Chapter 10 Predator: It's Good to Be a Salted Fish!
Zhong Ying had great trust in the abilities of the two underworld messengers. After all, in mythology and traditional culture, Ox-Head and Horse-Face were soul-reaping messengers responsible for escorting the dead and punishing evil spirits, and she had never heard of them making a mistake.
The thought that the ghost who used to strangle her was taken away by the two underworld officials and could no longer come after her to collect her life debt made Zhong Ying feel like dawn had broken, her arms were no longer tired, and she was full of energy, with a bright future ahead.
In this state of excitement, Zhong Ying unknowingly husked rice ears until noon, when she was called out to stop.
"Little sister, take a rest, I brought you some food—"
"Chengzi's wife is here..."
Zhong Ying looked up and saw Miao Suyun. She was taken aback. "Sister-in-law, didn't you go back to your parents' house with my brother today?"
Miao Suyun walked over, her smile looking somewhat forced. "Yes, I went, but I'm back now."
Zhong Ying felt a little strange, but there were other people in the threshing ground, so she didn't ask any further questions, after all, there was still someone else there to "ask around".
It wasn't until she finished work in the evening and returned home that Zhong Ying learned what had happened.
Deng Xia sat on a stool, her hands gripping the corner of the low table in the main room so tightly that her knuckles turned white, barely managing to control her anger. If it weren't for the need to save face for her daughter-in-law, Miao Suyun, she would have already lashed out. Now, she could only purse her lips, her remaining rationality acting like a bridle to keep her mouth shut, lest she blurt out any unpleasant words.
"I never expected my mother to say such a thing..." Miao Suyun was filled with remorse and guilt, feeling ashamed to face the Zhong family, especially Deng Xia and Zhong Ying. Tears of remorse streamed down her cheeks. "I... I've let my mother down, and I've let my little sister down..."
Deng Xia took a deep breath. "What are you apologizing for? You didn't say those hurtful things. Let me say something equally unpleasant: Dai Fudi doesn't treat her daughter like a human being, she thinks everyone is like her!"
After hearing the whole story, Zhong Ying was speechless. What kind of behavior is this? Submissive to men, but fiercely attacking her daughter?
As for being called a "jinx" and "unable to get married," Zhong Ying didn't care. She didn't care about whether she could get married or not. She only felt sorry for her sister-in-law. This was enough to show the environment in which Miao Suyun grew up.
Although Zhong Ying's family of origin in modern times is also a mess, her mother, despite being overly dependent on her, genuinely loves her and will stand up for her when her father criticizes her.
Hearing those hurtful words with his own ears, Zhong Cheng felt even more sorry for his wife. He solemnly promised Miao Suyun, "Wait for me a little longer. After I return to the army, I will definitely work hard to perform well and strive to qualify for the right to have my family accompany me to the army as soon as possible. Then we can live our own lives, and no one will be able to take advantage of the fact that they gave birth to you and raised you to criticize and insult you at will!"
Miao Suyun's tears welled up but stopped: Had she had an easy ten days since he came back? She hadn't been able to get a full night's sleep every day, and she had finally made it to the point where he was going back to the army. What did this mean? Ten days had become an indefinite extension?
Seeing that Zhong Ying remained silent, Deng Xia assumed that her daughter was genuinely worried that she would marry her off to just anyone, so she quickly comforted her, "Don't take Dai Fudi's nonsense to heart. That scoundrel is only three years younger than your father, and he's destined to be childless. Even if he knelt on the ground and licked your shoe soles, your father and I would never marry you off to him!"
Zhong Cheng looked at his sister and promised, "That's right! I'll go back and ask around. The army may not have much else, but it has plenty of men. I'll definitely find you a good match!"
Zhong Ying was dumbfounded: The dead man had finally stopped tormenting her, had she gone mad or become stupid, and now she was going to find a living man to torment her for the rest of her life?
Deng Xia glared angrily at Zhong Cheng. This kid wanted to take his wife and son, fine, but why did he want to take her daughter too? Was he just going to leave the two of them, the old couple, with their youngest son?
