Chapter 54 Hou San's Incident

"Cough cough cough..." In her haste, Xie Manman aggravated her injuries and suddenly started coughing.

"Manman!" Xu Yirou exclaimed in alarm, rushing forward to help her up. "Manman, are you alright?"

"I don't need your fake kindness!" Xie Manman finally came to her senses and shoved her irritably. Why didn't Xu Yirou stand up for her when she was being hit?

Now you're pretending to be a good person again.

Xu Yirou, who was squatting down, was caught off guard and fell to the ground after being pushed. She looked at her in disbelief: "Manman, you..."

"Yi Rou." Yang Junqing came over to help her up, and glared coldly at Xie Manman: "Yi Rou, why bother with her? She just accused you of stealing the Ganoderma lucidum! She doesn't deserve you treating her like this."

As he spoke, Yang Junqing said to Xie Manman with a look of disdain, "Xie Manman, all these years, if it weren't for Yi Rou protecting you and even always giving you her own rations, do you think you could have lived this long in Bakushu Village by being so lazy? You even falsely accused Yi Rou of stealing Ganoderma lucidum and even tried to kill the child in Su Zhiqing's womb. You've really gone too far, you're too terrible!"

"What's it to you? I'm her cousin, it's only right that she takes care of me..." Xie Manman had long been dissatisfied with Yang Junqing.

If it weren't for him getting in the way in Eight Trees Village, she would have dealt with Xu Yirou long ago, and wouldn't have kept that bastard alive until now.

"You know, you're just her cousin."

Yang Junqing was amused by her shamelessness and didn't bother to argue with her. He simply asked Xu Yirou directly, "Yirou, you saw it too. Xie Manman doesn't take you, her cousin, seriously at all. Don't be foolish and give her subsidies anymore. She has no conscience!"

"Yang Junqing, don't think I don't know what you're up to. You just want to marry Xu Yirou, right? Don't dream about it. Her mother is asking for a dowry of five hundred yuan. You're a penniless wretch, can you afford that?"

Xie Manman looked at Yang Junqing with disdain, and her words made Yang Junqing's face turn pale.

Five hundred yuan?

With a little more, you could buy a job in the city.

If he had that much money, why would he need to go to the countryside?

"Manman, don't talk nonsense."

Xu Yirou's expression darkened; she knew her parents had never liked her.

Even the one who was supposed to go to the countryside was her younger sister.

However, her parents forced her to give up her office job at the factory to her younger sister, and she went to the countryside in her sister's place.

However, since her younger sister is still young, there are some things that she, as the older sister, needs to take care of.

She accepted the assignment to go to the countryside in place of her younger sister.

But Xie Manman kept mentioning the 300 yuan dowry, which her parents had never heard her mention.

Five hundred yuan is too much for a bride price. Who can afford it?

"Don't you know whether I'm lying or not? Your second aunt said she's waiting for your dowry to help her cousin get married and to prepare a dowry for her younger cousin!"

Xie Manman looked at Xu Yirou with schadenfreude, satisfied with her sudden pale face and Yang Junqing's suddenly gloomy expression.

Five hundred yuan.

So, does this mean Xu Yirou's parents planned to accept all 500 yuan to subsidize her younger siblings, leaving no dowry or money to keep in her dowry?

What's the difference between this and selling your daughter?

"So, Yang Junqing, are you planning to give my second aunt five hundred yuan in exchange for a wife?"

Hearing Xie Manman's words, Yang Junqing's face turned even uglier. He looked down at the pale and fragile Xu Yirou, sighed, and said, "You don't need to worry about my affairs with Yirou. You should think about how to compensate the Gu family with 100 jin of grain first!"

After deciding on Xie Manman's punishment, Tong Liqun had no choice but to send everyone to work since they still couldn't find the Ganoderma lucidum.

We can't just leave the wheat in the field unharvested because of a Ganoderma lucidum that has no shadow!

As for Xie Manman, she was naturally assigned to pick up manure.

This job isn't particularly tiring, but it's usually done by people who are unpopular and have been punished.

Xie Manman has always been proud and arrogant, and even the easiest task, finding pig feed, she always makes excuses.

Now that she's been assigned to carry manure, she's not so lucky as to slack off anymore.

After all, it's important to know which vegetables in the field have been fertilized, which haven't, and which manure pit hasn't been cleaned properly.

But it's obvious at a glance.

Just as Xie Manman was reluctantly carrying the manure buckets and walking towards the cesspool...

Suddenly, a middle-aged woman with a pointed mouth and monkey-like face, and a man with a face full of scars, walked anxiously toward Tong Liqun.

"Secretary, Secretary, my third son is missing! We've searched the whole village, but we can't find him. Secretary, could something have happened to my third son?!"

These two people were none other than Hou San's parents, Liu Pandi and Hou Chengbiao.

Tong Liqun felt a headache coming on when he heard their words.

What happened?

Why are things happening one after another lately? Can't people even catch their breath?

"Isn't it normal for Hou San to be away from home? It would be strange if he were to stay home obediently."

Hou Chengbiao was a butcher in town, and his family was considered quite well-off.

After having two daughters in a row, she finally had a son, Hou San.

Therefore, the couple doted on their only son, which led to Hou San's unruly and reckless nature.

He was a scoundrel who spent his days stealing chickens and dogs and was generally considered a good-for-nothing by everyone in town.

This is also why he's in his mid-twenties and still hasn't gotten married.

"No, Secretary, we told San'er a long time ago that we were going to take him to the county town today to buy him a bicycle, so there's no way he would just disappear without saying goodbye."

Liu Pandi was so anxious that tears were about to fall.

This is the only son of the Hou family!

If something happens to her, she won't be able to face the ancestors of the Hou family even after she dies!

"Could he have gone to town to look for his two older sisters?" Tong Liqun asked.

Hou San's two older sisters both married into the town and doted on their younger brother.

In later generations, that would be considered a true example of a "brother-supporting demon."

Hou Sanke frequently went to town to freeload.

"Cheng Biao just came back from town. Lai Di and Ying Di just bought pork. If San'er goes to their house, he'll definitely tell them!"

Liu Pandi was extremely anxious.

It's true that Hou San loves to have fun, but he's been missing all night and hasn't come back yet. Anyone would be worried.

"In that case, you can search for them first. If they don't return by tonight, I'll have others search with us."

Tong Liqun waved his hand, saying that only Liu Pandi and his wife spoiled their child like this.

Hou San is a perfectly capable man; as long as he doesn't harm others, there's nothing to worry about.

As the three of them were talking, they didn't notice that Xie Manman, who was carrying a bucket of manure and walking past them, had a glint of excitement in her eyes after hearing their words.