Wei Laotai cursed and cursed for half a day, and her mouth was dry. Seeing no one paying attention to her anymore, she patted her butt and got up and left.

She went to a broken shack in town, which had been built previously by the town to house refugees, that piece of land was now occupied by several beggars.

Wei Laotai did not dare to fight with them for a good spot, so she found a shack on the very edge and drilled into it. She was hungry and thirsty, and it was only when it got dark that someone came over. That person came holding a torch, those beggars all stretched their heads out. “Master, give us something to eat, give us something to eat.”

Qiu Laoliu kicked them away. “Get lost, get lost, get lost, get lost!”

He called a few times. “Wei Laotai, Wei Laotai, where are you!”

Hearing that the person who brought her here had finally come, Wei Laotai hurriedly crawled out from the pitch-black shack. “Here, here.”

Qiu Laoliu threw two cornbreads and a few copper coins at her. “Good job. It’s just that Wei Qingshan and those two weren’t there. These few days, you go there every day, when you see Wei Qingshan, confront him, drive them out for me.”

Wei Laotai grabbed the cornbread and started gnawing. She had been living day to day without knowing where the next meal would come from. This person had pulled her to the town and said, as long as she ruined Wei Qingshan’s business, he would give her copper coins and food. Naturally, she was willing.

Qiu Laoliu threw down the things and left. Those beggars saw that Wei Laotai had food and all came to snatch. The cornbread and copper coins she had just gotten with great difficulty were snatched away. No matter how she cursed, it was useless.

The next day, Wei Laotai came again to the shop entrance to curse, but yesterday, people listened because it was fresh. Today, no one paid her any attention, instead, they felt that Wei Laotai’s commotion was affecting the business on the street.

Shi Xiaoliu was so angry his teeth itched. Usually, he could still sell a few wild chickens and wild hares. With this crazy old woman coming to make a fuss, his family’s business was completely gone. If someone wanted to come buy, she would drive them away, it really made him so angry that he could die.

Since he could not do business in the shop, Shi Xiaoliu simply closed the shop and carried his shoulder pole to the market to sell. In a day, he could still sell seven or eight of them.

There were not many wild chickens left at home. He estimated that by the time Lin Ama came back, he would have sold almost all of them. Now there were especially many rabbits in the courtyard, he sold fewer than what were being born, the courtyard was almost too full to lay them out.

Wei Laotai came every day. Seeing the shop closed, she had no way, so she went back to the shack to wait for Qiu Laoliu to bring her food. Qiu Laoliu did not come until it was dark, and only then did he throw her cornbread and copper coins. Wei Laotai, having been hungry for a whole day, hurriedly picked it up and gnawed on it.

Seeing that Qiu Laoliu was about to leave, Wei Laotai hurriedly grabbed his leg. “Master, Master, find me a place to stay, I can’t live here anymore.”

If Qiu Laoliu left in a while, don’t even mention copper coins, even those two hard cornbreads would be snatched away. Qiu Laoliu kicked her away. “Get lost, you are filthy, even Lao Tzu’s shoes are going to be dirtied by you.”

Wei Laotai hurriedly ran over. “Master, Master, they are snatching my cornbread. If I can’t eat, where will I get the strength to go make trouble?”

When Qiu Laoliu heard this, he also felt this was reasonable. He had originally thought that after two days of making trouble, Wei Qingshan’s shop would have to close. Who would have thought that they actually went back to the countryside? Now he still had to deliver copper coins and food to this damned old woman every day. It was like tormenting him to his death.

Qiu Laoliu cursed. “You all look carefully. This beggar is under this Master’s protection. Whoever dares to touch her, just try it, see if Lao Tzu doesn’t kill you.”

Qiu Laoliu scolded the beggars in the shack a few more times and then left. As soon as Qiu Laoliu left, those beggars again snatched away Wei Laotai’s copper coins and cornbread. Wei Laotai held on with all her strength, and only then did they manage to snatch away half a cornbread. “You, you bandits.”

One beggar who had snatched her copper coins weighed them in his hand. Now that the new rice harvest had not yet come, even for the beggars, it was not easy to beg. Who often does not go hungry?

“Do you know who the person giving you the copper coins is?”

“I don’t know.” Of course, Wei Laotai did not know that man, he had just dragged her over and thrown her in the shack outside the town.

“You don’t even know him? That’s Qiu Laoliu from town, who guards the gate for the yamen. Pah, he is just a watchdog, and he dares to call himself Master.”

Only then did Wei Laotai know who the person who dragged her over was. She had no food and had starved a night in the shack, so when the sky turned light, she hunched over and went to the shop to have a look. Seeing the shop door was still closed, she spat. She had originally thought to come over and ask for a bun or something, or make a fuss so that Wei Qingshan would have to support her, but in the end, the shop was not even open!

Wei Laotai leaned on her cane and left. The people running shops on the street all stretched their heads out to watch the commotion.

Fang Shuizi leaned against the door frame of the cloth shop, cracking sunflower seeds. He spat out the shell with a peh.

