The Evil Mother-in-law: Torment Children, Work Hard, Be Rich!-Chapter 227: Deceived

Uh.

Tong Huaqiong wanted to sigh and hold her forehead.

She guessed right, Xu Yong ultimately didn’t resist the temptation and really concocted the blight pesticide.

Tong Huaqiong couldn’t help but admire Xu Yong’s decisiveness and his all-in gamble.

She was wondering why Xu Yong looked so composed recently, it turned out he had already taken action secretly.

But he prepared the concoction too hastily, and without experimenting, he rashly distributed it, nearly ruining everyone’s cornfields.

For a farmer, destroying someone else’s crops is akin to killing their parents; they would definitely seek him for accountability.

Tong Huaqiong instantly understood why the villagers across the way were up in arms, demanding justice.

If she was in their shoes, she’d do the same.

Liu Tieshan, upon learning the truth, cursed Xu Yong in his heart.

He deserved to shoot himself in the foot while trying to steal Tong Huaqiong’s credit, but even if he wanted the credit, he shouldn’t have concocted the pesticide hastily for the villagers.

Whenever Tong Huaqiong made a concoction, she’d first test it on her own land, only sharing with the villagers when there were no side effects.

Xu Yong, however, did the opposite, testing on others’ lands.

If the result was good, it would be fine, but now the fields are ruined.

"Village Chief Liu, it’s not like we’re here in Qinghe Bay to cause trouble, but tell us, are we right in this matter? Shouldn’t we hold Xu Yong accountable? Our corn had some yield before using his concoction; now with his pesticide, it’s likely we won’t harvest a single grain."

"You wouldn’t believe it — our villages’ cornfields are turning yellow in patches. Everybody relies on corn for food, and it seems he’s deliberately starving us without giving us a way out."

Village Chief Zhang from Moon Bay started tearing up as he spoke.

On the way here, he felt regret and blamed himself for trusting Xu Yong and allowing everyone to use the pesticide, now sending the whole village begging come winter.

Village Chief Hu chimed in: "Village Chief Liu, Manager Tong, despite our naive trust in Xu Yong, we still hold responsibility too. But who would’ve thought he had ulterior motives? Even if Guazhou Bay has a grudge against him, he shouldn’t damage our crops."

Other village chiefs collectively spoke up: "Guazhou Bay has a feud with Xu Yong, but we don’t — yet he ruined our crops too."

"If he dares ruin our crops, we’ll skin Xu Yong alive."

"Village Chief Liu better not stop us; should our crops suffer from fake pesticide?"

"Why should the pesticide for Qinghe Bay be genuine, but fake for us?"

...

The villagers from other areas were eager to rush to Xu Yong’s house and slice him up alive.

When the Qinghe Bay villagers who came across them realized they were here for Xu Yong, they put down their tools.

After all, matters concerning Xu Yong were unrelated to them.

Still, as farmers who love their crops, everyone collectively cursed at Xu Yong.

Who in Qinghe Bay didn’t know that the concoction came from Tong Huaqiong, and Xu Yong sought glory but failed?

While Qinghe Bay villagers cursed Xu Yong, they couldn’t help but feel relieved; luckily, Xu Yong was removed from a village chief position, otherwise under his domineering ways, who would dare use Tong Huaqiong’s concoction, not to mention having to use Xu Yong’s fake one? 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"...Village Chief Hu, you were deceived by that scoundrel Xu Yong. You saw how our village’s corn was doing well and believed him. The cornfields in our village didn’t use Xu Yong’s concoction at all, but Aunt Dajiao’s pesticide. Xu Yong must have been envious, and that’s why he began concocting." A young bride from Guazhou Bay married into Qinghe Bay said.

Now the crowd across exploded with anger.

Damn you, Xu Yong, you’ve gone too far.

The crowd began clamoring even harder to confront Xu Yong.

Liu Tieshan stepped in to block the crowd; he planned to have someone bring Xu Yong to face accountability.

If he didn’t intervene, the people might rush into Xu Yong’s house and devour him alive.

Once things got out of control, leading to deaths, he naturally couldn’t escape responsibility as the village chief.

