Chapter 41 Science Defeats Superstition and Eerie Literature; Zhong Ying had still read it...
If she directly said she didn't want to get married and have children, Deng Xia and Zhong Chunsheng definitely wouldn't accept it;
If she said she wanted to marry a ghost, her parents would definitely faint.
Zhong Ying pondered for two days before organizing her thoughts.
She kindly waited until her family had finished eating before speaking.
“Sister-in-law, let Guoqiang go play in the yard first. I have something to tell you,” Zhong Ying said.
Little Zhong Guoqiang, who had wanted to run outside as soon as he finished eating, became unhappy. "What are you talking about? Can't I listen?"
“Yes, you’ll wet the bed if you hear that,” Zhong Ying deliberately poked at his sore spot.
Zhong Guoqiang is already three years old and has just begun to understand male characteristics—"being concerned about one's image." Upon hearing this, he immediately ran out of the house. He didn't want to wet the bed; it was too embarrassing!
Miao Suyun called out to her son, "Don't go out of the yard, it'll be dark soon!"
It gets dark exceptionally early in winter.
Deng Xia looked at her daughter with a puzzled expression. "What do you want to say?"
This solemnity made her inexplicably uneasy.
Seeing that her sister-in-law had closed the door, Zhong Ying began her performance.
"Father, Mother, I can't get married!" Zhong Ying said "sadly," covering her face. She had no choice but to, since she wasn't a professional actress.
Her shout startled Deng Xia, nearly made Zhong Chunsheng fall off his stool, and even the dead ghost who had already tacitly approved of her behavior couldn't help but glance at her.
What are they trying to do?
Miao Suyun quickly patted Zhong Ying's back and asked with concern, "What's wrong, little sister? What happened?"
Zhong Xin also looked worried.
“I’ve never dared to say it, but actually… actually, after he died, he’s been following me all this time…” Zhong Ying deliberately sniffed, pretending to be aggrieved and choking back tears as she spoke.
"Him"? Who is he?
This question arose in everyone's mind.
Zhong Ying continued, "Mother, you've brought up the topic of marriage several times recently, and he's become unhappy about it, saying, 'He saved my life, how can I marry someone else!'"
Both humans and ghosts were shocked.
Deng Xia's voice changed in surprise, "That boy from the Li family has been bothering you?!"
Li Linshi looked at Zhong Ying in surprise, "When did I say that?"
He's not, he didn't!
Zhong Ying ignored him and continued her performance, "He said if I dared to marry someone else, he would kill that person in front of me! He'd kill one if one came, and kill two if two came!"
Zhong Ying had read a few books of erotic literature.
Li Linshi's pupils trembled slightly, "...Killing someone will land you in the animal realm, I'm not crazy!"
Zhong Chunsheng frowned. "Yingnier, you're not bluffing, are you?"
It's no wonder he was suspicious; his daughter was just too clever and cunning. When she was five, she would pretend to cry to steal meat from her brother's bowl. When she started to care about her appearance in her teens, she would wear her hair down for days after wanting a red ribbon. Even though he was her biological father, Zhong Chunsheng had to admit that his daughter had a "never give up until she gets what she wants" quality. Countless times, others had no choice but to be led by the nose by her.
Deng Xia snapped out of her shock and looked at her daughter with suspicion in her eyes, "He really turned into a ghost and is following you?"
Although Deng Xia firmly believed in the existence of the Mountain Goddess and would burn incense at the Mountain God Temple behind the village on the first and fifteenth of each lunar month, she didn't really believe in the existence of "ghosts." This shows that her ignorant thinking was relatively dialectical, which is similar to the later advocacy of "if you believe, it exists; if you don't believe, it doesn't."
Zhong Ying knew that it wouldn't be so easy for her to "pass" with just a few words, so she did something a little trick beforehand.
She peeked at the ground through her fingers and, seeing the marks beginning to appear, immediately freed one hand from her face and pointed, "He really is there."
Everyone in the room turned to look at him. For a moment, Li Linshi really felt like he was being watched. But the next second he realized that people weren't looking at him, but at the ground a step in front of him.
As people focused their attention, the rammed earth slowly revealed, inch by inch, slightly lighter-colored male footprints, as if something was really standing there, revealing a trace of dissatisfaction due to people's doubts.
Deng Xia gasped.
Zhong Chunsheng's breath hitched.
The bench where Miao Suyun was sitting made a screeching sound as she stepped back.
