Chapter 330: Chapter 326: Soapberry Tree Fence _1
 

“I am indeed unaware of this matter,” Zhou Wuchang admitted honestly.

“However, it seems like that Chen Family has been quite restless recently.”

Not only restless, but they also seem to have resorted to making up stories and spreading rumors.

That woman called Han Yueniang has been zealously proclaiming outside that her daughter is a lucky star reincarnated. She says that when she was pregnant with her daughter, she dreamt of receiving a lotus flower, and a unicorn surrounded her, dancing in the clouds.

She also says that at the time of her daughter’s birth, a flock of happy magpies circled for a long time over their house roof, unwilling to leave.

Yingbao had anticipated that Chen Tiantian and her mother wouldn’t remain silent and wasn’t overly surprised, but she was worried that Chen Guanglu would take actions against her family, even trying to sow discord between her and her master.

After all, considering her master’s status, both Pei Shixian and Han Yueniang had suffered losses at his hands.

Because they are wary of her master, they would surely target others.

“Master, our family has a feud with Chen Guanglu’s family. The Chen Family will surely slander us in secret and even try to sow discord. Master, you must not believe them.”

“Hmm.” Zhou Wuchang smiled and nodded: “Do you think I’m the sort who easily believes others?”

Hearing this, Yingbao immediately brightened up, turned around, and started packing up her things.

Early the next day, Jiang Quan returned to his hometown with Li Dao, Li He, and his younger apprentice sister. Following them were two horse carts loaded with Zhou Wuchang and his disciples, along with many pieces of luggage.

After more than two hours of travel, they arrived at Dongchen Village at noon.

On the way, Yingbao saw many fallen trees, probably blown over by the strong wind that day.

Luckily, their orchard was not damaged, the grapes and peppers were fine, just that quite a number of fruits were blown off.

“Baobao!” Chunniang, seeing her daughter return, rushed over, held her tightly in her arms, and sobbed.

Jiang Wu also ran over, with Dahuang, the dog, wagging its tail frantically behind him.

Yingbao wiped away her mother’s tears, comforting her a few words, and then hugged her brother.

Dahuang, seeing that his young master was ignoring him, desperately circled around Yingbao, occasionally knocking at her with his head. The message could not have been clearer.

Elsewhere, Jiang Erlang didn’t have time to ask about his daughter’s situation, as her master and senior brothers had also come. He needed to guide Zhou Wuchang and his disciples into the house.

Dani helped serve the guests with tea, while the elder Jiàng and Jìang Erlang also came to accompany them.

As soon as Jiang Quan returned, his father assigned him a task: to go to the market outside the village to buy some pork, mutton, and tofu. They had guests at home, so they needed to prepare a feast, and also invite the Clan Leader and several respected villagers to join them for the meal and drinks.

So, the three Jiàng sister-in-laws, together with Dani, quickly prepared a banquet.

Yingbao quietly retrieved the grape wine and peach wine she had brewed, along with a large jar of peach juice and sugared apricots, from the cave house. She pretended they were from the county town and gave them to her mother.

Chunniang didn’t suspect anything and handed all the fruit wine and juice to her husband sitting at the head of the table, asking him to pour drinks for the guests.

The Clan Leader Chen, after taking a sip of the grape wine, couldn’t help but exclaim, “This wine is rich. Has it been brewed for a long time?”

Jiang Erlang laughed in agreement, “Yes, Uncle Chen, please drink more. This fruit wine won’t make you drunk.”

He then raised his glass to everyone, “Everyone, enjoy! This fruit wine, it’s brewed in our house, doesn’t get you drunk.”

Having said this, he drained his glass first.

Everything his daughter brought out was great. Even in such sweltering weather, it was still refreshingly cold. Even the exterior of the wine jar was wet with condensation. Drinking it was wonderfully invigorating.

Zhou Wuchang also picked up the wine cup for a sip and nodded, “This wine is sweet and full-bodied, lingering on the palate. It’s even better than the wine from the best tavern in Beijing.”

The rest of the crowd also couldn’t stop singing its praises.

The wine is not only sweet and tasty, but importantly, it is icy cool, which is truly refreshing to drink during this hot summer.

