Chapter 026: Teaching Ma Honghua a Lesson
It was the height of summer. Early in the morning, the sun was shining brightly in the sky, making people dizzy.
Yin Wenjuan, Ma Honghua, Yao Guihua, Jiang Gui, and Jiang Nan, a group of five, walked along the road, carrying hoes and dung baskets. The Jiang family's private plot of corn had been cleared, and now they needed to hoe it again, turn it over, and dry it in the sun. Then they could plant some more vegetables to have more food for the winter. Furthermore, the vegetables in the vegetable patch needed weeding and fertilizing, and that was what they were doing today.
"Damn it, it's so hot. When we were harvesting soybeans, the team leader said it would rain, but it's been so many days and there's not even a drop of rain." Ma Honghua cursed all the way. She couldn't stand the heat and sweated a lot. While others were still fine, her shirt was almost sticking to her body.
"Mom, why don't you go? There are four of us, and we can finish the small work on the plot in no time," Jiang Gui advised. He was worried about his mother. Although his cousin wouldn't be cruel, she was his mother after all, and he still felt sorry for her.
"My little Gui is still sensible."
Ma Honghua glanced at Jiang Nan with pride. Although she also had only one child, it was a son, making her far more capable than Chen Jinhua. Turning to Jiang Gui, her eyes were so gentle they could drip with tears. Ma Honghua said, "No, this little heat is nothing. Besides, we have mung bean soup with us. We'll just have some when we get there."
The five of them walked forward under the scorching sun when, unexpectedly, a young woman approached. Jiang Nan narrowed his eyes. Judging by her attire and demeanor, she must be one of the educated youth from the village. She had an oval face, willow-shaped eyebrows, and large eyes, but her pig-like nose and sausage-like mouth detracted from her otherwise affluent appearance. Perhaps she had suffered from heatstroke, but her complexion was pale and her steps were unsteady.
When passing by the five people, the female educated youth was exhausted and fell on Jiang Gui.
Ma Honghua cried out, quickly dropped the hoe, grabbed her son with her right hand, and pushed hard with her left hand. The female educated youth's crooked body was already unstable, and she fell heavily to the ground with a thud.
Ma Honghua was trying her best to give the baby the baby. Just kidding, this was her son, the son she gave birth to with great difficulty.
Because he used too much force, some of the dung in the dung basket behind Jiang Gui spilled out.
Ma Honghua had no time to care about these things. Seeing that her son was fine, she pinched her waist, glared at the female educated youth who fell to the ground pretending to be unconscious, and jumped to her feet and cursed: "You are so good, Ye Chunping, you want to take advantage of my son again?! I tell you, there is no way. Bah. Don't you see what kind of person you are? You are not worthy of it! You are an educated youth from a small place, pretending to be a city person, looking down on everyone all day long. We look down on you too. You are not good at anything, and you are never satisfied with your food. Who thinks you care? What a joke! What, now you heard about the oil field exploration team, and want to take advantage of it? I tell you, no way, no way, do you hear?!"
She said angrily, "How many times have you been hanging around my yard these past few days? Anyone can tell, you're a shameless bitch, a vixen, a shameless slut. I've seen through you a long time ago, and you're still acting in front of me, right? Act, fine, I'll let you act!"
As she spoke, she squatted down and sat on Ye Chunping with a thud. She slapped her left and right, giving her three or four big slaps. Ye Chunping's face immediately swelled up. She made a "Pah" sound and pressed down on Ye Chunping's philtrum, saying viciously, "I'll make you faint, I'll make you faint."
Ye Chunping hated this old woman to death. She was a girl from the city, and she should be very lucky that she could fall in love with her daughter Jiang Gui. How dare she look down on her! If not... she was so impatient. What an old hag, she was just waiting. When she got married, she would definitely kick this old hag out.
