Zhenniang, The Three of Us (Part 11)
Thanks to the fact that she didn't go to sleep after eating, Ye Xiqing was able to fill in for someone.
Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then they all gasped in surprise.
Huang Qiuju only dared to say a few words back, but Zhao Zhenniang had completely broken off all pretense of civility!
Uncle Zhao was completely stunned, unable to believe that these words came from the mouth of Zhao Zhenniang, who had always been quiet, gentle and taciturn.
He looked at Zhao Zhenniang in shock: "What did you say?"
Ye Xiqing could understand that the elderly man was hard of hearing, so she spoke frankly again: "Uncle, you are getting old. Don't make a scene in front of the younger generation over some food. It's not worth it, don't you all agree?"
Ye Xiqing's gaze fell on everyone. In this era, filial piety is highly valued. Generally, when younger generations speak to older generations like this, regardless of whether it is right or wrong, someone will come out to stop them.
But when Ye Xiqing's gaze fell down, the mouth that was about to open involuntarily closed, and no one dared to come out and refute this idea.
Uncle Zhao was just a distant uncle, yet they were eating Zhao Zhenniang's food.
Moreover, Uncle Zhao was only respected on the surface; everyone hated him behind his back.
Taking advantage of his superior status, he must have squeezed a lot of money out of the villagers. As for how he got that big brick house, those who know, know.
The villagers may fear him, but they will not genuinely respect him.
The offensive thing about Ye Xiqing's words was that they were disrespectful to the elderly, not to people. The people below hesitated for a moment, but still did not stand up.
Having received neither agreement nor rebuttal, Ye Xiqing was still quite satisfied and turned to smile at Uncle Zhao.
Looking at her defiant attitude, Uncle Zhao squinted his thick eyelids. This little girl actually dared to challenge him.
Actually, he came today because the commotion here was too big, and he felt inexplicably uneasy.
Looking at it now, it's like a cooked duck whose wings have been hardened.
Seeing this, Uncle Zhao tapped his cane and said slowly, "Aunt Zhao, your husband's family made you observe mourning, and you've observed it very well."
These words sounded like someone going to the Song family to report her to the authorities, accusing her of being unfilial and threatening her. This was one of the things that Ye Xiqing found interesting about the patriarchal society.
Class monopoly: The reason why the monopolistic class obtains power is actually very hasty, but once they obtain power, they like to add a halo to the process of obtaining power.
If you're lucky, your halo will never fade, and you can brag about it for a lifetime.
If you're unlucky and reveal your true abilities, immediately distance yourself from them and only praise those whose aura hasn't been broken, so that aura will continue to exist.
This survivor bias-based praise method is quite clever. After all, with five thousand years of history and such a large sample size, there are bound to be a few lucky ones whose halo hasn't been shattered. These can be used as public resources to praise, and used sparingly.
But to exaggerate things that don't exist, and to exaggerate everything, will only make you look ridiculous.
Watching a group of people outside talking about power struggles, how to manage subordinates, and the wisdom of survival gets me all fired up.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out they were teaching how to be a lackey to those above and how to lord it over those below.
Elementary school students disdain tattling, as it would be ridiculed by their peers.
But because of the dual halo bestowed upon him by male power and the feudal system, Uncle Zhao should now feel quite dignified and witty.
Bullying the weak and fearing the strong, and abusing power, can also be called wisdom. That's fine; everyone is born with that ability, which lowers the threshold for ordinary people to participate in power struggles.
Ye Xiqing looked at Uncle Zhao with a serious expression: "Uncle, we are just fulfilling our filial duty to the Song family ancestors. All this sesame oil is for lighting the eternal lamps in the Song family ancestral hall. Uncle, are you causing trouble here because you have some grievance against Master Song?"
Uncle Zhao was instantly speechless, looking at her in disbelief: "What are you saying, you little girl! When have I ever been dissatisfied with Master Song!"
Ye Xiqing calmly replied, "Uncle, you're delaying our sesame oil grinding. Isn't that because you're dissatisfied with the Song family? The Song family's ever-burning lamp made a grand vow before Buddha to keep it burning at all times. If it ever goes out, they'll be childless and have no descendants."
Uncle Zhao was so angry that he stamped his foot: "I'm so old, and I only ate a bite of your food, and you say that?"
"Really? Anyway, next time I go to deliver oil, I'll have to talk to my father-in-law about it and see if he thinks you're just trying to get something out of him, or if you're trying to make things difficult for him."
Uncle Zhao, who was arrogant and domineering in the village, didn't dare utter a word in front of Master Song. He immediately jumped up and down like someone who had been bitten on the butt by a dog, wanting to find Ye Xiqing to argue about right and wrong.
Could Ye Xiqing argue with him? He could simply tilt his head back and say, "You're being disrespectful to Master Song."
Uncle Zhao got angry at her words and raised his cane to hit someone. Only then did everyone realize what was happening and quickly pulled the two of them away.
Seeing that things had come to this point, Huang Qiuju didn't even dare to protect the food anymore.
She hurriedly handed the bowl of vegetables to Uncle Zhao, saying, "Alright, alright, Uncle, you can have it and eat it, I don't want any more!"
Uncle Zhao became even more furious upon hearing this, and slammed the basin she handed him onto the ground with his cane: "Who would eat your stinking stuff!"
Seeing the rice spilled on the ground, Huang Qiuju became agitated and quickly squatted down to scoop up the rice.
What a waste! What a waste! Why waste this food!
The rice bowl fell to the ground, and this pointless verbal battle finally came to an end.
Ye Xiqing squatted down and, together with Huang Qiuju, tried to salvage the food that had fallen to the ground, without saying a word.
