Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside-Chapter 154 Rotten Idea

Lu Laosan was stunned by the beating, and when he came back to his senses, he exclaimed, "What are you saying, Second Brother? The plan failed? Lu Dezhu is missing? Wasn’t he supposed to go to the county to handle the house and land deeds for those families? How could he just disappear?"

Lu Laoer bellowed, "Damn right he’s gone missing. Early this morning, I sent our servant to wait for him at the tea house by the city gate. Waited till nearly dusk and still no sign of Lu Dezhu."

"Instead, the Qin, Gu, and Luotian families managed to get their house and land deeds dealt with, and even bought the last three old houses at the end of the village, along with the open spaces in front and behind them. You were the one who urged us to start making mud bricks, to find craftsmen to build houses right in front of their places, saying we should encircle those families and move Zhang Niu and the others into those houses, to daily disturb their peace."

"Disturb their peace my ass! Now those families have bought all the neighboring open land, a whole sixty acres or so, sixty acres, you hear? Didn’t you say those families were poor? How could the poor come up with so much silver to buy land?!"

Pointing towards the direction of the village end, Lu Laoer cursed breathlessly, "You said it was a brilliant idea, brilliant my ass, this idea is worse than slop!"

"I rushed back here in this pitch darkness to find Lu Dezhu and seek refuge," said Lu Laoer. "Big Brother said the County Magistrate Zou is bound to be livid about this matter. He told me to hide at home for a few days and wait for the County Magistrate Zou to cool off before returning to the county."

Big Brother has been working with County Magistrate Zou for over a decade and knows a lot about the dirty secrets County Magistrate Zou wouldn’t want public. County Magistrate Zou treats Big Brother better than he does me or Old San; even if he lashes out at Big Brother, he’s not likely to get violent. Big Brother can handle this.

Lu Laosan was dumbstruck for a long time, just kept asking, "Everything was planned out so well, how could it not work out? Where the hell did that bastard Lu Dezhu go?"

Lu Laoer fumed, "How the hell would I know where that bastard has gone to die? Shuan Da and Zhang Niu are leading a group searching for him."

If they find him, there’s no need to drag him back for questioning, just dump him in the mountains and be done with it.

Today, Widow Qiu did not return home but stayed with Lu Laosan, sleeping on the couch in the study. Seeing Lu Laoer storm in furiously, she knew something bad had happened. She immediately shrank into the corner of the soft couch, covered herself with the quilt, and didn’t dare move. Only after Lu Laoer’s rage had somewhat subsided did she dare to rise, speaking softly, "Second Young Master, don’t panic. Although the idea was ours, it was approved by County Magistrate Zou. Even if the plan failed, County Magistrate Zou wouldn’t put all the blame on us."

County Magistrate Zou and County Captain Jiang have been at odds for decades, constantly battling each other. With County Captain Jiang out of the picture, County Magistrate Zou wanted to test the Jiang Family’s strength. When he heard their idea, he didn’t object; instead, he arranged for a clerk at the county government to help them handle the house and land deeds.

Hearing this, Lu Laosan quickly said, "Right, Second Brother, we just came up with the idea. Before acting on it, we did ask for County Governor’s approval. Since it was the County Governor who agreed to it, even if the plan failed, the County Governor can’t blame our family for the mistake."

Hearing such foolish words, Lu Laoer was so angry he slapped Lu Laosan again, "You idiot! County Magistrate Zou has suffered setbacks one after another. Do you think he isn’t furious? If he can’t take it out on the Jiang Family, of course, he’ll take it out on our family."

Did Old San think their Lu Family was anything but a dog in the eyes of County Magistrate Zou? ƒгeewёbnovel.com

Just a dog.

Although it was the master who agreed to the plan, if the dog fails to carry it out, do you think the master won’t beat you?

After cursing out Lu Laosan, Lu Laoer turned to Widow Qiu, grabbed her hair, dragged her off the soft couch, and threw her onto the ground, spitting and cursing, "And you, you wretched woman, what did you say to Lu Dezhu? Letting them take advantage of everything, and then letting the person slip away. Are you losing your touch because you’re getting old?"

