CHAPTER 100: CHAPTER 100: CAUGHT BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

Long Yue turned to look and saw Aunt Liu with a face full of contempt. After compensating ten taels of silver last time, it had been a long time since she had made an appearance. Was she here to stir up trouble again?

Long Yue glanced at her casually, expressionless, and said, "Aunt Liu accuses me of being deceitful, so I ask, how exactly am I being deceitful?"

Long Yue’s sharp gaze startled Aunt Liu, but with so many people present, she thought, would Long Yue dare to hit her in public?

So she raised her voice, "Listen everyone, did you hear what the Young Madam Qin just said? That we have to pay to learn how to plant. How is this not deceitful?"

"Oh, yes indeed..."

Immediately, someone chimed in. Long Yue wasn’t about to let the discussion grow, so she raised her voice, "Aunt Liu, it seems your hearing is failing! I already said, the basic seeds here are supplied for free, but the rare seeds cost money. Whether you want to plant the costly ones is your decision. Am I holding a knife to force you to pay?"

Uh... the crowd paused, some looked at the seeds in their hands and thought that what she said wasn’t wrong!

But Aunt Liu felt Long Yue was just being deceitful and snorted, "Utter nonsense. If the regular ones don’t cost anything, why do the special ones cost money?"

Oh, that’s just being unreasonable!

Long Yue wouldn’t let her bully her, so she coldly replied, "Then according to Aunt Liu’s logic, if someone helps you once, they should keep helping you, working tirelessly for you, and that should be taken for granted?"

"Of course... huh?"

Aunt Liu slipped up for a moment and straightened her back to respond, only to realize she was caught in Long Yue’s trap.

If that’s the case, who would dare help her family in the future?

Help once and become a lifelong servant...

Aunt Liu’s face turned blue, and she shouted, "That’s not what I meant!"

"Then what does Aunt Liu mean?" Long Yue chuckled lightly, with a hint of mockery in her voice, "I came to Qingshui Village to fulfill a previous promise and to help the villagers have better lives, by giving out seeds and planting methods for free. That’s kindness! But don’t mistake people’s kindness as being foolish!

Doesn’t every family have mouths to feed? Our Qin family just started up recently and has so many loyal servants to support. Should I starve my people to feed you?

If that’s how you think, then I might as well not give! At most, I’d be known as someone who breaks promises, but since the person in charge of Qin family affairs is my Prime Minister, even if there’s blame, it won’t fall on Qin family!"

Even though Long Yue managed Qin family’s business, the head of the family was Li Qingmu, and outsiders saw him as handling affairs, so even if Long Yue didn’t keep her promise, at most it would be said that the Qin family’s matriarch quarreled with villagers unpleasantly, but it wouldn’t greatly affect Li Qingmu.

After all, in this society women had low status, and if a man didn’t like them, they would simply choose another, who could say anything about it?

If the Qin family’s matriarch wasn’t virtuous, many unmarried girls might secretly rejoice!

It is often said that those who have nothing to lose aren’t afraid of those who do. Aunt Liu thought Long Yue should be more cautious about her image as the new matriarch of the Qin family. But who knew she couldn’t care less and was as headstrong as before, truly living up to the title "Evil Woman Li"!

But what Long Yue said stirred up trouble. Many in Qingshui Village relied on growing herbs to earn some money, and if Long Yue suddenly let go, what would they do?

The fact that representatives from several pharmacies had come to evaluate the Qin family medicine field had not escaped the villagers’ eyes. Previously, many were disinterested in planting, but seeing others profit they became envious!

"Sister Liu, the Young Madam Qin is kindly giving us benefits, and you are making a fuss. These days, it’s hard enough for everyone to earn a meal, and the Qin family also has dozens of mouths to feed, what if they ask for some money?"

"Exactly, plus it’s only the rare medicinal seeds that will cost money later. For the regular herbs we’re getting now, if they yield well and we profit, shouldn’t we show some gratitude come New Year!"

"Exactly!"

"..."

The villagers immediately began discussing, as they held what was freely given, naturally they wanted to support Long Yue. As for the future, with rare and other costly categories, it wasn’t within their current concerns.

Humans are like this, only considering long-term plans when financially secure. But if there’s a struggle for basic needs, meeting those is priority.

In these times, villagers all did farming or odd jobs, how much money could they have? Having enough food for the family was already a blessing; Long Yue was giving them a good livelihood, naturally they were grateful, and people like Aunt Liu were in the minority.

So Aunt Liu, who originally wanted to cause trouble, found herself in a sticky situation, unable to advance or retreat. She thought many would back her, but why did they side with that little lass?

Resulting in her being in such an awkward spot, driving her to the edge!

"Fine, fine, you all think it’s alright, and me trying to win some benefits makes me the villain?"

Aunt Liu huffed angrily, wanting to turn away but suddenly remembered why she came here, so she quickly turned back.

"I say, Mrs. Pang, you’re so crafty, since you’re giving seeds for free now, why did I have to pay ten taels last time? You scammer! Hurry up, give me back the silver!"

Saying this, Aunt Liu rolled up her sleeves and walked toward Long Yue in a menacing manner, leaving the onlookers dumbfounded. What... what was happening?

Ten taels of silver wasn’t a small sum, everyone knew what kind of person a Liu Family member was, living in the same village.

Forcing a ten-tael return was as good as asking for their lives, how could that compare? It’s almost like digging up their ancestors’ graves!

Curious eyes turned to Long Yue, eager to hear her response.

Long Yue let out a chuckle, pointing at Aunt Liu, "Aunt Liu, it’s not just your ears failing, but your brain too. Have you forgotten you wanted to set fire to the Li family medicine field, got caught and sent to the authorities, but your family disagreed and asked for a private settlement?"

Ugh...

The crowd paused, finally recalling that incident, and immediately everyone gave Aunt Liu different looks.

They remembered Aunt Liu wasn’t entirely genuine, certain she had other motives hidden.

Sure enough, Long Yue sighed and continued, "Back then, I intended to suggest planting medicinal herbs together for everyone’s livelihood. You thought it was good, using the ten taels as leverage to ask for future favors. I considered that having an ally was better than a foe, so I agreed, but today’s actions... are truly disappointing!"

What?

Aunt Liu was dumbfounded! If she hadn’t caused such a stir, wouldn’t she have gotten more benefits?

For a moment, Aunt Liu felt she might as well spit out blood!

Now she was neither here nor there!

Oh, what a mess this turned out to be!