Zhou Huaian thought about the time when his family had to eat coarse food and vegetables, the eldest wife looked down on them the most in the village. Whenever there were festivals, the whole family would feel superior to the second wife, as if the second wife was mud under their feet and they could step on her whenever they wanted!
Later, the second branch's life became better. Other people in the village would at most say a few sour words to them, but his family tried every means to bring them down. They teamed up with the youngest bear to steal the red mushroom and truffle business and plotted against his family.
"I'm also wondering what's wrong with that family's brains? He really thinks that since Grandpa is at my house, there's nothing I can do to him. I'm going to go find him tonight."
Zhou Yiding looked at him and said, "I'll go with you!"
Zhou Huaian patted his shoulder and said to Wan Xuejiao, "Don't worry, we won't get into trouble. Go pack up and come to my house for dinner."
"Hey!" Wan Xuejiao picked up her son from the sedan chair and followed the two of them out to get on the tractor.
As soon as he got to the door, Xiao Jiuer led Xiao Dahuang and ran towards him on his short legs, shouting, "Dad is back! Dad is back!"
As soon as he stepped down the stairs and entered the yard, he was tripped by the dog and fell out with a plop.
"Wow~Wow~" Xiao Jiuer looked up at Zhou Huaian with a big snot bubble hanging from the corner of her mouth. Her loud crying almost blew the roof off.
"Ouch!" Zhou Yiding jumped off the tractor and picked him up. He picked up his bib to wipe his nose and pointed at the ground where a small hole was made by something. "Xiao Jiu'er is really good! Look, you made a hole in the ground."
Xiao Jiuer stopped crying, sobbed, looked down, and saw Yang Chunyan running out of the house after hearing the noise. She cried "Wow~" and rushed over sadly.
"I told you not to run with Da Huang, and now you've fallen!" Yang Chunyan gently patted his back, "Mom, let me see, where did you fall?"
Wan Xuejiao hurriedly asked, "Sister-in-law, check to see if his knees are scratched."
"Okay, come in and sit down!" Yang Chunyan held him and sat down. She took off his pants and checked his knees. She saw that his knees were indeed rubbed. "Mom will get you some iodine to wipe them and sprinkle some medicine on them!"
Zhou's mother looked at it and said, "She was already crying in pain. How painful it must be to apply iodine. Children recover quickly. Just sprinkle some medicine powder on it and it will be fine in a while. Xiaoqian cut her hand while mowing the grass before. I put some spider web paste on it and it healed it."
Yang Chunyan thought about the kids these days. Even if they got a big cut on their hands, those who knew how to use herbs would be fine. Those who didn't would at most smear some spider webs or pot ash on it. "Okay, I'll sprinkle some medicine powder on him."
"It's better to be generous with boys." Zhou's mother smiled and touched Xiao Wan, "Xuejiao, please sit down. I still have something cooking in the pot."
Wan Xue smiled and said, "Okay, Second Lady."
Zhou Huaian looked at his son's knee, rubbed his head and said with a smile: "Man, this injury is nothing. When your old man was a child, his knee was scarred and broken, and he didn't cry!"
Xiao Jiuer sobbed and pouted, "It hurts! It hurts!"
Zhou Huaian thought of the mint candy Wang Zhen gave him, and hurriedly took it out from his bag, broke off a piece and fed it to him, "Eat a piece of candy and it won't hurt!" He then gave the box to Wan Xuejiao, "Wang Zhen and Xiaomei made it, it looks pretty good."
Xiao Jiuer held the candy in his mouth and sobbed from time to time.
Zhou Huaian and Zhou Yiding moved the things in the truck bed to the backyard and put them away. They gave the bones to Zhou's mother and said, "The bones of the four-legged beast, a piece of skin, and some badger skins. Give them to Uncle Xia to nitrate later."
"Your Uncle Xia is helping to collect herbs in the back hills!" Zhou's mother looked at the bones in the bamboo basket. "The mutton and pork are cooked in the pot. I also roasted the pork intestines and stewed the pork tripe soup. These bones should be pickled first."
Zhou Huaian nodded, "You take care of it, we'll go to the back mountain to take a look."
"Tell your husband and the others that it will be ready in half an hour, so come down early to worship." Zhou's mother shouted to the two of them behind her, picked up the bamboo basket and went back to apply salt to marinate.
After Yang Chunyan sprinkled medicine powder on Xiao Jiuer, she brought the child and Wan Xuejiao to the kitchen. The little guy had stopped crying and was feeding Zhou's mother candy.
"Chunyan, have you told the youngest brother about the report?"
"Xuejiao told him!" Just now in the main room, Wan Xuejiao told her that Zhou Huaian was going to the main room to find Zhou Huaixing. Yang Chunyan planned to wait for him to come back and ask him what he thought.
Wan Xuejiao took over and said, "Second Mother, Brother Zhou and Yiding both said that it might be Huaixing from the eldest family who did it."
Mother Zhou said angrily: "Old Qian has already told me what Li Yinfu said about my family in the village. If I wasn't worried that the old man would get angry, I would have come to her house and torn her mouth open."
Wan Xuejiao felt that the second wife was the truly filial one. "Second mother, Aunt Qian and the others said that the first wife's family knew that you were filial to the old man, and they were afraid that he would get angry and hurt himself, so they didn't dare to cause trouble for them, so they dared to say everything outside."
"Of course not!" Zhou's mother sighed, "The old man is over 70 years old and now lives in our house. To be unfilial, if he died of old age, no one would dare to say a word.
