After a few exchanges, Mother ng, having aged a bit, ran out of breath from her shouting and could no longer keep it up. She had to temporarily cease her offensive and, looking at Hua Xiaomai with displeasure, said, "Who exactly are you angry with, you’re as volatile as firecrackers?"
Hua Xiaomai was also a bit parched from arguing. She slipped into the hall to pour so tea, and handed a bowl to her mother-in-law, "Isn’t it just about the matter I discussed with you a few days ago? You’ve seen the situation these past days, too, haven’t you? Constantly noisy all day long, it’s nearly driving mad!"
After her "chance encounter" with Old Man Liu on the field ridge, Hua Xiaomai turned her back and told Mother ng everything in detail. Although her mother-in-law did not comnt at the ti, an unwittingly cold sneer appeared on her face, clearly already calculating in her mind.
Since then, however, Old Man Liu had not shown his face again, leaving Mother ng with no outlet for action. She had been holding back all this ti, and upon hearing Hua Xiaomai speak like this, she beca a bit too eager and slapped her thigh, "Such a trivial thing, worth your worry? After all this talk, it’s all because you’re usually too kind-hearted! Hmph, what friendship, in my eyes, it’s all worthless. There’s no other way but to be tough with this matter, I’ll set an example for you all to see!"
...
Ever since ng Yuhuai started earning money at the Escort Agency, for nearly ten years, Mother ng had been in a state of having nothing to do. No need to provide for the family, nor any farmlands to tend to, most of her days were spent idle, if not arguing with others.
Now that she finally had sothing to do, she felt invigorated all over. Early the next morning, after just a light al to fill her stomach, she hurried to the east end of the village, grabbed a long bench to sit by the door, eyes wide with ferocity, emitting an aura of nace.
All morning, there was a steady stream of people passing by her door. If they were custors coming down from the main road, she could put on a friendly face, scooting the bench to make way for them, but if it were familiar faces from the village coming with a clear purpose, then sorry, entry to the small tavern’s hall was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
"What’s it about?" Mother ng blocked the entrance firmly, sizing up the newcors with a glance, her tone cold, "My son is unavailable, and my daughter-in-law is busy in the kitchen. Speak to instead—you think I can’t make decisions here? Go ask around, inside the ng household, is there anything I don’t have a say in?"
The villagers of Fire Knife Village all knew this woman was not to be trifled with. Before even expressing their intentions, they were intimidated, forcing a smile and bowing, "It’s... about buying chili seeds. Look, your family’s two acres produced so many chilies, you can’t possibly use them all up yourselves, right? I was thinking of discussing it with brother Yuhuai and sister Xiaomai, to see if you could sell so to us. You know, we don’t have much spare cash..."
"Ha!" Mother ng didn’t let the person finish speaking before she laughed derisively. Seeing the other party shiver, she took more pleasure in her position and rolled her eyes dramatically, "Do I look like I know whether you have money or not? Even if you truly had no money, it wouldn’t be our ng family’s fault. Why play poor in front of ? Didn’t you see? This little tavern is being expanded; we need money for everything, we’d split one cent in two if we could, and here you are trying to haggle with ? Calling my son ’brother’ all the ti—so this is how you treat your ’brother’? My eyes have truly been opened!"
The truth was, she said this with a smile on her face, yet sohow, it felt more frightening than when she was angry. The other person was at a loss for words, frantically flailing his hands like windmills, his body slumping down further, forcing a smile, "No, no, you misunderstood, I..."
"Misunderstood? I’ve eaten more salt than you’ve had hot als—who do you think you’re fooling? I spit on that!" Mother ng cut him off again, spitting on the ground, "I’ll ask you one thing—you all co seeking favors, if our family really agreed to your terms and ended up unable to get by because of it, would you let my family of three co to your house for als every day?"
"Given the situation at your ho, how could it co to that?" Sweat broke out on the visitor’s forehead from the pressure, and as a younger person, he couldn’t talk back, only managing to put on a smile uglier than crying.
"You don’t worry about that—just answer , will you? Will you, huh? I’m asking if you will!" Mother ng had no intention of letting him off easy and pressed him question after question directly into his face.
The visitor retreated step by step, eventually fleeing in disarray. He turned and again found Hua Xiaomai, and aside from complaining, he had to bring up the matter once more.
That’s when Hua Xiaomai had sothing to say, her face blooming with a smile, cordial yet firm, "Can’t do anything, I’m afraid. Yuhuai and I are too busy, we can’t spare the effort. The task of selling the chilies is left entirely up to my mother-in-law. She’s stubborn, once she sets her mind on sothing, she won’t even listen to Yuhuai, let alone . I really am sorry, why don’t you think it over and co back? If you are truly intent on buying the seeds, just say the word, and I’ll set aside so for you."
Mother ng had nurous tricks up her sleeve, all sorts of thods at her disposal, soft or hard. Hua Xiaomai and ng Yuhuai only needed to go along with them, saving themselves a lot of effort. Soon, the number of people coming to haggle reduced, and there was finally a brief respite.
However, it was only a brief respite.
That year, the sumr sun was exceptionally fierce. Thanks to ticulous care on usual days, the chili plants were brimming with red peppers by mid-June, signaling the ti to harvest had arrived.
Harvesting was always a delightful event, but along with the joy, there was also the persistent Old Man Liu, who refused to give up peacefully. (To be continued. If you like this work, I invite you to co to Qidian (qidian) and cast your recomndation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users can read at m.qidian.)
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