Splendid peasant girl busy farming

Chapter 12094

Liu raised her hands in a defensive stance; she wouldn't dare to actually fight.

Not to mention that this old lady is not just from their fourth branch of the family, but from several other branches, if she really hits someone, wouldn't the other branches strip her of her body?
Furthermore, given the old lady's advanced age, if they were to actually fight, the daughter-in-law would definitely win.

But if I actually bump into the old lady and she falls to the ground and gets seriously injured, then I'll be in real trouble...

Therefore, the Liu family only engaged in verbal combat, not physical combat, and at this moment they were merely adopting a defensive stance.

As a result, Tan did not pounce on her, but stopped abruptly when she was three or five steps away from her.

A gurgling sound came from her throat, followed by strange gurgling noises, and then a large wad of stale, pickled-cabbage-smelling phlegm was spat out of Tan's mouth, hitting Liu's left cheek precisely, with a small portion hanging on the bridge of her nose, creating a stringy effect.

"Ugh~" Liu couldn't hold back any longer, wiped the filth off her face, and bent over to vomit.

My stomach, which had been bulging from eating and drinking all night, was instantly emptied after this process.

Tan struck with a single blow, and it was a successful sneak attack; the old lady was beaming with pride.

So much so that the humiliation she had suffered from Liu Shi earlier, the so-called "old bastard," vanished at this moment. Seeing Liu Shi squatting on the ground vomiting uncontrollably, Tan Shi immediately retreated into the east room and slammed the door shut.

In the courtyard, Old Yang and his son Yang Huaming, who had witnessed the incident, looked at each other in bewilderment.

They're all men, and seeing their wives fighting amongst themselves is really giving them a headache...

"Father, even if they've fought to a draw, let's move on from this and not dwell on who was right or wrong. Doing so will only create a mess!" Yang Huaming suggested.

Anyway, he didn't want to listen to Liu's complaints anymore. She said it was unreasonable for Kang to not help the two elders.
Old Yang nodded in agreement. Since his wife didn't seem to have suffered any loss, he figured he might as well stop while he was ahead.

"Let's go back inside and keep to ourselves," the old man said, then turned and walked back.

Yang Huaming took two steps and caught up: "Dad, wait a minute."

"Is there anything else?" Old Yang asked.

“Dad, it’s about what Mom was talking about before…” Yang Huaming said, “Well, although that woman is a bit of a troublemaker, what she said today makes sense. Kang and his friends go to town to sell vegetables every day, and the carts and baskets they carry probably weigh nearly a hundred pounds.”

"Liangliang wants to go too, and the kids need to reserve a spot, so I'm afraid we can't get you and Mom to come with us."

Old Yang waved his hand: "Fourth brother, don't worry about this. It was my oversight. We won't let Kang boy go through all the trouble to pull us. We'll find a way to get to town ourselves."

Yang Huaming waved his hand as well: "Dad, that's not what I meant. What I meant was, if it really doesn't work, I can make a special trip for you."

"Huh? You really? Aren't you worried about running that stretch of road?"

"How could I? I'm your son. It's only right that I take you to your sister's place."

"Okay... fine!"

"Father, it's settled then. If I'm not up by the time you wake up tomorrow morning, come knocking on my door."

"it is good!"

Old Yang returned to the east room, still somewhat confused.

Why has this fourth son suddenly become so considerate and easy to talk to? Tan Shi just made things so bad for Liu Shi, why is he still so eager to come and deliver things?
In the past, he was the laziest of his sons.

Back in the east room, Old Yang told Tan about his confusion.

"This fourth brother is usually not this proactive. What's going on today? He's even taken on all the tasks?"

"Could it be that you're hiding some bad intentions?" Old Yang asked again.

Tan was still immersed in the joy of her previous victory, but she didn't think so when she heard Old Yang's confusion.

"What bad intentions could he possibly have? We're just two old folks, as Liu would say, two pieces of dried-up pork, you can't extract any oil from us!"

"Then why is he behaving strangely?"

"I think it's not unusual. He was embarrassed by Liu and couldn't back down, so he just said something polite. He didn't expect you, old man, to accept it. He had no choice but to bite the bullet and give it to her."

Tan's words seemed quite reasonable, and to Old Yang, they were like a revelation.

Because Liu's side refused Kang's offer, Yang Huaming felt embarrassed and offered a polite remark.

That's it.

"Then let's do it this way. Let's invite Lao Si (fourth brother) along tomorrow. He's our son, so it's only right that he helps us out and does some running errands."

