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墨書 Inktalez
Not long after lunch, Jiang Aiguo arrived with a few people to move bricks and demolish the house. They followed Wen Qian's suggestion and started tearing down the main house.
The noise attracted a crowd of curious villagers who gathered around, watching Wen Qian silently from the side, and some approached to ask questions.
"What are you doing at Lu Zheng's house? Why are you tearing down a perfectly good home?"
Wen Qian smiled at the curious villagers behind her. "We’ve divided the family. The house belongs to us now, and since we’ll be following the army, we won’t be living here anymore."
Someone asked curiously, "Then why is Aiguo's family doing the demolition?"
"Liye is getting married soon, and these bricks will be of no use to us, so we let Uncle Aiguo take them first."
"Isn’t that for free?"
Wen Qian shook her head. "No, Uncle Aiguo sends us food every year."
"If it were free, everyone in the village would rush over to grab some, and it would be chaos."
The excuse of sending food was something both families had agreed upon; in this era, private transactions weren’t allowed, so they needed a different excuse to silence the villagers.
An older woman squeezed through the crowd and grabbed Wen Qian’s arm. "Oh dear, give me some too! We can send you food as well!"
Wen Qian looked at the woman and smiled helplessly. "Auntie, Uncle Aiguo came first. There’s a first-come-first-served policy; I can’t promise you anything."
"Oh my! The whole village doesn’t even know about this yet! If they did, I would have rushed over myself!"
There were several eligible bachelors in the village now, and every family wanted a brick-and-tile house for their sons—just one room would bring them honor and make them proud when stepping outside.
A few aunts wanted to continue talking with Wen Qian and surrounded her in a circle, much like how Sun Wukong was bound by the tightening spell.
"Uncle Aiguo’s wife," Aunt Tong said as she noticed something was off. She squeezed her way through until she reached Wen Qian, grabbing her by the arm with her hands on her hips as she looked at the others. "You old hags still want to bully this young girl? You better check if I’m willing to let that happen!"
"Oh dear! That sounds a bit harsh, Aunt Aiguo. We were just chatting with Lu Zheng’s family."
Aunt Tong raised her hand to point at the speaking aunt, narrowing her eyes as she unleashed a torrent of words. "Junhua, do you even believe what you’re saying? Let me tell you all—Wen Qian is now my own daughter! If you want to bully her, you’ll have to get through me first."
Wen Qian looked at Aunt Tong standing in front of her and couldn’t help but smile as she listened to her words.
Aunt Tong was indeed a force in the village; she had never lost an argument against anyone else—ten people might not even be able to outtalk her.
This was why she had so readily agreed to Uncle Aiguo’s request; with Aunt Tong around, she didn’t have to worry about what the villagers said—Aunt Tong could send them home crying.
There were plenty of precedents; several aunts in the village had been scolded to tears before, often because Aunt Tong was in the right.
Wen Qian no longer wanted to stay here. As she walked into the thatched cottage, she noticed something in the corner that sparked an idea in her mind. There might be a way to deal with these items.
She found Aunt Tong and pulled her into the cottage, pointing at the pile of things. "Aunt, we can't take these with us. You know the villagers better than I do. If anyone needs them, I can sell them for a lower price. Why don't you take a look and see if there's anything you want?"
Aunt Tong examined the items, sifting through them uncertainly. Furrowing her brow, she looked at Wen Qian and couldn't help but advise her, "Qian, if you don't want these anymore, think about how much it will cost to buy new ones later! Just saving up for tickets will take a long time. Maybe you should keep them; it would be a shame to sell them."
"Aunt, I understand what you're saying. These things are not only a burden on the road, but honestly, I find them distasteful since they belonged to the Lu family."
"Well then, we won't mind. They can be cleaned up and reused. Since you don't want them, I'll bring over some trustworthy sisters to take a look. Don't worry; they'll keep it confidential."
Aunt Tong looked at Wen Qian and Lu Chen with affection, thinking that these two children finally had a good life ahead of them. She took a few items with her and asked Wen Qian to keep track of the money.
Before long, she returned with several other women, each carrying a basket covered with a cloth. After letting them in and closing the door, Wen Qian watched as they lifted the cloth and began taking out items.
"Qian, don’t turn your nose up at this; it’s all freshly picked from our own garden. You should keep some for yourself."
"I won’t turn my nose up at it! My family just ran out of vegetables; I really appreciate all of you!"
Seeing Wen Qian so happy brought relief to the women as they began sorting through the items. The Lu family's vegetable patch had been completely dismantled since her first day there; everything was grown by her own hands, and she could do as she pleased with it.
The old Lu family had no choice but to swallow their dissatisfaction.
After rummaging for quite some time, the women finally filled their baskets to the brim before letting go of what was left. They found ceramic bowls, drinking cups, plates—everything was in good condition and usable—much cheaper than buying from the supply store and without needing tickets.
Wen Qian calculated the total, and the women happily paid her, feeling quite pleased with themselves as smiles spread across their faces.
As they left, they covered their baskets again with cloth and hurried away quietly.
The noise from the demolition was significant; Ding Cuihua stayed holed up inside her house. She knew that even if she came out, there was nothing she could do about it—she would only end up being laughed at by the villagers.
By afternoon, Uncle Aiguo's family had already taken down the main house; everything from inside the cabinets had been moved out and placed in front of Ding Cuihua's room.
In truth, there wasn't much left belonging to Wen Qian; she had taken most of her things already, leaving behind only a pitiful amount.
Lu Zheng was helping Uncle Aiguo's family with the demolition while Wen Qian and Lu Chen stayed inside the house.
Suddenly, a gasp echoed through the yard.
"What are you doing? Who gave you permission to tear down my house?"
Lu Yao and Zhang Yan emerged from the police station, utterly exhausted. The two of them had been on the brink of collapse after being interrogated multiple times a day for several days.
They exchanged glances, realizing that it was Zhang Yan's careless slip of the tongue that had aroused the police's suspicion, leading to their harsh questioning.
As they made their way home, they encountered not a single cart along the road. When they finally arrived, swaying unsteadily, they intended to step inside and rest, only to discover that their house was gone.
Indeed, it was gone—only a low foundation remained.
Fuming, Zhang Yan marched over and seized the tool from Jiang Liye's hands, her voice hoarse as she shouted, "Who told you to tear it down? This is my house! You must rebuild it immediately!"
She glanced around frantically, her eyes widening in disbelief. "Where's my bed? Where's my wardrobe? What have you done with all my things?"
As she spoke, she reached out to grab Jiang Liye's shirt with one hand while her other hand swung toward his face.
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