What does it mean to "hang on someone's coattails"?
Yun Dazheng's anger flared up instantly. He stared at Zhang Juhua as if his eyes were on fire, until Zhang Juhua's face was filled with fear. Then he looked at Lu Laogen and said, word by word, "Lu Laogen, I think your wife's mouth really stinks. You should take her home and wash her properly with manure. If manure can't wash her clean, you might as well sew her mouth shut."
“If she said these nasty things to us ordinary folks, we could just let it go. At most, we would never speak to her again. But if she offended some important person outside, I think it wouldn’t just be her, but your whole family would be in serious trouble.”
"I, an old man, am taking liberties with you and calling you my nephew. Don't take my words lightly. Think carefully about why you've become like this. I think you understand the saying 'trouble comes from the mouth' better than I do, right?"
“Nephew, I don’t think you’re an irresponsible person. If you really thought your wife’s troubles had nothing to do with you, you wouldn’t have brought her to my house today, all this fuss about apologizing.”
“Nephew, I’ll say it again: I’m just an ordinary citizen, so whether you apologize or not doesn’t matter much to me. But outsiders, I’m afraid they won’t even give you a chance to apologize.”
"That's all I have to say. Go back and think it over carefully. Don't let me see your wife wandering around our yard again. It's upsetting. If you really piss me off, I'm not the kind of person who won't bully others."
When Yun Dazheng spoke his first sentence, Zhang Juhua was about to jump up, but Lu Laogen held her tightly, even covering her mouth. Zhang Juhua, meanwhile, was clutching her old hen and didn't dare let go, afraid that if she did, the hen would belong to someone else. This saved Lu Laogen from getting a smear of scratches from Zhang Juhua. However, he still got kicked a few times by Zhang Juhua. Lu Laogen didn't cry out in pain; he just kept Zhang Juhua under control, preventing her from talking nonsense, while meekly agreeing with Yun Dazheng's words.
As Yun Dazheng continued speaking, Lu Laogen's face turned deathly pale, as if he had suffered a great shock. He stopped offering any apologies, simply pressed down on Zhang Juhua, who was kicking and shoving him, bowed deeply to Yun Dazheng, and then dragged Zhang Juhua out of the Yun family's old courtyard without looking back.
The figure looked hunched over, yet somehow seemed more upright than usual, which was hard to understand.
Yun Duo, with an apron tied around her waist, leaned against the kitchen door frame and pouted. Seeing that Yun Dazheng's face was still not good, she opened her mouth and called out in a clear voice, "Grandpa, I've washed the dishes, but I can't scoop the water from the pot. I'm afraid I'll fall in." This was the truth.
The stove in the Yun family's house was built when they first moved in. After they moved in, they didn't have time to rebuild it, so they just repaired it and plastered some yellow mud on it to make do. The stove platform is quite high.
In the past month, Yun Duo had grown a little taller, but the original owner's height was still what it was—shorter than her six-year-old 'brother' Yun Yusheng. Even though she had grown a little, she was still short. She could stand on a stool and use a brush to wash the pot, but the ladle was much shorter than the brush, and no matter what she did, she couldn't reach the water at the bottom of the pot. She could only ask Yun Dazheng for help.
Hearing his granddaughter's plea for help, Yun Dazheng snapped back to reality and replied, "Hey, Grandpa will fetch the water. Don't do it yourself."
After Yun Dazheng finished scooping the water and wiped the bottom of the pot with a clean burlap sack, Yun Duo couldn't help but ask, "Grandpa, why do you say that Uncle Laogen has a deep understanding of the saying 'trouble comes from the mouth'?"
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