Departure

 

“What! Why should I apologize to her when she didn’t even come to my doorstep? Besides, she’s my niece; she can visit whenever I want!”

 

Mother Zhu was quick to anger and seemed to think that the Lin family’s commotion was just to get Lin Qiuying back, so she raised her head high and shouted.

 

“Pah! Who cares about your family’s doorstep!”

 

“I’m talking about your family, don’t you ever look in the mirror when you have nothing to do!”

 

The relatives and villagers from Wangjiazhuang who had followed along couldn’t bear to hear Mother Zhu’s words and began shouting at her.

 

“That’s enough!” The one who spoke was the most respected and eldest member of the group from Wangjiazhuang who had come today. He usually appeared solemn and distant but was particularly protective of his own, and everyone greatly respected him.

 

As soon as he spoke, the people from Wangjiazhuang village fell silent.

 

“Brother, I see I’m a few years older than you, so let me say a few words.” He turned to the village chief from Dongkuan.

 

“You’ve seen the situation with the Zhu family. When a marriage loses its fate, it’s like a kite with a broken string, there’s no need to force it. If they don’t want to live together anymore, they can discuss a separation. Why bother tormenting people? If one of our Wangjiazhuang’s girls or boys does something wrong, just let us know, and we’ll bring them back. There’s no need to treat human lives as if they’re worthless.”

 

“You don’t need to threaten us either. Since the village chief and I have both come today, we’ve considered it carefully. Can the village’s reputation outweigh the lives of our Wangjiazhuang’s girls? If I submit to your threat, it would make outsiders look down on us.”

 

“But you’re right about one thing; I also don’t agree with going to the government office. If a woman goes to complain about her husband, she’ll be given ten lashes first. I don’t want our Wangjiazhuang girl to suffer because of a scoundrel.”

 

After listening, the village chief from Dongkuan wiped his sweat and asked, “So, what do you mean?”

 

“Let them separate,” the elderly village member said, pausing for a moment and then casting a glance at Jing Yi before looking at Lin’s father. “Nephew Lin, besides separation, what other conditions do you have? Please tell us.”

 

“I was already thinking of breaking the fishnet and dying together. Second Uncle, our Lin family isn’t afraid of them!” Lin Ling followed the elderly Wang family member.

 

“That’s enough! Think about Qiuying too!” The elderly Wang family member reprimanded Lin’s father.

 

Then, Lin’s father reluctantly said, “Let’s separate then! First, since it’s a separation, the dowry must be returned in full as stipulated by the Dàyuan calendar regulations. Second, that wicked woman pushed my daughter into the water, and this matter can’t be overlooked. She’s now considered one of the people from Dongkuan Village, so you must give us an explanation, or we’ll go to the government office! Third, my daughter has been slaving away in your house for so many years, and she’s been worn down like this. We went to the town and had a doctor check her; they said it would cost at least twenty taels of silver to restore her health. This money must come from you!”

 

“Finally, from today onwards, the Zhu family cannot slander my daughter anymore.”

 

After Lin’s father had stated his conditions, the village chief from Dongkuan Village sighed in relief, thinking the demands weren’t too excessive.

 

However, the Zhu family members weren’t pleased. They had to return the dowry, pay twenty taels of silver, and they questioned why they had to do this! Mother Zhu started to throw a tantrum, sitting on the ground, slapping her thighs, and wailing loudly. Even Mother Zhu’s grandmother, who had been hiding indoors until then, came out trembling to join in the lamentation. Even Father Zhu lowered his head and started smoking in silence.

 

But when faced with the resolute attitude of the Wangjiazhuang villagers and the village chief from Dongkuan, and seeing that their own village people were disgraced, none of them spoke up. They were only trying to delay the inevitable.

 

The village chief from Dongkuan Village saw that the longer it dragged on, the worse it would be, so he had a few senior clan members invited over.

 

On the way, the villagers embellished the story, revealing the Zhu family’s dirty deeds and confirming that they deserved blame. These senior clan members were not pleased with the Zhu family, who had even hidden their wrongdoing, forcing them to come and clean up their mess.

 

After some bargaining, the final conditions remained unchanged except for the compensation, which was reduced from twenty taels to ten taels. As for the punishment for Mother Zhu’s misconduct, it was to kneel in the ancestral hall for a month.

 

Don’t underestimate this punishment; it was embarrassing and painful. If no one secretly brought her a stove or a blanket at night, she would get sick from the cold.

 

Of course, there was something even more embarrassing. The Lin family had managed to take away most of the dowry, leaving behind only some money to offset it. In total, they gave the Lin family twenty-two taels of silver.

 

Suddenly, Honghua rushed out and clung to her mother, refusing to give the money. She shouted that since it was already agreed, Lin Qiuying’s dowry should belong to her, so why should she give it back?

 

Everyone in Dongkuan Village was covering their faces in embarrassment. Some elderly ladies dragged Honghua away, while others whispered not to add to their sins.

 

Lin’s father accepted the money, signed the divorce papers on behalf of his daughter, and carefully had both village chiefs act as witnesses and sign as well. He then half-smiled and said “Congratulations on your new marriage” to the Zhu family before leaving with his people.

 

With that, the drama finally came to an end.

 

As the saying goes, marriage doesn’t always guarantee happiness, but divorce is certainly for happiness.

 

Lin Qiuying, holding the divorce papers, laughed and cried, feeling much lighter all over.

 

From then on, she either did some work at home or helped out at the town’s store when she felt like it, enjoying her freedom. Her father said that if she didn’t want to remarry, she didn’t have to; she could stay at home and help out to support herself.

