Transmigrated Leftover Woman in Rural Style

At the entrance of the Zhao family's house, Zhao Wangchuan anxiously peered out the door. Zhao Fan and Zhao Lin stood outside, gazing at the long village road. Zhao Lin would report back every now and then.

"Young Master, I saw the old man's car. It's passing by the Li family's gate."

Zhao Fan turned to look at Zhao Wangchuan and noticed that he seemed somewhat stunned when he heard the words "Li family." Zhao Fan sighed inwardly, for Zhao Wangchuan, and also for Madam Wei Lu.

The clatter of hooves pulled Zhao Wangchuan back to reality. Seeing the familiar carriage coming into view, Zhao Wangchuan felt a surge of excitement and joy. Ignoring the carriage, which hadn't yet come to a complete stop, he jumped forward and climbed in, lifting the curtain with a cheerful voice:

"Master, you've finally arrived! You wrote that you'd be here in two days, why did it take so long?"

A deep voice came from inside the carriage: "Hmph, spineless. Your master is just taking a detour to another place for some fun, and you can't wait that long?"

Zhao Wangchuan, abandoning his previous composure, smiled like a simple-minded child and said, "Master, you don't know me. I'm just worried that someone might steal you away."

The deep voice sounded again, this time with a hint of displeasure: "Are you really worried about your teacher? If it's not about those shelled beans, it's about those peanuts. Seriously, does your little lover really recognize these things?"

Inside the carriage, the old Taoist priest kicked two burlap sacks at his feet. Zhao Wangchuan followed the old priest's gaze and said with delight, "Master, you really brought all those peanuts! That's wonderful!"

The old Taoist kicked Zhao Wangchuan with exasperation, twitching his beard and scolding him: "Don't look at me like I've found a treasure. I wonder if your little lover can even be conceived. It would be such a waste if she were ruined. We went through so much trouble to bring her back, and those white devils almost wiped her out."

Zhao Wangchuan chuckled, not caring about the old Taoist's disdainful tone, and said, "Master, Xiao Nuan is not my little lover."

The old Taoist was only joking, so he didn't argue with Zhao Wangchuan. He just asked him with dissatisfaction, "The carriage has been stopped for so long, why don't you ask your master to get off? Do you think your master is just a peanut deliveryman? After delivering the peanuts, you're going to turn back the way you came?"

Zhao Wangchuan was taken aback and quickly explained, "No, no. Master, please get out of the carriage quickly. My mother has already prepared the courtyard and meals, just waiting for you to arrive." With that, he lifted the curtain and jumped out of the carriage.

In the quiet afternoon, this scene went unseen by the villagers of Xinzhou Village, as everyone was indoors taking a nap to cool off. The old Taoist priest got out of the car and observed the scene, quite pleased that his arrival hadn't attracted much attention.

Li Xiaonuan was awakened by the conversation between Xiaoyang and the old lady. After waking up, she rolled around in bed a few times. Only after her dizzy head cleared up a bit did she get up.

"Xiaoyang, what are you talking to Grandma about that makes you so happy?"

Xiao Yang put down the lychees he was holding and found a stool for Li Xiaonuan. After watching her sit down and start eating the lychees, he replied, "I met Liu Zhongren in the city. He said he has some good plots of land that he's eager to sell and wants us to go with him to take a look tomorrow."

Li Xiaonuan looked at the old lady and asked, "Grandma, isn't it a bit of a problem that the land we bought isn't in Xinzhou Village?"

The old lady ate the lychees without much concern and said, "It's alright, as long as the land is good. Besides, didn't you tell your father to hire some day laborers? Then hire some local day laborers to help take care of it."

It was rare for the old lady to be supportive, and Li Xiaonuan and Xiaoyang were both very happy. The three of them sat under the eaves, chatting and laughing about buying the land while eating the fresh lychees that Xiaoyang had bought.

Around wake-up time, Li's father and Su's mother also got up. Seeing the harmonious scene of the three generations of grandfather, grandmother, and grandson, they were all a little moved. Su's mother nudged Li's father, who was staring blankly, with her elbow and said, "It seems they're talking about buying land. Why don't you go and ask?"

Father Li smiled gently at Madam Su and said, "Let's go ask together." With that, he took Madam Su's hand and walked towards the door of the main room.

Su awkwardly withdrew her hand, gave Li's father a reproachful look, and with a slightly flushed face, went inside to get a chair. Seeing his parents arrive, Xiao Yang quickly stood up to offer them seats. Li Xiaonuan also stood up, but Xiao Yang pressed her down, saying, "I'll just go in and get two chairs."

After the family was all seated and started eating lychees, Li's father asked, "Xiaoyang, did you send some lychees to Grandma Yu?"

Xiao Yang was biting into a lychee, nodding as he mumbled, "They delivered it, a whole basketful."

The family started talking about buying land again. As they talked, Li Xiaonuan forgot about the topic and blurted out, "It's only a few dozen acres, I don't even care about it. Someday I'm going to build a huge estate of over a hundred acres, that's what it means to be a landlord."

As soon as he finished speaking, all three elders, except for Xiaoyang, burst into laughter. Li Xiaonuan looked at Su Shi and her father, who were laughing together, and felt somewhat embarrassed. To be honest, such a bold statement was indeed made a bit too early.

After the old lady finished laughing, she asked, "You bought that huge estate of hundreds of acres with leaves, didn't you? You look like you haven't woken up yet, are you still daydreaming?"

Li Xiaonuan was even more embarrassed and said somewhat awkwardly, "Anyway, it's just a suggestion. Whether it works out or not, we'll see. But if we really had such a big manor, our family would become the biggest landlord in Xinzhou Village. How powerful we would be then!"

Li's father, who rarely laughed out loud, stopped laughing and said seriously, "Alright, then I'll just wait to be a landlord."

Madam Su also said, "That's right. When the time comes, your mother will be the landlord's wife, and your grandmother will be that old lady."

Xiao Yang then smiled and said, "Grandma, Dad, Mom, I believe in my sister. Wait, wait until my sister and I work hard together and make you all rich landlords."

"Oh dear, it's still light out, how can someone be daydreaming? Xiao Yang, you should go check on your beans first, they've been ruined by rabbits again. It's strange, there are so many rabbits lately, they've even started digging burrows in the field north of my house."

The family peered through the fence and saw that it was Zhou Jingjing's uncle. Father Li called out, "Brother Zhou, come in and sit down. Xiao Yang bought some lychees in town today, come in and have a couple. I've heard about the rabbit too."

Uncle Zhou was an easygoing and straightforward person. He came in and sat down as soon as Uncle Li called him. He took the lychees that Xiao Yang handed him and ate them while saying, "I heard from Zhuangzi and the others that there are a lot of rabbits in the mountains. It seems that all the grass has been eaten up. So, they've come to our field."

Upon hearing this, Li Xiaonuan immediately sensed something was amiss. If rabbits became a plague, many herbivores in the mountains would lose their food source. If the number of herbivores decreased, carnivores might have to venture to the outskirts of the mountains to hunt. Wouldn't the area around the forest become very dangerous?

After hearing Li Xiaonuan's analysis, both Li's father and Uncle Zhou's expressions turned serious. A similar incident had occurred seventeen years ago. At that time, a pack of wolves had escaped and wreaked havoc on livestock and injured many people.