Hearing a knock at the door, Lin Qizheng quickly called out in response.
Lin Shengxia carefully scanned their surroundings. Only after confirming that there was nothing suspicious inside the ruined temple did she nod at her father.
When Lin Qizheng opened the door and saw the village chief and the production brigade leader standing outside, he couldn’t help feeling nervous.
Could he have guessed wrong?
Did Yang Defu actually have powerful connections in the village?
While Lin Qizheng lowered his gaze in thought, Yang Yan and Wen Songbai were also quietly observing him and everything behind him.
In truth, the two of them had visited this ruined temple before allowing the Lin family to live here.
They still remembered exactly what the place had looked like back then.
Yet in just half a month, the ruined temple had been completely transformed.
Yang Yan said nothing and simply stepped through the courtyard entrance.
Lin Qizheng had no choice but to exchange a glance with Dong Wanqiu and Lin Shengxia, signaling for them to keep their heads lowered and remain silent as much as possible.
Seeing how well the Lin family had cleaned up the ruined temple, much of Yang Yan’s dissatisfaction with them faded.
To be fair, if his mother hadn’t insisted that he come and take a look, Yang Yan would have been perfectly happy to see Yang Defu suffer a setback.
Without revealing anything on his face, he shifted his gaze toward the courtyard wall.
Sure enough, he could faintly see pieces of broken glass embedded along the top.
Yang Yan’s eyes darkened slightly.
“Where did you get these pieces of broken glass?”
There was nothing so valuable readily available in the village!
That was why, when Yang Defu first claimed that broken glass had cut his hand, Yang Yan hadn’t believed him.
But now, the evidence was right before his eyes.
Lin Qizheng had long anticipated that someone from the village might come and question them, so he had already prepared an explanation.
“When I went to the back mountain to dig clay, I found them near the abandoned house by the riverbank.”
As soon as he said that, Yang Yan knew exactly which place he meant.
That abandoned residence had once belonged to the village’s wealthy landlord.
However, in 1968, the landlord’s entire family had been sent to the far northwest. Since then, the residence had remained abandoned.
It wasn’t that no one had ever tried to move in.
After all, the place was enormous and had been built with high-quality blue bricks.
But strangely enough, anyone who moved into the house would flee in terror within half a month.
As time passed, the villagers became so frightened of the place that they no longer even dared approach it.
So it wasn’t strange that Lin Qizheng had managed to dig up broken glass there.
Back when the old landlord still lived there, he had particularly enjoyed eating all kinds of canned fruit, so naturally, broken glass jars could have been left behind.
Yang Yan’s suspicions toward the Lin family finally disappeared.
Still, he couldn’t help warning them, “I understand that you did this to protect yourselves, but it wouldn’t be good if someone accidentally got hurt by that glass.”
“You’re right, Village Chief. But as you can see, we have women and children here. If we don’t take some precautions and something really does happen, wouldn’t that damage the reputation of the entire village?”
They might have been forced to come to the Maisui Production Brigade, but they certainly hadn’t come here to lose their lives.
If anything serious happened to them, Yang Yan and Wen Songbai would probably have a difficult time explaining themselves to the commune authorities as well.
Because of what had happened to the Lin family, all the officials in their previous brigade had been replaced.
Yang Yan naturally knew about Lin Qizheng’s former status. Unless absolutely necessary, he had no intention of completely offending the man.
And it wasn’t just him.
Wen Songbai had also made it clear that he didn’t want anything to do with Yang Defu’s mess.
He hadn’t said a single word since entering the courtyard.
As far as he was concerned, deliberately coming here to make trouble for someone just for the sake of a good-for-nothing hooligan like Yang Defu was beneath him.
The village chief was simply too filial toward his mother, while Yang Defu happened to be good at flattering people.
If it had been anyone else, Wen Songbai wouldn’t have bothered coming here at all!
After seeing the two men off, Lin Qizheng finally let out a long breath.
