Pei Xia looked up at her. Qi Jiao said unhurriedly, "As is well - known, the Qi family has a son and a daughter. Qi Fu came to me at the Guo Mansion the year before last, begging me to find her a job. Out of pity for her as my niece, I asked an acquaintance at the Guo Mansion to arrange for her to work in the embroidery room. She didn't learn the craft well and spent her days flirting with the young servants in the mansion.
This year, somehow she got involved with the third young master of the Guo family. She charmed the third young master into taking her as a concubine.
I'm sure the Qi family has been keeping this under wraps. One could say that the Qi family is just a money - grabbing family that deceived the Pei family into a marriage. The Pei family is the victim."
She then continued in a tone of disdain, "As for their precious son, Qi Hao, he's probably enjoying himself to his heart's content in the room of Miss Qinshui at the House of Blossoms by now. Five gold coins gone just like that, all for a bit of fun."
Some of the young men from Biwu Village who remembered their friendship with Pei Xia at sea and knew his character hesitated for a moment and then all spoke up in agreement.
"The Qi family really didn't handle this properly. They were hooking up with the third young master of the Guo family on one hand while still trying to string along the eldest young master of the Pei family. No wonder I saw Funiang walking with a young gentleman in brocade clothes on Xiliang Alley that day. They seemed quite intimate. When I went up to greet her, she pretended not to know me."
Tang Guiniang was burning with anger. Unable to contain herself any longer, she stepped forward and slapped Qian Shi hard on both cheeks.
Qian Shi was dazed from the slaps. Seeing a mere woman like Tang Guiniang being so aggressive in front of him, Qi Laoda's evil nature flared up. He grabbed a bench nearby and swung it towards her head.
Tang Guiniang couldn't dodge in time and let out a scream.
Just as the bench was about to come down hard, Qi Laoda's wrist was caught firmly by Pei Xia.
Pei Xia's eyes shot out a cold glare as he roared, "How dare you hurt my mother?!"
Seeing Pei Xia's fierce look, Qi Laoda's lips began to tremble, and his face turned pale and green. His elbow bent at a strange angle - Pei Xia had simply broken his arm.
Knowing that the betrothal money was unlikely to be retrieved, Pei Xia no longer held back his temper. He led a group of strong young men to the roof to rip off the tiles.
To withstand typhoons, the better houses by the sea were built of stone, the medium - level ones were a mix of stone and adobe, and the worst were made of adobe.
The Qi family lived in an adobe house. The couple didn't work for a living and simply ate away at their ancestors' inheritance.
When they saw that Qi Fu had caught the eye of the third young master of the Guo family, they were waiting for their daughter to become a concubine so that they could be taken to the county town to enjoy a comfortable life.
Therefore, they didn't care about their house at all. When it was broken or old, they just turned a blind eye. When a typhoon came, they would go to a neighbor's stone house to take shelter.
Now that Pei Xia had led people to rip off the roof, if a typhoon came, the house wouldn't last long before collapsing. What about all their pots, bowls, and other household items? This was forcing them to their death!
The young men were excited to have something to do. They set up ladders, climbed onto the roof, and shouted. Each of them showed their full potential in demolishing the house.
Qi Laoda forgot about his broken bone and jumped up and down in the yard, shouting, "This is a sin! A sin!"
Qian Shi also stopped being silent. She cursed Pei Xia with all the vulgar, dirty, and despicable words she knew in her life.
Pei Xia, standing on the high roof, responded directly by throwing clumps of thatch at their faces.
The curses of Qi Laoda and Qian Shi soon became inarticulate.
Qi Jiao couldn't help but burst out laughing at this.
Zuo Lide originally sided with the Qi family, but seeing how hopeless the Qi family was, he no longer had the heart to interfere.
But as the head of Biwu Village, no matter how wrong the Qi family was, he couldn't let the people from Baiyun Village ride roughshod over them!
So he told Pei Xia to come down and warned him, "You've broken Qi Laoda's arm. That's enough of your outburst. If you really demolish their house, people will die when the typhoon comes. Let's talk things out properly. Stop what you're doing now!"
Pei Xia didn't really intend to demolish the Qi family's house. He was just waiting for Zuo Lide to say this.
The two discussed for a while. Pei Xia said that he could drop the matter of the betrothal money, but the Qi family had to hand over their fields to pay off the debt. Zuo Lide nodded. There was no better solution at the moment.