She hated him to death in her heart, but she dared not show it on her face. She had to wake up slowly, looking weak. She opened her confused and helpless eyes, shyly glanced at Jiang Gui, and then pouted and said softly: "Auntie Ma, thank you for saving me. It's too hot today. I was going to the commune to buy things early in the morning, but I didn't expect to have a heatstroke on the way, so I walked back. Really, I'm not pretending, I'm really weak, please don't misunderstand me."
If Ye Chunping hadn't been bruised and battered before, this would have been quite interesting.
It's a pity that she has been beaten into a pig's head now. If she continues to be so shy, um, the key is that her sausage mouth pouts, it will cost more than a whole plate to cut her.
Then she flirts with you with a pig head on her head, it's too disgusting to watch.
Ma Honghua was so disgusted that she was tired of fighting. She jumped up, protected her son behind her, and warned him fiercely: "Get lost! Don't try this! I'm telling you, stay away from my son from now on. My son is going to marry a girl from the oil field. What a piece of shit you are, a poor educated youth! Get away from me as soon as possible, or I will be rude to you!"
"Auntie Ma, why do you say that? I really just had heatstroke, I..." Ye Chunping's eyes were red and tearful, and she looked like a pitiful little white flower, uh, no, pig-head flower.
"Bah, stop being such a jerk here." Ma Honghua spat fiercely and continued to curse, "This is the way to the private plot. What about going to the commune to get heatstroke? You're kidding. Bah, get out of here quickly! No matter what little tricks you have, put them away and stay away from our Jiang Gui. My Xiao Gui is thin-skinned, but I'm not someone you can easily mess with. If you do it again, I'll skin you alive! Go away, son, don't bother with people like this. The more you bother with her, the more she gets excited. What a jerk!"
Ma Honghua pulled Jiang Gui and walked away so fast that she was afraid of getting even a little bit of it.
Jiang Nan watched the drama unfold and then glanced back at Ye Chunping. Oh no, even though the person involved was gone, the young woman was still stubbornly immersed in the drama. When she saw Jiang Nan looking at her, she burst into tears, looking heartbroken.
Jiang Nan secretly admired her. Who says that girls these days are pure? Their minds are no less cunning than those in later generations.
No wonder people online used to say that morality classes were something only available to those poor people born in the 1980s. People of this generation never took exams on them.
"Xiao Nan, what are you staring at? We've already weeded the fields, and after that we need to fertilize them."
Seeing that no one had caught up, Ma Honghua shouted in a sullen tone. Although she was lazy at work, she worked diligently on the private plot. The private plot was hers, so who would dare to cheat?
Jiang Nan gave a perfunctory response and trotted over. The plot wasn't far away, so they arrived quickly.
However, she wasn't here to do farm work today. She saw Jiang Gui put the dung basket on the ground and picked up the hoe, ready to weed. Jiang Nan immediately pretended to be overwhelmed by the heat and kept fanning herself with her hands: "This is too hot. No, I need to rest."
She stood next to Ma Honghua, who was standing next to Jiang Gui. A short distance ahead was the dung basket. Jiang Nan walked past Ma Honghua and headed towards the tree in front. "It's too hot. Let's take a break. We'll get back to work later."
"Hey, you..." Ma Honghua saw that her niece was being disobedient and turned to pull her away, but for some reason, she seemed to lose her balance and fell straight down. She instinctively put her hands to protect her head, but her hands did not expect to touch the dung basket in front of her. The dung basket instantly flipped over towards her and landed upside down on Ma Honghua's head.
Poor Ma Honghua, her head was covered in manure.
That's a solid end.
“Ah ...
From the Jiang family's private plot, there came miserable and desperate cries.
Ma Honghua flapped her hands like a fish out of water. After falling off the dung basket, she spat a few times and struggled to get up, crying out "ouch, ouch" non-stop, shaking her head like a rattle.
"Oh my god, it stinks. It really stinks."
She jumped up and down, waving her hands, pulling at her hair, squatting down to rub her hands in the dirt, and wailing at her shirt, "My new clothes. New clothes that I haven't worn many times."
