At that moment, Jiang Dahu and the others spotted Ye Li.

Jiang Dahu waved excitedly: “Brother Li!”

Ye Li responded with a loud “Aye! Second Uncle, Eldest Uncle, Brother Datong, did everything go smoothly today?”

Hearing this, Jiang Dahu burst into laughter: “Smooth sailing!”

He quickened his pace, unable to wait until he reached Ye Li before excitedly recounting the events: “The clan chief entered that carpenter’s house and, without even looking around, ordered Jinyu, Mantang, and the others to rush into the kitchen. They hauled out the Wang family’s iron pots and smashed them to pieces.”

“Three iron pots, all smashed! That instantly intimidated the Wang family!”

Ye Li’s eyes lit up at this. That brutal?

For farmers, iron pots were a major possession. Even a small frying pan costs over a hundred wen.

Thus, when people in Beiyang County quarreled and exchanged threats, they often vowed to smash the other’s pots!

Smashed pots meant not only financial loss but also no food to cook.

This was a major incident!

Ye Li truly hadn’t expected Jiang Fuzheng to have this trick up his sleeve—smashing the Wang family’s pots right off the bat.

So satisfying!

What a thrill!

To have missed such a spectacular moment of humiliation was truly a pity.

“Second Uncle, Eldest Uncle, let’s head home first. Once we’re seated, tell me the whole story in detail so I can vent my frustration too.”

Jiang Dahu laughed heartily at this.

Jiang Dachuan’s laughter wasn’t as boisterous as his, but every wrinkle on his face smoothed out.

When their group arrived at the Wang household, the Wang family was busy in the courtyard. After Jiang Fuzheng smashed the pot, the Wangs were stunned at first, then erupted in fury.

But this time, every household in Yezaopo had sent representatives. Moreover, to prevent the Wang family’s wives and Fulang from causing trouble, Jiang Fuzheng had specifically selected two middle-aged women skilled in verbal sparring to accompany them.

The imposing crowd of over twenty people completely overwhelmed the Wang family in sheer presence!

Thus, though furious, the Wang family dared only shout threats, not resort to violence.

When it came to shouting matches, those two women weren’t afraid. They stood with hands on their hips, trading insults with the Wang family.

Amidst the shouting, they made their purpose clear:

The Wang family must compensate Jiang Tong fifty taels of silver. Otherwise, they would report the Wang family to the authorities for fraud!

Hearing this, the Wang family erupted.

Fifty taels!

What kind of nonsense was this!

A disciple extorting his master? That’s blasphemy!

The Wang family was the one planning to report them!

Jiang Fuzheng might be the village head, but the Wang family was related to Feng, the village head of Baxian Town!

Hearing this, Jiang Fuzheng sneered coldly and invited the Wang family to accompany him to the county seat. Report it to the magistrate? Fine. Let’s see how His Honor ruled on the matter.

Beiyang County, as a crucial transfer point for southbound ships and northbound horses, held significant geographical importance. The imperial court had established a Transport Commissioner here.

However, the Transport Commissioner only oversaw all affairs on the South-North Canal and had no authority to meddle in local governance. Even though Baxian Town was the canal’s starting point, neither the Jiang nor Wang families depended on the canal transport for their livelihoods.

Therefore, this dispute fell under the jurisdiction of the Beiyang County Magistrate.

Baxian Town itself was governed by a village headman surnamed Feng.

The Beiyang County Magistrate rotated every three years.

But officials like the County Constable and County Deputy remained long-term, all locals.

Jiang Fuzheng had served as village headman for twenty years. With Yezaopo’s proximity to Beiyang County, he maintained good relations with both the county constable and deputy magistrate.

Given these connections, should the case proceed to the county yamen, the magistrate would certainly not favor the Wang family.

Seeing Jiang Fuzheng ready to take decisive action, the Wang family grew intimidated.

As residents of Baxian Town, they knew Jiang Fuzheng well. Twenty years prior, it was Jiang Fuzheng who led a group to infiltrate Baxian Town and burn the bandits’ grain stores!

Initially, knowing Jiang Fuzheng was Jiang Tong’s clan elder, Carpenter Wang treated Jiang Tong decently.

But Jiang Tong was a soft-hearted soul—obedient as a child and still compliant as an adult.

If Jiang Tong endured a light touch, he’d endure a hard pinch without protest.

Gradually, Wang stopped respecting him. When annoyed, he’d berate and curse Jiang Tong, occasionally slapping him.

