Chapter 35 The Foodie's Fury
As night fell, a dark shadow flashed past Zhang the butcher's house in Guqu Town.
In the courtyard, the dim candlelight cast long shadows of Mr. and Mrs. Zhang. Thinking about the humiliation she suffered at the market earlier that day, Mrs. Zhang was furious. She slammed her hand on the table and gritted her teeth, saying, "It's all that little brat's fault! Now we've offended Hou San again! What bad luck!"
Butcher Zhang took a sip of his wine and muttered with a gloomy expression, "I've already given you so many warnings today! And you still dared to spout nonsense in front of Hou San!"
Upon hearing this, Zhang raised an eyebrow, immediately straightened her eyebrows, reached out and grabbed Zhang the butcher's ear, twisting it hard as she said:
"Hey! Old Zhang! You've downed two cups of liquor and you don't even know your own name anymore!"
The sudden pain contorted Zhang the butcher's expression, and he quickly covered his ears, shouting, "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! I was wrong! I was wrong! It's all the Fan family's fault! It's all their fault!"
Zhang snorted, released Zhang the butcher's ear which had been pulled red, and said coldly, "Hmph, it's just a business of boiling doorknobs and drains with spices! Anyone can do it! We'll do it tomorrow too! I don't believe I can't make that little hussy surnamed Fan pay!"
Zhang the butcher, rubbing his ears, asked in surprise, "You know how to make braised pork offal?"
Zhang rolled her eyes and sneered, "What's so rare about that! I saw the son of Li Dalang next door buy a bowl yesterday. It's just that the spices masked the stench of the sewage!"
"We don't need to spend any extra money on our sewage system; why not do this cheap business ourselves? I've calculated it, and we can earn almost an extra tael of silver every day! Why not?"
Butcher Zhang's eyes lit up. Forgetting all about drinking, he quickly stood up, massaged his wife's shoulders, and flattered her, "Wow, you're amazing, wife! Now we've completely ruined the Fan family's business! Let's see how they'll survive in town!"
"Hmph! Just you wait and see, we'll see them come knocking on our door, begging us to sell them pork! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!"
"Yes! Hahahaha!"
The laughter coming from inside the room made the person on the roof roll their eyes and mutter, "You two fat, good-for-nothings can actually make something tastier than that little girl? You're shameless."
After saying that, the dark figure quietly lifted the tile and picked up a jar that was emitting a foul stench.
"Ugh, this tastes disgusting."
But the thought that because of these two idiots, he would never be able to eat the meat-filled pancakes and braised pork that little girl made again made him sneered and muttered under his breath, "Heh! Let you taste this hodgepodge with special ingredients! You've delayed my meal!"
After saying that, he tilted his hand and poured the contents of the jar into the uncovered tile.
The room was immediately filled with screams; Zhang's shrill and piercing screams seemed to pierce through people's ears.
"Aa ...
Then Zhang the butcher's voice rang out, his terror no less than that of his wicked wife: "Snake! There's a snake!!! My God!!!! It moved!!! It moved!!!! Take it away!!!! Take it away quickly!!!!"
"Bugs!!!! Aaaaaaaahh ...
Xiao Hei could see everything in the room clearly by the candlelight. He sneered, "Ha, a jar of dead rats and bugs scared them like this? How useless!"
Suddenly, a hand reached out from behind Xiao Hei and patted his shoulder, startling him so much that he jumped off the roof. The person behind him quickly grabbed him and whispered, "It's me! Bai Hua!"
After seeing who was behind him, Xiao Hei breathed a sigh of relief, patted his chest, and said, "I wondered who it was! Little White Flower, what brings you here?"
"The plan is about to begin. The Lord has sent me to call you back! Bai Xiaosheng said there will be another downpour tomorrow, so we'll make our move tomorrow!"
Upon hearing that the plan was about to be completed, Xiao Hei's expression tightened slightly, and he nodded, saying, "Yes!"
Under the cover of night, the two quickly left Guqu Town.
In the middle of the night, a thunderclap ripped through the darkness, creating a loud explosion on the horizon.
The thunder roared, startling Fan Xiaoxiao so much that she jumped out of bed. Remembering the mung bean noodles she had just made that evening were still drying outside, she quickly threw on a coat and shook her sleeping sister, Fan Shi, awake, saying, "Sister! Sister! It's raining! Our noodles!!!"
Madam Fan rubbed her eyes groggily, and then another clap of thunder rang out. Fan Xiaoxiao, no longer able to call for Madam Fan, hurriedly ran out and put away the mung bean vermicelli.
Fortunately, Fan Shi also woke up quickly, and soon everyone in the family woke up. After a flurry of activity, they finally managed to collect all the fans before the heavy rain started.
Fan Xiaoxiao wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked at the torrential rain outside, which resembled a silver screen, saying with a sigh, "This rain really just starts whenever it wants, without any warning at all!"
Uncle Wang waved his clothes and nodded, "Yes, but it's good that the rain is heavy. It will wash away the things we put on Chen Ergou's roof more thoroughly."
Aunt Wang, who had just finished collecting fans and was walking at the very back, wrung out the water from the corner of her clothes and asked with some doubt, "Hey, speaking of Chen Ergou, I don't think I saw him come back today. I was the one who closed the door for him!"
Old Zhao, who was smoking his pipe at the door watching the rain, exhaled a puff of white smoke and said wearily, "Hai, he has a mistress at the east end of town. He's too scared to go home right now, so I guess he's gone to that widow's house. That guy's really bold, touching dead people's things! Doesn't he fear getting into some bad luck?"
Sitting on a small stool, Xiao Bao rubbed his eyes, yawned, and asked somewhat sleepily, "Grandpa Zhao, what does 'paramour' mean?"
The little one didn't understand what he meant by asking, while the adults who knew the truth looked somewhat embarrassed. Madam Fan picked up the yawning baby and chuckled, "Ah, baby, are you sleepy? I woke you up when I got up. Shall I take you to sleep now?"
After saying that, he winked at Fan Xiaoxiao, Xiaobao's favorite.
"Sis, didn't you tell Xiaobao the story of the Big Bad Wolf yesterday? Where did you get to?"
Fan Xiaoxiao, whose name was called, stood up and followed, smiling as she continued, "They've gotten to the story of it catching sheep! Xiaobao, do you want to hear more?"
Hearing Fan Xiaoxiao tell a story, Xiao Bao's little eyes lit up slightly. He forgot about the question he had just asked and clung to Fan Xiaoxiao, saying, "I'll listen, I'll listen!"
Uncle Wang stretched and yawned, then said to Old Zhao, who was still watching the rain at the door, "Old Zhao, go to sleep. This rain is so heavy, it might stop by tomorrow morning."
Old Zhao, puffing on his pipe, didn't turn around, but just sighed softly, "It's tough!"
(End of this chapter)
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