"Su Xiaoxiao, get out here!"
Zhang Guifang stood fiercely at the door, left hand on her hip, and a half-ter long rolling pin in her right, looking like a ferocious character straight out of a stage play. "You shaless little wretch, how dare you report my black market dealings and almost get killed!"
Liu Cuilan was busy cooking in the small kitchen and walked out with a ladle in her hand and a half-skinned potato. "Your words are too harsh, she’s still your niece, Xiaoxiao."
"Pfft, I wish I didn’t have such a jinx for a niece!"
Zhang Guifang rolled her eyes, spitting as she spoke. "Get that damn girl out here now. I need to have a good talk with her today."
Her voice was so loud that it scared a hen in the yard, which ran straight into the nearby coop.
Liu Cuilan, usually good at hiding her temper in public, turned as dark as a pot’s bottom at the repeated "damn girl" and "jinx". "Second Aunt, what proof do you have that Xiaoxiao reported you?"
"Who else could be so vile besides her?"
Zhang Guifang was livid as she recounted how the police showed up at her door just after she got ho yesterday, informing her soone reported her for black market dealings and selling grain coupons illegally.
She had no choice but to hand over the coupons that she hadn’t managed to sell, only to find out they were fake.
The police confiscated the fake coupons on the spot and subjected her to a half-day re-education, leaving her utterly humiliated.
When Su Xiaoxiao’s second uncle got ho and heard about it, he gave her a tongue-lashing and threatened to divorce her if she didn’t get the money back from those who sold her the fake coupons.
She had no choice but to go looking for the culprits, only to discover they had already skipped town.
After thinking it over, she was convinced Su Xiaoxiao was behind it all.
"Perhaps those who sold the fake coupons conspired with that damn girl to set up. Otherwise, how would she know I had grain coupons? Why else would she expose on purpose?"
Su Xiaoxiao was speechless. This second aunt really couldn’t bla the bathroom for her inability to do her business.
She managed to shift the bla onto Xiaoxiao for her own gullibility.
"I don’t care, unless that damn girl gives an explanation, I’m not leaving!"
"Oh dear, Second Aunt’s here?"
No sooner had she said this than a soft female voice sounded from behind.
Zhang Guifang turned around to see Su Xiaoxiao standing behind her, pushing a bike, accompanied by a spectator with a silly grin.
"Finally, you damn girl ca back! See if I don’t beat you to death, jinx!"
Zhang Guifang scread and charged, but before her hand could reach Su Xiaoxiao, she stepped on the front wheel of the bicycle, screaming in pain as she hopped on one foot clutching her other foot.
"Ahhh... you damn girl dared to run over with a bike!"
"Sister Zhang, you should really consider getting a pair of reading glasses. Xiaoxiao’s bike was parked there, and it was clearly you who stuck your foot under the wheel..."
The dopey guy laughed as he added fuel to the fire.
Zhang Guifang was fuming, swinging the rolling pin as she hobbled after the dopey guy around the yard. "You brat, I’ll beat you to death!"
The two of them played a chasing ga around the pillar like in a scene from a Qin King opera, and after only a few rounds, Zhang Guifang lost her balance and fell flat on her back.
At the sa ti, a ripping sound accompanied the split of her new pants, revealing familiar patched underwear.
Su Xiaoxiao couldn’t help but burst into laughter. This second aunt kept up appearances, yet couldn’t even change her patched underwear.
Standing at the gate were familiar faces from yesterday’s crowd, now laughing uproariously.
Zhang Guifang clutched her backside with one hand and pointed at Su Xiaoxiao with the other. "You little vixen, you’ll et the sa shaless end as your father... ah!"
Before she could finish her sentence, a short shriek interrupted her.
Su Xiaoxiao looked over and recoiled in shock. This second aunt seed to have one eye resembling a panda’s eye now.
"Liu Cuilan, have you lost your mind?"
This ungrateful woman dared to hit her with a potato? She almost blinded Zhang Guifang.
"This is for you!"
Liu Cuilan, with a ladle in hand, stood confidently. "Say one more word, and see if I don’t beat you to death!"
Zhang Guifang couldn’t believe this usually docile woman was so fierce all of a sudden. She threw herself to the ground kicking and screaming, "Oh no, soone’s trying to kill !"
Liu Cuilan advanced with her ladle in hand, "Beating you is letting you off easy. Don’t think I don’t know all those things you’ve been doing these years, scalding our private land with boiling water, stealing my dowry from my maternal family, and encouraging your eldest to bully my boys..."
Each word struck Zhang Guifang’s face white as a sheet. "You’re... you’re slandering!"
"Whether it’s slander or not, you know in your heart."
Liu Cuilan shook the ladle with determination, "Beating you to death is letting you off easy."
Without another word, she whipped the ladle straight at Zhang Guifang’s head.
Zhang Guifang shrieked and leapt up from the ground, "Ahhhh... Liu Cuilan, you’re crazy!"
As she scread and tried to run, Liu Cuilan yanked her waistband, producing a loud rip, and this ti Zhang Guifang’s pants fell apart completely, her patched underwear exposed to the world.
"Big sister-in-law, I’m sorry, don’t do this..."
Zhang Guifang panicked, covering her rear with two fake grain coupons slipping out from her waistband.
Laughing, the dopey guy smacked his thigh, "Sister Zhang, your patchwork underpants are more festive than the annual calendars at the supply and marketing cooperatives! And they dispense fake grain coupons too!"
Su Xiaoxiao watched the show leisurely, on the brink of laughter as her mother showcased her prowess!
Suddenly, a fake grain coupon was blown to her feet. Su Xiaoxiao bent over to pick it up. Good grief, to not even spot these glaring fakes and her second aunt really needed so glasses.
The coupon read "Two Market Catty" in huge letters with only one horizontal stroke atop the "two".
With such discernnt, it’s no wonder she got duped.
Seeing Su Xiaoxiao pick up the fake coupon, Zhang Guifang no longer cared about her dignity and lunged to snatch her grain coupon back.
These were the only two she had secretly stashed, hoping to sell and recoup so money.
"Damn girl, give my grain coupon back!"
She shrieked as she lunged to grab the coupon from Su Xiaoxiao’s hand, but tripped over sothing and fell flat, eating dirt.
The crowd watching burst into laughter.
Zhang Guifang scrambled to her feet, snatching the item from Su Xiaoxiao, clutching her rear, and dashed for the exit.
Su Xiaoxiao clicked her tongue in disbelief. Just then, a familiar line of text appeared before her eyes in bold red: Congratulations, player, on acquiring a fake grain coupon, redeemable for one raffle chance.
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