The beloved baby has a space

Chapter 174 Shanyang Village Needs to Borrow Money
A man ran into Hujia Village almost crying, but was stopped at the village entrance by a group of elderly villagers. Since the Blood Rain Pavilion incident, the people of Hujia Village had become much more cautious and wary of unfamiliar faces.

"Stop! What are you doing?!" The old man from the Ma clan glared at him, his tone sharp.

He was a young man of about twenty, whose clothes were covered in patches, and he looked like an ordinary poor man.

He was pale and thin, and his steps were unsteady, as if he hadn't eaten for many days.

But those eyes were exceptionally bright.

Hearing what Elder Ma said, the man flinched slightly, but still wiped away his tears and said with a forced smile, "I've come to find Old Wang's family. I wonder if anyone is home?"

These words made Elder Ma even more wary: "Why are you asking about Old Wang's family? Where are you from? What are you doing here? Explain yourself!"

The others also stood up from the rocks and slowly surrounded the young man.

This whole scene made it seem like if he said anything wrong, he'd get a beating.

"Don't misunderstand, don't misunderstand, I'm not a bad person!" the young man quickly said. "I'm from Shanyang Village!"

Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions turned even more unfriendly.

The people they hate the most now, besides those inexplicable people from before, are the people from Shanyang Village.

No, Shanyang Village isn't just disliked, it's utterly loathed.

A bunch of inhuman beasts, just thinking about them makes me feel unlucky!

"You still have the nerve to come here? Get out of here right now!" Old Master Hu raised his cane, as if to strike.

The young man's pupils contracted sharply, and he instinctively dodged away.

He finally understood why the villagers had let him come over; they probably thought he was young and would be quick to run away.

Even if you can't avoid getting beaten up, at least you're young and can withstand it.

"I'm not here to cause trouble!" the young man hurriedly shouted. "I'm here to beg for mercy!"

After saying that, the young man knelt down in front of everyone with a thud, without showing any change in expression.

"The corvée labor quota for this year has been issued. Thirty households from our village have been selected to perform corvée labor for your village, and now another thirty households will be added..."

The people of Hujia Village then remembered that the annual corvée labor was supposed to be done during this period, but it usually waited until after the rice planting was over, when the spring work was truly finished, and the corvée labor would often be done at this time.

There are still a few days until rice planting, and they've already started conscripting laborers.

Moreover, they received no notification whatsoever and completely forgot about it.

Village Chief Hu naturally received the message, but since their village was exempt from paying spring taxes and corvée labor during this period, there was no need for him to inform the villagers.

It turned out that the young man had indeed come to beg for mercy.

He said that those who ate babies in their village have all been driven out.

Some people had already been tormented to death and naturally hated the heartless and ruthless Hu Family Village to the core, while the remaining people naturally had no good feelings towards Hu Family Village either.

In their view, the people of Hujia Village were too heartless, turning against them like this over a child.

During this period, funerals in Shanyang Village have been nonstop, with people constantly succumbing to their injuries.

If Hujia Village hadn't insisted on taking it seriously and even reported it to the authorities, they wouldn't have suffered such a huge loss.

In short, it's all Hujia Village's fault!

Of course, the young man didn't say these things aloud; he only recounted the tragic state of his village.

The old man from the Ma clan still looked at the young people with a scrutinizing gaze, showing them no sympathy whatsoever: "This is your own fault, you have no one else to blame. You came here just to complain? Have you finished your nonsense? If you're done, then get out!"

Young man: "...No."

He paused for a moment, then asked, "I'm here today to see the Wang family." Just then, Wang Chuanfu returned from Dahe Village, where he had gone to check on the rented land.

"What do you want with our family?" Wang Chuanfu asked curiously upon hearing the young man's words.

He didn't seem to recognize this person. Where did he come from?

Upon learning that Wang Chuanfu was from the Wang family, the young man immediately knelt down before him again.

His smooth and precise movements made it hard not to suspect that he had practiced many times at home.

"Please, have mercy and help us!" the young man cried, tears streaming down his face.

At this moment, someone also briefly told Wang Chuanfu about the corvée labor.

Wang Chuanfu was puzzled: "Wasn't this the judgment made by the officials? Do you intend to renege on your debt?"

The young man shook his head: "No, no, no, we dare not renege on our debt. We accept the corvée labor order. But there are not many able-bodied men in our village. We have to plant rice seedlings every few days. How can we have enough manpower? The corvée laborers will be gone for one or two months at a time, and we don't even know if they will come back alive."

At this point, the young man glanced at Wang Chuanfu's expression and, seeing no obvious impatience, continued, "But corvée labor can be offset with silver. We heard that the Wang family has become wealthy, buying houses in town and opening a steamed bun shop. Your family must be quite rich, right? Could you... could you lend us some?"

Upon hearing this, everyone gasped.

How could he possibly say that?!

The old man from the Ma clan spat loudly, "Your shamelessness is thicker than a city wall! Your village owes our village a debt, and you haven't paid back a single penny! How dare you come to borrow money? How dare you! Who gave you the audacity?"

"We're just... broke. Who wouldn't want to pay off debts if they had money?" The young man's voice weakened. "The Wang family is rich now; lending us a little won't hurt them at all. But if we didn't have money, it would be a death sentence..."

Even the honest Wang Chuanfu was so angry he laughed.

Why did you assume that the Wang family would lend you money?

He was really curious about how these people came up with this idea.

The young man said, "Everyone says your Wang family is the most honest and kind..."

This argument is completely unfounded; the young man had been taught how to say it countless times before he arrived.

He even threatened the Wang family that if they didn't lend him money, he would cause trouble at their steamed bun shop.

Let's see how they manage to open their shops.

But the young man felt that if he spoke up, he might be beaten to death here today.

The people of Hujia Village are surprisingly united.

They had no intention of standing idly by. They considered the Wang family as part of Hujia Village, contrary to what the village elders said about them being hostile to outsiders.

In the end, the young man was driven away by Old Master Hu's cane. He was angry and frustrated, and his eyes were full of hatred as he left.

"Shanyang Village has completely gone astray. With such a group of people around, it's probably not good for the village." Old Master Hu said in a heavy tone, "I'm afraid they'll just give up and ruin everything."

The elder of the Ma clan took a deep breath: "From today onwards, our village will organize some young people to take turns guarding the village entrance, preferably at night as well, so that not just anyone can be allowed into the village."

Wang Chuanfu also realized that it's better to offend a gentleman than a petty person.

“I always felt that those people in Shanyang Village had ill intentions. Today, a young man came, but who knows if the whole village thinks the same way?” Wang Chuanfu’s expression was also not very good. “Otherwise, I’ll go to town and ask my parents what they think.”

I can't lend you money, but I still need to ask how to deal with this.

Old Master Hu said, "Your family's business of running a steamed bun shop in town can't be kept secret, but your house purchase shouldn't be known to anyone from outside the village. Perhaps there are gossipy women in our village too; we need to find them and teach them a lesson!"

We don't want them to sell their village without us even knowing it.

(End of this chapter)