The daily life of a space tycoon raising children, doting on his husband, and farming.

Chapter 45 was even more bustling than the execution grounds.
Stone stepped forward to meet him, "What happened?"

“Lin… Lin…” Li Xiaoshan said between breaths, his hands on his knees, “The Lin family is back.”

Shang Wan scooped up a ladle of water and handed it to him, saying, "Have a sip of water first to calm down, then speak slowly."

Xiao Huan looked at the water ladle and realized it looked familiar. Wasn't this the one for those monkeys?

Li Xiaoshan, oblivious to everything, took the water ladle, drank from it while glancing at Shi Tou's messy hair, and asked curiously, "Brother Shi Tou, what happened to your hair?"

"You don't understand, this is a sign of a good relationship." Stone casually patted his hand a couple of times, feeling quite pleased with himself. "You want it but don't have it yet."

Li Xiaoshan: "..."

No, he doesn't want it at all! His brother would kill him if his hair was like that.

Seeing that his breathing had calmed down, Shang Wan asked, "The Lin family is back, and then what?"

"They got into an argument with the villagers."

Shang Wan had heard the commotion earlier but hadn't listened carefully. She then asked, "What's all the noise about?"

“The village chief is being unreasonable.” Li Xiaoshan clenched his fist, somewhat agitated. “The village chief said that Uncle Wu and his family’s method of using labor points was done without his consultation, and that it was a mess and an attempt to seize his power. He’s going to tell the village head to drive Uncle Wu’s family out of the village.”

"Uncle Liu said a few words in support of Uncle Wu, and the village chief said that he would drive the Liu family out to prevent them from raising another Liu Hu to harm our village."

Lu Chengjing suddenly interjected, "But the villagers told him that Liu Hu was taken away by the officials?"

"No," Li Xiaoshan shook his head, "the others didn't have time to say it."

Shang Wan glanced at Lu Chengjing, noticing that he had his eyes downcast as if deep in thought, and then asked Li Xiaoshan, "What else did they argue about?"

“Aunt Liu is unreasonable too,” Li Xiaoshan said indignantly. “She said that the villagers took a whole thirty taels of silver from her family and she’s clamoring to catch the thieves.”

Stone asked, "Who does she suspect stole it?"

“Nobody else, they just said it was someone from the village who stole it.” Li Xiaoshan said with a long face. “When they came back, the lock on the Lin family’s gate was still on. Everyone was busy with their own things, and no one went in.”

Xiao Huan asked in confusion, "Why did you come to my sister when they were arguing?"

Li Xiaoshan glanced at Lu Chengjing and said in a muffled voice, "The village chief said that the scholar proposed it, and that... that..."

"They want to drive our whole family out of the village too," Shang Wan interjected for him.

Li Xiaoshan nodded and spoke his mind, "Sister, I don't want you to move away."

This is why he rushed to find Shang Wan; he felt that Shang Wan was the only one in the village who could deal with the Lin family.

"Whether we move or not, it's not up to the Lin family to decide." Shang Wan reached out and rubbed the child's head, thinking to herself, "They're making a big deal out of nothing. Do they really think the Lin family can make decisions about Elm Tree Village?"

Upon hearing that there was a chance, Li Xiaoshan grinned, revealing his back teeth.

After glancing at the piles of things she had cleared out, Shang Wan whistled towards the direction of the mountains and forests.

A moment later, the howling of wolves echoed through the forest, frightening the small animals into trembling.

"Let's go and see what's going on, let's see just how powerful this Village Chief Lin really is."

Shang Wan took Yuanyuan from Lu Chengjing's arms, Shi Tou stepped forward and carried Lu Chengjing on his back, and Xiao Huan tucked the kitchen knife behind her back. The way they walked made them look like they were going to a group fight, not like they were going to watch a show.

For some reason, Li Xiaoshan straightened his back, raised his chin, and started walking with an imposing, pigeon-toed gait.

When the group arrived at the heart of the commotion, under the old elm tree, the argument between the two sides had already reached a fever pitch.

