Back home.
Old Mrs. Chen sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), recalling what had just happened. No matter how she thought about it, something felt off.
I've never heard of mice being picky eaters, refusing even big white steamed buns and only eating snacks. That's utter nonsense!
Could it be that we've fallen for that brat's trick again?
No way, if that were the case, wouldn't I be an idiot?
The more she thought about it, the more uneasy she felt. She glanced at Old Man Chen and saw him resting with his eyes closed as if nothing had happened. Suddenly, she was furious and started cursing.
"You idiot, all you do is eat and sleep all day long, don't think about anything important. Can't you do anything useful?"
Old Chen was stunned by the scolding and quickly opened his eyes. "Old woman, what did I do now?"
"You're getting so naive! Someone's sold you out, and you're still helping them count the money!"
"What did I do wrong that you're scolding me again?" Old Chen was even more confused, cursing inwardly.
That old hag, I didn't do anything to her, why is she acting up again?
The more you give her face, the more outrageous she becomes. Even a bellyful of shit can't shut her up. It would be perfect to force-feed her some more urine.
Seeing that he was so dense and couldn't understand, Old Mrs. Chen had no choice but to patiently voice her question.
"Old man, I think we've been tricked by that brat. There's no way those pastries could be poisoned."
"You mean this?" Old Chen suddenly realized and waved his hands repeatedly. "Impossible, impossible! This is a matter of life and death. Even if you gave that brat two lives, she wouldn't dare to joke about this."
"What are your thoughts?"
"What opinion could I possibly have? It's as obvious as a louse in the palm of your hand. We ate rat poison, and they gave us the antidote. There's nothing to doubt."
"That's the gist of it, but we don't know if the pastries are poisoned or not. If they really gang up on us, wouldn't we be the ones making a fool of ourselves?"
"How could it be fake? If they really wanted to scheme against us old folks, that would be utterly despicable!" Old Chen didn't take it seriously at all and had no doubts whatsoever.
Old Mrs. Chen kept shaking her head.
"No, no, I felt something was off as soon as I got to their house today."
That brat always glares at us like we're the enemy, giving us the cold shoulder and acting like she wants to devour us alive.
But this time she was like a completely different person, serving us tea and water, and inviting us to stay for dinner. This must have been intentional on her part.
Old Chen glanced at her impatiently, "You're usually so smart, but you've made a foolish mistake. What's wrong with this? That brat has changed completely. She's afraid of our family's power!"
"I know that without you telling me, but I just think that eating shit to detoxify is unreliable."
Old Mrs. Chen frowned and gritted her teeth.
"Old man, don't forget, that brat is cunning and shrewd. We might actually fall into her trap."
Hearing this, Old Man Chen wavered, but he had already eaten the cow dung, so what else could he do? He couldn't very well go and confront them again!
Now that things have come to this, whether it's true or not, we have to swallow it down. If things get out of hand, we'll become the laughing stock of the village.
Thinking it over, Old Man Chen waved his hands repeatedly, "Alright, old woman, don't worry about it anymore. Whether it's true or not, we've already taken the antidote, so it's good that we're both alright."
"It's like swallowing a bitter pill – we have no way to express our suffering. We've been tricked by that brat again."
"It's alright, we'll settle accounts with them after this period of time."
Old Mrs. Chen was truly terrified. What if they used underhanded tricks? They might torment her to death.
She looked utterly resistant. "You, you, you won't admit it until you're faced with the truth. You go if you want, but I'm not going."
Old Chen was taken aback. "What's wrong? Why aren't you going?"
"You need to be more careful! What if people say it's been poisoned with rat poison and a big bowl of cow dung water? Would you drink it or not?"
"Drink it, or you'll die."
"You big fool, you've become addicted to drinking. Why don't you just not go?" Old Mrs. Chen sighed after saying that. "Zhancai, my good son, where are you now? You must make me proud. I'm being bullied, and I'm waiting for you to come back and avenge me."
******
Liang Fugui's wife was quite displeased after being scolded by Chen Qingqing at the sugar shop. She returned home with a sullen face.
As soon as I entered the yard, I saw my husband humming a little tune as he prepared lunch.
She rolled her eyes at him, annoyed.
"You seem to be in a good mood every day, while I have to suffer at the sugar shop. I really don't want to serve them anymore."
Liang Fugui paused in adding firewood. "What's wrong, wife? Who upset you?"
“It’s not that I was wronged, it’s just that someone said a few things to me.” Madam Liang shook her head and sighed. “Fugui, I’ve learned the sugar-making technique almost perfectly. Since you’re planning for us to go our own way, why do you want me to stay in the Chen family? I don’t want to go there for even a day longer.”
"Don't worry about that, wife. Even if we plan to go it alone, we can't make brown sugar right now because we don't have sugar beets. You can work hard for now, it'll still be some income. Once our sugar mill is up and running, we'll save enough money to build a big brick house. Life will be so wonderful then!"
“Fugui, you don’t know, I’m not happy working for the Chen family at all. Why is it that we do the same work, but Chen Qingqing treats us differently, giving her family thirty coins a day while we only get twenty? That’s not fair.”
Upon hearing this, Liang Fugui became anxious and scratched his head. The family relied entirely on his wife's income to make a living. If she really quit, they wouldn't be able to afford fine rice and white steamed buns.
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