Chapter 51 Pockmark Zhang is a good man!

Old Lady Ma was dumbfounded.
"Third Brother Zhao, what... what are you doing?"
Mahuzi's wife was also stunned. "Old Zhao, have you lost your mind?"
The surrounding villagers all stared with wide eyes.
"Silver! Third Brother Zhao actually pulled out this much silver!"
Zhao Zheng declared, "Everyone knows that Mahuzi and I were like brothers. When Mahuzi was stung to death by killer bees, I felt heartbroken, so today I went specifically to avenge him."
"I wiped out the entire hive of killer bees, and then sold the bees and their pupae to Constable Yao. It fetched a whole tael of silver in total!"
Old Lady Ma, Mahuzi's wife, and his son all looked at Zhao Zheng in disbelief.
"Then... then why are you giving the silver to my family?" Mahuzi's wife asked with a trembling voice.
"Mahuzi and I were as close as real brothers. Since something happened to him, I naturally have to help take care of his family!" Zhao Zheng said righteously. "The one tael of silver from selling the bees was an overpayment by Constable Yao; these bees are worth at most two or three hundred wen. I'm giving you half, please don't look down on it..."
Learning why Zhao Zheng was giving them the silver, Old Lady Ma shed tears of emotion. She grasped Zhao Zheng's hand and said, "Mahuzi had so many friends, but not a single one was a true friend. Only you are a true friend to Mahuzi. I never expected you to be so loyal and righteous!"
Mahuzi's wife said to her son, "Hurry, kowtow to your Uncle Zhao!"
Thud!
Mahuzi's son delivered three loud kowtows consecutively.
The onlookers felt a mixture of envy that the Ma family had effortlessly acquired half a tael of silver, and a secret mockery of Zhao Zheng for lacking brains, giving away silver the moment he earned it.
Of course, some also thought Zhao Zheng was a man of honor. "Old Zhao, I look at you in a whole new light!"
"No wonder Mahuzi always liked to hang out with you when he was alive!"
"Third Brother Zhao, you're a real stand-up guy!"
Zhao Zheng shook his head, helped Mahuzi's son up, and said to Old Lady Ma, "Auntie, if you run into any difficulties in the future, just come to me and don't be shy at all."
"Ah, okay!" Old Lady Ma nodded, tears falling. She had been consumed by grief over the past two days, and she hadn't expected to find a shred of solace here with Zhao Zheng.
Everyone had mocked Mahuzi for being lazy and associating with a bunch of fair-weather friends, but now Third Brother Zhao had completely slapped all their faces.
At this moment, Zhao Zheng became the absolute center of attention for everyone.
Of course, he could have kept the entire tael of silver for himself, but what if Yao Xiong asked about it out of idle curiosity?
Wouldn't all his hard work have been for nothing?
And wouldn't it make the other party think of him as a slick-tongued hypocrite?
Sacrificing his persona for half a tael of silver was a losing deal.
However, the effect was exceptional. This new persona would be the first step in building his reputation.
Looking at Mahuzi lying on the wooden board, his entire body covered in postmortem lividity, he couldn't help thinking to himself: *Mahuzi, you burned yourself to illuminate others. Truly, you are a great man!*
After Zhao Zheng left the Ma household, the matter spread like wildfire.
Everyone was talking about it.
When the news reached the Wang family, Wang Dazhi cursed angrily at home, "Damn Third Brother Zhao, flashing so much cash while only throwing out fifteen wen! He's made the whole village point fingers at me for selling my daughter!"
Old Lady Wang also gnashed her teeth. "That damned stingy Zhao is utterly shameless! No, we can't let him off the hook like this; we must make him cough up more money!"
Old Wang sat on the brick-bed. "Our granddaughter is already sold, and the money is given. Are you going to rob the Zhao household? Third Brother Zhao has a good relationship with the village elders, and they will definitely side with him. Best not to stir up trouble anymore!"
The Wang family was already being reviled by everyone; sticking their necks out to envy Third Brother Zhao at a time like this?
