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Lady Ruan was out here doing devious things again. The Village Leader was very angry as he stared at her.

The four little ones didn’t fully understand the conversation between Lady Ruan and Lu Jiao. They were flustered as they jumped in, “Mommy, I don’t want here inside our home.”

“Yeah, she keeps on crying.”

Lu Jiao lowered her head and whispered to the children, “Your grandma invited her here to help us with housework. You can ask her to do all the daily housekeeping things. That way, I will have time to play with you.”

“Is that true?”

The four little ones suspiciously eyed Lady Ruan, then Zhou Xiaotao.

Ask her to do all the daily housekeeping things?

Zhou Xiaotao’s face changed color. She wanted to explain that she was here to take care of her cousin, not here as a housekeeper.

Lady Ruan shot Zhou Xiaotao a look to tell her to shut up. Lady Ruan knew that if she said anything now, the Leader would kick her out.

Zhou Xiaotao looked at the man who was as handsome as the most flawless piece of jade, who was as perfect as a painting. She kept her mouth shut.

To marry her cousin, she’d endure whatever came her way today.

Zhou Xiaotao shot a warning look towards Lu Jiao. Just she wait!

Lu Jiao wanted to roll her eyes in response. What was this woman daydreaming about? There was no way Xie Yunjin would be into a woman like her.

Inside the bedroom, Lady Ruan felt pressured by the presence of the elders. She announced, “Okay, she will stay. I will go.”

Lady Ruan left, leaving behind a scared Zhou Xiaotao.

Lu Jiao wanted to give her tasks to complete. However, the First Born beat her to it, “You, come over here and do something for us.”

Zhou Xiaotao stretched her lips upwards and forced a smile as she pretended to be kind.

“Sure.”

The First Born shuddered. She was truly horrifyingly ugly.

Everyone else in the room also felt chills from that pale and bi-colored face. The Leaders looked away.

Lu Jiao watched as the four little ones took Zhou Xiaotao outside. She wasn’t worried that the kids would be tricked by that woman – those children were highly intelligent.

Lu Jiao asked the Leaders to sit down, then made some tea for everyone.

“Yunjin, we are here because we need advice. Help us out.”

Xie Yunjin was the only scholar in the village. Whenever something big came up, the Leaders would ask for his opinion.

Today, they couldn’t decide on something so they came to discuss it with Xie Yunjin.

Xie Yunjin didn’t find this annoying. He gently asked, “What’s the matter?”

The Village Leader said, “You asked your wife to teach everyone herbs, right? This was originally a great idea. However, we are not sure if we should extend that offer to everyone in the village, or keep that knowledge to the Xie Clan.

The Xie Village, compared to other villages, is pretty harmonious. There are a few bad apples here, but in general, everyone is kind.

If we only allow people from the Xie Clan to learn, those without the Xie last name would form their own alliance which would split up our village. This may hurt the atmosphere in this village.

If we allow everyone in this village to learn, I’m worried that some people from the Xie Clan would complain. They might be worried that they now have to share the profit they could earn from selling herbs with more people. They might worry that they won’t be able to make money from this.”

The Village Leader was put in a difficult spot. He was originally very happy that Lu Jiao offered to teach everyone how to identify herbs. Only now did he realize there were many hard decisions he had to make related to this decision. He wasn’t sure what to do and that was why he came here to discuss it with Xie Yunjin.

Xie Yunjin’s eyes were crystal clear as he thought it over. Very quickly, he looked back up to the leaders, “Let’s teach everyone. Village Leader, host a meeting and ask everyone from the village to attend. Make those outside of the Xie Clan promise that they will look for herbs from neighboring mountains. The herbs from the mountain we live right beside will be reserved for the Xie Clan.

There are lots of different mountains around the area, not just the one mountain the Xie Village is closest to. Also, it would help if you told the Xie Clan that harvesting herbs shouldn’t be everyone’s sole source of income. It’s a temporary opportunity that could supplement everyone’s income. In the future, I will think of a more sustainable source of income for everyone. Therefore, I hope our village does not divide over short-term profit.”

The Leaders liked Xie Yunjin’s suggestion. They thought this was very reasonable. First of all, telling those with a different surname to harvest herbs from a different mountain will both reassure the Xie Clan and also give the others an opportunity to make money. They will just have to travel a bit further.

Second of all, Xie Yunjin offered to think of a more sustainable way for the villagers to make money. That promise made sure that none of the villagers would fight over this one thing.

The Clan Leader happily stood up, “Okay, then we will execute accordingly.”

Just then, the Clan leader remembered that Lu Jiao didn’t get along with a few of the families. Would she be willing to teach those people?

“Does Yunjin’s wife have something to add?”

Lu Jiao said to the leaders, “From our family, please send my second sister-in-law. I don’t want to see the others.”

She then added, “Ask Xia Lian from Widow Li’s family to come instead of Widow Li.”

If she didn’t pity Xia Lian, she didn’t want anyone from that family.

As for Aunt Guihua, she apologized and Lu Jiao had no reason to not forgive her.

Plus, this whole herb business was not going to make anyone rich. It was just going to improve everyone’s quality of life a little bit.

The Clan Leader agreed, “Okay, then Fugui will take care of this.”

Xie Fugui nodded, “I’ll go ahead and make everything happen. Tomorrow, we can start the lessons.”

Xie Fugui roughly counted how many families there were in this village. Even if every family only sent one person, there won’t be enough room in this house.

“Yunjin’s wife, if everyone comes, there wouldn’t be enough space to even stand in here.”

Lu Jiao had thought of that already. She pointed to her yard, “Ask everyone to bring their own chair. We’ll sit outside. Honestly, I’m just going to explain the purpose of several herbs. I don’t know if they will be able to remember everything. I have found several herbs as examples. They can each bring some while they’re out there, and compare it to herbs they see in the mountains. After some time, they’ll be able to remember everything.”

Lu Jiao didn’t think that she had enough herbs to give out. Tomorrow, she’ll have to harvest some more in the morning.

The Leaders happily nodded, “Okay, we will tell everyone as we discussed.”

Everyone inside the room smiled. Suddenly, someone outside started to cry.

Everyone looked to the door as Zhou Xiaotao walked in all teared up.

“Cousin, they… they asked me to clean the dog’s house and shovel the dog poop.”

Zhou Xiaotao pitifully looked towards Xie Yunjin, as if she’d been bullied.

Sadly, there was nothing attractive about her right now. The blocks of white and yellow on her face made her look scarier than ever.

Xie Yunjin couldn’t help but frown with a cold expression.

Zhou Xiaotao was shocked by that look and for a moment, forgot to cry.

The Leaders glanced between Xie Yunjin, Lu Jiao, and Zhou Xiaotao. They didn’t know how to deal with this.

The only thing in common was that everyone was silently cursing at Lady Ruan.

Lu Jiao truly couldn’t directly look at Zhou Xiaota’s face. Angrily, she yelled, “You are crying because of a dog house? Do you do nothing all day back at home? Do you only eat and not work normally?”

That woman was fragile as a stick and her skin looked extremely unhealthy. It was obvious that she wasn’t wealthy nor was she treated like a rich lady.

Given that, it was logical to assume that back at home, she often fed the pigs and chickens, and cleaned pigs’ pens. She only cried now to make a scene.