Chapter 404: Stealing cotton

Eyes darting left and right, she quickly stuffed a ball of cotton from the basket into a small pocket inside her clothes.

Seeing that everyone was concentrating on their own work, she breathed a sigh of relief and hid two more.

Madam Qiao smiled.

It was a pity that the cotton she picked was very small. However, if she took bigger pieces, it would empty her basket. If someone saw that her basket was suddenly empty, they would inevitably ask questions, which was not good!

This made Madam Qiao a little irritable but in the end, she could only pick the cotton honestly.

As she picked, she was constantly distracted by the amount in her basket. While complaining that the work was moving too slow, her hand was scratched, making her cry ‘ouch’ in pain. Putting the bleeding finger in her mouth, she sucked lightly and couldn’t help but scold: This thing is really not a good thing, how can it be so troublesome to pick!

She glanced over at another woman, who was slowly dumping her basket into a cotton sack, and her eyes light up with a good idea.

She rushed over to the woman’s side in two steps and reached out her hand to take her basket. She smiled enthusiastically and said: “Oh, you are really capable! You have picked so much, let me help you!”

“Hey!” The woman hurriedly turned to the side to avoid her. Smiling, she said: “No need to help, I can do it myself!”

“It’s okay, let me help!” Madam Qiao insisted, still trying to grab the basket with a smile.

“It’s really not necessary!” The other woman frowned. “Sister-in-law, you’re new here but don’t you know this? After each of us pick, we put it in our own sacks. When it’s full, it will be carried out and weighed to calculate the wages.”

Her meaning was: this is my salary, what are you trying to do?

Madam Qiao was stunned and secretly scolded Lian Fang Zhou for being too cunning.

However, she didn’t give up and insisted: “I really just wanted to help!”

The woman twitched her lips and glanced at Madam Qiao’s empty basket knowingly. Smiling, she said: “I understand but thank you, I really don’t need it!”

Saying this, she gave her a wary look.

Madam Qiao was so angry her face changed but she could only stand silently on the side.

The woman ignored her and poured the rest of her cotton neatly into the sack. Reaching in, she pressed it down, tied the mouth of the bag loosely, and looked at Madam Qiao. “This sister-in-law is still here? What’s the matter?”

The wages for picking cotton were very considerable and Miss Lian said that as long as everyone worked hard, after the harvest was finished, everyone would be given 30 catties of cotton.

In other words, the cotton they had grown at home might not even be 30 catties when harvested and didn’t look nearly as good!

This was a very good thing, so everyone cherished this opportunity to work. Every worker in the fields was racing against time to work hard, so someone like Madam Qiao was really unique. It was hard not to be suspicious.

“Ah?” Madam Qiao returned to her senses and shook her head quickly, smiling: “No, no matter…”

She said so but she didn’t move a step, still standing here like this.

The other woman couldn’t help but frown: What did this sister-in-law want to do?

Never mind! Just ignore her!

Thinking about it, she picked up the half sack of cotton that belonged to her and put it near her.

Madam Qiao had intended to wait for her to walk away but seeing this, she could only scold silently again and walk away in disappointment to continue picking cotton.

Although she didn’t want to work, if she didn’t pick it herself, how could she steal it?

“What are you doing? You’re stealing cotton!”

Madam Qiao had just sneakily stuffed another wad of cotton into her pocket when the hand, which was she hadn’t had time to take back out, was suddenly grabbed by Madam Gu!

Caught red-handed!

This was something that hadn’t happened yet but Miss Lian had stressed that anyone who caught a thief and reported them would be rewarded heavily.

Although the rest of the women hadn’t caught her with their own hands, they were still witnesses, right?

Everyone exclaimed excitedly and gathered around, looking at Madam Qiao with eyes full of contempt.

“I knew there was something wrong with her from the beginning!” One woman said, “I just didn’t expect her to have such bad intentions!”

“Look at her basket, it’s been like this for a long time! Where did her work go? The sack is still empty.” Said another.

A third woman snorted. “Since it’s empty, the cotton she picked is probably all in her pockets!”

The other woman standing around agreed, shouting things like “How dare you!” and “It’s too shameless, doing this to a good girl like Miss Lian…”, and “I don’t know who hired her!”

Madam Qiao blushed under the contemptuous eyes of the women and their scolding. She moved her lips to defend herself but because she was too emotional, her lips only trembled and she couldn’t speak.

Speaking loudly, Madam Gu said: “Did everyone see it? Sister-in-law, you were the one who choose to act like this, don’t blame me! Let’s go, let’s go speak to Sister-in-law Zhang!”

As she spoke, she let go of Madam Qiao’s hand.

Bother Aunt Zhang and Ah Jian were in charge of the Shitouping side but Aunt Zhang was a woman, so it was more appropriate for them to talk to her when something like this happened.

“That Zhang woman? She’s nothing!” Madam Qiao suddenly sneered, shaking her hand.

The woman started at her, startled, and Madam Gu frowned. “This sister-in-law, let’s go, let’s go over.”

“Bah!” Madam Qiao spat on the ground and raised her head arrogantly. Snorting, she shouted: “Just relying on her? She works for my family, what is she? She has to ask me to see her!”

This made the woman even more stunned.

Frowning, Madam Gu said: “What are you talking about? What do you mean?”

“Isn’t she crazy?” Another woman whispered.

“You’re crazy!” Madam Qiao immediately snapped, glaring hatefully at the other woman. Shouting at the crowd, she crowed: “You people, all of you, shut up for this old lady! That ‘Miss’ in your mouth, ha, that Lian Fang Zhou is my niece! I am her aunt! Hmph, if you dare to talk nonsense again, I’ll tell her to fire you all and deduct your wages!”

Everyone was silent.

They started at Madam Qiao, completely stunned. What did she say? She said that she was Miss Lian’s direct relative? This—

No one would dare to lie about such a thing, right? Was this true…

Thinking of her words, the more timid women became anxious and scared and their faces changed.

Seeing that they didn’t dare to make a sound, Madam Qiao was relieved!

At this time, how could she still remember the grievances between her family and Lian Fang Zhou? All she remembered was that she was Lian Fang Zhou’s elder and her aunt, so of course she could act arrogantly in front of these people!!

She was so proud of herself, she didn’t bother to think about anything else.

Compared to the uncertainty of the others, the most embarrassed one was Madam Gu.

TN: Madam Qiao really must have a brain full of water, I’ve never heard of anyone so stupid in my life.