Splendid peasant girl busy farming

Chapter 12124

"Fourth Aunt, your words are clearly biased towards the second wife's family. You have quite the magnanimity!" Yang Ruoqing leaned back comfortably on the stool, smiling as she looked Liu Shi up and down.

The incident a few days ago at noon between Fourth Aunt and Second Sister-in-law, which seemed to be a dispute over a bowl of fried rice, was actually just a facade. The real truth behind it was that Fourth Aunt was eyeing the rabbit meat from the second wife's son's house!

"Hehe, of course I can afford to be generous. Although I didn't get to eat a single bite of that rabbit meat, your fourth uncle and Kang boy did. For that reason alone, I won't hold it against the second branch of the family!"

"Yes, Fourth Aunt, what you said is true."

When Liu left, she put the two lotus-shaped pastries she had left on the plate on the table into her pocket. "I'm going to visit other people's houses. Hehe, I'll come back and tell you if anything fun happens later!"

……

"Qing'er, everything is arranged. Now everything is ready except for the final push."

Luo Fengtang returned from outside, took a sip of the tea that Yang Ruoqing handed him, and said to him.

"Alright, I'll give my second brother, third brother, and youngest brother two more days. If they can't accomplish anything in the next two days, I won't wait any longer and will take action immediately."

"Anything works!"

Soon, it got dark. In the old days, in rural areas without the internet, television, computers, mobile phones, or loudspeakers for square dancing, every household had to hurry up and finish their dinner before dark, then wash up and go to bed early.

Even the most diligent women who wanted to do needlework wouldn't stay up too late, because staying up too late would waste a lot of lamp oil, and lamp oil cost money!
Therefore, night falls early and is very quiet in the village.

"Second brother, third brother, look, I brought back so many meat buns from town! Hehe, meat buns thrown to a dog are guaranteed to never come back!"

When the three brothers met in the small room, Yang Yongqing, who looked travel-worn, placed a large brown paper package on the table. The buns inside were already cold, but you could still see the red oil seeping out from the bottom of the buns. They smelled delicious!
Humans can smell this fragrance, let alone dogs with their keen sense of smell.

This is simply a fatal temptation, an irresistible delicacy!

"Yongqing, did you put anything extra in these buns? Qing'er specifically warned me beforehand that I couldn't joke around with Tianxianglou's reputation!" Yang Yongjin looked at the buns on the table, his expression serious, his tone devoid of any joke.

Cao Bamei and Yang Yongzhi, who were standing to the side, were also serious and their eyes were warily scrutinizing the pile of buns that Yang Yongqing had brought back.

Yang Yongqing grinned. "Second brother, third brother, do you think I'm the kind of fool who's lost his mind?"

"You can rest assured, these meat buns were prepared for me by Madam Mo, there's absolutely no problem with them!"

"Did your sister-in-law really prepare this? You're not lying to us, are you?"

"Hey, why don't you guys believe me? I'll eat it and show you!"

Yang Yongqing grabbed a meat bun and made as if to eat it, but Yang Yongjin stopped him.

"You got a stomachache from eating these cold, oily meat buns. We believe you, so you don't need to eat them for us!"

"Yes, yes, we believe you."

"Alright, let's get ready and set off. Tonight I'm going to take care of those dogs in Li Family Village, then sneak over to Li Wei's house, beat him up, and then push him into the latrine!"

"Don't rush, wait a bit. Qing'er heard about our plan and gave us some advice..." Yang Yongjin suddenly called out to Yang Yongzhi and Yang Yongqing, "I think if the three of us just rashly go over and beat up Li Wei, it'll be nothing special. Although I don't understand what Qing'er's advice means, I think there must be a deeper meaning behind it. Let's discuss this..."

"Qing'er gave you some advice? That's great! Second Brother, tell me quickly!"

Yang Yongjin lowered his voice and told them Yang Ruoqing's suggestion.

"Huh? Why would you do that?" Yang Yongqing was completely baffled.

"I don't understand either. Qing'er didn't say much. Anyway, she said that if we wanted to, we should do as she said. If we didn't want to, we should stick to our own plan and beat her up to vent our anger!"

Yang Yongzhi and Yang Yongqing exchanged a glance. Yang Yongzhi said, "I still want to follow Qing'er's suggestion. I think her arrangement, though seemingly a mild method, is not as satisfying as ours, but she should have a backup plan."

