After leaving the prison, Yao Chunnuan felt a palpitation in her chest. She thought for a moment, then reconsidered, "Cousin, does what Wang Lang and I do count as a divorce?" Their actions were equivalent to a unilateral dissolution of their marriage. Would that be officially recognized? If not, she needed to close this loophole.
"Forget it."
"That's good."
It was a rare opportunity for Yao Chunnuan to come to the city, and she wanted to add some things to her family. Her mother gave her some money before she left, and she also wanted to see what kind of business she could do next.
Her eldest cousin had the same idea. Since they bought different things, they simply went their separate ways and only agreed on the time and place to meet.
Yao Chunnuan first bought some toothpaste, salt, and a piece of cloth. While looking at fabrics, she caught the eye of a headscarf and bought that too. Her mother's own headscarf was already very old, and the color of the new one was a good match for her.
When passing by the clinic, Yao Chunnuan thought for a moment, took out a headscarf, and wrapped her face tightly before walking in.
The final conclusion was that she seemed to be pregnant, but it was still early in the pregnancy and her pulse was not yet clearly detectable.
When she asked hesitantly whether it was safe to have an abortion, the old doctor told her that she was not suitable for taking abortion drugs, otherwise it would most likely cause irreversible consequences, and advised her to think twice before doing so.
Jinniu Village is located in the southwest of Jiangyang, surrounded by mountains and rivers, with fertile farmland. Even in years of disaster, people rarely starve to death thanks to the gifts of nature.
To the west of Jinniu Village lies a small river, its source unknown, flowing from north to south. Under the orders of a certain local official, the ancestors of Jinniu Village selected high ground upstream, built a dam, and then dug a canal to divert the river water to irrigate the fields.
A small dock was built at the entrance of the village, a place for villagers to wash clothes and vegetables. As the saying goes, three women make a drama, and this small dock was occupied by women morning and night. Over time, it also became a gathering place for gossip.
When Mrs. Wei arrived, the small dock was completely occupied, making it impossible to squeeze in. She could only wait until someone finished washing their clothes and left before she could get a seat. But that didn't stop her from gossiping. She sat down in the wooden tub and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Did you know that the Chen family in the next village had a huge fight yesterday?"
As soon as she said this, someone naturally responded, "What are they arguing about?"
"It's still the marriage between the second son of the Chen family and the Yao family. The Chen family's wife wants to withdraw, but the man in his family won't agree."
"What about Chen Lao Er himself? Does he want to withdraw?"
Mrs. Wei had no idea whether Chen Laoer wanted to cancel the engagement or not, so she only said vaguely, "He probably wants to cancel it. Otherwise, if the Chen family father and son join forces, why would Mrs. Chen still bother with this?"
Mrs. Wei changed the subject and continued, "If you ask me, Yao Chunnuan is guilty of something. She severed her ties with the Wang family while in prison, returned to her parents' home, and ruined my niece's marriage. Not only that, but I heard that recently, those seeking marriage proposals have backed off after hearing the woman is from Jinniu Village. She's such a rotten apple! Even a small piece of her has ruined the atmosphere of our Jinniu Village!"
Her words made several women who were not on good terms with her boo her.
"Mrs. Wei, stop putting so many accusations on A'nuan! Besides, how long have you been here? Less than 20 years, right? And already Jinniu Village is yours?"
"If not twenty years, maybe ten or so."
"According to what you said, in ten or twenty years, won't our Qinghe Town belong to your Wei family?"
"You, Mrs. Wei, cannot represent Jinniu Village, so stop using the village's name!"
Mrs. Wei said angrily, "Go away, go away! I'm telling you, the Yao family is definitely going to be in big trouble. What are the Han and Wang families? Houses of nobles, yes, that's what they are! They've suffered a little this time, but they're definitely going to be alright in the end. Just wait and see!"
A village woman who knew Yao Chunnuan's itinerary for the day said, "Mrs. Wei, stop criticizing Ah Nuan. Ah Nuan specially brought a basket of sesame cakes to visit the prison today. What about you, the Wei family? You talk so high and mighty, but you've never been there once, have you? You really love your daughter so much, at least visit her in prison once."
Mrs. Wei slapped her thigh. "Look at what I said just now. I said the Han and Wang families would be fine, right? That's why Yao Annuan wanted to visit them in prison to show her goodwill. But now she's thinking of visiting them in prison? It's too late. The Wang family definitely won't want her. Our Ayu is different. She has never left her husband's family and has been through thick and thin with them. Once the Han family is cleared of the charges and restored to glory, they will definitely be devoted to Ayu."