If you are angry about this, no matter what, it will not sound good to tell others about it. "
"How shameless! You help them support the elderly, but they take turns to irritate the old man." Seeing that Yang Chunyan didn't say much, Wan Xuejiao didn't tell Zhou's mother that Zhou Huaian and the other man were going to look for Zhou Huaixing.
Yang Chunyan also felt that Zhou's mother was much more thoughtful in considering things. Just like in her previous life, when so many things happened in the second house, the first house and several aunts did not intervene. As soon as the old man left, they came to blame the second house.
It’s true, if a person has no shame, he is invincible!
The three of them chatted for a while, and the food in the pot was almost ready to be taken out of the pot. Zhou's mother and Yang Chunyan took the pigs and sheep out of the pot, filtered the oil and soup for a while, and then brought it to the main room and placed it on the eight-immortal table.
Yang Chunyan heard her placing offerings while chanting, asking the mountain god and the Zhou family ancestors to bless the whole family to travel safely and have good luck for the whole family.
When the people who were collecting herbs in the mountains returned from work, Zhou Yiding and his brothers Zhou Huaian were the first to pay their respects, followed by the children.
After the family had worshipped the mountain god and their ancestors, they waited until the incense and candles were extinguished before giving the offered candies to the children. The pork and sheep offerings were taken back to the stove, the bones were removed and some were sent to the third room, and then new dishes were cooked.
With Zhao Huifang's help, Yang Chunyan had some free time. Seeing that everyone was watching TV and didn't see Zhou Huaian, she went to the backyard and saw him leaning on a recliner and taking a nap. She went over and asked, "Are you really going to his house to cause trouble for him?"
Zhou Huaian sat up straight and said, "Don't worry, Big Brother and Third Brother are going too. We are not here to fight. Uncle Xu gave me something. We can try to trick him and find out if he did it."
Yang Chunyan looked at him in surprise, "What did Uncle Xu give you?"
Zhou Huaian took out a manila envelope from his pocket. "Uncle Xu said he went to the county town yesterday to see Director Lin and read the letter of complaint. I think the old fox is waiting for me to come back and find him so that I can owe him a favor."
It turned out that as soon as he and Yiding went up the mountain, Zhou Huaishan stopped him and told him about the report. He also suspected that it was done by the eldest son of the family. The three of them discussed waiting for Zhou Huaixing to come out outside the eldest son of the family at night and put him in a sack.
When Zhou Huairong found out, he disagreed and asked him to go find Secretary Xu to find out if there was any other information.
When he arrived, Secretary Xu handed him a manila envelope and said that letters of denunciation should be put in such envelopes, and if anyone suspected someone of using it to cheat him, he would understand.
Yang Chunyan felt relieved after hearing this. After thinking for a while, she said, "Uncle Xu thinks you owe him a favor. Does he want to make mushroom sauce with us?"
Zhou Huaian smiled slightly, "He didn't say it explicitly, he just told me that if I come up with any money-making ideas in the future and want to find someone to cooperate with, don't forget him.
After working together for so long, I always felt that Uncle Xu was a good person. Without his help, our business of collecting truffles and mushrooms would definitely not be so smooth.
In fact, even if he didn't say it, with Uncle Xu sitting in the county, if we really want to open a factory to make mushroom sauce, bean paste, and pickled vegetables to sell, we have to include his family."
"As the old saying goes, it's easier to see the King of Hell than to deal with the devils. It's better to go smoothly than anything else."
"Right!" Zhou Huaian put the envelope away, "After dinner, let's go to the main room and trick them."
Yang Chunyan thought for a moment and said, "Before you go, call Third Dad along to help you, so they won't default on their debts!"
"Ask Third Dad to go with you? He will be like me, an old man. He won't even have a chance to beat the bastard up."
"Third father has been bullied by Zhou Dachun a lot. He is not as stubborn as the old man. He might be eager for you to beat Zhou Dachun up!"
"I heard Huai Gang talk about it."
After dinner, Lao Xiazi took the fur home to make saltpeter. Zhou Yiding sent Wan Xuejiao and her son home. Zhou Huaian and his brothers made an excuse to go and see the truffle wine, and the four of them went to the third room together.
When Dad saw them coming together on Wednesday, he said cheerfully, "Have you eaten yet? If not, let's eat together. We'll roast the little wild boar your family sent us tonight."
"We've eaten. We came to ask you for help."
Zhou Huaian told him everything he could say, and Zhou Sanba agreed immediately. He put down his bowl and went with them to the big house not far from his home.
When they arrived outside the main courtyard, they saw that the gate was ajar. Zhou Huaian kicked the gate open. Zhou Dachun and his son, and Li Yinfu, who were eating in the yard, stood up in fright.
Zhou Dachun pointed at Zhou Huaian and the others in a stern manner, "What do you want to do by bringing them here? This is how your mother and husband taught you..."
"Shut up! Stop talking nonsense!" Zhou Huaian stepped forward and slapped the envelope on the table, staring at Zhou Huaixing, whose eyes were rolling around in fear, "Do you think I can't find you if you write an anonymous letter?"
"How did it end up with you?" Zhou Huaixing reached out to grab the envelope on the table, but Zhou Huaian grabbed it back, "I knew it was you, a son of a bitch, who did it!"
Zhou Huaixing argued: "I didn't really want to sue you, otherwise how come you are fine?"
"Garbage! Offal!" Zhou Huaian picked up the rice bowl and put it on his head, then held the bowl and twisted it a few times. The rice that had just been served from the rice steamer was so hot that Zhou Huaixing screamed.
Zhou Dachun hurried forward to help, "Little beast, let me go!" (End of this chapter)
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