CHAPTER 618: CHAPTER 618: A PERFECT SOLUTION

Qin San Lang chased after her and called out, "Xiao Yu, wait a moment, put on the straw hat to block the snow."

He handed her the straw hat.

Gu Jinli took it, put it on her head, and flashed a smile: "I’m off now."

With that, she took Xiao Ji and headed home.

Qin San Lang watched her until she entered her house before he turned around and went home himself.

Elder Qin called out to him, "Hurry up and come eat, it’s deadly cold today, if you don’t eat quickly, everything will turn into ice blocks."

He thought Jianghuai was in the south so it shouldn’t be too cold in winter, but this year was colder than last, and his old bones could hardly stand it anymore.

Qin San Lang responded and sat down to eat. Midway through the meal, he suddenly asked Elder Qin, "Grandfather, how can one handle a difficult matter so that it benefits all sides?"

Elder Qin queried, "What exactly are you planning to do?"

Qin San Lang heard this but did not respond; how could he say it? It was simply unspeakable.

Elder Qin looked at him and let out a laugh: "You don’t need to say, I already know, but I can’t help you with this. It’s your issue, you’ll have to figure out a solution yourself."

The boy is just acting, he’s simply missing his wife.

After hearing this, Qin San Lang did not ask further, just quietly ate his roasted fish... In order to continue being able to eat roasted fish in the future, he had to figure out a way to achieve a win-win situation, otherwise, there would be none left to eat.

Qin Er Lang’s death became the latest gossip in the village. During leisure tea times and while fetching water or doing laundry, someone would always say, "That eldest kid from the Qin family died, the one who went to join the army in Yuchang Prefecture, I heard he died a horrible death, eaten by a tiger."

"People have told you many times, that’s not the Qin family’s firstborn, that’s the second, called Qin Er Lang!"

"Who cares which brother; the point is that he’s dead. Really had bad luck, thought he could become a general, ended up without a complete corpse. I heard Old Qin fainted several times from grief, even thought about jumping into the village’s old well."

"Don’t talk nonsense, Old Qin is still very strong, it’s Elder Gu who fainted, and nobody has jumped in."

"You’re the one talking nonsense, Qin Er Lang is Old Qin’s own grandson, what does Elder Gu have to do with him, why would he faint?"

"Hey, you still don’t believe? I truly..."

The village women became so agitated in their discussion that they nearly came to blows.

The wife of He Dacang went to fetch water and overheard the village women’s chatter, and she told Village Chief He.

Village Chief He was extremely upset, cursing, "These people who keep wagging their tongues; the young man from the Qin family died, yet they keep incessantly talking about it. If the Gu, Qin, and Luotian families find out and get angry, what will become of us He family?"

He instructed Mrs. He Liu, "Dacang’s wife, if you go to fetch water and hear them talking nonsense again, tell them, whoever dares to talk nonsense again, or speaks irresponsibly of the deceased, forget about planting Mingya Grass."

"Yes, mother-in-law, I remember." He Dacang’s wife continued her water fetching, and indeed saw the village women still gossiping about Qin Er Lang’s affairs, even more outrageously.

"I heard Qin Er Lang found a lover in Yuchang Prefecture, probably got her pregnant. If a boy is born, Qin Er Lang would then have a descendant."

He Dacang’s wife was amazed and shouted, "Tianwa’s wife, did you see Qin Er Lang with a lover with your own eyes? You dare to talk nonsense about things that didn’t happen, aren’t you afraid to ruin your mouth?"

She relayed Village Chief He’s words to the village women: "My father-in-law said, if you want to rely on the Gu family to earn money, then don’t talk idle nonsense about the Qin, Gu, and Luotian families, or else forget about planting Mingya Grass, and go be poor yourselves!"

Upon hearing this, the village women immediately become anxious, busily saying, "Dacang’s wife, we won’t talk anymore, ask the village chief not to be angry... We didn’t say much, just a few gossipy words, who in these ten villages doesn’t gossip?"

He Dacang’s wife sneered: "Those who dream of getting rich by planting Mingya Grass should stop babbling."

After scolding the village women, He Dacang’s wife carried water back home, and the village women quickly dispersed, daring not to babble further.

Qin Er Lang had died just a few days ago, when the Du Family came to express their gratitude to the Gu Family.

The Du Family thought the Gu Family had become wealthy and should be living in a big house, and were somewhat baffled to see the Gu Family’s old mud house.

Du Zhangzi said: "Uncle Shiba, is this the house? It looks just like where we live..." How shabby.

Wang Yongfu was guarding the entrance of the village and led the Du Family People inside, he said: "This is our Dong Family’s house. The new house will only be built next year."

Upon hearing this, the Du Family People suddenly realized.

Wang Yongfu knocked on the door and, with Third Grandma’s permission, led the Du Family People inside.

Upon seeing Third Grandma, Du Qian immediately bowed: "Du Qian thanks the Gu Family for saving our lives."

Third Grandma quickly responded: "No need for such formalities. We are all fellow villagers; why bother with such empty gestures?"

Looking over Du Qian’s shoulder, she saw three girls and smiled: "Are these your Du Family’s girls? They look really lovely."

Upon hearing this, the three girls immediately knelt down to thank Third Grandma.

Third Grandma hurriedly said: "No need to kneel, the one who saved you wasn’t this old woman, it was Xiao Yu."

The restaurant was a venture Xiao Yu started with Sister Le and Brother Ping, and the people from the county government came back to congratulate them on the opening.

Third Grandma looked at Wang Yongfu: "Go to the workshop and call Xiao Yu and the others back, tell them there are guests at home."

"Yes," Wang Yongfu acknowledged and ran to find Gu Jinli and the others.

Gu Jinli heard that the Du Family People had brought three girls to express their gratitude but didn’t want to go back, as she was making Convenient Medicine. However, she thought it would be good to check on the characters of other Du Family members. If the Du Family turned out to be troublesome, she could terminate the contract in time.

More than a quarter of an hour later, Gu Jinli, Gu Dashan, and Mrs. Cui returned.

Seeing them, the Du Family People knelt down again to express their thanks for the life-saving help.

Gu Jinli felt somewhat annoyed, why did ancient people like to kneel so much? Weren’t there supposed to be gold under the knees?

Gu Dashan and Mrs. Cui hurriedly asked the Du Family People to stand up.

Du Qian said: "This kneel, the Gu Family can bear. Without you, our Du family wouldn’t have survived."

They had fled famine and suffered much hardship, and were bullied by the Chen Family People for a year, nearly at their breaking point. Had there been a few more incidents of their daughters losing their innocence, they really would have been driven to despair.

Du Qian, speaking, handed over a thank-you gift he was carrying: "Our family lives a hard life, we could only afford some meat and eggs as a gift, and when our days get better, we’ll bring a more generous gift to the Gu Family."

Their delay in expressing thanks was also because they were too poor and needed to work to gather the silver to buy the thank-you gift. Now that they managed to put together a modest gift, they came to visit.

Gu Jinli’s gaze fell on the three Du Family girls; Du Fu was the most beautiful, no wonder Chen Gou wanted her and forced himself into the Du family.

The other two girls were just average.

Du Fu noticed Gu Jinli’s gaze, slightly lifted her head to look at her, and smiled: "Hello, Sister Gu."

Gu Jinli really couldn’t stand this kind of address, momentarily feeling like the frail Lin Daiyu, she quickly said: "Call me Xiao Yu, no need to call me sister."