"Beat Xu Yong to death."

"Let’s go, storm his place."

"Dare to deceive us."

The outraged villagers, upon knowing the pesticide in Qinghe Bay was not concocted by Xu Yong, felt even more cheated by Xu Yong.

Liu Tieshan struggled to stop the incoming crowd from rushing to Xu Yong’s house.

"Uncle, you better hide quickly."

A descendant from the Xu Family, having figured out the situation at the village entrance, swiftly ran to alert Xu Yong.

"What’s going on?"

Xu Yong, at home, was happily drinking egg tea, thinking his family juniors were not steady at all.

"Uncle, something terrible has happened... Your concoction ruined their crops..."

"The folks from Guazhou Bay and Moon Bay have all come for you."

"What?"

A few days ago, Xu Zaohua leveraged the Zheng Family’s connections to get a concoction of Aunt Dajiao’s pesticide for the villagers. It’s said the person who made the concoction was an official from the Ministry of Agriculture who came from Shengjing to the provincial city, experienced in concocting.

Quickly, the concoction was prepared.

Originally Xu Zaohua wanted to sidestep Xu Yong in promoting the pesticide. Before she understood its efficacy, she dared not rush its rollout.

She feared if the results were poor, she’d become a target for criticism, and all her machinations with the Zheng Family would go up in smoke.

After the concoction was ready, Xu Zaohua dispatched Xu Yong to Pingchuan County to fetch it from the Zheng Family, planning to use Xu Yong’s hand to experiment among local villages. If effective, she’d use the Zheng Family’s influence to claim credit before the magistrate in the provincial city. If ineffective, Xu Yong would bear the burden; she, Xu Zaohua, would remain unscathed.

Xu Zaohua worried about Xu Yong’s disbelief over the quick conjuration of the pesticide, stretching the truth about officials from the Ministry of Agriculture from Shengjing, while she actually employed a Jianghu Sorcerer skilled in alchemy, repeatedly assuring Xu Yong that there was no issue with the concoction.

After being removed from the village chief position, Xu Yong always thought about reclaiming his status. Upon receiving the concoction, without hesitation, he started advocating it in the villages around Qinghe Bay.

Like Qinghe Bay, other villages suffered deeply from blight and cotton aphid infestations.

While Xu Yong pitched his concoction to village chiefs, knowing Xu Yong, nobody believed he had the skill to concoct the pesticide.

Xu Yong pointed to Qinghe Bay’s cornfields as an example. Village chiefs and representatives from Moon Bay, Guazhou Bay, and other villages secretly went to Qinghe Bay to observe, finding the cornfields indeed thriving better than those in other villages.

To confirm Qinghe Bay’s use of decontamination pesticide, they also engaged the villagers in conversation.

Qinghe Bay villagers felt Tong Huaqiong’s pesticide was precious. If other villages knew, they might request it from Tong Huaqiong, presenting her with a dilemma. To avoid creating trouble for Tong Huaqiong, villagers spoke in a guarded manner.

The Qinghe Bay villagers’ evasiveness further convinced them of Xu Yong’s claims.

Everyone went back and used Xu Yong’s concoction that very day.

Of course, the pesticide wasn’t free from Xu Yong; they had to pay for it.

Each bottle cost a whole silver tael.

The price was indeed beyond villagers’ psychological tolerance for expense, but seeking a harvest, many gritted their teeth to purchase.

Villagers who couldn’t pull together a silver tael teamed up to buy one bottle, diluting it into multiple barrels and distributing.

Now, the villagers who gritted their teeth and spent silver are experiencing severe damage to their cornfields, whereas those who collectively purchased the pesticide suffer less damage.

Yet regardless, all spent silver without gaining the desired results.

Xu Yong indeed was a swindler.

Xu Yong was oblivious to what happened at the village entrance; he was eagerly awaiting to be exalted by surrounding villagers, when his family juniors reported the damage his concoction caused to Guazhou Bay and Moon Bay’s cornfields, and several villages’ people were coming with weapons to demand answers.

Xu Yong was aghast.