51
Zheng Dahu was very angry.
Giving them a grace period is worse than not giving them any at all.
He finally made up his mind to go to the farm, but now that Er Ya has given up, he might not have the courage to do so again.
Moreover, who knows what kind of trouble Zhang the butcher might cause these next few days?
After Zheng Nanle finished speaking, he went inside and stopped talking to the two of them.
Zheng Dahu tried to stop Er Ya, saying that even if he volunteered to go to the countryside, it wouldn't work.
Zheng Laoda was simply happy. He thought that Er Ya had changed her mind this time. Would she calm down in four days and stop arresting him and his son?
In just a few months, Er Ya, who could be easily manipulated at first, suddenly turned into a huge tiger. Boss Zheng raised his head bitterly, saw Zheng Da Hu, and patted him on the shoulder, "Da Hu, stay away from Er Ya."
Zheng Dahu had a sullen face, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
Two days later, the spiritual energy that had landed on Zheng Dahu showed unusual activity, and Zheng Nanle, who was coordinating relations with his neighbors, narrowed his eyes.
"...I'm getting old and I'm a light sleeper. I get woken up at three in the morning every day and then I can't fall back asleep. I stay awake until dawn, and then I have to go to work. After a while, even a body of iron can't take it. Don't you think so, young lady? Hey, young lady, are you even listening to me?"
The old woman with slanted eyes nudged Zheng Nanle.
Zheng Nanle took a step back, avoiding the old woman's push, and smiled perfectly, "Auntie, you're right."
Another burly man complained, "What you're saying is wrong. This is how my shift is. Am I supposed to go to sleep every day without washing my face or taking a shower just so she can get some sleep?"
"I'm doing heavy work, and I'm covered in dust and sweat. How can I stand it without washing up?"
Zheng Nanle smiled and nodded, "You're right, that's a reasonable request." She looked at the old woman, "What do you think, sister?"
The old woman was displeased. "Don't think that just because you call me 'big sister,' I won't be angry anymore. I invited you here to solve the problem, not to smooth things over. I'm right, he's right, so who's right? You need to come up with a solution."
The conflict between the elderly woman and the man was quite simple: the man worked the night shift from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m., and when he came back, he made a lot of noise while washing up, which the elderly woman couldn't stand.
The two often argued, but neither could convince the other, so they simply took leave, reported it to the police, and asked the police to come and mediate.
"Sister, I have a suggestion for you. You could make some earplugs and put them in your ears to sleep at night so you won't be woken up. Brother, how about this? You shower and wash up in your room at night, so don't pour out the bathwater right away. You can do that after you wake up. You can also use the water to rinse your clothes first, okay?"
"As for hot water, you can fill a thermos before going to work, so you don't have to boil water in the middle of the night and make noise, don't you think?"
Seeing that the aunt and the elder brother both had something to say, Zheng Nanle spoke up before they could, "It is said that 'it takes a hundred years of cultivation to share a boat ride.' For the two of you to be neighbors, it must have taken several lifetimes of kinship to be able to exchange for this life's fate. Let's each take a step back and be considerate of each other, okay?"
The two of them were clearly not impressed by Zheng Nanle's words, and both had long faces and were unhappy.
“I understand him, but who understands me? I gently reminded him from the beginning, but he didn’t listen. The old man in charge of the courtyard and the street office have also talked to him, but he’s still like this. And that’s not all. In the middle of the night, he deliberately pulled his wife to do that thing, making her scream and waking up everyone in the courtyard.”
“Did you think I was the only one with resentment? Everyone in the compound felt the same way, but I was the brave one, and since I lived next door to him, I suffered the most from his persecution and was always on the front lines.”
The old woman angrily stabbed the burly man.
Someone nearby reminded the old woman, "Why are you talking about this? The young lady isn't even married yet."
It's so embarrassing to talk to a young girl about things that happen in a man's bedroom.
The old woman realized she had spoken out of turn and shut her mouth.
Zheng Nanle pretended not to understand and shifted his gaze to the big man's face. "Brother, why don't you change? What are your demands? This can't go on forever. Don't you agree? A close neighbor is worse than a distant relative. If you offend your neighbors, your wife and children left in the yard will suffer too."
