Chapter 189:
Luo Zhi’er had already made the worst plan in her heart; at most, she would compensate with some silver to settle the matter!
This was a small matter; anything that could be settled with silver wasn’t a real matter.
She didn’t lack that bit of silver anyway.
But she felt it shouldn’t come to that; she would quietly observe Li Zhengxin’s and their behavior first before deciding…
Nothing showed on Li Zhengxin’s face, but he was calculating inwardly as well.
First of all, this matter had been judged by them together before; it was Li Shi and the others who went to someone’s door to cause trouble and got caught in the trap.
If they went back on their word now, wouldn’t that mean they handled things unfairly?
It wasn’t just Luo Zhi’er’s problem; it was even more about the few stewards losing face…
Secondly, he wasn’t stupid about the purpose of this group today; each was for their own family’s benefit—some wanted compensation, some wanted others’ land…
The key was the benefit this group brought to the village; Li Sanmao’s family clearly did nothing wrong, and besides, they really had confidence—after Li Sanmao’s reminder last night, he felt this Li Gui still had a chance to pass the imperial examination.
His gaze swept over Luo Zhi’er’s face; she was calm and composed—either ignorant or unfathomable…
Thinking of the few things she had done before, which one wasn’t clean and neat, swift, ruthless…
A flash in his eyes; Li Sanmao and his always calm wife seemed not simple in the future!
He also recalled last time with that girl Miaomiao and her connection with the Young Master of the Marquis Mansion; was it really just little Miaomiao catching someone’s eye?
Would they give her a fierce dog worth a thousand gold for no reason?
Could they even know the Young Master of the Mansion of the county magistrate?
From his years of experience, how could there be so many coincidences? Unless someone had brilliant methods and gained someone’s favor…
His gaze swept over that plump person again, meeting those calm, unruffled eyes… If she really had some connection with them, they would be a level above them for life.
Looking again at the few families causing trouble today, though numerous, going up one generation or down two, no one in their families showed any promise—they were all peasants, no scholar material, no business minds…
As for the fourth generation, that was no longer his concern.
Thinking of Li Shi, her family had the least hope—not that he looked down on them, but a nest of fools and wastes; going out, they would only lose face for Zhao Li Village.
Li Zhengxin had a complex expression, calculating gains and losses in his heart; Li Zuzu, Zhao Zuzu, and others were also clearly scheming.
“Zhao Er, do you mean the people behind the poisoned mule and poisoned fish from last time with San Mao’s wife were your wife?” Li Zhengxin shifted his gaze to Zhao Er and said flatly.
This was something Zhao Er hadn’t expected, nor had the others; they thought Luo Zhi’er would at least receive some punishment this time…
“Village Chief?”
Zhao Anyi widened his disbelieving eyes and reminded…
“The rest of you, don’t interrupt; Zhao Er, you answer!”
“This…” Zhao Er’s face flushed and paled by turns…
“Hurry up and speak; what are you hesitating for?” Li Zuzu waved his big palm, stood up, and scolded loudly.
“Li Fuquan, lower your voice!!! Aren’t you afraid of causing trouble with all this noise?” Zhao Zuzu felt uncomfortable; this Zhao fellow was from their clan… It made him lose face; last time he had even said it was fortunate it was Li Old Woman and not his Zhao Shi doing those things!
Of course Li Zuzu knew his concerns; who told him to mock him a bit last time? Li Ergou was from Li Shi’s family, and Li Old Woman was also from the Li clan.
“What? You want to shield him?”
Last time he hadn’t shielded Li Shi!
“You old ghost, what nonsense are you saying? I just feel Zhao Er isn’t that person; it must be a misunderstanding. Poisoning people’s things is hateful, but we can’t wrong good people!” Zhao Zuzu said.
“Good people? Zhao Er might barely qualify, but his wife Huaihua may not. Didn’t you just hear him say it himself? His wife also got her leg caught in that animal trap!” Li Zuzu reminded.
“Why don’t you let him explain himself why his wife Huaihua got caught?”
“This…” Zhao Zuzu couldn’t speak for him anymore.
“Zhao Er, explain it all…” Li Zhengxin turned oppressive eyes on his face!
“This, this—my wife just went to Luo Zhi’er to borrow some belongings to use; she didn’t expect to get caught!” Zhao Er wiped sweat from his brow and lied.
“Uncle Zhao Er, I don’t believe that. I said that day my home was empty then, front door tightly shut, main hall door locked. If borrowing things, why would she sneak around to the door when she could clearly see no one was home?” Luo Zhi’er said slowly.
“You say no one was home, so no one was? Maybe your daughter Miaomiao was home with the door open?”
“Miaomiao wasn’t home; she stayed at my old woman’s place until dark before going back!” Old Lady Zhao angrily stood up to confirm, then looked at everyone,
“I knew San Mao’s wife went up the slope to work because she asked me to help watch Miaomiao, so I can prove she wasn’t home then and only returned at dusk.”
“That’s true; last time when Zhao Xiaomei got her ear bitten by Dog, didn’t she say in front of everyone that she neglected Miaomiao all day, letting her play on the road, starving crazy and begging for food everywhere?” Aunt Ma chimed in chatteringly.
“It wasn’t as exaggerated as you say!”
“Anyway, pretty much!”
Li Zhengsen thought darkly, oh no, the wind is shifting; he quickly lowered his presence…
Zhao Er’s face twitched.
“I also find this strange; that Aunt Li stubbornly denied knocking the stove, poisoning the fish, poisoning the mule, and just kept saying she lost her underpants—so were these things done by Aunt Huaihua?” Luo Zhi’er said flatly.
The others instantly understood; this Li Shi was really sly in a subtle way…
Clearly, she wanted to ruin San Mao’s wife’s reputation, secretly came to discard things, force a marriage to her son Da Niu to have children, but ended up failing to steal the chicken and losing the rice!
This Zhao Er’s wife brought it on herself; she must have been jealous and went to poison their livestock—whether others were involved is uncertain, but it was those two who got caught, and they still had the nerve to come demand compensation?
“Hehe, now I finally understand; Uncle Zhengxin, Li Zuzu, Zhao Zuzu, please give me justice!”
The crowd below immediately erupted…
Now Zhao Er was dumbfounded; earlier misled by them, he felt he’d suffered a huge loss and couldn’t hold back and spilled it—now not only no compensation, but it confirmed she did those bad deeds.
“Outrageous! Simply losing face, disgracing the ancestors of Zhao Li Village; our village having you Zhao Shi and Li Shi clan members is eight generations of bad luck!”
Zhao Zuzu trembled with anger!
His cane thumped loudly… Zhao Er hung his head silently, letting him scold!
“One by one, no ambition, just doing this stealing and trickery; look what you’ve made yourselves into?”
“If you don’t want people to know, then don’t do it; still have the nerve to jump out demanding compensation? Are you despising our intelligence, or looking down on Li Sanmao’s family’s abilities?”
