The wicked mother-in-law doesn't try to whitewash herself; she only abuses her awful children.

Chapter 132 The Village Beauty and the City Girl

Xu Zaohua stood under a locust tree and saw through the branches that Gu Jingzhe was picking apricots for a beautiful girl in brocade clothes.

Gu Jingzhe was the most aloof scholar in Qinghe Bay. This was the first time she had ever seen Gu Jingzhe climb a tree, and the first time she had ever seen Gu Jingzhe smile so happily.

That girl looked very rich; her clothes were things she had never seen before.

She guessed that the girl was probably some kind of relative of Gu Baishuang's husband's family, the Nie family.

Because the Gu family only had the Nie family as their wealthy relatives.

Xu Zaohua clenched her fists tightly; Gu Jingzhe was hers, and no one could take him away.

Granny Yan was returning home from the threshing ground with her four sons when they happened to pass by Tong Huaqiong's courtyard.

From afar, we could hear bursts of laughter and cheerful chatter.

Upon closer inspection, Gu Jingzhe was picking apricots on a tree, while Gu Taohua and a pretty girl stood under the tree.

While at the threshing ground, Granny Yan and her four sons had already met Lu Zhaozhao.

Such a beautiful girl, even the village belle Gu Xiaocao and Xu Zaohua can't compare, I don't know where Tong Dajiao got this relative.

While they were threshing wheat, Granny Yan and her four sons were guessing behind each other's backs, but they couldn't figure it out no matter how long they tried.

But one thing Granny Yan was certain of was that this girl was from a wealthy family, and was probably brought in by Tong Huaqiong to be her youngest daughter-in-law.

The thought of having such a beautiful and wealthy daughter-in-law in the Gu family made Granny Yan's jealousy burn her up.

Xu Si felt weak all over when he saw Lu Zhaozhao. He usually only saw country girls, and even Gu Xiaocao, whom he most wanted to marry, was not as good as Lu Zhaozhao.

The moment he saw Lu Zhaozhao at the threshing ground, he secretly thought that if he could taste the girl from a wealthy family, it would be worth dying for.

"Yaozu, what's that girl's relation to your family?"

As Xu Si followed Granny Yan past Tong Huaqiong's house, he kept turning back to look at Lu Zhaozhao, his heart already pounding.

On the way, she met Yaozu, who was returning home after cutting pig feed, and asked him about Lu Zhaozhao's background.

Yaozu was very proud that Lu Zhaozhao came from the prefectural city and wanted to show off a bit, so he proudly said to Xu Si, "Aunt Lu is from the prefectural city. My uncle used to work for her. She brought us a whole carload of things this time."

When Granny Yan heard that the girl from the prefectural city had arrived, her jealousy intensified.

Xu Si's eyes lit up; it was a girl from the prefectural city.

Moreover, they were the families where Gu Dahan worked.

He had heard before that Gu Dahan had been favored by a wealthy family in the prefecture and hired as a coachman.

So, this young lady surnamed Lu must be the daughter of a very wealthy family in the prefecture.

Xu Si's blood was boiling.

He heard that daughters from wealthy families in the prefectural city valued their reputation more than girls in the village. He had already torn half of Gu Xiaocao's clothes off, but Gu Guangkui still stubbornly refused to marry her to him.

In wealthy families in the prefectural city, even if a girl finds the other person's handkerchief, she will either be sent to the family temple or married to the person who found the handkerchief.

Of course, this story was the one that Xu Si, who had only ever been as far as Yanguan Town, heard from a storyteller in a teahouse, and he took the story in the book as fact.

Upon seeing Lu Zhaozhao, he was truly eager to snatch her handkerchief.

Maybe you can get a girl from the prefecture as your wife without spending a penny.

Of course, Xu Si was unaware that he would pay a bloody price for his ideas.

Tong Huaqiong had already entered the house. Gu Jingzhe, Lu Zhaozhao, and Gu Taohua were so busy picking apricots that no one noticed Xu Si's lewd gaze.

"Fourth brother."

Xu Zaohua emerged from behind the locust tree and blocked Xu Si, who was lagging behind Granny Yan.

"Jujube blossoms."

Xu Si's gaze swept over Zao Hua's chest.