"Why don't you arrange it for your younger brother too?" Deng Xia laughed in exasperation.
Zhong Cheng suddenly realized what was happening and immediately looked at the quiet Zhong Xin with remorse, "I'm sorry, little brother. I'll go back and find out when the next conscription is."
These words startled the boy, who turned pale instantly. Zhong Xin waved his hands repeatedly, "No need, no need, brother. I don't have any great ambitions. I'll be content if I can become the accountant for our production team in the future. I'm willing to stay with my parents and stay in the village."
Zhong Ying quickly added, "Don't meddle in my business!"
She doesn't want to get married at all.
Deng Xia chimed in, "That's right. Your father and I are looking after your sister. Even if... there are still the educated youth."
“The reason why educated youth went to the countryside was to build up the rural areas,” Zhong Cheng said helplessly, looking at his mother. “It wasn’t because the state was giving you a son-in-law.”
Deng Xia wouldn't listen and waved her hand impatiently, "Anyway, don't worry about it. I'm going to find Yingni'er someone nearby. If the young man treats her badly, your father and I can go and confront him."
Zhong Cheng muttered under his breath, "It's not like I can't protect my sister..."
In short, when Zhong Cheng left early the next morning, apart from Old Man Zhong who was truly reluctant to part with his son and Zhong Guoqiang who was truly reluctant to part with his father, almost everyone else saw him off.
Miao Suyun (with a sigh of relief): They're finally gone. I can finally get a good night's sleep tonight.
Zhong Ying: Get my brother out of here! What's with all this talk about finding a partner? It's so unlucky!
Deng Xia: You brat who's trying to steal your mother's boyfriend, you'd better get out of here!
Zhong Xin: Big brother, I really want to be the production team accountant. I can't bear to leave my parents and second sister (T^T)
Zhong Cheng's eyes were brimming with tears. "Father, Mother, please take good care of Yunyun and Guoqiang for me. Sister, I'll send you cloth coupons for the New Year so you and your sister-in-law can make new clothes. Xinzi, please hold this family together for your brother..."
A few days after Zhong Cheng left, the wheat in the fields was harvested, and the people of Tonggan Production Team immediately started planting corn, which was a little easier than harvesting wheat. First, the entire field was plowed, and then two people worked together, one digging holes with a hoe and the other planting corn in the holes, putting two or three corn kernels in each hole, and then covering them with soil.
As the production team leader, Li Ming's job was to adjust the work plans of the team members. Since planting corn didn't require so many people, he sent a group of people to the threshing ground to advance the work progress there.
The work at the threshing ground has moved on to the next step: spreading the separated ears of grain out on a spacious area to dry repeatedly.
In the morning, the ears of wheat that have been chopped off are first shaken and spread on the ground. Everyone moves forward in unison with wooden pitchforks, pushing back and forth repeatedly until the remaining wheat straw is shaken off at the edge of the field, leaving only a layer of wheat with chaff.
Zhong Ying stood beside Deng Xia, along with the other villagers. It had to be said that the feeling of working together as one, with everyone putting their efforts into the same goal, was wonderful.
Several days had passed before Zhong Ying remembered that deadbeat again.
"They must have been captured by Ox-Head and Horse-Face," Zhong Ying thought, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "That's great." Just like the food chain in nature, she couldn't do anything about ghosts, but there were always higher-level predators.
Without these supernatural beings around, although there are occasional minor disturbances, like yesterday when Aunt Fan Wu next door made veiled insults, which angered her mother Deng Xia so much that she rushed to the door next door to yell back, overall Zhong Ying's life has finally returned to a simple farming life.
No more 996 work schedule, no more sudden overtime, no more writing weekly reports after getting home. Now I work from dawn till dusk, and I can even take a little break under Deng Xia's cover. It's so nice to be a couch potato!
After finishing work and having dinner, Old Man Zhong went to water the small plot of land behind the house. When he came back, he had three small cucumbers in his hand. He picked out the biggest one and gave it to Zhong Ying first. He then gave the other two, which were about the same size, to Zhong Xin and Zhong Guoqiang, and received three thanks in succession.