Jiang Gui turned around instantly after hearing the cry, and immediately understood what had happened. He glared at Jiang Nan in condemnation, but Jiang Nan shrugged. Jiang Gui had no choice but to run over and grab his mother's hand, saying, "Mom, this won't work. I'll take you home to wash up."
Well, at least it was Xiaonan who did it. If it was my uncle, I don’t know what suffering my mother would have to endure. Jiang Gui knew that his mother had plotted Jiang Nan’s marriage last time, and this time she said sour words and provoked Jiang Nan to work. If Xiaonan was not allowed to vent his anger, his mother would be in even greater trouble when his uncle came.
"Xiaogui, why am I so unlucky?" Ma Honghua saw someone finally come to comfort her. She held her son's hand and said with a sad face, "These are new clothes I made this year. How can I wear them in the future after they are stained with these dirty things? Son, I am a respectable person in the village. How can I face people in the future after I have such bad luck today?"
"Mom, it's okay, just wash it. Let's go back and change clothes first." Jiang Gui didn't mind the dirt. She picked off the dirt on Ma Honghua's hair, helped her turn around and walked home.
"Oh my god." Yin Wenjuan also ran over and said hurriedly, "Honghua, you are so unlucky, aren't you? This is really unlucky. Go home and wash up, and don't come here today. It's just a little work in the fields, Guihua and I can finish it in a short time, you go home and wash up. Xiaogui, help your mother go back."
Well, she is worthy of being Jiang Mantang’s wife. Neither she nor the other husband is a smart person.
However, her daughter-in-law Yao Guihua understood some of it. She glanced at Jiang Nan secretly and thought to herself that she would never dare to provoke this sister-in-law in the future.
Ma Honghua left cursing. No one urged Jiang Nan to work anymore. She shrugged and said to Yin Wenjuan, "Auntie, it's too hot today. Drink some mung bean soup before you work. Don't get a heat stroke."
"That's nothing, Xiaonan, you drink. Your sister-in-law and I will do the work first. If you feel hot, you can rest for a while. You have never done farm work since you were a child, so it's normal that you can't stand it. Your sister-in-law and I are used to it, so we are not that squeamish."
Yin Wenjuan smiled nonchalantly, waved her hand and walked towards her private plot. She had other work to do in the afternoon and didn't dare to delay.
It wasn't like Jiang Nan didn't want to work. She could do it, but she couldn't be forced to. If everyone did the same thing to her, would she ever come back to the village? After all, her father always brought her grandmother something every time he came back. It was either money or cakes. She wasn't staying here for free.
Jiang Nan drank a bowl of mung bean soup and rested before picking up the hoe to weed. Yin Wenjuan and Yao Guihua were very capable and had almost weeded the area, so Jiang Nan finished in just a few minutes. The three of them quickly returned, and there were no more troubles along the way.
Jiang Nan was once so popular, but now he is not so popular anymore.
Think about it, there's talk of oil being discovered along the west bank of the river. If that happens, every family will lose a job, so surely there will be families planning for their daughters? The male educated youth are now keeping a close eye on these families.
Jiang Nan, you have to step back now.
Jiang Nan leaned back and was still feeling lucky that no one was harassing him. When the three of them got home, as expected, they were met with Ma Honghua's angry glare.
On the way home, Ma Honghua and her son were surrounded by many villagers.
Although none of them said anything offensive, Ma Honghua considered herself a respectable member of the village and couldn't afford to be humiliated by such a person. She wore a sullen face the entire way home, not greeting anyone, and trudged home. Once home, she locked herself in her room, scrubbing and washing herself for an hour before emerging.
Even so, I still smell the smell all over my body.
Because of the bad luck, she stopped working in the fields and sat in the yard, peeling peanuts angrily and cursing all the time.
Jiang Gui patiently persuaded her mother not to provoke her uncle's family again.
Ma Honghua was also smart and she immediately realized that today's incident was caused by that damn girl Jiang Nan.
She rolled up her sleeves and was about to go to the field and beat someone up, but Jiang Gui stopped her fiercely. He said, "Mom, think about it, when have you ever taken advantage of your uncle's family in all these years? This time your uncle didn't come. If he had, you wouldn't have gotten yourself into trouble. Just be quiet."
