She turned around and chased after them, blocking their path.
The three women looked embarrassed when they saw her.
"Mingjing, why are you stopping us? It's getting dark soon, and if we don't go now, we won't be able to see anything."
Even if they had a lot to say, they had to hold it in at this moment. They couldn't make things too ugly between neighbors.
"Aunt Zhang, if I remember correctly, your son was married and has another son. Your wife hanged herself. What kind of serious thing would lead someone to hang themselves?"
Marital discord is often caused by the mother-in-law's lack of virtue; the root of the problem is rotten. If she were to marry another woman, she'd probably be driven to despair.
Zhang Lanying's face contorted with anger as she became agitated. "You brat! What nonsense are you spouting? It's clearly her own fault for being so stubborn and narrow-minded."
What does my strained relationship with my son have to do with me?
Mingjing wasn't annoyed and continued, "Everyone in the village knows that when your daughter-in-law was in confinement, you wouldn't even give her a sip of chicken soup, forcing her to eat potatoes to fill her stomach."
"He ate ten potatoes in one go, and you scolded him for three days before he hanged himself. Have you forgotten all that?"
"You little hussy! You're talking nonsense! That's not true!"
Mingjing continued in a storyteller's tone, turning to gossip with the other two women, "You don't know, do you? Actually, her son has been having an affair with a widow from the neighboring village for a long time..."
The original owner had nothing to do all day, so she wandered around the villages and gathered a lot of intelligence. Half of the village's intelligence network was built by the original owner, and everyone believed her.
"You little slut! What nonsense are you spouting?"
Zhang Yingzi shoved Mingjing, trying to stop her.
Mingjing is 1.7 meters tall, and even if Aunt Zhang jumps, she can't reach her armpits.
The two didn't dare to speak, but their eyes were filled with intense longing. This was the kind of thing they loved to hear, something that happened only once in eight hundred years.
“I saw it with my own eyes, and her husband left like that too, and hasn’t come home since. Don’t you think he’s rotten to the core?”
Zhang Yingzi was so embarrassed that she stamped her feet in frustration, "You, you're talking nonsense!"
She hurriedly turned back to explain to the group that this was not true.
Once matters between men and women are spoken aloud, even falsehoods can become truths.
"Oh, then when I get back from beachcombing, I'll chat with the villagers about your son, your wife, and your husband's little affair."
Mingjing turned her head and left, swinging her two braids.
"Aunt Zhang, what's wrong with your son?"
"Yeah, didn't you say your wife cheated on you and then hanged herself after you caught her? What happened?"
"There are quite a few widows in the next village. Which one has your son taken a fancy to? You know about this too?"
"Oh dear, that little slut is always gossiping about other people's affairs, and you still believe her? No, that's not true."
Unable to get rid of her, Zhang Yingzi picked up the bucket and left on her own.
The two women looked at each other and pursed their lips.
"It's probably true. I knew it! How could Old Zhang marry someone who cheated on him when his wife is such a good person?"
"Old Zhang is a wicked mother-in-law. Who would dare to marry into her family in the future?"
Zhang Yingzi was furious. She glared and took small, hurried steps, tears and snot streaming down her face as she rushed home.
Mingjing on the other end didn't care at all; on the contrary, she was in a very good mood.
Since she lost her manners, she's been in much better spirits.
Mingjia is an honest person in the village. Even crabs can step on her feet if they pass by. She can't stand it. If anyone dares to bully her, she will fight back and never suffer indignities.
The sea shimmered with golden light, and the waves crashed violently against the rocks, creating sprays of foam. A few people were still scattered on the beach, gathering seafood.
Mingjing is a PhD in oceanography, but this is her first time beachcombing. All she could see were reefs, and she couldn't find any seafood at all.
Further on, a pile of tattered fishing nets lay on the beach, with a few skinny sardines hanging from them.
Mingjing walked to a rocky outcrop, bent down and turned over the stones. Several thumb-sized crabs scurried out and disappeared into a crevice in a larger rock next to it.
It's too small; Mingjing doesn't need it.
Walking a little further, a small bump appeared on the beach, revealing a tiny hole that caught Mingjing's attention.
She bent down, shoveled sand at an angle, and a plump cat's-eye snail emerged, covered in sand.
Mingjing picked up the cat's eye snail, washed it in seawater, and examined it carefully.
The white flesh is plump and tender, and the size is not large. With a gentle squeeze, the cat's eye snail squirted water. It felt soft and elastic to the touch, like kneading a lump of dough.
Just as Mingjing was excitedly finding his spoils, an encouraging message popped up on the screen in front of him: "Congratulations, host, on finding the Cat's Eye Snail! Keep up the good work!"
Mingjing rolled his eyes; he's all talk and no action, utterly useless.
She tossed the cat's eye snail into the wooden bucket, and then Mingjing turned over the next rock, but there was nothing there. She searched this rock for a long time but saw nothing.
Mingjing was a little tired. Looking up, there was still a large expanse of reefs. The tide was about to come in. Was today's harvest just a cat's eye snail?
She continued walking forward, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught a fleeting glimpse of a shadow. She turned her head and looked at a puddle not far away.
Hey, is that an eel?
Mingjing was excited and took bigger steps. The eel was as long as her forearm and as thick as her thumb. Before she could see it clearly, the fat woman arrived first.
The rusty iron tongs swiftly and accurately clamped onto the eel's smooth body, and as it slipped away, placed it into the wooden bucket.
"Mingjing, I saw it first. The tide is coming in soon. Let's go back." The fat woman glanced at her sideways, then turned and swayed her plump hips as she left.
Mingjing was helpless; he wandered along the beach for half an hour but didn't see any living creatures.
Thinking back to the live-streamed beachcombing of later generations, I realize that most of it was scripted.
After walking for a while, Mingjing squatted down, exhausted. He took out a sand shovel, but couldn't pick up any big or small sand.
She scooped up a spoonful of sand.
Hey, believe it or not, there really is some good stuff.
With one shovelful, several white, fan-shaped shells were unearthed. Mingjing immediately recognized them as moon clams, along with two other clams.
This would be good to take home and steam it.
The system continued to send messages, "Congratulations, host, for finding a Moon Shell. Keep up the good work!"
Mingjing was getting annoyed. "Can't you do something useful? Let me run into a big shipment."
A line of explanation popped up on the screen in front of you: "Host, different beachcombing tools correspond to different luck values. Please keep up the good work."
Mingjing understood that spending 500 points only yielded 500 luck points; only better equipment could bring greater luck points.
She couldn't find anything on this beach, so she decided to get some moon clams to steam and eat. Earning points was more important; if she had a lot, she could sell them.
Having figured this out, Mingjing diligently dug up the Moon Shell.
She squatted down, scooped up a large spoonful of sand, and walked towards the sea, vowing: to cook delicious food, earn points, exchange for equipment, catch big fish, buy a house, and support male models.
Although it was evening, the temperature was still very high. The sea breeze was salty and hot. Mingjing licked her chapped lips and looked back at the wooden tub.
Only half a bucket of moon clams; the meat alone isn't enough to make a single dish, and it wouldn't fetch much money if sold.
When will this digging end?
"sister!"
The small, thin figure stood far away, looking at her timidly, his eyes filled with fear and disbelief.
In her memory, Mingjing was lazy and didn't do much better than her brother. This was the first time she had been so diligent.
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