Su Nianqiu was so angry she laughed.
“Song Minghui, did you forget to brush your teeth before leaving home? Why is your mouth so foul?” Su Nianqiu stood one step higher than him, looking down at him from above.
“Su Nianqiu, who are you cursing at!” Song Minghui’s face darkened instantly.
“You, of course. Can’t you understand human speech?” Su Nianqiu didn’t hold back, her clear voice echoing in the quiet stairwell.
Several salesclerks from the first and second floors, along with customers shopping, all turned to look.
Song Minghui felt his pride was at stake. Suppressing his anger, he gritted his teeth and said, “Su Nianqiu, don’t be ungrateful when I’m giving you face! Now your whole village knows you’re a loose woman! Who else would even glance at you besides me?”
“Out of respect for the past ties between our families, as long as you get rid of that bastard child and bring these things back to my house to show filial respect to my mother, I might reluctantly take you in as a concubine. This is already a blessing you’ve earned over eight lifetimes!”
A concubine?
How many years has it been since the Qing Dynasty fell, and this guy still thinks he’s some wealthy landlord?
Su Nianqiu looked at his arrogant and hypocritical face and didn’t even feel the urge to slap him. She found it too dirty.
She smiled faintly, her eyes sharp as knives.
“Song Minghui, you’re just an apprentice worker. Where do you get the nerve to act like a big shot here?” Su Nianqiu’s voice wasn’t loud, but every word struck Song Minghui’s sore spots.
The onlookers let out a low chuckle.
Song Minghui’s face flushed red: “I’m a city worker! I eat state-provided grain!”
“Eat state-provided grain?” Su Nianqiu sneered, pointing at the white shirt he was wearing,
“That Dacron fabric shirt you’re wearing—didn’t my father sell a pig from our home two years ago and give you ten yuan in fabric coupons to buy it?”
“Those leather shoes on your feet—didn’t my mother stay up all night sewing shoe soles to earn money to buy them for you on the day you passed the mechanical factory exam?”
“And those shabby tile-roofed rooms of your Song family—which winter didn’t you rely on our Su family’s help to avoid starving?”
With every sentence Su Nianqiu spoke, Song Minghui’s face grew paler.
The murmurs from the crowd grew louder.
“Oh my, so he’s just a freeloader after all!”
“Relying on the woman’s family to survive, then dumping her after becoming a worker. I’ve seen plenty of such ungrateful scoundrels.”
“How shameless, even asking her to be a concubine. Disgusting!”
Song Minghui felt his spine chill under the surrounding pointing and whispering. His proud identity as a city dweller became utterly worthless under Su Nianqiu’s exposure.
“You… you’re talking nonsense! When did I ever take anything from your family!” Song Minghui, furious and humiliated, raised the folding fan in his hand, intending to strike Su Nianqiu across the face.
Just as he raised his hand—
Su Nianqiu’s eyes turned fierce, and she swung the heavy mesh bag in her right hand with force.
The mesh bag, filled with pork ribs and large bones, struck Song Minghui squarely in the chest.
“Thud!”
Song Minghui let out a miserable cry, lost his balance, and tumbled down the stairs.
“Ouch! She’s hitting someone! Murder!” Song Minghui fell on the landing at the stairwell corner, clutching his chest and writhing in pain. The white shirt he took such pride in was now covered in dust from the stairs, a pitiful sight.
Su Nianqiu slowly descended the steps and stopped in front of him.
“Song Minghui, listen carefully.”
Su Nianqiu’s voice was bone-chillingly cold, echoing throughout the entire supply and marketing cooperative,
“My money, Su Nianqiu’s money, is clean. A spineless creature like you, who survives by sucking the blood of women—looking at you for even a second disgusts me. From now on, if you see me on the street, you’d better walk the other way. Otherwise, I’ll beat you up every time I lay eyes on you.”
With that, she ignored Song Minghui, who was still wailing on the ground, picked up her mesh bags, and strode out of the supply and marketing cooperative under the awed and astonished gazes of the onlookers.
