Chapter 103: A Scathing Rebuke of the Fortune Teller (First Update)...
"Grandma Xu, which fortune teller is so accurate? Take me to see one too."
Jiang Mingyue stopped her shared bicycle in front of Cao Hualan and Aunt Xu, and took the beef out of the basket.
When Cao Hualan saw Jiang Mingyue, she raised her eyebrows and smiled, "Mingyue, you're back early today. Aren't you going to have your painting lesson this morning?"
Jiang Mingyue handed the beef to Cao Hualan, "Teacher Qin went out on business. I came back this morning since I had nothing to do. Aunt, I want to eat braised beef with vegetables for lunch. Please add more vegetables."
Cao Hualan readily agreed to his request, hurriedly taking the plastic bag and saying, "Okay, I'll go make it for you right now."
Aunt Xu quickly spoke up, "Hualan, aren't you coming with me to see it? Didn't you want to have Aijun's marriage fortune told..."
Jiang Mingyue's eyes darted around, and she stepped forward with a smile, "Grandma Xu, my aunt doesn't know anything about these things, so I'll go with you to take a look."
Jiang Mingyue gestured for Cao Hualan to come in.
Cao Hualan immediately slipped away and darted into the yard.
Cao Hualan doesn't really believe in fortune telling, and her daughter often tells her about bad people posing as fortune tellers to swindle people in rural areas when she comes home for vacation.
Mingyue's return came at just the right time, saving him from his predicament.
Aunt Xu tried to call Cao Hualan back, but Cao Hualan ran too fast and disappeared into the yard in the blink of an eye.
Having no other choice, Aunt Xu was led away from the courtyard gate by Jiang Mingyue, who was holding her arm.
Hua Lan's niece is quite remarkable; ever since she came back, the Sun family's life has been getting better and better.
Although Aunt Xu was jealous, she had no ill intentions. Two years ago, when the village was repairing roads, this girl contributed the most money.
"Grandma Xu, which fortune teller is there?"
"It's right up ahead at Grandpa Wang's house. Grandpa Wang's son married three wives and divorced them all. He still hasn't seen a grandson. I don't know where he found a fortune teller, but he predicted that he would have three daughters-in-law..."
An old man and a young boy went straight to Grandpa Wang's house.
Sun Aijun, who was riding his motorcycle back from the intersection, stared blankly at the two people walking away. The more he looked at the back of one of them, the more he thought he looked like Mingyue.
Sun Aijun parked his motorcycle at the gate, picked up a leg of lamb he had bought, and stepped into the yard. "Mom, is Mingyue back?"
Cao Hualan came out of the kitchen, still holding some green vegetables in her hand. "Yes, she's with Aunt Xu."
Fearing that his cousin would be bullied, Sun Aijun rolled up his sleeves and was about to go out when Cao Hualan called him back in time.
"Don't go and cause trouble. Come back and help me with the fire. Who in the village dares to bully Yueyue? She just donated a sum of money to the village ancestral hall a couple of days ago. She's a big shot in the village chief's eyes."
Sun Aijun smiled upon hearing this, "That's true. Mingyue can catch car thieves with her bare hands even abroad, so no one in our village can match her."
At the house of Grandpa Wang, which is two rows away, the house and yard are now crowded with villagers watching the excitement. They are all picking vegetables in their hands, doing both at the same time.
Jiang Mingyue put on a mask and squeezed in with Aunt Xu, deliberately concealing her presence by standing in a corner.
She looked around and saw a room full of elderly people, but she didn't see Grandpa Wang's son.
The fortune teller that Aunt Xu mentioned was not old, around forty years old. He was unremarkable in appearance, wearing a black knitted melon-shaped hat and a worn-out black cotton-padded jacket. He sat at the dining table in the main room, flipping through an antique book with traditional Chinese characters written on it.
To the elderly folks, this antique book was nothing short of a divine text.
Grandpa Wang, who was illiterate, asked cautiously, "Master, what kind of girl can my son marry so that I can have a grandson?"
The man in the melon-shaped hat pushed up his glasses that had slipped off his nose and snorted a few times. "I've just figured it out. The best candidate is a girl from this village, whose name contains the character for 'moon'."
Jiang Mingyue raised an eyebrow. Ha, it was practically a script tailor-made for her.
interesting.
Sure enough, as soon as the fortune teller finished speaking, the villagers who were watching began to discuss it all at once.
"Isn't the daughter of Aunt Li from the east end of the village named Yue?"
"What nonsense! Li Yuehua got married last year and already has a child."
“Our Dahuai Village has less than 400 households in total. There aren’t many unmarried girls whose names contain the character ‘yue’ (moon). There are more girls like Hua, Yan, and Ping. I can’t think of any more right now.”
A glint flashed in the eyes hidden behind the glasses of the man in the melon-shaped hat, and he continued to fan the flames, "It would be best if we could get that girl's birth date and time, so I can give the two children..."
"What do you want to combine? I'm right here. Come on, tell me in person, how do you want to combine?"
Jiang Mingyue took off her mask, pushed through the crowd, and walked to Grandpa Wang's side, her gaze fixed on the melon-shaped hat.
The crowd gasped, then began to whisper among themselves.
Jiang Mingyue raised her hand and patted the two middle-aged women occupying a bench, signaling them to move aside.
When the two middle-aged women saw Jiang Mingyue suddenly appear, they were stunned for a moment and quickly got up to make way for her.
Good heavens! The Sun family's niece, a celebrity from their Dahuai Village, has appeared in person!
When Aunt Xu heard this, her eyelids twitched; it seemed the attack was aimed at Jiang Mingyue.
