Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 131 - 129: Compensate Me with 10 Taels of Silver

Chapter 131: Chapter 129: Compensate Me with 10 Taels of Silver

"We can’t skimp on what is owed! But we should refuse excessive demands!" Mrs. Tan nodded confidently before changing the topic.

They were chatting and laughing about interesting happenings at the county and shop level, the atmosphere was fantastic.

Mrs. Liu’s maid, Shaoyao, quickly rushed in.

"Ma’am, Miss Xiao’er, our young masters and cousins are arguing with the villagers!"

"What happened?" Xiao’er was the first to get up and walk out.

The others also followed suit.

"Mr. Xie said the argument started because a child fell and injured themselves but blames our family!"

A kiddo falls and injures himself and it’s our fault? Preposterous! It’s true, when the forest is big enough, all birds find a home in it!

They reached the scene and saw Aunt Wang forcefully stopping Jingrui from leaving.

"Quickly bring me ten taels of silver, only then will I let him go! If not, I’ll have him hauled before the government! Then you’ll have to compensate and receive a beating on top of that!"

"We’ve got nothing to do with it! Why should we pay? You’re clearly trying to scam us!" Jingrui angrily retorted!

"Why isn’t this your concern? Didn’t your household build this road? Didn’t my son trip and crack his skull on your road?"

"So what if it was?" Xiao’er interjected.

Seeing Xiao’er and their mother arriving, the brothers sighed in relief.

"So what? If it’s true, then hurry up and compensate me with ten taels of silver!" Aunt Wang looked triumphant, appearing even more arrogant and domineering on Xiao’er’s agreement!

"And what if we don’t pay?"

"If you don’t, I’ll report you to the government, and you’ll all end up in jail!" Aunt Wang spoke harshly!

"Terrifying! Jail sure sounds scary! Fine, we’ll compensate you then!"

"Scared now, huh? Hurry up and bring the ten taels of silver then!" Aunt Wang’s face was full of smug satisfaction!

"Xiao’er, we have nothing to do with this, why should we pay!" Liu Jingshu stomped her foot in frustration!

"We can’t indulge this kind of fraud! If everyone starts to act like this, what happens if anyone who suffers a small injury starts asking for compensation! What would be the end of that!" Mrs. Tan immediately opposed the idea after hearing about it.

"I agree. We started out trying to do a good deed, and now it’s turning into disaster! It’s hard to be a good person!" Mrs. Liu Lin’s awn furrowed tightly, this phrase was the biggest enlightenment of her life!

"Of course we will compensate! Now that Aunt Wang claimed this road was built by our household, then it indeed belongs to us. Since Wang Goan cracked his head on our road, we should compensate. However, we should first go to Doctor Luo to see how much the medical expenses are, we can directly cover that!"

"Right, the road is yours, you must pay! Also, my grandson’s name is Wang Goudan, not Wang Da Gou!" Aunt Wang corrected, thought that covering the medical fees would be fine, she would have Dr. Luo prescribe some extravagant remedies like ginseng and antler. Combined, these items would exceed ten taels! Ask him to prescribe more. That way, her whole family could use them to replenish their bodies.

As for her grandson’s injuries, it was just a tiny skin break, no bleeding except a bit of blood streak and redness. It would heal in a couple of days, there’s no need for medicine!

"We don’t even have to cover medical expenses! It’s not our concern at all! Xiao’er shouldn’t pay!" Mrs. Tan was in a hurry, if they gave in this time, the villagers would definitely learn from this incident in the future! Plus, there would be many people, whether truly injured or not, who will try to con some silver out of them. Why would they not take advantage of it if it’s free!

Sigh! She thought her sister-in-law’s child would be more resilient than hers, at least he wouldn’t easily let people bully him, but turns out, they’re just the same!

How ironic it is, that the emperor isn’t anxious, yet she, the eunuch, is. No, that’s not right... spit, spit, spit... she’s not a eunuch!

Although Mrs. Liu and the two brothers found Xiao’er’s reactions strange, they already saw Xiao’er in a respectable light before, and believed he’ll handle this matter well. Even if he does indeed compensate, there must be a necessary reason for it!

Hearing about the possible compensation, some sneaky villagers started plotting.

Some started to think that Xiao’er was too inexperienced to handle such matters, and Mrs. Liu wasn’t intervening, blatantly showing Aunt Wang’s attempt to extort them!

Some felt Aunt Wang was overdoing it this time.

Others thought Shen Chengyao’s family were too soft and easy to walk over! Kind-hearted people are often bullied, and they can’t toughen up even if others tried to help!

"Aunt Wang, I’m willing to cover your medical expense, but you need to pay back the silver you borrowed from my family first!"

"When have I ever borrowed money from your family? I didn’t even borrow a single coin from you!"

"Aunt Wang, you’re wrong. Everyone in your family owes us silver every day, even right at this moment!"

"You must be insane thinking about silver! When have I ever owed you anything!" Aunt Wang’s face was full of frustration! These were probably tactics to avoid payment! No chance! If she doesn’t squeeze a layer of oil out of them today, she’ll change her surname!

Xiao’er calmly pointed to the road beneath their feet, slowly started: "Aunt Wang, you’re stepping on the road which my family financed, this is my family’s road, you just admitted it! Since it’s my family’s road, your family uses it everyday and therefore you owe us. You can’t use it without paying."

"Hao’er, Choi, how is the notice on the county written? Tell Aunt Wang so she can’t claim that we overcharged her!"

"Alright! The county has a new notice: stating that the official road from the town to the county will be paved with cement. If a household offers help with the construction, they will be granted free lifetime passage on this road! Riding vehicles on it would cost each trip five coins! Those who didn’t help with the labor but contributed twenty taels of silver will also receive lifetime free passage for their household on this route! For those that neither helped with construction nor contributed money, the cost will be five coins per person per trip, and ten coins per trip for vehicles!"

"Aunt Wang, during the road construction, no one from your family came to help! You have two sons, two daughters-in-law, one daughter, seven grandchildren and granddaughters, totaling fourteen people. I’m assuming each of you used our road once a day. That means your family owed us 70 coins per day! The road was completed fifteen days ago, adding to a total of 1050 coins you owe us! Including your bulls cart, which I’ve caught sight of twice costing 20 coins. Let’s not count the times I didn’t see, so at this moment, your family owes us 1070 coins! Is your family planning on using our road tomorrow? How about in the future? Are you preparing to drop by my house to pay daily, monthly, or annually to simplify matters? Let me calculate how much your family needs to pay per month, and how much per year. Wait for a while, I’ll calculate slowly. I won’t miscalculate, if I overcharge you by even a coin, I’ll repay you tenfold..." Xiao’er deliberately prattled on.

"That’s 70 coins a day, 700 coins every ten days, and the month has thirty days, so it’s 2,100 coins a month! Aunt Wang, don’t worry, sometimes a month only has twenty-nine days, so we definitely won’t overcharge you for the day you’re not using. Thus, it is not necessarily 2,100 coins each month! Sometimes you’ll get a discount!"

"As for a year, Hao’er, how many months are there in a year? I seem to have forgotten!" Xiao’er purposely turned to ask Jinghao.

"Twelve months!" Jinghao responded loudly!

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