I Transmigrated and Already Had a Wife - Chapter 15

Before long, the main door opened again. The second wife’s branch of the Jiang family appeared at the entrance, but there was no sign of Master Jiang.

Li Fang covered her mouth with a handkerchief, giggling, and said, “Who did I think it was? It’s the elder sister-in-law.”

Madam Jiang’s face fell. She said in a low voice, “I don’t have time for your nonsense. Tell the master to come out.”

“The master has gone out to discuss business. All major and minor affairs of the Jiang family have been handed over to me, your younger sister-in-law, to manage. If you have anything to say, telling your sister-in-law is the same,” Li Fang said with an air of immense smugness. She seemed to have come out deliberately to show off, dressed in silk and satin, and on her head, she wore the peony hairpin that symbolized the mistress of the house.

When the old Master Jiang first established the family fortune, he specially commissioned a craftsman to make this peony hairpin for his wife. It had been passed down to Madam Jiang, yet today, Li Fang wore it.

Jiang Zhou felt a chill. Having watched too many palace dramas, she instantly recognized this petty house-fighting trick; this concubine was not simple and had probably come out specifically to flaunt her status.

However, she didn’t envy any of it. If that cheap father truly cared about this concubine, why didn’t he officially promote her right after they left the Jiang manor? Clearly, he hadn’t even considered it.

How pitiful!

She couldn’t be bothered with their nonsense and stated her intention directly, “We are here to move our household registration out of the Jiang family, and that requires Master Jiang’s agreement.”

No sooner had she spoken than Madam Jiang pinched her arm, a sudden pain that nearly brought tears to her eyes.

The master didn’t even want to see them, so why was her mother still clinging to hope?

Jiang Zhou covered the pinched spot. Her almond-shaped eyes were misty, and she whispered, “Mother, what are you doing?”

Madam Jiang’s face was full of anger, and just as she was about to speak, the man behind Li Fang said, “Aunty, I think you’ve come to the wrong place. Our Jiang family doesn’t take in beggars. As for your household registration, you can go ask at the county yamen. Maybe they know.”

“‘Aunty’? Who are you calling ‘Aunty’? What kind of person raises such an ill-mannered son!” If Madam Jiang could suppress her temper just moments ago, hearing that word made her completely lose control. Disregarding her image entirely, she lunged forward. If Jiang Zhou hadn’t held her back, they would have been in a brawl.

The man who spoke was Jiang Sheng, the son born to the Jiang family’s concubine. He was handsome on the outside but an insidious and wicked person in reality.

It was difficult for Jiang Zhou to recall that she had actually thought he looked good the first time she saw him. Now, she saw a villainous face and vowed to expose him eventually.

What she didn’t know was that Jiang Sheng had contributed significantly to the original owner losing all her property.

Jiang Sheng had been afraid of Madam Jiang since he was a child. Had Madam Jiang not been driven out, he wouldn’t have dared to speak like this. Now, seeing Madam Jiang about to step forward to teach him a lesson, his face went pale, and he immediately hid behind Li Fang, yelling at the servants behind him, “Quick, stop her!”

The dignity of a six-foot man was reduced to this.

Jiang Zhou shot him a disdainful glance and said to Madam Jiang, “Mother, you see now, don’t you? Let’s go.”

She didn’t want to waste time here with them. While she might not be afraid of a real fight, she was worried about the household registration. The sooner they moved it to Jiangjia Village, the sooner they could start building their house.

Although Madam Jiang was unwilling, her reason returned. The hand clutching Jiang Zhou’s arm tightened, causing her great pain, as if she were suppressing her emotions. She said, “I must see your father today and hear him say it himself.”

Li Fang sneered, waved her hand, and spoke with the air of a victor, “Enough, the show is over. I’ll tell you the truth: the master will not see you. As for the letter of divorce, the master wrote it a long time ago and sent it to the county yamen along with the household registration documents. Go and collect it yourself.”

A letter of divorce?

