Chapter 95

95 Captured

Zhu Zhencheng looked at the group of people from the Ye family in the courtyard and the dozens of men from Phoenix Village and frowned. He hoped these people wouldn’t cause trouble.

Ye Rongtian hurriedly went up to him and bowed obsequiously. “Lord Town Mayor, have I alarmed you?”

Zhu Zhencheng looked at Ye Rongtian and smiled faintly. “Patriarch Ye is also here! The Chen family came to report that someone had broken in and drugged a good woman to sell. This is an incredible matter, so they rushed over.”

“It’s not as serious as they say!” Ye Rongtian replied with an embarrassed smile. Old Madam Ye pounced in front of the town magistrate and kowtowed to quibble. “Lord, my son is kind by nature. He won’t do such an unforgivable thing. They must have beaten him up so badly that he was afraid.”

Zhu Zhencheng looked at Old Madam Ye and frowned. “Then why did he appear in the Chen family? They only settled down not long ago.”

“This, this...” Granny Ye was momentarily at a loss for words.

Zhou Jia went forward and bowed to Zhu Zhencheng. He handed over Ye Lianggong’s confession. “Lord Zhu, this is the criminal’s confession.”

After taking a look, Zhu Zhencheng said to Zhou Jia and the people from the Ye family, “What a shameless person. How dare you do such a vicious and shameless thing? Ye Lianggong, I’ll take you to the county office first. You’re all dismissed. You’re not allowed to cause trouble. Otherwise, you’ll all be arrested and brought back to the government office.”

The people from the Ye family and Phoenix Village agreed. Zhu Zhencheng asked the magistrate to untie Ye Lianggong from the pillar and tied him up again before bringing it out. When Old Madam Ye saw this, her eyes rolled back and she fainted.

The people from the Ye family hurriedly carried Old Madam Ye to the ox cart outside and rushed back to town. Zhu Zhencheng said to Zhou Jia and Chen Yaohui, who had sent him out, “The facts are clear. I’ll take him away first and inform you after the trial.”

Zhou Jia and Chen Yaohui cupped their hands and thanked him. “Thank you, City Governor.” Chen Yaozu took the opportunity to send him off politely.

As soon as Zhu Zhencheng returned to town, the head of the Ye family brought money to plead with Zhu Zhencheng on behalf of Old Madam Ye.

Zhu Zhencheng looked at Ye Rongtian with a troubled expression. “Brother Ye, it’s not that I don’t want to help you, but the evidence is really conclusive. I can’t play favorites! I think you should go to the Tongzhou government office and see if the punishment can be lightened.”

Ye Rongtian looked at Zhu Zhencheng and begged, “Can’t you make an exception for High Scholar Ye?”

Zhu Zhencheng said in a low voice, “No, it’s not the first time Ye Lianggong has flirted with a good woman. Even if High Scholar Ye knows, he won’t let him off. To be honest, I’ve heard about it in the past. Thinking about our many years of friendship, I didn’t pursue it. Now that he actually dared to commit such a vicious and shameless thing, he should be drowned as a warning to others, logistically speaking.”

Seeing that Zhu Zhencheng was unwilling to make an exception, Ye Rongtian could only bid farewell and return unhappily. Zhu Zhencheng looked at his back. He really didn’t know what to do. To think he even came to plead for such a thing.

In the courtyard of the Chen family, Chen Yaohui and his brother bowed to everyone. “Thank you, everyone. I’ll invite everyone to gather when my father is better.”

Butcher He smiled brightly and said, “Why are you being so polite? Besides, we’re all from the same village. We’ll only be bullied in this unfamiliar place if we don’t help one another.”

The Zhou family smiled and agreed. “That’s right. We have to work together to help each other.”

The Chen Yaozu brothers looked at Zhou Jia in shame. “Mr. Zhou, when my father recovers, we give Xiaoyu an explanation.”

“Alright, we’ll go back then. Let the village chief rest well,” Zhou Jia said indifferently.

The Chen brothers sent everyone back into the house. Madam Ma looked at them with a frown. “Hmph, she’s not snorting anymore. She’s just unconscious.”

Chen Yaozu flicked his sleeve angrily. “Who can she blame? I’ll go to Ah Hui’s place to see my father first.”

Li Yu carried the dried wool upstairs and placed it on the mat.

Auntie He sighed. “It’s difficult for women to live in this world. It’s even harder to live without self-respect.”

