Chapter 16 Chapter 16 They actually stole eggs...
Lin Chunhe, engrossed in eating her rice, nodded vigorously.
Lin Chuntao smiled, glanced at Lin Chunxing and Pei Ying beside her, and buried her head in her food. Perhaps she felt that she was a bit older and did not wolf down her food like the two younger ones.
She got up and got a pair of chopsticks, then put some mushrooms into the bowls of both Lin Chunxing and Pei Ying.
I don't know if it was because it smelled so good or because I was so hungry, but I finished all the rice and mushrooms, and even drank the last bit of broth from the stir-fried mushrooms.
Lin Chunhe exclaimed, "This is the most delicious meal I've ever had in my life, and also the most filling one."
Lin Chuntao felt a pang of sympathy. Seeing how thin the sisters were, with their dry, yellow hair and severe malnutrition, she knew how pitiful they were.
Lin Duo'er nodded vigorously, then looked at Lin Chuntao and asked, "Sister, can we eat rice with lard and stir-fried mushrooms every day from now on?"
"You'll get tired of eating this every day, won't you?"
Lin Duo'er shook her head: "No, I can eat it every day."
Lin Chuntao smiled and whispered in her ear, "We might eat pheasant tomorrow, it'll be even more delicious."
Lin Duo'er stood there, stunned, while the others chuckled.
After dinner, Pei Ying went to fetch water to wash the pots and pans, while Lin Duo'er pulled Lin Chunxing and Lin Chunhe to play with pebbles with her.
Lin Chuntao wanted to go to the fields before it got dark to take a walk and see what vegetables she could plant.
It's May now, too late to plant potatoes, but you can still plant some vegetables.
Given their current financial situation, they can't afford to buy vegetables, but they can't go without eating vegetables forever.
We can only grow our own vegetables. We plant one crop of vegetables and then plant buckwheat on all the land at the end of summer. We can eat the harvest or sell some to buy other grains.
Seeing that Lin Chuntao was going to the fields, Pei Ying got up and accompanied her.
Lin Chuntao didn't refuse. She told her sisters to watch the house, and the two of them left the yard together and headed towards the village entrance.
But before the two even left the village, they encountered Zhang and Lin Jiabao, who had come looking for trouble.
"Lin Chuntao, you stop right there!"
Zhang rushed forward aggressively, but Pei Ying pulled Lin Chuntao behind her. Zhang, who had reached the front, quickly stopped and pointed at Lin Chuntao, yelling, "You little slut, what are you doing hiding in the back? Come out!"
Seeing Zhang's angry expression, Lin Chuntao smiled slightly: "Zhang Qiuzhen, what do you want to see me about?"
Lin Chuntao called her by her name, which stunned Zhang.
"You ungrateful wretch, what did you call me?"
Lin Chuntao shrugged slightly: "Name? What do I have to do with you? What else should I call you by name?"
Zhang was so angry that her veins were bulging, but that didn't matter. What mattered was why Lin Chuntao wanted to slander Lin Jiabao as a thief.
"You ungrateful wretch! What makes you think you're accusing Jiabao of stealing eggs? Did he offend you? You're so heartless!"
Lin Chuntao listened to their curses, which had no effect on her whatsoever, but she had a hundred ways to infuriate them.
"Did I wrong him? He can explain to those aunties."
Zhang was furious: "What explanation do you need for him if he didn't steal it?"
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "If you didn't steal it, then the truth will prevail. There's no need to explain. Let people say what they want. Just stand tall and be a decent person!"
"The worst thing is that if I actually steal it, I'll feel guilty."
It was the time when everyone had finished dinner and was enjoying the cool air outside. Since this location was in the middle of the village, Zhang's loud voice quickly attracted many villagers.
Several of them were the women who had just gone to fetch water.
These people wanted to confront Zhang about Lin Jiabao stealing eggs, but they were from the same village and hadn't caught him in the act. They figured if they rushed over, Zhang would deny their right or wrong, so they let it go. They never expected that Zhang would be arguing with Lin Chuntao over stealing eggs.
They quickly gathered around and said bluntly, "Sister Zhang, Jiabao did something wrong, you can just teach Jiabao a lesson, why make things difficult for Chuntao? It's not like Chuntao told Jiabao to steal it."
Zhang glared fiercely at the woman who spoke, "What wrong has Jiabao done? This little bitch is talking nonsense, and you actually believe her!"
"But we do have fewer eggs than our family."
"If something is missing, does that mean my precious child stole it? I could also say that our grain is missing, and if I say you stole it, would you admit it?"
Lin Chuntao looked at Zhang Shi, who was, after all, an adult and experienced in arguing.
Seeing Zhang's attitude, the woman also objected and said directly, "Wasn't he the one who stole with his younger brother? Go and call the younger ones here. If the older ones don't tell the truth, won't the younger ones also tell the truth?"
A boy who had been watching the commotion took off running, shouting, "I'll go yell!"
Soon, the sons of the second, fourth, and fifth branches of the Lin family were all summoned.
The woman looked at them and asked, "Which of you went with Jia Bao to steal eggs?"
The second wife's family members looked blank and hurriedly said no. The two from the fourth wife's family and one from the fifth wife's family avoided eye contact, leaving Lin Chuntao stunned.
She said that Lin Jiabao stole the eggs simply because he had been falsely accused of stealing money, so she wanted him to experience what it was like to be falsely accused of being a thief.
Looking at the expressions on those little brats' faces now, it seems they really did steal eggs from the villagers.