Madam Jiang’s body swayed, her eyes full of disbelief. She and Jiang Dewen had been husband and wife for twenty years. Although they weren’t as loving as some couples, she had put in hard work for the Jiang manor all these years. She truly couldn’t believe what Li Fang said. Her hands clamped tightly around Jiang Zhou’s arm. Her voice trembled, but she maintained the dignity of the former lady of the Jiang house, which she would not allow others to scorn. “A Zhou, let’s go.”

She urgently needed to confirm whether Li Fang was telling the truth.

“Mhm.” Jiang Zhou nodded.

She helped Madam Jiang to leave.

Even after walking a long distance, they could still hear the harsh words, “Hurry up and close the main gate! Is it a place where any cat or dog can enter?”

A moment later, the red-lacquered main gate slowly closed.

Jiang Zhou didn’t know the location of the county yamen, so they went to the restaurant again, gave the old ox-cart driver five wen coins, and the old man agreed to take them to the county seat.

Lin Yang County seat was not far from the town, about a half-hour ride. Upon arriving in the county seat, it was a different scene altogether. The shops lining the streets were dazzling. Jiang Zhou’s attention was quickly drawn to a vendor. The vendor only had one table set up, but a whole line of people was queuing in front of the stall. Almost all of them had hunted game slung over their hands or shoulders.

Why did the scene before her look so familiar?

Jiang Zhou immediately thought of the restaurant in town, where she had sold wild game twice. Wasn’t the situation the same?

Could it be that they weren’t buying the wild game just to eat?

In an instant, a guess formed in Jiang Zhou’s mind.

She frowned and said to Madam Jiang, “Mother, I’m going over to take a look.”

Madam Jiang’s mind was elsewhere. Her expression was somewhat dazed. She did not speak, merely nodded.

This matter had been a great blow to her.

Jiang Zhou walked up to the stall. The vendor was a young man who spoke to her enthusiastically while making notes in his hand. Although Jiang Zhou didn’t fully recognize the local characters, she knew the numbers. The price being offered was clearly higher than what the restaurant had paid.

It seemed her guess was correct. Both the restaurant and this young man were buying for someone else, and the profit margin should be quite significant. She immediately had an idea.

Rabbits breed a litter about once a month, making them very suitable for farming.

If she could find the person who directly purchased the game, wouldn’t she be able to sell it for a higher price? She also wouldn’t have to hunt in the mountains every day. More importantly, the game on the mountain was limited and would eventually be hunted to extinction.

Seeing her standing by the stall, the vendor took a moment from his busy schedule to ask, “Brother, do you hunt too?”

“Mhm.”

“Then you should come and sell soon, because the price won’t be this high later.”

“Do you always buy here?”

“Always here, until spring next year.”

Seeing the vendor busy himself again, Jiang Zhou returned from the stall. She decided to solve the immediate problem first before making detailed inquiries later. She and Madam Jiang went to the county yamen and found the Chief Clerk. The clerk readily transferred her household registration to Jiangjia Village and handed over the letter of divorce to them as well.

Jiang Zhou quickly received the new identity document. She figured the speed of the process must have been due to Master Jiang’s instructions.

With the matter settled, Jiang Zhou didn’t delay. She took Madam Jiang and rode the ox-cart back to Jiangjia Village.

Upon returning, she immediately went to the lizheng’s (village head’s) house and was approved for a two mu residential plot right next to their thatched hut.

The thatched hut they currently lived in bordered Grandma Zhang’s house to the east and an empty plot to the west. Jiang Zhou chose this empty plot, intending to use a portion for building a house and another portion for raising rabbits. She had originally wanted the lizheng to approve a larger plot, but he disagreed.

He refused on the grounds that others don’t even use one mu for building a house, so two mu should be more than enough.

Jiang Zhou took the land deed home and began planning on the empty plot. Since they had no paper, she borrowed a few sheets from Grandma Zhang. As the villagers were uneducated, the paper was what Grandma Zhang had bought the previous year to cover her windows.

