Chapter 72: Skills
Twenty days later, Su Yaoguang took the whole family to the city to deliver goods.
She thought that after delivering the goods and receiving the remaining payment, she would take the whole family to a restaurant for a meal.
At that time, she would also call Zhou Wangshu out and introduce him to the others.
Su Yaoguang and Jiang Jing sat in front of the ox cart, steering it, while Zhang Zhaodi and others sat at the back, each carefully holding the cloth-wrapped packages.
All the bottles were made of porcelain; if they accidentally dropped or bumped them, the bottles would break, wasting the whole batch of goods.
Jiang Jing cautioned Su Yaoguang, "Yaoguang, I hear horse hooves. Should we pull aside?"
Su Yaoguang looked at the narrow path and said, "This path isn’t an official road, where would the horses come from? It must be the Jiang Family’s carriage."
"This path is quite narrow, we’d better be careful and keep a distance from the horses!" Jiang Jing reminded, still uneasy.
Su Yaoguang stopped the ox cart.
"What’s wrong?" Zhang Zhaodi asked.
"There’s a carriage coming, let’s make way for them."
Su Yaoguang handed the ox reins to Jiang Jing, let Jiang Jing sit where she was just now, while she stood by the roadside, feeding the ox with the grass nearby.
Zhang Zhaodi leaned there, muttering, "Our village has only one carriage. Pfft, look at how proud she is."
The carriage got closer and closer.
At this moment, the carriage was driven by Zhong Jianghe.
Zhong Jianghe was Zhong Lanhua’s nephew and Jiang Yihuan’s cousin.
Zhong Lanhua sat in the carriage, instructing Zhong Jianghe, "Hurry up, Jianghe, time is running out."
Zhong Jianghe caught sight of the ox cart and smirked confidently, "Don’t worry, Auntie, I understand."
The carriage sped forward.
As it brushed past the ox cart, the whip suddenly swung towards the ox.
However, before the whip could land on the ox, a strong hand grabbed the whip, and with a fierce tug, Zhong Jianghe was thrown out of the carriage.
"Ah ah ah... Zhong Jianghe, what are you doing?" Jiang Yihuan was shocked, her face pale, as there was no one controlling the carriage anymore.
Zhong Jianghe was flung into the nearby grass. He flew high and landed heavily with a thud, losing consciousness immediately.
The horse-drawn carriage continued to charge forward wildly without guidance.
"Help... help..." Jiang Yihuan and Zhong Lanhua screamed for help.
Zhang Zhaodi and others on the ox cart had been watching the carriage approach closely. They saw Zhong Jianghe’s attempt to whip their ox clearly. Needless to say, they also witnessed Su Yaoguang’s swift actions.
When Zhong Jianghe aimed the whip at the ox, they were already sweating. In the end, the whip didn’t even touch the ox, and the perpetrator got a taste of his own medicine first.
"I’ve heard that my brother-in-law is immensely strong. Could it be that Yaoguang inherited his skills?" Wang Huanzhi remarked, "Truly, women can be just as formidable as men."
Zhang Zhaodi proudly replied, "Stop praising her. A girl with such great strength—it’s lucky she has a husband now; otherwise, no one would dare marry her."
"Cousin, how did you know they would cause trouble?" Jia Chunni asked.
"I didn’t know." Su Yaoguang returned to the ox cart, standing tall and looking at the commotion ahead. "I was just being cautious. If they had no ill intentions, we would be alright. But if they intentionally sought trouble, I could react in time. This path isn’t an official road, there aren’t that many carriages. Our village only has one carriage. They have grudges with us, and finding fault when given a chance is only natural."
"I don’t want to think of them as bad, but those mother and daughter, no, not just them, all four in that family are not good people. In the future, if you meet Zhong Lanhua’s mother and daughter, Jiang Yihui, or that man they bought, don’t believe a word they say; the farther you stay away from them, the better."
Su Yaoguang steered the ox cart forward again.
They soon saw the stopped carriage.
Now it was no longer a carriage because the horse had run off to who knows where, leaving only the carriage. The carriage had crashed into the mountain wall, completely shattered.
Zhong Lanhua crawled out of the carriage, dragging Jiang Yihuan out with her.
"Huan’er, are you alright?"
"Didn’t I tell you not to mess around?" Jiang Yihuan touched the wound on her forehead angrily, "You almost got us killed."
Zhong Lanhua frowned, displeased, "Am I the mother or are you? Who talks to their mother like this? It’s not like I wanted this to happen, but it was because of..."
Zhong Lanhua and Jiang Yihuan had both been inside the carriage, pretending to know nothing, so they hadn’t peeked outside to check the situation.
They thought the accident was due to Zhong Jianghe’s incompetence. Before leaving, Zhong Lanhua knew the Su Family was delivering goods today and planned to sabotage them, rendering their hard work wasted. Precisely because they were up to no good today, she had brought her nephew along. After all, these things weren’t suited for outsiders to know.
Zhong Jianghe always followed Zhong Lanhua’s instructions because Zhong Lanhua always supported the Zhong Family. The Zhong Family could barely make ends meet because of her support.
Zhong Lanhua had made her intentions clear to Zhong Jianghe, so he purposefully sped up, intending to crash the carriage into the ox cart.
If the horse-drawn carriage and ox cart collided on the path, it could easily be claimed as an accident. But no one expected that incompetent fool not only failed to crash into the ox cart but threw himself out, scaring the mother and daughter half to death.
"Where’s the horse? That horse was worth dozens of taels of silver. Hurry and find it!" Jiang Yihuan fumed.
Jiang Yihuan’s image in the village was always gentle and considerate; if her followers saw her now, who knows how many hearts would break?
As the ox cart passed the mother and daughter, Su Yaoguang waved at them and said, "We’ll be moving on; you take your time finding the horse!"
"Hurry up, that big boss is getting impatient," Zhang Zhaodi urged.
"Exactly, we’re short on time, let’s go." Su Yaoguang flicked the whip, guiding the ox cart. "Ox, take your time, don’t mimic some fools running blindly!"
Jiang Yihuan watched Su Yaoguang and the others leave, stomping in anger.
"Huan’er, your forehead... won’t it scar?" Zhong Lanhua pointed at her forehead.
Jiang Yihuan’s face turned pale, even angrier, "It’s all your fault. I’m done; you and Zhong Jianghe find that horse. I’m going back to see Doctor Lin for treatment. I can’t afford to have scars on my face, or how will I marry well?"
"Right, you go back for treatment first, Jianghe and I will find the horse. Where is Jianghe?" Zhong Lanhua started looking for Zhong Jianghe, finding him in the grass where he had landed earlier.