That day, Shen Yanming and Bi Qiaoan took their two little ones to the field to pull radishes. The four of them carried two woven bags and finally managed to separate the radish greens from the white radishes when they heard a noisy commotion coming from not far away.
The two of them didn't want to get involved, but An'an and Nuannuan kept staring at that spot and wanted to go over.
Fearing that their little one might sneak off to join the commotion while they weren't looking, the couple put the bag down and asked an elderly woman nearby to watch over the child. Then they took their two children and headed towards the bustling crowd.
The two kids are too young and need to be watched by an adult. Otherwise, it would be bad if they were accidentally injured or if a stampede occurred in the crowd.
As the four approached, they saw two middle-aged women arguing over a large snake more than a meter long. Behind one of them stood four or five burly men, holding farm tools, looking ready to fight at the slightest provocation.
"Hey, how can you be like this? I already said I'd give you two radishes as a thank you gift, why do you still want a snake? You're way too greedy!"
"I killed this snake, so of course it belongs to me. You call me greedy? I think you're the one trying to steal my spoils! Don't forget, I just risked my life to save you from danger. If I hadn't acted decisively and smashed this snake with a brick, you might have been bitten. Now you're trying to take it from me? You're such an ungrateful wretch!"
"Pah! You have the nerve to say that. What kind of poisonous snake is this? It's just a rat snake. I was so scared that I screamed. You were quick, though; you killed it before I could even see it clearly."
I admit you helped me, but if you hadn't, I wouldn't have been in any trouble. Besides, my son and grandson were standing right next to me; if you hadn't interfered, they would have caught the snake this morning.
I'm grateful for your kindness, so I brought you two radishes. What, isn't that enough?
"But no matter what, I killed this snake."
“But it appeared on my land! If you hadn’t shown up, my son and grandson would have come and killed it, so you weren’t that important. Don’t stand on the moral high ground to criticize me.”
"You're being heartless by saying that. I didn't know if it was a poisonous snake or not before I came here. I came here with the intention of saving someone. Everyone knows there were several cases of people being bitten by poisonous snakes last year, and one person almost didn't survive."
I took such a huge risk, and you treated my kindness like dirt! It's infuriating! You only dare to be so arrogant because the outcome was good. If that snake had been poisonous, and I hadn't come over, you'd be dead by now.
"You're relying on your son and grandson? Don't they even know when they got here? If you hadn't fought with me for this snake, they'd at most just stand there and ask, 'Mom, what's wrong?'"
This woman kept talking nonstop, which made the old lady so angry that she fell backwards.
But the person still clung to the snake's body and wouldn't let go. They sat down on the ground and started crying and wailing.
"Oh my god, I'm so old! I'm going to die! I'm so old, and I finally found a snake so I could eat some meat again, but then this old woman comes along and tries to take it from me. You lot, go and fight her! She's all alone, she's not going to eat you all, is she? All you do is stand there with your hoes and watch, what a show-off!"
Oh dear, why is it so difficult for this old lady to eat a piece of meat before she dies? Her son is unfilial, and her grandson is disobedient.
"Oh my goodness, open your eyes and look!"
No one at the scene expected things to develop in this direction. They really hadn't seen such a tantrum in years.
The old lady's children and grandchildren were extremely embarrassed, their dark faces flushed red.
When they first arrived, they had thought that if their mother (grandmother) couldn't win the argument, they would step in and take it. But what the other woman's aunt said earlier made them feel a little ashamed.
Indeed, their first reaction was to ask questions, not to offer help. If it hadn't been a rat snake but a venomous snake, their mother (grandmother) would either have been bitten or the snake would have already escaped, and they wouldn't have been able to catch it at all.
So the group felt a little embarrassed and didn't want to argue with them anymore.
The old woman became unhappy when no one paid attention to her wailing. She forcefully pulled the snake into her arms, almost knocking over the other woman in the process.
"Grandma, you can't do that! Even if you're old, you have to be reasonable. What kind of world is this? You can't just take advantage of your age!" The aunt wrapped the snake's tail around her wrist and sat down. Anyway, she had plenty of time, so she decided to just waste it here today.
The onlookers finally figured out what had happened. They felt that both sides had their reasons, but they were still somewhat biased towards the older woman.
After all, their intention was to act bravely and righteously. You can't deny their good intentions just because the threat wasn't fatal.
"Grandma, it's just a snake, you can give it to them."
"That's right, just catch more when you want to eat. There are plenty of wild animals on the mountain these days. If your son and grandson are diligent, they'll be able to eat meat."
"Pah! You make it sound so easy. If the prey were that easy to catch, would my family have gone months without meat? I'm not leaving here today. This snake is mine, and I won't give it to anyone else." The old lady glanced at the crowd and said irritably.
"Mom, can we stop making a fuss? If you want meat, I'll go back and get it for you right away. Canned meat, fatty pork belly, okay?"
"You're a son of a bitch, you have no manly spirit at all. Go to the guard station to exchange, do you think it's free? You're just sitting there with a piece of meat to grab, and you actually want me to back down."
Good heavens! How could I have given birth to such an unfilial grandson? Look at her, look at her! She's just an old woman, and none of you dare to lay a hand on her. What use are you to me?
Shen Yanming and Bi Qiaoan whispered among themselves in the crowd, while the two boys watched the show intently. They usually only dealt with guards and had never seen a shrew cursing in the street before.
Bi Qiaoan: "Honey, don't you think this lady looks familiar?"
Shen Yanming: "There is some resemblance, but who does he resemble?"
The two whispered among themselves, discussing about ten names, but none of them matched up.
Finally, Shen Yanming said, "I don't want to think about it anymore. I can't guess. Let's just go up and ask."
Bi Qiaoan nodded: "That works too."
Just as the couple was about to push through the crowd to ask, the guard arrived.
Han Limin jogged along, feeling incredibly frustrated. He thought to himself, "He just squatted down to use the toilet, how come it's such a mess in just half an hour? This is just too unlucky."
Han Limin rubbed his aching stomach and asked weakly, "What's wrong?"
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