The terrain of Lotus Flower Village was special. It was built against the mountains and was surrounded by mountains. It could be considered a beautiful place. The only flaw was the water source of the Lotus Flower Village. Currently, there is only one old well in the entire village. The water that the villagers usually drink depended on it. However, the old well was quite old. The water had become lesser bit by bit, and it might completely dry up one day.
There was a reservoir in the upper area, but it was not privately owned by Lotus Flower Village. Instead, it was used by a few nearby towns. However, in recent years, there was not enough water in the reservoir. The government took it seriously and allocated a sum of money to rebuild the reservoir.
However, the border was in chaos and the treasury was empty. The silver that was allocated was less than half of what was needed, which made the river channel that was dug much smaller than expected. After the plan changed, one of the river channels had to pass through a village’s field.
There were a total of seventeen villages in Lotus Flower Town. Originally, the village that met the most requirements was Apricot Flower Village, but Apricot Flower Village refused to obey. In the end, this bitter task fell on Lotus Flower Village.
Although the two villages were only one word apart, their situation was worlds apart. Lotus Flower Village was famous for being a dilapidated village, and there were less than twenty to thirty families. Apricot Flower Village was different. They had nearly a hundred families, and every family had good farmland. It was one of the few “rich” villages that could eat noodles.
They were naturally unwilling to give up their fields.
Although Lotus Flower Village was also unwilling, the people of Lotus Flower Village did not have much say. How could they be a match for the Apricot Flower Village?
When the village headman heard the news on the fifth day of the New Year, he was so worried that he could not eat. He had asked the county magistrate’s advisor. Their village was small. If they really wanted to dig a river, not only would half of their fertile fields be destroyed, but several houses would also be destroyed, including Yu Wan’s family’s residence.
Of course, he did not say anything for the time being. He planned to try to resolve it first. If he really could not resolve it, he would inform everyone after the New Year.
Shuanzi’s cow had already recovered. Shuanzi always drove the ox cart to send the village chief to the county yamen. This matter did not escape him, nor did it escape Aunt Bai, who would go to the the village headman’s house from time to time.
On the 11th of the month, the village headman went to the county yamen again. Aunt Bai also went along.
As expected, they started arguing with the people from Apricot Flower Village again.
The people from Apricot Flower Village said, “How many people are there in your village? How many people are there in our village? Don’t tell me that you don’t care about the lives of the hundreds of people in our village?”
These words were really hurtful. A few hundred people were humans, but weren’t a few dozen people the same? Everything had a first come, first served basis. If they had chosen Lotus Flower Village from the beginning, the village headman would definitely not have any complaints. However, this wasn’t the case! This was forcefully thrown to them. The village headman couldn’t take this lying down!
The village headman said angrily, “If the river was dug through your village, it would only occupy a few acres of your village at worst. If the river was dug through our village, half of our village would be destroyed!”
“So what if it’s destroyed?” The people from Apricot Flower Village muttered softly.
The voice was extremely soft, but Aunt Bai, who had sharp ears, happened to hear it. Aunt Bai placed her hands on her hips and cursed, “You bastard! What did you say?! Say it again!”
The person from Apricot Flower Village straightened his back. “So what if I said it! It’s fine if your lousy village is gone!”
“F*ck you!” Aunt Bai took off her size thirty-nine shoe and threw the shoe that had stepped on cow shit at his head!
Shuanzi first tried to mediate the fight, but he joined in the fight as he tried to do so. However, how could they compare to the people of the Apricot Flower Village which has more people?
In the end, the village headman, Aunt Bai, Shuanzi, and the dumbfounded old cow all returned to the village with swollen faces.
“Aiyo! What happened? What happened to you guys?”
The three of them had just reached the village entrance when they bumped into Aunt Zhang, who was carrying a wooden bucket to fetch water.
Aunt Zhang sized them up and was dumbfounded. “You fought with someone?”
Shuanzi and the village headman felt embarrassed and returned to their houses dejectedly.
Aunt Bai took Aunt Zhang’s bucket and ladle and fetched a bucket of water. She gulped down a few mouthfuls. “Little bastard! F*ck him!”
“Sister Bai, what’s wrong?” Aunt Zhang asked worriedly.
Aunt Bai told Aunt Zhang about the reconstruction of the reservoir. “…Your family’s fields, Shuanzi’s family’s land, Ah Wan’s family’s residence, and the Wang family’s ancestral grave have to be dug up by those bastards!”
Aunt Zhang was furious when she heard that. Just as she was about to scold those people to vent her anger, she suddenly glanced at something from the corner of her eye. “Eh? What’s that?”
On the path outside the village, an ox cart drove over at a moderate speed. It was not Shuanzi’s cart. The body of the cart looked very old and tattered, but it had a shed built on it. The wheels of the cart were uneven, and as it slowly walked on the relatively flat path, it looked like it could fall apart at any time.
The cow was also in a miserable state. It was as thin as a matchstick and there were a few large bandages wrapped around its horns.
The ox cart stopped at the entrance of the village headman’s house. The coachman wearing a raincoat and a bamboo hat entered the village headman’s house. Not long after, the bruised and swollen village headman walked out with the coachman and led the group deeper into the village.
“Who is it?” Aunt Zhang muttered.
“They just moved in.” Little Chen had walked over at some point. She seemed to know about the fight so she didn’t ask anything when she saw Aunt Bai’s face.
“I heard he’s a teacher. He’s knowledgeable,” Little Chen said as she chewed on the melon seeds in her hand.
“Then why did he come to our village? To look for Zhao Heng?” There was only Zhao Heng studying in the village. When she heard that he was knowledgeable, Aunt Bai could not help but associate the two of them.
Little Chen did not like Zhao Heng now. When his name was mentioned, she felt even more annoyed. She said indifferently, “No way. He bought our village’s residence and wants to stay in our village.”
Aunt Bai looked like she had seen a ghost. “There are still people moving to this god forsaken place?”
Little Chen glared at her.
Aunt Zhang changed the topic. “What house did he buy? Is there an empty house in our village?”
Little Chen said, “Of course there is. Didn’t Ah Wan’s neighbor move away long ago?”
They had moved away many years ago. It was a family with the surname Ding. They had one son and two daughters. Their son had unfortunately been taken away by the military, but their two daughters’ marriage was not bad. Their eldest daughter had found a husband who was diligent and honest. Their second daughter had married a commoner from a foreign family.
The Ding family had two residences. The new residence was built by his second son-in-law who provided the money. Later on, his second son-in-law received his share of the family assets from his father. However, he had no one he could trust, so he invited Old Ding’s family to help manage the business.
After Ah Wan caused a ruckus and bought the Ding Family’s old house, the new house remained empty and no one had moved in.
Someone said that the mansion was haunted.
The slow ox cart stopped in front of the haunted house.
“Ah Wan is going to have a neighbor,” Little Chen said while munching on melon seeds.