After crossing, I was forced to hold on to my thighs and build a kingdom

Jin Chu nodded and smiled back, then moved a little further inward to make some room for the girl.

The girl wore a bright blue jacket with slanting collar and buttons, and pants of the same color. The hems of the jacket and pants were trimmed with white background and blue floral curling grass patterns, which made her look simple and elegant yet pretty.

Two long black braids hung down behind her, revealing her smooth forehead, big eyes, and oval face. She had a bright and cheerful smile, and she had a very pleasing appearance.

"You are a relative of Aunt Sun's family in the east end of the village, Miss Jin'er, right?" The girl spoke to Jinchu first. "My name is Huizhen, and the blacksmith Wang in the west end of the village is my grandfather."

Judging from the girl's words, her grandfather must be a well-known craftsman. Jinchu tried to respond, "Grandpa Wang's craftsmanship is top-notch in the surrounding villages. I've heard of him, but he doesn't go out much. I just found out you're his granddaughter. You can just call me Jin'er."

She looked at Huizhen and praised her, "This dress looks so fresh and elegant on you today, it's unforgettable."

Huizhen straightened her bag and spoke with a hint of sincerity, "Okay, then I'll call you Jin'er and you call me Huizhen. Let's stop being so polite to each other."

She pointed at the dress and smiled. "I made this dress randomly. If Jin'er likes it, I'll teach you later."

Huizhen was very happy because of Jinchu's affirmation of her grandfather and herself. She also wanted to make friends with this quiet, kind and beautiful girl in front of her.

"Okay." Jin Chu nodded slightly and said, "I'll listen to Huizhen."

Huizhen smiled widely. She moved closer to Jinchu and whispered to him in a friendly tone, "Jin'er, you've been in our village for almost three years, right? I never see you go out on weekdays. Aunt Sun always says that you're not feeling well and need to stay in bed to recuperate..."

She looked Jinchu up and down, her tone slightly questioning, "Although I see you've become a little thinner now, it's not as serious as Aunt Sun said!"

What good words can come out of Sun's harsh mouth!

Jin Chu complained inwardly, but a helpless smile appeared on her face. She sat up straight and said softly, "I did feel unwell the first year after arriving here due to the unfamiliar climate, but since the second year, I've been fine. You know I have a younger brother at home, right?"

She looked at Huizhen and asked, and the girl nodded repeatedly in response, "I know. I heard about it from my family the first year you came here. I remember you had an older brother back then, but he seemed to have passed away soon after."

Jin Chu nodded. "You remember it well. After my brother left, Aunt Sun was afraid of causing trouble, so she told me not to go out too much unless necessary. We were renting her house anyway, and my brother was young for the past two years, so naturally, I wouldn't do anything that would upset the owner."

"If you're only staying here for three to five months, I can understand why you're afraid of getting into trouble and staying indoors, but you're going to be living here for a few years after all. You can't just stay cooped up in the house for such a long time, right? Are you going to have to be locked up for years just because she complained about it being troublesome? I've always known Aunt Sun to be a bit of a hothead, but she's being a bit overbearing towards her own relatives and younger generations!"

In Huizhen's eyes, Jinchu at this moment was just the poor little girl who lived under someone else's roof and was controlled in every way, which made her sympathetic. Therefore, her tone was full of disapproval of Sun's style of doing things.

"People are under the eaves and have to bow their heads."

Jin Chu sighed helplessly, "At first, I just wanted to live a simple life. It wouldn't be a bad idea to listen to her and stay at home, as long as she abides by the agreement she made with my brother and doesn't deprive us of food. But now, she's not just depriving us of food, she's even refusing to let us have enough steamed buns!"

After calming down her slightly agitated emotions, she whispered, "I can still bear it, but my brother can't keep making do like this. He's my mother's oldest child, and he was born with a weak foundation. Now is the time when he's growing up. If I take advantage of him now, and he grows up to be a sickly child, how will I explain to my deceased parents?"

While speaking, Jin Chu calmly observed the people around him who were listening quietly, especially the two women in their thirties and forties, who stretched their necks towards him.

I thought to myself, "Sun, I will reveal the dirty things you have been trying so hard to hide today!"

"My sister and I were able to get by in the past two years, but this year, since there's been no news from my brother, Aunt Sun has started to treat us badly. First, she said the harvest was bad and life was tough. Then, she started to dislike us eating too much. Every day, she scolded us and wouldn't give us a steamed bun. This winter is so cold that my brother's cotton-padded clothes are worn out. He's hungry and cold. If I don't go out and think of a way out, how am I going to get through this winter?"

"That's true. Now that your parents have passed away and your brother has left, you and your younger brother are dependent on each other. As the saying goes, 'an elder sister is like a mother.' Even if you can't eat well yourself, you will definitely do everything you can to take good care of your younger brother."

Huizhen also has a younger brother at home, and they have a very close relationship. She can empathize with Jinchu's feelings.

"Before he left, my brother gave Aunt Sun twenty taels of silver and asked her to take care of my sister and me for two years. When he came to pick us up two years later, he gave her another sixty taels of silver as a thank you."

Jinchu was smart and changed the generous reward her brother had offered to sixty taels. Since Sun was unkind and unjust in the first place, she, Ye Jinchu, could not expect her to treat her kindly.

"First, give me twenty taels, then sixty taels. The total is eighty taels?"

The woman next to her gasped and cursed, "That vicious woman, Sun, has taken so much money from you. She could have kept you for ten or eight years, let alone two or three. And yet she still dares to control you and not let you go out? Bah! Isn't she afraid of feeling guilty about taking this money?"

"Aunt, you don't know. If Aunt Sun was just like this, I could still tolerate it."

Jin Chu's eyes were red, and she looked pitifully at the woman opposite who seemed to be indignant but was actually envious and jealous. "Aunt Sun probably thinks the twenty taels of silver my brother gave her is too little. This year, my brother hasn't come yet, and he actually..." At this point, the girl was about to cry and kept silent.

Everyone around her looked at her, and the impatient woman kept asking, "What happened? Girl, don't cry, tell us what happened. Then we can know what wronged you!"

"Yes, even if there were no fifty taels of silver, for a farming family like us, the annual income is only four or five taels. If we meet someone with skills like Uncle Zheng, maybe it will be more, about eleven or twelve taels a year, right? Aunt Wu?" The young daughter-in-law asked the last sentence to another woman in her thirties.

"Not that much. When the restaurant business is good, my family only makes about ten taels of silver a year at most."

Aunt Wu, who had been sitting in silence, shook her head. "The twenty taels of silver I gave you earlier are more than enough for the brother and sister to live comfortably in our village for five or six years! Besides, even if the brother was delayed by something, it's not like he won't come!"

Disdain flashed in her eyes as she said disdainfully, "Sun couldn't even wait for this little while, and they started bullying the siblings. Their greed is truly shameless."

"Yes, yes, that Sun is indeed quite vicious. How did she bully you weak girls and younger brothers? Tell us so that we can give you some advice on how to deal with her!"

For a moment, there was a lot of chatter in the carriage, and everyone wanted to join in the conversation.