Aunt Hao looked around warily, as if she were doing something wrong, and quickly gathered up the rice bag to make sure no one was watching.
"Where did you get this from?" she asked Xing Zhaozhao nervously, lowering her voice.
“I bought it,” Xing Zhaozhao said.
Seeing Xing Zhaozhao's matter-of-fact attitude, Aunt Hao really wanted to slap her, but then she remembered that this person was neither her daughter nor her daughter-in-law, so she couldn't hit her. Her fingers twitched, but she held back.
"You went to the black market?" Aunt Hao asked her with a stern face.
The grain depot can't buy such good grain.
This rice is so white and fine; it's clearly a special supply.
Xing Zhaozhao: "..."
Xing Zhaozhao remained silent, which was taken as tacit agreement; she couldn't very well tell the truth that it was moved from another world.
Aunt Hao wants to hit someone again.
"Are you stupid? You have money to burn, so you buy such good rice on the black market. Do you know how expensive it is?" Aunt Hao said, somewhat exasperated.
Xing Zhaozhao: "..."
Actually, she had already picked the cheapest option, buying 50 jin (25 catties) at a time, and it could have been even cheaper.
"You bought such good rice, why didn't you keep it at home for yourself? Why did you take it out?" Aunt Hao asked.
"I'd like to exchange for more dried mushrooms and dried wild vegetables," Xing Zhaozhao said.
Aunt Hao looked at her as if she were a fool: "Why do you need so many dried mushrooms and wild vegetables? You can't eat that much in one winter. After winter, they'll be everywhere in the mountains and fields, and they're not worth much money."
Xing Zhaozhao had already prepared her explanation: "Back when I was in the army, Aunt Hao sent me quite a lot, didn't she? I shared some with the other women, and they all said it was delicious. I was thinking of sending them some more, and taking this opportunity to see if I could find out anything about Mingcheng. It's just some cheap dried vegetables, so it can't really be called a bribe..."
Aunt Hao understood her intention, paused for a moment, sighed helplessly, and quickly and neatly put away the rice bag, saying, "Okay, I'll exchange it for you, but I don't have much here either, probably not enough for you to exchange. I'll go to someone else's house and exchange some for you."
After saying that, Aunt Hao quickly got to work. First, she filled the rice jar with rice, then she filled the rice that was still drying outside. Next, she scooped out two bowls of rice from the rice bag that Xing Zhaozhao had given her, put it in another cloth bag, and went to someone else's house to exchange it for some rice.
In the end, the dried mushrooms and wild vegetables that Aunt Hao had traded for Xing Zhaozhao filled a whole basket and there was still some left over.
Aunt Hao was still not satisfied: "It's still not enough. I'll go ask other stores and see if they can give me some more."
Xing Zhaozhao quickly stopped her: "That's enough, that's enough, Auntie. This is enough. I'll send these out first. If it's not enough, I'll come back to you."
Aunt Hao stopped when she heard her say that, but she still told her, "If it's not enough, you must come to me again. Don't be shy."
Xing Zhaozhao smiled and replied, "I understand, Auntie."
After saying that, she bid farewell to Aunt Hao: "It's getting late, I won't keep you busy any longer. I have a naughty boy at home, I need to hurry back and check on him, lest he cause a huge commotion."
Aunt Hao saw her out: "Be careful on the road."
"I understand, Auntie." After Xing Zhaozhao finished speaking, she pulled Hongfei to leave, when she suddenly felt a hot gaze on her side. She turned her head curiously to look over, but unexpectedly met the face of Old Lady Gao on the wall next to her, her face full of resentment and venom. She was startled.
It turned out that after meeting Xing Zhaozhao at the door, Old Lady Gao had been listening intently to what was happening at the Hao family's place.
Hearing Hao Xiuning bring out wild berries from the house for her father and lover to eat, and say that Xing Zhaozhao found them in the mountains, she couldn't help but swallow hard. She found a stool, stood on it, and leaned over the wall to watch what was happening.
