Chapter 32 As evening fell, Zhu Mingyue had just...

As evening approached, Zhu Mingyue had just put the dishes on the table and was about to go to the front yard to call Xie Pei for dinner when the front door was suddenly banged on.

"Who is it?" Zhu Mingyue wiped her hands and asked loudly, wondering who would come over at mealtime. Could it be someone from the village chief's house?

"Open the door! I'm looking for the Xie family's youngest brother!" A gruff male voice came from outside the door.

The voice didn't sound like the village chief, nor like his son Li Zhengyang. Zhu Mingyue and Xie Pei exchanged a quick glance and ran to open the door.

A man and a woman stood outside the door. The man looked to be in his early twenties, but the years of hard work in the fields made him appear older than he actually was. The woman was much older, looking like an elder in the man's family. She was slightly hunched over, but her eyes gleamed. Zhu Mingyue thought she saw a resemblance to Xie Hong's maternal grandmother in her face.

Zhu Mingyue had a gut feeling that the two people came with ill intentions, so she stopped them at the door, politely but distantly asking, "May I ask who you are?"

The man was startled when he saw Zhu Mingyue's face, but the woman behind him reacted faster, raising her head and saying aggressively, "You're the one surnamed Zhu, right? I'm not talking to you. Xie Pei is home, and we have something to discuss with that kid Xie Pei."

Zhu Mingyue was captivated by this assertive attitude. Just as he was about to close the door, the woman ignored him and squeezed in using her short stature, while also beckoning the man behind her to follow closely behind.

Zhu Mingyue blushed. What kind of people are these? They have no manners at all.

The woman saw Xie Pei as soon as she entered the room, and said with a smile, "Young Master Xie, I have something to discuss with you. Let's go inside and talk."

Xie Pei's face was so dark it could ooze ink. Others might not be able to see through him, but Zhu Mingyue had spent some time with him and knew him well. Xie Pei was already on the verge of extreme impatience.

Xie Pei frowned: "Who are you?"

The woman's breath hitched; she seemed surprised to be asked such a question and felt humiliated, even her fake smile faded.

She chuckled and said, "Young man Xie, I think you're getting more and more confused. I'm your great-aunt!"

Zhu Mingyue almost burst out laughing. Xie Pei's mother was a dancer by birth and had no relatives—all of this was said by Xie Hong himself before his death. This suddenly appearing maternal aunt was really just trying to claim kinship.

Even he could think of that immediately, how could Xie Pei not know? He said coldly, "My mother's entire family except for me is dead. I wonder who you are?"

"Pah, pah, pah!" The woman's face changed drastically, and she hurriedly explained, "I am your brother Xie Hong's great-aunt." People like them are very superstitious, and upon hearing this, they quickly distanced themselves from Xie Pei.

Zhu Mingyue suddenly realized that this person looked so much like Xie Hong's maternal grandmother, and that they were sisters. That made sense.

Zhu Mingyue wanted to eat, but the two of them disturbed her, so she couldn't even eat. She was anxious and urged them, "What do you want to say?"

The woman turned around and glared at him, then looked at Xie Pei again: "Didn't your family want to buy a vegetable plot? As long as you're sincere in buying, I'll sell it to you for the sake of the village chief."

Zhu Mingyue became interested upon hearing the words "vegetable garden" and gestured to Xie Pei to cooperate.

After receiving a glance, Xie Pei went straight to the point: "How much do you want?"

"Five taels!" the woman immediately demanded, her tone filled with undisguised excitement, as if the five taels were already hers.

"Are you all crazy?" Zhu Mingyue couldn't help but curse, "Five taels of silver is more than enough to buy a field."

The woman's face darkened completely: "Look at yourself, what a rotten piece of trash you are! If it weren't for the village chief intervening, I wouldn't have sold you at all!"

"Wow! Your food is really good!"

The three were talking in the courtyard, and the atmosphere had become tense. They didn't notice that the man who accompanied them had secretly slipped into the house at some point, and when he came out, he was carrying a large hand holding a small mountain of things.

Upon closer inspection, Zhu Mingyue realized it was spicy rabbit meat, something he hadn't even eaten himself. This oddball had actually eaten and taken it without the host's permission.

Is this a sign of the decline of humanity or a distortion of morality? Zhu Mingyue was furious, and her eyes turned red with rage.

Xie Pei had been facing away from the door, but now that he had noticed, his pent-up temper exploded. "Get out of here, all of you!"

"Xie Pei, I advise you not to be ungrateful. No one but me is willing to sell land to you."

“Yes, yes, yes! But apart from us, no one else in the village is willing to buy your land, which is worth five taels of silver.” Zhu Mingyue retorted on the spot, not one to tolerate them.

"How dare you speak to my mother like that?" The man tossed a spicy chicken into his mouth, chewing it with a crunching sound, "If you think it's too expensive, we can discuss it. Four taels of silver is the lowest price we can offer."

Four ounces is still ridiculously expensive, and besides, someone like him wouldn't buy it even if the price were reduced by one ounce.

Zhu Mingyue scoffed, making her stance clear.

"I'll say it one last time, get out of here," Xie Pei said sternly.

Seeing Xie Pei's ruthless attitude, the mother and son knew the deal was off and stormed off.

The man had just stepped out of the courtyard when his arm was struck and thrown away by a heavy object, scattering the spicy rabbit pieces he was holding all over the ground.

The man roared, "Xie Pei, what's wrong with you! I'm just eating some meat from your house, why are you making such a fuss?"

Zhu Mingyue had long disliked him. Standing in front of Xie Pei with her hands on her hips, she scolded, "You're the one who's sick! Your whole family is sick! If you don't hold a grudge, am I supposed to eat meat at your house every day?"

