Farming with kids: My deceased husband returns and I spoil him rotten.

With Gu Tianyou gone, there's one less spot available.

Just as Shang Qing was wondering who should fill the vacancy, someone suddenly stood outside.

Zhang Ergou.

Shang Qing recognized him; he had some connection with Liu Bazi, so Shang Qing had seen him a few times. This Zhang Ergou was a rogue and scoundrel who idled around the village. Although no one liked him, no one dared to mess with him.

Unlike Liu Bazi, although he was also disliked, at least people weren't afraid of him.

What is he doing coming to my house for no reason?

Seeing Shang Qing standing there in a daze, Zhang Ergou waved his hand in front of her and grinned, "Hey, Shang Qing! Don't you recognize me? I'm Zhang Ergou. I've just been away for a while."

Shang Qing then noticed the bruises on his face; he must have been in another fight before returning to the village.

Shang Qing really didn't want to bother with someone like that.

Seeing that Shang Qing still didn't speak, Zhang Ergou, being the outgoing type he always was, walked straight inside, looking around as he went: "I heard there are good jobs and good food here, so I thought I'd come and check it out. Turns out it's your house."

Shang Qing kept a safe distance from him, mainly because Lao Zong and Gu Yu had gone out and hadn't returned.

"Zhang Ergou, what are you doing at my house?"

Zhang Ergou turned around to face her, spread his hands, and said, "What else can I do here? I just want to find some work to do, so I won't go hungry. I think your place is pretty good, so I might as well stay here."

His tone and attitude made Shang Qing very unhappy. Look at what he said, this guy really stirred things up.

What does he think he is here?

Shang Qing stopped Zhang Ergou from talking to himself and said coldly, "We don't need any more people in our family. If you still want to work, go look somewhere else."

"Then let's do woodworking. Your family needs people for woodworking, right?"

As Zhang Ergou was about to head home, Shang Qing had no choice but to stop him: "Zhang Ergou, I've made myself perfectly clear."

“I know…” Zhang Ergou said nonchalantly, “I’m Liu Bazi’s friend. Don’t you have some connections with him? A friend of a friend is a friend, so shouldn’t you look out for me?”

Just as Shang Qing was thinking about how to deal with him, the guy had already entered the house, startling Xi'er inside.

Perhaps because he looked rather frightening, Xi'er immediately burst into tears. Shang Qing quickly went over and picked her up, comforting her while saying to Zhang Ergou, "You'd better leave now, you're not welcome in our home."

Zhang Ergou naturally wouldn't listen to her and didn't even take her seriously.

Coincidentally, Gu Yu and Lao Zong returned at that moment. As soon as Gu Yu heard Xi'er crying, he rushed in. He recognized Zhang Ergou and knew who he was, so he told him to get lost.

Zhang Ergou hated being treated like that, and feeling humiliated, he retorted, "Who are you? What gives you the right to tell me to get lost?"

"You want to know why, right..."

Gu Yu stepped forward and grabbed Zhang Ergou by the collar, giving him no chance to fight back, and dragged him outside, saying, "Come on, let's go outside and have a good talk."

Gu Yu led Zhang Ergou to the back room, and Lao Zong quickly ran back.

Are you and your daughter alright?

After Xi'er finally stopped crying, Shang Qing shook his head and said, "It's alright, it's good that you came back early."

Seeing Xi'er's face covered in tears, Lao Zong felt extremely distressed and immediately said, "That Zhang Ergou actually scared our Xi'er to tears! I'll teach him a lesson!"

When Lao Zong and Shang Qing came out, they only saw Zhang Ergou's retreating figure.

“He was originally working in other villages, but when he heard that we were hiring, he thought he could come and freeload.”

Hearing Gu Yu say this, Lao Zong also said fiercely, "If I see him again next time, I will definitely teach him a lesson. Who told him to scare our Xi'er to tears?"

Gu Yu stared blankly at Zhang Ergou's departing figure: "In my opinion, this Zhang Ergou is a troublesome fellow. He has obviously set his sights on our family. He knows he can't do any work here, so next time he might come, he'll probably just steal something."

Shang Qing also thought so; Zhang Ergou would definitely come back again in a short time.

Lao Zong gritted his teeth: "Then I'll stay at home every day. I refuse to believe that he can do anything to us!"

"Brother, you really can't stay at home..."

Seeing Lao Zong's puzzlement, Shang Qing explained earnestly, "First, there's no need for that. There's no need to waste your time on him. Second, if we want to catch him as soon as possible, we have to let him in so we can find out his purpose and bring him to justice."

Gu Yu expressed his agreement, and Lao Zong finally understood and thought it was feasible.

If Zhang Ergou had just let it go, that would have been fine. But as Shang Qing had guessed, in the following days, Shang Qing saw him sneaking around his house more than once, as if he were staking out the place.

After Shang Qing told Gu Yu about it that night, he also came up with a solution.

"I just happened to see a mousetrap in the house, so I'll take this opportunity to teach it a lesson. I'll let it know what's what, so it won't dare to bother our house again."

That night, Shang Qing even dug out some super glue, intending to use it in conjunction with the mousetrap.

When dealing with someone like Zhang Ergou, one cannot be lenient.

After observing for several days, Shang Qing realized that Zhang Ergou's target did not seem to be their family's money, but rather the bricks used to build the house.

At this point, even bricks could be sold; he certainly knew how to pick them.

Shang Qing had already come up with a plan and prepared everything, just waiting for Zhang Ergou to take the bait.

That night, Zhang Ergou waited for the right moment and secretly sneaked into Shang Qing's house.

When he arrived in the courtyard, he walked straight toward the house that was almost finished, but after taking only two steps, he felt a tightness under his feet and cried out in pain.

Looking down, I realized it was a mousetrap...

Were they doing it on purpose? Did they know I was coming, or was it just a coincidence?

Zhang Ergou felt a sharp pain in his foot, and it started bleeding. The pain then slowly spread throughout his body. He could only cover his mouth and use his other foot to push off, slowly walking towards the bricks.

He couldn't go back empty-handed; he absolutely had to bring back some spoils tonight, otherwise, wouldn't all the injuries he suffered have been for nothing?

But just as he was about to pick up a brick, he discovered that it had stuck directly to his hand.