Chapter 429 No Need for Such a Big Ceremony
"Tsk..." Huo Jianguo stretched out his finger and gently pressed it between his lips, making a silent gesture. Then he quietly covered Su Mei's mouth and spoke in a low voice, as if afraid of disturbing something:
"Speak softly. This house is not soundproof. The neighbors can hear everything we say. Some of the things we say would be embarrassing if our parents heard them."
Su Mei blinked her big eyes, instantly understood what he meant, and nodded quickly to show that she understood.
Huo Jianguo loosened his hand upon seeing this, but he secretly felt annoyed that what he had just said might have been heard, and the atmosphere became subtle and awkward.
The air seemed to freeze, filled with an awkward silence. Even breathing became cautious, for fear of accidentally speaking loudly again.
After a while, Su Mei finally couldn't help but whispered:
“Is the sound insulation of this house really that bad?”
She had rarely lived in the house and had no idea of the soundproofing effects of such an old house.
"Yeah." Huo Jianguo nodded helplessly and responded in a voice as loud as a sniff.
"So, from now on we have to talk like we are whispering, otherwise how are we going to face people tomorrow?"
"Okay, I get it." Su Mei nodded angrily, and then blew a breath, as if to blow away the embarrassment and make the air fresh again.
Huo Jianguo thought she looked very cute when she was blowing air, and a smile flashed in his eyes.
He reached out and touched her hair, and whispered, "That's good. Go to sleep, good night!"
"Good night." Su Mei nodded and closed her eyes.
It was not until the next morning that Su Mei realized that not only was the sound insulation of this house poor, but it was almost as if it was made of paper and would break if poked.
Because she and Huo Jianguo had discussed adding a room last night, but the next day they wanted to add two rooms.
Bai Xiaofang suggested building a house on both sides of the yard, so that Su Mei and Huo Jianguo would have their own space and it would be much more convenient.
When Su Mei heard the words "one's own space", she immediately understood that the secret conversations she had with Huo Jianguo last night must have been overheard by her parents.
It’s so embarrassing just thinking about it, but luckily my parents didn’t say anything and just decided to build another house.
This is good too. Now that they have their own space, it will be much easier for them to talk and do things in the future.
Thinking of this, Su Mei couldn't help but feel grateful for her parents' thoughtfulness and felt that they were really considerate and good parents.
Anyway, the money Su Mei gave was more than enough to build two houses, so she let her parents start preparing for the construction.
In order not to waste money, she specifically told them not to build the house too luxuriously, after all, these rooms were only used as a transition.
When the family's financial situation improves, we will definitely rebuild a more comfortable house in the future.
After the construction of the house started, Bai Xiaofang chose to stay at home and was responsible for preparing lunch for the craftsmen, ensuring that they had enough food so that they would have enough energy to work.
Su Mei, Su Xuanhu, Huo Jianguo, Su Yongcang and her two brothers went into the mountains to look for medicinal herbs.
Although winter has arrived, the mountains in this warm south are still lush and green, as if nature has specially dressed this land in a gorgeous green attire.
Only a few plants are withering and dying like old men under the severe cold, adding a sense of desolation to the greenery.
In order to facilitate the transportation of medicinal herbs out of the mountains, the family did not go too deep into the mountains at the beginning. They only collected some easily accessible medicinal herbs on the hills.
They are like a group of treasure hunters, gently probing the edge of the treasure, trying to find those precious herbs hidden in the mountains and forests.
Fortunately, the Su family had a large population and was allocated enough hills, so the area for searching for medicinal materials was large enough.
There are treasures everywhere in the mountains. In addition, as traditional Chinese medicine has declined in recent years, many medicinal herbs have not been picked, so the process of the family looking for medicinal herbs in the past two days was not difficult.
Although the types of medicinal materials are very diverse, at least there are enough of them.
The next day, they planted a field near their home.
The villagers soon discovered that the Su family did not plant potatoes in the fields, but instead planted medicinal herbs.
After hearing about it, all the gossipy people came over to see what was happening. They said all kinds of things.
Some praised the Su family's abilities, while others disapproved of their growing medicinal herbs, believing that it was safer to grow grain in the fields.
Although opinions differ, most people discuss the issue in a friendly manner.
Many people also took the initiative to suggest that the Su family could go to their own mountain to collect herbs.
Of course, there will be one or two people who are not so friendly.
