Chapter 106 Hurry up and offer up the meat!
The village chief was a grassroots official responsible for household registration and taxation. Li Jingyi had several pavilion chiefs under him.
The head of the village in charge of Lijiazhuang was Cheng Yuan, the second son of the old man Cheng.
Cheng did not stay at the estate during the day because his son had already passed the preliminary examination and would be taking the provincial and metropolitan examinations next. They had already bought a house in the county.
Lanwanting has three villages: Lijia Village, Jiangjiawan Village (near Xia Ying), and Yuanjia Village (to the north), all of which are under Cheng Yuan's jurisdiction.
As they were talking, Li Jingyi was already sitting on the steps of the north room.
Cheng Yuancai came in from outside the courtyard.
He had just blew his nose, wiped it with the back of his hand, and swaggered into the courtyard with an air of authority that surpassed even Li Jingyi's.
Cheng Yuan looks remarkably like his father, Old Man Cheng. He is tall, broad-shouldered, and long-legged, with a large belly, clearly indicating that he eats plenty of meat and fish regularly.
He surveyed the Jiang family's courtyard with a haughty and disdainful gaze.
Song Chunxue sat calmly on the steps. Having been given a second chance at life, she no longer cared about their bullying.
How terrified she was of these parasites who plundered the people's wealth, when she was a barefoot old woman?
Are you afraid of retaliation and oppression?
Haven't they oppressed people enough?
"This courtyard is quite spacious. Jiang's wife is really amazing. She raised five children all by herself and still has grain and meat every year. I heard you slaughtered a pig a few days ago?"
Cheng Yuan looked at Li Jingyi with a meaningful smile, "How about we eat something here?"
Song Chunxue sneered. Judging from his tone, they had eaten plenty of meat from the Jiang family in the past.
She was a widow with no one to take care of her, and anyone could bully her. Cheng Yuan used to eat meat every time he came with Li Jingyi.
It's not just the Jiang family; people of their status would be treated to meat and dishes at any home they visit.
Even if you really can't afford anything good to eat, you should borrow a bowl of minced meat sauce for them and make them some long noodles.
This seems to have become a tacit agreement; even if people are unwilling to accept the meal, they will still grit their teeth and endure it.
"Forget it, she's had it tough too." Li Jingyi looked at Song Chunxue. He had heard Da Zui say that Song Chunxue was different now than before.
With that, he got up and walked out, saying, "Let's go, to the next household."
Cheng Yuan raised his hand to stop him, narrowing his eyes, "Wait, what does their family do? Is pork that tastes better than minced meat? Why doesn't the village chief try some?"
He spoke with an annoying laugh, without even asking whether Song Chunxue was willing to give it to him.
The fourth brother came out of the east room, stood on the steps, and stretched lazily.
He looked at his mother with a calm expression, his heart pounding, anticipating her next reaction.
Half a year has passed without us realizing it, and Mom certainly won't spoil them anymore.
He looked around, searching for a handy tool so his mother could drive them away.
After looking at them all, the long broom behind the gate was the most suitable.
He casually picked up the broom, sat down on the steps of the north room, pretended to sweep twice, and then handed it to Song Chunxue.
Song Chunxue naturally reached out and took it, giving him a wink.
"Did you hear that? We're having dinner at your house today. Bring out your new pork; I'm not eating the old kind."
As he spoke, Cheng Yuan felt a bit hot, so he got up and walked to the steps on the west side to sit down.
Song Chunxue weighed the broom in her hand without saying a word, while the quick-witted Li Jingyi immediately stood up.
"I'm going outside to pee first."
He dared not eat the meat; the widow's smile was somewhat eerie, and he'd better slip away first.
"Did you hear me? What are you still sitting there for? You're reluctant to give it to me?"
Cheng Yuan snorted in dissatisfaction, "Hurry up, if we don't get this meat today, I won't be so careful when we're harvesting the grain tomorrow... What are you doing?"
