Liu Guangtian agreed verbally, but he had his own plans in mind.
"Okay, then there's nothing else. Guangtian, you should go home and change into some clean clothes. You're a grown man now, you need to know how to be clean."
Xu Damao waved his hand casually, then turned to Wang Dabao, "Dabao, I'm going to stay with Lao Yan for a while. If you're free, how about we go together?"
"Okay, let's go."
Wang Dabao nodded, and then the two headed towards the front yard.
No sooner had Wang Dabao and Xu Damao left than the door to the deaf old woman's house opened.
A cane emerged, followed by the deaf old woman's trembling foot.
"Hey, old lady, are your two boys still alive?"
The deaf old woman opened the door and looked at Liu Haizhong's wife, who was stirring the food with an iron spoon.
Last night, she was woken up by the howling of the Liu brothers and didn't fall back asleep until dawn. But before she could get a good night's sleep, she was woken up again by the sound of an iron spoon hitting an iron pot outside.
So she didn't get much sleep that night either.
Even now, my eyes are still swollen, I see double, and my legs are even less responsive.
An older woman, not hearing what the deaf old woman said, stopped what she was doing and asked, "What did you say, ma'am? Speak louder, I can't hear you."
"Did Liu Haizhong beat your two sons to death?"
When the older woman heard this, she rolled her eyes in annoyance and decided not to pay any attention to the old woman. She picked up the iron spoon and continued to stir-fry the melon seeds.
"Oh, oh, old lady, I'm standing right here, can't you see me? Why are you cursing people to die as soon as you open your mouth?"
Liu Guangtian took two steps forward with a cigarette in his mouth. "But don't worry, I'm still young, I'll definitely walk behind you."
The deaf old woman rested her hands on her cane, glanced at Liu Guangtian with drooping eyelids, and said, "That's not necessarily true. There are no young or old on the road to the underworld. With the way you fight, old man, it's really hard to say."
"Hey, old lady, that's not very nice of you to talk like that."
Liu Guangtian threw his cigarette butt on the ground and stomped on it a few times. "Let me put it this way, old man, even if you died twice, I'd still be alive and well."
What are you saying?!
The deaf old woman shakily raised her cane as if to hit Liu Guangtian.
Liu Guangtian chuckled and slowly carried the chamber pot home.
Liu Guangtian is gone, but his mother is still here.
The deaf old woman immediately turned her anger towards the middle-aged woman, saying, "Hey, look how swollen my eyes are! In the middle of the night, instead of sleeping, you're beating your child so loudly that the neighbors can't sleep either. This isn't how you do things."
Hearing the deaf old woman's two sentences, which were still somewhat human, the middle-aged woman put down her iron spoon, a hint of embarrassment on her face.
"Grandma, you know my family's situation. It's been so many years, please bear with us. Old Liu has a bad temper, and these two kids are a handful."
"These kids are all grown up now, so I can only discipline them at night when they're in bed. Otherwise, I can't discipline them during the day. As soon as Old Liu grabs his belt, those two rascals disappear."
"Fine, you can wait until the child is asleep to spank him, but the neighbors in this courtyard are also asleep, so they'll have to wait to be woken up by your noise."
The deaf old woman pressed on, refusing to back down, "I'm so old, I don't need much sleep. I finally managed to fall asleep, but the noise from your house woke me up. I didn't feel sleepy again until dawn, and just as I was drifting off, the sound of you roasting melon seeds woke me up again."
"No need for much more, just do this a couple of times, and you'll have to eat at my feast."
After saying that, the deaf old woman angrily slammed her cane on the ground.
The old woman was a little embarrassed by what the deaf old woman said. "Grandma, please don't say that. You have to live a long life. You still have to keep an eye on things in this compound. If anyone does something right or wrong, we still need you to say a few words."
The deaf old woman revealed a hint of pride: "I've just seen more things than you. The things in this courtyard are nothing more than family matters. As long as you come to me, I'm sure I can solve them."
"Yes, yes, with you in charge of our compound, we're really blessed."
Aunt Erda, Yan Bugui's wife, who was frying peanuts nearby, couldn't stand it anymore and said something with a pout.
That one sentence was enough to infuriate the deaf old lady.
"Yan Bugui's wife, what do you mean by that? Are you praising me or insulting me?"
The deaf old woman walked with remarkable steadiness, and in a few steps she came to Yan Bugui's wife and questioned her.
Yan Bugui's wife was startled by the deaf old lady's actions, fearing that the old lady might suddenly die of anger. She quickly explained, "Oh dear, old lady, what are you doing? How could I dare to scold you?"
"I'm just saying you'll live to be a hundred years old. Everyone in our compound is counting on you to steer the ship."
The deaf old woman's face showed no sign of a smile; her small face was expressionless, perfectly matching the current weather.
“I know many people in this courtyard are hoping for my death, but I will not die, and I will not let you have your way.”
"Oh dear, Grandma, who's upset you? I've been hearing you yelling in the backyard for ages, what happened?!"
Sha Zhu hurriedly walked through the moon gate.
The deaf old woman felt even more confident when she saw Sha Zhu.
He tapped his cane again, turned his face away, and said, "Yan Bugui's wife and Liu Haizhong's wife, they bullied me and wished me a speedy death."
The moment those words left his mouth, all three people present were stunned.
"No way?"
Sha Zhu quickly went over to help the deaf old woman, saying, "Grandma, is there some misunderstanding here?"
"Oh dear, old lady, what are you saying? How could we possibly curse you? We're more than happy to treat you well," Yan Bugui's wife said, putting down her spatula and sighing with a droopy face.
The deaf old woman's face was covered in frost: "Zhu Zi, listen to this! Treating me like an idol is just a way of cursing me to die!"
"Grandma, please don't think that way. His second aunt really didn't mean it that way. You've misunderstood." Liu Haizhong's wife came over and explained to Yan Bugui's wife.
When Yan Bugui's wife saw that the deaf old woman was really angry, she was afraid that her two words might upset the old woman so much that she would have a serious illness, and it wouldn't be worth it for her to try to extort money from her family.
Besides, this old lady was originally looking for trouble with the Liu family, so why is she interfering?
Thinking about it, Yan Bugui's wife grabbed a handful of peanuts and ran to the deaf old woman.
"Grandma, please don't take offense. I'm just an unsophisticated woman, no match for you. But I really didn't mean to curse you. These peanuts are still warm; I'll have Zhu Zi peel them for you later."
As she spoke, Yan Bugui's wife stuffed peanuts into Sha Zhu's hand, signaling him to quickly help the old lady back into the house.
Sha Zhu didn't know what had happened before, but seeing that the two older women were quite nice, he thought he would help the old lady back first and ask her about it later.
“I’m not going back. Old Liu’s family, go and call Liu Haizhong here.”
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
