It was still early, and the whole family was there, so even if something felt off, there was nothing to be afraid of.
Jiang Nuan grabbed a broom and walked forward with her back straight. When she reached the collapsed gate, she tentatively asked, "Who's here?"
After a long while, there was no reply.
The family focused their attention on the door panel.
Then, they all exploded.
"Mother, what's that hole in the middle?" Xie asked tentatively. "It's not a fist, is it?"
She thought it was unlikely.
Although the door to the house is made of paulownia wood, which is very thin and light, it is not made of paper. How could it be easily broken by a single punch?
“Perhaps,” Jiang Nuan’s eyes became subtle. “Second brother, why don’t you try this good one and see if you can break it?”
"Mother," Huang Lao Er said reluctantly, "Aren't you trying to trick me? Our door is two fingers thick, stop treating me like a nobody, okay?"
"Really not going to work?" Jiang Nuan herself was somewhat tempted to try, but considering the consequences, she ultimately gave up the idea. "Alright then, Xiao San, you guys fix the door, I'll go outside and check the situation."
“Mother, I’ll go with you.” Madam Xie immediately followed.
The mother and daughter walked to the door and saw a thick wooden box. They looked around but there was no one there.
"What is this?" Xie sniffed. "Why does it smell like tofu?"
“It’s probably just tofu, I don’t know who put it there,” Jiang Nuan said, and tried to open the box, but before she could touch it, Xie Shi pulled her aside.
"Mother, let me do it." After saying that, Xie picked up a wooden stick and tentatively poked at it. When there was no response, she took out a handkerchief to put in her hand before daring to open the box.
Seeing this, Jiang Nuan felt as if a flock of crows had flown by.
She thought her imagination was amazing; this thing was even better than hers.
With all these protective measures, someone who didn't know better might think the box was smeared with poison.
The moment the box was opened, Xie instinctively closed her eyes, and only after a long while did she dare to open one eye.
"Oh, it really is tofu."
His tone was ambiguous, whether it was relief or melancholy.
"Is someone delivering tofu to our house?" Jiang Nuan couldn't help but twitch her lips. "And that door panel, could it have been made by that person too?"
Thinking about this, she simply didn't know how to describe her feelings.
Whoever did this stupid thing, step forward, and I promise I won't lay a hand on them.
"Such tender tofu," Xie said, breaking off a corner to taste it. "It must have been freshly made; it's still warm."
As she spoke, her expression froze, and she immediately became alert. "Mother, could it be that someone is trying to force us to buy or sell something, and then come to our house tomorrow to extort money from us?"
Although there aren't many bad people like this, she can't let her guard down.
“No,” Jiang Nuan rubbed her forehead. “Someone must have delivered it, but they probably didn’t dare to show themselves because they damaged our door.”
Jiang Nuan felt this was the most likely possibility.
However, she was curious about who the visitor was.
Within five miles of Huangjiakou, no one knew how to make tofu; the food they ate was all sold by peddlers carrying loads on their shoulders.
They only come once every ten days or so, and there's no shortage of vegetables at home. In all this time, Jiang Nuan has only eaten here twice.
She thought and thought, and realized that she didn't know anyone who made tofu.
Could it be that a relative of some family in Huangjiakou delivered it to the wrong place?
Unable to come up with a solution, I simply left the tofu in the kitchen and waited for someone to come looking for it.
After some hammering and banging, the two brothers finally managed to patch up the hole.
It's just that it looks ugly no matter how you look at it.
"Mother, we've replaced our door too. Let's get a carpenter to make a new one tomorrow," Huang Lao Er couldn't help but say.
"The idea is great, but we don't have any wood at home."
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