Chapter 35: Corn Stolen

When the two of them came back and walked through the foot of the mountain, Yang Chunyan saw the mugwort and mint by the ditch, patted her head, and felt that she should carry a sickle with her next time she went out.

When they reached the stone bridge, Yang Chunyan pointed at the lush half-flowers on the shore and said, "Huaian, bring a sickle later and cut these half-flowers back."

The scientific name of Lobelia is Lobelia. Although its name contains the word "lotus", it does not grow on water like the lotus, but grows on the sides of moist field ridges and ditches.

It is a perennial herb, about 20 cm tall, with many roots on the branches and relatively thin stems. It usually only has one flower, which is only half-flowered, and the colors of the flower are mostly white and pink.

The whole plant is used as medicine, containing a variety of alkaloids, which have the effects of clearing away heat and detoxifying, diuresis and swelling, and can treat snake bites, ascites due to cirrhosis, ascites due to late-stage schistosomiasis, and appendicitis.

Zhou Huaian took a look and said, "I know about the half-flowered lily. When I was herding sheep with my grandmother, she said that if you get bit by a snake, you can pick it and mash it to apply to the wound. You can also mash it to squeeze out the juice, add sweet wine and mix it to drink."

"The older generation knows more about herbs. Yesterday, my grandfather said he saw Poria cocos when he was herding sheep and wanted to dig it up for me."

"It seems that I am very satisfied with you!" Zhou Huaian looked at Yang Chunyan happily, "I didn't know that herbs could be sold before. I would have sold them if I had known earlier."

Yang Chunyan rolled her eyes at him and said, "Don't go and show off with Cai Ermei and the others!"

Zhou Huaian felt uncomfortable after hearing this, "Except for beating his wife, the second sister is still very loyal to her brothers!"

Yang Chunyan recalled that in her previous life, Cai Ermei ignored Zhou Huaian's coma and instigated her family to block the door and demand money. She felt upset, "Forget it! A man who steals his wife's money, finds a widow and beats his wife, will he be loyal to his buddies?"

Oops, I let it slip. It's true that the more you talk, the more mistakes you make!

Zhou Huaian paused after hearing this and looked at her in confusion. "I just found out about Cai Ermei stealing his wife's private money. When did he get involved with the widow and her son? How come we didn't know?"

Yang Chunyan's mind raced, "It was the day when the old bear brought the dead cow home. I was going to dig wild radishes, and there were two women chatting on the way. I heard it from behind!"

When Zhou Huaian heard her mention the dead cow, he felt uneasy, "Maybe those gossipy women are talking nonsense, don't go out and tell others!"

"Tsk~" Yang Chunyan rolled her eyes, "I don't bother to meddle in other people's business. If we hadn't gotten to this point, I would have forgotten about it."

Zhou Huaian kept silent after hearing this and planned to go back to ask Cai Ermei...

The two men crossed the bridge and went up the hill, where they met villagers who were weeding in the fields. As soon as they saw the two men, they began to whisper to each other, saying that the Zhou family had turned their fortunes around and had become rich by finding the bezoar.

"I think the old Xiong family has been in a state of depression these past two days."

"Don't you think about it? That's bezoar!"

"Mr. Zhou is really capable. If I had known earlier, I would have gone to chase the cattle."

"Damn it, you've eaten too much and can't find anything to do..." Zhou Huaian stopped and cursed at the people who were walking past.

Yang Chunyan pulled him aside and said, "Let them say what they want! As the saying goes, it's better to say that we have good luck than to say that we have no luck at all. It's better to say that we are lucky than to say that we are unlucky!"

Zhou Huaian thought about it and it made sense, so he turned around and continued pushing the cart forward.

When they reached the small path leading home, they saw Zhou's mother and the eldest and second sisters-in-law walking towards them angrily, carrying baskets on their backs.

Zhou Huaian stopped and asked loudly: "Mom, what happened?"

"We went to our private plot to mow grass and water the crops, and we saw that our corn had been stolen." Zhou's mother became angry and cursed, "I couldn't bear to take a bag home to eat. I wonder which son gave birth to a son without an asshole..."

Yang Chunyan looked at Zhao Huifang and asked, "Sister-in-law, did you steal a lot?"

"There are thirty or forty bags!" Zhao Huifang said angrily, "We are reluctant to pick them. The bastard picked so many tender corns. He will have diarrhea and die if he eats them."

Zhou Huaian had a gloomy face and said, "He stole into my house. If I catch him, I will chop off his hands." He decided to put the chicken bus away and go find Yiding and the others to ask.

Li Qiuyue saw that the bamboo basket was empty, with a piece of meat and a pair of pig intestines hanging on it, so she pulled Yang Chunyan and said, "Yan'er, have you sold all the herbs?"

This piece of meat costs three or four dollars, and there is also a pair of large intestines and so many bones. It seems that those herbs are quite valuable!

Yang Chunyan nodded, "We sold it. We went to the market to buy ribs, but they were sold out, so we bought a piece of pork belly and a pair of pig intestines. The boss also gave us some bones to make soup."

Li Qiuyue looked at the things in the bamboo basket, then at the small hoe and tobacco leaves in her backpack, and looked at her with shining eyes, "Sold..."

"Yan'er," Zhou's mother interrupted her, mentioned the piece of meat, glared at the two of them, and said distressedly: "We've only eaten beef for two days, why are you buying more meat? How much can you make from selling some herbs? How can you afford to spend so lavishly!"

Old people are like this, they usually save as much as they can, and they wait until the busy farming season when they are doing heavy work to cut meat. They then cut some meat and bring it back to fill everyone's stomachs as a snack.

Zhou Huaian looked at her impatiently, "Really? You're still nagging me even after I buy some meat to eat. Why don't you go in quickly? Let others see us cutting the meat and eating it..."

After hearing this, Zhou's mother rarely scolded him. She immediately put the meat back and said with joy and distress: "Yan'er, the youngest is ignorant, and you follow him to spend money recklessly. You can just buy a pair of pig intestines, why buy such a big piece of meat?"

What's the point of buying meat? The money that was promised to be shared with me was all spent by her. Thinking of this, Zhou Huaian looked up at the sky in silence.

Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "Huaian heard the old man say he was going up the mountain to chop trees, so he asked me to cut a piece of meat for him to eat. He also bought two bundles of tobacco leaves for the old man and grandpa."

After hearing this, Zhao Huifang and the other two believed it, because although Zhou Huaian had a bad reputation, he was still good to his family and would send back any delicious food he got outside.

Mother Zhou glanced at Zhou Huaian and said, "Your husband and eldest brother have gone to the mountain to look after the trees. They will go up the mountain once the paperwork is in hand."

A lot of wood is needed to repair the house. When no one was in charge in the past few years, they cut some and stored it. Beams, purlins... all require good quality wood, and there is still a lot of shortfall.

Zhou Huaian looked at the chattering women and said, "Mom, aren't you hot? My throat is smoking."

Mother Zhou rolled her eyes at him and said, "The door is there, and no one is stopping you from entering."

Zhou Huaian pushed the chicken cart into the yard angrily.

Yang Chunyan and others followed in.

Zhang Huixiang and Zhou Xiaolin are in the yard.

When Zhou Xiaolin saw Li Qiuyue coming back, she reached out to her and called in a baby voice, "Mommy, hug me, mommy, hug me."

"Mom is carrying grass!" Li Qiuyue stretched out her hand and took her lead to walk inside.

(End of this chapter)