“Second sister-in-law, the time to pay the grain tax is coming in a few days. You…” Gu Chang’an started to speak, but the words seemed to get stuck in his throat, and in the end, he didn’t say them.
He had seen the Gu family’s granary—completely empty, without even a single grain left.
Cui Shi seemed to guess his concern and quickly said, “Village chief, don’t worry. I’ll be there on the day the grain tax is due. I won’t make things difficult for you. My son, Shiguang, still has some silver. I’ll go have him buy some grain to pay the tax.”
Her and her son’s household registration was still in Dahe Village, so naturally she couldn’t offend the village chief. Even if she was unwilling to pay the tax, she had no other choice.
As for the silver she personally still had, she didn’t want others to know, so she could only say that her son Gu Shiguang still had money.
Hearing this, Gu Chang’an finally felt relieved.
He nodded. “That’s good. Be careful, and if you need any help, come back to the village and let us know.”
If Cui Shi couldn’t pay the grain tax, it would also cause trouble for him as the village chief.
Although the village had communal grain, everyone kept track of it. If he took out several hundred jin of grain to help Cui Shi pay the tax, he would need the agreement of all the villagers.
Now that Cui Shi could solve the problem herself, it saved him a lot of trouble.
Gu Chang’an steadily drove the ox cart, the wheels creaking loudly as they rolled over the uneven dirt road.
Hu Shi sat on the cart, sighing repeatedly and muttering about how miserable Cui Shi’s life was.
“Wife, stop sighing. Sighing won’t change anything,” Gu Chang’an said helplessly. He knew his wife was kind-hearted, but sometimes she was too soft-hearted.
“Husband, how can you have so little sympathy? Cui Shi is such a gentle and fragile woman, and she’s already lost two husbands. How pitiful! You really don’t know how to cherish women,” Hu Shi complained, her eyes still filled with sympathy.
Gu Chang’an laughed. “Haha, wife, why should I cherish a widow? It’s enough for me to cherish my own wife. Tonight, I’ll take good care of you.” As he spoke, despite driving the cart, he quickly leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
Hu Shi’s face instantly turned red like a ripe apple. Slightly annoyed, she said, “Y-you should focus on driving. Don’t cause an accident.”
Seeing his wife’s shy expression, Gu Chang’an found her even more adorable. “Haha…” His laughter echoed through the air, and even the birds in the roadside forest seemed to sense his joy, chirping nonstop.
Although they already had three sons and two daughters—the eldest daughter was married, and their eldest son had married this year and his wife was already pregnant—their relationship was still as sweet as ever.
After parting ways with Gu Chang’an and the others, Cui Shi made an unexpected decision.
Without hesitation, she went to a broker and sold all of her family’s farmland, exchanging it for a total of eighty-five taels of silver.
However, she did not sell the courtyard in the village.
If she wanted to keep her household registration in Dahe Village, she couldn’t lose the house. Otherwise, she and her son would become “black households” without legal identity.
But she had no intention of returning to live in the village.
Instead, she rented a small courtyard in the county town as a new residence for herself and her son.
At the same time, she was secretly planning something even more important—finding a way to marry into the Liu household.
This idea came to her suddenly.
She didn’t have much affection for Master Liu.
He was already quite old, and in that regard, he seemed somewhat lacking in strength.
She had even begun to suspect that he had taken some kind of medicine, which caused his unusual behavior.
Yesterday afternoon, Master Liu clearly seemed weak, but surprisingly, by evening, he had suddenly regained vigor.
Moreover, his behavior that night seemed somewhat abnormal, which made Cui Shi suspicious.
However, she didn’t care about his physical condition. She only knew that he was wealthy and powerful—someone she could rely on.
The current problem was that Master Liu had no sons, and he was determined to find a young woman to bear him an heir.
Although Cui Shi was beautiful, ever since giving birth to her son, she had never become pregnant again.
Her own body posed a problem.
If she wanted to solve this issue, there seemed to be only one way—she had to become pregnant with Master Liu’s child.
After everything that had happened recently, Cui Shi felt uneasy whenever she was alone.
So she went and bought a maid and a strong man, spending a total of thirty taels of silver.
The maid was deaf and mute, called Ya Mei, and was relatively cheap at five taels.
The man was named Wang Erniu, costing a full twenty-five taels. Cui Shi was quite satisfied with his physique.
On the very night she bought them, the two quickly fell into a passionate encounter.
Cui Shi thought that if Wang Erniu could get her pregnant, she could claim the child was Master Liu’s and use it as an opportunity to marry into the Liu family.
Wang Erniu was already thirty years old. Due to poverty, he had never been with a woman before.
Now, being tempted by someone like Cui Shi, he was naturally unable to resist and obeyed her every command.
All night long, Wang Erniu served her diligently, leaving her very satisfied.
Thinking that she might already be carrying a child made her even happier.
Cui Shi didn’t hide her plan from him.
She made it clear that she was the master, and Wang Erniu was merely a servant.
As long as he remained loyal to her and got her pregnant—and she successfully married Master Liu and became the lady of the Liu family—she would certainly not treat him poorly.
For Wang Erniu, at his age, this was his first time experiencing such intimacy, and with someone as beautiful as Cui Shi.
Faced with such temptation, he naturally obeyed her without hesitation, agreeing to everything she said.
Early the next morning, just as the sun rose, Cui Shi hurriedly rented an ox cart.
She returned to the village and moved all of Gu Shiguang’s belongings to the courtyard she had rented in the county.
Worried that her son might come back to an empty place, she went to the academy and found Gu Shiguang, who was studying.
She told him that he no longer needed to return to the village, as she had already sold all the farmland there.
She also told him the address of their new courtyard in the county and instructed him to go there from now on, as all his belongings had already been moved.