Chapter 143

Upon hearing that Wen Zhaoran had returned from town, the house became lively early the next morning, right after breakfast.

The sounds of children laughing and playing filled the entire courtyard.

"Zhaoran, how's the prefectural city? Is it fun?"

Mumian didn't bring her newborn son, who just turned one month old, today. She's been doing well during her postpartum period, eating lots of meat, and her face is much rounder than it was a year ago.

Wen Zhaoran nodded with a smile, "The prefectural city is naturally more prosperous and lively than our town, with more food options. There are also Hu people doing business in the prefectural city, and I bought quite a lot of their spices."

"That's true. I tasted the pastries you sent yesterday, and they're definitely better than the ones from the pastry shops in our town."

Mu Jin brought over tea and pastries and placed them on the stone table.

Hearing this, he laughed and said, "That's why everyone wants to go to the prefectural city. But what do the Hu people look like? I've never actually seen one."

Bai Qiqiu curled his lip, "You can't see his face at all, he's all unkempt. I've seen plenty of that when I was in the northern frontier."

Mu Nianjun asked, puzzled, "How can you not see his face if he has a beard?"

The older men in the village all grow beards; they feel they lack authority and can't command respect from the younger generation in their families if they don't have a beard.

There wasn't a single one whose face was unclear.

Wen Zhaoran laughed and said, "Brother Nianjun, the Hu people are different from us Han people. They grow beards, but only half of their faces are covered, leaving only their eyes visible, like a cloth covering their faces."

"Tsk, that's really hard to see clearly."

The husbands sat under the peach tree chatting, while the men of the family sat on the ground in the yard, watching the children running and playing around.

"Pumpkin! Don't pull your little brother!"

Mu Zhaoye quickly got up, grabbed Mu Zining by the collar, and lifted her up like a kitten by the neck.

Mu Zining turned her head, and two faces, one large and one small, that were quite similar, looked at each other.

"Dad, I'm not holding onto my brother, let go of me."

Mu Zining, her little face puffed out, was being lifted up, and her neck was very uncomfortable.

A glare came from Bai Qiqiu not far away. Mu Zhaoye paused and gently put him down.

"Take it easy, don't fall."

Mu Zining grunted, and as soon as her feet touched the ground, she ran to the side and started playing wildly with Xiao Taozi and the others again.

Night Owl and Shadow wagged their tails and stuck out their tongues, following behind the babies, occasionally mimicking them by leaping forward a couple of times.

The brothers Mu Lingyun and Mu Lingqiao watched with amusement. The fiercest-looking man among them was actually the most afraid of his husband.

Thank goodness for the bluestone slabs paving the house; otherwise, with the way these kids are tumbling around on the ground, they would have been covered in mud in no time.

Zhou Lin drove his oxcart back from town, with a whole plucked Xinjiang sheep on it.

Mu Lingyun laughed and said, "Brother, are we having a whole lamb feast today?"

Zhou Lin smiled and nodded, "The sheep I chose were slaughtered fresh in town, they're very fresh."

"Then we're in for a treat today."

The three of them got up and helped Zhou Lin lift the mutton and two jars of wine off the cart.

Zhou Lin quickly drove the cattle to the cattle pen in the backyard.

Seeing that it was getting late, Mu Jin and her friends stopped chatting and hurried to the kitchen to stew the mutton.

Seeing Lin Huzi carrying a large bundle of firewood into the yard, Mu Jin peeked out from the kitchen and said, "Huzi, call Li Ge'er, Nuo Ge'er, and You Yu to come over for mutton later."

Lin Huzi grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth. "Hey, boss."

Mu Jin smiled. She soaked the mutton in water for half an hour, then put it in a pot of cold water. Before long, the aroma of meat filled the courtyard.

Several families were eating grapes and chatting in the yard when they heard a woman crying and making a fuss at the door.

"This is outrageous! My pepper tree has a rotten root, while your family is living a life of luxury. You owe me money for the pepper!"

In the first two years, seeing that Zhou Lin made money from the pepper trees, merchants in the town specially sent oxcarts to the village to buy them. The quick-thinking villagers followed suit and planted one or two at home.

Even if they didn't have Zhou Lin's connections to sell Sichuan peppercorns, they could still earn some money by carrying the collected peppercorns to town themselves.

Once the Sichuan peppercorns are dried, they can be stored for a long time. If you can't sell them, you can keep them at home and take them to town from time to time; eventually, you'll be able to sell some.

I managed to get some meat soup by following Zhou Lin.

Mu Jin wasn't afraid of others following suit; after all, the land belonged to others, and he couldn't interfere with or control what they wanted to plant.

But what I fear most are people like this who are ignorant of right and wrong and who argue unreasonably.

He looked at the woman sitting at his doorstep, slapping her thigh and crying.

Mu Jin's face turned cold, and she said to Lin Huzi, "Huzi, go and invite the village chief."

Lin Huzi nodded, hurriedly went out the back door, and ran towards the village chief's house.

"Auntie, what does it have to do with me that your pepper tree didn't survive? Did I ask you to plant it? So, if you make money, I won't get a share, but if you lose money, I'll have to compensate you?"

"His face is really thick and big."

Mu Mian retorted angrily, "You didn't even take good care of yourself, and now you're blaming others."

Hearing Mu Jin and the other villagers pointing and whispering about her, and smelling the meat wafting from Mu Jin's house, the woman cried even harder.

With snot and tears streaming down his face, he said, "If you hadn't made money, would we even think of learning from you?! Everyone smells this, and even though it's not a holiday, we're already eating a whole mutton. You're eating meat, but we're not even allowed to have a sip of the broth? Now my pepper tree has withered, and I've lost more than five taels of silver. It's all your fault. If you don't compensate me, who will?!"

