Sister-in-law Lotus and Brother Xie
He Chuncao was knocked down on her butt by a pig, while Xie Xiaosan was knocked against the corner of the table and then lay on the ground, clutching his back and groaning. He was also stepped on a few times by the Zheng family members who were trying to avoid the pig.
Old Man Zheng was alert and had already run back into the room on two legs when the chicken flew away, not forgetting to shove Old Woman Zheng. But a rooster flew over and flapped its wings, slapping his face. As he backed away, his foot hit a small pit and he fell to the ground. Old Woman Zheng also lost her balance and fell on top of him.
The rooster flew over and dropped a clump of hot, smelly, fresh chicken droppings.
Old Zheng felt a burning sensation on his cheek, touched it, and collapsed, shouting angrily, "Eldest brother, fourth brother, are you trying to die? Hurry up and kill that chicken, kill it!"
The rooster at home was used for breeding, and it could hatch chicks by next spring, but now, Old Zheng doesn't want to raise it anymore.
All he wanted to do was gnaw on the chicken, gnaw on the chicken.
Zheng Nanle watched the joyful scene of chickens flying, pigs jumping, and people shouting, clapping her little hands and laughing happily.
In the end, this farce was brought to an end with the help of the neighbors.
They caught and tied up the chickens, and herded the pigs back to their pens. A neighbor, looking at the people in the yard with chicken feathers on their heads and supporting their backs, asked worriedly, "Are you alright? Should we go check on Old Tang?"
"fine."
He Chuncao was too embarrassed to touch her buttocks, so she put her hands on her hips and glared angrily at Old Lady Zheng, "Second Aunt Zheng, your chickens and pigs knocked my people down like this, aren't you going to give me an explanation?"
Old Mrs. Zheng was not one to be trifled with either. She retorted in an even louder voice, "I should be saying something to you! My chickens and pigs have always been well-behaved. Why did they suddenly riot when your family came? Heaven must be angry with your family for being ungrateful, which is why my family has suffered this ordeal as well."
He Chuncao refused to accept the accusation, saying, "My family is ungrateful? You should return the eighty yuan that my family gave to Erya as part of her dowry."
"What do you mean 'return'? You already said it was money for the dowry, there's no reason to take it back."
Old Zheng hid on the ground, his face drooping, and said unhappily, "Alright, your house was hit, and my house was hit too. Let's not blame each other. Let's leave it at that."
“Uncle Zheng, it was your chickens and pigs that caused the accident,” He Chuncao said through gritted teeth.
Ha, she thought her family was bad enough, but she didn't expect the Zheng family to be even worse. Luckily, the marriage didn't happen.
"Old woman, give me a dollar," Old Zheng said.
Old Mrs. Zheng reluctantly handed one yuan to He Chuncao.
He Chuncao really wanted to refuse, thinking that one yuan was just a small bribe for a beggar, but seeing that everyone in the village was gathered there, she knew that continuing to argue would only make her look more embarrassed.
Last night, her brother-in-law's son, Xiao Wu, already became a laughing stock; her family can't afford to become a laughing stock as well.
She gritted her teeth and said, "Let's go."
That's really bad luck.
I shouldn't have coveted Zheng Lao Er's future in the army and married into his family. If I had known he would die so easily, I should have just given him a chicken to settle things.
"Has the marriage between the Zheng and Xie families fallen through?"
"It's off. Didn't you hear the Xie family gave eighty yuan as dowry money?"
"Who is Zheng Erya going to marry? I haven't heard anyone come to propose marriage."
"Er Ya is stupid. What kind of good family can she marry into? I guess the Zheng family doesn't want to support her anymore and will just send her away with anyone."
"The Zheng family's actions are truly unethical."
"After all these years, you still don't know him? Back then, his eldest brother had several maids in a row, and he wanted to give his fourth son to his eldest brother as his son, just because he was eyeing his eldest brother's family property. His eldest brother disagreed, and he even dragged his old lady into it to pressure his eldest brother. If his eldest brother hadn't finally had a son, this matter would never have ended."
"Having a son isn't the end of it. There's something else I don't know if you remember: his older brother's youngest son almost drowned when he was three years old?"
"I remember. What happened?"
"After this incident, his mother's health deteriorated, and his older brother cut off all contact with his family. Think about it carefully."
"No way?"
The gossipy old woman gave them a knowing look.
The younger neighbors looked at Old Man Zheng and clicked their tongues in disapproval.
It's unbelievable that the kind and gentle old man Zheng could be so ruthless.
After the Xie family left, Old Mrs. Zheng went up to shoo the neighbors away, saying, "Go away, go away, what's there to see?"
