CHAPTER 88: CHAPTER 88: FALLING INTO SOMEONE’S SCHEME

In Songling Village, team leader Xu Wenchang had just returned home from the brigade headquarters when he saw his wife, Ma Jiuxiang, enter the courtyard with a dark expression. "What’s the matter with you?"

Ma Jiuxiang threw the vegetables she was holding onto the stone table in the courtyard. "That courtyard of Educated Youth Jiao and Educated Youth Yan has been rented out by the village! Do you know about this?"

Team leader Xu Wenchang nodded. "I just went to the brigade headquarters. They told me about it."

Ma Jiuxiang raised her eyebrows. "So, what are we going to do now?"

Team leader Xu Wenchang took out a dry tobacco pipe from his pocket, filled it with tobacco, lit it, and took a leisurely puff. "Renovating that house... they spent twenty yuan just on materials, and they also paid the helpers. Asking them to move out now might not be possible."

Ma Jiuxiang flared up. "Then how do we explain this to the in-laws? And what do we say to Xingwang when he comes back?"

Hearing his wife’s words, team leader Xu Wenchang’s brows knitted tightly as well. "Who knew things would turn out to be such a coincidence."

Ma Jiuxiang didn’t see it that way. "I think Yang Gengtian is deliberately opposing us! He knows full well our Xingwang has found someone, and the in-laws also made it clear they must have a courtyard of their own. He just wants to make our family a laughingstock!"

Xu Wenchang’s already foul mood worsened, as if a storm was brewing. "Enough! Can’t you say a little less? If people from the village heard this, what would they think of me as the team leader?"

The Xu Family was originally large. Xu Wenchang was the Second Brother. Previously, their fifth brother required long-term medication. Later, the entire family pooled their resources to secure a job for the seventh brother, Xu Wenhua, at the county shoe factory. This left them living very tightly.

When the family split two years ago, their debts had just barely been paid off. All the brothers felt that the seventh brother, Xu Wenhua, now capable, wanted to strike out on his own for a better life. This created a very awkward situation at the time.

In the end, the old Xu couple went to live in the county town with their youngest son, Xu Wenhua, who would take care of them in their old age. This finally settled matters.

They had set their sights on Educated Youth Jiao and Educated Youth Yan’s small courtyard because the family temporarily couldn’t afford to build a new house for their son. Moreover, the family of the girl their elder son was courting had stipulated that the couple must have their own courtyard to marry.

Previously, for their eldest daughter’s marriage, they had given a substantial dowry for the sake of face, basically using up all the money they had saved after the family split.

That’s why they were eying the small courtyard left by those two educated youths. They figured that by tearing down the dividing wall, buying some materials, and renovating the house, it would be perfect as a wedding house for their elder son.

What they hadn’t expected was that by the time they returned from a trip, the house had been rented out.

Xu Wenchang choked on the smoke and started coughing. When he recovered, he said, "What’s the hurry? Didn’t we agree with the in-laws that the formalities and wedding banquet would only happen after the autumn harvest, during the slack season? We just need to find a way to make them willingly vacate the house. Then we’ll even save money on repairs."

Ma Jiuxiang realized and slapped her thigh. "Right! Why didn’t I think of that?"

The couple exchanged a look, both understanding without saying. After all, there were quite a few educated youths who had married into the village or married local girls. These two wouldn’t be any different.

Yunyi and Liu Chenglin had no idea they were already being schemed against.

Just then, Ma Jiuxiang remembered what people in the village had said. "Wenchang, I heard that Educated Youth Chu treated the people who helped repair the house to rabbit meat. It was that old hag Hu Shanmei who helped with the cooking, and she even sent a bowl to the accountant’s family. She really knows how to curry favor!"

Earlier, at the brigade headquarters, the Branch Secretary and the accountant had also mentioned this to him. He knew the inside story, and it indeed made him quite uncomfortable.