Chapter 24: Chapter 24
Chapter 24
The beautiful woman listened to the little child’s words, her face showing considerable admiration. She knew he did not want to trouble her, even though what they were doing was something they had all eagerly awaited, yet he did not seize the opportunity selfishly.
Nevertheless, she had her ways to persuade them.
"A one-time investment, but for the next 10 years, you’ll still be able to write. How is that not worth it?" Yueqian raised her eyebrows at them, asking, causing Xiao Long to pause.
"I want to practice. I will work on copying texts; it seems more fun than selling embroidered clothes like mother used to do. And it seemed even more profitable," Huan’er was clever. She thought of her mother who used to take embroidery work, after long hours, would barely earn herself 3 brass coins per piece. That seemed far more exhausting.
"Alright then, let’s start. These are the first set of characters that I will have you practice. As you write, say them out loud, remember how the first one is pronounced. I’ll read this set out loud for only one time," Yueqian said. The hesitant children were now focused.
They listened to the words their sister-in-law pronounced. The first set contained eight characters, which the children memorized them well.
"Start now, I’ll also be writing here. If you have any questions, just ask," Yueqian told children before she turned to focus on her own paper.
Having been educated since she was young, her skills were quite good, but unfortunately, she could not reveal this due to her role as the villainess. Nevertheless, it didn’t mean her work was unknown.
"Butterfly Flutters" — that was her alias.
And just how well-known was this Butterfly Flutters? So renowned that even the royal concubines would have their people line up to buy her latest works every two months.
When Yueqian first arrived here, she was extremely bored. Especially, as someone who read the novel, she felt that this world was too dull. Thus, she began to distribute works copied from bookstores in department store. Initially, when she copied the works, she just hoped to make this boring world a bit more interesting.
Who would have thought that in this culturally backward world, people would show so much interest in romantic stories? Even a love story between two poor people could become a bestseller.
The Romantic Drama stories were particularly popular. Young women teared up every time they read them, reminiscent of the era when literature first flourished in the world she came from. Therefore, Yueqian worked as a side job, copying novels from one world to sell in another. Though she made good money, she didn’t want to become too prominent.
Back in the capital, every time she went to social gatherings or tea parties with other women, she enjoyed secretly listening to the reactions of the readers. Unfortunately, she had to pretend to be illiterate, so she couldn’t share her thoughts with them.
Otherwise... she would have started a literary critique group herself.
Her small hand flicked the brush skillfully. The two children, holding brushes for the first time, widened their eyes while looking at her. Although they couldn’t read, the characters Sister-in-law wrote seemed as delicate and beautiful as paintings. If they looked closely, it seemed even more exquisite than the textbooks they were copying—wasn’t it?
"Hmm, aren’t you practicing your calligraphy?" Time passed, and Yueqian hadn’t heard the children reciting from their books. She looked up to find them just staring at her.
"Uh, um."
"Sister-in-law, your calligraphy is so beautiful, Huan’er really likes it."
"If you like it, then you must practice often. I started learning when I was younger than you, so you should start now, don’t be lazy."
Yueqian pretended to scold them, knowing they were so excited to study textbooks, thus, they would not be lazy.
It seemed she might have demonstrated her skills a bit too much...
"Yes, sister-in-law, Huan’er will be diligent."
The girl quickly bowed her head and began grinding ink. Xiao Long did the same, his determination even greater than the girl’s, driven by his long-held dream of becoming a scholar, so his brother and sister could live a comfortable life.
As time passed, all three were absorbed in their own thoughts. The children practiced writing while reciting the words a few dozen times, feeling they had memorized them well. They also took breaks from writing by looking for the characters they had been practicing in other textbooks to see how many characters they could remember.
This method of learning while playing was incredibly effective.
Three hours later, Yueqian got up to heat the food. Whether it was the dumpling soup, the dumplings themselves, or the herbal chicken stewed since morning, if eaten now, the meat would likely melt in the mouth.
While Yueqian’s household enjoyed a peaceful atmosphere, another household not far away felt so frustrated as if their hearts were going to explode. In this house, there were three middle-aged women, two middle-aged men, two very elderly people, and the remaining were children, around the ages of Mu Heng, and some were around the ages of Xiao Long, and Huan’er, so they certainly understood things.
Bang!!
"I won’t accept this, it’s too much. Isn’t this just cutting off our livelihood?" A man’s voice boomed. He was extremely furious.
