Transmigration with QQ Farm

Chapter 69 part 7

Expansion of The House; A Deal Was Made (7)

"That's... That's not what I meant!"

After being yelled at by Patriarch Liu, An Hung naing was less of a shrew, but that still wasn't enough to shut her up, "Patriarch, what I meant to say was, after the incident at the Cheng's a while back, now only were there scary animals like snakes and tigers and wolves outside and it was a hassle for us to leave town also. Isn't it only fair for us to ask for compensation from the Cheng's? We need our livelihood too, right, everyone?"

Toward the end, An Hung niang turned and asked the villagers. Her purpose was, naturally, to stir up discontent and hoping there she was able to get more villagers to stand on her side.

Sure enough, her instigating words made a few villagers stir afterward. A 40-something villager stood up, looked at everyone and said, "Patriarch, we are all aware that Mr. Cheng is a nice man and he has always been nice to us. We all remember that, but the wife of Sanzhen made a good point. My livelihood is to drive ox-drawn carriages for others but now I can't even leave the village. I am going to starve to death in two days! I still have a wife to feed. Something has got to be done!"

"Liu Daming, sit down first!" Patriarch took a look at him and said.

Liu Daming did not cause any further trouble. An Hung niang saw that nobody else had raised a fuss and sat down disgruntledly.

Cheng Xiao Xiao has remained silent this entire time. With the exception of the trouble-causing An Hung niang, she has to consider other issues.

For the safety of the villagers, she had essentially put these villagers under house arrest. They were right that this had caused great inconvenience for every one. Perhaps she needed to give them back their freedom.

As for the other issues...

Cheng Xiao Xiao look at her father, curious how he would address this.

It was true that Cheng Biyuan was thinking about this. He looked at the villagers somewhat apologetically, "We are truly sorry. We had, indeed, overlooked that. Rest be assured, the villagers will be able to leave the village starting tomorrow. We won't be stopping anyone anymore!

"That being said..." Cheng Biyuan paused and frowned, "I believe that there will be dangers outside. Old Patriarch, I want to say this upfront, if anyone ran into any kind of danger outside of the village, we will not be liable for that. Of course, if anyone brought trouble into the village. Those are not on us either. I hope Old Patriarch will look into issues like that when they arise!"

"Mr. Cheng, you mean there will still be those who'd harm our villagers?" asked Old Patriarch with uneasiness.

Cheng Biyuan shook his head, "Old Patriarch, I can't say for sure. Maybe, maybe not. We've all heard of self-fulfilling prophecy. I certainly wish for everybody's safety!"

"Old Patriarch, Mr. Cheng. Don't overthink this. What could possibly happen? As long as we leave everybody else alone. I have been wanting to leave the village for a while now. Let's go and get some supplies from the town tomorrow!"

"Yeah, we can't be kept here indefinitely. How's that different than being in jail? Even though Mr. Cheng said this was for our safety, but we can't stay here forever, am I right?"

"What trouble could there be? We don't have any treasures. It's not like anyone want to rob us for our possessions. We have been in need to refill our supplies for a while now!"

"......."

The villagers expressed their opinions one by one. They all seemed to want to leave the village and didn’t believe there would be any danger!

Old Patriarch didn’t say anything but looked at Cheng Biyuan, waiting for his opinion.

Cheng Biyuan didn’t want to enrage everyone so he nodded at them and said, “If that’s the case, everybody remember what I said today – starting tomorrow, everyone will be able to come and go freely. If anything happens, its on you!”

“You heard Mr. Cheng. Don’t worry, everyone. Starting tomorrow, you can go wherever you want. Be appreciative of Mr. Cheng’s good will!”

“Old Patriarch! Now that we have settled the issue about leaving the village, is Mr. Cheng going to take our daughters or not. We need an answer one way or another, right?” shrieked the discontented An Hung niang.

“Xiao Xiao, why don’t you take over?” Cheng Biyuan handed this over to his oldest daughter to handle.

“Sure, dad!” replied Cheng Xiao Xiao to her father then casted An Hung niang a glance. She really didn’t want to stoop down to her level, but she has been trying to stir up trouble repeatedly. Cheng Xiao Xiao truly disliked this person.

The old patriarch didn’t expect Cheng Biyuan would fully trust Cheng Xiao Xiao with this matter so he smiled at Cheng Xiao Xiao and said, “Maiden Chen. What are your thoughts? Go ahead, you can say it out loud. Everyone will listen as long as you are reasonable!”

“Thank you, grandpa Liu!”

Cheng Xiao Xiao felt very respectful toward the nice and gentle old patriarch. After all, he played a big role in allowing the Cheng’s to settle down in Willow. More importantly, he has always been a very fair person and the villagers looked up to him.

It was only because of this very fair man in front of her that Cheng Xiao Xiao felt comfortable in spending the time and effort to convince the villagers.

“Grandpa Liu, since An da niang brought up the issues with the young girls first, we can talk about that first. A few days ago we’ve accepted a few girls to be ours and sent the few younger ones home. That did not mean we won’t accept them, it’s just that I feel that there are a few things we need to clarify first.

“Oh, and what is it that you want to clarify, Xiao Xiao?” asked the old patriarch kindly.

All the villagers there who have young daughters perked up their ears and listed attentively.

“As we are looking to take in a few people to help out, we are not discriminating against anyone. We will accept anyone suitable. We all live in the same village after all. But I would like to make one thing clear, what we are looking for are useful servants, not to raise others’ children for them.

“Even if we are raising your children for you, while they were working for the Cheng’s, they must follow our orders. I trust that grandpa Liu understands where I am coming from. I trust that other uncles and aunties in the villages are also familiar with this concept. They can’t just sit around and eat and only work when they feel like, and go home when they don’t. If that’s the case, we aren’t hiring anyone, we are just being taken advantage of like morons. Am I right, grandpa Liu?”

“Xiao Xiao, you mean some of them only want you to raise their children for them, instead of helping out with your house work?” asked the old patriarch incredulously.

Cheng Xiao Xiao smiled and said indifferently, “More or less. All I said was if they are going to enter the Cheng’s and become our maids, they must follow our orders, and An da niang and the other aunties clamored about it. They stated that we should raise the girls for them, but when they get to the right age, they will get married!”