The burly man blushed slightly and grumbled, "Her son is shameless; he peeks at my wife every day. I did it on purpose to make him give up on her. My wife and I have a great relationship."
The old woman's son rushed over, his face flushed red, "Who was peeping at your wife? I was looking at Sanxiang."
The big man's face turned red.
Sanxiang is his sister-in-law.
His wife gave birth to a son six months ago. He was too busy to take care of his family, so Sanxiang felt sorry for her sister and often came over to help during the day.
When he came back that day, he saw the guy staring straight in his wife's direction, his cheeks flushed, and he was probably smirking like a rat that had stolen some oil. He was all too familiar with that look; it was exactly how his wife looked when he first fell for her.
He only had eyes for his beloved wife. In his heart, his wife was the most beautiful. It was only natural to assume that this brat had designs on his wife. Now that I think about it, it seems that Sanxiang and his wife were washing the baby's diapers together that day, chatting and laughing.
The burly man scratched his head sheepishly. "Haha, you've taken a liking to Sanxiang, huh? Auntie, I won't wake you up again tonight."
The misunderstanding was cleared up, and the big man was very easy to talk to.
The old woman's son still glared fiercely at the big man, furious at his slander.
Zheng Nanle's smile remained unchanged. "Oh my, what do you call this? It's a happy occasion to become in-laws. Congratulations to my elder sister on the upcoming addition to your family. And congratulations to my elder brother on becoming relatives with your neighbors. Life is wonderful. You can lend a hand when needed and get together whenever you have free time. Life is so sweet every day!"
The others in the courtyard: "..."
So what are we?
Are you being ripped off?
The burly man chuckled and said, "Thank you, thank you for your kind words."
"Brother, these past few days, because of your misunderstanding, I've caused some trouble for everyone in the courtyard. Do you think we should give everyone some melon seeds as an apology?"
"Yes, yes, yes." The big man nodded repeatedly.
Having resolved the conflict, Zheng Nanle politely bid farewell to his elder brother and aunt.
Stepping out of the courtyard, Zheng Nanle deduced, based on the direction of the wisp of spiritual energy and the location of Zhang the Butcher's work and residence that he had investigated, that Zheng Dahu was going to find Zhang the Butcher.
That wisp of spiritual energy was merely a mark; aside from marking, it had no function like eavesdropping. If her spiritual energy level were higher, she could do that, but right now she's only at level one, so the effect of her spiritual ability is negligible.
She was curious; what kind of mischief could these good and bad people come up with to do to her?
She decided to eavesdrop.
Before I even reached the bus stop, I heard a woman's voice call out, "Er Ya?"
Zheng Nanle turned around and saw Zheng Daya.
Zheng Daya looked quite well, with a rosy complexion. The slight worry that had been lurking between her brows was gone, and she exuded a sense of ease and composure.
She walked over to Zheng Nanle, stuffed the cakes she had bought into Zheng Nanle's hand, and said with a smile, "These are mung bean glutinous rice cakes, they taste pretty good, Er Ya, eat them quickly."
Zheng Nanle took it, popped a bite into his mouth, and found it really delicious. The outside was fried to a golden brown, crispy and soft, while the inside was filled with soft, fragrant mung beans. He couldn't stop eating it.
"Er Ya, thank you." Daya watched Zheng Nanle eat heartily, a smile flashing in her eyes.
That day, after Er Ya reminded her, Daya found Fu Chenghua and said she wanted to get married.
Fu Chenghua agreed and took her to meet his parents that same day. However, Fu Chenghua's parents were not satisfied with her, as they looked down on her because she was from the countryside.
Da Ya didn't mention that she had actually found a job and given up on Fu Chenghua.
Fu Chenghua was a good person. He didn't tell Da Ya to just bear with it or forgive his parents. He apologized to Da Ya on behalf of his parents and said that if they got married, they would move out of the house. He said that they didn't need to care too much about his parents.
However, his household registration was at home, so he had to convince his parents before he could marry Daya. Unfortunately, what Daya lacked most was time.
On the night she met Fu Chenghua's parents, Zheng Dahu forced her to go to Zhang the butcher's house as an apology, as a commodity, as a undignified object to be used by Zhang the butcher.
Her cousins, aunt, and uncle just watched, and no one stopped them.