 

As for Jing Yi, he became famous in Wangjiazhuang Village after this incident, and everyone envied Chuxia’s good fortune.

 

Every time Jing Yi came to see Chuxia or sent him back, there were people who specifically came to sneak a peek at him. Some unmarried young men and women even pretended to casually pass by him, but he only had eyes for Chuxia, so their affectionate efforts were in vain.

 

However, it had been several months since Jing Yi had been busy and hadn’t had the time to see Chuxia. He was tired and resentful, and he couldn’t think about anyone else. Their limited time together, his eyes couldn’t leave Chuxia for a moment.

 

In March, the Jing family built a new house, and Jing Yi personally oversaw everything from site selection and design to supervision. He demanded perfection and had a slightly antiquated aesthetic sense, so he had to oversee it himself.

 

So, even though the Lin family’s new store was not far from the Jing family’s small inn, only a two-minute walk away, he didn’t have time to stick around every day. Most of the time, it took two or three days to free up half a day to see Chuxia and inspect the inn.

 

The Jing family building a new house once again caused a stir in the village, not because building a house was extraordinary but because the grand scale, from site selection to construction, amazed the villagers. They realized that the Jing family was truly rising.

 

Many families in the village had daughters and sons who were not married yet regretted not recognizing earlier that Jing Yi from the Jing family had such potential. He was also good to his wife. The incident last month when he helped Lin’s elder sister in Wangjiazhuang village spread to Xiwan Village. Stories about his eloquence, bravery, strategy, and even his ability to take on three strong men with one punch became increasingly exaggerated.

 

However, Jing Yi never paid attention to these stories. In his eyes and heart, he only had his own people.

 

The previous Jing family house was located in the northeast of the village, at the foot of the mountain. The courtyard wasn’t too large, roughly on par with most other households in the village.

 

This time, considering the future and the inconvenience of having everyone live in the same courtyard, Jing Yi bought an old house that the village chief had long approved of, adjacent to the northeast side.

 

This piece of land covered over six mu, which was quite large. Although the new house they were building was substantial, adding the courtyard, it would probably only take up about one and a half mu. There was no need for such a large piece of land.

 

However, Jing Yi was thinking ahead. If they didn’t buy it now and someone else did, and they ended up with troublesome neighbors in the future, it would be a headache.

 

Now, with this piece of land in their hands, Jing Yi’s family was situated on the west and south sides, bordering the village, and was surrounded by neighbors they had gotten along with for over ten years, as well as his third uncle’s family. They all got along very well.

 

To the east and north of this piece of wasteland Jing Yi had bought was a small hill, and further east was the river of Xiwan Village. The location couldn’t have been better.

 

It was peaceful and spacious.

 

When the villagers first heard that Jing Yi had bought four mu of wasteland around his house as a residential base, there was a lot of commotion. This was big news in the village!

 

You see, in the Dayuan Dynasty, in order to encourage production and discourage people from occupying excessive land for other purposes, the price of residential land was set very high, at twenty taels of silver per mu!

 

The Jing family had truly become prosperous!

 

Jing Yi paid no attention to the village gossip and curious looks. After buying the land, he took his ideas for the house design and found Zhang San, a local person in town who could help recommend a reliable old hand in house construction.

 

Zhang San actively helped arrange meetings with several construction teams. After chatting with them all, Jing Yi ultimately chose Master Liao.

 

Master Liao typically took on major projects and offered a reasonable price. However, he had genuine skills.

 

Jing Yi discussed his plans with him and found that Master Liao really liked his design drawings. He was a down-to-earth person who didn’t oversell himself, nor did he blindly reject Jing Yi’s ideas. In some places, he even offered more reasonable solutions considering the actual conditions of ancient times.

 

When Jing Yi saw the final draft, he was extremely satisfied. Master Liao was indeed a rare talent; he had to be used!

 

With the construction team secured, because Xiwan Village was far from town, Jing Yi decided not to go back and forth during the construction period. They stayed at the Jing family’s house, both for meals and accommodation.

 

Master Liao had a good reputation and capability in town, and it was said that even people from the county seat sought him out. He generally didn’t like taking on rural projects, not because he looked down on them, but mainly because it was inconvenient due to the long distance, and rural construction projects usually lacked challenges.

 

This time, however, because he genuinely admired the design drawings Jing Yi had made, he readily agreed.

 

Master Liao and Jing Yi agreed on a fixed-price contract, with a construction period of roughly a month. The long distance was inconvenient, and Jing Yi had to make it worth his while.

 

During the construction period, Jing Yi focused on overseeing the project, and he was heavily involved in the whole process to ensure it met his standards.

 

Because going back and forth was inconvenient, he only brought a team of five people to reside in Xiwan Village. He provided meals and accommodation, and the fixed price was thirty taels of silver.

 

In addition, Jing Yi needed to buy the materials himself, and he also had to hire ten more people from the village to do labor, with their wages paid by Jing Yi.

 

Before hiring, Jing Yi had inquired about Master Liao’s team’s construction prices and knew that he had to handle materials, labor, and the like on his own, which was a way to save money. The fixed price he negotiated wasn’t high either. It seemed that Master Liao genuinely liked Jing Yi’s design drawings.

 

However, when Jing Yi’s father and mother heard about it, they weren’t pleased.

 

What kind of house is that, so expensive! They even had to spend thirty taels separately to hire people from town to build it, and after buying the materials, they had to spend more money to hire people from the village.

 

Spending these thirty taels was simply a waste of money.

 

Of course, Jing Yi’s father didn’t say that last sentence out loud. When they were talking, Chuxia was present. In front of their future son-in-law, he had to maintain some dignity and face.