Their steps and speed clearly indicated something was up. The two of them, Bu Ling and Bu Ling, were perfectly in sync as they ran towards the backyard carrying the large bone.
When they arrived at the backyard, sure enough, Aunt Shen started again, but this time it was her and Aunt Qi. Bu Ling found Sister Mo and stood next to her: "Sister Mo, what's the matter today?"
Sister Mo stepped aside, making room for Bu Ling: "What else could it be? It's Aunt Shen, she insists that Aunt Qi uses more water and shouldn't pay the same water bill as them!"
Once Buling understood the background, it wasn't surprising to see the two older women so unwilling to give in to each other, with every word mentioning their parents.
In this matter, Aunt Qi's family did indeed benefit. In their yard, there was a row of faucets in the front yard and another row in the back yard, with five faucets in each row. The water bill for these ten faucets was calculated together.
The monthly water bill is split among households, so naturally, the larger the household, the more advantageous it is. However, everyone has been doing it this way and hasn't felt there's anything wrong with it.
Now that Aunt Shen has said that, the smaller families do feel they've been taken advantage of, so there's still some commotion going on for a while.
Aunt Shen, who felt she had been taken advantage of, said, "Your family is just trying to take advantage of us. You take advantage of us and then don't admit it. What kind of people are you?" She felt that she was right this time.
Aunt Qi was even more aggressive than Aunt Shen: "So what if we took advantage of you? Nobody said anything. You're the one who's jumping up and down. Are you still holding a grudge against us for not giving you our job quota?" They were both seasoned veterans, so she could see right through what the other woman was thinking.
“Let me tell you, just give up on that idea. My husband said that this quota is for Yuhuai, and no one else can even think about it. If anyone does, we won’t give it to them!” Aunt Qi said loudly.
The neighbors who were watching had different expressions when they heard this. This was the first time they had ever heard of it. After hearing it, some of them envied Qi Yuhuai. This girl was so lucky. She had already prepared a job before she even graduated.
Aunt Shen: "Don't try to change the subject. We're talking about how your family took advantage of us!" She wasn't going to fall for it.
The two old ladies went back and forth for several rounds without a clear winner. Finally, when Grandpa Wu returned and heard the reason for the argument, he frowned deeply.
"How about this, from now on the water bill will be paid per person, children won't count," Grandpa Wu said after a moment's thought.
Sister Mo nodded: "That's fairer!"
However, families with more members are unwilling to accept this arrangement, as it would mean they would have to pay more.
No, they won't listen, they're going to make a scene!
Grandpa Wu was so annoyed by the noise.
The families with fewer members and the families with more members were divided into two factions, facing off against each other. The main force was basically the women in each family, but thankfully, no one took any physical action.
Perhaps because there were too many people involved, things would get serious if they took action, so the two sides kept arguing until dark, and the matter remained unresolved.
"Alright, stop arguing. How about this, I'll go to the neighborhood office tomorrow and ask them for some guidelines!" Grandpa Wu interrupted the standoff between the two sides.
Being a manager in this compound is really exhausting. These old women in the compound are always causing trouble. In his opinion, they're just too idle. He'll go to the neighborhood office tomorrow to ask if there's any odd jobs available.
When everyone saw that Grandpa Wu had said that, they lost the motivation to continue arguing and dispersed to go home. Bu Ling followed Sister Mo's side and walked towards the front yard.
"Xiao Bu, why hasn't your cousin been coming over lately?" Sister-in-law Mo asked.
Bu Ling laughed, "My cousin got married, she has to take a few days off." But she guessed that Xia Qingmei would be here soon too, that girl is addicted to making money.
Sister-in-law Mo nodded: "Indeed!" Then she leaned closer to Bu Ling and whispered: "Little Bu, can your cousin get an old hen?"
"Should... be able to? Sister-in-law, do you want some?"
Sister-in-law Mo waved her hand: "No, it's my sister-in-law from my maternal family. She just gave birth, and I was thinking of getting her some old hens to eat during her postpartum period." As she said this, Sister-in-law Mo looked a little sad. Her sister-in-law was already pregnant with her third child, while her own belly showed no signs of pregnancy at all.
Thinking of this, she moved even closer to Buling: "Little Bu, does your cousin have... does she have any folk remedies for childbirth? I... I heard that folk remedies from the countryside are very effective!"
Bu Ling was a little speechless. "How would I know? I'm an unmarried girl, my cousin wouldn't tell me this." Sister-in-law Mo was almost obsessed with having a child.
Sister-in-law Mo was a little disappointed, but she still said, "Xiao Bu, let me know next time your cousin comes, and I'll ask her!"
"Okay then~"
The two passed through the hanging flower gate and returned to their respective rooms.
Back inside, Buling first boiled some mung bean soup, then ran out of water, so she decided to make some cold noodles. In this hot weather, she had no appetite for anything, so she opted for cold noodles.
Actually, cold noodles would also work, but she ran out of sesame paste, and it wasn't available in the county town.
Tell me, how disappointing that such a big county town doesn't even have sesame paste!
Sure enough, the next evening, when Bu Ling hitched a ride home, Xia Qingmei was already waiting for him in the yard, with a man sitting next to her.
Bu Ling walked around the screen wall, saw Xia Qingmei, said something to Wu Yuanyuan, and walked towards the two of them: "Cousin?"
Xia Qingmei looked up at the sound: "Cousin, you're back?"
Bling nodded, stepped past the two men, opened the door, and poured a glass of water for each of them: "Come in and let's talk!"
Xia Qingmei didn't stand on ceremony. She pulled her man into the house and sat down without a word. Her man, on the other hand, seemed a little awkward.
Seeing his expression, Xia Qingmei smiled and introduced him to Bu Ling: "This is my man, Feng Daquan!"
Feng Daquan stammered, "Hello, cousin!"
Bu Ling wasn't surprised by his address and calmly pointed to the stool: "Brother-in-law, please sit down!"
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