These unfriendly people started to speak ill of Su Xuanju in front of Su Mei, accusing him of forgetting the pain after the wound had healed and reminding him not to forget how he had fled back to the village in a desperate situation.
It is really puzzling that he still has the courage to start the herbal medicine business again.
Su Mei didn't take such remarks seriously and didn't bother to pay attention to them. She had nothing to refute.
After all, traditional Chinese medicine practitioners did have a terrible time in the past few years, and she couldn't deny it.
Generally speaking, as long as the other party's words are not too harsh, Su Mei and the Su family will choose to be patient.
After all, harmony brings wealth!
However, it is a different matter if what someone says is so nasty that they really can't stand it.
For example, after learning that the Su family was growing herbs, Yang Suhua's mother Du Erniang rushed to the Su family's farmland with a group of people to see the excitement.
There was nothing wrong with watching the excitement, but after looking at them gloomily for a few seconds, she suddenly said in a sinister tone:
"Oh my, I think this college student has fallen into the money trap!
He doesn't even care about his grandfather's life or death!
The villagers from all over the place had finally managed to get his grandfather out of jail, but he just continued to grow herbs and didn't take other people's kindness to heart at all.
If this continues, do we have to rescue him again and again?
If he were caught and taken to the commune again someday, who knows if he would rot in the cowshed!
You guys are such a jerk. You can't just do such heartless things every day just because someone is willing to help you. If you do it too much, you will be punished!"
Du Erniang has always held a grudge against the Su family because the girl she raised with great difficulty was sent to jail without being exchanged for a dowry.
So she always wanted to find opportunities to say mean things to the Su family.
Su Xuanhu was already feeling uneasy, and he always had a psychological shadow over the past.
If Su Mei had not insisted on growing medicinal herbs, and if these herbs were not to be used by the soldiers in the army, Su Xuanhu would never have touched this thing.
He was already not so calm in the first place, and when Du Erniang cursed him in front of him, he suddenly felt so uncomfortable that his chest was choked up.
His face turned ashen at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if covered by a layer of frost.
Su Mei also felt that something was wrong with her grandfather, so she quickly went forward to help him.
"Grandpa, don't be angry!" she said softly and patted Su Xuanhu's back with her hand.
Seeing this, Du Erniang sneered and continued to mock: "Oh, now you know how to feel sorry for your grandfather?
When you were growing medicinal herbs, why didn’t you consider that he might be caught?
Tsk, what a hypocrite, the whole family is obsessed with money, they are not good people. "
"Doctor Su has been living in poverty for many years. He grows medicinal herbs for his patients. Du Erniang, please stop saying such irresponsible things!" An old lady who couldn't stand it couldn't help but stand up and speak for Su Xuanhu.
Unexpectedly, Du Erniang pouted her lips in disdain after hearing this: "Old lady, your husband is not dead, and you are rushing to please Master Su and want to be his concubine!
You are so eager to speak for him, are you two...having an affair?"
This is too outrageous! Du Erniang's words became more and more outrageous, and Su Mei felt that her grandfather's mouth was trembling.
Seeing her grandfather in such pain, Su Mei became extremely angry.
She rushed forward with her eyes wide open, stood in front of Du Erniang, and asked:
"Du Erniang, may I ask, how can we be considered unscrupulous when we grow herbs and use them to treat illnesses and save lives?"
"Herbs grow in the mountains, and anyone can pick them for free. Now you plant them in the fields and sell them to make money from the villagers. Isn't this completely unscrupulous?" Du Erniang sneered and looked at the other people watching the excitement and added,
"Everyone, take a look, is this true?"
Naturally, no one around believed Du Erniang's nonsense.
It is true that medicinal herbs growing in the mountains are free, but even if they were free, no one would go and pick them.
Because most of the medicinal materials are only known by doctors.
Du Erniang is just making trouble and being unreasonable.
But Du Erniang didn't care at all whether anyone agreed with her or not.
She just stood arrogantly on the edge of the field in Su Mei's house, trying to achieve her goal against the evil Su family.
She looked like a paper tiger that wanted to provoke but didn't dare to fight with real weapons.
After hearing Du Erniang's nonsense, Su Mei suddenly wanted to slap herself. She shouldn't have tried to reason with someone like Du Erniang.