But today, Jiang Fuzheng arrived with a group of burly men, demanding answers and threatening to report him to the authorities. If they went to the county office, he’d likely be in the wrong.

After all, he and Jiang Tong were merely master and apprentice, not real father and son.

And as his master, he hadn’t taught Jiang Tong any real skills over the years…

Master Wang backed down.

But fifty taels of silver was too much!

The Wang family sent for Village Head Feng to mediate.

Out of respect for Village Head Feng, Jiang Fuzheng reluctantly lowered the demand to forty taels.

Forty taels was still a fortune, and the Wang family didn’t want to pay.

As both sides argued back and forth, Jiang Tong suddenly stepped forward. He declared that if Master Wang would let him beat him up, he could knock off another ten taels.

Hearing this, Master Wang’s nose practically twisted with rage.

If he really let this junior beat him up, he might as well die!

In the end, the Wang family grudgingly paid the forty taels.

This aligned with Ye Li’s objective.

In the Jiang family’s small courtyard, after listening to Jiang Dahu, Jiang Dachuan, and others recount today’s events, Ye Li smiled and said, “That Wang fellow got off easy. In my opinion, we should retrieve the Wang family’s set of tools.”

Tools like chisels, saws, planes, and ink squids—acquiring a full set would cost a pretty penny.

“Forget it. We insisted that Xiao Tong hadn’t learned any skills. If he hasn’t, he won’t need them anyway.”

Jiang Dahu shook his head.

That was true enough, but Ye Li had already assigned Jiang Tong a new task. How could he make wooden wind chimes without tools?

For now, Jiang Tong would have to procure them himself.

He looked at Jiang Tong: “Brother Datong, what exactly did you learn? Can you make furniture on your own?”

Jiang Tong scratched his head, looking embarrassed. “All these years, I’ve just been an assistant. I’ve only made a few small stools for the family.”

Truthfully, he’d wanted to get hands-on long ago.

But every time he brought it up, the Wang guy would make excuses.

Later, as the old man grew frail, Wang had no choice but to let him assist during furniture-making sessions.

But before Jiang Tong could do much, Wang would scold him for mistakes here and there, then send him back to menial tasks…

“So what are your next plans?”

Ye Li pressed.

“First, I’ll buy some dried fruit from you to thank the villagers.”

Jiang Tong looked at Ye Li with gratitude. “Tomorrow I’ll buy a pig. One half will be shared with the villagers, and the other half is for you and Uncle Jiang.”

“If it weren’t for your brilliant idea, I wouldn’t have gotten this satisfaction.”

Half a pig!

Ye Li’s eyes widened suddenly. So much meat!

But he quickly shook his head. “Brother Datong, we’re family. No need to be so formal. I just talked—I didn’t even leave the village.”

“You, Xiaoda, and Xiaoshun are all marriageable age now. Don’t squander this silver. Save it for your weddings.”

Jiang Dachuan hurriedly interjected: “No, no, no—you absolutely must take this meat.”

“As your uncle, I haven’t done much for Xiao Ji these past years. Now that you’ve helped reclaim this silver, if you don’t take this meat, when I meet the sea down below, it’ll surely beat me up.”

“But that’s far too much!” Ye Li shook his head. “Just buy a couple of pounds as a token gesture.”

“A whole pig costs barely over a tael of silver. If not for your plan and the villagers’ hard work, we wouldn’t have gotten a single coin—and we’d have suffered the humiliation too.”

Jiang Dachuan remained adamant.

Ah, it was his own fault, really.

After five years of learning from Master Wang without gaining anything, his son actually wanted to come back.

But five years were wasted, and he’d paid the initiation fee. He thought maybe one day Master Wang would be moved by Xiao Tong’s sincerity and finally teach him real skills.

Holding onto that hope, he urged Xiao Tong to persevere a little longer, to endure a little more. The result…

When Xiao Tong returned the night before, he was furious.

But after the anger subsided, he felt a sense of relief.

No more fantasies. He’d just stay home, farm the land, and take odd jobs.

So when he came to buy tofu from Ye Li, his heart was light.

He never imagined there’d be a second solution—and one so satisfying!

Forty taels of silver—spending two taels to thank the villagers and Ye Li was well worth it!

Jiang Dachuan and Jiang Tong insisted on buying meat. Ye Li couldn’t refuse and had to agree.

This act of repaying kindness solidified his resolve to collaborate with Jiang Tong.

But clearly, this family wasn’t in the mood to discuss partnerships right now. They quickly took their leave.

Jiang Dahu didn’t linger either.

