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The Green Lotus Peasant Girl

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Chapter 92: Helper

After thinking about it for a while, everyone understood Qian Laixing's true motives. Back then, old man Qian and old lady Qian were old to work and relied on Qian Laixing's parents to support them. They not only had to support two elders but also had to support two scholars.

Qian Laiwen was proficient in everything from eating and drinking to gambling, but not at reading.

If this happened in any other family, they would have discontinued his studies. But the old Qian couple thought that their son was very smart and would be able to pass if he studied. But he wasn't able to study well and relied on his parents. Therefore, if Qian Laixing really was a ruthless person, he would have every reason to persuade Qian Laiwen to kill them and then no one would be able to force his parents, and Mrs. You wouldn't have to work so hard.

His motives were not hard to predict, and this was not what mattered to the villagers. What mattered was the land that villagers put under his name.

If he really was the criminal, no one knew what would happen to the land in his name.

Maybe it would get confiscated?

Just by thinking about this, many people in the village couldn't sit still.

Hearing this news, Li Qinghe was very surprised. She understood what Mrs. Qian thought. Even if the story was true and a complaint was filed, wouldn't she have her face torn along with the Qian family?

No one knew what she was thinking. After the mother and daughter went to the town, they stayed at the mayor's house because they were afraid to return.

Many people put their land under Qian Laixing's name because of Mrs. Qian's words. As soon as she would show up, people would definitely come to her to get their land back.

The fact that the land was put under the name of a scholar to be exempted from the grain tax was something that the officials will not investigate, but it was indeed a violation of the law not to forget mentioning, there would be a suspicion of tax evasion as well. Therefore, even if Qian Laixing was taken away by officials before the judgment was issued, no one dared to go and admit it openly. They would only have to find other ways to get their land back. If they wanted to get their land, the simplest way was to go and confront Mrs. Qian.

For a long time, the villagers were on the edge but they didn't say anything to the Qian family. They roamed around the Qian family house day and night, for the fear that the Qian family might run away. Some people even went to the Li family to talk about it.

They just went to ask him not to find any trouble with him. If he hadn't remarried, maybe they wouldn’t have asked. But now he had a new wife and daughter and also a new son-in-law. Not to mention, his son-in-law went back every three days ago to help with the fieldwork. Now that Li Fu was finally living a prosperous life, they couldn't bring themselves to ask and trouble him with their problems at all.

Soon, Qian Laixing was taken back to the county. Because of this, many people in the village who had never been to the county seat in their entire lifetime- also got on the carriage to the county seat with money in their pockets.

The good thing was that people who were close to Li Qinghe, knew about her feud with the Qian family. Even if their hearts were moved, they didn't hand the land over.

Thinking about it now, it was a blessing.

Because of the recent events, Li Qinghe also made a special trip back to the Li family with her. The autumn harvest was about to start and Li Fu was sharpening his knife, preparing for the same. And beside him was sitting the person whom she heard a lot about from everyone- his newest son-in-law, who often came to help him.

"You're here?" Li Fu got up, holding his waist, and turned around, "I'm old and have a sore back, hahaha ......"

It could be seen that he was very happy, and Zhao Dashan also got up, "Sister is here."

Zhao Dashan looked stout and had a tanned face.

Li Qinghe saw that he felt a little uneasy, but she did not expect he would call her sister and not sister-in-law.

"Yes." Li Qinghe smiled and greeted him anyway. He often came to help Li Fu. It was better for two to work than him working alone at this age. Working during every autumn harvest and spring harvest would make a person very exhausted.

Liu Nizi poured her tea, insisted her to stay for dinner, and hurriedly went back to the kitchen to prepare the meal.

The Li family members went on with their life as usual, not at all affected by the Qian family's dilemma.

Seeing this, she didn't ask much about it and went back home after dinner.

In the county seat, the county magistrate summoned Hu Yanxi. In the final investigation, his testimony would be the most useful.

In fact, Hu Yanxi actually just listened to what Qian Laiwen said. He didn't know what Qian Laiwen and Qian Laixing discussed. He only knew that the money given for the funeral was spent by the two of them at the brothel.

It was hard to investigate and find clues in the big Luoyue Town, it was easier to search for clues in the brothel. When they checked the record history, they found out that the uncle and nephew did indeed stay at the brothel during that time, but they spent all their money within a few days.

Even if Qian Laixing denied that he had never said that to Qian Laiwen, it was true that the two of them spent money together, and it was known to the insiders as well.

A person who failed to report information about a crime was punished for the same crime.

Therefore, when Qian Laixing knowingly failed to report, they took away his title and he was sentenced to death. As for the land under his name, since many people begged to show mercy, the land was returned to them on the condition that each family had to make up for the grain tax. For the next three years, they had to pay double the amount of grain taxes to get their lands back.

