The sickly son died young? After the marriage exchange, I will bring prosperity to his entire clan f

“Of course, those maids were all bought by the family. Their lives and deaths are decided by their masters. Even if she kills someone, it's not against the law. What's the big deal?” Wang Qi looked down on Lü Dahua.

Lu Dahua was terrified, her hands were trembling. She never expected that the backyard of a wealthy family would be like this, with such a principal wife. How could her niece survive if she went to be a concubine?

Seeing Lü Dahua like this, Du Mingxian was secretly delighted, but said aloud, "It's not a big deal. After all, she's the daughter of a general. It's normal for wealthy families to be willful and even kill their servants."

“When a concubine enters the household, she is treated as a servant. It is normal for the mistress of the house to beat or kill her. If she encounters a kind-hearted woman, she may live a few more years. But if she encounters a woman with a bad temper, life will not be easy.”

Wang Qi curled his lip. "The wife they arranged for me is no good. She even beats me, and my father doesn't care. He says she can control me. Otherwise, why would I give up a good life and run away to the village to hide?"

Lu Dahua had previously harbored a glimmer of hope, but now she dared not think about it at all. What if... what if something happened to her niece as soon as she entered the house? Wouldn't her brothers and sisters-in-law hate her to death?

"Auntie, what's wrong?" Du Mingxian asked.

Ling's mother was speechless. With such little courage, she still dared to covet things she shouldn't have. "Lu Dahua, we're from the same village. Let me tell you, being a concubine in a wealthy family isn't easy. Think it through."

After hesitating for a moment, Lü Dahua stammered, "My niece became Young Master Wang's person as soon as she entered the family. Young Master Wang should be able to protect her, right?"

"Protect what? I can barely protect myself, how can I protect others? Wouldn't that be an insult to the legal wife?"

What else could Lü Dahua say?

Looking at Wang Qi now is like looking at a good-for-nothing.

"Forget it, my niece and Young Master Wang are not destined to be together, but... it's true that Young Master Wang saved someone, and my niece did indeed have physical intimacy with him."

"What skin-to-skin contact? Winter is almost here, and everyone is wearing thick clothes. If she fell into the water, Wang Qi would only be able to save her through her clothes. How is that skin-to-skin contact?"

"Besides, you should know how this happened. If you're really worried that your niece won't be able to get married, don't you have a son who's still unmarried? Why not just marry your niece and strengthen the family ties?"

Lü Dahua was so choked up that she couldn't say a word.

"What are you thinking? Just say it directly, it's getting dark." Ling's mother was a little annoyed with Lü Dahua.

After a moment of contemplation, Lü Dahua said, "The person has been rescued. It's fine if we don't marry or take her in, but we should at least compensate her with some money. My niece... has a persistent high fever."

"The high fever won't go down, isn't that all because of you? The child fell into the water, and instead of taking her home to change her clothes immediately, you brought her to our house to make a scene, as if you were afraid others wouldn't see your niece all wet. What kind of aunt are you?" Ling's mother was so angry that she started cursing as soon as she opened her mouth.

Lü Dahua was in the wrong; she had planned this whole thing, but in the end, it all came to nothing.

Du Mingxian could tell that Lü Dahua wanted money. She looked up at Wang Qi and gave him a look.

Wang Qi said, "You want money? I can't give it to you. If I set this precedent, how will I face people in the village? Every woman will come up to me, originally trying to help, but in the end I'll be extorted for money. Won't everyone think I'm a sucker?"

Du Mingxian looked at him in surprise. She remembered that when they were selling sauce before, he refused the 20-yuan-get-1-free offer and insisted on bargaining. The sucker back then had suddenly become smarter.

"But my niece has a fever. If you don't give us the money, we..."

"Why should I give you money? I'm saving someone, and it was your son who begged me to save him. You're not grateful to me, and now you're trying to smear me. I can take you to the authorities to sue you."

As Wang Qi was talking, he suddenly realized that he had made a mistake from the beginning; he should have just acted like a rogue.

Upon hearing that the government had filed a complaint, Lü Dahua dared not say anything more, got up and left without leaving a single word.

Du Mingxian looked at Wang Qi and said, "What you said earlier was correct, and you haven't lost your mind. So why were you being dragged around by someone at noon?"

"I was terrified. I've never done many good deeds in my life. I never thought that after doing one, I would be forced to marry someone. I've seen people who save others and those they save end up as a family."

"The thought of me, Wang Qi, marrying a village girl and how my brothers and friends would laugh at me filled me with remorse. I couldn't care less about anything else; my mind went completely blank."

Wang Qizhen had seen too many cases of men saving women only to be forced to marry them in the end, so his first reaction was...

That's it, he's going to marry the village girl he saved.

Du Mingxian chuckled and glanced at the sky. "If you don't go out and play soon, it will be dark."

"Yes, yes, I'm leaving." Wang Qi said as he ran outside.

The affair involving Lü Dahua's niece caused quite a stir in the village. After all, Wang Qi's conditions were there, and there were quite a few people in the village with ulterior motives, but none of them acted as quickly as Lü Dahua.

Lü Dahua was testing the waters for everyone, but... it was all for naught.

Those who had similar thoughts later learned from Lü Dahua's words that Wang Qi had an unmarried wife, the daughter of a general, who was particularly fierce and would kill people at will, and so on.

Those who had ideas immediately lost them.

Wang Qi was very well-connected in the village. He would study with You Yuan in the morning, and after studying for a while in the afternoon, he would go out and play with the village children. Eventually, he found studying alone boring and insisted on dragging his new friends along to study with him.

Of course, these are all things for later.

The distillery and the sauce workshop have both opened. The sauce workshop had already been hired, so it can start operating immediately. The distillery, however, is a bit more complicated.

The winery is hiring, needing both men and women, but more men are needed.

This led to many villagers coming to the Ling family to inquire, and some even brought gifts. Some went to Ling Dalang's house, and some went to Ling's father and mother.

Because Du Mingxian was behind the scenes and had never shown her face, no one contacted her, allowing her to have some peace and quiet.

Several villagers who were on good terms with Xiao Zhou wanted her to put in a good word for them so that their husbands could work at the distillery.

The wages for the distillery and the sauce workshop are the same, but some manual labor jobs will pay an extra five coins, while others will pay fifteen coins, and manual laborers will pay twenty coins.

There was a canteen in the workshop, so the five-cent meal allowance was gone, and everyone ate directly in the canteen. They could eat as much as they wanted, but they couldn't take anything out.

The person to cook in the workshop has not yet been decided.

Ling's mother has been extremely worried these past two days. "Everyone's come looking for us, what are we going to do?"

"Mother, only choose what's usable; we can't accept anything that's cheated or deceitful." Du Mingxian saw that Ling's mother had come to her specifically to say this, clearly indicating that she was undecided.

Ling's mother nodded slightly and glanced at Du Mingxian, "You've been at home these past two days, haven't you gone to your sister-in-law's place?"