The person who spoke earlier curled her lips. This old lady Wei always chose to listen only to what she wanted to hear, and simply ignored the rest of the sentence.
Someone murmured, "What's the point? It's just one more person in jail. It's better for Ah Nuan to stay outside. At least she can eat some clean dry food!" They had never been to a prison, but they had heard about it. They were not willing to eat the prison food, so how could those nobles eat it?
At this time, Yao Xing came over carrying two wooden buckets of clothes. As luck would have it, the only empty seat was the one opposite Mrs. Wei.
"Oh, Xingzi, these are your aunt's clothes, right?" Mrs. Wei had sharp eyes and immediately recognized that the bright skirt on top of the pile of clothes was the one worn by Yao Chunnuan.
Yao Chunnuan washed her underwear after showering that evening, but she had just changed out of her skirt that morning. She didn't want to dress too well for the prison visit, so she took it off. She was in a hurry to leave and thought she'd wash it when she got back. When her mother came into her room and saw it, she tossed it to Xingzi to wash.
Yao Xing ignored her and just kept hitting her with a laundry stick.
Mrs. Wei rolled her eyes. "Oh, your grandma is so partial. Your aunt-in-law has ruined your marriage, and you still have to serve her all the time? If it were me, I would have thrown her clothes into the water!"
Xingzi suddenly looked up at Mrs. Wei.
"Why, you don't believe it?" Mrs. Wei then brought up the quarrel in the Chen family.
After that, Mrs. Wei took another look at Xingzi's distraught expression and feigned regret, saying, "Xingzi, you can't blame the Chen family for this. Your aunt's behavior is exactly in line with the saying, 'Husband and wife are birds of the same forest, but when disaster strikes, they each fly away.' Who wouldn't be afraid? Who would dare to marry a girl from your Yao family?"
After hearing this, Xingzi pounded her clothes in a daze, her mind wandering to nowhere.
The aunts nearby looked at each other and shook their heads in their hearts. Xingzi really didn't look like Guilan's child. Others came to bully her and said such things about her aunt, but she never fought back. No matter whether she won or lost in the end, she at least showed her attitude.
Just as Mrs. Wei was secretly feeling proud, she didn't notice that the people around her all had a look of anticipation in their eyes.
Yao's mother picked up a broom, took one of the brooms, came over quietly, and hit her fat body.
Bang!
"Ah!" Mrs. Wei jumped up.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
Yao's mother slapped and cursed, "You are such a nagging woman, Wei. Who do you think you are? You keep talking nonsense about my Ah Nuan! I have been putting up with you for so long these days. My family brought her back, and the government approved it, but you keep complaining!"
Mrs. Wei was beaten so hard that she screamed and kept dodging, "Zhang Guilan, that's enough! You've hit me so many times!"
What's enough? "I told you to talk nonsense! I told you to ruin the reputation of my Yao family every day! Fourteen years ago, your family fled to our Jinniu Village from famine. If my father-in-law hadn't taken you in and let you settle down in Jinniu Village, your family would have died out long ago! What's wrong with taking forty taels from your family? Didn't I give you two acres of good land? Didn't my father-in-law force you? It wasn't you and your Wei Dashan who knelt down and begged my father-in-law to let you settle down! Now, look, you're settling old scores!" Yao's mother cursed all these words and let out a fierce breath of anger. Their Jinniu Village is a good place, and they don't have to worry about people settling down. It's true that they took forty taels from the Wei family back then, and those two acres of good land were worth more than twenty taels at that time, but they want to settle down, don't they have to spend money to make arrangements? What's wrong with taking more money? Could it be that she wants her father-in-law to pay for them to settle down? How shameless!
Mrs. Wei dodged a few times, but when she realized she was still hitting her, she turned around and rushed towards Mother Yao, "I'm going to fight you!"
Seeing her rushing towards her, Yao's mother threw away the broomstick in her hand and started to wrestle with her.
Others rushed over to try to stop the fight, and some went to call the village chief.
It was not until Uncle Yao arrived that the two were separated.
Yao's father and elder brother Yao came, and people from the Wei family also came.
Mrs. Wei felt pain all over her body, and a lot of her hair was pulled out. She was so miserable that she sat on the ground crying.
Uncle Yao was so shocked by what he saw. He glanced at Mother Yao and, after finding that she had not suffered any loss, he began to work. After criticizing the two of them, he also punished Mother Yao by making her pay Mrs. Wei ten eggs.
Mrs. Wei's injuries were much more serious than Mrs. Yao's. How could the Wei family be willing to pay her ten eggs? It was true that Mrs. Yao had hit someone first, but the fight had been sparked by Mrs. Wei's gossip, so she had no choice but to accept it.
