Sister-in-law Niu brought Chen Suozhu to present the betrothal gifts.
Of course, the items were prepared with the help of Li Zhengguo.
Fifty yuan for the betrothal gift, two lengths of fabric, a pair of chickens, two pieces of dried meat, and two live fish.
Tian Jing was surprised, "Live fish? Where did they come from?"
Ouyang Lei answered with a smile, "I brought them. I had prepared the ingredients yesterday and brought them along."
"Ingredients? Which ones?"
"Chicken, duck, fish, meat, eggs."
"Meat? Did it go bad?"
"Hahaha." Ouyang Lei laughed proudly. "I knew you'd worry about that, so I brought them live."
"A whole pig?"
"No, a sheep. Leftover meat would go bad, and selling it to others would make me unhappy. I used lamb, so dozens of pounds were eaten in one go."
Dozens of pounds of meat eaten in one go?
Tian Jing looked at Li Zhengguo, "With Brother Lei's arrangements, how big is the banquet going to be?"
Glancing at the nervous Chen Suozhu, Li Zhengguo replied to his wife, "Everyone from the village has been invited. Grandpa Chen said he wants to thank the villagers for their kindness over the years, and he said Brother Lei's ingredient money will be repaid by him."
Grandpa Chen sounds confident!
Chen Suozhu took a small box from his pocket and pushed it towards Ouyang Lei, "Brother Lei, this is the ingredient money from my grandfather for you."
Ouyang Lei opened it, glanced at it, and then closed it and pushed it to Tian Jing. "The ingredients are a gift for you, they're yours."
Tian Jing opened it and was stunned for a moment, then looked up at the person beside her, "Brother Zheng."
Li Zhengguo closed the box. "You should accept it, Brother Lei doesn't care about this."
"Alright, thank you, Brother Lei then."
Tian Jing casually took the box to the west room and soon came out again.
With the main business concluded, Sister-in-law Niu apologized to Tian Jing, "Tian Jing, I'm sorry about yesterday..."
Tian Jing waved her hand. "Sister-in-law Niu, I know your character. It was right for you not to step in yesterday. The captain brought people, and he didn't intend to let those people go. If you had stepped in, it would have caused trouble for your in-laws and your maiden family."
"I'm not afraid," Sister-in-law Niu said earnestly.
"Yes, I understand you're not afraid, but it's unnecessary. I wasn't in any danger. I was in a position of right and advantage. Cross-village matters get complicated, and it would be difficult for you to navigate later."
"No, Tian Jing, I never consider those things."
"That's why Brother Niu considered it for you. I heard your final conversation with Brother Niu. You see, I don't stir up trouble, and yet trouble still comes to me, because I act too directly, and people find me profitable."
"It's not obvious yet. When your fortune grows, try it, and I guarantee even a small matter will cause someone to come to your door demanding an explanation. Ultimately, isn't it about profit?"
"Like the hundred yuan and hundred eggs I got for Minmin, didn't it all end up in terms of profit?"
Sister-in-law Niu was confused. "If that's the case, is it better to be poor?"
"If you're poor, no one wants to associate with you, and you have peace. If you're rich, everyone wants to claim kinship, and they'll come to you crying poverty and asking for loans. If you refuse, they'll say you're uncharitable. If you don't refuse, everyone will want a piece of you."
Sister-in-law Niu nodded. "That makes sense, but no one wants to be poor."
"Then find a way to get rich, and make those who are envious even more so."
Successfully diverting the topic, Tian Jing continued to persuade Sister-in-law Niu to embark on the road to riches.
Li family's lunch was made by Mother Li with Damai and Xiaomai.
Chicken, fish, and meat were all on the table.
Li Zhengguo watched his wife nervously.
Tian Jing happily ate the fish. She hadn't had any since coming here.
Moreover, eating fish promotes fetal development, making it perfect for her.
"Mom, this fish is cooked very well, there's no fishy smell at all."