After tidying it up, I instructed Aunt Huang: "Don't eat it if it falls on the ground. Give it to the livestock. For the three of you who didn't get any, fry three more eggs. Put the extra expenses on my tab."
After dealing with this matter, he turned to look at Uncle Zhao, appearing unwilling to argue with him any further.
“Uncle, I will let it go this time because of your age. But if there is a next time, don’t blame me for being ruthless as a junior.”
Uncle Zhao's chest heaved, unable to understand how Zhao Zhenniang had forgiven him when Huang Qiuju and Zhao Zhenniang were clearly the ones who were neither good wives nor good daughters.
Uncle Zhao had a million things to say, but as Ye Xiqing said, it was too easy for those in power in feudal society to rise to the top—they relied on their mothers, fathers, and luck.
If you're lucky enough to be born into a wealthy family and know a few more words, you can easily outshine those who are illiterate; their true level of knowledge is often exaggerated.
In other words, the old system made them too comfortable, and the cost of resistance was too high for the people below. As long as they could survive, they compromised and made concessions, which is why they remained so comfortable.
Uncle Zhao was already senile, and now that Ye Xiqing had grabbed his braid and stabbed him, his mind went completely muddled.
Seeing how broken he was, unable to even speak clearly, the others couldn't bear to watch and urged him to go home, to go home.
After carrying the person away, Ye Xiqing turned around and said, "Get the pot ready and start cooking."
Huang Qiuju picked up the spilled food. She was so happy to have someone back her up after the argument.
Despite her joy, Huang Qiuju was also a little worried: "Aunt... even though Uncle is in the wrong, as a junior, you shouldn't speak too bluntly."
"Our uncle is in charge of the poll tax for these dozen or so households. What if he gets angry and makes things difficult for us?"
This is what everyone fears. As the head of this village, Uncle Zhao holds the lifeline of the village in his hands. He thinks the whole person is too easy to deal with.
Seeing the uneasy expressions on everyone's faces, Ye Xiqing sighed deeply, her face showing a heavy burden of humiliation.
"Of course I know I can't offend my uncle, but this communal kitchen was built with money raised by all the villagers. You all know my uncle; once he does something, he'll do it again."
"Today he takes the rations of three people, tomorrow he takes the rations of ten people, and the day after tomorrow he'll set his sights on our oil mill. What will we do then?"
“If this were my family’s property, I would be happy to be filial to my uncle for the rest of my life. But since everyone has entrusted their money to me, how can I throw everyone’s money away just to pretend to be a good person for myself?”
Everyone: ...
Indeed, even standing on the shore, people could criticize Zhao Zhenniang for disrespecting her elders, but when she was dragged into the water, no one dared to utter a sound.
Ye Xiqing raised her sleeve, wiped away non-existent tears, and said in a sorrowful voice, "Anyway, I'm only staying in this village for three years. After that, I won't hear people gossiping behind my back. So while I'm here, I'll stand up for the villagers as long as I can."
"For the next three years, with me protecting you, you don't need to worry about anything. Just focus on making money."
"Three years from now... if you need anything, come to me. I will have someone check on you regularly."
"Don't worry, I won't forget you all. As long as I'm here, I will make sure you all live a good life!"
Everyone: ...
Although Zhao Zhenniang was a woman, people naturally didn't pay much attention to her when discussing important matters.
But precisely because she is a woman, people are willing to believe that she is genuinely kind-hearted; women are all soft-hearted, after all.
Moreover, everyone knows what kind of person Uncle Zhao is. If he wasn't used to oppress women, even men couldn't stand him.
Upon hearing this, they all fell silent.
Seeing that no one spoke, Ye Xiqing turned her back and waved her hand at everyone: "Alright, that's enough. Everyone, go take a nap after you finish eating. We still have to go to work later."
The meal turned out like this, and everyone was speechless. They packed up their things and went home.
When only three people remained, Ye Xiqing instructed them to start a fire again and cook.
"Add more oil, Auntie. You're cooking for yourself, why save on oil? It's on my tab anyway."
As luck would have it, the remaining three people didn't get to eat the communal stew, but they were able to have a scrambled egg on their own.
Since that's the case, Huang Qiuju slowly took out another egg from the basket: "Auntie, are you full?"
Ye Xiqing slowly straightened up: I'm full, but I can eat a little more.
...
Sometimes, political maneuvering is that simple. Ye Xiqing was very satisfied with Aunt Huang's shrewdness.
Stir-fried eggs with chives is such a simple dish, and the taste is pretty much the same no matter when it's made. Zhao Zhenniang began to savor the taste of the stir-fried eggs again.
My third aunt never misses out on any good food.
But why did she fry an egg again? To appease her uncle's anger, her aunt fried an egg for him.
Aunt Wang, who witnessed the whole thing, fell silent: How could I fry eggs for him? I almost fried him up too.
After telling her daughter the whole story, Zhao Zhenniang's eyes widened in disbelief: "Won't that uncle hold a grudge against me to death!"
Her uncle already harbored ill intentions towards her; how could he possibly let her off now...?
Aunt Wang comforted her, saying, "It's alright, it's alright. Third Aunt said that Second Sister is a tough one. With her here, nothing will happen."
Zhao Zhenniang was initially panicked, but after hearing her godmother mention her second sister, she finally felt relieved.
Yes, she has two immortals protecting her!
Second sister! Help!
So early the next morning, Granny Wang went to worship the new god: Second sister, what do you think we should do about this?
Jian Yu'an woke up from her sleep, and before she could even open the note that another time traveler had given her, she received a message from Granny Wang.
He took a deep breath and pulled the note out of his pocket.
She wanted to see what her roommate, nicknamed "Third Aunt," would say in response!
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