Upon seeing this, Ning Sangu abruptly took a few steps back.
"You, do you even know how to wash a pot? You splashed dirty water all over me! This is a new jacket my son just bought for me! I think Chen Guixiang was absolutely right, you're just a shrew who doesn't understand respect for elders. How can you talk to your elders like that!"
Jiang Yuwei picked up a dishcloth and pointed it at Aunt Ning angrily, saying:
"Who do you think you are, elder! You old hag who crawled out of some grave and started claiming kinship with me? Do you think I'm stupid and rich? The four acres of land next to the Liu family's land are all rocky land! Who knows how many years it's been abandoned? It's probably already ownerless land. Humph, you dare to ask me for ten taels of silver!"
As she spoke, Jiang Yuwei walked around the stove to Ning Sangu's side, pointed at her nose, and continued to berate her:
"You think everyone else is stupid and only you are clever, right? I didn't want to call you out, but you've taken advantage of my kindness and started discussing my family affairs. What kind of life my family lives is none of your business. I think you're just meddling in other people's business!"
As Jiang Yuwei spoke, she pressed closer and closer, forcing Ning Sangu to retreat repeatedly, clearly intimidated by Jiang Yuwei's imposing manner.
"You, you, don't come any closer! Don't hit me! Ahhh..."
When Aunt Ning saw Jiang Yuwei raise the broom and scoop of pots and pans, she was so frightened that she ran out of the courtyard crying and wailing, turning back to cry out threats as she ran:
"You, you wait, Jiang Yuwei!"
Hearing the commotion in the front yard, Liu hurried over to investigate.
"Yuwei, what's wrong?"
Jiang Yuwei waved her hand helplessly.
"It's nothing. I chased away Aunt Ning who came earlier."
Liu covered her mouth in shock and said:
"Oh, how could that be? She didn't do anything to you, did she? Are you hurt?"
As she spoke, Liu stepped forward and took Jiang Yuwei's hand to check if she was injured.
Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei quickly patted Liu's shoulder and smiled:
"I'm perfectly fine, nothing's wrong with me. She's an old woman over fifty, how could I possibly suffer a loss at her hands?"
Liu breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Jiang Yuwei say that.
"So why did you two suddenly start arguing?"
Jiang Yuwei gestured with her chin, indicating that Liu should look towards the back mountain.
"Last time I bought those few acres of wasteland from your family, I don't know where she heard it from, but today she wants me to buy her land too. She says that the land is four acres next to yours, and she asked me for ten taels of silver right away."
After listening to these words, Liu thought about them carefully before speaking:
"That's not right. I remember that Aunt Ning's family didn't have any land on the back hill. Where did these four acres of land come from, and why are they right next to my land?"
Jiang Yuwei smiled and said:
"Who says otherwise? If I didn't know there were four acres of wasteland next to your house, I might have been fooled by her today."
Thinking this through, Liu frowned and said:
"No wonder, as soon as I came out, Aunt Ning hurriedly sent me away. So she was waiting for you here. But we're from the same village. If this gets out, can't you just go straight to her house?"
As Jiang Yuwei poured the rinsed rice into the pot, she smiled and said:
“This old woman probably plotted with her son a long time ago. Once she’s done this scam, she’ll move away from Ningjia Village. It’ll be hard for you to find her then. I thought we were from the same village, so I didn’t want to break ties with her. I just wanted to say a few words to coax her away. But she insisted on saying some vicious things that I didn’t like to hear. Even if I beat her today, she wouldn’t be wronged.”
Liu handed the pot lid to Jiang Yuwei with a smile:
"That's right, it's not unjust to beat her up. Let's see if she dares to lie to people again next time!"
Jiang Yuwei steamed the rice in a pot, stir-fried two dishes, and then asked Liu to call the people from the backyard to come to the frontyard for dinner.
Jiang Yuwei picked up a piece of meat and handed it to Aunt Zhang's bowl, smiling as she said:
“Aunt Zhang, if Uncle Zhang’s carvings sell well this time, I’ll sign a long-term contract with him and let him work at our paper mill.”
Aunt Zhang was naturally pleased to hear this and nodded repeatedly.
After everyone finished eating, they went back to their respective tasks. Soon it was evening, and Ning Huaizhi drove the carriage back with everyone. Jiang Yuwei saw that Ning Huaizhi had brought the fool back again.
He frowned and said:
"Why didn't you leave the idiot in the shop to watch over it? It's impossible for the shop to be left unattended all night."
Ning Huaizhi smiled helplessly:
"This idiot insisted on coming back for fried rice, or else he would go on strike. I couldn't argue with him, so I brought him back with me."
Helpless, Jiang Yuwei walked up to the idiot, glared at him, and said:
"Silly boy, you didn't behave tonight, so you won't get any fried rice. If you behave and stay at the shop tomorrow, I'll bring you fried rice every morning, okay?"
The fool nodded somewhat reluctantly after hearing this.
Jiang Yuwei was relieved to find that she had convinced the simpleton. She really didn't want to make anything too complicated for dinner, so she had already prepared noodles with soybean paste for them to eat with some pickled vegetables when they returned. It would be troublesome if the simpleton insisted on eating fried rice with eggs.
In the hot summer, no one had much of an appetite for meat and fish. When Jiang Yuwei prepared noodles with soybean paste, everyone took a bowl and filled it with noodles. Everyone ate to their heart's content, and the two large pots of hand-pulled noodles were all eaten up.
But the fool, still wanting more after finishing his meal, patted his stomach and said happily:
"Tomorrow I don't want fried rice with eggs, I want noodles with soybean paste!"
Jiang Yuwei smiled helplessly:
"Okay, let's make noodles with soybean paste again tomorrow morning."
After seeing everyone off, Jiang Yuwei asked Ning Zhao to give Ning Huaizhi and the idiot a bath. She and Ning Wan also washed themselves before going to bed comfortably.
The next morning
Just as dawn was breaking, Jiang Yuwei got up and prepared the noodles with soybean paste. After everyone had breakfast, they boarded the oxcart and headed towards Moxiangzhai.
To everyone's surprise, when they arrived at Moxianzhai, they found the shop door wide open. Jiang Yuwei was immediately shocked and jumped out of the car to check inside. She saw that the shelves inside had been overturned and the items were scattered all over the floor.
The fool followed him in and hurriedly opened the back door to check on Xiao Hei. He saw that Xiao Hei had been stabbed in the stomach and was lying on the ground, barely breathing.
Seeing this, the fool quickly picked up Xiao Hei, his eyes red, and ran to Jiang Yuwei, staring blankly at her.
Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei couldn't bear it and quickly called out to Ning Zhao:
"Zhao'er, quickly take the fool to Huichuntang and have Doctor Lin apply medicine to stop the bleeding and bandage Xiao Hei."
As she spoke, Jiang Yuwei took out a few pieces of silver from her purse and handed them to Ning Zhao.
Ning Qiu and Ning Daya, who came in after them, panicked when they saw this and hurriedly grabbed Jiang Yuwei's arm, saying anxiously:
"Sister Yuwei, our shop has been burgled! What should we do?!"
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