On the other side, Xiao Yunying picked up the gloves and threw them into the supermarket, then limped back to the village despite the pain.
Upon entering the village and walking through the surrounding fields, I saw many women heading towards her home.
Now that they don't have to do farm work and it's cold, the women who have free time will go to the homes of people they are close to and whose houses are bright and spacious to do embroidery and chat together. Under normal circumstances, they won't wander around outside unless they have nothing to do.
Xiao Yunying walked a distance behind and quickened her pace: "They're heading in the direction of my house. Could something have happened to the children?"
She was walking along the road leading two sheep, which attracted a lot of attention. Several women wanted to come up and chat with her, but when they got closer, they noticed that her clothes were tattered.
An elderly woman exclaimed, "Yunying, what's wrong with you?"
The one speaking was the wife of the Third Master, who had some medical knowledge; she wanted to call her Grandma.
"It's nothing, Third Grandma. I just tripped and fell on the way."
A woman nearby said, "He fell so badly, he doesn't look like he's alright at all."
The old lady tried to pull the straw rope from Xiao Yunying's hand: "This is the sheep you bought in the city. I'll hold it for you. You go home first, and I'll go find your third grandfather to come and take a look at it for you."
Xiao Yunying held on tightly, not daring to let go: "No need, Third Grandmother, I can hold your hand myself."
Who knows if this sheep will have another seizure? What if it falls and hurts the old man?
An older woman nearby said sourly, "Look how scared you are. Even in this state, you still can't let go. Do you think Auntie will take your sheep home?"
The old lady loosened her grip on the rope a little, then tightened it again, using her other arm to hold onto Xiao Yunying's arm for support: "I'll go back with you, hurry up, I'll help you."
Xiao Yunying held onto the rope tightly, but she didn't stop the old man from taking her arm. She leaned against him and accepted his kindness.
She initially didn't want to speak because she felt a little embarrassed, but some things needed to be clarified to avoid misunderstandings, so Xiao Yunying said in front of everyone:
"Third Grandma, I don't dare let you lead the sheep because I was pulled down by it and dragged for a distance, which is why I'm like this. I don't mean anything by it. Please let go, I'll lead it myself."
As if afraid that others would misunderstand Xiao Yunying, the woman said again, "She's fallen like this and you still won't let go. Do you want the sheep or your life? You're really willing to risk your life for money. Your parents aren't like this. I wonder who you took after."
Xiao Yunying gave her a cold look. Was this person crazy? Had she offended her?
“These two sheep cost more than two taels of silver. I don’t believe you would be willing to let them go. Oh, right, I forgot, you would never be willing to spend so much silver to buy sheep to slaughter and eat.”
Xiao Yunying didn't dare to swear in front of her elders, but anyone could hear the sarcasm in her tone.
Her voice was not suppressed; it was even louder than the woman's voice, and everyone around heard it, many of them laughing out loud.
The woman said with embarrassment and annoyance, "I've heard people say that mutton is smelly and stinky, and tastes terrible. Who would want to eat that stuff?"
Xiao Yunying said in a skeptical tone, "I heard about it? I thought you had eaten it."
You don't know this, do you? Some people like to belittle things they've never eaten or used to elevate themselves, telling everyone it's not that they can't afford it, but that the food is bad or ineffective. You've been fooled by someone telling you mutton is bad. Avoid associating with these kinds of people; they're all just bragging and exaggerating.
These words elicited another burst of laughter. Everyone could understand the meaning behind Xiao Yunying's words; she was practically pointing at the woman and saying, "Stop bragging and exaggerating."
The woman blushed and said, "If it tastes good, how come it's cheaper than pork? I'd rather use that money to buy a few pounds of pork."
That hit the nail on the head. When she was buying the sheep, she inquired and found that people in the vicinity of Donglin City did not have a high acceptance of mutton, otherwise the price of mutton would not be so low.
For this reason, butcher stalls do not sell slaughtered mutton. Any unsold mutton can only be eaten by the stall owners or thrown away, so they cannot make any money. Therefore, butcher stalls do not accept live sheep; instead, sheep farmers sell whole, live sheep themselves.
If you buy a whole carcass, the price is much higher than buying pork by the kilogram; ordinary families wouldn't be willing to spend that much money.
Not many people have eaten mutton, and not many want to buy it, so it can only be sold whole. Whole sheep are not popular, which leads to a situation where not many people have eaten mutton, creating a vicious cycle.
Xiao Yunying said lightly, "You're really joking. The copper coins that buy a few pounds of pork can't buy a whole sheep. If someone who has eaten mutton says it's not good, it just means that they don't know how to cook mutton. It doesn't mean that mutton is not good."
Several women nodded in agreement: "Yes, we all know Yunying's cooking skills."
"Exactly, if radishes and potatoes are cooked well, how could meat not be cooked well?"
"Liu Xiu, stop pretending to know what you don't. You can't eat mutton and you say it's not good. Let alone mutton, how long has it been since your family ate pork? Don't be so jealous that Yun Ying bought two sheep and then act all sour."
The woman named Liu Xiu, flustered by what she was being said, took out a money pouch from her bosom and waved it around.
"Who's jealous of her? My family ate pork a while ago. I came here to buy pork today, but I was just trying to kindly remind her that people are more important than sheep. Listen to what she said, she was being sarcastic to me."
The woman who said Liu Xiu was jealous was quite eloquent: "Come on, who started this sarcastic talk? Besides, Yun Ying is right. Don't even mention two taels of silver. Have you forgotten how you searched the whole village for a copper coin that your youngest son lost?"
Liu Xiu was speechless, his face flushed red as he stammered for a long time without saying anything. Then he turned and walked away.
The woman deliberately raised her voice behind her and called out, "Hey, you're not buying meat anymore?"
Liu Xiu acted as if she hadn't heard and walked straight away. Several people laughed and joked. Someone nudged her with their elbow: "Look at you, you've driven people away."
The woman rolled her eyes at Liu Xiu's retreating figure: "She's so shameless, how could she let me drive her away? I think she only went back after realizing she couldn't buy any meat."
"Exactly, it's as if she was kind but Yun Ying treated her like dirt. She was the one who started the trouble first."
Xiao Yunying was puzzled by what she saw.
Was she overthinking things? She felt like all the women in the group were speaking up for her today.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