He could tell that both the village chief and the brigade leader had been probing him during their conversation.
He was trapped here and had no way of knowing what was happening in the outside world.
However, the reactions of the village chief and brigade leader suggested that what his daughter had told him might really come true!
There must have been some rumors or changes outside.
Otherwise, why would these two village leaders, who had previously ignored him completely, suddenly come to visit?
But when Lin Qizheng looked at his wife and daughter, another concern surfaced in his heart.
“Shengxia, in that year 2026, have you ever come across anything that can alter a person’s appearance?”
Hearing his question, Lin Shengxia immediately understood what he meant.
To be honest, ever since arriving at the Maisui Production Brigade, today was actually the first time Lin Shengxia had seen anyone else from the village.
She understood her father’s concern.
After thinking for a moment, she said, “Tomorrow, Auntie Li’s eldest daughter, the one who runs a traditional Chinese medicine clinic, will be coming to the shop. I’ll ask her about it then. If something like that really exists, I’ll buy it no matter how much it costs!”
Because she already had an appointment with Li Xiangqin, Lin Shengxia didn’t prepare many wild vegetables or fish the next day.
She sold everything in less than twenty minutes.
Li Xiangqin had already called Cui Shijin as soon as Lin Shengxia arrived.
By the time Cui Shijin reached the steamed bun shop, Lin Shengxia had just finished packing up her stall.
Cui Shijin looked at the two bamboo baskets filled to the brim with Chinese violet herbs in the storeroom.
After carefully inspecting them one by one and confirming that there were no problems with the quality, she immediately instructed Xiao Fan to weigh them.
Lin Shengxia had put a great deal of effort into preparing these medicinal herbs.
Only after Cui Shijin confirmed that they passed inspection did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
“Boss, there are 160 jin in total. Are we buying them at the same price as last time, or…?”
“Add another ten yuan per jin for Shengxia. Pay her in cash. You prepared it, right?”
As Cui Shijin’s secretary, Xiao Fan always made sure to understand her needs in advance.
He also knew that Lin Shengxia didn’t have a mobile phone, so before coming here, he had deliberately withdrawn enough cash.
“The previous purchase price was twenty-five yuan per jin. Today, we’re paying thirty-five yuan per jin. For 160 jin, that comes to 5,600 yuan.”
As Xiao Fan spoke, he pulled out a thick stack of crisp banknotes from his pocket, counted out fifty-six hundred-yuan bills, and handed them to Lin Shengxia!
This was the first time Lin Shengxia had ever held so much money.
Suppressing her excitement, she carefully counted the bills herself.
Only after confirming that the amount was correct did she sign her name on the purchase contract.
After Xiao Fan left with the medicinal herbs, Cui Shijin complained half-jokingly, “Shengxia, you really should buy yourself a phone soon. Otherwise, if we keep working together, even withdrawing cash for you every time will become troublesome. By the way, can you deliver the rest of the goods tomorrow?”
“Of course! Don’t worry, Sister Shijin. I guarantee the quality!”
Cui Shijin knew that Lin Shengxia was an honest person, so she smiled and nodded.
What Lin Shengxia didn’t know was that the medicinal herbs collected today would first be sent by Xiao Fan to Dr. Fu for random testing before they could be transported to Cui Shijin’s traditional Chinese medicine clinic.
Emotionally, Cui Shijin trusted Lin Shengxia.
But rationally, she had more than thirty employees depending on her for their livelihoods. She couldn’t afford even the slightest mistake.
However, the truth could sometimes be hurtful, so naturally, she had no intention of telling Lin Shengxia about the additional testing.
Seeing that all their business had been taken care of, Lin Shengxia was just about to ask Cui Shijin whether she knew of anything that could disguise a person’s appearance when a voice suddenly came from outside.
“Oh~ my dear Ms. Li Xiangqin! Your beautiful and outstanding youngest daughter has come to see you!”