Initially, the village leader had gathered the villagers together, excitedly announcing good news that would allow the villagers to thrive. They were all thrilled until they learned that the land belonged to the new sister-in-law from the capital.
They had thought about treating her well since she owned thousands of mu of land.
But who could have expected that at the end of the meeting, the village leader would issue a final decree, the restriction of the Mu surname? Regardless of future generations, they would never get the right to lease this farming land; only the Old Grandfather Mu could lease the 50 mu of land, just like anyone else.
What did this mean? Wasn’t it simply depriving them of the chance to prosper?
Considering it per capita, his household had three men that considered adult. If the land were divided among them, they would have the remaining lease right to pass it on to the next generation, their children might get it. His house had three more boys, totaling a possible lease of 300 mu of land—a considerable amount. Other families had similar or even greater numbers, depending on the number of household members.
However, they now find themselves having lost the right to lease 250 mu of land. This issue requires an explanation!!
"We must ask and find out why they would do this to people of the same family."
"Indeed, they never consider the warm meals we gave them. Did they even consider how much they have eaten from us growing up?"
"These ungrateful children, with such an attitude. If they refuse to lease, then we must publicly shame them to see who would dare to marry into their family," said the elders angrily, their faces turned red.
In truth, after finding out that the lands belonged to the granddaughter-in-law, they were already grinding their teeth in anger. The other party owns thousands mu of land, but instead of giving them priority, they reported it to the authorities to distribute the income.
Even when they found out they not only didn’t get any special rights as family but also had their rights stripped away.
"Hah! Are you satisfied now?" scoffed the elder of the Mu family, who was listening in.
Were these people still not satisfied after the slap in the face he felt this morning? Perhaps even if they pursued this issue, they would lose the chance to lease even 50 mu of land.
"Father, what are you saying?" asked his eldest son, who was engaged in the fight, not understanding.
"What am I saying? What do you think is the reason those kids didn’t give us the leasing rights! Who was it yesterday that was so greedy for a few brass coins?"
"Ultimately cutting off our own means of making a living like this! If the 50 mu of land produced well, we could make 30 silver taels each year. With 300 units, that’s 180 silver taels. Think about how much money that is. All lost because of people wanting 600 brass coins. Ptui! What else do you expect me to think?"
"Go on then! Show the villagers your courage. Do you want them to be shamed into giving us the lease rights? huh!"
"All this time, besides stealing their land, you also stole the deer money from Xiao Heng, and yesterday you stole the dowry of the granddaughter-in-law. And today, you still want the granddaughter-in-law to show filial piety by giving a lease?!"
"Filial piety my foot! What have you done since the granddaughter-in-law arrived? Going to claim the maintenance of her husband? Shameful! Who should be embarrassed here!! It’s likely that even the 50 mu of land will be denied rights.”
"Moreover, the villagers already revered the Granddaughter-in-law Qin. If you still go and trouble her, do they seem likely to side with you?! They would rather curry favor and fight over the share of our 50 mu."
"So, how could I not call you a fool!! Finding yourself a problem, how is it now?! Don’t think I didn’t know about the cursing at Xiao Heng’s house. The villagers know it all. If anyone is to blame, look at yourselves."
The old man was furious, speaking without having to stop to think.
He had been holding back his anger before, when his grandchildren acted as if they didn’t see people like them with gray hair. Hearing this bad news was already irritating enough.
But this issue... even a fool could see that it’s beyond fixing now. Interfering more would only make things worse.
As for the opportunity to lease 50 mu of land per person, who wouldn’t like that? Even though the land might be priced at just a few silver taels, remember that these areas are desolate and remote; no one knows whether they can be cultivated successfully. Knowing this... who would risk dozens of silver taels to gamble on it? Not to mention the land taxes that must be paid. It’s uncertain whether the investment will pay off.
Those who already own some land need to pay taxes in several brass coins when the time comes. If they have to invest heavily in buying land and bear the financial burden every year, no one could tell if the yields will be good or not, would it be better to just stay put and work on their own existing land?
However, this lease is like an opportunity for them to make a living without spending any money, without needing a large investment. For the wealthy, this large sum might not seem like much.
But for the poor, like them, having three silver taels were enough to survive the winter. If they were to spend money to buy land that might not yield a good return, wouldn’t it be like committing suicide?
"On the other hand, 50 mu of land is not a small amount. However, if these foolish people don’t know how to be satisfied with what they have and rush to cause trouble with the other party, causing them to become displeased and cancel the rights to this 50 mu, it would truly be disastrous."
