Chapter 141

In the September weather, Anshui Prefecture began to have temperature differences between morning and evening.

He Chengzhang stood at the front door of the prefect's residence wearing thin casual clothes. More than the cold, it was the gazes of passersby and the whispers of the servants in the prefect's residence that made him feel uneasy.

There were comments like "The prefect is strictly controlled by his wife", "The prefect will certainly have less prestige than before", "It's better to divorce than to have such a vexing wife" that people dared to say.

He Chengzhang's face was gloomy, and he finally couldn't help but yell, "Shut up!"

The whispering servants were startled and bowed their heads pretending to be dead.

He was still angry, pointing at the crowd of servants, "My wife is none of your business to gossip about. I'm willing to be kicked out by her, and I'm also willing to stand here, but from now on, if I hear any of you speak ill of my wife, I'll sell you away."

Being sold away was different from being kicked out. Being kicked out was like returning goods and giving up the slave contract. Being sold away meant directly giving the contract to the slave trader, and according to the master's intention, in mild terms it meant selling to other households, but in blunt terms it meant selling to filthy and lowly places, directly extinguishing the person's entire future.

So when He Chengzhang raged, the servants were extremely frightened and all knelt on the ground, not daring to say more.

After a while, the main gate of the prefect's residence finally opened.

He Chengzhang tidied his expression before striding in.

The next day, the prefect's remarks spread throughout the city.

The Sun family who had sent the concubine was so frightened that their hearts thumped, knowing they had overplayed their flattery, and their hearts were flustered and chaotic as they paced around anxiously.

Including the Sun family, everyone knew clearly that after the prefect comforted the prefect's wife, he would surely settle accounts with the Sun family.

The other powerful families watched the lively scene with legs crossed, and the residents of Hairpin Courtyard also breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's great that all the soybeans in Xieyang County have been harvested and dried into soybean dried beancurd sticks. The thirty mu of land is vacant now, so I have to go back and think about it." Zheng Ruqian said lazily stretching, "I wonder what's good to plant for the next half year." Soybeans were planted in April and harvested in September.

Other crops that were planted could only be sown in September and harvested in April.

The timing was too rigid, leaving few options, especially for Zheng Ruqian who knew nothing about agriculture.

"Second brother, we have to plant something expensive, we can't waste thirty mu of land." Jiang Sheng blinked.

That settled it. With just a sentence from his sister, the brother ran his legs off.

Zheng Ruqian tidied up and prepared to take Wang Xiaosong back to Xieyang County.

It wasn't that he could only take Wang Xiaosong, but mainly that no one else could go back.

Zhang Qiquan and Zhang Auntie shook their heads at the mention of Xieyang County.

Xu Mo was preparing to sprint for the imperial examination so it was not good to disturb him.

As for Fang Heng, with people eyeing him like tigers, it was safest for him to stay in Anshui Prefecture. There was truth in the old saying that the most dangerous place was the safest.

Wen Zhiyun had his own clinic, and in order to maintain connections, he could not take random days off.

Chang Yan could have gone along, but the Wang family had encountered some situations recently, and Wang Fufeng was busy and harried, so it was unreasonable for the fifth young master who could help to leave at this time.

Even Wang Xiaosong asked with a bitter face, "Master, can we not go back to Xieyang County?"

The siblings who had fled from that place almost like refugees, hated the group of overbearing uncles from the main family to death, and by extension hated that piece of land, unwilling to set foot there for the rest of their lives.

But what wrong had the land done?

Every place had good and bad people, and every family also had kind and malicious ones. One couldn't hate a piece of land because of one person, nor hate a whole clan because of one thing.

The world had never been black and white. At every turn, there were countless grey areas where colors could not be defined.

"Xiaosong, you have to go back, go back ostentatiously, go back a hundred times more confidently." Zheng Ruqian patted Wang Xiaosong on the shoulder, speaking with maturity. "Make those who look down on you look up at you, make those who were cold to you enthusiastic, only then would your half a year of running around and hard work not be in vain."

Those who shed their old self and took on a new look had the right to be arrogant.

Wang Xiaosong was stupefied, not quite understanding the master's meaning, but at least he no longer resisted going back to Xieyang County.

Before leaving, he specially went to ask his sister Wang Xiaozhu at Wen's Clinic, "Go back home with me to take a look?" After getting a "scram", he dejectedly returned to the shaft of the carriage.

Whipping the horse, he returned to Hairpin Courtyard, picked up the tidy Zheng Ruqian, and was just about to ride away, when a little girl with oxhorn braids poked her head out from behind the door, followed by a chubby little body, and a small dark blue package tucked under her arm. "Jiang Sheng?" Zheng Ruqian was surprised. "What are you doing?"

"Going with second brother." As Jiang Sheng spoke, she hopped and bounced next to the carriage shaft.

It was still Wang Xiaosong who couldn't stand watching her antics, and reached out to steady her.

Only then did Jiang Sheng crawl into the carriage and sit side by side with Zheng Ruqian.

Facing the stunned second brother, she casually put down her small package and smiled, "Second brother would be too lonely going back alone. Jiang Sheng will accompany you. Anyway I'm idle every day, making preserved meat is enough with aunties."

Although she said this, the little girl had been full of enthusiasm researching new flavors with Zhang Auntie the past few days, trying to make different preserved foods, and was not idle at all.

She got on the carriage mainly because she was afraid Zheng Ruqian would feel dejected and unaccustomed without everyone accompanying him.

Although he was alone when transporting vegetables, that was work, it was to earn money, and everyone worked alone. Even Xu Mo studied alone.

This trip back to Xieyang County was different. Not only to deal with matters, but also to stay for a while. Zheng Ruqian would inevitably feel a little down alone, which made everyone uneasy.

"These are the medicine Fourth Brother gave, golden sore ointment, antidote, a big bag of broad bean powder." Jiang Sheng opened the small package. "And there's the dagger Fifth Brother took from the Wang family armory. He said it can cut iron like mud."

Finally she took out a letter, "This is the letter Big Brother wrote to the prefect of Bian County. He said to deliver it if there's difficulties."

Following that, there was movement outside the carriage again.

Zheng Ruqian lifted the curtain to see the grinning Jiang San and Jiang Si.

"Second young master, I miss home a bit. Third young master said to let me go back and take a look." Jiang San grinned.

"I don't have a home, but I miss Xieyang County." Jiang Si scratched his head.

These two didn't even try to make up a decent excuse. Clearly Fang Heng was also worried about Second Elder Brother and sent the two escorts to follow along.

Since they were all family, why not speak bluntly instead of using this sneaky method?

Zheng Ruqian touched the wet corners of his eyes and called out loudly, "Xiaosong, let's go."

The carriage bumped as it raced towards another city.

Whether it was Xu Mo who was studying, or Fang Heng who was practicing martial arts, or Wen Zhiyun who was at the clinic, or Chang Yan who was helping the Wang family deal with matters, they all looked up and smiled towards Xieyang County.