Seeing that her daughter-in-law wasn't averse to fish, Mother Li was relieved. "Damai made it. Zhao Xiaofang had nothing to supplement her during her pregnancy, so she caught small fish from the Ku River and cooked them for her mother."
Everyone at the table turned their gaze to Tian Jing.
Tian Jing continued to pick up fish. "Eat, why are you all looking at me? Zhao Xiaofang is unlucky. She has a good husband and a good daughter. After finally escaping a wicked mother-in-law, she's actually worse than her mother-in-law. When she becomes a mother-in-law, heh, her daughter-in-law will suffer."
"That's right," Sister-in-law Niu chimed in. "She's acting out as soon as she gained freedom. Rongguo, it's fortunate you divorced her early. Otherwise, you wouldn't have a peaceful life for the rest of your days. Wait and see, I'll keep an eye out for you, and I guarantee I'll find you a capable and generous wife."
"I don't want to find anyone. I'll just live with Damai and Xiaomai. It's fine."
Li Rongguo's words made Mother Li anxious. She had brought up Zhao Xiaofang with this intention, but who knew that Sister-in-law Niu's nephew had fallen into the trap, but her own son hadn't.
"Why not find someone?" Tian Jing disagreed. "If you don't look, that woman will think you still have feelings for her. Whether she remarries or not, she'll cause you trouble."
"Not only must you find someone, but you must find someone straightforward, completely the opposite of her personality. Ouyang Lei, you keep an eye out too."
Ouyang Lei "..." He, an old bachelor, playing matchmaker for others?
Facing Tian Daxia's aggressive gaze, the old bachelor nodded. "Okay, I'll keep an eye out too."
Only then was Tian Jing satisfied. "Regardless of the other party's status or family background, as long as they are willing to enter the mountains and live a good life, offering a hundred or two hundred yuan as betrothal gift is fine. Big Cousin's future days will not be bad."
Ouyang Lei immediately took notice. "Sister, are you planning to bring Big Cousin along?"
"Nonsense, if Zhao Xiaofang dares to compete and quarrel with me, I'll make her regret it for the rest of her life. Oh, and why wasn't she arrested? What happened to the people arrested yesterday?"
"Eat, eat," Li Zhengguo put fish into his wife's bowl. "We'll talk after the meal."
After the meal, Sister-in-law Niu told Tian Jing, "Captain Ou escorted everyone to the commune police station, and the police station immediately handled the case."
"They said Li Erbo's family lost money and borrowed from the Wu family, and the Wu family also lost money. Without money, they wanted to build a house. Seeing that you were helping Li Rongguo, they thought you were very wealthy."
"In the end, they discussed it and used the Zhao family to extort money from you, and then split the extorted money."
"Who knew that the reason for Zhao Xiaofang's divorce was so disgraceful. Halfway through, the Wu family started arguing with the Zhao family."
"The police station could only issue a criticism and warning, and then released them. As for the mastermind you were looking for, there wasn't one. The whole thing was planned by Li Erbo's wife and the Wu family."
Tian Jing sneered. "Sister-in-law Niu, do you believe this outcome? When Big Cousin was building his house, Li Erbo even swapped his house's beams."
"Logically, we helped Big Cousin, so Li Erbo's family should have used Big Cousin as a pretext to force me to lend them money, right?"
"Why didn't they even ask, and just designed against me like this? Aren't the Wu family and Zhao family's coercion different from their direct coercion?"
"Only those who are guilty and afraid to face me would come up with such disgusting tactics, right?"
Sister-in-law Niu pondered. "I do feel something is wrong. And in the end, we didn't hear about the Wu family and Li Erbo's family reporting the crime. Didn't their money get lost? Why didn't they report it?"
Tian Jing nodded in agreement. "Yes, such an obvious loophole suggests that the lost money is suspicious. If it wasn't a false report, then their money might not have been money, but something like gold and silver treasures that cannot be brought to light. Is the Wu family considered poor peasants?"
Tian Jing guided Sister-in-law Niu's thoughts, and Sister-in-law Niu left with questions.