Hunting 81: Gathering Goods in the Mountains, I Spoil My Ex-Wife to the Extreme

When Feng Cuilan and Wang Yuanchao returned from the police station, it was almost dark.

After the commotion at the commune clinic, Feng Cuilan's face became even more swollen, and several bright red scratches appeared, oozing blood.

Wang Yuanchao wasn't in much better shape; he had a bruise under his eye, a bruise on the corner of his mouth, and several bloody scratches on his face.

No one knows who scratched them, but they ended up scratching Feng Cuilan and Wang Yuanchao in matching mother-son patterns.

Feng Cuilan's face was swollen and covered in scratches. When she walked down the street with Wang Yuanchao, many people couldn't help but stare at them in their swollen faces.

People who knew Feng Cuilan and Wang Yuanchao couldn't help but turn around and take a second look when they saw them passing by.

"What happened to Feng Cuilan, that old hag, and Wang Yuanchao, both with bruises on their faces? Did the mother and son get into a fight?"

"I heard some rumors that Feng Cuilan and Wang Yuanchao beat up Li Yunlan. As a result, Li Yunlan made a phone call and summoned her brothers from her maternal home, along with several other brothers from the same village. They traveled over a hundred miles through the night to get here and gave Feng Cuilan a good beating first thing in the morning. Can you see her face? I heard it was Li Yunlan's own mother and sister who swung their arms and slapped her across the face, leaving her like this. Li Yunlan's two brothers even threw Feng Cuilan into the latrine."

"Oh my god, Li Yunlan's family is so powerful. They really slapped Feng Cuilan across the face and threw her into the latrine."

"You don't believe me? Everyone in Kuanshi Lane knows, and I heard it from them too. Apparently, Feng Cuilan not only stole the malted milk powder and scarf that Li Yunlan brought back from her parents' home, but also tried to take the secret money her brother had given her while she wasn't home. Li Yunlan caught her, and the two women started fighting. Wang Yuanchao also sided with Feng Cuilan and beat Li Yunlan up too. I reckon the injuries on Wang Yuanchao's face were inflicted by Li Yunlan's family."

"Li Yunlan's family is really something else, protecting their daughter to this extent. I've never seen anyone whose family would travel such a long way at night to support their daughter who has married far away when she was bullied in her husband's family."

"That's not all, I heard Li Yunlan is also planning to divorce Wang Yuanchao..."

After Feng Cuilan and Wang Yuanchao had walked away, several elderly women and men gathered together and started talking. Some people were curious about what they were whispering about, so they went over to listen.

As a result, more and more people found out.

Although Xinghuo Commune was a large commune, in an era with little entertainment, even a young couple bickering or kicking each other in bed could become gossip among the neighbors if overheard. Not to mention that Feng Cuilan and Wang Yuanchao committed domestic violence against Li Yunlan, but Li Yunlan called her brothers over and beat Feng Cuilan up, then threw her into the latrine.

This story spread by word of mouth, and even now, in the freezing cold, when many people spend most of the day indoors unless they have something to do, it still spread wider and wider, and more and more people know about it.

However, when Feng Cuilan and Wang Yuanchao returned home and saw the door that had been kicked to pieces and the house that was almost completely bare, they were immediately struck as if by a heavy hammer, and they were completely dejected.

"Mother, what... what should we do?"

Looking at the mess in the room, Wang Yuanchao was at a loss for what to do.

"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? How would I know what to do?"

Feng Cuilan rolled her eyes and slumped lazily into a worn-out armchair.

In the past, Li Yunlan did all the housework and tidying up. She and Wang Yuanchao never took the initiative to do anything.

But now that Li Yunlan is gone, she is completely lost.

Wang Yuanchao glanced at Feng Cuilan, who was lazily slumped in the armchair, and then looked around the messy room. There were many miscellaneous items scattered on the floor. These were all things that Li Yunshan and the others had shaken out of the dresser, wardrobe and other furniture when they moved the thirty-six legs earlier that day. Needles and threads, broken pots and bowls, moldy chopsticks, rotten towels with several holes, and other odds and ends were all shaken out on the floor.

Although Li Yunlan usually cleans the house, she is currently at the commune health center, and Feng Cuilan is lazy and shows no intention of cleaning. Left with no other choice, Wang Yuanchao has to clean up the house himself.

I gathered all the broken bowls and plates together. I'll call the junk collector tomorrow to collect the ones that can be sold, at least I can get a few cents from them. I don't even know when the moldy chopsticks are from, they're covered in wormholes. There are also rotten towels, needles and thread... I'll keep the ones I can keep, and throw the rest away...

Wang Yuanchao had a good plan, but when he was halfway through tidying up, he found that Feng Cuilan was still sitting motionless in the armchair, like a nail nailed to the armchair.

Seeing this, Wang Yuanchao called out, "Mom, I'm tidying up the house. Why don't you go make some food? It's getting dark."

"No, I'm not going, why should I...?"