Zhong Xin looked at the footprints with suspicion, then looked at his sister.
This wasn't Li Linshi's doing. Even he was puzzled when he saw the footprints and asked Zhong Ying, "What did you do?"
Zhong Ying secretly took a little salt from the kitchen, dissolved it in some warm water, and quietly drew a footprint on the ground before the family members noticed. In the winter, the temperature was low, and the salt water dried slowly. The water evaporated slowly after the meal, and the salt left behind formed small white crystals. These crystals made the drawn area white, revealing the pattern.
It may seem like an unnatural phenomenon, but it's actually a simple physics experiment that even elementary school students can do.
Seeing that her family finally believed her, Zhong Ying breathed a sigh of relief. Sure enough, science prevails; science has defeated superstition, an unchanging truth.
On the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, early in the morning, Li Ming and several strong laborers from the production team sold most of the pigs raised by the team to the food purchasing station under the commune's supply and marketing cooperative. Like grain, pigs also had "quotas".
Every year, the commune would allocate a different number of piglets to each production team, a process called "assignment raising." After the pigs were raised and fattened, they would be "assigned to purchase" by the purchasing stations. Of course, this was done with money. In addition, to increase farmers' enthusiasm for raising pigs, they would also give a reward of "one kilogram of pig and one kilogram of grain." For every two kilograms of gross weight, one kilogram of grain would be awarded as a reward, and for every yuan of pig price, two inches of cloth coupons would be awarded. Occasionally, a small amount of industrial commodity coupons would also be awarded.
Everyone in the Tonggan production team gathered in the open space of the threshing ground to listen to the team leader speak.
"Last year, our commune raised a total of nine pigs. Today, we sold eight of them, earning a total of 49 feet of cloth coupons and 246 yuan. Of that, 24.6 yuan was used to buy 123 kilograms of grain. As before, the grain was included in the collective grain fund for unified distribution. After deducting the cost of raising pigs and the public reserve fund for purchasing farm tools and pesticides, the money was then distributed according to work points..."
Li Ming explained it clearly, so no one had any objections.
People were looking forward to the upcoming pig slaughter. Although Tonggan Production Team was not as capable of raising more pigs as other rich production teams, and some farmers in those teams could even raise their own pigs, they could still get half a pound or a pound of meat each as the year drew to a close.
The pig, its hands and feet bound, was lifted onto a large bench for slaughter. It seemed to know that its life was about to end, and it cried out in an exceptionally pitiful and shrill voice.
Floating in mid-air, Cao Fang watched the bustling scene of people slaughtering pigs. Every year she saw it, it was horrifying. She couldn't help but pat her chest and tell herself, "I can't kill people. If I do, I'll only be slaughtered like this in my next life. It's too terrifying..."
Upon hearing this, Zhong Ying glanced at the male ghost standing outside the crowd and thought to herself, "This is truly a warning to ghosts. See? If you don't want to end up like this in your next life, you'd better behave yourself."
Hu Dating and Nie Ying stood side by side in the crowd, and the two started chatting.
"Now anyone who gets approached by Zhou Changqing's family has to think twice, because nobody dares to say their daughter will definitely give birth to a son," Hu said sarcastically. He then turned to Nie Ying and said, "Your Erni managed to pull herself out of the mire unscathed, without getting her reputation ruined. You should really thank Zhong Lao Er's family and their daughter! And when Dani gave birth, it was their family who were busy helping out..."
Hu Dating couldn't help but sigh, "Just like Yingni'er said, a close neighbor is worse than a distant relative. When something really happened, it was you, our old neighbor who's been bickering with me for over ten years, who helped me out!"
Nie Ying looked a little uncomfortable. "Alright, I'm not the kind of person who doesn't know what's good for me!"
When it came time to divide the meat, Nie Ying received a piece of pork belly from the neck area. It had a lot of fat. Unlike people in the future who preferred lean meat, in an era when oil was scarce, fat was a treasure. This kind of pork belly could be used to render lard, stir-fry vegetables, or chop fillings for dumplings.
Nie Ying, carrying her meat strips, saw the meat in Deng Xia's hand. As usual, she went over to her, but this time she didn't show off hers or mock the other's. Instead, she said awkwardly, "What kind of meat did you get? There's not even a bit of fat. Here, I'll trade with you my family. I, Nie Ying, am not ungrateful—"
Deng Xia interrupted her curtly, "No need."