So she stopped talking and directly ordered Du Erniang to leave: "Retribution? As far as I know, your old lady was struck to death by lightning because she was planning to bury Yang Suhua alive, right? That should be retribution.
Be careful or you might be the next one to be hacked.
The Su family's field ridges, dogs and Du Erniang are forbidden to step on them. Please roll down from my field ridges as quickly as possible. I'm afraid that if you are struck by lightning, others will be affected."
Sure enough, when dealing with unreasonable people, it feels much better to just curse them out rather than to reason with them.
If fighting wasn't against the law, Su Mei really wanted to pick up a stone from the ground and knock a hole in Du Erniang's head to let her know what true "retribution" was.
"How can you talk like that, you little bitch, you were born by a mother but not raised by her? Who allowed you to talk to your elders like that?" Du Erniang was a shrew to begin with, and when she heard Su Mei scolding her, she naturally jumped up and cursed at Su Mei.
The Su family is here at this time!
Hearing Su Mei being called a bitch, Huo Jianguo and Su Mei's brothers gathered around. This group of tall and strong men stared at Du Er Niang with greedy eyes and anger.
They looked like a group of enraged lions.
Being stared at by so many old men at the same time, Du Erniang finally got scared and walked back to the village, cursing:
"Humph, if you dare to engage in speculation, you will all be shot sooner or later, and your whole family will die young."
Even when she left, Du Erniang didn't forget to say a few frivolous words before leaving.
She thought to herself that she would not farm tomorrow and would go to the town early in the morning to report to the Su family.
The corner of her mouth curled up into a sneer, as if she had seen the other party being severely punished.
As she walked, she imagined the upcoming scene, her heart filled with anticipation and pleasure.
Perhaps Du Erniang was too immersed in her own fantasy and didn't pay any attention to the road under her feet.
Suddenly, she kicked something, lost her balance, and fell forward.
Du Erniang opened her eyes wide in horror and tried to grab things around her, but it was too late to react.
"Bang!" With a loud noise, Du Erniang fell heavily to the ground, sprawled out on her back, and screamed like a pig being slaughtered in pain.
The sound resounded through the sky, startling the nearby birds so much that they flew away in a flutter.
Her knee was scraped and blood slowly oozed from the wound, staining her trouser leg red.
Seeing Du Erniang fall flat on her face, Su Mei's eyes flashed with a sly light. She raised a playful smile and said in surprise:
"Oh, oh, this won't do! It's good to know you're wrong, but there's no need to give me such a big gift! Are you trying to wish me a happy new year, or what?
Please don't do this next time, okay? I'm still young, and I'm afraid you'll shorten my life if you show me such inappropriate manners."
After saying this, she patted her chest seriously, as if she was really "scared".
In fact, it was Su Mei who deliberately stretched out her foot to trip Du Erniang, but she would not admit it.
When the people around heard Su Mei's words, they all realized that she was joking.
Looking at Du Erniang's flushed face and embarrassed expression, everyone couldn't help laughing out loud.
"Bah! Who wants to kneel down to you, you shameless little whore? You will be punished by God for doing this..."
Du Erniang climbed up, still cursing.
As a result, before she could get up, Su Mei kicked her.
With a crisp "bang", Du Erniang was kicked to the ground, her forehead hit the mud, leaving a big red and swollen bump.
She was completely stunned after being kicked like that.
Not only that, she felt as if all the bones in her body were broken.
The pain was so piercing that her nose and tears burst out.
"Wu Wa! Wu Wa!" Du Er Niang lay on the ground and cried loudly. She was in so much pain that she was about to faint.
"If you dare to say something dirty again, I'll beat you to death. Who is the whore, huh?"
Su Mei's feet still did not leave Du Erniang's back. Du Erniang slandered her master's innocence and then said that she was a whore. Su Mei could not help it and took action.
"Woo woo woo..."
Du Erniang continued to cry relentlessly, her voice became hoarse from crying, but she showed no signs of stopping.
She felt even more angry.
She lowered her head and swore secretly in her heart that she must report Su Mei and make her pay for her recklessness.
"You are so lawless and disrespectful. I will report you to the authorities and have you go to jail."
"Go ahead!" Su Mei said indifferently, "Anyway, so many people are listening to what you said today.
Even if the police come, they will think you deserve to be beaten!"
For such minor incidents, the police would just make a few verbal criticisms when they come. What's the big deal?