The sunlight was blinding.
Su Nianqiu took a deep breath of the fresh air outside.
The messy romantic entanglements left behind by the original owner were now completely severed. From this day forward, she would live only for herself and the child in her womb.
She walked to the crossroads and immediately spotted Grandpa Mute squatting against the outer wall of the supply and marketing cooperative, smoking his pipe, with the old ox-cart beside him.
“Grandpa Mute, sorry to keep you waiting. Let’s go home.”
The ox-cart swayed slowly along the dirt road.
The sun was setting, and the sky was ablaze with fiery clouds.
As the ox-cart entered Hongqi Brigade, it was just the time when work ended for the day. Villagers were walking home in twos and threes, carrying hoes over their shoulders.
When they saw Su Nianqiu on the ox-cart and the two bulging mesh bags at her feet, their eyes nearly popped out of their heads.
Someone with sharp eyes immediately spotted the marbled pork belly in one of the mesh bags.
“Oh my heavens! Is that meat? Such a big piece!”
“And malted milk powder! That’s malted milk powder in a tin can!”
“Has the Su family struck it rich? How much money must this have cost!”
The villagers whispered among themselves, their eyes green with envy as they swallowed hard. In these times, which family could afford to buy so much meat at once? Even the village chief’s family wasn’t this extravagant during the New Year.
Su Nianqiu sat upright on the ox-cart, paying no attention to the surrounding stares.
When they reached the gate of the Su family courtyard, Su Nianqiu jumped down from the cart, handed the remaining boiled sweet potato to Grandpa Mute, and placed a handful of White Rabbit milk candies in his hand.
Grandpa Mute grinned from ear to ear, delighted, then drove the ox-cart away.
Su Nianqiu pushed open the courtyard gate.
Li Xiulan was sitting in the yard washing vegetables. Hearing the noise, she looked up.
“Qiu’er, you’re back? Did you see the doctor? What did the doctor say… Oh my goodness!”
Before Li Xiulan could finish her sentence, her gaze fell on the two large mesh bags in Su Nianqiu’s hands. She sprang up from her stool as if propelled by a spring.
She rushed over in three quick strides, her hands trembling as she took the mesh bags, her eyes widening to the size of copper bells.
“Pork belly… pork ribs… malted milk powder… Dacron fabric?!” Li Xiulan’s voice cracked. She whipped her head around to look at her daughter, her face filled with terror. “Qiu’er, you… did you rob the supply and marketing cooperative?!”
Su Nianqiu burst out laughing and closed the courtyard gate behind her.
“Mom, what are you thinking? I have money. I bought these legally.”
“Where did you get the money? Your dad offered you two yuan this morning and you refused it!” Li Xiulan was so anxious she was spinning in circles. “How much did all this cost! If others find out…”
“Mom, let’s talk inside.” Su Nianqiu pulled Li Xiulan into the main room.
Half an hour later.
A suppressed, excited exclamation came from the main room: “You saved a big shot? And they gave you eight hundred yuan?!”
Su Nianqiu spun her tale without batting an eye or skipping a beat: “Yes. I came across an old man who had fainted in an alley in town. I gave him some water and took him to the hospital. His son is a big shot in the county. To thank me, he insisted on giving me money and ration coupons. I tried to refuse, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer, so I accepted.”
She couldn’t reveal the Spatial Dimension—this was the only excuse she had.
Li Xiulan believed it. Country folk were naturally simple and honest, and her daughter had never lied to her since she was little.
“Oh my, it truly is the heavens watching over us! Good people get good rewards!” Li Xiulan clasped her hands together and bowed toward the ceiling, then looked at the pile of meat on the table, her eyes gleaming.
“Qiu’er, go back to your room and rest! Mom will show off her skills today! I’ll make braised pork with this slab of pork belly, and I’ll stew this pork ribs with winter melon soup. I guarantee I’ll fatten you up nice and plump!”