Nie Ying stared wide-eyed at Deng Xia's ugly face. She could hardly believe it. How could she not take advantage of the ladder that Zhong Lao Er's wife was offering, after all the conciliatory words she had spoken?
Deng Xia's unpleasant expression wasn't directed at Nie Ying; it's just that anyone whose daughter is haunted by a ghost and prevented from getting married normally wouldn't have a pleasant expression.
Nie Ying was furious as she watched Deng Xia leave, determined to never be close to her again! She could never be close to this person in this lifetime!
But then, Nie Ying saw Deng Xia turn back around again.
"Do you know any ways to exorcise ghosts?" Deng Xia asked quietly, lowering her voice. She thought that since she had helped Nie Ying's daughter twice, it was time to help her daughter in return.
Nie Ying blinked in confusion, "Huh?"
Ever since she "showed off" to her family, Zhong Ying had a dazed feeling of entering the family group chat to debunk some myths. However, modern family groups are filled with family members forwarding unfounded tweets such as "Shocking! Eating takeout is like committing slow suicide" and "Eggplant cures diabetes, you must eat more eggplant!" So what Zhong Ying was facing now was an equally unfounded folk remedy for exorcising ghosts.
Zhong Xin placed the broom upside down in the corner of Zhong Ying's room and said seriously, "Sister, don't touch this. I asked specifically so that ghosts won't dare to approach you."
Zhong Ying stared at the upside-down broom, a catchy tune playing in her head, "Harry Potter flies on a broom, sorry, sorry..." She shook her head, and after her brother left, Zhong Ying asked the ghost beside her, "Was it useful?"
"...Useless." Li Linshi was also speechless. It was just an ordinary broom, even if you turned it upside down it was still a broom.
Deng Xia took Zhong Ying to offer incense to the Mountain Goddess twice over three days, trying to drive away the evil spirit haunting her daughter by making a wish to the goddess.
Zhong Ying looked at the male ghost who had followed her into the temple and asked in her eyes: "Did you feel the pressure from the Mountain Goddess?"
Li Linshi: ...
He only felt the "oppression" brought by Zhong Ying.
That day, Li Linshi also questioned Zhong Ying afterward about why she made up such a story. He had never said anything like he would kill anyone who dared to marry her.
Zhong Ying only replied with a serious expression, "Only the living can write history."
"Isn't that just saying that living people can say whatever they want?" Li Linshi was almost laughing in anger. And who was he killed for?
Miao Suyun brought Zhong Ying a bowl of wood ash water to "exorcise the ghost," saying, "Wood ash is clean, it will definitely work."
Zhong Ying looked at the black, grayish-brown, muddy water in the bowl. It was definitely useless against ghosts, but it would definitely work on people. Drinking this would surely upset her stomach.
Old Man Zhong's method was to use a red thread to catch ghosts. He would fill a bowl with clean water, then wrap a red thread around the rim of the bowl and place it at the foot of Zhong Ying's bed.
As a result, when Zhong Ying woke up groggily in the morning, she accidentally stepped on and knocked over a bowl. It was only because a ghost kindly caught her that she didn't fall.
Zhong Ying really wanted them to stop making a fuss; feudal superstition was unacceptable, and all of this was fake.
Deng Xia rushed home carrying a piece of pork, saying, "Your neighbor, Aunt Fan Wu, told me another trick: chopping off chicken heads!"
We slaughtered and ate one chicken during the autumn harvest, and now there are only two adult chickens, a rooster and a hen, and two tiny chicks, no bigger than the palm of your hand, left in the coop.
Deng Xia hesitated for a moment, worried that the chicks wouldn't be effective enough, and reluctant to part with the egg-laying hens. In the end, she grabbed the rooster by the neck, who was relatively less useful, and pulled it out.
According to Nie Ying, chopping off the chicken's head and throwing it over the roof would drive away any unclean things in the house.
"How is it? Has she left?" After waiting for a while, Deng Xia looked at her daughter expectantly.
Zhong Ying held the porcelain bowl, chewing chicken non-stop. Only when she heard her mother ask her a question did she lift her face from the bowl. "Huh?"
She glanced at Li Linshi and said, "He hasn't left. He's still here."
Deng Xia was furious, "How come it's completely useless!"
Zhong Ying nodded repeatedly, saying that feudal superstition was completely useless and only caused harm to chickens!
Her sister-in-law's stewed chicken is so delicious! Ah, it smells so good!
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Author's Note: Chicken: In the end, I had to bear it all (tears)
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