Transmigrated Leftover Woman in Rural Style

Upon hearing that they had lost silver, Zhou Rong's wife asked, "Xiao Yang, how much silver did you lose?"

Xiao Yang exaggeratedly gestured a length and said, "A lot of silver is missing. Apart from the silver that was meant to be used to buy land, which my father kept and didn't lose, all forty-seven taels of silver that my sister left for household expenses are gone, and even the box was taken away."

A kind lady said, "Oh, that's quite a lot. Forty-seven taels. If you spend it wisely, it can last for five years. Xiao Yang, you should hurry and report it to the authorities. We can't let that thief spend all the money."

Xiao Yang agreed and pulled the village headman to walk forward. Chen panicked when she saw this and quickly grabbed Xiao Yang's arm, trying to remain calm as she asked, "Xiao Yang, what if you didn't look carefully and forgot where you put the money?"

The old lady was heartbroken to hear that so much silver had been lost. Seeing that Chen was still being unreasonable and irrational, she scolded, "You brainless woman, let go of Xiaoyang! If you don't report this to the authorities, will you pay for the lost silver?"

Seeing that the old lady wasn't helping her, Chen became even more anxious. What would she do if Xiao Yang really reported it to the authorities? Theft was a serious crime, not just something that could be dismissed as gossip.

If she were really caught as a thief, not only would Li Dali divorce her, but her own family wouldn't acknowledge her either. Moreover, with a charge of theft, remarriage would be impossible, and others would ostracize and bully her.

The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became. Chen clung tightly to Xiao Yang's arm, refusing to let go. Seeing this, Xiao Yang understood immediately and flung Chen's hand away, intending to scare her further. Unexpectedly, the force of his movement caused the box hidden in Chen's sleeve to fall out, scattering silver and copper coins all over the floor.

Chen looked at the box lying at her feet in fear, terrified and unsure what to do. The old lady, clearly still confused, cursed, "You spendthrift woman, carrying so much silver around all the time, aren't you afraid of being thieved?"

As she spoke, the old lady squatted down to pick up the silver. Chen, mistaking this as the old lady trying to help her out of a predicament, also squatted down to pick up the silver. The first thing she picked up was the box. That was evidence of the crime; she had to hide it so no one would notice.

But someone with sharp eyes immediately exclaimed, "A box! There's a box. And this silver must be several dozen taels. Could it be that Xiao Nuan's family's silver was taken by her aunt?"

The matchmaker, Jin, also joined in, and taking advantage of Chen's panic, snatched the box away. She shook the box and asked Li Xiaoyang, "Xiaoyang, quickly check if this is the box that went missing from your house?"

Upon seeing this, Chen, forgetting about picking up the silver, jumped up and tried to snatch the box. While grabbing it, she shouted, "Give it back to me! That's my box! What right do you have to snatch my box? Did you steal Xiao Nuan's silver?"

When the matchmaker saw that Chen had turned around and falsely accused her, she knew she wouldn't stand for it. She shouted to the crowd, "Quickly pick up that silver and count it. Is it exactly forty-seven taels? If so, then this woman must have stolen it. How dare she falsely accuse me? I'll report her to the authorities and have her arrested!"

Some kind-hearted people, seeing everyone swarming down to grab the silver, hurriedly shouted, "You must hand it all over! The magistrate is watching!"

Looking at the chaotic scene, Xiao Yang gratefully looked at the woman and said, "Thank you, Auntie. My family's silver has a special fragrance on it, so no one can take it. If anything is missing later, we'll go to the government office and let the magistrate make a judgment."

Those opportunists who had hoped to take advantage of the chaos reluctantly rose upon hearing this and handed over the stolen silver to the village head. In truth, there were only six silver ingots; the old woman had already collected them. What remained were just some loose silver coins and copper pieces.

When everyone handed over their silver and copper coins to the village head, the old lady refused to hand over what she had found. Seeing this, Li Xiaoyang said, "Grandma, the silver you have is still evidence of your crime. If you don't hand it over, I'm afraid you'll have to go directly to the yamen."

The old woman retorted, "It's your money, so why can't I, an old woman, take it? If it really is your fifth uncle's money, would I be wrong to take it?"

Xiao Yang remained silent and looked at the village head. Seeing everyone's attention focused on the old lady, Chen tried to sneak away. Unfortunately, the meddlesome matchmaker Jin wouldn't let Chen off the hook, especially since Chen had previously falsely accused her.

"Chen, where are you going? You don't even want the silver? Didn't you say that the village head had to judge it before we could find out whose silver it was?"

Seeing that her attempt to sneak away had failed, Chen braced herself and earnestly said to Xiao Yang, "Xiao Yang, I didn't know there was silver in that box. I just took it because it was pretty. Please don't report it to the authorities. It's all a misunderstanding. The silver has been found, hasn't it?"

The matchmaker, Jin, waved the box in her hand and said to everyone, "Oh, this box is really beautiful. It's just like the box I bought from craftsman Liu for thirty coins."

Upon hearing this, everyone burst into laughter. Madam Chen was filled with regret, resentment, and deep shame. How could she ever face anyone again? Although the matter hadn't reached the authorities, now that Matchmaker Jin knew, wasn't it bound to spread?

The old lady had naturally thought of those things too, and said in an annoyed tone, "Look what you've done."

After saying that, he turned to the village head and said in a low voice, "Village head, you see, this is all a misunderstanding. We can go back and explain it. There's no need to report it to the authorities."

Xiao Yang, however, was unwilling to let Chen Shi off so easily. He said, "Grandma, please take out the money first and count it clearly in front of the village head, so that it doesn't go to someone else."

The old lady was extremely unwilling, clutching the silver in her hand and forcing everyone to count it from her. Granny Zhou, who had just arrived, couldn't stand it and snatched the silver from her hand, handing it to the village head.

After finding out what happened, Granny Zhou scolded the old lady, saying, "I told you, you're getting old and you're becoming more and more shameful. Your daughter-in-law is ignorant, and you're so old and you're so naive? Can't you see how hard Xiao Nuan's family is working? I think you're just being stubborn and always blaming the child."

The old lady was embarrassed by the criticism from the respected elder. But she couldn't put on airs as an elder, so she could only humbly say, "Auntie, I'm just old and my mind is getting muddled. Come, let's go sit at the elder's house."

Not wanting to embarrass her too much, Granny Zhou went along with it, saying, "Alright then, it's been a long time since I've sat there. Little Gold, have you counted the silver?"

The village head's name was Zhou Tingjin, and he was a grandson of Grandma Zhou. Grandma Zhou was not wrong to call him that. However, it was a bit inappropriate for the village head's eldest grandson, who was already sixteen years old, to be called that.

"Aunt Ba, you might as well call me Sanjin." The village head was the third in line.

Upon hearing this, everyone burst into laughter.