Yao Chunnuan returned home after noon and discovered the wounds on Yao's mother's face as soon as she came back. "Mom, what happened to your face?" These wounds looked like scratches.
Yao's mother said nonchalantly, "I had a fight with Mrs. Wei today."
"You didn't suffer any loss, did you?" Yao Chunnuan asked quickly.
"Don't worry, that old woman Wei was no match for your mother. I just happened to grab a broom stick and whipped her until she screamed. I also pulled out a lot of her hair."
Yao Chunnuan was filled with awe upon hearing this. Her mother was truly majestic! "Why did you fight with her?"
When talking about the cause, Yao's mother looked disgusted, "It's all because of her mouth..."
After explaining the whole story, Yao's mother thought of Yao Xing. "When outsiders pointed at her nose and scolded our family, she didn't dare to say a word!" Yao's mother was obviously very dissatisfied with her eldest granddaughter Yao Xing.
Yao Chunnuan did not comment on Yao Xing.
She decided to just coax Yao's mother. "Mom, don't be angry. When I went to the prison today, I ran into Wei Qiuyu. She was in there in such a miserable state. Not only was her hair disheveled, but when she saw me delivering cakes to the women of the Wang family, she even asked for some."
Yao's mother quickly asked, "Did you give it to me?"
"Of course not. Who is she to me? And for the past two years, the Wei family has been picking on our Yao family. We'd rather feed our cakes to the dogs than give them to her!"
"That's right, you didn't give it to me." Yao's mother smiled.
Look, my mother is so easy to please. She doesn't need any noble or righteous speeches. Just standing on their side, sharing the same hatred and enemies, and being of one mind with them is enough. This is the happiness of the little people.
Yao Chunnuan suddenly remembered the things she bought in the city and quickly took them out to present.
Yao's mother couldn't let go of the headscarf.
"Oh, by the way, I also bought some meat! Mom, let's cook it tonight."
"Wow, this piece of meat is really good." When Yao's mother saw the meat, her eyes lit up and she quickly put down her headscarf.
Look at that white fat, which is as thick as a finger. With just one glance, Yao's mother was sure that a lot of oil could be refined from it.
"That's right, this is the only good piece of meat." Yao Chunnuan said proudly, "My cousin and I got out of jail quite late. When we got to the butcher stall, there wasn't much meat left, and it had been picked over. My cousin kept looking through it and wasn't satisfied. I was at a loss at the time, so I even advised him to buy some bones to make soup. Later, the butcher's youngest son secretly took out a good piece of meat from the bottom and asked if we wanted it. My cousin was delighted when he saw the meat and immediately said he wanted it. So, we each have half."
Yao Chunnuan didn't know that the piece of meat was carefully selected by the butcher himself and was going to be given as a gift to someone else, but his silly son took it out and sold it to them, and sold it as ordinary meat. He was almost angry to death and kept scolding his son for being unable to walk when he saw a beautiful woman!
But the neighbors started to make a fuss, saying that they had seen the girl and she was really pretty, and that Xiao Zhu was selling the meat cheaply just to please the girl and her brother-in-law.
Later, the butcher became even angrier when he asked more questions. His son didn't know the answer to any of the questions, so he sold the lean meat at a low price. In the end, he couldn't even find out the girl's name and address.
Her daughter has always had good luck, so Yao's mother didn't think much of it.
"Mom, let's make braised pork." Yao Chunnuan suggested with shining eyes. This piece of meat was mostly fat and less lean, weighing two kilograms, so braised pork was perfect.
"How do you make the braised pork you mentioned?"
"First cut into pieces, then blanch it in water, then add cinnamon, star anise and other spices and cook for half an hour, then add onion, ginger, salt, sugar, soy sauce and wine, bring to a boil over high heat, and simmer over low heat. The braised pork made in this way is trembling, fragrant, fat but not greasy, and it is the most delicious." At the end, Yao Chunnuan swallowed unconsciously.
When Yao's mother heard that she had to use this piece of meat to make red-braised pork, her heart trembled. "Nuan, let's not eat this red-braised pork, let's eat dumplings! First, use this meat to make oil, and then use the oil residue to mix with leeks to make dumplings, which will also be delicious."
What's the point of eating this meat without all the fat? It's obvious that her mother would make sure to clean out all the fat from the meat. But thinking of the tender green chives in the field, Yao Chunnuan smacked her lips and reluctantly agreed, "Let's have dumplings! Mom, put some crushed peanuts in there, it's so delicious."
"Okay, okay." Yao's mother agreed readily. The peanuts were grown by her own family, so as long as she didn't think about eating all the meat, there was nothing wrong with it.
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