Like a furious, fighting rooster, Liu stood with her hands on her hips and unleashed a torrent of abuse at the entire village. Several of the aunties, unable to contain their anger, hurled insults back at her. Zhou and Chen Guifang, naturally unable to stand idly by, joined in the cursing on behalf of their mother-in-law, and the wives of the other aunties also stepped forward to help.

The two sides went back and forth, escalating from personal attacks to discussions about each other's ancestors for eighteen generations. Shang Wan was amazed by what she heard and even wanted to grab some melon seeds.

Yuanyuan was woken up by the noise. She rubbed her eyes with her little hands and rubbed her chubby face against Shang Wan's neck.

"Good boy, keep sleeping." Shang Wan gently patted the little guy's back. The chubby little dumpling, who had been rubbing against her, gradually stopped moving. Looking down, she saw that he had indeed fallen asleep again.

Shang Wan continued watching the show, thinking that instead of arguing, it would be more satisfying to fight. The two actually got so worked up that they started rolling up their sleeves, grabbing each other's hair and clothes, and instantly rolled around together.

Once everyone started fighting, the others naturally couldn't just stand by and watch. They all rushed forward, some to break up the fight, others to help. For a moment, it was incredibly chaotic, even more lively than the marketplace.

Stone, always eager for excitement, cheered and shouted for Aunt Zhou and Aunt Yao from the sidelines.

Xiao Huan stared coldly at Village Chief Lin, her right hand repeatedly reaching for the kitchen knife behind her.

Lin Jianshui stayed by the village chief's side the whole time, not giving Xiao Huan any chance to take advantage of the situation. Xiao Huan had no choice but to regretfully give up her plan to stab the village chief.

"Stop! Stop fighting!" Old Wu and the others shouted, their faces flushed with anxiety. "Pull them apart! Pull them apart right now! We're all from the same village, can't we sit down and talk things out?"

"Stop it, all of you!" Old Man Liu shouted anxiously to his son, "Eldest son, quickly pull your Aunt Zhou away!"

Lu Chengjing sat on the rock, watching the commotion in front of him expressionlessly, and suddenly covered his mouth and yawned.

Shang Wan secretly raised an eyebrow. Was this guy getting bored of watching the show?

"Enough!" Village Chief Lin shouted, his face dark, his voice almost cracking.

The scene fell silent instantly, and the people trying to break up the fight took the opportunity to pull those who were fighting away.

Liu's hair was all disheveled, and her face had not only handprints but also several fingernail marks, it was unknown who had scratched her.

She shook off her two daughters-in-law's support and sat on the ground, weeping and wailing.

Aunt Zhou's hair was also half pulled out. She was being held up by her two sons, but she still stuck her head out and spat at Liu.

"Who doesn't have a few coins? The whole village has seen it, no one has ever entered your house. Who knows, you might have secretly taken it to help your family. You're slandering us here, I spit on you!"

"Zhou Yingchun, you're talking nonsense!"

"I'm talking nonsense?" Aunt Zhou sneered. "On the tenth of last month, there was a big market in Xiahe Village. You secretly asked someone to bring things to your parents' home. I saw it with my own eyes. It was such a big bag of things, who knows if you secretly put silver in it?"

Upon hearing this, Village Chief Lin's gaze immediately turned sharp as a knife towards Liu.

Liu shrank back, a hint of guilt flashing in her eyes, but she still stubbornly argued, "I didn't go out that day, you've mistaken me for someone else."

“Mother, you forgot that I took you there in a donkey cart that day?” Lin Jianshui said. “You even said not to tell Father…”

He paused, realizing he'd let it slip out of his mouth.
Mrs. Liu: "..."

Why didn't she strangle that idiot? How could she betray her own mother like that?

"I did send some things home, but they were all old clothes, and I didn't have any money." Liu didn't dare to argue anymore and looked at Village Chief Lin. "Husband, you're the one who kept all the money. Even if I wanted to give it to my family, I wouldn't have any."

Village Chief Lin had a gloomy face.

"We've found the evidence!" Lin Jianshan and his group strode over, holding up a jade pendant with excellent clarity.

The second round of the competition is over! Thank you all for your support and votes!
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(End of this chapter)