Farm Tough Girl

Chapter 100 - 100 101 Hitching a Ride_1

?Chapter 100: Chapter 101 Hitching a Ride_1 Chapter 100: Chapter 101 Hitching a Ride_1 Qiao Dazhi snorted coldly, before turning to leave.

Outside, Shitou had already hitched the carriage and was waiting to set off. Muniang and Erliang had packed up and said their farewells to Mrs. Lin, ready to board the carriage and depart.

The embroiderers at Mrs. Lin’s were already hard at work. With many hands making light work, it would not take much time to rush out the opening batch of embroidery. It was also time to finalize the arrangements for the shop and to give it a simple facelift before opening.

Tupo Village was really a den of poverty. Anyone who got themselves an ox cart would show off a little, let alone a horse carriage. Muniang’s family, located at the very back of the village, had to pass through most of the village to leave. Even though Muniang’s carriage was low-key, everyone along the way turned their heads for a look; after all, it was a rarity in the village.

However, these sights were only visible to Shitou, who was driving the carriage outside. Inside, Muniang was nestled in Erliang’s arms, resting with her eyes closed. As the weather grew warmer, sleepiness set in. She hadn’t managed a nap in the middle of the day and was tired. It would take half an hour to reach the town, which was enough time for a nap.

But suddenly, Shitou stopped the carriage, and with the jostling halting abruptly, Muniang, still groggy with sleep, rubbed her eyes and asked, “Shitou, what’s wrong?”

Shitou called out loudly, “Lady, there seems to be a quarrel up ahead, and people have gathered around; we can’t get through.”

Muniang frowned and said, “Then let’s take a detour towards the grinding stone.” She had no intention of meddling in the dispute, no matter who was involved. In this small rural village, it was common for every household to have an argument. She was not a gossip, naturally not keen to pry. Moreover, she had important matters to attend to. Any delay would mean returning home after dark.

Shitou acknowledged her command and reached for the reins to turn the carriage around, planning to detour along another road.

But the most vociferous of the quarreling women, as if suddenly noticing Muniang’s carriage, instantly stopped fighting, pushed through the crowd, and blocked Muniang’s carriage with her hand.

“Oh my, isn’t this Muniang’s carriage? How extravagant! No one in Tupo Village is lucky enough to enjoy the luxury of a horse carriage!”

Hearing the voice, Muniang recognized it as Mrs. Liang’s. What was she up to now?

Erliang couldn’t tolerate the disturbance to Muniang’s rest and was about to scold the person away, but Muniang stopped him. There were more people outside than just Mrs. Liang. If she didn’t even show her face and instead scolded someone away, Mrs. Liang might exaggerate the situation. The villagers would surely say she lacked upbringing, that wealth made her forget her roots and become arrogant, and she wouldn’t be able to get along in the village anymore.

Muniang rubbed her eyes, then lifted the curtain and poked her head out.

“Aunt Liang, are you having an argument? It’s blocking the road completely. It’s fine, I’ll take another route, I don’t need you to clear the way,” Muniang clearly wanted to change the subject and then instructed Shitou, “Turn around, take another road.”

Not giving Mrs. Liang a chance to respond, yet the shameless Mrs. Liang blocked the way again, sporting a cheeky grin, “Muniang, are you heading to town? It just so happens our ox cart broke, and a few of us wives and sisters-in-law were planning to make a trip to town as well. Maybe you could give us a lift on the way?”

Muniang’s mouth twitched as she looked up at the crowd, which had indeed stopped arguing because the real quarrelers were now shaming her, and all eyes from the villagers had settled on Muniang.

Muniang feigned surprise and said, “What’s happened that it suddenly broke?” She couldn’t just agree carelessly; she had to at least ask for the reason. Otherwise, if Mrs. Lin was framing her, what then?

Mrs. Lin glanced at Mr. Cai before saying, “Isn’t it just because their cart is too rickety? As soon as we sat on it, it collapsed, and the wheel came off. And we were in a hurry to make a trip to town.”

Mr. Cai’s face immediately darkened as he scolded Mrs. Lin, “You’ve got some nerve! I kept saying the cart couldn’t hold that many people, but you insisted on squeezing on. Now you’ve wrecked my cart, and you have the gall to blame me? I haven’t even demanded you pay for the damage!”

Mrs. Lin shrieked, “Why should I pay for your broken cart? Was I the only one on it? I was just unlucky to be the last one to get on, and it collapsed because it couldn’t bear the weight. How is that my fault?”

“Did I ask you to get on? I told you it couldn’t take any more, but you forced your way on!”

Mrs. Lin, hands on her hips, retorted, “What do you mean by that? Is your cart some precious golden chariot? Why can everyone else ride but not me? We’re all fellow villagers here. Are you deliberately targeting me so that I can’t even speak up?”

Mr. Cai, his face as black as ink and livid, said, “What do you mean I’m deliberately targeting you? What can I do if my cart can only hold so many people?”

In the end, it was the other sisters-in-law and daughters-in-law who couldn’t stand it anymore and interjected, “For today’s trip to town, we’d all agreed in advance with Mr. Cai, and the number of passengers was already fixed. You came rushing over and got on the cart at the last minute, of course it was too many. Mr. Cai really treasures his bullock cart, and now that you’ve broken it, it’s only right for him to be angry and scold you a bit. Why are you blaming his cart for being too shoddy?”

Mrs. Lin snorted coldly, “It’s already broken; can scolding fix it? If you want me to pay money or something, I don’t have a penny to my name. Besides, there were so many people on the cart, it wasn’t just me that broke it, so don’t try to swindle me.”

Muniang realized that it was Mrs. Lin who had broken the cart, but she didn’t have the patience to consider who was right or wrong. Arguing with someone like Mrs. Lin was like playing the lute to a cow.

But all these people were in a hurry to get to town, and now the cart was broken, they would certainly need to find another. Muniang’s horse cart appeared at such an opportune moment, it was surely time to play the ‘Lei Feng’. If it were only Mrs. Lin, Muniang would even dare to ignore her outright, but there were other wives and sisters-in-law as well. If she were to refuse them outright at this moment, wouldn’t she be branded as ungrateful? In the two years since Muniang and Mrs. Lin had been kicked out by the Qiao family, they’d survived thanks to the charity of the villagers. Now that they had money, it would stink to get high and mighty; besides, Muniang was not one to forget her roots. This trip, she was definitely going to take them.

The dispute between the two was still fierce, but Muniang didn’t want any more delays, so she quickly jumped down from the cart to mediate, “Since everyone is in a hurry to get to town, come on my cart for now. Mr. Cai’s cart won’t be repaired anytime soon. And if there’s anything you need to buy, let Mrs. Cai come to town with you to shop.”

Everyone was obviously pleased with this outcome. Upon hearing this, Mrs. Lin hurriedly climbed onto Muniang’s horse cart with delight. Riding in a horse cart was much more comfortable than a bullock cart.

Although Mr. Cai had been angry, seeing Muniang act so sensibly and politely softened his anger considerably, especially since she had thought to include him as well.