Chapter 117
"My friend is infatuated with you, and he said he was almost your husband. So, every day at noon, he would sneak out to secretly watch you."
"I-I knew about this and tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t listen. Every ti, he would just quietly watch you. He never did anything more than that. But I don’t know why this happened to him this ti. The holy spirits around must have seen what he intended to do. But... but I never intended to harm you."
The man confessed all his and his friend’s wrongdoings. The hired workers from various villages were shocked. Though everyone acknowledged Yueqian’s beauty and many liked to admire her beauty, no one had ever crossed the line like this.
Working for her household, getting paid by her, and yet still harboring dishonest intentions toward her?
Perhaps it was only right that he was punished by a curse, a curse that couldn’t be cured. Even the physician couldn’t determine the cause. If it hadn’t been for the old woman revealing the truth, no one would have ever known what had happened, right?
"Y... You. Why would you two think like this? I am a married woman, and yet you two still..." Yueqian expressed as if she was sad and disappoint.
The two children felt deeply sorry for their sister-in-law. They knew she was beautiful, and their big brother always warned them that so people might have bad intentions towards her.
However, as children, they never imagined soone could be so obsessed. Every day, this person would sneak to watch their sister-in-law, and they had no idea what malicious intent led to his curse from the heavens on the latest day.
"Sister-in-law, don’t worry. I will protect you," Xiao Long said.
"Huan’er too. I won’t let anyone harm you, Sister-in-law." The two little ones comforted their beloved sister-in-law. Receiving the courage from the two, Yueqian smiled beautifully at them.
"Thank you both so much." Seeing the house owner’s performance, the head contractor felt even more guilty.
He looked at everyone and then spoke earnestly.
"Regarding the construction of the shed, let’s start early tomorrow and finish it within the day. I don’t want anything like this to happen again. Besides, the work is almost complete. This incident has caused our employer great distress, and we should take responsibility for it together." When the head contractor said, everyone imdiately agreed with him.
They felt guilty for being associated with soone so despicable. Previously, they had received much kindness from the young woman. The lunch they ate until they were full—they didn’t even want to think about how much it cost per al.
And before going ho, if anyone wanted to take so vegetables for cooking, she would generously let them take so.
Where else could they find such a kind employer? They couldn’t believe sothing so vile had happened to her.
"Mu Heng’s wife, we will take our leave for today. I apologize for almost causing trouble for you. However, we will ensure the work is completed tomorrow, and no one will dare bother you again. No..., if anyone tries, I believe they will be cursed justly for their thoughts," the head contractor stated firmly.
He no longer pitied the sick man; he only felt contempt and disgust. Nevertheless, they helped carry the man back to his ho.
Even the family of the man, once they learned the reason behind his illness, felt ashad and left the sick man to endure greater hardship.
It was a struggle that made him realize he should never have done such a thing in the first place. However, by the ti he realized his mistake, it was too late to change anything.
Rumors about the appearance of the old woman with divine eyes spread once more, but this ti they were more widespread. Especially in the village where Yueqian lived, everyone had seen her and the children perform rituals and prayers to the Buddha statue she brought from the capital. Initially, no one paid much attention, but after this incident, they were all deeply frightened.
Such supernatural events already tended to fuel rumors, and since this was the old woman’s second words—following her previous warning about the disaster that ca with the water which had saved many lives—her words were considered highly credible.
Previously, many people had been ddling around Yueqian’s house. So shalessly stole vegetables around her house. Yueqian had never complained about it. But after hearing about the severe curse that turned soone into a cripple, no one wanted to go near Yueqian’s house anymore.
There were even rumors that Mu Heng had beco more devout Buddhist. He had set up an altar in front of his house, where visitors had to pay respects before quickly leaving.
It was said that Yueqian prayed for Mu Heng when he went to help the soldiers hunt down bandits, which resulted in him sustaining the least injuries and surviving. This increased his faith twofold.
Who would have known that Yueqian’s actions this ti were actually using people’s beliefs to make this ho seem more intimidating? She rely wanted to deal with those with ill intentions, using these supernatural tales to keep people away from her house territory.
In the future, once she converted the shed into a ans of communication with the Art Institute, she couldn’t afford to let too many people into her property. Even though she had placed families from five households around her house, it might still not be enough.
