"Grandpa, I don’t intend to send out this sugarcane cultivation just yet."
Seeing that Old Yang wanted to speak, Yang Chuxia quickly stopped him, "I’ve managed to grow and harvest this sugarcane, but as for the next step, whether to sell it or do something else with it, I haven’t quite figured that out. And even if I decided to sell it, I wouldn’t know who to sell it to or where to sell it. I have no connections at all. If I rashly let my fourth aunt grow sugarcane with me, and the harvest ends up rotting at home, who would take the blame?"
Old Yang listened and agreed with her logic. He chuckled, "Hmm, Xiaxia, you are right to be cautious. Just decide the matter on your own. You are free to do as you wish with what you have grown. Not involving your fourth aunt in this does not mean you are being selfish."
"Shut up!" Old Yang glared at her, "You don’t even know the baby’s gender yet, and yet you just can’t stop your babbling. If you don’t end up having a son, you’ll be ridiculed."
Seeing Old Yang scolding Ms. Luo, Yang Chuxia stepped forward, feigning a hurt expression. She clung to her grandpa’s arm and mumbled, "Grandpa, please reason with my fourth aunt. Who would believe that she’s been speaking to me ? She’s saying that my refusal to let her grow sugarcane with me is heartless. Grandpa, I had to beg people to bring this sugarcane plant from the border, spending quite a lot. Why should I take her in and let her reap the benefits?"
Seeing the crowd still around, she seized the moment to emphasize her point. "Oh, and just because she paid me a small sum for the sugarcane seeds, she thinks that she’s not taking advantage of me? But who will repay the favors I still owe? Who will compensate for the large sums of money I spent? My fourth aunt sure knows how to please others. Does she think that all she needs to do is ask, and I’ll give her everything?"
Of course, Yang Chuxia wasn’t just addressing Old Yang and Ms. Luo. She was also sending a message to everyone in the village. She wanted them all to know just how much she had put into this project.
Otherwise, they might assume that since they’ve paid for the seeds, they don’t owe her anything.
In addition, she didn’t want them thinking that every time she introduced a new crop, they could automatically count on her to include them. If that assumption became common, and she decided not to include them sometime in the future, they would brand her as heartless. She knew too well the principle that a favor brings gratitude, but an obligation incurs resentment.
Old Yang didn’t have as much to ponder over, but he agreed that she made sense.
"Hmm, you’re right. Your fourth aunt was out of line. If she wants to join in, she should have discussed it nicely with you. What kind of behavior was that, causing such a fuss in her niece’s house?" Old Yang paused for a moment, then assured, "Don’t worry, I’ll talk to your fourth uncle about this. It’s totally inappropriate for his wife to be making a scene ."
Afterward, Old Yang really did give Yang Xiaochuan and Ms. Luo a good scolding.
Normally, Ms. Luo and Yang Xiaochuan wouldn’t put up with such a talking-to from Old Yang, but they were wary of being kicked out by him, so they managed to bear it each time.
On the bright side, Ms. Luo’s commotion had deterred others in the village who also had questions about the sugarcane from approaching Yang Chuxia. As a result, unlike when she started growing sweet potatoes, she didn’t have to handle a swarm of people all at once.
Once the sugarcane was harvested and the other crops were being collected, she had nothing major on her hands. Most of her time was spent supervising the construction of her house.
In her free time during the evenings, she pulled out the old almanac to estimate when Ye Zi’an would return.
As she saw that more than twenty days had passed and Ye Zi’an still hadn’t returned, Yang Chuxia began to grow anxious.
Perhaps it was because she had been talking about it so much lately, or she had been thinking about it too often, that she actually began experiencing auditory hallucinations. She thought she heard Xiu’er say that the young master was back.