking I’m a pushover!’

”Don’t worry,” she began. ”If you have a complaint, feel free to voice it. The brigade leader and the village head are right here, as are the other officials. If you have any grievances, now’s the time to share.”

Gu Jiaojiao rested her hand on the water pump, her fingers drumming lightly on the metal casing. She looked at the crowd with an expression that seemed entirely reasonable, as if she were ready to have a nice chat.

The villagers: ...