Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside-Chapter 97 - 0 Visitors

Lu Laosan was annoyed that the old lady had not called for the Gu Family People, so he personally led two servants from his house, along with He Dacai and eight ruffians from He Shanwa to Gu Jinli’s house.

He Sanlai did not come; Gu Jinli must have scared him off, causing him to hide.

Lu Laosan, of average height and in his thirties, had a clean-shaven face and wore an ostentatious red long coat. He held a hand warmer in his hand as he entered the courtyard of Gu Jinli’s house.

Two servants also carried a Taishi Chair, placing it in the courtyard for Lu Laosan to sit on.

After sitting down, Lu Laosan looked at the families gathered in the courtyard and scoffed, getting straight to the point: "I heard you folks have been making tofu? The officials at the county government are already aware of this. Now, the County Governor has relayed a message asking you to hand over the tofu recipe and the spice blend recipe to the county. This is a rare opportunity to prove your worth, so be sensible about this."

After Lu Laosan finished speaking, one of his servants stepped forward and directly pleaded with Third Grandpa: "Elder Gu, please hand over the recipe."

Seeing how arrogant Lu Laosan was, the families were trembling with anger.

Gu Dalin, being impulsive and intolerant, slapped the servant’s hand away and angrily retorted, "Why should we hand over our recipe to the County Governor?"

Lu Laosan frowned and corrected him, "The recipe is not for the County Governor; it is for the county. The officials think highly of your recipe, believing it can benefit the local populace, which is why they want you to hand it over."

Lu Laosan spoke righteously, even invoking all the county officials, causing Gu Jinli to chuckle before she stepped forward and asked, "If it’s really the county officials who want the recipe, why didn’t they send a clerk or a government official to fetch it?"

Mrs. Chen saw the tofu business as very important and, although originally afraid of the Lu Family, couldn’t help but protest, "Yeah, if it’s the county that wants the recipe, why didn’t they send someone instead of having the Lu Family come to demand it?"

Standing on her tiptoes and craning her neck, Mrs. Chen pressed, "Is this really the county’s request, or does your Lu Family want to snatch it?" She didn’t buy it; they had known since yesterday that the Lu Family wanted the recipe.

Lu Laosan did not expect these families to confront him openly and was furious. He sternly threatened, "The recipe is requested by the county officials, and my Lu Family has ties with the County Governor. Since we’re from the same village, the county entrusted this matter to our family. However, not only do you refuse to hand over the recipe, but you also dare to slander the Lu Family. That is a grave crime, and we can have you arrested and investigated by the government!"

The villagers were afraid of the authorities. In the past, when the Lu Family wanted something, simply invoking the County Governor’s name would frighten the commoners into submission, handing over whatever the Lu Family desired.

Lu Laosan thought, though these families were difficult to deal with, being merely country bumpkins, they would surely fear the officials. With this intimidation, they would surely capitulate and hand over the recipes.

However, Gu Jinli retorted, "I’ve only ever heard of slandering the royal family leading to being arrested and sentenced. May I ask, Young Master Lu San, is your Lu Family part of the royal family?" Impersonating someone important, are we?

The country folk feared the officials, but they feared the royal family even more. Lu Laosan didn’t dare to respond to that, as doing so could lead to the serious crime of family extermination.

Yet he was infuriated that Gu Jinli, a mere child, dared to contradict him like this. Pointing at Gu Jinli, he shouted, "A snotty brat, what right do you have to speak here? Get out; this is an adult’s matter."

Fearing that Lu Laosan might allow his servants to harm Gu Jinli, Qin San Lang stepped forward to shield her and took the opportunity to say, "Since you claim that the county entrusted the Lu Family to ask for the recipe, there should be official documents. Show us the documentation from the county so we can see for ourselves."

Elder Qin nodded and added, "San Lang is correct. Young Master Lu San, please present the county’s documents for us to review. If it’s legitimate, we may discuss and consider handing over the recipe to the county."

Where would Lu Laosan have any documents? He was merely using the authority of the county officials to pressure these families into obediently handing over their recipes.

He immediately furled his rage, and with a loud bang, he smashed the hand warmer he was holding onto the ground, threatening, "A bunch of troublemakers dare to defy the orders from county officials, wait to have your houses searched and be thrown into jail!"

Saying this, he looked towards He Dacai and some ruffians gesturing them to act, to smash the Gu Family’s property.

In plain words, He Dacai and these ruffians are essentially thugs raised by the Lu Family, specifically used to deal with people in the village who don’t obey the Lu Family. Since these ruffians are from the He Family, even if they get caught, Village Chief He, looking at his own nephews, wouldn’t treat them harshly.

"Brothers, the Gu Family dares to defy the orders from the county officials, this will bring disaster to our village, let’s not be polite, smash the Gu Family’s house to vent the anger of the county’s officials."

As soon as He Dacai’s words finished, He Shanwa and a few ruffians rolled up their sleeves, ready to start wrecking the Gu Family’s house.

Gu Jinli had already drawn his dagger, planning to severely slash these few ruffians. Before either side could make a move, a few children’s voices came from outside the courtyard: "Those who fled the famine are living here, quickly give us candy."

Besides the voices of the children, there was also the clanging sound of a mule cart passing by.

"Are these the families who sold tofu in the town on Lantern Festival?" A young male voice asked worriedly.

The kids responded impatiently, "We don’t know what tofu you’re talking about. But these families have been going to town carrying loads every day to sell stuff, it must be them, hurry and give us candy, are you trying to cheat us?"

"Alright, alright, here’s candy for each one of you."

"Woohoo, we got candy to eat, we got candy to eat." The kids received the caramel and joyfully ran off.

After a while, a young man in a blue cotton-padded jacket, about seventeen or eighteen years old, came to the entrance of Gu Jinli’s house and called out, "Is this the family that sold tofu in the town..." Gu’s family?

Before he could finish the sentence, seeing the tense group of people in the courtyard, he was stunned and then immediately turned around and ran.

Not long after, that young man and a middle-aged man came back to the outside of the Gu family courtyard. Upon clearly seeing the situation inside the courtyard, the middle-aged man immediately asked, "What is the cause of the dispute here?"

Seeing this man, Lu Laosan frowned, and the Lu family’s servant said, "These families have offended the county’s officials, we are teaching them a lesson, who are you? Don’t meddle in other people’s affairs."

The middle-aged man frowned upon hearing this, he looked towards Third Grandpa and asked, "Have you offended the county’s officials?"

Mrs. Chen quickly blurted out angrily, "They are talking nonsense, our families have not offended any county officials, it’s them from the Lu family who came to steal our tofu recipe."

Stealing the recipe?

The middle-aged man’s frown deepened even more.

"Who exactly are you? Get lost quickly, don’t meddle in other people’s affairs, otherwise I’ll beat you up too!" He Dacai raised his fist and threatened.

Upon hearing this, the young man angrily said, "Our family’s Old Master is a Scholar from the twenty-sixth year of Jingwu, holding an official position, let’s see who dares to hit us!"

Upon hearing this, He Dacai and his ruffians were startled. This frail-looking middle-aged man turned out to be a Scholar, someone you cannot hit. If a commoner assaults a Scholar with an official position, it could lead to imprisonment.