Transmigrated as an Unwanted Ugly Girl

Chapter 525: Chapter 274: Secret Rendezvous

When Zhou Xiaonian’s wife heard this was indeed the case, she nervously grabbed her husband’s arm. ”Then what do we do? I don’t want to be sent back to my parents’ house—everyone will laugh me to death. Sob, sob... Xiaonian, please, help me beg your father and mother. Can’t I just kneel for two days instead?”

Zhou Xiaonian snapped angrily, ”If I hadn’t pleaded for you, you’d probably be in Qingbei Village by now. How could you still be here? If you’re really sincere about changing, you should go and admit your mistake to Father and Mother yourself. Accept any scolding or beating they give you. What, would it kill you? Besides, even if it did, it would still be better than being sent back to your parents.”

Zhou Xiaonian’s wife hurriedly nodded. ”I’ll go. I’ll go admit my mistake.”

Zhou Xiaonian looked at his wife and sighed helplessly. ’No matter how detestable she can be, she’s still just an ordinary wife. The moment divorce is mentioned, she just wilts. I’ll have to keep a tighter rein on her from now on.’

No one knew exactly how Zhou Baozhu disciplined his daughter-in-law, but in the end, Caihua wasn’t sent back to her parents’ home. She just wasn’t seen around the village much anymore, presumably kept on a tight leash by the Zhou family.

Over at the Li Family’s home, Li Mingrui returned and gave Li Mingtang a vicious tongue-lashing. He said the old man was getting senile, that he’d disregarded his own granddaughter’s reputation just to win a petty squabble. He had let the entire village laugh at the Old Li Family. The reputation the Li Family had spent generations building, he had single-handedly destroyed.

When Jinling got home, she stopped holding back. She declared that if her grandfather went to the Zheng Family to demand justice again, he could just get ready to collect her corpse.

The color drained from Li Mingtang’s face.

Li Gongniu and his wife pulled their daughter close, promising they would never let her suffer such an injustice. The look Li Gongniu shot his father was filled with resentment and dissatisfaction. Li Gongniu’s two sons also thought their grandfather was being meddlesome and had caused their sister to become a laughingstock.

In that moment, Li Mingtang found himself utterly isolated. He could no longer go looking for trouble with Qingmu, but in his heart, his anger toward the Zheng Family only grew.

**********

In the workshop, after the crowd had dispersed, Qingmu addressed everyone in a somber voice. ”In the past, all we knew was farming a few acres of land. Life was hard, and there was nothing to be done about it. Now, this workshop can at least make us a little money. If you don’t work hard, you’ll have no one but yourselves to blame for being poor. Instead of wasting time on stupid squabbles, you’d be better off focusing on earning more money. That’s what’s important. Changling, you can’t keep acting like you did before—not taking this job seriously. You and Sun Tiezhu were both picked by the village chief, one for the pickle workshop, one for the sausage workshop. If nothing goes wrong on his end, but something happens on yours, won’t that be a disgrace? I’m not trying to scare you, but you need to be more careful. You have to understand that a lot of villages are jealous of our Qingnan Village. You dare say no one would try to steal from us? These sausages are very valuable; they’re worth stealing just to eat at home. If what happened last night happens one more time, you can go home for good, just like Zhou Xiaonian’s wife!”

Li Changliang shot to his feet, his face flushed. ”Steward Zheng, rest assured. I... I will definitely be more diligent from now on. Just you watch!” He no longer felt comfortable calling him ”Qingmu,” so he used his formal title instead.

Huang Xiaodun added in shame, ”I had a few drinks last night, and it made me a little groggy. I won’t ever drink on the job again.”

Even Uncle Lin admitted his own fault, saying he hadn’t been paying proper attention while watching the gate. He suggested the workshop get a couple of dogs to help keep watch, since they would bark at any strangers.

Qingmu nodded and gave him the go-ahead, telling him to get a couple of dogs as soon as possible.

He then turned to the group. ”Third Grandpa said one thing right today. My father is an only son, so it would have been difficult for the Zheng family to build this workshop alone. Even if we had brought in Huai Zi and Third Uncle Zhao to help, the villagers would likely get jealous and stir up trouble when they saw us making a fortune. My father and I couldn’t be bothered with that headache, so we decided to include everyone. This workshop belongs to all of you now. My family didn’t take an extra share. So, if anyone still tries to cause problems, what do you think we should do?”

Li Changliang said earnestly, ”Qingmu, my Third Grandpa is getting old. Please don’t take what he says to heart. We all know your family just couldn’t be bothered with the trouble; it’s not that you couldn’t have run this workshop yourselves. We’re not blind to that. Don’t worry. If anyone tries to stir up trouble again, we won’t let them get away with it.”

Guizhi added furiously, ”If it happens again, we should all spit on him! Let’s see how he dares to strut around the village after that.”

Sister-in-law Qiang said angrily, ”Dock their pay! That’ll make them feel the sting.”

Qingmu said, ”I’m not saying this to pat myself on the back. I’m telling you all to be more vigilant. Remember that you have a personal stake in the sausages made in this workshop. If everyone keeps their eyes open, then anyone with ulterior motives won’t be able to get away with anything—not with so many people watching.”

After saying his piece, he gave Li Changliang a few more detailed instructions before dismissing everyone. And with that, they all went back to their work.