I Transmigrated and Already Had a Wife - Chapter 12

The eastern sky was tinted with the rising red glow, the white clouds edged with gold, then slowly unfurling, spreading across the ground. Although autumn had arrived, the vegetation on both sides of the small village entrance remained lush and green. Jiang Zhou found a stone, sat upon it, held a rabbit in one hand, and waited for the ox-cart. Before leaving, Lin Muwan had given her two wen (copper coins) to take the cart to town.

It wasn’t long before the ox-cart came rattling down the small path. It stopped at the village entrance. The cart bed was empty. As soon as the old man saw her, he greeted her with a smile, “Going to town again, young man?”

Jiang Zhou nodded, got onto the cart. The old man saw the rabbit in her hand and asked, “Are you going to sell that wild rabbit?”

Jiang Zhou thought for a moment and said, “Do you know, Elder, where in town I can sell this?”

The old man often traveled between the town and the village and was very familiar with the town. Sure enough, upon hearing Jiang Zhou’s question, the old man immediately chuckled, waved the whip in his hand, and flicked the ox.

“You’ve asked the right person.”

“Aren’t you waiting a bit longer before leaving?” Jiang Zhou asked.

“No need to wait. Everyone in the village is busy with the harvest now. Few people are going to town. Waiting here is less profitable than making a couple of trips to deliver wine to the tavern. Your rabbit won’t fetch much at the market, and you might stand there all day without a single inquiry. The tavern is buying game recently, you might as well sell it to them.”

Jiang Zhou considered the old man’s words. She wasn’t familiar with the town herself, so she decided to follow the old man to the tavern first. It wasn’t mealtime, so there were no customers in the tavern. The old man led Jiang Zhou to the main hall, where she saw a long line. The old man pointed to the line and said, “They are all here to sell game. If you want to sell yours, just line up here. I still have wine to deliver, so I’ll be off first.”

With that, the old man left.

Jiang Zhou surveyed the scene. Everyone in line was holding their hunted prey. One person even had a wild boar slung over his back, almost half the size of a man. Jiang Zhou was amazed. Among these people, it seemed she had the least amount of goods in her hands.

Watching people leave with their money, Jiang Zhou couldn’t help but think about how to go back and modify her bow and arrow, hoping to catch more next time.

When it was her turn, the manager took the rabbit in his hand, examined it, and immediately called out, “Twenty wen.”

He was about to throw the rabbit into a basket behind him when Jiang Zhou stopped him, pressing his hand down. “Wait, the person before me also had a rabbit, why did he get twenty-five wen, and I only get twenty wen?”

Was he trying to cheat an outsider who knew nothing?

Jiang Zhou was dissatisfied.

The manager looked up and sized her up, his tone impatient. “His rabbit had a complete, undamaged coat. Yours has an injured leg, it’s not worth as much.”

“Isn’t your tavern buying this for food? Why does the condition of the fur matter? I caught this rabbit this morning, it just died, the meat is very fresh.”

The manager didn’t want to waste time arguing. He waved his hand and shouted to the person behind, “Next!”

Jiang Zhou blocked him. “I haven’t sold it yet.”

“Are you selling it or not? If not, move aside! Can’t you see others are waiting?”

Jiang Zhou gritted her teeth. Should she take it back if she didn’t sell it? Since so many people came here to sell, the price must be better than elsewhere. She said, “I’ll sell!”

The manager counted twenty wen and handed them to her.

After receiving the money, she asked, “What are the prices for other things here?”

The manager impatiently pointed to a notice board nearby, telling her to look for herself.

Jiang Zhou glanced at the row of people behind her, then sheepishly walked up to the notice board. When she looked closely at the characters, she immediately felt a headache. The notice was written in traditional characters, and apart from a few simple, prominently displayed black characters, she didn’t recognize a single one.

A headache immediately set in.

She never thought that as a modern person who had received a higher education, she would have such a frustrating day.

She tried to guess the meaning of each character, which was quite difficult.

She felt her cheeks flush and sighed, then casually pulled over a scholar-like person standing nearby and quietly asked, “Brother, what does this all say?”

The scholar looked her up and down, his gaze lingering on her clothes for a moment, then he read the notice aloud to her.

Jiang Zhou stroked her chin, running the prices through her mind: Rabbit twenty-five wen, pheasant ten wen, wild boar one liang (ounce) of silver, fox thirty wen, wolf thirty wen. Better catches could be negotiated.

She snapped back to attention and was about to thank the scholar when she saw him glance at her, shake his head, and walk straight upstairs.

?!

What was that look?

If she had only felt her cheeks flush before, now her ears were burning red. She had truly been treated like an illiterate person. She felt resistant but helpless; she genuinely didn’t know these characters.

So, she took the twenty wen she got from the rabbit and bought an elementary primer from a bookstall, tucking it into her bosom. Passing a pastry shop, she bought a box of pastries for Lin Muwan.

The twenty wen were almost entirely spent. Jiang Zhou felt annoyed. The twenty wen earned from a morning’s work were gone just like that, plus the two wen Lin Muwan gave her before she left. If things continued this way, they would run out of resources sooner or later.

Penniless, she had no choice but to walk back to the village. Fortunately, Jiang Family Village was close to town, and she walked back quickly. Just as she approached her home, she saw a crowd gathered in front of the thatched cottage from afar. She hurried closer, pushed through the crowd. In the small yard, besides Lin Muwan and Madam Jiang, Grandma Zhang from next door was also there, looking furious at the people opposite them.