Yang Yongqing nodded as he pondered, "Based on my understanding of Qing'er's personality, she's not exactly a kind person when it comes to this. Okay, I agree to do as she says."

Seeing that they had both passed, Yang Yongjin smiled and nodded, then took out something else from behind his back.

"Young man, take your buns away, Qing'er gave me this!"

When Yang Yongqing, Yang Yongzhi, and Cao Bamei saw the bag in Yang Yongjin's hand that looked like brown broad beans but smelled of meat, all six of them widened their eyes in horror.

"What do you mean, Second Brother? Qing'er... she told us we can't ruin Tianxianglou's reputation, but what's the meaning behind what you have in your hand?"

Yang Yongjin chuckled, "Qing'er gave me this. She said that meat buns wouldn't work if you wanted to deal with those dogs, and they would easily arouse suspicion."

"Using this meat bean, no one will suspect Tianxianglou."

After all, large white flour and meat buns are something that rural families can't afford to eat more than twice a year; they can only be bought in town.

All the restaurants and breakfast stalls in town will become suspects, especially since such beautiful-looking large meat-filled buns are not something that ordinary small shops can make.

After such a thorough investigation, what if Tianxianglou gets dragged into this mess?

These small, bean-sized pieces of meat were made from sparrow meat that Yang Ruoqing had Luo Fengtang specifically request. They were also mixed with other ingredients and were small enough to go unnoticed.

Moreover, sparrows are everywhere in the village, making them difficult to identify.

"Put the meat buns away, we'll heat them up ourselves tomorrow morning," Yang Yongjin instructed.

Yang Yongqing nodded and stuffed the brown paper package containing the buns into Cao Bamei's hands, telling her to put it away safely.

The three waited a while longer, each drank a bowl of tea to refresh themselves, and then went to the outhouse to relieve themselves. After that, they took their things and set off from the back gate of the courtyard. Without lanterns, they made their way towards the riverbank in the dark by the moonlight.

After a short while, the three of them arrived at the entrance of Li Family Village.

At this time, the vast Lijia Village was mostly asleep, with only a few houses still having faint lights and rustling sounds.

It was the same group of guard dogs from last night. They immediately picked up on the deliberately light footsteps of Yang Yongjin and his two brothers, and the dogs sprang into action, barking from near and far.

But at this time, they were just standing at the gate of their own yards and barking, and did not gather here.

They would only gather here when the big black dog from the second house at the village entrance started to call them.

By this time, the three brothers had reached the vicinity of the second house, and the big black dog had also spotted them.

The three strangers from last night—the big black dog had already gotten up and was walking towards them menacingly, baring its teeth, ready to bark.

Yang Yongjin immediately tossed two pieces of meat out of his hand. At first, when the big black dog saw what Yang Yongjin suddenly threw at it, it instinctively took two steps back, arched its back, tucked its tail between its legs, and bared its teeth at the three of them in a wary manner.

But a moment later, the dog's nose twitched, as if it had discovered something surprising, and it immediately lowered its head to search the ground.

Then it spotted the two bean-sized pieces of meat, its eyes lit up, and immediately picked them up and put them in its mouth.

The three brothers could even hear the cracking sound of their canine teeth snapping together, clearly indicating that the meat was very crisp and crunchy.

After the big black dog finished eating one piece, it went to eat a second one, its tail wagging as it did so. Clearly, this piece of meat was the most delicious thing it had ever eaten in its life!

"Will the sparrow meat that Qing'er prepared work?" Yang Yongqing watched as the big black dog ate the second piece, yet remained standing firmly in place, and couldn't help but feel a little worried.

"Don't panic, take another look..."

Yang Yongjin lowered his voice, but before he could finish speaking, the big black dog, which had been standing steadily, suddenly swayed and then fell down silently in front of the three of them!

"What? He's already... taken down?" The three brothers were dumbfounded.

"I'll go check it out," Yang Yongqing said.

“You’re so impulsive, I’ll go.” Yang Yongjin pulled Yang Yongqing back and then went forward himself.

"Second brother, be careful."

"It's alright, do you think I'd be fooled by some beast!"

Yang Yongjin waved his hand, not because he was confident in himself, but because he was confident in the two sparrow pieces that Yang Ruoqing had given him.

When he got to the big black dog, he bent down and examined it carefully, even reaching out to push the dog's head.

The dog didn't react at all.

"Could she be dead? Qing'er told us not to poison the dogs, but she poisoned them herself?" Yang Yongqing asked, his face full of astonishment.

