A husband found in the village? I bought a regent for a penny!

As Aunt Zhang entered, she muttered curses, "Pah! All of you are just idle people, spreading rumors without any basis! If I find out who started it, I'll rip their tongues out!"

Hearing that there was some excitement, He Jinglan immediately put aside the matter of building the bathhouse and asked with a smile, "Auntie is back?"

"Who is so hateful that you have to personally deal with them, Auntie?"

Aunt Zhang paused, then noticed He Jinglan and Gu Xixi were both in the yard, and looked somewhat uneasy.

"Xixi didn't go out?"

The employees have all returned to work today.

After the wheat harvest, the fields had all been turned over.

Just take advantage of these two clear days to add base fertilizer, sun-dry the seeds, mix in pesticides, and then you can plant the millet.

Gu Xixi said, "I went for a walk early this morning, but there's nothing else to do. Just leave it to Uncle Chen and the others."

Aunt Zhang nodded.

Seeing that He Jinglan was still waiting curiously, Aunt Zhang knew she couldn't get away with it, so she avoided the carpenters and said, "Did Xixi go to see Mr. Liu one night recently?"

Gu Xixi naturally replied, "Yes."

Aunt Zhang slapped her thigh with a bitter face, "Oh dear, I knew it!"

He Jinglan realized what was going on and asked, "Did someone see it and gossip about it?"

Aunt Zhang got angry again, "What kind of scoundrel is he? He's either blind or has ulterior motives. If Xixi and Mr. Liu can talk to each other outside and be seen, doesn't that mean there's nothing sneaky going on?!"

"Then today I heard people say that Xiao Chen ran away, and Xixi must be in a hurry to find another job."

"They also said that Xixi fell for Mr. Liu in order to get revenge on Xiao Chen, because Mr. Liu is also a teacher."

He Jinglan frowned, "What's going on here?"

"What does Xixi's desire for revenge against Chen Fang have to do with Liu Fuzi being a schoolteacher?"

"Right?" Aunt Zhang agreed wholeheartedly. "It's all bullshit, they're sick!"

Gu Xixi pondered for a moment, then said quietly, "Perhaps they think that by finding a man who also teaches, I want Chen Fang to know that even without him, there are other outstanding scholars who would want me?"

Aunt Zhang and He Jinglan: "..."

He Jinglan chuckled, "Xixi, you're not angry even after all this? You still have the mind to make fun of yourself?"

Gu Xixi said indifferently, "It's just some gossip."

"Anyway, I was almost called a cannibalistic witch before, so what are these things now?"

"How can we just let this go?" Aunt Zhang became angrier the more she thought about it.

"They're slandering you! What if this gets out and damages your reputation!"

Gu Xixi asked, "Did Mr. Liu say anything?"

Aunt Zhang shook her head. "No, he's a strange person, really."

"Some people speculate that although Mr. Liu does not have a wife, he is so old that he is either a widower or has another wife in his hometown."

"This rumor came about because someone warned me to be careful and not to be fooled. After asking around, I found out what really happened!"

Gu Xixi frowned. "Don't the villagers respect Mr. Liu a lot?"

"Why are they also gossiping about him behind his back?"

Aunt Zhang said, "I also said that Mr. Liu is not that kind of person!"

"But it's true that the villagers respect him."

"But he is, after all, an old single man, and people don't know much about him, so there is a lot of curiosity and speculation about him."

Gu Xixi couldn't help but facepalm. These days, who does being single bother?!

In the end, no matter how much Gu Xixi tried to persuade her, Aunt Zhang refused to give up.

"We've done nothing wrong, why should we suffer this injustice?"

"You've been busy these past few days, but I've had plenty of free time. I'm determined to find this scoundrel!"

"I want to ask him in front of everyone what he saw at the time, and make him say that your relationship with Mr. Liu is unusual! You bastard!"

Aunt Zhang went to the kitchen, fuming and cursing.

He Jinglan chased after him, saying, "Auntie, don't get angry. I support you this time. Let's work together to find a way to drag him out and make an example of him!"

"But you don't need to get angry; it's bad for your health..."

Gu Xixi smiled helplessly and sighed.

She knew the two men were protecting her, so she simply let them be.

She just had too many things to do lately, things she was doing and things she was waiting to do, so she really didn't have the mind to think about anything else.

The next morning, before starting work, Chen Dafu delivered all the finished cloth bags to his home.

The cloth bags were packed separately according to size, stacked in piles of one hundred, and tied neatly with rope.

A booklet was also included, with names written on it and tally marks placed after each name to indicate their number.

Chen Dafu waited for Gu Xixi to check the numbers.

Gu Xixi glanced at them and then smiled, saying, "Are these all methods decided by Uncle Chen?"

"They're neat and tidy, and easy to see. Since you've already checked them beforehand, I don't need to count them."

Chen Dafu was taken aback for a moment, then smiled with relief and said, "Thank you for your trust, boss."

Since the boss is so generous, he can't be stingy in his dealings.

I'm confident in what I've done. Why make my employer count it again?

Just continue to live up to the job your employer gives you.

Gu Xixi took out the three strings of cash she had prepared beforehand and handed them to Chen Dafu along with the counting book.

"Uncle Chen went back and paid everyone their wages."

"You can split the rest equally with the other employees."

Chen Dafu hesitated, then declined, saying, "That's fine."

“I just count out the coins according to the count, and the owner keeps the rest.”

Gu Xixi's attitude was gentle but firm: "This time, all nine of you and your wives contributed."

"It's not much money, just consider it as a summer treat for the kids. Please don't mind."

Chen Dafu could no longer refuse and accepted it.

He said sincerely, "I thank the employer on behalf of everyone."

That night, Gu Xixi's whole family worked together to pack the medicine packets, busy for half the night.

The next day, Gu Xixi called Qin Dasao, Zhou Dasao, Qian Dashen and others to help. After a whole day, they finally filled all the cloth bags.

There were two hundred more than expected.

Aunt Zhang said, "The cloth that Xixi's mother saved up when she was alive has finally been used up."

“I never really looked into it before, so I never realized there was so much. It was originally meant to be Xixi's dowry, what a pity…”

Seeing Aunt Zhang's worried expression again, Gu Xixi smiled and comforted her, "It's not like it's all used up."

"The two pieces of fine jacquard brocade fabric that my mother left me, the bright red ones that can be used to make quilt covers, aren't they still here?"

Sister-in-law Qin also laughed and said, "Since Xixi said that these things should be donated to charity, then it will be a good deed for Master Gu and Xixi's mother."

Aunt Zhang's worry turned to joy. "That makes sense, it's good to accumulate good deeds and blessings!"

The loose medicine packets had already been prepared beforehand, and with these cloth bags, Master Liu's men moved everything away silently that night.

Gu Xixi and He Jinglan lay in bed, feeling extremely tired, but unable to fall asleep.

He Jinglan opened her eyes and stared at the top of the mosquito net. "You said there's something important happening tomorrow?"

"How about we have Teacher Liu give you a lesson tomorrow, and I'll stay home with you?"