Chapter 13 A close neighbor is worse than a distant relative
In Dahe Village, people eat two meals a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. They don't cook lunch.
But at this moment, the air was filled with the faint aroma of meat.
Aunt Wang sat in the yard and took a deep sniff. It smelled like pork; it was definitely pork.
At this time of year, there are still people in the village who can afford pork!
Aunt Wang followed the scent out of the yard and saw Zhao Sidan walking over from the edge of the field, his small body carrying a large basket filled with wild vegetables.
"Four Eggs, why did you dig up so many goose lettuce leaves?"
Zhao Sidan answered honestly, "My mother said that goose vegetables are delicious."
Aunt Wang's lips twitched. Cooking goose vegetables was incredibly wasteful of firewood and extremely bitter. Sister-in-law Zhao was just fooling the children.
What does a little kid know? He just eats whatever his mother gives him. Poor thing.
"Four Eggs, wait a minute!"
Aunt Wang turned and went into the house, took out a cornbread, stretched it out and then pulled it back, then broke it in half and stuffed a small half into Zhao Sidan's hand: "Eat it quickly, fill your stomach."
Zhao Sidan quickly pushed it back: "Auntie, I can't accept it..."
"You silly child, just take it! Why are you being so polite?" Aunt Wang scolded irritably. "Your mother takes all the good stuff to the Cheng family, leaving you four to suffer. You're only ten years old, but you look like six or seven... Your mother deserves it. She's always thinking about her own family, and in the end, she got beaten up by her own brother. It's laughable! Sidan, when you grow up, you'd better move out of the house as soon as possible. Don't be like your brother and sister-in-law, staying at home like old oxen, not even getting a bite to eat. I think she's even more vicious than a stepmother..."
Cheng Wanwan was washing her hands in the yard when she heard cursing coming from outside.
And who is it that's standing at her doorstep in broad daylight, yelling at her?
She dried her hands and went outside, only to see Aunt Wang pulling Zhao Sidan aside to talk at the door next door. Sidan tried to interrupt several times, but Aunt Wang forcefully suppressed him: "Alright, hurry up and eat this half of the cornbread. Don't let your mother see it, or you won't get a single bite..."
Cheng Wanwan was speechless. Sharing food is clearly a good deed, but Aunt Wang made it so frustrating.
However, after recalling the messes the original owner had made, she could understand why Aunt Wang was so angry with the original owner. Since the two families were neighbors, with only a few big trees between their two courtyards, the closer they were, the more conflicts they naturally had. The original owner was also someone who liked to take advantage of others, and Aunt Wang had suffered a lot at the hands of the original owner.
Many times, the original owner would scold Aunt Wang so badly that she would go back to her seclusion.
Even so, Aunt Wang still secretly stuffed cornbread into the original owner's son's mouth.
As the saying goes, a close neighbor is worse than a distant relative. If we can make peace with Aunt Wang, it would be a good thing. However, the original owner's personality was sharp and mean, and the sudden change was really abrupt.
"Keep this for yourselves," Cheng Wanwan said, lifting the basket from Zhao Sidan's back. "We have meat to eat today, who wants cornbread?"
Her words contained three parts sarcasm, three parts mockery, and four parts boasting, showing that she had learned eight parts of the original owner's temperament.
Aunt Wang sniffed the aroma of meat wafting in the air and exclaimed in disbelief, "Your family can still afford meat?!"
"The Cheng family smashed a bloody hole in my head. I took back the meat they gave me before and ate it myself. What's wrong with that?" Cheng Wanwan said righteously. "Si Dan is gone. I'm going home to eat meat!"
She wasn't showing off intentionally, but rather wanted to use Aunt Wang's words to tell everyone in the village that she had broken ties with the Cheng family.
Cheng Wanwan lost all hope in her family, which caused a drastic change in her personality, leading her to decide to start living a good life.
"I don't believe you for a second!" Aunt Wang rolled her eyes. "Instead of spending money on meat, you should save it to buy more grain. Old Mrs. Zhao was right, she's a real spendthrift. They don't know where their next meal is coming from, and all the children are suffering because of her..."
As she spoke, she swallowed hard; the aroma of meat wafting from next door made her mouth water. After the autumn harvest, she would definitely take a few pounds of grain to town to exchange for half a pound of pork, so that her children could also taste the flavor of meat…
Zhao Sidan rushed into the yard and immediately saw the braised pork bubbling in the pot. His mouth watered uncontrollably.
Cheng Wanwan whispered, "Sidan, from now on, if there's anything good to eat at home, you're not allowed to tell anyone outside, understand?"
Zhao Sidan nodded frantically: "I won't tell anyone!"
If word gets to my uncle's ears, he'll definitely come and take all the meat from the house.
Cheng Wanwan picked up a piece of braised pork with her chopsticks, blew on it, and put it in his mouth: "How is it? Is it flavorful?"
Zhao Sidan swallowed it in one gulp, barely tasting anything. He licked his lips and said, "Mom, I want more..."
"You little glutton," Cheng Wanwan chuckled. "Go and call your second and third brothers back for dinner."
Zhao Sidan turned and ran outside.
Cheng Wanwan asked Wu Huiniang to serve the braised pork and then cook white rice.
She called Zhao Dashan in: "I remember you seem to know a little bit about masonry. Could you build a small stove over here?"
Putting two pots on one stove—the broken pot for cooking rice and the new pot for cooking dishes—saves a lot of effort and also saves firewood.
Zhao Dashan had worked as a bricklayer's apprentice in town last year, so he did know a little bit. He immediately went to the riverbank by the door, picked up a few stones, and then went to the backyard to dig up yellow clay, mixed it with water to make mud, and started building an earthen stove according to Cheng Wanwan's instructions...
The rice in the pot was cooked, and the house was filled with the aroma of meat and rice.
Just then, Zhao Sidan ran back in a panic: "Mom, something bad has happened! Second Brother and Third Brother are arguing with someone..."
Cheng Wanwan suddenly felt exhausted.
How come these two kids are always getting into trouble?
Before she could say anything, Zhao Dashan threw down the stone in his hand: "Let's go see who dares to bully my brother!"
"Stop right there!" Cheng Wanwan called out to him. "Stay home and finish building the stove. I'll be back to check."
She took a step and walked outside.
When kids get into a fight, it's natural for the parents to step in and resolve it. Sending the older child over will only escalate the conflict.
Zhao Sidan led the way and explained the situation.
The man arguing with the two boys was Zhang Wulai, Zhang Dagang's biological father. Both father and son were representative figures of idleness in the village.
It's obvious even to a fool that Zhang Wulai is deliberately causing trouble for their two sons because of the rabbit he failed to get yesterday.
Therefore, Er Gou and San Niu suffered an undeserved misfortune.
Cheng Wanwan walked to the entrance of the village. There was a well there, which was the only well in the village that was still producing water. People lined up to draw water all day long.
Right now, Zhang Wulai and the two Zhao boys are fighting, and half the village is here to watch the spectacle.
"Zhang Wulai, you've lived such a long life, why are you picking on two half-grown kids?"
Zhang Wulai spat: "I'm protecting the interests of the whole village. These two lads carried more than a dozen buckets of water back home in the middle of the night yesterday, and they're lining up to get water again today. Do they think the village's water comes from the wind? They use more water, while other families use less. Why should they get all the benefits?"
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