Having already lost a day’s work, Ye Li’s flour and malt syrup wouldn’t suffice for twenty-five jin of twisted dough anyway. So he tucked the copper coins Ye Li gave him into his pocket and headed for the county town.

With plenty of time before the city gates closed, he quickened his pace to avoid missing the exit.

As for the soybean oil, that was Ye Liang’s responsibility.

There was an oil mill in town. If the soybean oil ran out, Ye Liang would conveniently bring some back for Ye Li.

When the two little ones, Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya, returned and learned they’d have meat to eat tomorrow, they were overjoyed. They swarmed around Ye Li, repeatedly confirming the news.

Ye Li showed no impatience. Each time Jiang Ya asked, he answered with a smile, delighting the boy so much he clung to Ye Li’s leg, refusing to let go.

Jiang Mai’s dark eyes darted about twice before he suddenly said, “Brother Li, could you send some meat to Big Brother? There’s so much meat, the three of us can’t finish it all.”

“Sure,” Ye Li agreed readily.

In the blink of an eye, his cheap husband had been gone for three days.

Tomorrow he’d stew the meat, deliver it the day after at noon, then wait five more days—his cheap husband would return for the copper coins!

He hadn’t thought much of it before.

But now that he mentioned it, he actually missed Jiang Ji quite a bit.

That night, Ye Li couldn’t sleep.

He tossed and turned on the kang for a long while before finally drifting off.

But upon waking, his energy returned.

Tomorrow he would see that man again!

After breakfast, Jiang Fuzheng’s youngest son, Jiang Mantang, beat the gong to gather the villagers at the village entrance.

Jiang Dachuan had bought the meat back—each household was to send one person to receive their share!

Ye Li wanted to watch the commotion, but he had to fry the doughnuts—twenty-five jin of them.

One pound per household, with the remaining four pounds going to Jiang Fuzheng.

Pigs in those days ate natural foods, no messy feed, so they were lighter in weight. Even the fattest ones weighed less than two hundred pounds.

Such a small amount of meat was distributed quickly.

By the end of the third hour, Jiang Tong arrived carrying half a pig.

Jiang Fuzheng’s family claimed the half with the head; the remaining half belonged to Ye Li.

Ye Li wasn’t picky—it would all be stewed anyway, so front legs or hind legs made no difference.

With meat as motivation, he sped up his doughnut production. By noon, Jiang Tong came to collect twenty-four jin of doughnuts—Ye Li kept one jin for himself.

Each jin sold for thirty wen.

He’d actually wanted to sell them cheaper, since this batch didn’t require sharing profits with Ye Liang. He could make eight wen per jin.

But Jiang Tong wouldn’t hear of it.

Jiang Tong had sought out Ye Li specifically to help him earn more; otherwise, he could have simply bought pastries in the county town.

He was genuinely grateful to Ye Li!

Thus, with these twenty-four jin of fried dough sticks, Ye Li earned a whopping one hundred ninety-two wen in one go.

It was tiring, but worth every bit of it!

After seeing Jiang Tong off, he ladled the oil from the pot and began preparing lunch.

After lunch, he immediately got to work frying tofu puffs.

He wouldn’t fry more flour cakes this afternoon—he still had to stew meat.

When Ye Liang left, he made several cuts into the pig’s hindquarters and carved out a large piece of meat for Ye Liang to take.

Of course, Jiang Dahu got his share too.

Jiang Dahu’s family only got three jin of ribs.

Setting aside Jiang Dahu’s portion, he cut the rest into large chunks, preparing to stew them in a pot.

Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya returned rather late today.

They dragged back two large bundles of dry firewood. Since they’d burned through a lot today, they’d deliberately gathered extra.

Seeing the two youngsters so industrious, Ye Li immediately rewarded them:

Tonight, no flatbreads! Just eat meat—eat until you’re stuffed!

The moment he said this, Jiang Ya cheered, shouting “Brother Li is the best!” as he threw himself into Ye Li’s arms.

Jiang Mai was happy too, but he was the older child.

He first nibbled on a steamed bun to settle his stomach, then went to chop pig feed for the pigs.

After feeding both the pigs and chickens, night had fallen.

The aroma of meat from the kitchen filled the entire courtyard.

He washed his hands and was about to enter the kitchen when the courtyard gate creaked open. Immediately, a familiar figure stepped into the yard.

Though the courtyard was pitch-black, he recognized that figure instantly.

His eyes widened as he dashed toward the gate. “Brother! How did you come back?”