Fang Qiao had inquired about it, but the villagers stuck together and never told her much, so she couldn't find out anything.
Seeing her third aunt's kind face, Fang Qiao felt a surge of warmth in her heart, and with a blink of her eye, a few tears fell from her eyes.
Auntie quickly raised her hand to wipe Fang Qiao's tears, saying, "Good child, don't be too sad. Take care of your health. You're pregnant now, and the worst thing you can do is experience extreme joy or sorrow. I watched Bai Dong grow up. He's always been clever. Listen to your auntie, good people are always protected by heaven. He'll be alright."
Fang Qiao knew that her aunt meant well and nodded obediently: "Aunt, I know, I will take good care of myself."
After persuading Fang Qiao, Third Aunt asked about Fang Qiao's purpose in coming.
“As soon as I woke up, Tian Tian ran over to me and said that her mother-in-law had killed a chicken and invited everyone in the family to come over for dinner. But as soon as I arrived, she closed the door when she saw me. I was afraid that Tian Tian had misheard, so I asked her to ask the village chief’s aunt again. Third Aunt, you know that my mother-in-law is not a blood relative… Don’t be mistaken, it would be embarrassing for everyone.”
Auntie San immediately understood the implication in Fang Qiao's words.
She and Huang Yan had been sisters-in-law for twenty years, and they had argued for twenty years as well. She knew exactly what kind of person Huang Yan was.
"Don't worry, Tian Tian didn't mishear. She said the chicken-killing thing in front of everyone. Everyone at the village chief's house heard it. Many people praised her, saying that her stepmother was more affectionate than her own mother-in-law. But if you ask me, she's just putting on an act."
Third Aunt volunteered: "You wait here, I'll knock on the door for you. Xiao Qiao, you stand back a bit, so that the old woman's tantrum won't affect you."
The Cheng family's door was made of wooden planks, and the earthen wall was as tall as a person. You could see into the courtyard by standing on tiptoe over the wall.
Auntie knocked on the door a few times but received no response, so she simply leaned over the wall and shouted inside, "Huang Yan, open the door! Your daughter-in-law is here! Didn't you say you were going to kill a chicken for the village chief? Open the door quickly!"
Auntie San had a loud voice, and her shouts attracted many neighbors who came to watch the commotion. People from all around poked their heads out of their homes.
"Oh my, my second sister-in-law actually decided to kill a chicken for the eldest son's family? Has the sun risen in the west or something?"
"Fang Qiao is due to give birth in two months, so she'll finally get to eat the chicken that her mother-in-law killed."
Third Aunt snorted: "What's there to eat? It's true that Huang Yan killed a chicken, but as soon as she saw Xiao Qiao coming, she closed the door. It's obvious she's not going to let us eat."
"My goodness! The chicken was caught from Fang Qiao's chicken coop, and they killed it but didn't give it to him to eat?"
How did you know it was caught from Fang Qiao's house?
“I saw it with my own eyes when I came back from the fields. Huang Yan and her family’s Hongmei caught it together. Not only me, but her third aunt also saw it.”
Hearing the gossip outside, Huang Yan angrily threw things around in the kitchen.
The pots and pans were smashed with a loud crash, but the gossip didn't stop; in fact, it seemed to intensify.
Huang Yan simply picked up a kitchen knife and came out of the kitchen, opening the door to shoo people away: "Go, go, go! It's the middle of the day, why aren't you home cooking? What are you doing crowding at my doorstep?"
Huang Yan came out carrying a kitchen knife, looking fierce and not to be trifled with. The neighbors all thought it was better to avoid trouble and made excuses to go home.
One of them said, "The pot is burnt," and the other said, "My stomach hurts." In less than half a minute, only Auntie San was left.
Others were afraid of Huang Yan, but Third Aunt was not.
"What are you asking me to look at?" Third Aunt stood in front of Fang Qiao, sneering as she asked, then put her hands on her hips and said, "Of course I'm watching you kill someone's chicken and not let them eat it."
"Who said my family killed a chicken? Don't believe everything you hear." Huang Yan lied through her teeth.
Fang Qiao sighed helplessly, "Grandma, the evidence is still lying in the ditch. You should at least destroy the incriminating evidence before saying this..."
Huang Yan's face twisted for a moment, then she quickly changed her tune: "Those are duck feathers, not chicken feathers."
"Everyone else's duck feathers are white, but yours are spotted?"
Fang Qiao caught a glimpse of someone approaching at the alley entrance and casually added fuel to the fire: "Grandma, it's fine if you don't want to admit it, but there's no need to treat me and Third Aunt like fools."
"When she's twisting the truth, she doesn't care if you're really stupid or not; she's notoriously unreasonable. She's over forty years old, and she can't tell the difference between a chicken and a duck."
Third Aunt and Fang Qiao worked in perfect harmony, as if they had rehearsed beforehand, and successfully provoked Huang Yan.
She suddenly picked up a kitchen knife and pointed it at her third aunt: "I'm talking to my daughter-in-law. If I say it's duck feathers, then it's duck feathers. What's it to you?"
Before he could finish speaking, a stern female voice suddenly rang out from the alley.
"Huang Yan, what are you doing pointing a knife at people? Put the knife down right now."
Upon seeing the person approaching, Huang Yan's hand trembled, and the kitchen knife slipped from her grasp, nearly hitting her instep.
Huang Yan was so frightened that she broke out in a cold sweat and retreated repeatedly.
"Director Li."
Director Li is the village's women's director and the village chief's wife. She used to be the female captain of the guerrilla team. When she was young, she was even better at fighting than the village chief. Although she is almost sixty years old now, she still has her authority. No one in the village, young or old, is afraid of her.
Director Li: "Tian Tian said you secretly caught Comrade Fang Qiao's chickens. What exactly happened?"
"No, no, that's not true, Director Li. What does a child like her know? She's just talking nonsense."
"I'm not lying! My aunt taught me that children shouldn't lie, and I'm telling the truth!" Tian Tian let go of Director Li's hand and ran to the edge of the drainage ditch. "Grandma, look, the chicken feathers are still on the ground. I'm not lying."
"Grandma saw it and knows that Tian Tian is a good child who doesn't lie." Director Li coaxed Tian Tian gently, then turned to Huang Yan and immediately changed the subject, scolding her with a stern face: "Huang Yan, what you did was not fair. You brought up the matter of killing the chicken in front of everyone, but in the end you killed someone else's chicken and then you don't allow them to eat it?"
"It's a misunderstanding. I, I didn't kill her chickens. This, this is a duck... Yes, this is a duck."
Cold sweat dripped down Huang Yan's forehead. She racked her brains but still couldn't come up with a good reason, so she had to bite the bullet and say, "Pregnant women can't eat duck, otherwise the child they give birth to will waddle like a duck and won't look good. I... I don't let her eat it, and it's for her own good."
"For my own good?" A hint of sarcasm flashed in Fang Qiao's eyes, but she didn't show it on her face. "So, I should thank you for thinking of me like this."
"No need for thanks." Huang Yan said to Fang Qiao with a shameless smile, "We're family, so let's not be so formal. Eldest daughter-in-law, go back home and don't listen to those gossipy women stirring things up anymore."
Huang Yan's words were pointed, and Third Aunt immediately became displeased: "Huang Yan, who are you calling a gossip?"
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