Chapter 211 Chapter 210: Men's Gossip
Cai Ermei watched Yang Chunyan enter the yard, stand at the gate for a moment, look at the sky, hesitate for a moment, and then walk towards the ravine in front of the house.
Before I even got there, I heard Zhou Huaian's flamboyant laughter.
He stopped and lowered his head, thinking that they had already asked for permission. They bought the herbs at 4 cents per pound, and after drying them and sending them over, they could still make a few cents profit per pound.
This time I went to buy some cigarettes and alcohol. The money borrowed by Wang Chunhua was not enough, and I couldn't get the money back from Ye Xiaoshuang. If I couldn't borrow money to buy herbs, all the cigarettes and alcohol would be bought in vain.
When he thought of Ye Xiaoshuang, he became so angry that his teeth itched. How much money have I spent on her over the years?
I asked her to take out some money to buy herbs to sell, but she kept making excuses and refused. She also said that she was going to find a son-in-law and told me not to look for her in the future. So, wasn't all the money I spent on her over the years wasted?
Cai Ermei thought about it, gritted her teeth and walked over, "Ding Ding Cat, you are here!"
Zhou Yiding and Zhou Huaian both turned their heads in surprise, "Second sister, why are you here?"
Zhou Huaian glanced at him indifferently, then squatted down and continued to wash the epimedium.
Cai Ermei looked at him with a smile on her face. "I have something to talk to you about. Can you come over and talk to me?"
Zhou Yiding nodded and walked over with his stick. "What's the matter?"
Cai Ermei looked at him and asked, "Do you have money? Can you lend me a hundred yuan?"
Zhou Yiding frowned, "You didn't even pay me back the fifty I borrowed from you last time, how can I still have money to lend you!"
After hearing this, Cai Ermei almost couldn't hold back the smile on her face, "I heard that you and Zhou Laoyao got a few black goats. Those things are not cheap, a hundred yuan is not a piece of cake!"
Zhou Yiding cursed Xu Erchun and He Dakuan for being so big-mouthed. "I have no place to spend money in the mountains. I gave the money to my old man after I went up the mountain at noon."
Cai Ermei looked at him with a hurt expression, "Ding Ding Mao, I know you are closer to the youngest brother. Even if he and I have conflicts, we are still good brothers and good friends, right?"
"Second sister, you think too much." Zhou Yiding said with a smile, "If I don't consider you a friend, I will go to you to pay you back."
Fortunately, my friend came and borrowed money without asking about the severity of my leg injury!
"I thought too much!" Cai Ermei said with a smile, "You are here to help Uncle Daqing guard the forest farm. Did he leave his rifle behind?"
"The day before yesterday afternoon, Erchun and Dakuan came over and we went hunting. Erchun and I were both injured by wild boars." Zhou Yiding pointed to his leg and said, "My old man was worried that I would go into the mountains with the youngest brother again, so he took the gun away."
Cai Ermei glanced at Zhou Huaian who was washing herbs by the ditch and said, "Is that so? Forget it. I won't delay any longer and will go down the mountain while it's still early."
Zhou Yiding looked at the sky and said, "It will be dark in about an hour at most. I will go back and give you the flashlight."
Cai Ermei, who originally thought Zhou Yiding would keep him, felt very uncomfortable and said, "No, your legs are inconvenient, keep it for yourself."
Zhou Yiding nodded without hesitation, "Alright! I won't take you there since my legs are not convenient!"
"Yeah!" Cai Ermei turned around and walked away. After going down the hill, she looked back and said, "Good brothers, good buddies, that's the most fake nonsense! I have no choice but to go down the mountain to find Ye Xiaoshuang. I have to make her give up some of the money no matter what."
Zhou Yiding saw him going down the hill and also returned to the ditch. "I don't know if it was Erchun or Dakuan who told Ermei about us killing the black goat. He came all the way to borrow money from me. He hasn't even paid me back the fifty yuan he borrowed last time."
Zhou Huaian: "I haven't told you yet. Before we came here, he started buying herbs again. My family charged 2.5 cents per pound, and he charged 3 cents per pound. We raised the purchase price to 4 cents, and those who sold herbs carried the herbs back to my house again."
