Chapter 73
73 Neighbor
Qin Huai wanted to be closer to Little Ah Yu, so he asked Chi Jia to negotiate with Village Chief Hu so that he could live with the Wang Family. However, he did not know that in the entire Hu Family Village, the Wang Family was the least capable of accommodating guests in their house.
They could barely allocate five rooms. Old man Wang and Old Madam Wang lived in one, and the other four sons and daughters-in-law lived in the rest of the rooms.
There were also wooden beds in their sons’ and daughters-in-law’s rooms. They were for the grandsons.
It was not even enough for seven grandsons.
Thus, Wang Liulang and Wang Qilang had to live in Wang Chuanman’s room.
Before Little Ah Yu, the Wang Family did not have a granddaughter. Otherwise, they would have arranged additional rooms.
Now, Little Ah Yu sometimes lived with Old Madam Wang and sometimes squeezed with Liu Shi and the others.
When Old Madam Wang heard that the young master from the county city wanted to live in their house, she rejected him without thinking. “No, our house can’t take in more people. There’s just no space.”
Village Chief Hu said, “They won’t live here for nothing. Isn’t paying ten copper coins a day for accommodation better than letting your son work in town?”
When he was not busy with farming, Wang Chuanfu would go to town to work, but he did not work every day.
In order to save money, Wang Chuanfu would travel to and from town every day. He often set off before dawn and could only go home to sleep late at night.
After a month, he had only saved one to two hundred copper coins.
Old Madam Wang’s attitude was very firm. “Our house is not big enough. Let him find another place.”
Not to mention now, their family had Ah Yu, who was hiding a secret. If she was exposed, Ah Yu would be in danger.
Even in the past, she would not have agreed.
There were already many people in the family, and with the addition of two strangers, she would be worried to death every day!
Just assembling her family to eat, drink, and poop was enough to annoy her.
‘He likes your Little Ah Yu, so he wants to live in your Wang Family. Isn’t that good?” Village Chief Hu was a little puzzled.
Hearing this, Old Madam Wang became even more unhappy. “What are you talking about every day? How old is our Little Ah Yu? You’re ruining her reputation.”
“What are you talking about, Dewang’s wife! I didn’t mean that. She’s just a child. The feelings between children are pure to begin with. It’s not as complicated as you think. Moreover, that child is here to recuperate. Take it as doing a good deed.”
However, no matter what Village Chief Hu said, Old Madam Wang did not agree.
Village Chief Hu had no choice but to tell Chi Jia to find another place.
Chi Jia did not expect to be rejected, so he deliberated and said, “Is ten copper coins too little? I can still add more.”
Actually, Chi Jia felt that it should be enough to give one tael of silver a day.
Compared to the best inn in the county city which only cost one tael of silver a day, what he had offered should be very attractive.
Who asked that coachman to teach him a lesson?
Village Chief Hu shook his head and sighed. “It’s not about the money. You don’t know this, but the Wang Family is famous for being stubborn. If they don’t agree, even if the sky falls, they won’t agree.”
Although Village Chief Hu had only told Old Madam Wang, he knew that Old Madam Wang’s words represented the entire Wang Family.
Chi Jia could only give up. “Then which family is closer to them?”
Village Chief Hu felt that something was wrong. Why did it have to be next to Old man Wang’s house?
Seeing Village Chief Hu’s puzzled gaze, Chi Jia hurriedly explained, “It’s like this. When our Young Master was in the county city, he played with that little girl. At that time, he liked her, so he wants to be closer to her now.”
Only then did Village Chief Hu remember that Ah Yu had been to the county city before.
But since when did they play together?
However, thinking that the other party had nothing to lie about, he threw this matter aside.
“The one closest to Old man Wang’s house is Hu San’s family. Their second child works outside and doesn’t return home all year round. He should have an empty room.”
Village Chief Hu thought about it and felt that the Hu family was indeed not bad. Third Aunt Hu was an open-minded person and should be able to get along well with them.
Just to be sure, Village Chief Hu went to Hu San’s house to ask. Hu San immediately welcomed them and took the initiative to vacate the main house for the two of them to live in.
Hu San even asked his family to go over and help move Qin Huai’s things over.
As soon as Chi Jia walked into the Hu family, he was very shocked.
Back then, even if they traveled quickly and camped in the open air, they had never lived in such a dilapidated place!
The main house was sadly dilapidated. One could tell at a glance that the wooden bed was casually pieced together. New wood was stacked with old wood.
There were no footstools, bamboo curtains, or even a decent window!
The mattress on the bed was no longer recognizable, and there was a rotten smell.
The entire room was filled with all kinds of things. There were many miscellaneous things embedded in the cracks of the wall, including sickles!
There was no stone on the ground either. It was made of pure mud. The ground was uneven and filled with holes. Some small pits were filled with something that was sticky.
Chi Jia looked at Qin Huai, thinking that his young master definitely could not take it.
When had he ever lived in such a place?
There was no emotion in Qin Huai’s eyes.
He even had the illusion that the Young Master was a little happy now.
When Little Ah Yu returned from picking flowers, she realized that her little brother had already moved to Third Aunt Hu’s house.
Third Aunt Hu’s house was only a hundred steps away from Old man Wang’s house. Usually, she could be heard shouting loudly.
Little Ah Yu brought the flowers home and asked Old man Wang to help make a wreath. Then, she brought the wreath to Third Aunt Hu’s house.
Qin Huai was sitting in the courtyard. Third Aunt Hu’s courtyard had a peach tree planted and its peach blossom was blooming nicely.
“Little Brother!” Little Ah Yu lay on the bamboo fence and waved at Qin Huai.
Qin Huai glanced at her and his frown subconsciously relaxed, but he sat still.
Third Aunt Hu happily opened the fence for her. “Ah Yu, why are you here?”
“Third Aunt, I’m looking for Little Brother!” Little Ah Yu said sweetly.
“You know him? That’s good. Come in and play with him. I think this child doesn’t like to talk.”
Third Aunt Hu let her in and turned around to busy herself.
Little Ah Yu jumped in front of Qin Huai like a rabbit.
She handed the wreath to Qin Huai. Qin Huai originally did not want to take it, but when he saw the wreath on Little Ah Yu’s head, he took it.
He was afraid that she would put it on his head too.
“Little Brother, what’s your name?” Little Ah Yu circled Qin Huai, revealing her two baby teeth.
Qin Huai originally felt a tearing pain in his chest and wanted to cough violently, but when Little Ah Yu approached, the pain suddenly receded like the tide.
It turned out that it was really not his imagination back when he was in the county city.
His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Little Ah Yu with a probing expression.
“Who are you?” Qin Huai asked softly.
“I’m Ah Yu!” Little Ah Yu did not understand and blinked. “Have you forgotten? I’ve told you my name. You can also call me Blessing. Everyone likes to call me that too.”
Ah Yu, he knew.
Lord Zhang had once asked him to help hide her background.
An abandoned child who was also not liked survived.
She should have a swamp-like personality, but why was her eyes so clear?
Was this a trap they had set?
They had gone through so much trouble for someone like him… who was about to die?
[Kid, he’s dying.] Meatball’s voice suddenly sounded.