However, after such unverifiable events beca involved, it naturally made people even more afraid and reluctant to co near. This would make keeping secrets much easier, and in the future..., if anyone with ill intentions approached, Yueqian wouldn’t mind setting traps.
From now on, if anyone else beca disabled, no one would question why. Everyone would imdiately understand that the person had entered her house with bad intentions and was cursed.
"This rumor has spread, and people believe it. Soon, the shed will be ready. The only thing left is to talk with all five families to make sure they have the sa understanding, right?" Mu Heng asked his wife after seeing her prepare many things in the house.
"Yes, Husband. We just need to talk with them, selecting one representative weekly to guard the shed and maintain the area. As for the others, we need to assign them tasks to help manage the other shops, which have beco much busier."
With the arrival of the Art Institute, scholars enjoyed visiting the Art Institute across the market, which also had beco lively. The Art Institute had a thod for attracting many people, which allowed the surrounding shops Yueqian bought to finally turn a profit.
However, Yueqian’s shops were not typical. She elevated them to seem slightly more upper-class. For instance, the food was priced higher than usual. While not as expensive as food in the capital, it was still considered high for common villagers. The clothes were also of high quality, accessible only to the upper class. In other words... her business didn’t need to make a profit; it was simply different from typical comrce.
There might be a few ambitious individuals who ca to buy and sell, but they were a minority. On the surface, it seed like a business that was losing money. However, behind these trades, there were other types of work being carried out by them.
Now, with the shops showcasing that they only purchased high-end goods, the real business behind the scenes was the collection of rare herbs from the city. They purchased them at high prices. Additionally, they operated an intelligence-gathering business. Yueqian had to ensure everything was flawless because she aid to control everything behind the surrounding city, all for her safety whenever she secretly returned to the city.
"It’s true that they might be trustworthy, but their capabilities..." Mu Heng pondered.
It seed that his natural leadership qualities were gradually revealing themselves. One of a leader’s skills is selecting the right people for the right tasks, just as he imdiately knew he had to side with the foreign Wang during the crisis brought by the Young General. Mu Heng was a visionary, so he couldn’t trust the five families to manage all their operations and secrets.
Even though these people might be loyal enough to sacrifice their lives rather than reveal their secrets, they wouldn’t be able to handle even basic problems if sothing happened.
Moreover, these individuals were not literate or nurate. It would seem odd to choose them as workers. Besides, what Yueqian planned to do appeared to involve more than just running high-end shops. This made the situation even more complicated, didn’t it?
"It’s true as you said. But those people will only act as representatives. As for the ones actually managing the operations, I’ve already discussed it with Brother Yuandong. He will send people from the Art Institute to oversee everything from behind the scenes. With only a few small shops, we don’t need many people. This is an easy task for them." Since the Art Institute staff were already present to oversee the business, it was just a matter of adding the task of overseeing the surrounding small shops. That wouldn’t be a problem at all.
"Because we can’t openly show our personal association with the Art Institute, the shop owner still needs the villagers as managing representatives," Yueqian explained further. Upon hearing this, although Mu Heng didn’t like that his wife had to rely everything on the Art Institute, his current position couldn’t offer her any support.
He hoped that once he had power and wealth, he could establish his own trusted people and no longer need to look for the Art Institute people. They should have so operations not controlled by the Art Institute. It wasn’t that he distrusted them; he just felt that every move his little wife made was under the scrutiny of others, like Wu Yuandong.
As her husband, he couldn’t be the person this little young woman could rely on. She needed to consult everything with Wu Yuandong, an outsider. He wasn’t satisfied with his own capabilities in this regard.
"If you’re ready, then once the shed is completed, let’s call the five families together," Mu Heng didn’t oppose. By now, the five families had built their houses around them. Although these were just small houses that didn’t raise any suspicions among people, they functioned like a fortress in each of the five directions, effectively preventing those who wanted to enter or exit.
At the very least, they would receive a warning from the ringing bells before anything happened.
This was a signal they had agreed upon. If anyone passed by the surrounding houses, they would ring the bells as a warning. If Mu Heng and Yueqian were doing sothing secretive, they could hide everything and act as if nothing was happening. This effectively added an extra layer of security for them.
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