She looked at the two and called out their names directly, "Lin Jiacai, Lin Jialiang, Lin Jialang, aren't you three going to tell the truth? You're still young and you're not the masterminds. If you confess now, you'll get beaten up."
Seeing Zhang's angry face, Lin Jiacai and Lin Jialiang shrank back and said, "Aunt, it was Third Brother who led us to steal it. We were just lookouts, we didn't steal anything."
Zhang's face was flushed red, whether from embarrassment or anger.
She picked up a twig from the ground, pointed at Lin Jiacai and Lin Jialiang, and asked, "Say it again."
Lin Jialiang hid behind his brother Lin Jiacai and whispered, "It was Brother Jiabao who took us and Jialang there. Brother Bao even said that they wouldn't know if we took one from a chicken coop!"
These details directly confirmed that Lin Jiabao had stolen eggs in the village.
Zhang was utterly humiliated. She grabbed a tree branch and whipped Lin Jiabao twice, yelling, "Did we starve you or not feed you at home? You went and stole! I'll beat you to death, you unfilial son!"
Every child in the village had been beaten, but when outsiders were present, it was usually just a show; after a couple of slaps, someone would come and pull them away.
But even after Zhang had struck him four times, no one came to pull him away. Lin Jiabao stubbornly resisted and didn't run away, which made Zhang so angry that she almost fainted.
When Tian learned that her grandson had been beaten, she rushed over, pulled Lin Jiabao behind her, and said to Zhang, "What are you doing? Why are you beating the child so cruelly?"
The women were furious, thinking about how many of their plump, white eggs had been stolen by that thief.
When Tian asked this question, they immediately replied, "Aunt Tian, your Jiabao and his brothers are stealing eggs in the village. Even when we were so poor that we didn't have enough to eat, there were no thieves in our village. But now there are thieves! If we don't discipline them when they're young, it won't be as simple as stealing eggs when they grow up."
Tian's old face hardened, and he said fiercely, "What nonsense are you spouting? Stealing eggs? Who would dare to make such a fuss after seeing it?"
“Auntie, you can’t be this protective. Jia Cai and Jia Liang have both admitted that they were the lookouts while Lin Jiabao was sneaking around.”
Tian's face turned red. The woman continued, "Besides, we really don't know how long he's been stealing, so it's not right to ask your family to compensate us. We're all from the same village, so just don't steal again."
Zhang gritted her teeth and said in a deep voice, "I'll go back and question the children. If any child took a number, we'll compensate them accordingly."
People just listened to this and didn't take it seriously.
With this delay, it was already late. The woman turned around and asked Lin Chuntao, "Where are you all going?"
Lin Chuntao replied, "We'll just wander around and show him around our village."
The woman glanced at Pei Ying, then smiled and said, "Come on, let's go to my house and sit down and eat some melon seeds."
"Auntie, we're not going. It's getting dark, so we're going back."
As she said she was leaving, the onlookers dispersed, leaving behind Zhang, Tian, and the Lin family's children.
On the way back, Pei Ying asked about it, and Lin Chuntao smiled and told him, "I went to wash the steamer just now, and this brat tried to bully me, saying that I stole money to buy the steamer. In a fit of anger, I said that he stole eggs. I just wanted him to experience what it's like to be wronged, but I didn't expect it to be true."
Pei Ying smiled helplessly.
"When we have a little more money in a few days, we'll buy a goose to guard the house."
After everyone dispersed, Tian, Zhang, and Lin Jiabao remained standing in the same spot.
Master Lin stood at the courtyard gate and cursed fiercely, "Get back here now! Standing there making a fool of yourself!"
Tian dared not get angry at the old man, so she could only complain about Zhang.
"It's all that bitch's fault for stirring things up. Why didn't you go after her from behind? Why did you have to confront her here?"
Zhang felt wronged after being scolded by Tian. She had come to question Lin Chuntao in a fierce manner, but she never expected that her son would actually steal eggs. The more she thought about it, the angrier and more frustrated she became.
Back in the courtyard, her sisters-in-law were all waiting to see her make a fool of herself.
“Oh, Jiabao, your grandparents have given you eggs, why do you have to go out and steal eggs? There are so many other things to steal, stealing chickens and dogs sounds so bad.”
Madam Feng from the second wife said sarcastically, "She even took her younger brothers to keep watch. Isn't that setting a bad example for them?"
Yang from the fourth branch and Miao from the fifth branch were also very unhappy. "Sister-in-law, you need to keep a close eye on Jiabao. How could you let your younger brothers do such a thing?"
Zhang couldn't talk back to her parents-in-law, but the three sisters-in-law's constant chatter made her furious. She immediately started yelling, "When the children were little, I don't know what kind of people they were. They would coax Jiabao every day, saying, 'Jiabao, when you go to play, you have to take your younger brothers with you. When you're outside, you have to take care of your younger brothers.'"
"Now that the children are older and no longer needed, they're starting to blame Jia Bao for spoiling his younger brother?"
"Why didn't you say anything before? Didn't your son eat those eggs? Now you want to blame everything on Jiabao? He's a grown-up now, do you still think he's a three-year-old who doesn't understand anything?"
Zhang scolded Yang and Miao until they blushed, while Feng from the second wife chuckled.
"Sister-in-law, are you implying that our family has suddenly become the work of three or four thieves? Unfortunately, a mastermind is a mastermind, and an accomplice is an accomplice; they cannot be confused!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com