With steady steps, Song Chunxue walked towards Cheng Yuan, broom in hand, and raised it high to strike him on the back.
"Smack!"
"What are you doing, you widow?" Cheng Yuan cried out in pain, jumping up and pointing at her.
"You didn't even bother to ask around before you came. Now it's not so easy to eat my flesh. Even my own eldest son doesn't give me any meat, and you're asking for it right away? Would you even eat a pig's ass?"
"You old widow, try hitting me again!" Cheng Yuan, taking advantage of his height, raised his hand to grab the broom and try to snatch it away.
"What are you doing? Let go!" The fourth brother grabbed a sheep shovel from the side of the gate and pointed it at him, shouting, "You want to hit someone? Go ahead and hit me!"
"You think I wouldn't dare? You brat who hasn't even grown his first hair yet..." Cheng Yuan sneered and strode forward to snatch the shovel from Lao Si's hand.
"They're hitting people! Officials are hitting people! They eat meat but refuse to eat it, so they're hitting people! Is there no justice or law?!"
The fourth brother shouted at the top of his lungs, "Village chief, help! The head of the village is beating people and trying to steal my pork!"
"..." Cheng Yuan's face twisted in rage. "Shut up! Believe me or not, I'll kill you right here today!"
Song Chunxue dropped the broom and picked up the shovel from the woodshed. "You want to kill my son for a piece of meat? The village head is really something else. I'll see who kills whom today!"
She gripped the shovel with both hands, squatted slightly in a horse stance, looking as if she was ready to fight him to the death.
Cheng Yuan was a little apprehensive, thinking to himself, "This widow is alright looking, so why is she so clueless?"
"What are you doing? If you don't want to give me meat, then don't. You want to beat me to death? Do you know what happens when you mess with me?" Cheng Yuan sneered. "Even the county magistrate wouldn't dare touch me, let alone the two of you?"
Song Chunxue laughed too, "The county magistrate wouldn't dare touch you, so the prefect is your grandson, right?"
Cheng Yuan narrowed his eyes, his gaze filled with murderous intent. "Li Jingyi, where are they? Bring a few men in and teach this mother and son a lesson."
Li Jingyi didn't reply; he had already disappeared.
"Li Jingyi?" he roared.
"He ran away long ago; Chief Cheng is quite formidable."
The eldest brother walked into the yard carrying a basin of yellow urine. "Are you trying to act tough in the Jiang family's yard? I'm too lazy to empty this basin of urine, you..."
"You dare!" Cheng Yuan pointed at the mother and her two children in terror. "Fine, I won't eat the meat anymore. Get out of my way."
Jiang Yeming carried the chamber pot inside and said, "Get out of the way, get out of here."
Cheng Yuan looked at the three of them, wanting to run but not daring to, fearing that the Jiang family patriarch would urinate on him.
"Don't move! Don't move!" As soon as he finished speaking, Cheng Yuan rushed out.
Jiang Yeming followed, but he wouldn't actually spill it; if it left a foul smell in the yard, his mother would definitely scold him.
The fourth brother looked at Song Chunxue and raised an eyebrow at him.
Song Chunxue put down the shovel in her hand and turned to go into the kitchen.
All she wanted was a bowl of steamed rice cakes, and after eating, she would rest for a while before going to the field to harvest corn.
As for the grain delivery in a couple of days, she didn't care at all.
She was naive before, not knowing that others just took the grain directly. She was encouraged by Cheng Yuan and the others to winnow it clean with a winnowing basket. When she poured the grain, someone even kicked it to make it compact and added more and more.
"Mother, can we afford to offend Cheng Yuan? He'll definitely tamper with things when it's time to harvest the grain in a couple of days. We'll have to go together then." The fourth son came in from outside, looking worried. "Cheng Yuan has been making threats at us outside. I'm afraid his brothers will come looking for us."
"Bring it on," Song Chunxue said in a deep voice. "I'll bring two kitchen knives and we'll see who's more willing to go all out!"
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