Jiang Zhou’s heart sank. She quickly stepped forward, shielding Lin Muwan and Madam Jiang. Although she was confused, she could tell it was trouble. She glanced at the people opposite, her expression displeased, and asked, “Who are you?”

The leader of the group was a woman about forty years old, with a sharp, mean face. She stood with her hands on her hips. Seeing Jiang Zhou’s cold expression, she flinched for a moment. She glanced at the people behind her, seemed to gain courage, straightened her back, and immediately changed her expression to the elderly village chief next to her, wailing loudly, “Village Chief, you must uphold justice for me! That plot of land clearly belongs to my family! What right does the Jiang family have to take it back just because they say so? Our family has been cultivating it for so many years!”

Jiang Zhou immediately understood. They were trying to extort her land. She scoffed inwardly.

She suddenly recalled a report she had once seen online: a tenant rented a house for ten years, and when the landlord came to reclaim it, the tenant shamelessly claimed the house was his and stubbornly refused to move.

Jiang Zhou had been angry when she first saw that.

Now, looking at the woman in front of her, how was she any different from that tenant?

She curled her lips and addressed the so-called Village Chief, “Buying land should involve a deed, right? Does this Auntie have one?”

The Village Chief choked. Facing Jiang Zhou’s clear and honest gaze, he felt a sense of fear and suddenly regretted getting involved in this matter.

Seeing the Village Chief remain silent, the woman cried even louder. How could she possibly have a deed? She had only tried to claim the Jiang family’s land because it had been abandoned for many years. Before this incident, she and her husband had even planned what to plant next year. Who knew the Jiang family would suddenly return? Her good plans had all come to nothing.

She was utterly unwilling to accept this.

Before coming here to cause a scene, she had inquired clearly: Jiang Zhou had long been driven out of the Jiang family. Even if the Village Chief’s surname was Jiang, he wouldn’t side with an outsider. This plot of land was destined to be theirs. A sense of smugness welled up in her heart.

The Village Chief cleared his throat and was about to speak when he heard Jiang Zhou speak loudly to the villagers watching the commotion, “The day before yesterday, I went to look at the field. The weeds were as tall as an adult.” She then gestured to her chest with her hand and continued, “If, as this Auntie claims, the land has been cultivated every year, then how do you explain the weeds? Did this Auntie plant weeds every year? I ask all you villagers to bear witness for me: Does this land belong to my Jiang family or to this Auntie?”

As soon as Jiang Zhou finished speaking, the previously noisy crowd immediately fell silent. Everyone in the village knew that Madam Jiang Liu was notoriously greedy and mean-spirited. Although they knew the land belonged to Jiang Zhou, no one dared to step forward to testify, afraid of inviting trouble upon themselves.

After a long silence, Zhang Tieniu emerged from the crowd, slightly out of breath. He walked to the front of the crowd and said, “This land originally belongs to Jiang Zhou. It’s been abandoned for so many years, how did it suddenly become yours?”

Suddenly, the crowd started buzzing with discussion. A few villagers who had long disliked Madam Jiang Liu saw someone testify and also stepped forward. The Village Chief was already reluctant to handle this matter. Seeing people come forward to testify, he took the opportunity to announce that the land belonged to Jiang Zhou. Madam Jiang Liu, having failed to gain anything, could only pull her son away, cursing and grumbling as they left.

The Village Chief felt embarrassed about the whole thing, as someone her age was causing a scene. He consoled Madam Jiang for a few moments, then waved his hand at the crowd, “Alright, the truth is out. Everyone can go home.”

With that, he turned and was about to leave.

“Wait.” Jiang Zhou called out to him.

The Village Chief turned his head to look at her. “I have something I need to discuss with you.”

Jiang Zhou brought a stone for the Village Chief to sit on, but he waved his hand and sighed. Having lost face in front of the younger generation today, his usual authority was lacking when he spoke now. “Speak, what else do you need?”

Jiang Zhou pursed her lips, glanced at Madam Jiang, and stated directly, “I want to build a new house in the village, and I’d like to apply for a building plot.”

The Village Chief thought for a moment and said, “The old Jiang family house has been uninhabited and collapsed. It’s right that you should rebuild if you want to live in the village. How about this: you build on the original foundation, and I’ll write you a certificate then.”

“I don’t know where the old house is, and I want to apply for the land here,” Jiang Zhou said, referring to the current spot.

The Village Chief looked at the thatched cottage, a little troubled. “By the rules, anyone building a new house in the village must have an independent household registration. Right now, you…”

Madam Jiang grabbed Jiang Zhou, her expression changing slightly. She said, “I absolutely will not agree to you moving your household registration unless I die.”

Seeing Madam Jiang’s strong stance, Jiang Zhou felt a headache. She was afraid Madam Jiang would start making a scene again. She also knew that some traditional ideas were deeply ingrained in the people of this era, and Madam Jiang was no exception. Changing someone’s mindset wouldn’t happen overnight, but time was running out. Winter would arrive in a few months.

She sighed.

Seeing that they hadn’t reached an agreement, the Village Chief excused himself to leave.

Jiang Zhou had no choice but to see him off first. Returning to the yard, Madam Jiang stood there with a serious expression, pointing at her and saying, “You rascal, what did your mother teach you before?”

Jiang Zhou truly didn’t know what she had been taught, but it was clear that this ‘cheap mother’ wanted to lecture her!

Fearing a repeat of the ear-pulling incident from last time, Jiang Zhou took a few steps back to create distance from Madam Jiang.