Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 196 - 194: The Person Behind

Chapter 196: Chapter 194: The Person Behind

Just a few days before the New Year, Old Mr. Shi had no plans to return to the prefecture city, so he and Mrs. Liu Lin returned to the village to celebrate the New Year.

The house belonging to Xiao’er’s maternal grandparents was rebuilt this spring into a two-compartment residence.

It was designed by Xiao’er, with everything as practical, convenient, and beautiful as her new home.

The sight of it left Old Mr. Shi, who had long been accustomed to a life of wealth and luxury, full of praise.

He repeatedly said that Xiao’er had her great-grandmother’s grace, and she was a woman who didn’t fall behind men.

At first, when the villagers saw Old Mr. Shi, they thought he was Mrs. Liu Lin’s new husband. When Mrs. Liu Ma got wind of this, she used it as an excuse to hurl insults.

She accused Mrs. Liu Lin of being an unfaithful woman, who did not deserve to be supported by the Liu family’s offspring, nor to live in the Liu family’s house.

She accused her of inviting a man into her home out of greed for the Liu family’s property.

She was trying to drive Mrs. Liu Lin away and, under the guise of being the only wife of the Liu family, force Liu Minhong to recognize her as his stepmother. Then, she could move into this splendid residence and no longer live this miserable life.

But Old Mr. Shi had already learned about the kind of life his daughter had lived before.

He despised this co-wife who had oppressed his daughter, and she dared to pick a fight with him!

He went directly to the village chief and asked him, "According to the distant past, what kind of rule is it for a co-wife to scold the primary wife?"

"Talking about more recent times, what does it mean when a person, who has cut off all ties and does not associate with us anymore, causes trouble in my daughter’s home! What will you do if she defames my daughter’s reputation!"

"My son-in-law is not around. There is no one to discipline you. Today, I’ll invite the village chief and the elders of the Liu family to ask what should be done with someone like you. You who insult the primary wife over and over again. Shall we allow you, who does not know about manners and shame, to continue acting recklessly, shaming the Liu name and the faces of our villagers?"

As the owner of the hundred-year-old winery, Boss Shi’s imposing manner made the village chief and villagers ponder in dumbfounded silence.

"Old Master Shi, what do you think should be done?"

"This is a matter for the villagers, so of course, the village chief has the final say! I’m just here to stand up for my daughter, so don’t let everyone think that she is one to be trampled upon just because she lacks the support of her parents!"

"Why should we believe that Mrs. Liu Lin is your daughter just because you say so? Mrs. Liu Lin was sent here to be a child bride when she was only five years old. Her parents died in a plague when she was seven!" Mrs. Liu Ma recovered her senses and retorted.

"I, Shi Zhenhong, always keep my word. I wouldn’t bother acknowledging her if she wasn’t my real daughter. As for this tiny bit of wealth that the Liu family has, I really don’t care about it! I acknowledge her as my daughter because I don’t want my vast wealth to go unclaimed after my death! Those who don’t know me can go and inquire in the prefecture city about who Shi Zhenhong is!"

Shi Zhenhong? This name sounded familiar.

"I know, I’ve worked in the prefecture city for a few years, the owner of the Shi winery is Shi Zhenhong. Old Mr. Shi had a daughter who was abducted just a month after birth and could never be found! He was later able to have a son when he was over forty years old! Everyone thought he would have no descendants, but who knew, he managed to have a son in his later years. This event was known to everyone in the prefecture city."

Shi’s wine? An old drunkard in the village looked up at Old Master Shi. He didn’t know about other places, but he knew from his father that Shi’s wine was the most expensive in the county.

Shi’s wine certainly was the most expensive! Everyone in the village knew that.

Mrs. Liu Lin is the daughter of the owner of the Shi winery! My goodness! This was huge gossip!

The villagers now looked at Mrs. Liu Lin with different eyes!

She was so fortunate!

Her daughter was married to the Marquis, and her granddaughter was a county mistress!

Her son owned a furniture shop!

And now she had a wealthy father!

A vast fortune? This was undeniably immense wealth!

Mrs. Liu Ma glared at Mrs. Liu Lin. How did all this good fortune fall on this woman who she had looked down upon for half her life?

Whoever had the money was the master, so the village chief’s attitude became immediately respectful.

He then, in a just and stern manner, punished Mrs. Liu Ma by making her kneel in the ancestral hall for half a month to apologize to the ancestors of the Liu family.

On the second day of the New Year, each member of Xiao’er’s family received a gift of ten taels of gold when they visited their maternal grandmother’s home.

Ah, a local tyrant! A true local tyrant!

Xiao’er privately asked Old Master Shi about the murder of his wife and children.

If people were after the Shi winery and Shi’s wine, and had patiently schemed for so many years, they certainly wouldn’t give up easily.

Now that her family had bought the winery and had this relationship with Old Master Shi, they were undoubtedly stepping into this whirlpool.

"The people we sent to investigate found that it was bandits who had committed the robbery and murders, but I have some association with those bandits and know they were not responsible. I suspect the clan leader did it, but I’ve never been able to find evidence that he was involved. This is not a simple matter, he must have been acting on someone else’s orders. The people behind him are probably powerful, but they can’t show their faces. My family’s winery has its own independent caravan and fleet for delivering wine to all parts of the country. This is not an easy thing to do!"

Xiao’er nodded in understanding. Given the primitive transport of ancient times, together with the prevalence of bandits and robbers, it wasn’t easy to deliver a batch of goods safely to their destination. There were always certain connections to be built, and horses were the main means of transport on land. Horses, being a living thing, would get tired or sick after a long journey. Therefore, changing horses along the way became a necessity for long-distance transport.

Charging along the way, having horses come from somewhere, having them kept somewhere, appointing a certain number of people to look after them, and deciding how many to keep in each place were all complex affairs. A common horse alone cost more than a hundred taels of silver, and the cost of fodder and people added to the burden. Transport by land was difficult, but still manageable. Water-based transportation was the most challenging. It was fraught with risks and danger, the technological requirements for cargo ships were high, and they were costly. Even without considering those aspects, experience was needed to sail a ship, and developing experienced sailors wasn’t easy. Such experience often came from one failure after another.

The failures resulted in losses of silver or even human lives.

"Are they more interested in the transport business than in the winery or wine?"

Old Master Shi nodded, "Someone once wanted to use our fleet to smuggle salt, but my father and I rejected them."

Later, his daughter was abducted, and he was poisoned...

"I didn’t realize what was going on until later!"

Smuggling salt again? A major case had just been cracked last year!

Indeed, all strive for profit. All hustle for gain!

The bigger the profit, the more people rush to it!

Presumably, the person behind all this must be a big player in the salt smuggling market! One who could keep a low profile and plot patiently for so many years just for a network of land and water transportation routes; this person must not only be patient but also meticulous and cautious, making it hard to find a vulnerability.

Xiao’er shook her head, thinking that for every hundred schemes, there was always one loophole. She would deal with things as they came.

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