"Tsk, I say, Old Lady Zheng, everyone came over to help you catch chickens and pigs, and instead of thanking them, you should at least say a few kind words. What kind of attitude is this?" It was the same old woman who was always gossiping.
Old Mrs. Zheng recognized this old woman. Years ago, when their two husbands went to the city to buy things, they encountered bandits on the way. In the end, her husband returned, but her husband did not. This old woman has always believed that her husband was responsible for her husband's death, and has been targeting their family for many years.
She yelled, "Zheng Guifen, what business is it of yours? You're so talkative, get out!"
Old Zheng spoke up, "Eldest daughter-in-law, everyone who helped out today, give each family an egg and a few bunches of vegetables. Go quickly."
"Okay, sure." The eldest son's wife went to the backyard to pick some vegetables.
Old Mrs. Zheng went to close the courtyard gate and saw Zheng Nanle sitting on the threshold. She cursed him as a "bad luck ghost" and muttered under her breath, wishing he would just die. But because of her previous experience, she didn't dare to kick or hit him.
The door was slightly ajar, and Old Mrs. Zheng went to help Old Mr. Zheng.
Zheng Nanle strolled back to the storage room with his hands in his pockets, intending to jump out of the back window into the yard and hide under the window to eavesdrop. But when he saw the eldest daughter-in-law in the backyard, he closed the window and pressed his ear against the wall.
The room wasn't soundproof, and Zheng Nanle had excellent hearing, so he could hear clearly the soft voices of Old Man Zheng and Old Woman Zheng inside.
"Old man, things aren't working out with the Xie family. Are we just going to keep supporting that debt collector forever?"
The sound of rummaging through boxes.
Zheng Nanle guessed that Old Lady Zheng was hiding money.
The sound of a pipe striking wood rang out, followed by Old Man Zheng's calm but chilling voice: "Send the eldest son to the mountains. There are plenty of men in the mountains who want to find wives."
"After that debt collector went mad, she became incredibly strong and strange. I'm afraid she might escape back from the mountains."
"Just find a family with several brothers," Old Man Zheng said casually.
Zheng Nanle clenched his fist.
That old geezer is wicked.
He actually wanted to marry her off to someone in the mountains as a shared wife.
In those days, families in the mountains were poor, and the deeper into the mountains they lived, the poorer they were. Poor families only cared about continuing the family line, and it was common for several brothers to share a wife.
Although Old Man Zheng didn't explain it clearly, that was the gist of it.
"Put this in her porridge tomorrow morning."
Zheng Nanle extended his spiritual power and saw Old Man Zheng hand Old Lady Zheng a small item wrapped in oil paper. Old Lady Zheng took it and hid it under her pillow.
Zheng Nanle narrowed his eyes and looked at Er Ya, "Er Ya, did you understand?"
Zheng Erya nodded sadly, "My grandfather wanted to marry me off to someone in the mountains, and he even tried to drug me."
"So, I'm going to get revenge on your grandfather, and you won't stop me, right?"
Zheng Erya's eyes widened. "Sister, will someone die?"
"How could that be? I'm a law-abiding citizen." Zheng Nanle smiled and looked at Zheng Erya.
Zheng Erya: "..."
She didn't believe it.
At noon, to prevent Zheng Nanle from causing a scene, she ate everyone's food by herself. As usual, Old Mrs. Zheng gave Zheng Nanle a bowl of rice. Afterwards, the Zheng family went to the fields, and Old Mrs. Zheng looked at Zheng Nanle with unwavering hope, "Er Ya, come to work with us."
I always feel like I'm letting her live off me, it's such a waste of her time.
Zheng Erya, hands tucked in her sleeves, grinned foolishly and walked to a corner of the yard to play a game with ants using a stick.
Old Mrs. Zheng walked into the yard, intending to pull Zheng Erya to the field, but Old Mr. Zheng glanced at her and said, "Let's go."
Old Mrs. Zheng was so angry that she was panting heavily.
She had to endure it countless times these past few days.
She turned and left, wanting to avoid seeing it.
After the Zheng family members had gone far away, Zheng Nanle skillfully used a wire to unlock the door, walked to the bedside, and took out the oil paper package from under the pillow.
Upon opening it, I found a pale yellow powder with a slightly fragrant scent.
I don't know him.
But that didn't stop her from guessing what it was.
It's either a drug or an aphrodisiac.
Zheng Nanle kept a small amount, put the oil paper package back as it was, went to the trunk to find the eighty yuan, thought about it, and didn't take it.
Zheng Erya asked curiously, "Aren't you going to take it, sister?"
"No rush. I still need to live in this house. I can't push your grandparents too far."
Currently, neither Zheng Nanle nor Old Man Zheng wants to overturn the table.
