Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

That evening, Zhang Youtie felt much more relieved after listening to Uncle Ma's report. After Steward Qin's words spread that afternoon, eight more families brought their watermelons. It was clear they had all chosen large watermelons. Moreover, they all indicated that they had more, but they hadn't picked them yet and would deliver them in a couple of days.

Several of these families had heeded Zhang Youtie's advice and hadn't planted many watermelons to begin with. Now, they all picked out the largest ones and delivered them to Zhang Youtie's house.

The village chief and Grandpa Zhang were very tight-lipped; they didn't let a single word of Steward Qin's words slip out, not even to their own family. This continued until the watermelons of this season were no longer in season.

The day after the wheat harvest was an ordinary day, but the arrival of the magistrate of Ming'an County made the villagers of Zhangjia Village realize that their village's watermelons had been sent to the imperial palace by the Shen family and personally selected by the emperor as tribute. All the people of Zhangjia Village felt a great sense of pride.

Accompanying the magistrate was Master Shen. After obtaining the magistrate's consent, Master Shen publicly announced which families would grow the melons to be sent to the palace next year. Of course, you could refuse; if you didn't want to grow watermelons, the Shen family wouldn't force you.

But how could anyone disagree with such a wonderful thing?

Afterwards, Mr. Shen made several copies of the list and posted them outside the village chief's courtyard wall.

Those who heard their names were overjoyed; growing watermelons for the emperor—what an immense honor! Those not on the list were resentful. But even so, they dared not cause trouble.

First, the county magistrate is still here. Second, even if the county magistrate were not here, they wouldn't dare to cause trouble for Master Shen.

Those with keen observation and sharp minds quickly noticed a common thread among the lists. The people on the lists were all close to Zhang Youtie's family. However, upon seeing Old Man Wang's name on the list, they dismissed their initial guess. Every elder in Zhangjia Village knew that Old Man Wang's wife, Granny Wang, had previously been Liu's sister-in-law from her maternal family.

Wang Pozi's original surname was Qi, and her given name was Qi Xiaomei. She married Liu's elder brother less than a year later, when Liu's elder brother died of illness.

Liu's mother didn't object to her daughter-in-law remarrying, but Qi Xiaomei swore at Liu's elder brother's grave that she would observe three years of mourning for him. However, just over a year later, Qi Xiaomei went up the mountain to dig for wild vegetables and didn't return all night. Her mother-in-law, worried she was in danger, begged the villagers to go into the mountains to help search for her. When Grandpa Zhang received the news, he rushed off that very night with a torch to help search.

They searched all night but couldn't find her. Just when everyone thought she had been killed by wild animals, Old Man Wang suddenly carried her back to the Liu family's house. As the saying goes, "A widow's door is always full of gossip," and now that she hadn't returned home all night, but was brought back by a man the next day, even if she had a lot of mouths, she couldn't explain it clearly.

Old Wang explained that he went into the mountains to dig for ginseng and encountered Qi Xiaomei, who had fallen down a steep slope. Because she was unconscious from the fall, he didn't know which village she was from. He stayed by her side all night, and only learned her identity when she regained consciousness. However, Qi Xiaomei had sprained her ankle and couldn't walk. He had no choice but to carry her back.

Even so, and despite the fact that Qi Xiaomei's foot was indeed injured, the Liu family still couldn't accept it. They felt that her actions had tarnished the memory of their deceased elder brother, Liu.

So, the Liu family sent Qi Xiaomei back to her parents' home. However, even there, her brother and sister-in-law didn't accept her, feeling she had done something shameful and unclean. During her stay at her parents' home, she was subjected to daily insults. Her own parents were elderly and relied on their son and daughter-in-law for support, so they didn't dare say a word in her defense. Qi Xiaomei, in her anguish at home, attempted suicide several times, but her mother stopped her each time.

Upon learning of her sister-in-law's situation, Liu, who was already married, returned home and earnestly persuaded her parents. Just as Liu was about to convince them, Old Man Wang unexpectedly took some money and went to the Qi family to propose marriage.

Without a word, Qi's elder brother and sister-in-law took the money and sent Qi Xiaomei home with Old Man Wang that very day. When the Liu family learned of this, they were convinced there was something fishy going on between the two and regretted not having drowned Qi Xiaomei in a pig cage. Meanwhile, Liu Shi, who had always believed in their innocence and had been urging her parents to forgive her sister-in-law, found herself in a terrible predicament—unable to please either side.

From then on, Liu constantly opposed Qi Xiaomei. Qi Xiaomei, grateful to Old Man Wang for saving her life, was also resentful that her family hadn't stood up for her. After marrying Old Man Wang, she never allowed anyone to call her by her maiden name, nor did she allow anyone to call her Wang Qi Shi. So when she was young, everyone called her Wang family's daughter-in-law, but now that she's older, everyone calls her Wang Pozi (Old Woman Wang).

The village elders all knew about these things. So, when they saw Old Wang's name on the list published by the Shen family, they dismissed their previous suspicions. However, that man was clever; he quickly found another similarity.

He pointed to the words on the list and said to Dr. Liu in the village...

"Dr. Liu, thank you for your trouble. Please read the names on the list to us again."

"..." Although he had already read it several times, Dr. Liu still read it one more time with good patience.

After listening, the man asked the person next to him.

Is Zhang Tianming here?

"No, I just heard his name and I was so happy, like a dog that had eaten shit, that I ran home," someone in the crowd replied.

"Did Zhang Tianming refuse the money the Zhang family owed him back then?" the man asked again.

"Hmm, I didn't want it."

"They didn't want it; didn't the couple even have a fight about it?" someone replied.

After hearing this, the man asked again, "When the Zhang family spread the word that the Shen family would have to pay compensation if Third Brother didn't collect enough watermelons, did you sell any watermelons to the Shen family?"

Upon hearing his question, the onlookers began to try to recall whether their families had delivered watermelons to the Zhang family that day.

After a while, everyone shook their heads in unison. Seeing the situation before them, what else was there to understand?

"Third Brother's family can't do this, can they? Just because we didn't sell our watermelons to them back then doesn't mean they'll stop sending our watermelons to the palace in the future, does it?"

One person said angrily.

“Exactly, it’s their fault for offering such a low price. If they had offered the same price as the people in town, would we have sold to outsiders?” another person chimed in.

Looking at the agitated villagers, Dr. Liu shook his head inwardly and quietly withdrew from the crowd.

"It's alright if we don't send them to the palace. Word of our Zhangjia Village watermelons has already spread, and next year even more merchants will come to buy them. We won't have to worry about selling our watermelons," one person said.

"Hmph, you still want to grow watermelons? Don't forget where your seedlings came from? I wonder if you'll even sell us seedlings next year."

To everyone's surprise, the person who had spoken first became even more smug and said...

"Fine, I won't sell. I've saved a lot of watermelon seeds this year, and I'll grow my own seedlings next year. I refuse to believe that I can't grow watermelons without Zhang Laosan." His words struck a chord with many people. Even those who hadn't thought of this at first felt much more at ease after hearing his words.

The news quickly spread throughout the village and reached Zhang Youtie's ears. Hearing their words, Zhang Youtie simply smiled and remained silent, neither angry nor upset. He was still wondering how he would refuse if people came to buy melon seedlings next year. Their way of thinking relieved his worries.