The woman had also gone out to fetch water from the river when she spotted Zhou Lin driving an oxcart back from town, with a white sheep on the cart.

Thinking about the pepper trees that were planted at home this year but did not survive, I immediately felt indignant.

After returning home and putting down the bucket, he became increasingly indignant and finally couldn't sit still any longer, so he came to Zhou Lin's place to cause trouble.

Zhou Lin stood in front of Mu Jin, his face grim, and said, "Aunt Liu, I'm letting this go for Uncle Liu's sake. Don't push me too far and make a move."

Upon hearing this, Aunt Liu immediately perked up.

"Go ahead and hit me, hit me all you want, hit me on the head! You think you're so great just because you've earned a little money? You dare to hit me?! If you don't pay me back today, I'm not leaving!"

Zhou Lin clenched his fist; he hadn't seen such a unreasonable person in a long time.

Mu Jin tugged at him. They were in the right now, and if they really started fighting, they would be the ones in the wrong.

"This Aunt Liu, ever since she was young, has been unforgiving when she was in the right, and she always makes trouble even when she is wrong."

“In summer, my family planted three-tenths of a mu of watermelons in the field. Every now and then, she would go to my field and pick one. When I caught her, she would insist that she bought it. Where would she buy it in the middle of the night?”

"A ten-pound duck, an eight-pound beak—that's her story!"

"They're a real rotten apple in our Mu family village."

The villagers watching didn't keep their voices down, nor were they afraid she would hear them; very few families in the village were on good terms with her.

Aunt Liu was furious. Pointing at them, she yelled, "Shut your stinking mouths that you just ate from the latrine! The tree didn't break in your yard, but you've got the nerve to spout nonsense, haven't you?!"

As he spoke, he casually grabbed a clod of dirt next to him and threw it over.

The villagers quickly stepped back, looked at Aunt Liu sitting on the ground, and shook their heads repeatedly.

People need face, trees need bark, but those who have no shame are truly not to be trifled with.

Fortunately, Lin Huzi arrived shortly afterward with Mu Genfa and Uncle Liu.

As the saying goes, two kinds of people can't sleep in the same bed.

Uncle Liu was brought over by Lin Huzi, but he stood aside without saying a word. Judging from his appearance, he seemed to be an honest and timid man who was afraid of the people in the room.

They let Aunt Liu sit on the ground and make a scene.

Aunt Liu even preemptively filed a complaint: "Village chief, you've finally arrived! This Lin boy, a grown man, dares to beat up a woman like me who can't even kill a chicken! It's truly outrageous!"

When Mu Gen sent the message, Lin Huzi told him the whole story. Otherwise, he wouldn't have asked Lin Huzi to bring Uncle Liu over first.

He was thinking of having him bring his wife home.

Unexpectedly, this Uncle Liu was a man who didn't take things seriously!

"I'm not counting on him anymore," Mu Genfa said with a stern face. "What nonsense are you talking about?! Since ancient times, there has never been a case of someone asking others to compensate for their own poorly planted trees!"

Aunt Liu cried, “Village chief, you can’t favor Jin’er just because he’s your nephew. Smell this meat! My poor family can’t even celebrate the New Year because of those few pepper trees.”

Mu Genfa was furious. "Since I took office as the village chief of our Mu Family Village, I have always believed that I am fair in my dealings. No one has ever said that I am biased. You are really something."

Seeing that Mu Genfa was truly angry, Uncle Liu stepped forward and said, "Stop fooling around, come home with me!"

"How could I be being ridiculous?! The Lin family is so wealthy, what's wrong with compensating me a little?!"

Uncle Liu pulled her up from the ground and said in a deep voice, "Don't embarrass me anymore!"

After saying that, he used all his strength, ignoring Aunt Liu's struggles and shouts, and dragged her away.

Mu Jin raised her eyebrows slightly. "Uncle, thank you for making the trip. The mutton just happened to be cooked. Please take some back for Grandpa and the others to try."

Mu Genfa smiled and said, "Your uncle has cooked at home, so please eat."

"Just add another dish to the family."

As he spoke, he gave Zhou Lin a look, then hurried back to the kitchen and scooped out a full bowl of mutton.

Mu Genfa happily carried the mutton home.

Mu Jin served two more bowls and asked Zhou Lin to take them to his master before lunch so that his master could have a taste.

"When the forest is big, you'll find all kinds of birds."

Bai Qiqiu was still angry about Aunt Liu while biting into a lamb rib.

Mu Mian sighed, "It's a pity that Uncle Liu, such an honest man, married such a troublemaker."

Mu Jin smiled and said, "How did you know Uncle Liu was honest?"

“My family lived right next to Uncle Liu’s. As far back as I can remember, Uncle Liu was very taciturn, and Aunt Liu was in charge of all the big and small things in the family.”

Mu Mian took a sip of the mutton offal soup, her expression quite resolute. This Uncle Liu was an honest man.

Aside from Zhou Lin, everyone at the dinner table shook their heads.

Bai Qiqiu said, "The worst kind of person is Uncle Liu. He always lets his wife take the lead. He gets a share of the benefits and enjoys the fruits of others' labor. Even if he doesn't get anything, he ruins Aunt Liu's reputation. Although Aunt Liu isn't a good person either, Uncle Liu is definitely not an honest man."

Mu Mian was astonished, finding it hard to believe. "No way? Uncle Liu, he..."

Mu Jin fed Xiao Mugua a spoonful of mutton offal soup and said softly, "He could have just taken Aunt Liu away as soon as he arrived, but his uncle got angry and he was afraid of angering the village chief, which would make life difficult for his family in the village, so he took Aunt Liu away instead."

Wen Zhaoran sighed, "When judging people, you still have to look at the details. Some people are good at pretending."

Mu Mian stared blankly, somewhat incredulous.