"Hiss."
Upon hearing Qin's father mention a hundred taels of silver, Qin Erniu and Qin Ershen both gasped.
Qin Sen put down his chopsticks, "A hundred taels of silver could renovate all the roofs in the village, yet they want to find some so-called divine person of questionable authenticity to perform a ritual..."
"Second Brother, what's a divine person?" Qin Junyao quietly asked Qin Erniu, who was sitting beside her.
Qin Erniu glanced at Grandma Qin, his eyebrows raised, "Probably someone like Grandma, who is always mumbling about spirits, right?"
A chopstick whizzed past Qin Junyao's cheek, and another hit Qin Erniu directly in the face.
Qin Erniu rubbed his face, got up, and obediently picked up the chopsticks. He washed them clean and returned them to Grandma Qin.
Qin Ershen glared at her son and said, "Five hundred wen is too much. Father only earns two hundred wen a month. After his food, it takes him over three months to save five hundred wen."
Grandma Qin rolled the last few chives into her flatbread and snorted, "Let alone five hundred wen, he wouldn't get even five copper coins."
"I still remember the last incident. If I hadn't been too busy with household matters to intervene, I would have dealt with him long ago."
"Mother, the common folk shouldn't fight with officials. Besides, this isn't our original village," Qin's father didn't want the old lady to be so feisty at her age.
Yangshu Village was much larger than their original village, and the villagers didn't just do whatever Village Chief Hao said.
There was no need for her to always take the lead.
"He's no official. Something is going on here."
"The villagers believe that Little Hammer forcibly occupied the house we live in now. In reality, money was paid. It's safe to assume the Village Chief pocketed the money."
"Has this matter blown up?" Grandma Qin asked Qin's father while biting her flatbread.
"Mother, if it hasn't blown up, doesn't that prove this Village Chief is not to be trifled with?"
"Not to be trifled with? That's one thing, but the key question is, if you don't bother him, will he leave you alone?"
"If my house were forcibly occupied by soldiers, as an old woman, I wouldn't dare demand anything from them, but I would certainly complain behind their backs."
"If I can't fight the soldiers, I can at least curse the Village Chief who doesn't stand up for the villagers."
"Are there people in this village who curse the Village Chief?"
Grandma Qin looked at her son and daughter-in-law, who were deep in thought, and continued.
"So, now we know my house wasn't forcibly occupied, and the soldiers even paid money. How much did they pay? When was it paid? How much did each family get? Has any of this been discussed in the village?"
Grandma Qin held her flatbread in one hand and tapped the tabletop with her finger. "The only one who knows is the Village Chief's neighbor. She saw people causing trouble at the Village Chief's house, and the Village Chief returned the money. Nothing else has been heard."
This was indeed strange.
In a village, gossip was never in short supply. Neighbors knew exactly how many chickens you raised and how many eggs they laid each day.
If someone bought meat and came home late to eat, half the village would know by the next day.
Those returning from work at the salt lake would also tell their families.
Yet, in the six months since the Qin family had arrived in this village, only the gossipy Granny Li had vaguely mentioned to Grandma Qin that the Village Chief's wife was difficult to get along with.
"Mother is implying that the house issue was just a charade? The rumors spread were that we forcibly occupied villagers' houses, all to alienate us outsiders?" Qin Sen voiced his conjecture.
Grandma Qin shook her head, "That's unclear. Tomorrow, Eldest Daughter-in-law will go find Hou Jing's wife and ask about it in the village. Xiao Yu will go ask the village children, and I'll go find Granny Li."
After saying this, she picked up her bowl, finished the potato soup, and was about to leave the table when Qin Erniu stopped her.
"Grandma, what if they forcefully demand money?"
"The old method: first cry poverty, then play dumb. If they force their way in, kick them out with your feet."
Watching his grandmother's confident back as she left the dining table, Qin Erniu clenched his fist. He still had a chance to use the moves Brother Yan taught him.
Before going to sleep, a strong wind picked up again. It was unclear if it was a sandstorm.
Qin's mother and Qin Ershen slept in Qin Junyao's room to prevent the two girls from being frightened. The two donkeys were placed one in Qin's father's room and one in Qin Ershen's room, leaving Qin's father to share his room with a donkey.
All night, Qin Junyao was busy planting vegetables and grains in her spatial dimension, appearing to sleep soundly.
Conversely, Qin's mother and the others were sleepless, listening to the wind.
The next morning, upon inspection, the crops in the field were fine. The donkey shed had blown over, a layer of straw from the roof, which was secured with soil, had been blown off, and due to the wind direction, the window of the utility room was also broken.
Just as Qin Junyao was about to head to the mountaintop, and Grandma Qin was planning to see how other families' homes fared after the wind, Granny Li, holding her grandson, Granny Ma, holding an axe, and some villagers who lived a bit farther away, arrived at the Qin family's house one after another.
"Old Sister, save us! My grandson hasn't been well since yesterday. Even after taking medicine, his fever wouldn't go down. This morning, he started having convulsions," Granny Li said anxiously, holding her grandson and explaining her situation.
Grandma Qin saw this as a good opportunity to gather information. She asked her two daughters-in-law to boil water to receive guests. She listened to everyone's words, discerning who was scared and who was cold from the temperature drop.
Meanwhile, Axe had already clung to Qin Junyao's neck and refused to let go, wanting to be held by his Qin sister and kept away from the crowd, not even allowing Granny Ma to follow.
"What's wrong, Axe? Shall we go see the rabbits?" Qin Junyao asked, holding Axe and coaxing him.
"Not going to see rabbits. Qin sister's rabbits aren't allowed to be eaten, and they're not pretty."
"Alright then, let's go see the vegetable seedlings."
Qin Junyao looked at Axe, who was squatting in the vegetable patch, his mouth turned down, digging at the soil with his little hand, and gently asked, "Axe, why are you unhappy? Are you scared of the wind last night?"
Axe shook his head and gestured with his hands to Qin Junyao, "The wind was even stronger where my brother was. At night, a big sandbag was here, and the next morning, the big sandbag had moved there."
"I," Axe said "I" and put down his hands, returning to digging the soil.
Qin Junyao didn't press him. After a while, Axe looked up, tears welling in his eyes, about to fall, "I'm afraid for my mother and sister."
"It rained sand yesterday. When it got dark, the teacher and Granny Ma both told them it was fine, that the cave dwelling wouldn't collapse. But, but Mother and sister kept scolding brother."
As Axe spoke, he started to sob, "Then, they went out at night, and after they came back, my cousin and sister said that in the imperial city, they sacrifice to heaven using small children."
"The teacher said, no, it's not allowed. They still shouted, cursed brother, and cried in the middle of the night."
Qin Junyao sat on the ground and hugged Axe. The child's words were somewhat jumbled, but she could understand that Axe had been frightened by his sisters' screams or the harsh words scolding Zhao Liangcai.
However...
"Axe, you misheard. Your cousin said they sacrifice to heaven in the imperial city using chicks, ducklings, and piglets, not small children."
"I was eavesdropping by the door, and I heard 'small children'."
Qin Junyao patted Axe's back, "Axe is the younger brother of the Little God of Slaughter, General Zhao. No one would dare use you for a sacrifice."
"Waaah~~ Other people's small children aren't allowed either."
"Ah~~ Brother, my sisters are so scary," Axe hugged Qin Junyao's neck and cried loudly to the sky.