After being jilted, the entire neighboring village was filled with deep regret.

Chapter 397 Earth Can Ignite

With Su Tai's support, Shen Yuezhang and Shen Congrong were able to set off with Shen Yi.

Fortunately, there were more than thirty constables with them this time, so protecting the two little children was not a problem.

Su Tai was worried that the two children would cause them trouble, so she gave each of them a red envelope containing one tael of silver as a token of her gratitude.

One tael of silver was equivalent to their monthly salary. After receiving the silver, everyone promised to protect Shen Yuezhang and Shen Congrong well.

After the group left, Su Tai breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to go and take a look at the house.

The twins went along too.

The two little ones pinched their noses in disgust as soon as they entered the alley. "Mom, what's that smell? It stinks! No wonder people suspected we were piling up manure!"

Shen Yue'an retorted, "This isn't the smell of a manure pile. This smell is much worse than a manure pile!"

Su Tai's beautiful eyebrows furrowed.

The constable who was leading the way advised her, "Madam Shen, if you can't stand it, we should go back. This house is not suitable for living in for the time being."

Even rough men like them couldn't stand it, let alone women.

Su Tai gritted her teeth, lowered her head, and said to the twins, "Mother wants to go in and take a look. If you don't want to go, you can go back to the county government office first."

The twins clung tightly to Su Tai, one on each side, saying, "Wherever Mother goes, we'll go!"

Su Tai wanted to be moved, but it was clearly not the right place to say anything sentimental.

"Let's go then!"

She led her two children behind the constables. The courtyard gate was unlocked and opened with a push.

The constable explained, "The courtyard is so smelly that even dogs run away. We don't need to worry about thieves getting our hands on it, so we didn't lock it to get in and out quickly."

Su Tai was utterly speechless. "I understand."

When they arrived at the backyard, they finally saw what the pond looked like. The pond wasn't small; they had originally estimated it to be about 1.5 meters deep, but the sludge removal had resulted in it being dug to a depth of 3 meters. Looking at the sticky, grayish-black sludge at the bottom that emitted a foul odor, Su Tai frowned so much that she almost crushed a fly.

The constables asked, "Didn't you find any fish or shrimp while you were digging?"

The constable shook his head. "It's strange, really. Although the pond is half dry, there's still water in it, and the aquatic plants are lush. Logically, there shouldn't be nothing at all."

Fearing that Su Tai wouldn't believe him, the yamen runner even took her to see the dried silt that had been dug up, saying, "Everything in the pool is here."

The twins covered their mouths and noses and whispered to each other.

"Brother, this silt stinks even worse than the cow dung at Grandpa's house. It's disgusting just looking at it. Did you bring anything?"

Shen Yue'an stared at Shen Congyu with her beautiful big eyes.

Shen Congyu stole a glance at Su Tai, then shook his head vigorously, "No, Mother's here, she'll scold us to death!"

That's what he said, but his little hands couldn't help but reach into his pockets and rummage around.

Just then, Su Tai and the constables walked a little further away.

The two little ones exchanged a glance, each took one, and said, "Order and run, don't get your clothes dirty, or Mom will kill us!"

"understand!"

Su Tai had just found a small shovel to collect some silt when a loud crash came from the side. There she saw her two little devils running for their lives like they were being chased by dogs.

"Shen Congyu! Shen Yuean! Stop right there!" Su Tai roared angrily.

The constable was startled, looked at one child and then the other, and quickly ran over to the two children, "Oh dear! Second Young Master and Second Miss, it smells terrible here, this is no fun. Don't hurt yourselves."

After calming the twins down, the constable immediately picked up a broom to clean up their mess. But when he saw the children's handiwork, he was shocked. "What...what happened?"

Before Su Tai's raised hand could even fall, she rushed over to see what was happening.

Sparks were seen rising from the dried mud, and when the wind blew, the sparks intensified, and a cluster of orange-blue flames emerged.

The constable turned pale with fright. "This...this...could it be a ghost? How could the earth catch fire?"

Thinking of something, Su Tai quickly grabbed some dried mud, wrapped it up, and said seriously, "Get some water and put out the fire first. Also, inform Lord Lu about this and have someone guard this courtyard. Make sure no one else accidentally breaks in, and especially don't let anyone start a fire here."

The constables hurried off to carry out the task, and Su Tai led the bewildered twins back home.

The two little ones kept their heads down and didn't say a word the whole way, afraid of alerting Su Tai and the others and getting beaten up again.

Su Tai had no time to pay attention to them. After returning to the county government office, she immediately made an excuse to enter the portal and sell the bag of soil to the automated trading cabinet.

After scanning, information about the pile of soil appeared on the screen.

"Fifty grams of coal, one ton of virtual currency, would you like to sell?"

Su Tai's suspicions were confirmed, and she was deeply troubled.

Lu Tong also received news of the strange situation at the villa and thought Su Tai was frightened, so he asked his wife to come and comfort her personally.

Su Tai chatted with Madam Lu for a long time, and after seeing the people off, she decisively took the twins back to Shen Family Village.

The matter at the villa can only be dealt with when Shen Yi returns.

She waited for half a month.

Shen Yi had just returned to the county government office when he heard about the villa incident. He went to see it in person and, after learning about Su Tai's unusual behavior, he went to see Lu Tong first.

"Lord Lu, the deal has been settled. The herdsmen want a lot of grain, and they can accept the price we agreed on before. Here is the contract."

Lu Tong took the contract and read it carefully. He was in a great mood. "Shen Yi! You are my savior! The problem that was giving me a headache was solved so quickly. I don't know how to thank you enough."

Seeing that he was happy, Shen Yi casually mentioned, "We only found out when we went to the ice field that the Zhu family sells grain to the herdsmen for more than ten coins more than the grain shops. The Zhu family probably doesn't know about this yet. When they receive the news after the autumn harvest, I'm afraid they will have opinions about you, sir."

Lu Tong's smile gradually faded, and he sneered, "They're just merchants. Can they possibly stand up to the people of the entire Zhaohua County? If you ask me, Brother Shen, now that you have a large and powerful family, you can easily expand your business to the county town. Having the Zhu family dominating the market is not a good thing for anyone."

Shen Yi smiled and said, "I understand what Lord Lu means, but I still have many villagers behind me. The county town is too small. Competing with the Zhu family is just a waste of time. If you are willing, you can support many merchants. One family can hardly compete with the Zhu family, but what about ten? Or a hundred? One flower does not make a spring, but a hundred flowers blooming together is beautiful. Don't you agree?"

"What a wonderful display of diverse talents! Since that's the case, I won't insist. You've had a hard time on this trip. Your sister-in-law and child have gone back to Shenjiazhuang first. You should go back and check on things. It's not too late to come to the county office in a couple of days."

"Thank you, sir!"

Shen Yi left the county government office and immediately took his two children home.

They rushed as fast as they could and finally arrived back at Shenjiazhuang just as it was getting dark.

The villagers who had built the village school were returning home in twos and threes, and they all greeted Shen Yi when they saw him.