Aunt Xu hurriedly ran out to warn Cao Hualan that she had brought the girl over herself, lest she end up in trouble. She couldn't bear the blame, as the three siblings from the Sun family were very eloquent.
When the man in the melon-shaped hat saw Jiang Mingyue suddenly appear, he suppressed his surprise and pretended not to recognize her. He even praised her, saying, "What a beautiful girl you are! You have a full forehead, a long philtrum, and a long life. You are destined to have many children and much happiness."
"Uncle Wang, do you think I'm a good match for your son? Are you sure?"
Jiang Mingyue interrupted Grandpa Wang and sat down directly.
The room fell silent. The villagers weren't stupid or blind; the Sun family's daughter was quite beautiful, and it was said that she had been a female celebrity before. Just based on her looks, she could be an official's wife.
Mr. Wang's son is a small company manager with a little money. He's not particularly good-looking and isn't tall either.
Not good enough, not good enough at all.
Grandpa Wang looked embarrassed, his face flushed, and he stammered, "Girl, feelings can be cultivated. If you're willing to marry Qiangzi, I'll give you all the money from selling these twenty fat pigs I raise for the New Year!"
"Give you my ass! Wang Shuifa, you toad climbing a tree, you really think you're someone special?! You dare to covet my Yueyue?! You old geezer!"
Cao Hualan's cursing voice came in, and she was holding a fire poker in her hand. She ran through the crowd and grabbed Grandpa Wang, giving him a good scolding.
"I'd like to see where this blind master comes from who dares to spout nonsense?! He just grabs anyone and talks rubbish!"
The man in the melon-shaped hat, who had been scolded, immediately turned cold.
The onlookers were terrified. Since Sun Dayong's death, when had they ever seen Cao Hualan so fierce?
The villagers shrank back, almost forgetting Cao Hualan's formidable reputation in Caojiazhuang when she was young.
Someone whispered a reminder to Cao Hualan to be mindful of her behavior; after all, the other party was a fortune teller, and she couldn't afford to offend him.
Sun Aijun followed closely behind, standing beside him seemingly to stop him, but actually trying to sow discord, "Oh, Mom, we're all from the same village. Even if Uncle Wang is wrong, you should talk to him nicely. He's not deaf. Please don't hurt him, or Daqiang will come back and settle scores with us!"
Not being able to keep Wang Qiang out of her mind, Cao Hualan roared furiously, "That little bastard Wang Qiang deserves to be divorced! He likes men, he doesn't like women at all! I pretended to see him hugging a young girl and kissing her like crazy at the village entrance at the end of last year!"
One stone stirs up a thousand waves.
Good heavens, everyone was dumbfounded. No wonder Cao Hualan dared to scold the fortune teller; she couldn't even predict that Wang Qiang liked men!
Jiang Mingyue suppressed a laugh. Her aunt's fighting spirit was as strong as ever; she remained silent until she made a stunning statement.
Regardless of whether his son liked men or not, being publicly criticized made Grandpa Wang furious, and he pointed at Cao Hualan's nose and cursed her.
"Cao Hualan, you're talking nonsense! You can't just spout off in front of everyone! What evidence do you have?!"
"So what if I have evidence, and so what if I don't? You know perfectly well what's going on in your heart!"
"Hmph, you're all talk and no action, what do you know! Our Daqiang is the company manager, so many women are scrambling to curry favor with him!"
"Pah! Who cares about your tiny chicks? You're a damn company manager! Last year, your family was the stingiest when it came to donating money for road repairs; you couldn't even spare three hundred yuan!"
The room was in complete chaos. The man in the melon-hat couldn't stand it any longer, so he grabbed his antique book and tried to make his escape.
Jiang Mingyue kicked the table leg, which bent it and blocked the melon-shaped hat from going.
"Where do you want to go? Is Dahuai Village a place you can come and go as you please?"
"You think you can just walk away after making this mess? How much did Eric pay you?"
Jiang Mingyue's barrage of questions made the man in the melon-skin hat's eyes widen even more.
The man in the melon-shaped hat was trembling inside, truly unable to understand how Jiang Mingyue had discovered him, as he hadn't given himself away.
He pretended not to understand, "What are you talking about, girl? I just know a little about feng shui to make a living. Even if I'm not right, you don't have to make things difficult for me. I'll just apologize to you."
Jiang Mingyue sneered, "Stop pretending. You've been wandering around Dahuai Village for three days, weren't you looking for me? Now I'm standing in front of you in person, showing you your best skills. Don't waste my time."
Having said all that, the melon-shaped hat could no longer be kept up the pretense. His eyes changed, and he suddenly reached out to grab Sun Aijun, who was standing right in front of him.
Sun Aijun was no coward either; he had been prepared all along. Holding a powerful flashlight, he turned it on and shone it directly at the melon-shaped hat.
"That old bald monk is trying to trick me!"
The bright light came out of nowhere, and the person wearing the melon-shaped hat instinctively closed their eyes.
In that instant, Jiang Mingyue flashed forward, slammed her palm on the table, and then, with a somersault, leaped behind the melon-shaped hat, concealing needles between her fingers and sealing his three vital points without a word.
Then he slapped the other person until he was unconscious.
The man in the melon-shaped hat suddenly felt dizzy and fell to the ground with a thud. Before he lost consciousness, he was still thinking about why he had died before he could even begin his mission.
I was careless, really careless.
Jiang Mingyue is difficult to deal with, and so are the Sun family members.
Author's Note: My husband's third aunt passed away, so I went back to my hometown. (2 PM)
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