Speaking of which, after they put the land under his name, it wasn't the time to pay the taxes yet. So they hadn't taken any advantage of it. But now, when they had to pay double the amount of grain tax for the next three years, they didn't stir up any trouble; although it was hard for them to accept this sudden change of plans. They were happy that they could at least get their lands back after three years.

By the time the verdict was announced, the villagers had already started with the autumn harvest. It was a little earlier than usual as they had to dig deeper to get the sweet potatoes. Hence, every family was very busy.

Li Qinghe and Zhou Chengkang were helpless. Only Zhou Chengkang worked in their field. On Mrs. Zhou's side, she was alone too, as eldest brother Zhou and Mei Hua were living in the town in old lady Liu's house. They usually made the tofu at their house and went to sell it. It was now the beginning of the autumn harvest so there were many people buying tofu. They were also very busy.

After they moved, all the family land had to be taken care of by Mrs. Zhou. Because of which, he was also called as unfilial as the second brother Zhou.

The Zhou family’s land was divided into five shares. Before Mrs. Zhou had two shares, but now she also had the eldest brother Zhou's share. The third brother Zhou and fourth brother Zhou each had one share of land. Mrs. Zou had the most land.

In fact, it was quite a rascal move made by eldest brother Zhou. Second brother Zhou gave his land share back to his mother because he wanted to marry into his wife's family. The two elder brothers didn't care about the land and threw it to their mother. What if the younger two also did the same? What will happen to Mrs. Zhou then? Would she be left alone in the future?

Of course, this shouldn't happen, but if they didn't come back even after calling, there was nothing they could do. And also now everyone was busy and it was not easy to take care of Mrs. Zhou.

Fortunately, since the autumn harvest, Zhao Dashan has been helping Li Fu in the field every day, so Zhou Chengkang probably won't have to worry about it this year.

Because there were more sweet potatoes planted, each family in the village had half more of the work than they had before. When Li Qinghe attempted to hire workers, those people were willing to help her with the work, but they wouldn't come until the work in their fields was complete. In the end, it was one's own family's food that mattered the most.

Around this time, a group of people came to the village. They were dressed in rags and looked dirty. When the village chief asked them, they said they were there to find work. They were ready to do any kind of work to get wages, mainly to buy some food.

The Yang family went to hire a few first and then Li Qinghe also went to hire them. She hired around ten people. Other people in the village were reluctant and some only hired one or two. Even if it was a relative helping them, wouldn’t they have to feed them as well?

More than a dozen people ate like hungry wolves after starving for who knows how long. The entire batch of steamed buns that Li Qinghe made, was finished.

However, the work done by them was good too. After eating, they didn't say much, and after listening to the work they had to do on the piece of land pointed out by Zhou Chengkang, they started their work.

After five or six days, all the sweet potatoes were dug out and kept inside the cellar. Also, all the wheat stalks had been cut and dried according to Zhou Chengkang's instructions. Even the weeds were taken out and the land was cleared up.

They were provided one meal each day. And after the work was finished, they couldn't stay there anymore. The more carefully one worked, the better it was, but one can't be lazy. So after they dug the ground, as long as there was no soil all around, it was fine.

Li Qinghe was also willing to let them work. There was still a lot of meat from the pig that was cut last year. She used a few pounds of meat and mixed it with vegetables to make meals every day. The steamed buns were more than enough for the workers and they were even more reluctant to leave.

Yu Yan saw the people working and came to hire some people to clean her side of the wasteland. She was planning to plant in the spring of next year.

Seeing that they were unwilling to leave, Zhou Chengkang took them up the mountain to cut firewood for two days. Five or six people went to cut firewood, and the firewood room was full within two days.

Now, there was really no reason for them to stay.

These people had been living in the empty house at Li Qinghe's for the past few days. The ones who bought their bedding only needed food to eat.

After so many days, Li Qinghe also knew that these people came from the neighboring county. Their families suffered because of drought and the food grains were not harvested. Last year, they were still looking for work, but this year they planted during the spring and they had to wait until the autumn harvest was over to get the food at home.

Early the next morning, everyone packed up and left, but a couple went to her.

The villagers, even if they hired people as the workers at the village entrance, would naturally not hire women. But Zhou Chengkang was afraid that Li Qinghe would have a hard time cooking, so he chose a couple to help.

Over the past few days, the woman showed that she was really diligent and talked only occasionally, with her. Li Qinghe found that her maiden name was Chen.

After Mrs. Chen entered the door, she rubbed her hands together nervously and said, "Madam, your family has so much work to do, do you need to hire people all year round?"

Li Qinghe was a little surprised, "Sometimes I have to." Plowing in spring and harvesting in autumn had a lot of work to do.

"Then, can we stay?" She hurriedly added, "The arrangement would be just the same as now, you just have to give us a place to sleep and food to eat."

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