RWWAI 37

 

Chapter 37: What Farmland? What Farmland? There Is No Farmland in This Household!

In the previous life, the collateral branches of the Qi family had come knocking to plunder money and chase everyone out exactly seven years after Qi Lu's death.

This time around, although Qi Lu had been dead for nearly twenty years, those collateral relatives arrived right on schedule—not a moment early, not a moment late—precisely seven years later.

Only, I couldn't help feeling amused.

The title deed for our current residence bore the name Liang Jingjing; I was genuinely curious what sort of excuse they intended to use to kick us out.

First thing that morning, a grand and intimidating procession of over a dozen people from the Qi family collateral branches marched up to our doorstep.

Expecting a gaggle of distant aunts and uncles, I was rather surprised to see that the group consisted mostly of strapping male relatives.

Faced with such an aggressive formation, even the present-day Qin Miaomiao panicked at the sight, making it easy to imagine just how thoroughly terrified she must have been in the previous timeline.

When they stormed the gates, I happened to be in my room slapping pieces of watermelon rind across my face as a cooling skincare treatment.

Catching sight of their menacing approach, Qin Miaomiao rushed in to sound the alarm.

Tearing the melon rinds off my face, I charged straight out to the front courtyard without a shred of intimidation.

Leading the pack was a bitter-looking man in his fifties whose name completely escaped me.

Among this bunch, he held the highest seniority, seemingly ranking a generation above Qi Lu himself.

He opened fire with a scathing reprimand right off the bat:

"Lady Liang! You unfilial, rebellious woman! When Lu'er met such a tragic end, you didn't even bother dispatching a messenger to send word? Since you married into the Qi family, you are a daughter-in-law of our house. Now that your husband has passed away, you dare to conceal it even from the elders of the clan—do you hold a single shred of ancestral propriety or clan law left in your eyes? How could our Qi family ever have married in a rebellious, unfilial woman like you!"

Right at that moment, the streaming viewer comments helpfully informed me that this sour-faced geezer was actually an old acquaintance.

Back in the previous life, shortly after Qi Lu's parents passed away, this exact same man had come sniffing around trying to pull a similar stunt.

At the time, it was Liang Jingjing's father—who was serving as the Prefect of Yangshan back then—who stepped in to shield Qi Lu, prompting Qi Lu to marry Liang Jingjing purely out of a sense of deep gratitude.

So after all this time, the original mastermind had been sitting right here!

Sticking an exaggerated, heart-wrenching expression of grief onto my face, I wailed:

"This indeed was due to this humble concubine's muddled state of mind. Following my husband's sudden passing, grief completely unraveled my senses, leaving me unable to attend to distant uncles and elders. I beg everyone to forgive me. Fortunately, it's not too late yet. Since my uncles care so deeply for my late husband, this delayed funeral condolence money shall be accepted by me today on behalf of my departed husband."

As soon as those words left my mouth, not only did the sour-faced old man's complexion turn an ugly shade of liver, but even Qin Miaomiao looked momentarily dumbfounded.

They probably hadn't anticipated that someone about to be robbed could smoothly turn the tables and demand cash instead.

Naturally, the old miser had no intention of coughing up any money; brushing past my retort as if he'd never heard it, he drove straight to the point:

"Considering that only a few helpless women remain in this household, as an elder, I have no desire to quibble excessively with you. But since Lu'er is no longer with us, there are matters that you women are ultimately unequipped to handle."

Straightening his posture, the old man continued with a lofty, condescending air:

"As senior members of the clan, even if we were reluctant to meddle, we cannot simply sit by and do nothing. Lu'er still has several tracts of farmland registered in his name, which constitute ancestral property of the Qi family. There is simply no reason to let them drift outside the clan. For a lone woman to guard such a massive estate will inevitably invite greedy eyes from outsiders. Since the clan is still standing, we naturally cannot fold our arms and watch. Today, you will hand over those ancestral fields along with whatever residential deeds Lu'er left behind, to be temporarily managed under the clan's custody. Doing so will preserve the Qi family's ancestral assets while saving you women from worrying over such mundane secular affairs in the future."

I had been waiting precisely for you to drop that line!

"Farmland?" I asked with an expression of pure, innocent bewilderment.

"What farmland? Where would there be farmland? There is no farmland in this household!"

Thank goodness I had the foresight to convert all those fields into commercial shops and residential housing beforehand.

Clearly failing to calculate this specific counter-move, the old man assumed I was simply flat-out lying and exploded with fury:

"You lying, venomous shrew! Exactly how many parcels of ancestral land Lu'er was allotted is meticulously recorded in the clan registries—do you think you can just deny it?"

Leaning forward with feigned excitement, I chirped:

"It's recorded? Oh, that is simply wonderful! To tell you the truth, when my husband was alive, he was never terribly adept at keeping accounts, and a great deal of our property was squandered away under his watch. If my uncles refuse to believe me, you are more than welcome to take the official records down to the yamen to verify it—this humble concubine genuinely does not have a single half-inch of farmland registered under her name anymore!"

Naturally, he didn't believe a word of it, marching straight down to investigate that very same day.

And upon discovering that I had truly sold off every single plot without leaving behind a single scrap, the furious old man reappeared at my doorstep the following morning with a face flushed bright crimson, leading an even larger mob.

When Qin Miaomiao came running into my room to fetch me, I was leisurely sipping a cup of almond tea.

Setting my teacup down, I once again charged out to the front courtyard without an ounce of fear.

"You venomous woman!" This time around, the old man didn't even bother putting up polite pretenses, launching straight into a torrent of abuse.

"Where is the money from selling those lands? Such a massive tract of fields can't possibly have been squandered away completely!"

"Money?" I blinked, wearing a look of utter innocence.

"What money? The money I use to run this household? Why, that's entirely from my own personal dowry brought over when I married into the family!"

Technically speaking, I wasn't even lying.

The most valuable assets Qi Lu had left behind were his fields; once converted into other types of immovable real estate, they naturally no longer held the liquid form of "cash".

As for whatever actual pocket change he possessed...

Puh-lease, he was merely a regional commandant; the scraps of official salary he left behind wouldn't even be enough to fund a family of four plus three maids for a single year, let alone seven.

The funds we were living off right now came entirely from rental yields and business dividends.

Cold, hard silver pieces didn't carry stamped serial numbers; naturally, whatever origin story I assigned to them was the truth.

Hearing that, the old man nearly went apoplectic with rage, sputtering:

"Y-you wasteful, family-ruining hussy! Since the ancestral farmland was sold off while it was in your hands, you'd better figure out a way to buy it back! You must redeem every single parcel of those fields and hand them back over to the clan!"

Oh! What a refreshingly unique perspective on logic!

"In short, that is ancestral property of the Qi family, and there is no way in hell it's falling into the hands of outsiders! Even if you have to empty out your own private silver reserves to pay for it, you will buy back every single inch of those fields without missing a single plot, and return them intact to the clan!" he roared at me, his beard bristling and his eyes bulging with blind rage.

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