That Qiu Laoliu could even come up with this kind of idea. These past few days, everyone on the street was talking about whether the things about Wei Qingshan were true or false. Wei Qingshan’s shop was probably not going to be able to stay open. What a pity, he had still wanted to watch and satisfy his craving, but now they were going to shut the door and leave.

Wei Laotai held out her hand all the way begging, “Give me something to eat, give me something to eat.”

Not one person on the street was willing to give her anything. She had made a fuss for two or three days now, and everyone’s business had been affected. Early in the morning, their own businesses had not yet opened for the day, and a beggar came to the door first. Was that not bad luck? They all drove her away.

The woman from the sesame oil shop stuck out her head. “When will that Wei Qingshan family come back? Hurry up and get this old woman out of here, it’s really bad luck.”

When Wei Laotai got to Fang Shuizi’s place, Fang Shuizi snorted and sprinkled all the seed shells onto her head. “Get up, get up.”

Wei Laotai spat at him. “Little slut, is this old woman someone you can bully?!”

“Who are you talking about! You old, wicked hag!” Fang Shuizi was so angry that his lungs hurt from being called out by Wei Laotai, he grabbed a bowl of water and splashed it over. “If you don’t leave, I won’t be polite!”

Only then did Wei Laotai leave cursing. Zhou Gaozhong was holding paper, walking down the street, preparing to go to his stall, and saw Wei Laotai begging at several shops and not getting anything, and even getting bullied by Fang Shuizi.

When he passed by, he shook his head and sighed. “The ways of the world are declining, the ways of the world are declining indeed. As expected, not a single merchant is a good person, all stinking of copper.”

Boss Jin heard him and snorted. “Xiucai Zhou, don’t you also make a living writing letters for people? Are you not also a merchant? What’s the difference between you and us? We’re all the same kind of people.”

When Zhou Gaozhong heard this, he was displeased. “Who is the same kind of person as you? I am a Xiucai, a scholar.”

“Ah, yes, yes, you are a scholar, you look down on us people doing business.”

Boss Jin did not bother with him anymore. A poor, pedantic old Xiucai, who could not even get enough to eat himself, yet looked down on them.

Wei Laotai remembered Zhou Gaozhong, that day, he had even helped her speak. She hurriedly followed him, leaning on her cane, and grabbed Zhou Gaozhong’s tattered robe. “Master, give me something to eat, give me something to eat.”

“Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing?” Zhou Gaozhong pulled back his robe.

“You are a good person, not like them. Pity me, pity me, give me something to eat.”

Zhou Gaozhong looked embarrassed. He also relied on writing characters for people to exchange for food. Every day, he still did not have enough to eat himself. Where would he get food to give to someone else?

Boss Jin fanned himself and exclaimed, “Xiucai Zhou is a lofty person, unlike us merchants who stink of copper. How come he cannot even bear to give her a few copper coins to buy something to eat?”

Madam Jin tugged at him. “Has the shop been tidied up? Go to work.”

Only then did Boss Jin leave, but Xiucai Zhou was still being pestered by Wei Laotai. Seeing that a few people were still watching him, he had no choice but to give. He fished a few copper coins out of his tattered robe and gave them to her. Clearly, his heart ached terribly, yet he still had to pretend to be generous. “Go buy something to eat.”

Wei Laotai, having gotten the copper coins, immediately left. Zhou Gaozhong, holding the paper, walked with his head held high and chest puffed out, but when he left the street, he was so pained he beat his chest and stamped his feet. “My copper coins, my copper coins!”

Those few copper coins were originally his morning and noon meals, now they had been given to an old woman. When he went to set up his stall, he could only go hungry.

The entire morning, not a single person came to ask him to write a letter. On the other hand, Xiucai Lou’s stall across from him had written several letters for people. It made him jealous. He did not earn even a single copper coin all day and could only go hungry.

Wei Qingshan and Lin Yu were not idle at home either. When no one came to sell wild vegetables in the morning, the two of them went to the back mountain to dig bamboo shoots. After carrying them back, they cut them into strips to dry. Now, these dried bamboo shoots and other dry goods were not urgent to collect. Every household had them. They could wait until their own supply ran out before collecting more.

These past two days, a lot of wild bracken and locust flowers have been dried in the courtyard. Locust flowers were hard to collect, so the price was higher. Hearing that they were collecting these things, even neighboring villages came to sell.

The two of them stopped collecting after they had collected ten baskets of wild bracken. This was enough for them to use for a while. If they ran out, they could collect more dried ones from the surrounding villages, so they could still get enough. Locust flowers, however, had been continuously collected.

These past few days, Shunzi and Lian-ger had often been delivering to Lin Yu. After Lin Yu said he no longer wanted bracken, the two of them ran all over the mountains looking for locust trees, just hoping to earn a few more copper coins.

Lin Yu was a bit freer in the afternoon. He Dongdong would bring the two little ones who could now walk over. Since the two little ones had learned to walk, they had become much more mischievous. One wanted to do this for a while, the other wanted to do that for a while, making He Dongdong so angry that her temper became worse by the day.