Zhou Yiding frowned, "Cai Ermei's actions are indeed dishonest. What kind of ability is it to just keep eyeing on the rice bowl of her brothers?"
"He didn't even consider me a brother!" Zhou Huaian recalled what happened in Yang Chunyan's dream. "He has evil intentions. Ever since I beat him up that time, I decided that no matter what, I would never be a brother to him again."
Zhou Yiding: "I didn't mean to persuade you. After I found out that he took your yellow eel business for Ye Xiaoshuang, I changed my mind about him."
“A journey of a thousand miles tests a horse’s strength; time reveals a person’s true character. I used to think that old people talk too much, but now I think some of their sayings are absolutely right!”
"I think we are getting older and seeing things more maturely than before."
Zhou Huaian nodded, put the cleaned epimedium into the backpack, wiped his hands, took out a cigarette and handed it to him:
"I used to think that his marriage to Wang Chunhua was like a flower stuck in cow dung, but now I realize that the cow dung is Cai Ermei."
Zhou Yiding took the cigarette, took out a match and lit it with a "crack", then handed it over to him and lit his, "Youngest, do you still remember?
In the past, we all said that you had a pair of peach blossom eyes and that your wife would be restless even if you got married. But who would have thought that Cai Ermei, who said the most, would actually be fooling around outside so early!"
Zhou Huaian curled his lips, "I heard from Erchun that they had been together since they were young, but Cai Ermei's mother didn't agree and forcibly separated them."
Zhou Yiding: "If the man my younger sister marries dares to borrow money from outside to support a widow, I will break his third leg!"
Zhou Huaian took a puff of his cigarette. "Now that you mention it, I have to go see my sister someday. Now that I think about it, why do I feel that He Jianjun's eyes are just like Cai Ermei's? He is probably a playboy as well."
He thought he would find time to ask Chun Yan'er whether He Jianjun was having an affair.
"You have to change your paranoia!" Zhou Yiding said, and suddenly remembered something, "Have you told your sister-in-law why you don't dare to go out alone after dark?"
"No, it's too late!" Zhou Huaian said, picking up the backpack, "Let's go back. Chunyan should have finished cooking by now."
Zhou Yiding chuckled and touched his nose, "You are probably the only one in the world who has lost his courage because of a dream!"
Zhou Huaian pointed at him and said, "Don't tell anyone. If anyone tells anyone, I'll end my friendship with you!"
"Okay, okay, I won't say anything!" Zhou Yiding made a gesture of closing his mouth.
The two returned home together, and as soon as they entered the yard, they smelled the unique aroma of braised pork intestines.
Zhou Huaian stretched his neck to look and saw Yang Chunyan chopping chili peppers. "Yan'er, is the meal ready? I'm starving."
"Okay, I'll prepare the dipping sauce and we can start eating." Yang Chunyan said as she rolled the chili peppers into a bowl, scooped two spoonfuls of cooked chili oil, added some Sichuan pepper powder, soy sauce, minced garlic, chopped green onions, and coriander, mixed them, and put them on the table.
The soy sauce of the time was really delicious! The first-class soy sauce sold at the agency store was only a little over 10 cents per pound, and it tasted better than the soy sauce sold at dozens of yuan a bottle in supermarkets in later generations.
It is the natural flavor of soy sauce. Apart from the saltiness, it has the umami taste that soy sauce should have, without all the gimmicks such as "something fresh" that exist now.
Yang Chunyan brought the food to the table. There were two earthenware bowls, one containing braised pork intestines and bamboo shoots, and the other containing pig's trotter soup with cabbage for lunch.
There was also a basin on the ground prepared for Dahei and Dahuang. The dogs were injured and needed better food, which was pig's trotter soup mixed with leftover rice.
Zhou Huaian and Zhou Yiding walked in, "I'll take Dahei and Dahuang's meal out."
"Hmm!" Yang Chunyan suddenly thought of Cai Ermei, "Didn't Cai Ermei come? Are you leaving?"
Zhou Huaian nodded and said, "Let's go!" Then he went out with the dog food.
(End of this chapter)
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