When Feng Cuilan heard Wang Yuanchao ask her to cook, she immediately threw a tantrum. She wanted to say that the meal should be cooked by her daughter-in-law, Li Yunlan, but when she looked around the house, she wondered where her daughter-in-law was.

"If you don't cook, what are we going to eat for dinner? I can't cook."

Wang Yuanchao said.

He has hardly ever cooked a meal since he was a child.

Before he got married, Feng Cuilan was the one who did all the cooking at home.

Although Feng Cuilan's cooking wasn't very good, in those years when most people couldn't even get enough to eat, Wang Yuanchao ate with great relish no matter how bad Feng Cuilan's cooking was.

"Okay, I'll make it. But don't blame me if it doesn't taste good."

Feng Cuilan then stood up and slowly went to the kitchen. She took out a handful of noodles and two eggs from the cupboard, and poured a spoonful of water into the pot, preparing to make egg noodles.

Based on past experience, her cooking was never very good, but this egg noodle dish was an exception.

However, having not cooked for several years, Feng Cuilan was a little worried.

After the water in the pot boiled, Feng Cuilan first poured a ring of oil into it, and then put the noodles in.

Once the noodles are cooked, crack the eggs and put them in the pot.

Next, add some soy sauce to color the noodles and broth, then add salt.

In no time at all, Feng Cuilan had prepared two bowls of egg noodles.

"Yuanchao, I cracked two eggs into your noodles, they're in your bowl now."

After preparing the egg noodles, Feng Cuilan brought them to the table in the main room and invited Wang Yuanchao to eat dinner first.

Wang Yuanchao's stomach was growling, and upon hearing this, he put down the work he was halfway through cleaning and sat down with Feng Cuilan around the dining table to eat noodles.

The hot noodles and poached egg, with their rich and steaming broth, look incredibly appetizing.

Wang Yuanchao didn't stand on ceremony; he picked up his chopsticks and started slurping his food.

"Mom, these noodles are so good...so good..."

Wang Yuanchao was about to say that Feng Cuilan's egg noodles were delicious, but before he could even take a bite, his eyes widened in surprise.

"Yuanchao, what's wrong?"

Upon seeing this, Feng Cuilan quickly asked.

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey..."

But then, Wang Yuanchao spat out all the noodles he had just eaten, frowning and spitting repeatedly.

"Yuanchao, what's wrong? Didn't Mom make these egg noodles?"

Feng Cuilan quickly put down her chopsticks and asked.

"Mom, it's too salty, too salty! You put too much salt in, this noodle soup is unbearably salty."

Wang Yuanchao pointed at the noodles in the bowl with a pained expression.

"Too salty? That shouldn't be the case. I used to add it like this when I cooked noodles."

Feng Cuilan didn't believe it, so she picked up a noodle and ate it herself, and just like Wang Yuanchao, she spat it out several times.

"See? I told you it was salty because too much salt was added."

Wang Yuanchao said.

"It really is true, too much salt was added." Feng Cuilan stopped spitting and gave an embarrassed smile.

However, because his face was swollen from being hit and had several scratches, his awkward smile looked quite frightening, making Wang Yuanchao feel uneasy.

"Hurry up and make another bowl, my legs are cramping from hunger."

Wang Yuanchao urged.

"Okay, okay, I'll go redo it right away."

Feng Cuilan nodded quickly.

Despite her usual cold attitude towards Li Yunlan, she doted on Wang Yuanchao.

Soon, Feng Cuilan left the main room with two bowls of noodles that had been over-salted and went to the kitchen to make them again.

"I can't get a divorce. If I do, what will I eat and drink?"

As soon as Feng Cuilan left, Wang Yuanchao remembered what Li Yunlan and Li Yunshan had said to him at the commune health center earlier that day.

When he learned that Li Yunlan wanted to divorce him, he was a little flustered at first, but he didn't take it too seriously.

In Wang Yuanchao's mind, he had a secure job at the commune's grocery store, so even if he left, it wouldn't matter. As long as he was still a sales clerk at the grocery store, there would be plenty of girls who wanted to marry him.

He married Li Yunlan simply because he was attracted to her youth and beauty, and because her family was willing to provide a dowry of thirty-six legs.

However, after eating the egg noodles made by Feng Cuilan, he thought about it carefully and realized that he couldn't get a divorce.

If they get divorced, who will clean the house, who will cook delicious meals for him, and who will take care of his mother?

Moreover, Li Yunlan's third brother must have made a lot of money to give her several hundred yuan of his own money at once.

As a sales clerk at the commune's grocery store, Wang Yuanchao could see the newspapers in the store regularly. He knew that his brother-in-law had recently killed a tiger and made the news.

The secret stash of money Li Yunshan gave to Li Yunlan must have been earned from killing that tiger.

As for how much he earned, Wang Yuanchao couldn't say for sure, but he was certain it was no less than five thousand.

If he were still with Li Yunlan, he could encourage her to visit her parents' home more often and get more money from her third brother.

But if he divorces Li Yunlan, there will be no one to cook him delicious meals, and he won't be able to get money from Li Yunshan anymore.

"However, I still have to get past my mother; I need to talk to her about it beforehand."