Chapter 329: The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor
Chapter 329: Arrogance Backed by Power (4)
Whenever he had free time, Li Zhong would teach them bookkeeping. Tie Tou was a slow learner, still struggling with basic addition and subtraction after many days. Li Zhong encouraged him to practice whenever he could.
Wang Pangtou had been talking to himself for a long time, noticing Tie Tou's silence. He turned to see Tie Tou seriously counting on his fingers, and couldn't help but feel exasperated. However, he decided not to disturb him.
In less than half an hour, they arrived at the warehouse. Xiao Hei, the horse, turned around on its own, backed up, and steadily parked the flatbed cart at the warehouse entrance.
Wang Pangtou happily patted Xiao Hei's head, praising its intelligence. He took out the key and opened the door, about to call Tie Tou to get off and help move the grain when he noticed someone lurking nearby, peeking around a corner.
Startled, he quickly pulled Tie Tou inside, just in time to see the person cautiously approaching.
"What's wrong, Pangtou?" Tie Tou followed his gaze outside, puzzled.
Wang Pangtou motioned for him to be quiet and pointed at the suspicious person. "That person seems off. It's like they've been following us."
Tie Tou took a closer look and confidently said, "That person has been following us since the shop. I've counted him several times while practicing my math."
"Why didn't you say something earlier!" Wang Pangtou smacked him on the head, worried about what the person might be planning now that they knew the warehouse location.
Tie Tou rubbed his sore head, feeling aggrieved. "I didn't think of it..."
Knowing Tie Tou's simple nature, Wang Pangtou couldn't blame him and instead shook his head in resignation, reminding him to report anything unusual in the future.
Seeing the person had moved to another corner and was now out of sight, Wang Pangtou decided to ignore it for now and called Tie Tou over to help move the grain.
Soon, they had loaded seven or eight bags of grain onto the cart. After locking the warehouse, they got back on the cart and started heading back.
As they passed the corner where the person had been hiding, Wang Pangtou glanced sideways and saw the person still there. He calmly drove the cart until they reached another corner, then looked back to see the person peeking through a door crack before following them again. Slightly reassured, he continued driving.
The person followed them at a distance all the way back to the shop, then disappeared. Wang Pangtou, too anxious to unload the grain, rushed inside to report everything to Mo Yan and Li Zhong.
Mo Yan pondered for a moment and said, "That person is probably a spy sent by the Xue family. They might be planning to monitor the warehouse and trace the grain supply."
"Looks like the Xue family is being cautious after the bad grain incident. They didn't resort to direct sabotage this time, probably to avoid getting caught," Li Zhong analyzed, feeling somewhat relieved.
"Good, if they're hesitant, we might be able to handle this without Young Master Yan's help," Mo Yan said with a smile, tired of all the scheming.
But their relief was premature. At noon, just after finishing lunch, an uninvited guest arrived at the shop.
Seeing the visitor, Li Zhong's face turned sour. "What are you here for again? Didn't you get enough of a beating last time?"
Hu Shi's face stiffened, then she forced a smile. "What are you saying, in-law? We're relatives, isn't it normal for relatives to visit each other?"
Li Zhong's face darkened further. "Who's your in-law? My Li family, a poor household, can't match up to your Zhang family."
If not for the customers coming and going, fearing it would affect business, he would have chased this shameless mother and son away with a broom.
Zhang Ming, hiding behind Hu Shi, tugged at her sleeve anxiously, not daring to step forward or speak, afraid of being beaten again.
Seeing his cowardice, Li Zhong's anger flared. He hated himself for having been so blind to have favored such a worthless person.
Hu Shi, with a sycophantic smile, slapped her own mouth. "In-law, I have a loose tongue and spoke wrongly in the past. Please, be the bigger person and forgive a foolish woman like me."
Li Zhong sneered, impatient. "Say what you came to say and get out. I don't have time to waste on you."
Seeing her humility wasn't working, Hu Shi almost lost her temper but held back, remembering the promised benefits. She took a deep breath, wiped imaginary tears with a dirty handkerchief, and sorrowfully said, "In-law, I know we've wronged Xiu'er, but the Zhang family is desperate. With Zhang Ming being the only heir, we were worried about not having descendants when we learned Xiu'er couldn't bear children."
She glanced at Li Zhong, seeing no reaction, and continued, "Zhang Ming was heartbroken and drank to drown his sorrows. In his drunken state, Yao Shi took advantage of him. He didn't mean to!"
"Yes, father-in-law!" Zhang Ming, seeing Li Zhong's expression soften slightly, quickly added, "I love Xiu'er dearly and never wanted to hurt her. But Yao Shi showed up pregnant, causing a scandal and forcing me to consider divorcing Xiu'er to marry her. But I don't want to..."
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