She spread the paper flat, found a piece of charcoal in the stove, and started drawing on the paper. Lin Muwan walked closer and was surprised to see a rough sketch of a house on the paper. Although Jiang Zhou’s drawing was crude, the layout was faintly discernible.

The drawing was rough, but the layout was detailed.

“You’re here.” Jiang Zhou looked up and smiled brightly. “The household registration is finally moved out. We’ll have our own house soon! Take a look. Is there anything you want? I’ll add it in.”

Lin Muwan paused, her gaze shifting to Jiang Zhou’s face, meeting a pair of intense eyes. She pursed her lips, looked at the drawing again, and pointed to the small pavilion in the courtyard. “A chessboard could be added here.”

Jiang Zhou was pleasantly surprised. “Then a chessboard it is!” She drew a chessboard on the paper with the charcoal, then looked up and asked, “Is there anything else you want to add?”

Lin Muwan shook her head, a complex emotion surfacing in her eyes. Biting the soft flesh inside her lip, she said, “This is already very good.”

“You don’t want anything else?” Jiang Zhou pressed.

“Mhm, as long as you like it.”

Jiang Zhou frowned and argued, “We are going to live together, so how can I be the only one to decide? I’ve recently observed that the environment in this village is great. We can go hiking together when we live here. Look at that mountain over there; it has a lot of fruit. Living here is much more comfortable than being in town.”

“Mhm, okay.”

“Are you really not going to add anything else? You don’t have to worry about money; I’ve already figured out a way,” Jiang Zhou asked, unwilling to give up.

Lin Muwan nodded, curved her lips into a smile for her, and said, “You keep drawing. I see that Mother has not been in a good mood since we returned. I’ll go keep her company.”

“Oh, okay.” Jiang Zhou felt a little disappointed but quickly cheered up again.

After finishing the drawing, she went to Zhang Tieniu’s house to borrow his ox-cart and also asked him to help her clear the rocks and weeds from the empty plot. By evening, a piece of flat, clean land appeared before them.

“Brother Jiang, when are you going to build the house? I’ll come and help,” Zhang Tieniu said.

“No rush.” Jiang Zhou pointed to the side of the thatched hut. “I plan to fence this area first.”

Zhang Tieniu looked at the sky and gave a simple, honest smile. “It’s getting dark late today, so I’ll go with you to cut some bamboo.”

Jiang Zhou felt a little embarrassed and scratched her eyebrow. However, she knew it would be impossible for her to finish all this by herself in a short time. Zhang Tieniu was the only person she was familiar with in Jiangjia Village. Since he had offered, refusing would seem pretentious, so she simply accepted.

If need be, she would just tell him about her idea of raising rabbits. They could raise them together.

After hearing this, Zhang Tieniu was very surprised. After the surprise, he stared at her with admiration.

He had never thought of raising rabbits himself. Even among the generations of people who had lived in the village, no one had ever mentioned raising rabbits. But after listening to Jiang Zhou, he miraculously believed her and was willing to work with her.

They cut the bamboo, sawed them to the same size, and built a tight fence around the area. Then, they began to dig a circular pit, about half a meter high, inside the enclosure, and carved several rabbit burrows into the side of the pit. The basic work was now complete.

Jiang Zhou let out a long breath, her body drenched in sweat. Just then, Lin Muwan walked over, followed by Zhouzhou, who was stumbling a little as he walked. “Are you done?” she asked.

“Mhm. We can go catch rabbits and put them in there tomorrow.”

Lin Muwan nodded. “Let’s eat.”

“Ah, okay! I’m starving!” Jiang Zhou said while rubbing her stomach, her eyes looking pitiful. Then, she turned to Zhang Tieniu and said, “Brother Zhang, stay for dinner today. I caught a pheasant this morning, and my wife is an excellent cook.”

Lin Muwan gave her a deep look, turned her face away, and said nothing.

Zhang Tieniu felt embarrassed and stubbornly refused to stay for dinner.

Seeing this, Jiang Zhou simply grabbed his arm. “Come on, come on, don’t be shy!” She half-pulled, half-coaxed him into the courtyard.