Weren't they afraid of being cursed to death?
Besides, Third Brother Zhao had both avenged Mahuzi and given silver to the Ma family, winning praise from the entire village. Could they possibly win against that?
Old Lady Wang asked, "Then what should we do? Just let it go like this?"
Wang Dazhi stubbornly replied, "We definitely can't just let it go."
Old Wang thought for a moment. "We'd better figure out how to deal with Yueying when she comes back..."
The news also reached the Li family.
Old Lady Li was consumed with jealous rage as she looked at her daughter-in-law, who was nursing a baby on the bed. "The stingy Zhao has money now. You hurry over to the Zhao house today and eat your fill, eat him into poverty!"
Zheng Chunmei felt a secret surge of envy, but hearing those words, she felt ten thousand times reluctant.
She had already humbled herself enough.
Yet after being pointedly scolded as shameless by Zhao Zheng, no matter how thick-skinned she was, she couldn't bring herself to go over there again.
"I don't want to go. His daughter-in-law doesn't like me and gives me dirty looks every day," Zheng Chunmei said.
"Is it his daughter-in-law who calls the shots in his house, or the stingy Zhao?" Old Lady Li said with a dark face. "How much is your pride worth? Getting your money's worth in food is what matters! Let me tell you, there isn't much grain left at home. Either you go borrow from your maiden family, or you go eat at the stingy Zhao's place. Otherwise, starting tomorrow, your half-bowl will be cut in half again!"
Zheng Chunmei's chest was already aching fiercely from Sanya's biting, and hearing this made her ache even more with anger. Thinking of Third Brother Zhao's attitude toward his daughter-in-law, and then thinking of her own mother-in-law—both were elders, so why was the gap between them so vast?
"Mother, are you really not afraid of starving me to death?"
"You won't starve. Back in the day, I ate once every two days, and didn't I still hold this family together?" Old Lady Li said sternfully. "Anyway, I don't care; the portions for Erdan and me cannot be reduced!"
Zheng Chunmei felt bitter and aggrieved, yet she had no other choice.
In the end, she compromised and said helplessly, "Fine, fine, I'll go. Won't I go?"
"Hmph, that's more like it. If we don't eat back those three catties of millet, this old lady won't be reconciled!" Old Lady Li said angrily.
"Mother, hold Sanya, I'm going to boil some water!"
"What are you boiling water for? Firewood isn't easy to gather, you have no idea how to live frugally!" Old Lady Li scolded.
"Boiling water to take a bath!" Zheng Chunmei replied coldly. Ignoring her mother-in-law's expression and reprimands, she turned around and began boiling hot water using the earthen stove.
Meanwhile, over at the Zhao household.
Qian Xiulan stormed angrily up to the Old Lady and recounted how Zhao Zheng had given away the silver.
It nearly gave the Old Lady a stroke of pure rage.
"Mother, do you think Third Brother has something wrong with his brain? That was half a tael of silver! If we used it to buy grain, we could get dozens of catties, enough for our whole family to survive this winter!"
Grain wasn't something you could just buy with money; there were limits. Mingzhou had suffered two years of drought, scorching the earth for a thousand miles. Even with money, you couldn't buy much grain.
Moreover, whatever grain could be bought consisted of yellowed stale rice, mostly bug-infested millet and rice bran.
Even stale rice was extremely difficult to obtain.
"Wouldn't it be better if our family used that money?"
"Mother, say something!"
Zhao Zheng giving money to the Ma family hurt Qian Xiulan more than if she had lost money herself.
If she had that money, how wonderful it would be to subsidize her maiden family!
The Old Lady stood up with a dark expression. "This prodigal son! The moment he gets a little money, he shows off and likes to put on airs. Does he not want to live anymore?"
"Let's go to Third Brother's place and demand the remaining half-tael of silver back!"
"What if he doesn't give it?"
"His brother is still recovering from his injuries, does he have the nerve to refuse?"
The Old Lady said with a stern face, "If he doesn't give it, I will smash my head against his doorstep and die!"