The two little ones also really liked Lin Yu, and as soon as they saw Lin Yu, they wanted to climb onto him. Lin Yu really liked the two little ones, touching this one and hugging that one.

“Hug~ Hug~”

“All right, all right, all right, let’s hug our little Yun-ger.” Lin Yu put Lei-zi down to hug Yun-ger, but Lei-zi was unhappy and went to pull Yun-ger’s leg, “Mm! Mm~”

He Dongdong yanked him back, “Go play by yourself. Why are you so troublesome?”

The two little ones often came over, and Lin Yu’s courtyard was especially lively. Sometimes, when one wasn’t watching them for just a moment, the two little ones would start hitting each other. It made He Dongdong so angry that he would often scold them while Lin Yu went over to separate the two little ones. The courtyard once again turned into a scene of chickens flying and dogs jumping.

He Dongdong sat on a stool, looking listless, “Every single day, Lao Tzu is getting pissed to death, you’re annoying me to death.”

Lin Yu, however, thought it was quite nice. How lively it was, and the two little ones were so lively and active, “Our little Yun-ger and Lei-zi aren’t annoying at all.”

“Just wait until you have your own, then you’ll know. They fight every single day.”

Lin Yu sighed lightly in his heart. He did not know either. He and Wei Qingshan had been married for nearly three years and still didn’t have a child. To say he wasn’t anxious would be a lie.

At night, Lin Yu pulled Wei Qingshan close to be affectionate. Whatever Lin Yu wanted to do, Wei Qingshan did it, and he was so obedient that Lin Yu’s heart melted. 

Sometimes, Wei Qingshan’s movements would be a bit too big, and Lin Yu would let out a muffled hum, “Gentler, gentler, my stomach hurts.”

Only then did Wei Qingshan lighten his movements. His little husband was too obedient, he couldn’t resist.

The three of them stayed at home for four days. On the last day, Wei Qingshan slaughtered a pig at home. In those days, they had collected quite a lot of wild bracken and locust flowers, enough to last them for a while. Some of the ones that they didn’t have time to dry, they just brought to the town to dry.

Those wild vegetables and flowers had cost three or four taels of silver, but that was still much cheaper than buying vegetables in town. When the three of them left, they had filled an entire cart with goods. By the time they reached the town, the sky was already starting to grow dark.

Wei Qingshan led the mule along the street, and even Lin Yu could feel that people were pointing and whispering about them. Lin Yu was very puzzled. They were not that familiar with anyone in town, but along the way, quite a few people had been looking at them.

Wei Qingshan didn’t take it to heart. If one did no guilty deeds, one need not fear ghosts knocking at the door. He led the mule cart to the back door. When he knocked, Shi Xiaoliu quickly ran over. The door wasn’t opened right away; instead, a voice asked, “Who is it?”

“Xiaoliu, it’s us.”

When Shi Xiaoliu heard Lin Yu’s voice, he hurriedly opened the door, “Lin Ama! You’re back!”

Shi Xiaoliu helped carry the goods from the mule cart into the courtyard. Lin Yu said, “These bracken and locust flowers haven’t been dried yet, let’s dry them over the next few days while the sun is good.”

“Hey, Lin Ama, you haven’t eaten yet, right? I’ll go make you something to eat.”

“It’s fine, Xiaoliu, you go rest. I’ll do it.”

“Then I’ll go steam the rice and light the fire.”

Shi Xiaoliu helped prepare the meal. He seemed like he wanted to say something, but he still waited until Lin Ama and the others had finished eating before speaking, so as not to spoil their appetites.

After Shi Xiaoliu had eaten, he just sat quietly to the side waiting. Lin Yu asked him to eat some more, but Shi Xiaoliu shook his head, “Lin Ama, I’ve already eaten.”

Wei Qingshan also saw that Shi Xiaoliu had something to say, otherwise, he wouldn’t just sit there. He didn’t ask. No matter how big the matter was, it wasn’t as important as letting his little husband eat first.

After they finished eating, Zhao Yueniang took the bowls and chopsticks away. Shi Xiaoliu quickly poured some water. “Uncle Wei, Lin Ama, I have something I want to tell you.”

“Xiaoliu, what is it?” Lin Yu asked.

Shi Xiaoliu told them what had happened while they were away these past few days, “That crazy old woman kept shouting that Uncle Wei didn’t support his old mother and murdered his own younger brother. This is just too much, and now everyone around here knows about it.”

Lin Yu, who was always gentle, rarely had his face turn cold. “How did she find this place?”

Wei Qingshan gave a cold snort, “She wouldn’t have found her way here on her own. I’m afraid someone brought her over.”

Lin Yu nodded, “Then there’s going to be a commotion. What should we do tomorrow?”

“Open up as usual and do business. Business might be affected. Xiao Yu, make fewer buns tomorrow.”

“Got it.”

With Wei Laotai making such a scene, tomorrow’s buns probably wouldn’t sell much. If they made too many and couldn’t sell them, it would be troublesome. Flour and meat were expensive now.