Seeing the heavy basket on Hongfei's back, which must have contained more than just wild strawberries, but other rare things, Old Lady Gao felt extremely distressed, as if a hundred thousand ants were crawling on her heart, thinking that those things would not end up in her mouth and would only benefit others.
Those things should have been hers, hers.
Sure enough, you can't sleep in the same bed with two kinds of people. The second son and his wife are both ungrateful wretches. One got a good job but gave it to an outsider instead of his brother. The other got something good but gave it to an outsider instead of his mother-in-law.
It was clearly born from her belly, yet it's siding with outsiders. If she had known this would happen, she should have thrown it into the toilet and drowned it right after it was born, wasting all her milk.
Aunt Hao followed Xing Zhaozhao's gaze and was also startled.
"You old hag, how dare you climb over the wall to peep, you shameless bastard!" she cursed angrily, grabbing the broom that was leaning against the corner of the wall and slapping it at the old woman's face on the wall.
Grandma Gao quickly stepped back, but forgot that she was standing on a stool. She lost her footing and fell down.
There was a loud "thud," followed by Old Lady Gao's painful cry: "Ouch, my bottom..."
"Serves you right, why didn't you fall and die, you old hag, you never do anything right..." Aunt Hao continued to curse.
Old Mrs. Gao was filled with shame and anger. Her buttocks ached, but her heart ached even more. She pounded her chest and howled, "Why is my life so miserable? I finally raised a successful son who turned out to be an ingrate, and the wife I married was a mother ingrate too, and they even had a litter of little ingrates. They're all siding with outsiders. When they get something good, they don't even know how to be filial to their mother-in-law, letting outsiders benefit from it. They even team up with outsiders to bully their mother-in-law. I can't live like this anymore! Please let a bolt of lightning strike me dead..."
"Boom..."
A clap of thunder echoed in the distance, fittingly.
On the other side of the wall, Old Lady Gao's wailing and lamenting immediately stopped.
The mother wolf raised an eyebrow and exchanged a teasing glance with her cub beside her.
Standing to the side, Aunt Hao was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter: "Even God couldn't stand it, and you still have the nerve to say that. It's so hard to raise your son, Mingcheng. When he was little, he was so hungry that he went to the mountains to forage for food. He finally managed to get some food, and you, his mother, snatched it away. Snatching food from your own child's mouth, you are the first mother in our village to do that."
"Besides, their family has already severed ties with you, yet they still expect you to be filial to them. They're so ugly, yet they still dream so big. After Mingcheng became successful, how many people have been filial to you? And how did you treat him? A leopard can't change its spots."
"The two children have no relatives to help them, so I'll help them if I can. If the two children are willing to remember their old woman like me, I won't be polite. Are you envious? Are you jealous? Too bad you can see it but can't have it. Heh, I'll make you furious."
Grandma Gao stopped talking and didn't move.
However, he didn't die of anger, but he was so angry he fainted.
"Grandma, Grandma..." Gao Nuannuan's frightened cries soon came from next door.
Xing Zhaozhao pretended not to hear and looked apologetically at Aunt Hao: "I've caused you trouble again, Auntie."
Aunt Hao waved her hand dismissively: "Ever since we became neighbors, we've had no shortage of trouble. One more problem won't make a difference, and one less problem won't make a difference either."
Xing Zhaozhao smiled and didn't stand on ceremony with her anymore: "We're going back now, we'll come see you again next time."
Aunt Hao nodded: "Be careful on the road."
Xing Zhaozhao led Hongfei out of the Hao family's gate, and behind them came the sound of Aunt Hao talking to Zhang Zhiqing.
"Wenming, remember to stay for dinner today."
“Okay, Auntie,” Zhang Zhiqing replied with a smile.
Wenming? Zhang Wenming? This name sounds familiar, like I've heard it somewhere before.
Xing Zhaozhao pulled Hongfei along as they walked up the mountain, pondering to herself.
Just as they were about to reach the village entrance, a sudden idea flashed into Xing Zhaozhao's mind, and she abruptly turned her head to look in the direction of Aunt Hao's house.
She remembered!
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