An Jing and Xiao Changyi’s road happened to pass by the edge of An Village, and if the road was finished, the people of An Village could also use it. Compared to the previous narrow and steep path, this one was not only more convenient and faster but also safer.
The people of An Village had some conscience; seeing that the road would benefit them as it passed by their village, they all took up hoes and other tools to help with the construction instead of just standing by and watching.
When An Jing and Xiao Changyi saw this, they first exchanged glances before approaching Chief An Mancheng of An Village.
Chief An Mancheng was using a shovel to dig and help with the road construction.
"Chief An, what are you all doing?" An Jing asked as if she knew nothing about it.
Chief An Mancheng was a bit embarrassed but still he said, "You’re spending money to build this road, and we’ll definitely use it in the future. Everyone thought that if we can’t contribute money, we can at least contribute labor."
Although An Jing and Xiao Changyi were building the road for their own reasons, once it was completed, they didn’t intend for it to be used exclusively by themselves. If the people of An Village wanted to use it, they were fine with it.
After all, wasn’t the road built to be used by people?
"We don’t have any wages to pay you," An Jing felt that, regardless, it was better to speak clearly and make things transparent to avoid some shameless people coming to her later asking for wages.
She and her husband had already hired people, sixty of them.
Chief An Mancheng laughed and said, "Miss An Jing, I think I didn’t make myself clear earlier, and you misunderstood. We’ll be using this road in the future, and the effort we’re putting in is for ourselves, too. How could we possibly ask you for wages?"
An Jing also laughed, "With that said from you, Chief An, I can rest assured."
In other words, if anyone from An Village ever shamelessly came asking her for wages, she would come to him first.
Chief An Mancheng wasn’t foolish; he caught the meaning and chuckled awkwardly. There were indeed a few people in his village with rather unsavory characters—who might not have seemed so bad before, but as time passed and things improved, they became more distasteful.
With a supervisor present, An Jing and Xiao Changyi didn’t need to handle anything. They simply came out of the house because it was too boring to sit around and wanted to casually check on the road construction. Now that they had seen it, An Jing and Xiao Changyi headed back home.
As they walked back, Xiao Changyi took a bag of walnut kernels from his embrace and handed it to An Jing.
He had shelled the walnuts at home.
An Jing took some walnut kernels from the paper wrapping, then had Xiao Changyi wrap them back up and tuck them into his embrace before they continued home.
"Husband, you eat some, too." As An Jing ate the walnut kernels, she didn’t forget to feed them to Xiao Changyi.
And each time she offered, Xiao Changyi would open his mouth and eat them.
Just as the two had arrived home, they heard the approaching sound of a carriage. Soon after, An Jing and Xiao Changyi saw Wang Youbao appearing at the courtyard gate, holding in his hand a wooden box that looked somewhat like a lunchbox.
Before An Jing could speak, Wang Youbao laughed and said, "When I was coming over, I saw a lot of people constructing the road. I asked casually and found out it was you who were paying for its construction."
An Jing laughed too and said, "Well, I’m pregnant, and the road is too uneven. The ride in a carriage is too bumpy and my body can’t handle it, so my husband and I discussed it and decided to build a road."
"I figured as much." After Wang Youbao approached them, he continued, "I didn’t really have anything particular to do today when I came over. It’s just that I thought you might give these four bottles of honey to Miss Li."