Building a house made a lot of noise, and a few outsiders had come to the village too, so naturally, the villagers knew about it.
It turned out that the village head's family was building a house.
Actually, the house they lived in before was old, broken, far from the center of the village, and unsafe.
It was all because of Pan Li's actions. She had been too cruel.
Everyone chose to forget that they had also been part of what happened back then.
Now, they quietly blamed Pan Li for being too harsh and unkind.
But when they thought about the fact that she was already dead, they only whispered a few complaints before stopping. After all, people should respect the dead.
The villagers didn't dare to make too much noise. They just gathered in small groups to watch and enjoy the excitement.
Before, they had heard that the village head bought land to build a house. But who knew things would move so fast? The village head really did things quickly now.
They asked the builders and found out that it was going to be a brick house.
And they were going to build several rooms too.
That would cost a lot of silver!
But they didn't dare to ask. What if the village head didn't give them any face?
The village head now was not the same as before. They didn't want to cause trouble and suffer losses with no one to help them.
After all, above the village head was the county magistrate. But how could the county magistrate care about such small matters?
At most, he would just throw them out. If he didn't punish them with a beating, that would already be lucky.
So now, everyone only said good things.
They praised the village head for knowing how to live well. They said she was doing better and better and would surely lead the village to a better future.
No matter what they thought inside, they kept saying good things because it cost nothing.
Among the crowd were also Pan Li's two husbands.
Their lives were not good now.
After the villagers learned that their wife was the one who killed Leng Yun, the way people looked at them changed.
Some showed sympathy, some showed fear, and some were just glad it didn't happen to them.
Since the head of their family was gone, leaving only two lonely men behind, even though some villagers pitied them, most still kept a distance.
At first, they were heartbroken, but they still hoped their wife's body could be buried properly as soon as possible.
However, after searching the whole house, they realized there wasn't a single coin left.
They were scared and angry.
One of them wanted to go to Julie, the village head, to demand justice, saying their money was stolen. But the other quickly stopped him.
Both of them went silent.
It was true… The world had changed.
They no longer had the special treatment they used to enjoy.
When a new ruler comes to power, the people serving them change too. Besides, their wife had caused the death of the village head's mother.
Now, going to the village head would not help them at all. They would be lucky not to be treated badly.
So, they wiped away their tears and sold two acres of good farmland.
They hurriedly held a simple funeral for their wife.
The leftover silver, if spent carefully, could still support them for a while.
When Julie got home, Bailee had already finished cooking, Haven was setting the table, and Lorrie was talking to Xiao Hei (the little black dog)?
Julie was curious. How were the two of them communicating?
Holding back her curiosity, Julie quietly walked closer to them.
Then she heard someone complaining, which made her feel speechless.
"Xiao Hei, do you know how mean your master is? She's two years older than me. It's already bad enough that an old cow is eating young grass, but she always ignores me. And this morning was even worse. I was just standing outside her door, I didn't even knock or say anything, and she just walked away like I didn't exist. Hmph! Let's see if I care. If she's got guts, she better ignore me forever!" After saying this, he angrily kicked the ground twice.
Julie had been listening since he said the phrase "old cow eating young grass."
She felt a bit helpless but also thought it was acceptable.
A two-year difference wasn't that big.
Besides... he was still too young. She didn't have any special feelings for him yet.
With two tall, handsome, and gentle older brothers around, who would like a skinny little boy, especially one with such a fiery temper?
When Xiao Hei saw its master coming, it immediately wagged its tail and nodded, its eyes full of hope, begging her to save it.
It had been forced to listen to the little husband's endless complaints for almost half an hour.
It was being used like a tool horse, and it felt very tortured.
It barked twice, trying to show Lorrie its protest and suffering.
But the little husband thought it was agreeing with him and started talking even more excitedly.
Xiao Hei: "...…"
Lorrie followed Little Black's gaze and looked behind him.
He saw Julie standing there, calmly watching him.
He got so scared that he fell on his butt.
Talking behind someone's back naturally makes people feel guilty.
Julie didn't pay him any attention.
She walked over to Little Black, patted its head, fed it some grass, and spoke to it softly.
When Little Black rubbed its head against her hand and let out a few low whinnies, Julie finally pulled her hand back.
Lorrie wanted to say something to her but hesitated.
He hoped she would see him and start talking first, giving him a way to save face.
But Julie, after feeding the horse, just walked straight to the dining table in the main room.
She didn't even glance at him.
Lorrie's face turned red with anger and he felt a little wronged.
He thought, "I'm still young. Would it hurt her to comfort me a little?"
But he didn't know that Julie never even thought about it that way.
He was her little husband, not some little prince she had to spoil.
If he didn't try hard to please her, why should she go out of her way to comfort him?
He could just wait.
Haven saw his wife had come back and spoke gently, "Wife, you're back. I'll go get you some food, okay?" Was she hungry?
Actually, Julie wasn't very hungry.
But since the meal that morning had been so good, she was looking forward to dinner too.
Even if she didn't care much about food, she still had to admit that Bailee really had a talent for making simple ingredients taste delicious.
In ancient times, people usually ate two meals a day.
For dinner, they had potato slices cooked with pork cracklings, vegetables stir-fried in lard, and a soup made of peanuts and pig's trotters.
Julie picked up a small piece of pig's trotter. It was stewed until the cartilage was soft, and the hair was cleaned very well, so there was no bad smell. She thought it was quite good.
But compared to gnawing on pig's trotters, she preferred eating meat. She didn't like eating bones, so after eating one piece, she stopped.
The potatoes and vegetables tasted good too. The potatoes were soft and sweet, and the vegetables had the fragrance of meat, without any bitterness.
Julie ate a big bowl of rice and drank a bowl of soup before putting down her chopsticks and returning to her room.
Lorrie loved to eat. As soon as he got to the table, he grabbed pig's trotters with both hands and started munching.
Even though pig's trotters were cheap, their family rarely got to eat them before. After all, if you didn't buy pork from the butcher, why would they give you pig's trotters for free?
Back then, they couldn't afford pork. One jin (about 500g) cost thirteen wen, which was enough to buy several jin of coarse grains.
The pig's trotters tasted really good — full of flavor and melted in the mouth. Lorrie kept eating one after another, and soon, a small mountain of bones piled up next to his bowl.
He noticed that his older brothers hadn't eaten much.
He thought it was strange because the food was so delicious.
"Big Brother, Second Brother, hurry up and eat. If you wait too long, it won't be warm and tasty anymore." There was still a lot left; no need to let him eat it all.
Bailee saw how much Lorrie was eating and hesitated to say something.
He wanted to remind Lorrie not to eat too much because pig's trotters were good for breast development.
Even though they would need to nurse babies in the future, before getting pregnant, it was better to maintain a slim figure. That way, their wife would like them even more.
Both he and his second brother had kept their figures very well — their chests were flat but not too full.
But seeing Lorrie eat so happily, and thinking he was still young, Bailee decided that eating a little more once in a while was fine and let him be.
That night, when Lorrie went to sleep, he felt a little hot around his chest. He didn't think much of it. He thought maybe he had eaten too much and his clothes felt tight, so he tugged at his clothes and kept sleeping.
But a few days later... he realized that his chest... when he touched it... had started to grow.
But that's a story for another time.