If she hadn't escaped and run into Xie Jianhua, it's obvious what would have happened to her.
Zheng Dahu is no longer her brother, and the Zheng family members are no longer her relatives.
She still remembers the embarrassing moment when she grabbed Xie Jianhua's arm and begged him to marry her.
She was barely conscious that night, completely lost in a panic, her words incoherent, tears streaming down her face as she cried. What she said was illogical, mostly pleading.
Looking back now, she feels that her conversation with Xie Jianhua was a complete failure. She had intended to be strong and negotiate with him, to take stock of her advantages, but she started by crying.
She didn't know what it was about Xie Jianhua that moved him. Perhaps it was seeing how pitifully she was crying, or perhaps it was because he couldn't bear to see the little girl from the same village suffer such a tragic fate. She married Xie Jianhua.
She was incredibly grateful that she had listened to Er Ya's reminder, which was why she was so decisive in proposing to Xie Jianhua.
She is living a peaceful life now.
"Er Ya, I work at the textile factory up ahead and am temporarily living in the factory's staff dormitory. Once I move to the family compound, come over to my house for a simple meal. If you need any defective fabric, you can also tell me, and I'll keep an eye out for it for you."
Xie Jianhua was single before, and said he didn't want to cause trouble for his company, so he didn't accept the apartment allocated by the company and instead lived in the staff dormitory.
Now that we're married, we naturally need our own house, so we applied for housing allocation.
The housing has just been allocated, but it hasn't been settled yet. Da Ya and Xie Jianhua are currently living in their respective company's employee dormitory.
"Okay," Er Ya replied, then asked, "Where did you buy these mung bean glutinous rice cakes?"
"Qianjie Xiaobingji (a bakery chain) has a great selection of snacks, including fried glutinous rice cakes, mung bean cakes, and sponge cakes."
"Okay, thanks."
"Er Ya, your clothes are torn. Come to my place and change into something else. I'll mend it for you." Da Ya pointed to Zheng Nanle's cuffs.
Zheng Nanle looked down and saw that something had caught on her, leaving a cut. "No need, Sister Daya, Guangbai will fix it for me."
Da Ya was surprised.
After all, needlework has always been the domain of girls; boys don't do it.
On second thought, it seems reasonable that Er Ya is busy outside while Doctor Lu takes care of the household.
"It's great, you take care of external affairs and he takes care of internal affairs." Daya said with some emotion.
She had previously foreseen that Er Ya's future would not be good. She had never been to school and had no parents or brothers to support her. She could only see the end of her life ahead.
She had thought that after she got married, she would bring Er Ya out of the countryside and see if she could find a good match for her in her neighborhood.
She won't marry badly. Her grandparents have invested so much in her, so the family they choose for her won't be too bad. The one she chooses will always be better than the one her grandparents choose. And as long as the dowry isn't less, her grandparents won't care where Er Ya marries.
Unexpectedly, things took an unexpected turn. Her marriage was fraught with twists and turns, and she almost ended up in a tragedy. Instead, Er Ya stood up and chose a young intellectual from the countryside for herself.
Just then, the bus arrived. Zheng Nanle said to Zheng Daya, "I'm leaving." Zheng Daya nodded and said, "Be careful."
Upon arriving at the slaughterhouse station, Zheng Nanle got off the bus and used his mental power to minimize his presence.
The slaughterhouse and the farm were not far apart. Zheng Nanle had come to help find pigs last time, so she was quite familiar with the nearby paths. She took a shortcut from the back of the mountain, avoiding people, and entered the slaughterhouse's residential compound.
She strolled leisurely through the family compound, heading directly to Butcher Zhang's house.
Butcher Zhang's house was a small courtyard where he grew vegetables like scallions. He didn't raise chickens or ducks, and because he didn't raise poultry, the courtyard didn't smell.
A plump old woman sat in the shade of the eaves, fanning herself. Beside a stone-built washbasin, a thin little boy and a thin little girl were plucking feathers from a chicken.
Upon seeing this, Zheng Nanle raised an eyebrow slightly.
Under the blazing sun, at the height of summer when the midday sun is at its strongest, two children under six years old were forced to pluck feathers.
Is it normal for girls to abuse their children like this nowadays, but boys also show such disregard?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com