Laidi wrinkled her nose. “Yes! You don’t even feel sorry for yourself, yet you want others to treat you well. Dream on.”

Zhaodi patted Laidi. “You silly girl. You know everything.”

Laidi looked at Zhaodi. “I knew it. I’m going to have to support myself like my cousin. I won’t take anyone’s anger.”

Zhaodi looked at her and smiled. “You make it sound so nice now, but you’ll forget it when the day comes.”

Zhou Jia brought Ji Xiang and Ruyi home. After telling Li Yu what happened later, he also told her about Chen Baozhen stopping him twice to give him things.

Zhou Jia looked at Li Yu and said guiltily, “Yu’er, I felt that it was inappropriate for Miss Chen to give me something so I asked Ruyi to return it to the village chief and ask him to discipline Miss. Who knew that she would be such a vicious person and implicate you?”

Li Yu smiled and knocked on Zhou Jia. “It’s not your fault. She’s the one who’s narrow-minded and vicious.” Li Yu looked at Zhou Jia’s handsome face and smiled again. “It’s also your fault for being so attractive. Sigh! What a problem!”

Zhou Jia held Li Yu’s hand and looked at her. He said affectionately, “I just want to attract your attention. I don’t care about anyone else.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Li Yu’s heart melted at Zhou Jia’s words. She almost couldn’t help but pounce on him and kiss him. She pushed him out with a red face. “Don’t exercise your charms here. Hurry up and dry my wool.”

Zhou Jia smiled and went to the courtyard. He looked at Li Qing in the courtyard and said, “Ah Qing, I used the move your sister taught me today. It’s just that I wasn’t strong enough and he broke free. Looks like we have to work hard!”

Li Qing rolled his eyes. “You have to work hard. I’m small, but I’m stronger than you. When I’m as old as you, I’ll be as good as Brother Ji Xiang.”

Zhou Jia patted Li Qing’s butt. “Little brat, you complain that your teacher is old every day. Your teacher is in his prime, do you understand?”

Everyone watched the two of them bicker and was overjoyed.

The next day, Zhao Cai sent back the needle comb, hair comb, and spinning wheel that Li Yu had ordered.

Zhaodi looked at the needle comb and hairbrush and asked Li Yu, “Cousin, how do I use it? Is it like spinning cotton thread?”

“I’ll demonstrate it to you later. First, spread the wool with a needle comb. After the comb is loose, straighten and lengthen it.”

Li Yu first fixed the pull rack to the wooden frame and grabbed a handful of wool. After combing it loose with a needle, she took it to the pull rack with a row of thick iron nails and stretched the wool.

The Zhaodi sisters watched as the wool grew longer and longer in Li Yu’s hand. They smiled and said, “This thing is better than cotton.”

Li Yu separated a strand of the elongated wool and twisted it into a thin thread before handing it to Zhaodi. “Cousin, the thread is only this thick. Spinning it out and taking a look first. I’ll get a few more people to do it together later.”

Zhaodi took the wool. “Alright, Laidi will go brush the thread. I’ll spin it.” After Li Yu and Laidi combed some of the wool out, Zhaodi also spun a circle of wool thread.

Zhaodi held the spun thread and placed it in front of Li Yu. “Cousin, take a look at this thickness.”

Li Yu picked it up and looked at it. “This thickness is suitable. A thick one like this is called a medium-thin thread. Our batch will spin it to this thickness. Next time, we’ll spin a thicker medium-thick thread than this.”

Seeing that Li Yu was satisfied, Zhaodi smiled happily. “Got it. Cousin, go ahead!”

“Okay. I’ll get someone to help spin the thread, then get someone to weave those cattails.”

Li Yu returned to the house to get the drawing of the cattail weaving. She went to more than ten families in the village with elderly people. She planned to hire them to use cattail to weave bowl cushions, fans, straw mats, slippers, and cold hats. When she sold them in the grocery store in the summer next year, she could earn some money for them.

The elders were all willing. They felt that they had nothing to do at home when the weather was cold. With a manual job, they could earn more than ten copper coins a day.

Li Yu asked Ji Xiang and Ruyi to send the cattails to more than ten elders’ houses. The elderly also came to the house to help spin the thread. Although the elders worked slowly, they were careful. The wool they spun was symmetrical and tight.

Li Yu tied the thread up in a wicker basket. She planned to dye it together when there were more.

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