……

In the opposite west room, Liu vomited violently before returning to her room with an empty stomach.

She first filled a basin with water and scrubbed her face vigorously several times, almost scrubbing it raw, before finally putting her hands on it.

Then he drank two large bowls of tea to calm down the burning sensation in his throat.

Only then did she catch her breath and begin to condemn Yang Huaming.

"You're not on my side at all. I went through a lot of trouble to help Kang boy turn down that awful job, and you're the one who's eager to take it on!"

"Aren't you going to work at the Taoist temple tomorrow? You're going to town to see them off, not only will you be exhausted, but you'll also have your wages docked. You're really just wasting your time!"

"Hey, what do you know, woman? I'm on my day off at the Taoist temple tomorrow. It won't interfere with anything, and I won't have my wages docked."

"Isn't it nice to stay home and sleep all day on your day off? Wouldn't it be better to come with me to He'er's house in Lijia Village to visit relatives and see her eldest grandson? Why do you have to be their porter? You're such a cheapskate!"

"Hey, just say what you want to say, why are you getting more and more rude? You're the one with a jerk's bones. I, Yang Huaming, always have my own reasons for doing things!"

"What considerations?"

"Think about it, if I send my parents to Mei'er's place tomorrow, shouldn't Mei'er and her brother-in-law Xu Yuanming give me some kind of reward as a token of their gratitude?"

"Benefits?" Liu's mind was piqued, and her eyes began to dart around.

"Fourth brother, you mean they might give us roast duck?"

“It’s not just very likely, it’s absolutely certain,” Yang Huaming said. “After I have lunch at their place, I’ll bring my parents home with me, and we can even bring back a roast duck. Tomorrow night, we’ll get some strong liquor, roast an egg, and eat it with the roast duck. Wouldn’t that be delicious?”

"It smells so good! It smells amazing!" Liu nodded vigorously, almost breaking her neck in the process.

"How come I didn't think of that? How about this, tomorrow morning I'll get up with you, and we'll escort those two old darlings to town together!"

"I'll join you for lunch, and after that, we'll take a roast duck home for dinner!"

“Hey, right, you can come along too,” Yang Huaming was also inspired by Liu’s suggestion.

"However, given that you had a fight with your mother tonight, she'll probably be unhappy to see you going tomorrow, and might even throw a tantrum and not go, leaving us with nothing to eat."

"Fourth brother, what should I do? Help me think of something, I want to go too..."

"Don't rush, don't rush, let me think about it carefully..."

……

That night, in Zhoujia Village, ten miles away. "Uncle, do you think this arrangement of the meal is acceptable?"

Tonight is the seventh night after Luo Da'e's death, and Xiao Huan ate dinner early and took the two children back to their room.

They brought the toilet, teapot, and other such items back into the house, determined not to dare show their faces again tonight.

Inside the main room, four dishes and a soup were laid out on the octagonal table, along with a bowl of white rice piled high.

These four dishes and one soup were all prepared by Xiao Huan beforehand and placed on the table by Zhou Wang himself. At the head of the table was Luo Da'e's memorial tablet, and three incense sticks were offered next to it.

The smoke curled upwards, and the ash occasionally brushed against the four dishes and soup beside them, adding a touch of eeriness and gloom to the seemingly ordinary meal.

At this moment, after arranging the food, Zhou Wang offered incense to the memorial tablet and then humbly asked the blacksmith Luo standing beside him for advice.

After all, Luo the blacksmith was an elder who had seen a lot in his life, especially in this area, and he had more experience than Zhou Wang.

The blacksmith Luo stepped forward and carefully examined the display on the table, then nodded: "It's acceptable."

Then, the old man turned around, his gaze stretching from the table all the way to the doorway of the main room.

“Zhou Wang, go and get some more ashes from the bottom of the stove and spread them along this path.”

"Why are we scattering all this?" Zhou Wang asked, puzzled.

Spreading so much dust, when the wind blows it around, it will make the house very dirty and messy.

Luo the blacksmith's face darkened, and he adopted the authority of an elder. "Don't ask so many questions. Just do what I tell you to do. We'll see how it goes tomorrow!"

Zhou Wang immediately dared not ask any more questions, and quickly lowered his head and went to the kitchen.

Soon, the ashes from the stove were brought over, and together with Luo the blacksmith, they evenly spread the ashes along the path from the gate to the table.

After all this was done, it was completely dark outside. Luo the blacksmith said to Zhou Wang, "Go back inside. Don't come out tonight. Don't come out no matter what noise you hear. This is the old rule."

