Chapter 90: Chapter 87: Ms. Wang’s Downfall
Actually, this was an oversight on the part of Nan Tianzong!
In her previous life, Liu Sisi was an orphan. Not long after she got into college, her grandpa, who had raised her since childhood, passed away.
With no source of income, she had to work part-time jobs while studying to complete her education.
Her most frequent job was naturally selling small commodities at the night market! Gradually, she honed her bargaining and business skills.
“I’ve said before that I can read and write…”
Liu Sisi’s eyes brightened! She hurriedly approached and asked, “Do you also copy books for students here? How much do you charge for copying one book? For example, the Three Character Classic, the Analects, the Mencius, the Tao Te Ching, how much do you quote for these?”
Liu Sisi thought more, as it was already midsummer. When winter arrived with heavy snow, she wouldn’t be able to continue doing this work, right?
At that time, if she took on some copying jobs to do at home, it would also be a decent income.
Nan Tianzong’s smile, like encountering a spring breeze, almost collapsed, and the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but twitch slightly.
“You… plan to support your family by copying books and making money?”
“How could that be possible? I just think that copying books can somewhat supplement the household expenses. Of course, I don’t dare to expect to make a lot of money, but as long as it’s profitable, that’s always good. Don’t you agree, shopkeeper?” Liu Sisi’s watery eyes blinked, and the clever, calculating radiance in her eyes was skillfully hidden by her.
Nan Tianzong stared intently at her familiar smile, feeling an inexplicable stirring in his heart.
He casually picked up a brush-pen and a piece of paper from the side and pushed them towards her, “Come! Write a few words for me to see.”
It turns out that he still needs to test her first!
Liu Sisi rolled her eyes and confidently took the brush-pen dipped it in ink. The scene before her eyes seemed to transport her back to her past life as a child when she practiced writing with a brush-pen under her grandpa’s guidance.
With a sweep of the brush, she wrote down Yue Fei’s famous verse: “Don’t waste time, youth fades, emptily regretting!”
With the brush-pen down, the flower-pin small script was completed!
Nan Tianzong took a breath and couldn’t help but look down. Although there were just a few words, each one was round, delicate, upright, and neat. They were thin and soaring, revealing a touch of elegant and lively charm.
It was soft yet thin, gentle yet vigorous.
It truly embodied the saying, “a person is reflected in their handwriting.”
“Don’t waste time, youth fades, emptily regretting…”
Nan Tianzong murmured softly, examining her closely from head to toe, various thoughts rolling in his mind.
The ancients said that the flower-pin small script is “as delicate as the ice from a jade vessel, as enchanting as the moon on Yatai mountain, gently like a tree, and serene like a Qingfeng.” Now that he saw it, it was indeed not a false reputation!
However, how could this simple country woman have acquired such good writing skills?
Could it be that she was sent by “him”?
A sudden shock surged through his heart!
If it was true…
For a moment, his thoughts flew far away.
Under that straight nose, on those thin lips, the seductive shallow smile could almost not be held back either.
“Shopkeeper, take a look at Little Four’s writing here, can it still pass through your discerning eyes?”
Liu Sisi smiled confidently! Although she couldn’t compare with a true calligraphy master, she had complete confidence in being able to handle copying books!
“What’s so impressive about being able to write a few characters?”
Nan Tianzong’s gaze was heavy, and he looked deeply into her eyes: “You can copy it if you want! I will provide you with calligraphy tools, and you can try with this ‘Standards for being a Good Pupil’ first. If I am satisfied with your work, we can discuss the price.”
“Thank you, shopkeeper.”
Liu Sisi took the book and the paper, and couldn’t help but smile!
When she left after finishing her work, Liu Sisi kept looking back, her face filled with regret.
So many books were in the bookstore, within her reach but out of sight, which was really frustrating!
At the moment, the village entrance was also bustling with activity.
As people were gathered under the tree for shade, gossipy women of all ages huddled together. Ms. Wang was fanning herself triumphantly, raising her voice.
“I saw it with my own eyes yesterday; it was Businessman Zhang from the city who tightly embraced Third Sister-in-law!”
She put her hands on her hips and shouted loudly, “It was yesterday afternoon, at this very moment! She was holding a dustpan and was embraced by Businessman Zhang! Tsk tsk… I knew it! How could such a seductive woman end up marrying into our poor and remote village? Clearly, she came here as a cover to conveniently have secret affairs!”
Ms. Wang’s words immediately caused the people nearby to crane their necks and whisper to each other.
As for Ms. Wang, who had been making a fuss in the past couple of days, people had become used to her antics.
“A few days ago, I saw Businessman Zhang climbing up the Di Family’s wall, shouting Third Sister-in-law’s nickname. If I hadn’t accidentally bumped into him, who knows what kind of indecent things he might have done? What I saw is true, and if there’s even half a lie in my words, I’ll feed my hands to the dogs!”
Getting more and more pleased with herself, Ms. Wang raised her voice even higher!
Someone shouted from afar.
“Ms. Wang, since you saw your Third Sister-in-law doing such shameful things, why didn’t you call out right away? ‘Catch a thief red-handed, catch an adulterer in the act.’ If you actually caught the two of them, wouldn’t it be a direct trip to the Land Officer and then thrown into the pond?”
Everyone who was watching the drama burst out laughing.
“I really wanted to catch them! But they discovered me, and they just ran away!”
Ms. Wang proudly waved her handkerchief!
“Are you sure you didn’t catch them because all of this is just a fabricated story to deceive people? From what I can see, ever since Sisi came to our village, she’s been abiding by the rules, and nobody’s ever said anything like this about her. You’d better not spread false rumors.”
“That’s right, that’s right. Your brother is not an easy person to deal with. If he heard you making up these stories, wouldn’t you be afraid he’d come knocking on your door?”
“You dare!”
Ms. Wang was not only unafraid, but her speech became more garrulous and her arrogance more unbridled!
“I’m his Second Sister-in-law. If he dares to touch a single hair on my head, I’ll never let him off. In the end, we’ll take this matter to our father, and let’s see how he explains it to his mother-in-law!”
Ms. Wang became even more smug.
Just as the third family branch had finally repaid the 20 taels of silver, she was delighted. However, father’s sudden illness forced her to help and provide grain, and in the end, even the hard-saved 8 taels of silver were demanded by the Land Officer. How could she not be angry?
Now that she had an opportunity to humiliate the third family branch on legitimate grounds, how could she let it go?
Suddenly, a crisp voice came from the outskirts of the crowd: “What’s going on here? What happened to cause such a commotion?”
Everyone turned their heads to see Liu Sisi standing on the edge of the crowd.
Liu Sisi had hurried all the way home and finally arrived at Upper Village before sunset. However, she didn’t expect to see a large crowd gathered outside her house before she could even enter.