After Zhang Min took another drink, his elder brother did not permit him to drink anymore, “That fruit juice is also nice, you stick with that instead.”

Although Zhang Min was dissatisfied, he knew that it was inappropriate to drink too much when visiting someone else’s home.

The wine may not be strong, but what if he were to get drunk? That would surely embarrassing his master.

Yingbao, after having a meal in the kitchen with her mother and her aunts, took her brother Dahuang to visit Youyou at the Deer Garden.

Since their young master left, Youyou prefers to stay in the Deer Park, leading a large herd of deer out of the park each day, leisurely strolling around the village.

The siblings had not yet arrived at the Deer Garden when they saw from a distance the towering, majestic deer standing in the middle of a herd of various sized deer, like a king amongst his subjects.

“Youyou!” Yingbao waved a hand at the large deer.

The large deer turned its head, looked steadily for a moment, and suddenly ran over, stopping before the young girl, nudging her incessantly with its head.

Yingbao hugged Youyou’s neck in an embrace, stroked its antlers, then took out a piece of homemade sugar candy from her bag and stuffed it into its mouth.

Jiang Wu and Dahuang, seeing this, quickly stretched their necks over, “Sister, what are you feeding Youyou? I want some too.”

Yingbao thus retrieved a small bag of candy with the addition of five pieces of Ganoderma lucidum from her bag and handed it to her brother, “Eat slowly, come to me again after you are finished.”

Now that the weather is hot and humid, candies left outdoors would quickly melt, becoming sticky and difficult to keep fresh.

Jiang Wu immediately pinched a piece and popped it into his mouth, then seeing Dahuang howling in eagerness, reluctantly gave it another piece.

The two siblings, leading a herd of deer, strolled around the village, going to check on the Honey locust trees encircling the village.

These Honey locust trees were densely packed, tall and rigid, with sharp thorns sparsely scattered on the tree trunk, even a dog would find it hard to penetrate.

Who would have thought that a few years later, these Honey locust trees, planted by Yingbao, would indeed form a wall. Now they had grown to a height of two zhang (approx 6.6 meters), with menacing spikes on top, that would induce goosebumps on anyone who approached.

Jiang Wu said, “Sister, these trees that you planted, in the end, benefited the outsiders.”

Yingbao turned to look at him, “What do you mean?”

Jiang Wu pointed to the honey locust trees, then at the outside, “The honey locust trees produce a lot of pods, the villagers here only occasionally pick a few to use for laundry, the rest are picked by outsiders.”

“What are they picking so many honey locust pods for? To make incense?” Yingbao asked curiously.

Jiang Wu nodded, “Well, they could pick if they want, it’s not considered precious in our village. But those outsiders used knives to cut the branches, some even tried to cut down the whole tree. They were caught by my father and chased off the South Slope. Now those outsiders are residing in the old village, there are dozens of households.”

“Why are there so many outsiders in our village? Why do they cut down the honey locust trees?” Yingbao asked.

Jiang Wu replied, “They are all refugees who escaped from elsewhere. I heard that their places are often attacked by bandits and military calamities, they couldn’t survive and had to flee. Initially, father felt pity for them and allowed them to pick some honey locust pods to sell for money. However, these outsiders turned out to be dishonest, they attempted to cut down the tree, with an ulterior motive to move into our village.”

Yingbao furrowed her eyebrows.

She planted these honey locust trees to guard against outsiders, what would happen if the trees were cut down? What if bandits were to come like they did a few years ago, wouldn’t her villagers be put in danger?

“It can’t be a good idea for them to live in the old village, right? Shouldn’t Lizheng do something about it?”

No matter what, the old village was part of Dongchen Village’s jurisdiction, if it were illegally occupied for a long period, dangerous conflicts over property rights could unexpectedly arise.

Jiang Wu added, “Father has approached Lizheng, asking him to resolve the matter. The grandpa Lizheng came to inspect once, he said he had reported the issue to County Government. They are waiting for the County Magistrate’s instructions on how to settle these outsiders. It’s already been half a year, but there’s no news from the County Government.”