"You may come out only after the rooster has crowed for the first time, or when it is broad daylight."

"Okay, I'll remember that, Uncle. I'll go back to my room now. You should get some rest too!"

"Okay! Go ahead, I'll check again to make sure I haven't forgotten anything, then I'll go back to my room and rest."

After Zhou Wang left, the blacksmith Luo stood by the table again, gently touching Luo Da'e's memorial tablet with his fingers, and murmured: "Da'e, sister, these are all your favorite dishes. Come home tonight and have a good meal. Eat your fill, and then set off on your journey. Don't worry about your children and grandchildren anymore. They will have their own blessings!"

After standing by the table for a short while, Luo the blacksmith sighed, turned around, and hunched over, returned to the side room next door.

The room he stayed in was a guest room in Zhou Wang's house. He had stayed in that guest room when he came to accompany Luo Da'e before.

Back in his room, Luo the blacksmith blew out the candle on the table, lay down on the bed fully clothed, but was not sleepy at all.

Tonight is the waning crescent moon. The pale moonlight seeps into the room through the window paper, making the room very dim and hazy. You can vaguely see the outlines of the furniture in the room.

Luo the blacksmith lay there with his eyes open, his ears straining to hear every sound in the night, trying to catch the slightest rustling in the courtyard and the main room.

Da'e, little sister, give your brother some kind of signal tonight, so that your brother knows you've really come back...

Holding fast to this thought in his heart, Luo the blacksmith struggled to keep his eyes open, refusing to fall asleep.

Time passed slowly, and from near and far, the occasional bark of a dog could be heard.

However, the Zhou family's courtyard remained quiet and there was nothing unusual about it.

Undeterred, Luo the blacksmith continued to wait, wait, and wait...

"Bang bang bang!"

Suddenly, a loud banging on the courtyard gate reached my ears.

"Brother, brother, open the door!"

"Hey, here it comes!"

Luo the blacksmith sat up abruptly and suddenly realized that the room was much brighter, with the morning light shining through the paper windows.

Is it already dawn?
What's going on?

Luo the blacksmith paused for two seconds, then rushed to the window, opened it, and looked towards the courtyard gate.

The courtyard gate was tightly closed, unlike the loud shaking and banging he had heard from outside just moments before.

It's Mei's voice!

Mei'er is back!

Having figured all this out, Luo the blacksmith's heart began to race. He quickly lowered the window and turned to run towards the main room.

As he pushed open the door of the guest room and rushed into the main room, the door to Zhou Wang's room across the hall also opened, and Zhou Wang and Xiao Huan peeked out of their rooms, still half asleep.

"Uncle, what's wrong? We just heard you shout, what happened?" Zhou Wang asked, rubbing his eyes.

Luo the blacksmith, however, didn't bother to respond to Zhou Wang's words. He rushed to the table and buried his head to carefully examine the food on it.

The food on the table had long since gone cold overnight, especially the braised pork belly, which was covered with a layer of white lard.

The braised crucian carp was frozen solid, and the three incense sticks had long since burned out, with ash scattered on the table.

Honestly, judging from this food alone... Luo the blacksmith really can't tell anything.

He then turned his attention to the ashes from the stove on the ground.

He crouched down and carefully examined the ash to see if there was anything there.

Zhou Wang and Xiao Huan exchanged a glance, both completely bewildered, but wisely refrained from asking further questions and instead followed along to help them examine the place.

"Uncle, look! What's this?"

Xiao Huan has sharp eyes; she noticed clues that neither Luo the blacksmith nor Zhou Wang had seen.

"Don't move, let me take a look," said Luo the blacksmith. He then moved over to Xiao Huan's side, squatted down, and squinted to carefully examine the marks in the ash on the ground.

These are not human footprints, nor are they the footprints of mice, cats, or dogs.

"It looks like it's been ripped open by an iron chain," Zhou Wang couldn't help but say.

The mark was very faint and barely visible; it disappeared after only a short distance.

The blacksmith bent down again, scrutinizing it intently. Then, his breathing quickened and his voice trembled as he said, "This...this...this isn't an iron chain, it's a snake, and there are traces of scales..."

Zhou Wang and Xiao Huan were both taken aback, and the couple bent down to examine it closely.

Then they all gasped.

It really does look just like a snake crawling by!
“Oh my god, snakes have come to my house? No way! This house is on high ground, and I sprinkle realgar powder in the front and back yards every Dragon Boat Festival,” Zhou Wang said.