"Ah~ Spare my life, Second Young Master!" Widow Qiu’s voice was tender as she cried out, sobbing, "I also didn’t know Lu Dezhu would run away. Don’t worry, once we catch Lu Dezhu, I’ll cripple him myself, make that camel suffer for the rest of his life!"

After Lu Laoer beat up Lu Laosan and Widow Qiu, he vented a lot of his anger. A short while later, Shuan Da reported: "Second Young Master, we’ve searched all the villages nearby, including the gambling houses and taverns in town, but didn’t see Lu Dezhu anywhere. We even went to his house, and his wife and children said he came home drunk before dawn, took the household register, and hasn’t been back since."

Lu Laosan frowned and said, "Second Brother, could it be that Lu Dezhu drank too much and slept dead on the road, missing the time?"

Shuan Da replied, "Second Young Master and Third Master, I was afraid that Lu Dezhu drinking would cause trouble, so I didn’t let him drink too much, just a small half bowl, about two taels or so, and we’ve searched along the roadside, but found no one."

"Where on earth could Lu Dezhu have died off to?" Both Lu Laoer and Lu Laosan were baffled.

Unbeknownst to them, Lu Dezhu had already been taken to the county government office and his confession had been filed as evidence, just waiting for the Lord County Magistrate and Lord County Captain to return and proceed with the judgment.

...

At the edge of the village, Third Grandpa and the rest didn’t return home until it was completely dark outside. As soon as they got home, they took out the house and land deeds to show to a few families.

Since their trip to the city, several families had been waiting at Gu Jinli’s house. They had been waiting for most of the day, anxious and scared, but seeing the house and land deeds finally put their minds at ease.

When they learned that Lu Dezhu had been caught and would be heavily sentenced, the families were even more delighted.

"He got what he deserved, that cursed Lu Tuozhi should be caught and sentenced to death!" Third Grandma couldn’t contain her anger when she heard that Lu Dezhu had harmed a village girl, fiercely cursing him for being immoral.

Mrs. Chen didn’t care about all this; she snatched her family’s house and land deeds from Gu Dagui’s hands, ecstatic beyond belief: "We have six acres in front and behind, and another six acres of fallow land, plus a two-acre large courtyard, our family now has fourteen acres of land. Oh God, fourteen acres of land; if we keep on with the tofu business year after year, our family can become a big landlord in less than a decade!"

Mrs. Chen was over the moon, dreaming her happy dreams, when she soon became displeased. Her family had not yet divided their property, and the house and land had to be split equally with her eldest brother’s family, a thought that irritated her.

Gu Dagui had been married to Mrs. Chen for over ten years; seeing her pained expression, he knew exactly what she was thinking. Could this damn woman be any less greedy?

The eldest brother had been more than good to their family; he did the heavy tasks, shared the earned silver equally, and if there were any leftovers, it went to him, the younger brother. The household expenses were all paid by the eldest brother; their own family hadn’t spent a large money, and they were saving the money they earned. What more did she want?

Mrs. Cui, Gu Jinxiu, and Gu Jincheng were so happy they wanted to cry when they found out their family had bought land. If they were still in their old home, where would they dare to dream of their family being able to buy land? Even if they could buy land, it would not be their own, but that of their second, third, and fourth uncles. It was a great blessing for Grandma to feed them and beat them less.

Seeing their happiness, Gu Jinli also felt elated, but she didn’t stay in the house for long. Instead, she lit an oil lamp, took out a packet of antiseptic medicine she had formulated herself, and went to the yard to apply medicine on Village Chief He’s bull.

To catch up with Lu Dezhu during the day, she had viciously stabbed the bull’s backside with a knife and was now responsible for healing the animal.

Qin San Lang had been guarding by the cart all along, and after she had finished treating the bull, he said, "I’ll deliver the bull to Village Chief He’s house; you don’t need to worry. I’ll talk to him about this."

Gu Jinli took out an ounce of broken silver and handed it to Qin San Lang: "Brother Qin, please compensate the village chief’s family with these two pieces of silver."