Wine-scented Beauty

Chapter Thirty-Six: Protecting One's Own

“My heart has always been kind, but it’s always been directed at people. If you’re good to me, I’m good to you; if you’re not, why should I be polite to you?” Ji Meiqing said with a smile. “I’ve said all I need to say. If you’re not willing, I’ll find someone else.”

"Wait a moment." Uncle Wang slowly stood up, his eyes cloudy, his movements labored. "What do you need me to do?"

“Take care of the few fruit trees I planted, and don’t do anything else. But you can’t let those fruit trees die, or be half-dead and not bear fruit.”

"Okay," he said slowly in his hoarse voice. The matter was settled. Ji Meiqing glanced at Qiu Shi before leaving.

That last glance... for some reason, I felt that Aunt Wang was hiding something from me. Her eyes were darting around, as if she had done something wrong.

She left the Wang family and went straight to Li Ming. He was at home, sulking.

Ji Meiqing approached him directly and got straight to the point, "Do you know who's been spreading rumors about your mother and Uncle Wang in the village?"

Upon hearing this question, Li Ming clenched his fists and said in a harsh voice, "It's all Qiu's fault. If it weren't for her, how could my mother have been involved in such a thing? If it weren't for a few kind-hearted aunts in the village telling me to keep an eye on my sister-in-law, I'm afraid I still wouldn't be able to find the person who framed my mother."

Upon hearing this, Ji Meiqing was furious. She immediately called for Li Ming and Widow Li, and the three of them stormed into the village chief's house.

The three men came on menacingly, which startled him. The village chief stared at them blankly and stammered, "You... what do you want?"

"We're here today mainly to seek justice for Aunt Li and her family, taking advantage of what happened last time. Shouldn't the village chief do something about that little sister-in-law of the Li family? She doesn't do anything productive all day, just talks nonsense and distorts the facts like a gossip. Aren't you going to do anything about it?"

The village chief was somewhat embarrassed: "This...this doesn't seem to be something I should be involved in."

"Yes, but if you don't warn her, what will you do if she corrupts the atmosphere of the village? If someone wants to move in, but hears that there's a gossipy woman here, I think they'll be scared off. If every girl in the village takes her as her role model, do you think you can stand it?"

“…You’re absolutely right.” The village chief wiped the sweat from his brow and said dismissively. He hadn’t wanted to deal with these things in the first place, but now he had no choice but to.

She kept getting more and more serious, and I was afraid that if she kept going, she would drive me crazy.

"I'll warn her. Is there anything else you want?"

“That’s all.” Ji Meiqing shook her head. “There won’t be any problems for now. However, I still think that this gossipy woman is a cancer in the village, and the village chief should get rid of her as soon as possible.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the village chief's face turned pale, but because of Ji Meiqing's status, he did not dare to get angry on the spot, so he could only ask them to leave first.

After seeing Ji Meiqing off, the village chief's wife came out of the back room and immediately went to the doorway.

"My lord, don't be fooled by this little vixen's words. Think about it, if that Li woman hadn't done anything, how could she have been so easily slandered? There's always a reason why someone is pitiful. If she really hadn't done anything, why would anyone have the time to defame her?"

“You’re right.” After a moment’s thought, the village chief’s heart still unconsciously tipped in favor of his wife.

"The fields need to be redistributed these days, but what about those people from the Li family..."

"What do you want?"

“I think that sister-in-law of the Li family is quite good. Think about it, she helped the Li family so much back then, and what happened? She was bitten back by the Li family. I think this village will be turned into a mess by that Li family sooner or later.”

"So, according to you, you want to get rid of the Li family?"

The village chief's wife looked at him, without answering yes or no. But the answer in their hearts was the same.

Having convinced her husband, the village chief's wife happily went to the Qiu family. She told Qiu about the outcome, and the two plotted to drive Li out of the village and then take away Li's land.

Originally, after the death of the head of the Li family, the management rights of the Li family's land fell into the hands of Widow Li. However, after another daughter of the Li family married into the Qiu family, the Qiu family was determined to take back the land that belonged to the Li family, but they were unable to do so.

Now things are much better. They have a perfectly legitimate reason to drive Widow Li away, thus benefiting both families. Qiu has long disliked Li, and taking this opportunity to get rid of them is the best way to end things once and for all.

However, the news of this matter quickly reached Ji Meiqing's ears.

The village has become increasingly tense lately. In order to get a bigger piece of land, every household brings their best things to the village chief's house almost every day, practically wearing down his doorstep.

The village chief's wife was all smiles. The house was almost full, so the two of them put up a small house next door to store the loose gifts.

Coincidentally, the villages ahead of them were all going to be relocated, but Ji Meiqing's place was the closest to the county seat and the only one that didn't need to be moved.

However, with more people coming and going, the amount of land allocated to each person will decrease.

Ji Meiqing felt uneasy thinking about Widow Li's situation, so she bribed a few people to speak ill of the place. Meanwhile, the village chief, who had been happily waiting at home for the gifts from these outsiders, sat there all day without seeing a single person arrive.

He found it strange, so he sent someone out to inquire, and the person returned shortly afterward to explain the situation. Ji Meiqing prevented the people outside from entering and directly recounted Qiu's evil deeds. With the added instigation of others, the matter became widely known.

Even if some people don't want to deal with this, as someone who is about to live in that village, it's still quite abhorrent.

Seeing that her trick had worked, Ji Meiqing finally settled down in the winery and began brewing wine, ignoring everything else.

Soon it was time for the village meeting. Ji Meiqing listened to the village chief's long speech, and then, after the land deeds were distributed, she went home.

As for what the village chief's wife and Qiu wanted to hear, they didn't get it. They even watched helplessly as Li came over and took away the land deed that belonged to her. The two looked at each other in bewilderment, but Qiu's face was very ugly. She looked at the village chief's wife and angrily questioned, "What's going on? Didn't you promise me that Li wouldn't be here?!"