From last night until today, Hua Xiaomai always felt that the scene she was currently experiencing was exceedingly ridiculous.
Leading the group from Antai Garden, with Shopkeeper Zhu at the forefront, they didn’t hold the slightest bit of "justice" but could strut around arrogantly everywhere simply because they had so money in their pockets; whereas they—including Pan Ping’an—hadn’t done anything wrong, yet they had to sit at ho, waiting as if facing a formidable enemy, only to have people coming to their door to provoke them.
Wasn’t this absurd?
No matter in which era, such situations seed inevitable. She had seen and heard enough, but that didn’t an that when things happened to her, she could remain calm.
In the afternoon, as the farrs took a break from their midday naps and were about to resu work, making the small village bustling once again, a squealing like that of slaughtering a pig suddenly ca from the Pan Family’s courtyard next door.
The round Shopkeeper Zhu and the three burly n indeed found their way to the west of the village. Without any explanation, they went straight to the Pan Family’s courtyard, dragged Pan Ping’an out of the main hall, and led him, yanking on the collar of his neck, all the way to the Jing Family’s small courtyard, where they shoved him inside.
At that ti, Hua Xiaomai was in the back of the house helping Hua Ernain clean up the vegetables from the field. ng Yuhuai was sitting in the front yard, drinking tea with Lv Bin and Da Zhong and others. Jing Taihe, worried about his wife and sister-in-law’s safety, naturally refused to work at the blacksmith shop these past two days and was also accompanying them. Suddenly hearing a scream, followed by Pan Ping’an staggering and being pushed into the courtyard, they all stood up in unison with a start.
Hua Xiaomai and Hua Ernain also heard the commotion in the front yard, bit their teeth, abandoned the vegetables in their hands, and hurried over.
When Pan Ping’an entered the door, he stumbled over the threshold and lunged forward several steps, ultimately unable to steady himself and fell to the ground with a loud thud, his forehead striking the stone pavent with a "bang."
Shopkeeper Zhu followed right behind him, strolling in leisurely, with a smile on his lips that made one want to punch him in the face, he casually surveyed everyone, and with a "tch" said, "Oh, quite lively here, aren’t we?"
No one paid him any mind. Hua Xiaomai kept a stern face, staring at him intently without saying a word.
"Ah, why does everyone look at as if they’ve seen an enemy? What’s the matter?" Shopkeeper Zhu didn’t take it to heart, still smiling and pretending to sniff around with his nose extended, clicking his tongue in admiration repeatedly, "Tsk, such a rich sauce aroma, no wonder the Provincial City’s restaurants are all flocking to it; even I, soone who shuttles through the Sauce Garden every day, am getting a bit greedy. Truly skilled indeed!"
The courtyard remained silent; everyone just stood still, watching him. However, the expressions of Hua Xiaomai, Hua Ernain, and Jing Taihe were serious, their hands involuntarily clenched into fists behind their backs while ng Yuhuai, Lv Bin, Da Zhong, and the others, although with a smile on their faces, looked a bit mocking, as if they were treating Shopkeeper Zhu and his group as a re joke.
Finally, Shopkeeper Zhu turned his gaze to Hua Xiaomai, shook his head as if with a slight complaint, and said in a sing-song manner, "I say, young lady, you really haven’t behaved in a very fair manner! Didn’t we already et last night by the river? I even praised your noodle-making skills, is that not right? The sauces that Pan Ping’an took to sell in the Provincial City were made by your hand, so you should have forthrightly told . Why did you make go through such great effort to look for you?"
He paused here for a mont, then suddenly raised his hand to his forehead, slapping it lightly half-jokingly, and laughed as if struck by a revelation, "Oh, look at my mory! You can make a bowl of noodles taste so delicious, let alone other things; I reckon that aside from you in Fire Knife Village, there probably isn’t a second person that could concoct such good sauce. Ah, I, the fool, should have known this earlier!"
His words were ambiguous; if not for having seen Pan Ping’an’s injured face, one might truly be unclear about his intentions. Hua Xiaomai still didn’t speak, but Hua Ernain next to her seed to lose her patience. She slamd her hand down on the table and said fiercely, "What exactly do you want to do? If you have sothing to say, say it directly. We’re busy here and have no ti to entertain your dull wit!"
Shopkeeper Zhu glanced at her but didn’t answer. Instead, he continued to smile at Hua Xiaomai in a friendly manner and said, "Young lady, you heard everything I said by the river last night, didn’t you? Everyone in this world dreams of making a fortune, and I understand you want to make money using your skilled hands. But when we go about our business in this world, we need to follow the rules. Look, many of Antai Garden’s long-ti custors are now buying the sauce you made instead; how can we continue doing our business? If this happened to you, you would probably feel uncomfortable too, right?"
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