He dared to make a move on any girl in the village, except for Gu Taohua and Xu Zaohua. Gu Taohua could crush him with one stomp, and Xu Zaohua was his cousin and his uncle was the village chief, so he was afraid of being expelled. Xu Zaohua was considered pretty in the village, but compared to Lu Zhaozhao, Xu Si felt that she exuded a rustic charm.

"Fourth Brother, have you taken a fancy to the girl from the prefectural city who came from Tong Dajiao's family?" Xu Zaohua asked with a smile.

Xu Si grinned wickedly and said, "We can't covet the girls from the prefectural city, but we can at least look, right? You know what, the girls from the prefectural city are really different. They're fair-skinned and pretty, and no girl in our village can compare."

These words displeased Xu Zaohua.

What's so great about that girl from the prefectural city? She's so thin, she doesn't look like she can have children.

Only a scholar like Gu Jingzhe could be so misled!

“Girls from the prefectural city are still girls, who says we can’t have our eyes on them? Haven’t you heard in those plays that a princess can throw a bridal ball and a beggar can become her husband? What’s a girl from the prefectural city? Besides, Fourth Brother, you’re tall and strong, you’re the easiest to attract those skinny, weak girls from the prefectural city.” Xu Zaohua said, picking at her nails.

"How do we attract them?" Xu Si's eyes lit up.

"Just cook the rice into rice, won't that solve the problem?" Xu Zaohua said with a smile on her lips before walking away.

Xu Zaohua thought that Xu Si would definitely understand her hints.

Xu Si looked towards Lu Zhaozhao from afar, where Lu Zhaozhao was smiling brightly.

Zao Hua is right, just cook the raw rice into cooked rice.

These past two days, whenever the girl from the prefectural city is in the village, he has had a chance.

Xu Si made up his mind and began to loiter around the Gu family's neighborhood after dinner. The next day, he got up at cockcrow and went to observe the Gu family's movements in the bushes near Tong Huaqiong's house.

He planned to take advantage of Lu Zhaozhao being alone to drag her into the bushes.

This frail young girl from the prefectural city could surely be subdued in no time.

Tong Huaqiong had almost finished threshing the wheat. The next day, just as dawn was breaking, the Gu family went to help Liu Tiechui, Gu Dashu's father-in-law, harvest the wheat, as they had agreed the day before.

Tong Huaqiong didn't go; she stayed home with Yaozu and Man'er to feed the pigs.

The twenty-odd pigs were getting big enough that the pigsty needed to be expanded. Tong Huaqiong planned to have Gu Dahan lead people to expand the pigsty after the wheat harvest.

After Lu Zhaozhao got up, she found that Gu Taohua, Gu Jingzhe and others were not at home, so she asked Tong Huaqiong where they had all gone.

Upon learning that Gu Taohua was helping the Liu family harvest wheat in the field, they asked Man'er and Yaozu to take her to the Liu family's wheat field to join in the fun.

The wheat field that the Liu family was harvesting this time was a little further away than the Gu family's wheat field. It required crossing the threshing ground and then the riverbank.

However, Tong Huaqiong didn't take it seriously.

After all, it's wheat harvest season now, and the village is full of people.

Seeing Lu Zhaozhao walk out of the Gu family's courtyard, Xu Si got up from the bushes, feeling energized.

He heard Widow Tong's voice coming from the bushes and knew he couldn't move around near the door.

We have to go further away.

He was pleasantly surprised to see Man'er and Yaozu leading Lu Zhaozhao toward the Liu family's wheat field. What surprised him even more was that people were usually seen on the threshing ground and riverbank, but today there were hardly any.

It seems even God doesn't want him to remain a bachelor forever.

He silently followed Yao Zuman'er and Lu Zhaozhao, having already planned to make his move in the threshing ground.

The threshing ground was surrounded by stacks of straw, making it very well hidden.

Even if someone comes, they won't be easily detected as long as they don't make a sound.

First, knock out those two brats, Man'er and Yaozu, then cover Lu Zhaozhao's mouth and drag her into the haystack.

Lu Zhaozhao couldn't even call for help.

The girl from the prefectural city, wait to become Xu Si's wife.

(End of this chapter)