Zhong Xin took his nephew Guoqiang with him. The two of them, one big and one small, were eating cucumbers at the same time as they strolled out to bathe in the river. Old Man Zhong followed behind them, worried.
Not only did Zhong Ying only remember Li Lin after so many days, but the other members of the Tonggan production team also gradually forgot about him and his death amidst their busy work, and the Ganlin River, where the accident had occurred, gradually returned to its former liveliness.
In the hot summer, after a day's work, people are covered in sweat. Since there are no special bathing facilities in the village, they can only go to the Ganlin River next to the village to take a good bath. Of course, most of them are boys and men.
There are women who come to wash clothes on the riverbank. Most of them are over thirty years old. Sometimes they will go a little further away under the cover of darkness, find a secluded section of the river, and quietly take off their clothes and take a "bath". Younger wives and girls dare not come.
Having lived in a more open era, Zhong Ying wasn't afraid to see or do anything. However, since her transmigration, she had never walked near the Ganlin River. Even now that the water ghosts in the river had been captured, Zhong Ying still felt inexplicably uneasy looking at the river from afar.
The water reflected the darkening sky, so dark that it was hard to see clearly.
"Little sister, do you want to take a bath? I'll fetch you some water."
Miao Suyun's questioning brought Zhong Ying back to her senses from a state that was almost like being in a nightmare.
Zhong Ying snapped out of her daze and quickly said, "Sister-in-law, you rest. I can do it myself."
When women bathed at home, they would simply draw water from their own well, carry it to their room, and use a cloth to wipe their bodies.
After people washed away the day's sweat and fatigue in the water, the bustling Ganlin River gradually returned to calm, and people went home to prepare for their sleep.
At that time, there were few entertainment activities in the countryside. Tonggan Production Team did not even have electricity, and few people were willing to use lamp oil at night. So, most people went to sleep not long after dark.
Zhong Ying never expected that one day she would be able to adapt to a sleep schedule of going to bed at eight or nine o'clock.
After several days of simple washing, Zhong Ying finally couldn't resist taking a thorough bath, washing her hair as well. She changed the water several times, working up a sweat, and had to "go back to work" and rinse herself again. After finally finishing, Zhong Ying dried her hair with a towel until it was half dry before carrying the basin to splash the remaining water onto the ground in the yard outside.
Hearing the noise, Deng Xia peeked out of the house. She had already let her hair down and was getting ready for bed. Seeing Zhong Ying like this, she said, "Finally finished washing up. What do you want to eat tomorrow morning? I'm so worried about what to cook every day."
Zhong Ying thought of the cucumber her father had given her today and suddenly felt a little hungry. "Mom, I want to eat stir-fried cucumber."
"There are only two cucumber plants in that small plot of land. With such a large family, we'll probably have to pick them all to cook with to make enough food," Deng Xia complained, and then closed the window.
Zhong Ying knew that although her mother said that, this plate of stir-fried cucumbers would definitely be on the dinner table tomorrow morning.
Thinking this, Zhong Ying smiled slightly. She put the washbasin in the yard and prepared to go back to the house to sleep. Hong Tang had already habitually rushed into the house first and nestled into Zhong Ying's old cotton-padded jacket on the ground.
Everyone in the family had already gone to bed, and Zhong Ying was also planning to go to sleep quickly because she had to go to work tomorrow. But just as she turned around to walk towards her room, an unexpected incident occurred.
A pair of cold hands reached out from behind Zhong Ying and wrapped tightly around her waist.
Zhong Ying felt a chest press against her back. Before she could even scream, she was pulled backward by the ghost behind her and fell. The moment she hit the ground, the solid chest seemed to become something she could sink into. Her eyes widened suddenly as she looked up at the shattered water from a different perspective.
The river water surged in from all directions, rushing into her mouth and nose.
The hand that had been holding Zhong Ying around the waist loosened, allowing her to fall into the river.
A note from the author:
----------------------
Zhong Ying: ? ? ? !!! No way? Here we go again!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