Yang Yongjin waved to them: "Come here, this dog isn't dead, it's just asleep!"

"what?"

The three brothers gathered around and looked the dog over. Sure enough, it was sleeping soundly, even snoring, just like when they were drunk and completely out of it.

"Haha, Qing'er really has a way with things! This sparrow meat works wonders!"

"It really works! This big black dog seems to be a lookout. Last night and tonight, it was the one that barked first, and then it got all the dogs in the village to bark!"

"It's quiet now, and you can hear that the other dogs seem to have calmed down too."

"Second brother, third brother, I'm planning to put this dog in a sack and take it with me!" Yang Yongqing suddenly said, stroking his chin.

"Young man, what do you mean by this? You wouldn't happen to want to...?"

“That’s right, I’m craving dog meat. And this dog wasn’t poisoned; it was asleep. I can eat the meat with peace of mind!” Yang Yongqing said.

Yang Yongjin and Yang Yongzhi exchanged a glance, both speechless at Yang Yongqing's idea.

Yang Yongzhi raised his hand and slapped Yang Yongqing on the head: "Are you possessed by your fourth aunt? What time is it? You're always coming up with random ideas, aren't you going to get down to business?"

“Yes, Fourth Brother, we’re here tonight specifically to handle serious business. Let’s not cause any trouble.” Although Yang Yongjin didn’t slap Yang Yongqing’s head like Yang Yongzhi did, he clearly didn’t agree to put the big black dog in a sack.

Since both of his older brothers had clearly objected, Yang Yongqing couldn't say anything more. Besides, they had both taken time out of their busy schedules to accompany him on important business, so he couldn't let them down.

“Okay, then I’ll find a place to hide this big black dog. Lying on the road like this will attract attention.” Yang Yongqing said, getting up, picking up the big black dog and putting it aside to hide in the shade of the falling branches.

There happened to be a pile of firewood next door, so Yang Yongqing specially gathered some firewood and lightly covered the big black dog with it.

That way, even if someone passes by on this road later, they won't immediately notice the big black dog hiding there.

Having done everything, Yang Yongqing returned to the road and, together with his two older brothers, continued to search for Li Wei's house.

Li Wei's house is located in a slightly more central part of Lijia Village, a winding and difficult place to reach.

Although they lost the big black dog that was their sentinel, the commotion was much less than the night before, but their activity still attracted some dogs that tried to block their way.

Following the same method, Yang Yongjin used the sparrow meat given to him by Yang Ruoqing as bait. After successfully catching nearly six dogs, the three of them finally arrived at the gate of Li Wei's house.

When there were only three dogs left, the three brothers Yang Yongjin, Yang Yongzhi, and Yang Yongqing each carried one dog on their shoulders and led it to the outside of Li Wei's yard.

"The lights are on inside, so no one's asleep," the three said in hushed tones.

"Let's quietly put these three dogs in the yard first, and then drag the rest of the dogs from the road over as well."

"it is good."

The three of them brought the other dogs along with them, except for the big black dog. They then climbed over the wall into the yard, where the people outside saw them off and the people inside received them.

And so, six dogs were placed side by side against the wall in Li Wei's yard, covered with something to make simple concealment.

"Aren't we going to go in, drag Li Wei out, and give him a beating?" Yang Yongqing asked, looking at the room with the lights still on.

Yang Yongjin said, "We can't go in to catch him. Let's ambush him behind the house and wait for Li Wei to come out to use the toilet before we make our move."

"it is good!"

The three men lay in ambush behind the house. They heard Li Wei's mother coughing inside. The coughing woke up Li Yi, who then started cursing Li Wei for being useless. He said that raising a son to provide for one's old age was pointless, as he couldn't do anything right.

Li Wei didn't say anything, but he could hear the sound of him turning over on the floor next to him, wrapped in a blanket.

Li Yi cursed Li Wei: "Your mother and I only have less than three days' worth of medicine left. If you brat don't go to Changping Village to make money by tomorrow, I'll expose the shameful things you did at Shanyuan. Then none of us will get away with this!"

"Dad, don't be like that. What's past is past. Your years in prison have already covered for Xiaowei!"

“I covered for him, and my reputation was ruined. The villagers gossiped about me, and now look at this kid, does he know how to be grateful?”

“Xiaowei, your father is right, you should repay him,” Li Wei’s mother changed her tone, speaking earnestly and patiently as she continued to brainwash Li Wei.