183 Smart Move
Old Mrs. Chen and her two daughters-in-law moved quickly and helped Zhao Chuchu cook the rice while they started to cut the wax gourd.
When they finished the remaining two dishes, Xie Heng and the others returned just in time.
“Wash your hands, call the children over, and get ready to eat,” Zhao Chuchu shouted to them.
“Why are you so polite?”
“You’ve worked hard. You have to eat enough before you can have energy in the afternoon, right? Don’t be polite to me. You’re not getting paid, but I will still have to make sure that you eat well.” Zhao Chuchu paused and shouted inside the house, “Junjun, come out quickly and call all the uncles’ families over to eat together.”
“Okay, Chuchu, I’ll go right away.” Xie Jun came out of the house and ran outside.
“No, no.” The villagers refused.
But even Xie Heng couldn’t change Zhao Chuchu’s mind after she made a decision, let alone them.
It didn’t take long for Xie Jun to call everyone over.
A lot of people helped to carry the food and chairs. The Xie family courtyard was full of people.
Many people couldn’t sit down, so they grabbed some food into their bowls and sat on piles of wood at the side. It was very lively.
The dishes that Zhao Chuchu took out were very ordinary, but for the people of Lengshui Village, it was a rare delicacy.
In the end, even the soup and wax gourd were completely gone.
The women helped to clean up and wash the dishes.
The men were more tired of working, so they sat in the courtyard and talked about the water mill.
They probably saw that Zhao Guitang’s and Niu Tongsheng’s families had been instructed by Zhao Chuchu and lived a better life, so they were all looking forward to the water mill.
By that time, they would be able to have a steady income every month. To them, this was excellent news.
Xie Heng patiently answered their questions one by one.
The plan was to start building the water mill when everyone’s soybeans were planted.
This caused everyone to be even more enthusiastic. It only took them ten days to plant all the soybean seeds.
Xie Heng selected a good location for the water mill, not far from the Lengshui Village, and there was a drop in the river flow, which could be used.
After the blueprints of the water mill were finished, the craftsmen in the village who had other craft work all pushed delayed the work they had at hand and stayed in the village to build the water mill.
When people were united, the power was great.
By the middle of June, the water mill was built. Including the room used to produce tofu skins, there were still five more large rooms left.
Moreover, the land that Xie Heng circled was all barren land unsuitable for growing crops and did not take up any good land.
In addition, Xie Heng also fully considered the problem of possible flooding in the spring. No harm would come to the water mill unless there was a flash flood.
On the day of the completion of the water mill, the villagers of Lengshui Village were delighted, and all families gathered their chicken, duck, and fish. They intended to eat a meal together to celebrate properly.
Even the Zhao clan and those who Zhao Chuchu had blacklisted were among those invited.
Niu Tongsheng felt this was a happy event, so he didn’t invite them to work, but the whole village had to eat the meal together.
Xie Heng agreed, so Zhao Chuchu didn’t say anything.
Madam Yang heard about this, and even if she was limping, she still had to go over to eat.
Otherwise, she felt that she had lost money.
The corners of Zhao Chuchu’s mouth twitched when she saw this attitude of hers.
But she pretended not to see Madam Yang if she didn’t cause any trouble.
People of the Zhao clan also did not disappoint Zhao Chuchu, just like the hungry ghost reincarnated. As soon as the dishes reached the table, they began filling their bowls.
Niu Tongsheng’s face darkened as he watched.
The good thing was that Xie Heng arranged in advance for the people of the Zhao clan to sit with some other families and allowed them to do whatever they wanted.
In a short time, the dishes at those tables were cleaned out.
Some people even wanted to extend their hands to other tables, but when they met Zhao Chuchu’s gaze, they gave up that idea and buried their heads to eat the dishes piled up in their own bowls.
However, Zhao Chuchu understood why Xie Heng had invited them and arranged for them to sit together.
They were all petty people. How could they not remember the people who were grabbing their food?
This was a genius move.
Xie Heng was quite scheming.
“You did it on purpose, right?” Zhao Chuchu quietly asked Xie Heng. “Let them fight between themselves.”
Xie Heng smiled. “We need to give them something to do so they don’t team up. If that happened, it would be quite hard for us to deal with them. This is the perfect state. We don’t need to do anything, and they don’t have the time to come looking for trouble.”
Zhao Chuchu was glad that she did not offend Xie Heng.
Otherwise, she would die an ugly death. Not to mention, she wouldn’t know when and where Xie Heng would take action!
She would probably end up dead without even knowing.
“I set you up.” Xie Heng seemed to know Zhao Chuchu’s thoughts, so he assured her in a low voice. “I will always talk to you about things first if it is about you.”
Zhao Chuchu felt a little overjoyed. “Only me?”
“Yep, only you.”
What did the death of others have anything to do with him?
It was only because Zhao Chuchu wanted to be nice to others that he helped Zhao Chuchu.
No one could be more cold-hearted than Xie Heng.
...
Only Xie Jun could make his heart soften in the past, but now there was Zhao Chuchu.
“My pleasure…”
“Da Lang, Chuchu, come over for dinner. You can talk about the little secrets between yourselves when you go to bed at night.”
Zhao Chuchu hadn’t finished speaking but was interrupted by an older woman laughing.
Both felt helpless, so they had to go over and take their seats.
Originally, Niu Tongsheng wanted to prepare some alcohol but was stopped by Xie Heng.
This was also to prevent the people of the Zhao clan and the other families from starting a conflict at the scene, which would spoil everyone’s good mood.
Niu Tongsheng now listened to Xie Heng for everything, so naturally, he didn’t prepare any alcohol.
The Zhao clan nagged them privately for being stingy, but they didn’t dare be too loud.
The good thing was that there was enough rice to go around, and these people only put down their cutlery when they were absolutely stuffed.
Someone from the Zhao clan plucked up the courage to come to Zhao Chuchu and asked with a smile, “Chuchu, your water mill has been built. When will you start hiring? Look at me. I can do all kinds of work. I don’t know if there is any part for me?”
...
“What do you think?” Zhao Chuchu smiled. “Have you ever seen me not keep my word?”
The man choked but still dared not to leave. “Chuchu, there is nothing that can’t be turned over, right? Seeing that you are getting better and better now, it would be good to give us a little benefit. At least we all have the surname Zhao.”
“Yes, our surname is Zhao, but my Zhao is not the same as yours. Did you forget the letter about the breaking of kinship? I haven’t forgotten.” Zhao Chuchu did not give any face. “You didn’t seem to remember that we had the same surname when you were chasing me around!”
Once these words came out, the Zhao clan, who was initially looking for some benefits, snapped.
As for Old Man Zhao and his family, they had enough to eat and drink, and they didn’t dare to ask for anything from Zhao Chuchu.
Madam Yang’s lesson was still fresh in their minds, so it was their family that ran the fastest.
Zhao Chuchu once again stressed, “I repeat. I will never forget that you wanted Official Li to kill me, so don’t try to take advantage of me. I am not a living Buddha!”
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