The woman tenderly covered her son's hand, her voice shrill: "What kind of person are you? What right do you have to come to my house and eat meat!"

"And what kind of people are you? What gives you the right to come to my house and eat meat?"

The woman was speechless for a moment, then, realizing she was in the wrong, she quickly changed the subject: "You've hurt my son, you have to pay me back!"

Zhu Mingyue laughed, "I'm willing to pay compensation."

He loudly ordered Xie Pei, "Give him another good beating, beat him until he spits out our flesh."

"Hit him as hard as you want, even if he breaks an arm or a leg, our family can still afford to compensate."

Upon hearing this, Xie Pei quickly walked towards the mother and son.

The man was terrified; he abandoned even his own mother and scrambled several meters away. He still needed to build a house and get married! If he were truly disabled, all his dreams would be for naught!

"Little pig, wait for Mommy!"

The more arrogant they were when they arrived, the more pathetic they left.

"Don't cry," Xie Pei said sullenly.

Zhu Mingyue wiped his reddened eyes and still stubbornly asked, "Who cried?" He was just feeling sorry for the spicy rabbit he had made.

Thinking of the spicy rabbit, he belatedly ran back to the kitchen, and after just one glance, his blood boiled again.

"Xie Pei, what should I do if I want to punch someone?"

There's still some rabbit meat left on the table, and all that's left is chili peppers!

The man was quite unceremonious, focusing solely on the meat dishes, completely ignoring the plate of stir-fried eggs with lichen next to it.

There wasn't enough food, so Zhu Mingyue quickly stir-fried a plate of cabbage.

Xie Pei, his face ashen, quickly devoured three bowls of rice, without touching a single bite of cabbage.

Zhu Mingyue put some cabbage into his bowl and urged, "I stir-fried it with lard, have some!"

Xie Pei paused for a moment, looking at the oily vegetable leaves in the bowl, and then shoveled them into his mouth along with the leftover rice in two or three bites.

Since the family's financial situation improved, there was almost always meat on the table. Xie Pei gradually developed a bad habit of being a picky eater. He couldn't even stand cabbage mixed with lard. Sometimes Zhu Mingyue would seize the opportunity to put a couple of bites in his bowl. Xie Pei usually wouldn't say anything and would just eat whatever was put in his bowl.

Today, because of that mother and son's commotion, not only Xie Pei, but also Zhu Mingyue lost her appetite. She only ate about half a bowl before she couldn't eat anymore, she was so angry.

He didn't buy any vegetables and even lost a rabbit. Anyone would be angry, but his identity was too sensitive, so he didn't dare to cause a scene in the village for the time being. Otherwise, he would definitely teach those two a lesson.

Little did he know that others shared the same thought as him.

A pebble was thrown into the calm lake, creating ripples before the lake returned to stillness.

Zhu Mingyue's life remains busy and fulfilling. In addition to selling steamed buns, he also bought some shepherd's purse from a vegetable vendor in town today.

These shepherd's purse plants just sprouted in March, when they are fresh, tender, and delicious. I heard in my past life that eating them is good for you, and that they also have the effects of calming the liver, improving eyesight, clearing heat, and detoxifying.

Blanch the shepherd's purse in salted water to remove its bitterness, squeeze out the water, drain, and chop it finely. Mix it with the pork and stir well. Zhu Mingyue asked Xie Pei to roll out the dough, and they made nearly two hundred pork and shepherd's purse dumplings overnight.

The number looks intimidating, but it's actually not that many. He can eat more than twenty of these dumplings by himself. Xie Pei does a lot of physical labor and has a huge appetite, so he might eat more than forty.

Zhu Mingyue had other uses for the remaining hundred or so.

The next morning, before dawn, Zhu Mingyue cooked a pot of shepherd's purse and pork dumplings.

Freshly cooked dumplings burst with juice with every bite, the shepherd's purse's fragrance with a hint of bitterness perfectly balances the meat fat, creating a delicious and appetizing dish.

Xie Pei ate plate after plate under Zhu Mingyue's shocked gaze, and seeing that there was still a lot left in the pot, he prepared to eat the third plate.

Zhu Mingyue ran to the stove and grabbed his hand that was reaching for dumplings. "Don't eat!" One plate would have at least twenty dumplings, and three plates would have sixty. That's terrifying! He was really afraid that Xie Pei would eat himself to death.

Zhu Mingyue was worried that being direct would hurt someone's self-esteem, since saying someone was too extravagant didn't sound like a compliment, so she explained, "We still need to take the rest to town later."

Xie Pei thought the dumplings were going to be sold, so upon hearing this, he scooped up a bowl of soup, gulped it down, and then put down his chopsticks.

Zhu Mingyue: ...Why does he have the illusion that he is abusing an older child, not letting them eat their fill, and making them so hungry that they can only fill their stomachs by drinking water?

Xie Pei had misunderstood. He wasn't making these dumplings to sell, but rather to give them to customers to try.

He scooped all the dumplings into a small bamboo basket, lined it with a clean white cloth, and carried it to town.

Familiar customers immediately noticed that he had brought fresh food and began to inquire.

Zhu Mingyue cleared her throat and said loudly, "Shepherd's purse dumplings, only given away, not for sale! Everyone please take two to try. We didn't make many, so please don't mind." After saying that, she lifted the cloth to reveal the plump, white dumplings inside.

"No problem, no problem!" Everyone shook their heads. What was there to complain about when it was given away for free? Although they didn't know what dumplings were, they looked like they were made of white bread and were made by Zhu Mingyue, so they figured they wouldn't be bad.

However, some people were not very interested when they heard that the buns were made with shepherd's purse. After scrambling to buy the buns, they would just pick one out of the basket and leave.

Who would have thought that a dumpling no bigger than half a palm would cause such a huge uproar among customers?