Chapter 623: Chapter 623: Ms. Wang’s Shameless Trick
Liu Sisi raised her head to look at the sweltering sky around her: “After giving out these coarse grains as porridge, no one seems to say a good word. Like the old man we met before, what can you do with him?”
“Madam, don’t be disheartened. Such unreasonable people are, after all, a minority.”
“Indeed they are a minority, but what if their hidden thoughts are actually like that?”
Liu Sisi tilted her paper umbrella towards YingEr, sheltering her from the scorching sun above.
“If that’s the case, why not reverse our approach? Now, we let them catch the locusts by themselves, and exchange the coarse grains for the locusts they’ve caught. It both solves the uncertainty of the wandering tramps around the porridge shed and keeps the locust disaster to a minimum. Why not?”
“Madam has a great idea!”
Granny Hu sincerely praised her from the side.
“Whether it’s a great idea or not is not important, what’s important is when this sky will finally rain!”
Liu Sisi sighed deeply.
If it doesn’t rain soon, even the late rice might fail!
Compared to the piles of disaster victims waiting for porridge outside the city gate, the city seemed even busier than before.
Whether it’s the passing merchants or scholars, they were like black ants in an anthill, each going their own way and each doing their own business, seemingly chaotic yet orderly.
She retracted her gaze and casually lowered the carriage curtain.
Just as she turned her head, she seemed to see a familiar face and hurriedly shouted, “Stop the carriage!”
She rushed down the carriage and searched around only to find that the person had disappeared from the spot. She looked around, and there was not a trace left.
Liu Sisi stood still, unable to keep her eyebrows from furrowing.
Wrong! She had already left Macheng County, hadn’t she?
It’s absolutely impossible for her to appear here; it must be her own eyes playing tricks on her.
“Madam, what’s wrong? Did you see something?”
Ms. Gao also got off the carriage and looked around.
“It’s nothing, let’s go back.”
Liu Sisi shook her head, disappointedly retracted her gaze and turned around to walk back to the carriage.
“Sister-in-law! Sister-in-law!”
A familiar voice suddenly came from behind. Liu Sisi looked back and saw Ms. Wang panting and running after her.
“It’s you!”
Instantly, a knowing radiance flashed in her eyes.
Initially, when Ye Lei had an accident, Di Gaoyuan from the second family branch, in order to avoid disaster, forced Elderly Mr. Di to expel the third family branch from the Di Family. Unfortunately, Elderly Mr. Di was always concerned about his third child and refused to agree to it no matter what. In the end, Di Gaoyuan went directly to the Land Officer and formally severed ties with the Di Family. To prevent any involvement, he even went to the government office to get everything officially recorded and handled.
It seemed like such a wise move at first, but after Ye Lei was released unharmed and even promoted, it became a huge joke!
Almost everyone knew about the incident in a ten-mile radius, and even some elders were using it as a cautionary tale to teach their descendants.
It was said that Di Gaoyuan and his wife even had a falling out over this, with Ms. Wang being sent back to her hometown.
However, Ms. Wang had raised children for Di Gaoyuan for many years, and she no longer had any family of her own – according to the laws of the Great Zhao, a wife could not be divorced if there was no one left from her own family. Thus, after even that last option was cut off, the couple fought even more intensely, causing a huge scene. Not only did Elderly Mr. Di stop them from attending ancestor worship during New Year, but they also failed to enter the main entrance when their three children from Liu Sisi were drinking “Three-Morning Wine”.
Of course, Liu Sisi didn’t know about these things at the time; instead, she only found out later when Ms. Xin accidentally mentioned them.
Though she knew, it didn’t have much to do with her, and she didn’t want to be like Mr. Dong Ge, so she simply took it in one ear and out the other, treating it as idle talk to be listened to and forgotten.
Now suddenly being called by Ms. Wang, she didn’t know what to say.
Ms. Wang ran out of breath, looking quite haggard. Her once made-up face was now bare, and her already high cheekbones were more pronounced than ever. Seeing Liu Sisi stop, she wasted no time in grabbing Liu Sisi’s collar.
“Sister-in-law! I… I finally found you!”
Liu Sisi looked at her grasped clothes in surprise and then raised her eyebrow: “Ma’am, we are not close, so please let go!” After saying that, she forcefully pulled back her sleeve.
Ms. Wang didn’t care about losing face and started crying right away!
“Sister-in-law! I know that it’s our fault for mistreating Third Brother, but please have some sympathy for our family! We’re just trying to survive, without any intention to harm Third Brother…” Ms. Wang’s grievance grew.
The more she cried here, the more people gathered around. Everyone was pointing and talking about the two of them.
Liu Sisi’s face changed! The other party might want to make a big fuss about the situation, but she couldn’t let it develop like this.
She immediately put on a sad face: “Exactly! Ah… Ms. Wang, you’re right, but as youngsters, we can’t really understand what the elders are thinking. But, next time you see him, just talk to him earnestly and beg him for forgiveness, and don’t miss the chance, ah!”
After saying that, she turned and tried to leave.
How could Ms. Wang let her go so easily?
She was alone and couldn’t even enter the Di residence’s gate. She even rented a small room in the county town to stay in temporarily, spending a lot of money.
Money was running short, and she hadn’t eaten for a whole day. Di Gaoyuan couldn’t stand the suffering any longer and left her early in the morning. She was starving and planned to go to the porridge shed outside the city to ask for a bowl of plain rice porridge to fill her stomach. But, she saw Liu Sisi’s carriage by chance and chased it all the way here.
So, the present situation happened!
“Sister-in-law! My father said if you forgive me, he will have no objections. Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, I’m begging you!”
Ms. Wang pulled Liu Sisi’s sleeve, kneeling at her feet with tears and snot, truly a pitiful sight.
The crowd grew more and more, and some people seemed to recognize Liu Sisi’s identity, whispering among themselves.
It’s true that when one becomes an official, they lose the freedom they had as a commoner!