So Zuo Lide walked back and stood in front of Qi Laoda and Qian Shi. "Since your family can't come up with the money, the Pei family has made a concession. They only ask for ten mu of your fields as compensation. Then this matter will be settled."
Yinwan was near the sea and also close to the mountains.
Those with skills supplemented their income by fishing, like the eldest young master of the Pei family. Most of the villagers still made a living by farming.
The Qi family's ancestors were once wealthy local landowners and had left behind a lot of land. By the time it came to Qi Laoda's generation, there were only a little over ten mu of land left.
Before Zuo Lide could finish speaking, Qian Shi jumped up. "Ten mu?! Why doesn't the Pei family just rob us?"
Zuo Lide slapped his thigh angrily. "You ignorant woman, shut up! Qi Yong, you speak! The Pei family has already made a concession and didn't ask for all of your family's land. After giving away ten mu, your family still has seven mu left. Five gold coins can buy twenty mu of fertile land. What else are you dissatisfied with?"
Qi Jiao secretly gasped. As expected, the land by the sea in ancient times wasn't worth much!
Qi Laoda's face was dark, and he was also very reluctant.
Renting out these fields to the farmers from the neighboring village with less land each year was enough for the whole family to live comfortably and they could also earn some extra money. Losing ten mu at once was like cutting off their means of survival. Damn Pei Dalan!
He didn't respond for a long time. Qian Shi rolled her eyes, grabbed Qi Laoda's arm, and whispered something in his ear.
As he listened, Qi Laoda's worry turned into joy. He walked over, raising his chin and saying, "We can give you the ten mu of land, but there's a condition."
Zuo Lide said, "Stop stalling! Say it quickly!"
"We have eight mu of paddy fields and two mu of dry fields at the junction of Baiyun Village and Biwu Village, at the foot of Xiaofeng Mountain behind Baiyun Village. We'll compensate the Pei family with these ten mu of land."
Pei Jin raised his eyebrows. Were the Qi family really that kind - hearted?
Then came the unexpected turn. "In addition, the Pei family has to give 80% of the harvest to our family every year."
Pei Li's fists tightened. The Qi family was really shameless!
Tang Guiniang was extremely angry. "You're really good at calculating. This is supposed to be compensation land, and you still expect our Pei family to support you? Even when renting to tenant farmers, we only take 70% of the harvest. Do you think we're worse than tenant farmers?"
The villagers started whispering to each other again, and the noise was buzzing.
Pei Xia didn't say a word. He just climbed onto the roof and continued to demolish the house.
Qi Laoda got anxious. He started bargaining with Tang Guiniang. "70%! Just 70%... Or how about 40% for you and 60% for us?"
Clumps of thatch kept falling, and even the wooden planks on the beams were torn out and thrown into the middle of the yard.
Qi Laoda wiped the sweat off his forehead. "50 - 50 should be okay, right?"
No one paid any attention to him.
Seeing those brats tear off the roofs of three rooms and now about to reach the bedroom, Qi Laoda was extremely anxious. He slapped his thigh hard, forgetting that his hand was broken. For a moment, he cried out in pain.
"Stop!"
"Oh my god, just take all the ten mu of land! We won't ask for a share of the harvest either!" Qi Laoda was sweating profusely. At this moment, he just wanted to get rid of these evil spirits.
Thinking of his son who only knew how to ask for money at home and his daughter who was a bottomless pit, Qi Laoda slumped weakly on the threshold. Sons and daughters were all debts!
Qian Shi naturally wouldn't agree. She came up and started hitting him crazily.
Qi Laoda was already full of anger. Seeing Qian Shi come up and act like a shrew, he gritted his teeth and slapped her hard with his big palm. Immediately, Qian Shi's mouth and nose were bleeding, and half of her body slumped to the ground.
Zuo Lide was annoyed. He waved his hand. "Since that's the case, I'll be the witness. The Qi family will compensate the Pei family with eight mu of paddy fields and two mu of dry fields."
He asked someone to get paper and pen, quickly wrote down the agreement, and asked the two families to sign and seal it respectively.
After dealing with these matters, Zuo Lide remembered the annulled engagement between the Pei and Qi families and asked, "Where are the betrothal letters? Now that the Qi family has compensated with the land, the engagement between your two families is null and void. It's better to bring them out to be annulled."
In the chaos just now, Tang Guiniang had stuffed the betrothal letters into Pei Li's hands.
Pei Li quickly took them out of his bosom. When he unfolded them, his face changed.