Manure is different from dung. It is made by fermenting soil, fallen leaves, wood ash, etc. Although it also smells bad, it is much better than dung.
But Ma Honghua wouldn't listen. She said angrily, "So you're just going to let it go? I'm just going to be bullied for nothing? My son, I've lost my dignity today. How can we just let it go?"
"Mom, why did you plot Xiaonan's marriage in the first place? Now you want Xiaonan to work, and you say Xiaonan lives and eats for free? You know that my uncle always gives money and things when he comes back, so how can you still say that? You are not right in doing any of this. When the family was divided, my uncle also got a house. Xiaonan lived there for free, and you can't say anything, not to mention that Xiaonan didn't live there for free."
Jiang Gui felt a slight headache. Rubbing his temples, he said earnestly, "Mom, forget it. Next time, don't even think about plotting against my uncle's family. Let's just live a good life and stop overthinking. I'm also a high school graduate. If oil is discovered in the village, I'll definitely be able to work as a worker. There's no need to be jealous of my uncle's family."
"I, I..."
Ma Honghua's chest heaved at first, but the more she listened, the weaker she felt. She simply couldn't bear to see Chen Jinhua living better than she did, or to see her daughter being more valuable than her son.
Why? She has a son!
But Ma Honghua looked at her son's face and stopped insisting on picking on Jiang Nan. She only had this one son, and she had to rely on him for her old age.
Ma Honghua became obedient. When Jiang Nan came back, she just glared at him fiercely but did not go up to him and scold him.
No one bothered to make trouble anymore, so Jiang Nan stayed in the village for another day. Friday soon arrived. That evening, Jiang Mancheng and Chen Jinhua also returned to the village.
Jiang Mancheng had just sat down when Jiang Manpo pulled him aside and started asking him all sorts of questions: "Little brother, I heard there's a guy named Wu Dachui in your building. His wife cheated on him and they caught him in bed. Is that true?"
Jiang Mancheng crossed his legs, raised his eyebrows, and said meaningfully, "Yes, he was a brainless and impulsive person. He even drew his knife and wanted to kill the adulterer."
Jiang Manpo's eyes flickered as he continued to ask, "I heard he's a truck driver, and his son isn't in good health, so it's unlikely he'll take over, right?"
Jiang Mancheng smiled, gave his second brother a deep look, and said, "Who knows? The Wu family has always said that their son Jianguo is just malnourished. He just needs to eat more good food to replenish his nutrition. It's not a big problem. Besides, if he doesn't drive a truck, he can do something else. The special fleet is not just about drivers, right? If things don't work out, he can always find another job."
"Yes, yes." Jiang Manpo chuckled twice and changed the subject, "My dear little brother, every time you come here, you never tell us more about the interesting things happening in the oil field. Look, these stories were told by Pan'er from the Qiu family."
"I don't talk nonsense like that."
Jiang Mancheng ignored his second brother who had bad intentions, and turned to chat with Du Hehua and Jiang Mantang about other things, pointing to the large watermelons they had brought. "This is the new watermelon from the Oilfield Supply and Marketing Cooperative. It's so big, I didn't want to bring it with me. It must have been so heavy all the way here. But my Jinhua is so kind, she insisted on bringing it here for everyone to taste. I've worked so hard all the way here. What can I do? My wife is just too good. I'm also good, I'm lucky to marry a wife as good as Jinhua. I'm really, I'm crying my eyes out. How can I be so lucky? Mom, don't you think my wife is so good?"
In front of so many people, Chen Jinhua felt a little embarrassed. She said in a low voice, "Stop talking nonsense."
Jiang Mancheng shrugged: "Wife, I am speaking from the heart, more sincere than Pearl."
Ma Honghua rolled her eyes, and even Du Hehua ignored her younger son and turned to talk about something else with her older son.
Soon, bursts of happy laughter were heard in the main hall of the Jiang family.
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