He started by killing his abusive father, and from then on, he embarked on the road to wealth.

Chapter 20 4 down 3

Meng Ali was very popular among the elderly in the village.

His eldest and second eldest sisters disliked him because he was a boy and were unwilling to play with him. His mother was always busy, so he was bored and his favorite thing to do was to go to the village entrance and listen to the villagers talking.

He had big eyes and two dimples. Although he wasn't fair-skinned and was rather thin, he was irresistibly charming with his sweet smile. No elderly person in the village over fifty years old could resist him.

Of course, except for Second Grandma's house.

As dusk approached, Meng Ali rushed home with the latest intelligence from the village.

Before even entering the courtyard, she couldn't wait to call out in a drawn-out voice, "Mother—! Eldest sister—! Second sister—!"

The little guy had barely stepped into the yard when he tripped and fell flat on his face with a thud.

As soon as Shan Qiyu stepped out of the kitchen, she saw this scene. She was both annoyed and amused. She quickly went over and picked him up, patting the dirt off his body as she said, "How many times have I told you to walk properly? You just had to run. When you break a tooth and get a gap in your eye, Qing will be crying."

Meng Ali's eyes welled up with tears from the pain, and she covered her mouth in fright. She rolled her eyes and complained, "Mother, you're scaring a child. Even if a seven or eight-year-old loses a dog's tooth, it will grow back."

This kid was easier to fool when he was little.

Shan Qiyu could only ask, "What did you hear outside this time?"

Hearing the noise, Meng Fuqing and Meng Ranran came out of the house. Meng Ali turned her head and forgot the pain from the fall. She gestured wildly and said, "The old couple from the Sun family are fighting! They're fighting fiercely. Grandma Sun was so angry that she collapsed. Sun Dacheng is also sick with a cold! Three people in the family are sick. Doctor Zheng has been to the Sun family three times today!"

When people who bully their own people start fighting amongst themselves, who wouldn't feel a sense of satisfaction?

Meng Ranran laughed and said, "Serves them right! Who told them to bully us!"

Meng Ali nodded and hopped in agreement: "Yes, yes! Second Sister is right!"

Meng Fuqing watched this scene with a smile in his eyes.

"Alright, alright, it's fine for us to talk about it at home, but don't tell anyone outside. We'll leave them alone," Shan Qiyu said. "Go eat."

The remaining sorghum cakes were almost gone, and she had to go to town tomorrow no matter what. Even if the Sun family really did compensate them with grain, she still wanted to buy more.

Meng Fuqing was also thinking about what to buy next day after selling the ginseng.

Her storage space contained supplies related to 'clothing, food, and shelter' that the organization had stored up in the lead-up to the apocalypse. Those people must have looted a lot of large supermarkets, grain and oil warehouses, pharmacies, and bank vaults. There were also some firearms that she had acquired from who-knows-where.

She could understand robbing the vault; gold and silver could always be used as currency, and she lacked nothing in the apocalypse, so she rarely used them. Coming to ancient times, however, they would come in very handy.

As for her, she was always busy and would buy whatever she thought was useful, but what she hoarded most were cars and gasoline.

This means that one has everything one needs for clothing, food, shelter, and transportation.

Meng Fuqing felt frustrated; everything was complete, but taking it out had become a problem.

However, this problem is easy to solve. As long as there is money in the family's accounts, she can take things out of the space.

There was a knock on the courtyard gate right after we finished eating.

With one side of his face scratched and bleeding, Sun's father knocked on Shan Qiyu's door with a bitter and resentful expression.

If he hadn't angered the village chief, he could have gotten the chief to come with him, and Shan Qiyu wouldn't have refused him entry out of respect for the chief. It would have been easier to discuss things afterward. But now it was too late for regrets.

He waited anxiously for someone to open the door, and soon the gate was opened a crack.

"Grandpa, is there something you need at my house so late?" Meng Ali asked, tilting her little head up.

Mr. Sun forced a smile. "Oh, it's Ali. I've come to talk to your mother about something. Could you open the door and let Grandpa Sun in?"

"No way!" Meng Ali refused with a stiff face. "It's too late. I'm a boy. Grandpa can only see me at home, not my mother and sister. My eldest sister said that like father, like son, and vice versa. What if you end up like your son?"

Grandfather: ...

His face flushed red instantly, and he almost wanted to cover his face and leave. At his age, this was the first time he had been so humiliated by a child.

Just then, another voice rang out, "Ah Li, don't be rude."

Meng Fuqing opened the door. "Grandpa Sun, is there something you need so late? My mother hasn't been able to sleep these past two days and is feeling unwell, so she went to rest early. Please tell me what's on your mind."

Upon hearing this, Sun's father was almost speechless, but thinking of the mess at home, he gritted his teeth and said with a sullen face, "I came here this time because of the matter of ten bushels of grain."

He said in a trembling voice, "Qing'er, Grandpa Sun knows you're a sensible girl. In a famine year, the harvest from the fields is already low. If we give your family ten bushels of grain as compensation, we'll be left with nothing. Your Aunt Meixiang just had a miscarriage; how can we bear it if she goes hungry? Please, do me a favor and give us a little less grain, okay?"

Meng Fuqing had already guessed his intentions, but pretended to be embarrassed.

"Grandpa Sun, I won't go into the value of ginseng. You're so much older than me, and you've seen so much. You must know what I'm talking about. I dare say that what my family needs is more than enough."

We're from the same village, we see each other all the time, so we shouldn't be so petty. But regardless of whether my mother is innocent or not, this kind of thing will inevitably tarnish her reputation if word gets out. We, a widow and her child, have always lived peaceful lives; to be dragged into this mess for no reason—who wouldn't be angry?

Mr. Sun bowed and said yes repeatedly. In the late autumn weather, sweat beaded on his forehead. "Qing'er, how about this? Tomorrow I'll bring my good-for-nothing son to your door and make him apologize to your family. You can beat or scold him as you please. He's been spoiled rotten by his mother and doesn't know his place. This will teach him a lesson!"

Meng Fuqing smiled faintly, "Grandpa Sun, if I may presume to say something, it is the father's fault if his son is not taught properly. If a son is handed over to outsiders to be disciplined, and he loses his life, it will be the father who will suffer the most."

Mr. Sun was startled and looked up at the girl in front of him, only to find that she was still as well-behaved and harmless as before, as if she had just said it casually.

Cold sweat broke out on his back without him realizing it. He slowly calmed down, but the fear in his heart lingered.

"Don't worry, girl, I will definitely discipline that wretched child properly in the future."

Finally, Meng Fuqing reduced the grain price by 30% and gave him three days to pay it off. Sun's father dared not stay any longer and fled home as if his life depended on it.

That night, the sounds of sticks hitting flesh, Sun Dacheng's screams, and Sun's mother's pleas could be heard coming from the Sun family home.

The Sun family's neighbors had been listening to the noises from next door all day, and they were extremely annoyed. It was just a matter of someone climbing over the wall in the middle of the night, so why did it keep happening one after another?

Sun's father was the same; he had been a coward for half his life, but at the end, he stood up straight. It was strange, truly strange.

Her family doesn't get along with the Sun family, so she can't even go to their house to ask. She must be so worried!