Chapter 167 – Slander

Uncle Ji was very attached to the orchard. After returning home, Aunt Li asked him, “How is the orchard?”

“If nothing bad happens, we should be successful.” Uncle Ji nodded.

Although it was not his orchard anymore, he hoped that it would be successful. After all, it was his nephew’s, and he only took it over because he was his uncle. Two other families wanted to transfer their orchards to Jianyun, but Jianyun didn’t want it.

He was a man with a lot of feelings.

However, Aunt Li was different. When she heard him, she said with stress, “I told you to keep trying again, but you just didn’t listen. Look, didn’t Jianyun just plant some trees? Our family lost more than 100 yuan on those fruit saplings!”

Although Ji Jianyun was kind and paid all the costs for taking over the land from Uncle Ji directly, he did not take over the loss from the fruit seedlings. He would not let his kindness go that far.

It was fine being nice, but if he was too nice, others would take him for granted. It would produce the opposite desired results.

Thus, Ji Jianyun did not take over the loss from the fruit seedlings.

“What are you trying to say? Don’t say that again!” Uncle Ji frowned.

Aunt Li still didn’t accept it. “I’m telling the truth! If we didn’t give up at that time, we could have been running the orchard!”

Uncle Ji said, “Right now I can earn 30 yuan a month. I can earn back what we lost from the saplings in a couple of months. Also, our family has planted a lot of sweet potatoes this year. We can sell it for a lot of money. If you don’t accept it, I will be ashamed to do this job.”

“What do you mean ashamed? You are his uncle. How can he dare to think of making you resign?” Aunt Li exclaimed immediately.

Uncle Ji didn’t bother to talk to her.

How could Aunt Li not know what the orchard’s progress had been so far? She went to see it. From one glance, she knew the saplings were growing well and it didn’t take long. Her family worked themselves to death over the land, so she felt that it must be growing well because they had taken care of the land before. Otherwise, it would not have been that fast.

Even if Jianyun’s wife brought prosperity, it was impossible to make it happen so fast.

Because of how unconvinced she was, she went back and gossiped about it.

The village was only so big, so what secrets were there? *

The gossip spread to Mother Ji almost immediately. The anger in Mother Ji’s heart was burning.

If she had not endured it, she would have barreled through the door and beaten her to death. When she was young, even her sisters-in-law were beaten by her.

However, now, Mother Ji has changed the way she did things. She didn’t bother to lower herself to that woman’s level. Instead, she was going to change who was hired for picking fruit.

After all, the orchard required people to pick fruit. It was going to happen sooner or later. Last year, Aunt Li had a spot. This year, the entire family didn’t get a spot, including her daughter-in-law.

Ji Jianchuan heard from his wife later that his mother had spoken badly about Jianyun.

Immediately, anger rose on his face.

Although he was working for Ji Jianyun, his cousin, he didn’t feel humiliated. It was the opposite. He treasured the job a lot.

After a busy day, he could still work on his own field. The 30 yuan salary per month was always paid on time. It was never late. There were also many bonus things given during the holidays.

Besides the New Year celebrations, this was a busy strawberry season for Mother Ji. Occasionally, he was asked to bring some back for his children to eat. Although these strawberries were not pretty, they were still edible and tasted decent.

The children liked it a lot. They would go up the mountain to help pick strawberries, and sometimes they came home with eggs.

He thought it was a good way to live. After saving some money, he planned on renovating the yard. His two children were not young, and they should have their own rooms.

But he never thought that his mother would be eyeing the orchard’s success after Jianyun took over and be so jealous that she would go out and speak ill of Jianyun.

That day, Ji Jianchuan went home. When he arrived, his father was fighting with his mother. With the way his mother was acting, it was obvious that she was not convinced.

Ji Jianchuan said, “Mother, if Jianyun’s orchard becomes successful, it can only be said that it was fate. Before that, Jianhe, father, and I worked to death like dogs every day. We had no way to make the orchard successful. Also, before father wanted to give the mountain away, and you agreed to it. Right now you are making things hard for me and father.”

“Making things hard? If our orchard was successful, would you and your father be working for him?” Aunt Li snorted coldly.

“Even if the orchard was not successful, there’s no way I can find a job that’s as good as what Jianyun offered. Father and I earn 60 yuan a month, that’s more than 700 yuan a year. And we also get New Year gifts. When it was our orchard, we never made as much as that,” Ji Jianchuan said.

What he didn’t say was that they would never even make 50% of that. It would be more like 2% over a year.

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“Don’t be so hypnotized by him. If this orchard was successful, it would be worth so much more! And we can raise our own chickens on the mountain. Think of how much we can earn all the time!” Aunt Li retorted.

“What do you want to do? Do you want to ask Jianyun to return the orchard?” Uncle Ji said with an annoyed look.

“It would be better if he did return the orchard to us. I acknowledge him as my nephew. If he doesn’t, then hmph!” Aunt Li exclaimed coldly.

Uncle Ji sneered, “Then don’t acknowledge him. I’m telling you now, this is the last time. If you dare to go out and talk nonsense again, you will pack your things and go to the western slope. My temple can’t accommodate you being such a big god!”

Aunt Li looked stunned. “How dare you drive me back! Who am I doing this for? You have no conscience!”

“Don’t make any more trouble, or else father will have no dignity to help manage the mountain. If that happens, mother, you will probably be happy about it!” Ji Jianchuan warned and went back. It looked like he would not have to pay for his mother’s living expenses in the future. In the future, he would just leave his mother to her own after trying to start some trouble!

This matter also came to Su Danhong through Wang Honghua and Li Yucui. Su Danhong found out.

Wang Honghua and Li Yucui were both angry. “And what about the other two families in the village with orchards? They can’t give it to someone else even if they wanted to. She was jealous when she saw that the orchard was becoming successful. How cheap is she to want it back?”

“It’s impossible to take it back. It’s written in black and white. But if it ends up in a fight, it won’t end well. When Jianyun comes back this evening, I’ll ask him to go visit his uncle’s place,” Su Danhong said indifferently.

Truthfully, she had already thought about these things when they took over the orchard.

They were not successful with the orchard when it was in their own hands, but it was successful in someone else’s hands. With the way Aunt Li was, how could she not have her own opinions?

But she could just keep her opinions to herself. If she wanted to spread slander everywhere, then Su Danhong wouldn’t respond positively!