Chapter 39 New Things

Song Chunxue became somewhat anxious because of Li Dazui's words.

Although Li Dazui likes to visit other people's homes, he has a strong sense of self-respect and knows that staying to freeload will annoy people, so he usually won't stay for a meal.

But he brought her useful information today, and Song Chunxue insisted that he stay for dinner.

Jiang Hongying made buckwheat noodles with a soup made with pickled cabbage; it tasted pretty good.

Li Dazui ate two bowls and left with a smile.

Song Chunxue quickly washed the dishes, changed her clothes, rummaged around in the kitchen for a while, packed some eggs, and made a few crispy lard pancakes before heading to Xia Ying's house.

Jiang Hongying held the crying Xiujuan and tried to soothe her to sleep while laughing at her.

"Mom, why are you rushing around like you're fleeing a famine? Whose house are you going to? I haven't even had a taste of your crispy pork lard cakes yet, at least leave me some!"

Song Chunxue found a clean basket, put the good things inside, and wrapped them in a clean cloth.

"I'm doing this for Sanwa's wife. I went there once before, and Xia Mulan and Sanwa are a match made in heaven. What if I go too late and someone else has already arranged the engagement?"

"If you want to eat, make it yourself after the child falls asleep. You can eat as much lard as you want, I won't stop you." With that, Song Chunxue hurriedly left the house.

On her way to Xia Ying's house, she ran into some hooligans from the neighboring village who were visiting.

"Hey, widow of the Jiang family, where are you going? What good stuff did you bring that I can have some of?"

As they approached, the sleazy-looking man, Jiang Yong, smiled and was about to lift the cloth from Song Chunxue's basket.

"Smack!"

Song Chunxue raised her hand and slapped the back of his hand. "Get out of here. I'm going to talk about what my wife needs. What kind of behavior is it to give it to you?"

Jiang Yong was a particularly philanderer, a womanizer. Because of his kinship ties, he received a government salary and was generous with his money, leaving his mistresses everywhere.

This person looked respectable, but the worst part was that he later became a teacher, which was simply misleading students.

If she remembered correctly, when Jiang Yong was old, he didn't handle his affairs with other women properly, and several of them got into a fight, which almost everyone in the county heard about.

In the past, she didn't want to cause trouble, so she tolerated his provocations, dealt with them briefly, and then let it go, since they didn't have much interaction anyway.

But for some reason, he found Song Chunxue's ruthlessness amusing today.

"What's the rush? I heard you've taken a liking to Xia Ying's niece. We're even related. It's just a matter of a word. I'll go with you later."

He blocked the road, sizing up Song Chunxue. "You look quite pretty today. Your husband has been dead for so many years, it's about time you found someone. Let me smell you for a couple of times first..."

"Bang!"

"Aww~"

Song Chunxue kicked him in the shin. "A good dog doesn't block the way. You should go find the Wang family's wife. Be careful, or they might beat you up if you're late!"

As she spoke, Song Chunxue kicked him again, and seeing him in so much pain that he couldn't straighten up, she quickly ran away.

"Stop right there... Hmm, why are you running? I don't believe you're not a man. I'm someone important, and I only want to get close to you because I respect you. Don't be ungrateful."

"Pah!" Song Chunxue spat at him. "I find it disgusting."

"You wretched woman..."

"You old bald monk, watch out for getting sick!"

Fearing that she might offend him too much and cause him endless trouble, Song Chunxue resisted the urge to kick him off the embankment and quickly ran towards Xia Ying's house.

But the two of them were entangled on the main road at the foot of the mountain, and almost everyone in the village could see them standing at their door.

Some sharp-eyed people had already seen this scene.

*

This time, Song Chunxue and Xia Ying had a very pleasant conversation because she brought Xia Ying a newly made pair of summer trousers.

It was originally made by Song Chunxue for herself, but you can't catch a wolf without risking your cub; making Xia Ying happy is better than anything else.

"You even made crispy lard cakes, which cost you a lot. You have a lot of kids in your family, and you still managed to make them so well."

Xia Ying smiled and offered her tea, "I know you haven't taken a nap yet and must be feeling sleepy. Why don't you have some tea so you won't doze off while working this afternoon?"

"Alright, then I won't stand on ceremony." Song Chunxue didn't refuse, since she didn't drink tea much.

Xia Ying's family was well-off and she would get up very early every morning to drink tea, a habit she maintained throughout the year.

In fact, everyone in the village drinks tea. It not only refreshes the mind, but also saves time on breakfast by drinking tea and eating steamed buns, which is convenient.

But tea is expensive; buying tea all year round costs a lot of money, and Song Chunxue couldn't bear to spend that money.

That's why she was able to support several children through their education all by herself, without letting them suffer at all.

Because Song Chunxue is particularly frugal and has a lot of perseverance in making small amounts of money.

She digs up wormwood in spring, collects apricot kernels in summer, and picks lemon seeds in the mountains in autumn. She doesn't mind any trouble that can make money.

I didn't see Xia Mulan today; Xia Ying said she was taking a nap.

When people from the village get together, they always like to gossip about other people's business. And so, she mentioned Jiang Yong.

“I just went out to relieve myself and saw Jiang Yong pass by the door. He must have gone to see Wang’s wife. He still thinks about her quite a bit. He was carrying some nice things and comes by once a month,” Xia Ying said with a smile. “The key is that her husband doesn’t object. He heard that when Jiang Yong went to his house, he went to visit other people’s houses.”

“Birds of a feather flock together. Her husband is really generous.” Xia Ying said in a low voice, “You know what, that woman is tall and has a good figure. The key is that her skin is also fair. She never gets tanned no matter how much sun she gets. She’s so delicate. No wonder Jiang Yong has been thinking about her.”

Song Chunxue took a sip of tea and found it a bit bitter, so she grabbed some crushed rock sugar for herself.

"I ran into Jiang Yong on my way here. He's not exactly good-looking, and that hat makes him look bald. So what if his family has a little money? What's Wang's wife thinking? Aren't you ashamed of being gossiped about like this?"

She'll set a bad example for her child; otherwise, her son wouldn't be flirting with other women in the future.

And then there's her daughter, who got married and then divorced, and eventually married her aunt's son...

Xia Ying glanced out the window and lowered her voice, "You don't know, that man in the Wang family doesn't like to work. He just likes to slack off all day long. He's also a live-in son-in-law. What can we do if he doesn't agree? He has too many brothers, and he's a freeloader. What else can we do if he doesn't agree?"

Song Chunxue nodded, only then remembering that the Wang family boy was a live-in son-in-law.

Fortunately, their children all took the Wang family name.

"Have you heard? A few days ago, Jiang Yong was seen having an affair with a woman from his village in Xing Shu Gully."

Song Chunxue was extremely surprised, "Huh?"

Xia Ying poked her waist. "Why are you so surprised? Your husband has been dead for so long. Any man on the estate with a heart would have taken action. Haven't you run into any?"

Song Chunxue picked up her teacup, took a couple of sips, lowered her eyes, and smiled, "Yes, there are some, but they all smell too bad, and I don't want to corrupt the children."

"That Li Guangzheng..."

“He just likes to come to my house to freeload. I used to be afraid of offending him, but now that my kids are older, I’m not afraid of him anymore. I kicked him out last time, and he hasn’t dared to come back since.”

Xia Ying sighed, "That's good. I can rest assured now. Otherwise, Xia Mulan's child would have suffered as a result."

Song Chunxue looked slightly surprised and smiled at her, "Your brother agreed to this marriage?"