While everyone else was busy, Jiang Tangtang wasn't idle either. She cracked open a lump of mud containing beef, carefully peeled back the mud to reveal the beef wrapped in leaves and spices.
Beef cooked in mud wrapped in leaves and spices has no gamey smell at all; instead, it has a unique aroma.
Even Jiang Tangtang, who is extremely picky about food, couldn't find much fault with this beef.
Seeing the whole family working together towards a common goal, she felt too embarrassed to enjoy the beef alone.
Instead, she took out a small knife, sliced the beef, and invited everyone to eat. However, she didn't share the half-bag of wild goji berries that Lu Shiyan had picked on the mountain.
She gave all the leftover wild goji berries to Lu Chenyan.
In addition, the largest piece of beef was reserved for him.
Looking at the child who was so thin he was practically skin and bones, she felt a pang of sadness again. She put the beef wrapped in leaves into his hand and said, "Eat up, you're not full."
Fang Mingming's desire to ride a pony was not satisfied, and when he saw the Lu family eating beef, he became even more agitated, shouting, "Mom, I want to eat beef! I want to ride a pony! Go quickly and snatch the beef from the little mute's hands!"
Lu Cuilan tried to cover her son's mouth, but he was too loud and had already shouted it out. Not only the Lu family members who were sitting close to the Fang family, but also all the villagers of Dawan Village who were resting there heard it.
Jiang Tangtang felt a surge of anger when she saw her adopted son instinctively shrink back, as if trying to hide.
To develop such muscle memory, one has no idea how long one has been bullied.
She could have let it go before she transmigrated, but now that she has, she will not allow anyone to bully her son like this.
She patted Lu Chenyan's head reassuringly, then walked a few steps to Fang Mingming and said coldly, "Did you often steal my son's food before?"
Fang Mingming spat at Jiang Tangtang, "He's mute, it's a waste for him to eat it, we might as well eat it."
Because Lu Cuilan worked for a wealthy family, she would often bring back snacks and old clothes from the city that the country folk had never seen before.
Fang Mingming felt different from the children in the countryside from a young age.
Furthermore, when the Fang family spoke of Lu Chenyan, they always referred to him as a "little mute" with disdain on their faces. Subtly, he also began to look down on Lu Chenyan.
He often led the village children to bully Lu Chenyan.
Taking advantage of Lu Chenyan's inability to speak, they would steal his food, stuff insects into his clothes, and push him into puddles in the dead of winter—these were all commonplace occurrences.
On the road of fleeing famine, he often heard his mother cursing Jiang Tangtang as a vixen. From the conversations of his parents and sister, he came to the conclusion that Jiang Tangtang was not a good person either, and that his parents and sister all hated her.
He blamed Jiang Tangtang for not being able to eat beef and ride a pony.
Jiang Tangtang never imagined that she would see such vicious and hateful eyes in the eyes of a child who was only a few years old.
However, her reputation as the Little Tyrant Jiang was well-deserved. She raised her hand and slapped Fang Mingming across the face, saying, "If you ever dare to bully my son again, I'll smash your mouth!"
Fang Mingming was stunned by the blow, and it wasn't until several seconds later that she let out a deafening wail.
When Lu Cuilan saw her son being beaten and crying, she was so angry that she was like a steaming teapot. She rolled up her sleeves and was about to fight Jiang Tangtang. "You little bitch, you dare to hit my son? I'll skin you alive today!"
Jiang Tangtang didn't want to end up like those middle-aged women in Korean dramas, tearing each other apart by pulling each other's hair.
She took off running towards Lu Shiyan, crying and sobbing as she ran, "Waaah, husband, save me! My aunt said she's going to skin me alive!"
"You little bitch, stop right there!" Lu Cuilan viciously reached out to grab Jiang Tangtang's hair, but just as she was about to grab it, a wall of people suddenly appeared in front of her.
Lu Shiyan shielded Jiang Tangtang behind him and looked coldly at Lu Cuilan.
Lu Cuilan's health was damaged after giving birth to Fang Peiru. She sought medical treatment and longed for many years before finally giving birth to Fang Mingming, her only son. She cherished him like the apple of her eye and could not bear to see him being bullied.
She spoke like a commanding lion, spitting as she went, "Sanlang, get out of the way! I'm going to teach your wife a lesson today! Mingming is such a young child, and your wife dared to lay a hand on him right in front of me. If I weren't here, she would have bullied my Mingming to death!"
Jiang Tangtang hid most of her body behind Lu Shiyan, only showing her head, and said arrogantly, "Who told him to bully my Xiaoyan? If he dares to bully my Xiaoyan again, I will beat him up again."
Lu Cuilan was furious at her arrogant attitude and retorted, "That little mute is an idiot. Keeping her is a waste of food. What's the use of protecting her? In the future, she'll still have to rely on my Mingming, my family—"
Before she could finish speaking, Lu Shiyan coldly interrupted her, "My son is neither mute nor stupid. Please watch your mouth, Aunt. Otherwise, it won't just be my daughter-in-law who has to take action."
Lu Shiyan has a cold demeanor to begin with, let alone his threatening manner.
Lu Cuilan was so frightened that she unconsciously took a step back. She couldn't understand when her nephew, who knew a little bit of martial arts, had developed such a frightening aura.
But she was unwilling to let it go so easily after her beloved son was beaten by Jiang Tangtang. Moreover, besides seeking justice for her son, she had other selfish motives.
She wanted to completely ruin Jiang Tangtang's reputation.
Seeing that she couldn't take a hard line, she could only pretend to be heartbroken, "How much of a spell has your wife cast on you? It's one thing for your wife to be unreasonable, but you still let her have her way. Aren't you afraid of causing trouble by protecting her?"
She looked anxiously at the villagers, trying to gain their approval, "Tell me, did Jiang do the right thing?"
However, the few women who usually chatted with her about Jiang Tangtang turned their backs the moment she looked over, clearly unwilling to get involved.
Several of the wives of Village Chief Song stood up and spoke up.
However, they didn't speak up for her.
"I say, Aunt Fang, your family should really discipline Mingming. He's so young, yet he's already acting like a bully and tyrannical person. If you don't discipline him now, he'll be in big trouble later."
"That's right. If you ask me, it's only because Jiang has a good temper. Fang Mingming bullied her son like that, and she's only now dealing with him. If it were me, I would have slapped that Fang kid across the face long ago."
...
Lu Cuihua hadn't expected this outcome. She paused, "Stop talking nonsense! My child is such a well-behaved boy, what could he have done wrong?"
Her words stirred up a hornet's nest.
Fang Mingming is not old, but she has offended a lot of people.
At this moment, all the children in the village stood up and denounced him.
One child said, "Last winter, I saw Fang Mingming push Xiao Ya... Yan into the frozen paddy field, which made him very sick. He even threatened me, forbidding me to tell anyone, or he would beat me."
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