After leaving the house, Zheng Nanle continued her search for the medicinal herb on the mountain. This time, she was lucky and found a Dendrobium officinale that looked like an orchid but wasn't quite one in a shady spot among the rocks at the top of the mountain. (Actually, she wasn't sure if it was Dendrobium officinale; she had only seen pictures of it online, but she had a strange intuition that it was.)
After clearing the area clean, Zheng Nanle, holding the flower-like dendrobium, hid near the cowshed.
Although Lu Guangbai lived in the cowshed, he still had to work in the fields. The village couldn't support them for nothing. His grandfather carried manure, and he worked in the fields to earn work points. However, he earned fewer work points than the rest of the village, just enough to keep them from starving.
After a long day's work, Lu Guangbai walked wearily toward the cowshed.
"Lu Guangbai".
Lu Guangbai raised his eyes. He must have misheard. How could a woman be calling him?
"Lu Guangbai".
Lu Guangbai seemed to understand something, looked up and indeed saw Zheng Nanle hiding behind the stack of rice.
He looked around to make sure no one was watching, then jogged over.
"Here," Zheng Nanle shoved the 'bouquet' in his arms into Lu Guangbai's arms and asked, "Is it dendrobium?"
"Yes." Lu Guangbai's expression was excited, and prescriptions flashed through his mind. Finally, he calmed down, looked at Zheng Nanle, and said with some disapproval, "You went to the deep mountains?"
He searched all the surrounding mountains.
“It’s none of your business,” Zheng Nanle said, folding his hands. “Don’t forget, starting tomorrow, I’ll be coming to your house to drink rice and oil.”
“Okay.” Lu Guangbai nodded.
Zheng Nanle narrowed his eyes.
It seems she guessed right, otherwise why would he have agreed so readily to release the second generation of cowshed children?
Keep in mind, even the Zheng family hasn't achieved rice freedom.
She took out a beige powder from her bosom and asked, "What is this?"
Lu Guangbai sniffed it. "Aconitum carmichaelii, Datura stramonium, Acorus calamus...it's a sleeping potion. Where did you get it?"
"Never mind how you got it, just give me a dose of sleeping pills tonight, the kind you soak a handkerchief in and cover your nose with to knock someone unconscious."
"cannot."
Zheng Nanle smiled and asked, "Really not?"
Lu Guangbai nodded.
Although he was down on his luck, he still had medical ethics.
He's not worthy of such a harmful thing.
"Well, it seems the chickens and pigs from the mountains will provide the village with a few more big meals."
Lu Guangbai: "..."
He changed his answer in humiliation: "Yes."
Zheng Nanle patted his shoulder with a grin, "You're really amazing, Dr. Lu. I'll be waiting for your good news. I'll come and get it tomorrow morning."
Lu Guangbai didn't understand, "How did you guess that the chickens and pigs on the mountain were related to me?"
He kept a low profile in the village, avoiding trouble. He was an outsider and a corrupt official, living cautiously and humbly. Who would have guessed that he would dare to get involved in such a bold thing?
"Who can blame us for Dr. Lu's superb medical skills? The deworming medicine outside the chicken and pig pens is really effective, and he even feeds the chickens and pigs medicinal herbs. Who but a great doctor would have that kind of confidence?"
Lu Guangbai remained silent.
Was it this little thing that gave it away?
"Couldn't it have been prescribed by Dr. Tang after Ronghua received it?"
"Maybe so, I'm just trying to trick you." Zheng Nanle chuckled. "Does your family eat white rice every day now? Be careful someone doesn't see it."
Lu Guangbai knew that he had agreed too readily just now.
He was still blinded by the excitement of getting Dendrobium officinale, and became too relaxed and unguarded in front of Zheng Nanle.
In any case, thank you for reminding me.
That night, the Zheng family was quiet. The three families of Zheng Nanle listened from the corner of the wall, but they did not hear when the people from the mountains came. However, they were certain that the eldest uncle had gone to the mountains in the afternoon.
Because my aunt asked, "Where did you go this afternoon?"
Zheng Nanle clicked his tongue. It didn't matter that he hadn't received any specific information; it wouldn't affect anything.
After the Zheng family had all gone to sleep, Zheng Nanle went out and asked Zheng Erya, "Erya, where does Sister Hehua live?"
Er Ya pointed in a direction and asked curiously, "Sister, why are you asking about Sister Hehua's house?"
"I'll arrange a marriage for her," Zheng Nanle praised himself. "I'm such a kind person."
Her fiancé cheated on her with his mistress, yet she went to great lengths to make their relationship happen.
When Zheng Nanle arrived at Sister Hehua's house, he was about to check if she was asleep when he saw Xie Xiaosan's second brother sneaking into her house.
Zheng Nanle: "Wow!"
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