Transmigrated as a Peasant Girl with Prophetic Dreams: Using My Space to Become the Richest Person - Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Two Men with Questionable Identities

The Village Chief explained Wei Xiao’s situation to Lin Zhijie and Lin Zhiyong.

The two brothers were utterly shocked by the revelation.

“What is Magistrate Wei’s situation now?” Lin Zhijie asked urgently.

Lin Zhiyong added angrily, “Those people are truly deranged; they aren’t even human.”

“As long as my father refuses to reveal the location of the evidence, they likely won’t kill him for the time being,” Wei Xiao replied.

Lin Zhijie asked with concern, “What are your plans for the future? If you need help with anything, just say the word.”

“Thank you. For now, I need to hide from those people. I’ll have to trouble you all to provide me with a cover.”

Lin Zhiyong patted Wei Xiao on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. From now on, you are my cousin, Lin Zhiyuan. No one will find a trace of you.”

“Mhm.”

Once Wei Xiao was settled, the Lin father and sons had to get back to work. Wei Xiao and Lin Yuansheng went to their room to drop off their luggage and did some light tidying.

Lin Yuansheng asked worriedly, “Young Master, is it really safe here?”

Wei Xiao nodded. “This place is remote. They won’t find us for a while.”

“Young Master, I’m worried about the Master.”

Wei Xiao was just as worried about his father, but they currently lacked the power to rescue Magistrate Wei. Charging in recklessly would be nothing more than a suicide mission.

Wei Xiao had already decided: he had to become strong. The only way to save his father now was to participate in the imperial examinations in a few months.

He had to become the Zhuangyuan—the top scholar.

Until then, he had to play the role of “Lin Zhiyuan” perfectly. He could only pray that his father would hold out until he could come for him.

After a quick cleanup, Wei Xiao took Lin Yuansheng out to help with the chores. Since he was now the Chief’s nephew, he couldn’t act like a young master waiting to be served; he had to integrate into the village as quickly as possible.

After walking a short distance, Wei Xiao stopped.

“Yuansheng, let’s stay back. We’ll just repair this house.”

The Village Chief had been prioritizing helping the other villagers fix their homes, so his own house was neglected. Wei Xiao decided to fix up the Chief’s residence first before helping the others.

The Chief had mentioned that because the house was in disrepair, his family was still staying on the mountain. His wife and daughter-in-law were busy elsewhere in the village helping others, leaving no one to tend to their own home. Since Wei Xiao and his servant would be staying here for a long time, doing what they could to help was only right.

…

Meanwhile, up on the mountain, Yang Xue had given up on the puppy and returned. Yang Lao San and Qian Yue’e were busy building a kitchen on the clearing next to the cave.

Seeing that everyone was busy and no one was watching her, Yang Xue headed deeper into the woods. She was anxious to earn money; if her parents ever needed funds urgently and she couldn’t produce them, her lies would be exposed.

The higher she climbed, the more eerie and terrifying the forest felt. After a moment of hesitation, she turned back.

She had originally thought about scattering seeds from her laboratory space in the deep woods and watering them with the spiritual spring to make them grow rapidly. Then, she could bring her family there, “accidentally” discover a patch of vegetables, and sell them.

But she quickly realized how foolish that plan was. If the plants didn’t grow or if she was dragged away by a wild beast, she’d be the one losing out.

At the thought of wild beasts, Yang Xue hurried back down the mountain. She didn’t notice the several pairs of eyes staring gloomily at her back from the thickets in the shadows.

Back near the cave, she scouted the area again. It wasn’t a good place to plant anything. The villagers had combed through every inch of this area; if a bunch of crops suddenly appeared, it would be suspicious and scary.

She eventually had to scrap the planting plan. But she desperately needed cash on hand to handle any family emergencies.

Yang Xue pondered whether she should just take things directly from her space to sell. If her family asked, she could say she found them in the mountains. But then again, what if Yang Yu and Yang Tian insisted she take them to the “discovery” spot?

Ever since they learned that huangjing and wild ginseng could fetch so much money, Yang Shuang had been leading Yang Yu and Yang Tian all over the mountains. They hadn’t been seen all day because they were out hunting for herbs. If she made money from “found” goods, they would definitely want to go look for themselves.

“Ugh, so annoying. The space is great, but it’s so hard to bring things out without the family noticing,” Yang Xue sighed.

Moping and kicking at the grass on her way back, she was lost in thought until her eyes suddenly lit up.

That’s right! The man who bought my herbs yesterday moved into the village, didn’t he?

She could sell her herbs to him again! She could do it secretly without going to town, so she wouldn’t have to tell her family. She’d just sell him one more ginseng root. Once she had the money, she could buy land. With land, she could finally plant the high-quality seeds from her laboratory.

The laboratory seeds were meticulously bred; the produce they yielded would naturally command a much higher price.

“Okay, let’s do that.” Her worries instantly lifted.

…

By evening, Yang Shuang, Yang Yu, and Yang Tian returned home dejected. They had found nothing but some wild vegetables and firewood.

Yang Xue had expected this. If precious herbs were that easy to find, there wouldn’t be any poor people in the village.

After dinner, using the excuse of a walk to aid digestion, Yang Xue snuck down the mountain. She headed straight for the Village Chief’s house.

Due to the lingering fear of bandits, many people still stayed on the mountain together to protect their children, wives, and grain. The Chief’s family was no exception. This made things easier for Yang Xue.

She had already done some quiet digging before dinner. She learned that of the two men who arrived today, one was the Chief’s nephew and the other was the nephew’s good friend. They were staying in Xiaoniao Village because of some trouble at home.

Yang Xue didn’t know if “Brother Lin” (the one who bought her herbs) was the nephew, or if it was the tall, imposing man with him. To her, Wei Xiao’s first impression was simply “tall and imposing.”

Regardless of who was who, Yang Xue was suspicious of their identities.

When she sold the herbs yesterday, she clearly heard Brother Lin calling the other man “My Young Master” over and over again. Yet today, they were suddenly “friends.”

Strange. Very strange.

She didn’t believe for a second that there wasn’t something fishy going on.