The Whole Village Thrives After Adopting a Lucky Girl

“We’ve already given you plenty of money, what more do you want?”

Jiang Yunniang cried:”We’ve even pledged our shop to you, please spare us.”

The burly man sneered:”How much is your pathetic shop worth? Not even fifty taels! Either come up with two hundred taels today, or it’ll be a knife fight.”

Not far away, Jiang Quan saw the two burly men acting so cruelly, he was filled with anger. But remembering the instruction of his younger cousin sister, he did not dare to interfere with his younger cousin, so he pulled Jiang Wu towards the weapons shop.

He intended to fetch constables from the government office at the weapons shop.

Surely, the constables wouldn’t ignore such heinous acts of extortion.

Besides, no matter how his aunt might behave, she was still his grandpa and grandma’s legitimate daughter, his father’s legitimate sister, he as a nephew could not stand by and do nothing.

Jiang Quan ran to the weapons store near the county school and found Jin Wu.”Uncle Jin, someone is trying to kill my aunt! Please, go save her.”

Jin Wu was sitting in an arms shop bragging to his colleagues. Hearing Jiang Quan’s words, he immediately stood up, picked up his sword from the table and asked:”Where? Hurry up and take me there!”

On the eve of the New Year, the county government had issued orders for each team to inspect thoroughly, to prevent criminals from causing trouble and damaging the reputation of the county government. Yet, surprisingly someone dared to commit murder. This was outrageous!

Jian Quan nodded, pulling along Jiang Wu and running ahead.

On the way past their shop, Jiang Quan asked his younger cousin to go back. But Jiang Wu took the goodies he bought into the shop and then followed his second cousin. He kept looking curiously at the constable’s sword.

He so wished he could have such a good-looking knife too.

When they arrived at the mouth of the alley, they saw Jiang Yunniang sitting on the ground crying, Zhang Jia and the murderer had disappeared.

“What happened?” Jin Wu asked Jiang Yunniang.

Jiang Yunniang looked up and saw that it was a constable, she quickly got up and stammered:”Nothing… I just fell.”

“You fell?” Jin Wu glanced suspiciously at Jiang Quan.

Jiang Quan immediately spoke:”Auntie, I saw two men hitting you and uncle just now, how has it turned into a fall?”

Jiang Yunniang turned and saw her second nephew, was startled, then angrily retorted:”What did you see? You’re just a kid, don’t just make things up! Who hit me?”

Someone in the crowd bellowed out:”You were being hit, how can you be so ungrateful? We tried to help and you just end up scolding us.”

Jin Wu scoffed, asked Jiang Quan:”Is this woman really your aunt?”

Jiang Quan looked embarrassed but nodded:”Yes.”

“Looks like your aunt doesn’t want you meddling in her business, lad. Next time you come across something like this, it’s best not to interfere.” Jin Wu patted him on the shoulder and left, leading the constables away.

Jiang Wu looked curiously at his second cousin and then at his aunt. He pulled Jiang Quan by the sleeve and said:”Second brother, let’s go home.” He didn’t like this lying aunt at all.

Just a moment ago, someone was clearly hitting her, but she hid the truth and scolded his second cousin. It’s just like what his master said about ‘biting the hand that feeds you’.

Jiang Quan nodded and left with his younger cousin.

After a few steps, Jiang Yunniang grabbed his shoulder.

“What are you doing?” Jiang Quan brushed off his aunt’s hand and stepped back a few paces, looking warily at this dishevelled woman.

Jiang Yunniang’s expression changed to one of pleading:”Erquan, don’t tell anyone at home about what just happened.”

Jiang Quan nodded indifferently.

“And, could you talk to Dacheng…I need to borrow two hundred taels of silver from him urgently, I promise I will pay him back soon.” Jiang Yunniang pleaded:”As you saw earlier, your uncle is in trouble. If we don’t provide money for them, he could get killed.”

Jiang Quan shook his head:”No, we don’t have that much silver.” Even if they had, they wouldn’t lend it to this troublesome aunt.

Seeing her nephew unwilling to help, Jiang Yunniang immediately scowled, her face dark. She turned around and limped away.

Jiang Wu tugged on Jiang Quan’s sleeve, saying:”Aunt is weird.”

Jiang Quan uttered an agreement, pulling his younger cousin quickly back to the shop to tell his older brother what had happened.

“Older brother, I think our aunt will try borrowing money from us again. Don’t lend her any.” He always felt something was strange.

Jiang Cheng:”I’m not stupid, even if mom and dad come, I wouldn’t lend them that much money.”

The shop’s business had just started to turn around, it was taboo to spend or lend the first bit of money earned. This was akin to giving away one’s own luck and fortune. It was very unlucky, so the money from the shop, he wouldn’t lend even a single coin.

At that moment, Yingbao and the two other cousin sisters were packing boxes in the storeroom.

A box of persimmon cake weighed two pounds, as did a box of chestnut cake.

The packed gift boxes were stacked neatly in the storeroom’s shelves, a very impressive sight.

The storeroom also stocked many large gourds, all of which were brought from the village. They were sold for ten or twenty taels each and could sell several in a month.

Each gourd had different auspicious phrases attached, such as: ‘carps leaping over the dragon gate’, ‘five children attaining scholastic honours’, ‘securing the first place in official examinations’, ‘wealth and happiness as vast as the East Sea’, ‘prosperous business’, and so on.

Jiang Wu ran in, handed the snacks he’d bought earlier to his three sisters, sat down, started munching and relayed what had happened earlier, finally saying:”Aunt is weird, she was clearly being hit but didn’t admit, furthermore she borrowed money from second brother.”

Yingbao frowned and pondered.

She couldn’t help but feel this scheme seemed familiar, like a scam.

But the target of their plotting seemed to be, not her uncle, but her aunt, or more specifically, her aunt’s family.

Beginning from last year, her aunt would frequently return to her maiden home to borrow money, not only from her grandparents but also from her eldest and second uncles. Even her mother was approached but refused on the ground of having recently purchased a house.

After having borrowed from everyone and unable to find anyone else to borrow from, she began to frequently demand that her son, Yukan, take over the management of their speciality shop.

Probably her aunt thought she was just a five-year-old kid and therefore not capable of managing the shop, and so never discussed it with her.

And now she had set her eyes on Jian Cheng, hoping he would lend her money.

Yingbao thought about it, ran to the shop and asked Jiang Quan for details about the incident.

Jiang Quan explained the situation in detail, fuming:”I clearly saw someone hitting my aunt, so I went and fetched uncle Jin. But when we arrived, that group of people and my uncle had already left, only my aunt was left sitting on the ground.”

“Alone? Where was uncle?” His wife had just been beaten in his defense, he should have taken his wife to seek medical help or go home, yet, he just left on his own?

What kind of a heartless man was this?

And yet, her aunt lied to the constable saying she was not beaten but had only fallen, also pleading with Jiang Quan not to tell anyone at home, let alone mention why her uncle was not there.

This was really a strange family.

Jiang Quan said irritably:”Who knows! Looking at my aunt’s condition, it seems uncle is temporarily safe.”

Yingbao fell silent, not saying anything more.

The next day, Jiang Quan took his three sisters and younger cousin to Wa City for fun, and took the opportunity to listen to Dongmei and her father telling stories.