Shen Yulou’s face was as heavy as water, and the water froze into ice, all the coldness pouring into the butcher knife in her hand.
Insulting her—that she could still endure.
But insulting the Zhao family? That she could not tolerate in the slightest.
Everyone in the Zhao household was a good person. Why should they have to suffer Mrs. Zhou’s slander?
That damned Mrs. Zhou!!
Yet angry as she was, Shen Yulou still maintained her restraint, and did not actually drive the knife all the way through Mrs. Zhou’s neck.
She only pressed the tip of the blade into the flesh.
Mrs. Zhou was plump, with a thick layer of skin and flesh around her neck, and Shen Yulou had deliberately avoided vital areas like the arteries when she made her cut.
This kind of superficial wound—shallower than when she accidentally cut her finger while chopping vegetables—would not kill anyone.
But Mrs. Zhou didn’t know that.
A sharp pain rose from her neck, and fear enveloped her body like a dense web. Mrs. Zhou seemed to see the Black and White Impermanence beckoning to her!
Her face contorted with terror, and the shit and piss in her crotch could no longer be held back—it all came gushing out—
Shen Yulou: …
She pulled the knife out with disgust, then kicked Mrs. Zhou over with one foot, saying coldly, “This is the first time. If I hear you slandering the Zhao family again, I’ll cut your mouth to shreds… Get lost!”
Mrs. Zhou sat in her own filth, not doubting for a moment the truth of those words.
A madwoman who dared to kill a cow!
This madwoman had just stabbed her neck with a butcher knife!
The more she thought about it, the more terrified she became. With a pale face, she scrambled to her feet and ran for her life.
Because her legs had gone weak, she tripped and fell flat on her face, then got up and kept running.
A few children chased after her, jeering—
“Wet your pants, shit your pants, shame shame shame!”
The crowd burst into loud laughter, and the atmosphere that had frozen solid because of Mrs. Zhou finally livened up again.
Shen Yulou also secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
With this lesson, Mrs. Zhou should stay quiet for a while.
She looked at Grandpa Zhuzi and Granny Zhuzi. “Uncle, Auntie, I’m truly sorry for causing you trouble.”
The old couple were both reasonable people and waved their hands repeatedly.
“This isn’t your fault.”
“That’s right, that’s right, it’s not your fault—it’s that shameless Mrs. Zhou!”
Granny Zhuzi said as she picked out a piece of beef from the basket and handed it to Shen Yulou. “Good child, take this meat home and have your Auntie Zhao stew it for you all to eat.”
It was a cut of beef from the inside of the thigh, also known as a cucumber strip. Whether stewed, braised, or sliced and stir-fried, it was suitable—one of the tastiest parts of the cow.
And it was generous in quantity. By Shen Yulou’s practiced eye as a chef of many years, this piece of beef weighed at least five jin.
Very tempting.
But the cow skeleton beside it was even more tempting.
She politely declined Granny Zhuzi’s kindness and looked at the skeleton. “I won’t take the meat. After causing such a scene, I really don’t have the face to take it… Auntie, could you give me this cow skeleton instead?”
Earlier, she had been worrying about how to ask for the skeleton.
After all, passing up good chunks of beef in favor of a bare skeleton was indeed a strange thing to do.
Now it was perfect—Mrs. Zhou had come running in and handed her an excellent excuse.
Sure enough, as soon as Shen Yulou spoke, the villagers began to murmur among themselves.
“She’s too embarrassed to take it.”
“That Yulou child is too reasonable by half.”
“Who’s to say otherwise? If Mrs. Zhou hadn’t come making a scene, she’d have gotten a big piece of beef—she wouldn’t have had to settle for gnawing on bones!”
The cow skeleton looked big, but even if you scraped every bone clean, you’d be lucky to get three liang of meat off it.
In the past, nobody wanted these bones—they were thrown away to feed the dogs.
“If you want the skeleton, just take it, but you have to take these few jin of meat too!”
“No, no, I can’t take it. The skeleton is enough for me.”
“Ah, child… why are you so stubborn? It wasn’t your fault, yet you insist on shouldering the blame.”
Seeing this, Grandpa Zhuzi tied up the four cow hooves with straw rope and handed them to Shen Yulou as well, refusing to give her any chance to decline.
Shen Yulou had no choice but to accept the four cow hooves gratefully.
Zhao Baozhu, meanwhile, hoisted the bare cow skeleton onto her shoulder.
The two of them headed home amid the villagers’ sighs.
Over at the village head’s house, Mother Zhao walked out holding a newborn baby, smiling at the village head and his son waiting at the door. “It’s a big, chubby boy—a good seven or eight jin! Congratulations to you both!”
The village head’s daughter-in-law had gone into labor today, and she had called Mother Zhao over to help with the delivery.
Upon hearing that his wife had given him a big, chubby son, the village head’s son was so overjoyed he didn’t know what to do with his hands and feet, spinning in circles and shouting, “I have a son! I have a son… Aaah! I have a son!”
The village head thought his son was a bit of a fool, kicked the silly boy, and said with exasperation, “Get out of here! Look at you, making such a fuss!”
That was what he said, but the old village head himself was so happy his wrinkled face bloomed into a smile.
When he saw the round little black mole on the tip of his grandson’s nose, the old village head grew even more excited, stroking his beard and laughing heartily.
Mother Zhao hurried to offer her congratulations. “A mole on the nose tip signifies nobility and wealth rolling in! Village head, your family has produced a golden grandson!”
Who doesn’t love hearing good words?
Besides, these weren’t even empty flattery.
The old village chief laughed even louder.
Joy brings a spring to one’s step, and the old village chief was more generous than usual, handing Mother Zhao half a bamboo basket of red eggs plus an entire string of a thousand coins as celebration money.
This kind of celebration money was also called hard-work money.
But ordinary families wouldn’t give this much—at most two or three hundred coppers, and only seven or eight red eggs.
Having delivered countless babies over the years, Mother Zhao had never once encountered a payment like this—a full string of coins and half a basket of red eggs.
She was delighted too, bustling about the village chief’s home, not only washing his precious little grandson until he was spotless but also helping bathe the chief’s daughter-in-law.
When she was done, she earnestly shared some postpartum recovery tips with the chief’s daughter-in-law.
Only after everything was properly taken care of did Mother Zhao tuck the string of coins away, carry the half basket of red eggs, and head home beaming with joy.
As she walked, she mulled over how to allocate the day’s earnings.
That string of coins definitely couldn’t be touched—she’d save it for the fourth son’s medicine; as for the red eggs, she wouldn’t sell them this time but keep them for the family to eat.
These were excellent for nourishing the body.
Her grandchildren were all still growing, so they’d each get two eggs to supplement their nutrition; her son, daughter-in-law, and daughter didn’t need to grow anymore, so they’d each get one to taste; and Yulou, whose constitution was weak, also needed two.
The rest she’d boil into marinated eggs and send to her fourth son.
Military service was grueling—every day was hard physical labor, so he needed to eat well.
Mother Zhao walked along planning, but forgot to factor herself into the equation and didn’t think of it; by the time she remembered and swallowed her saliva, wondering whether she should eat half an egg herself, she’d already reached the village threshing ground.
With no farm work to do this time of year, several women were gathered there chatting; when they spotted Mother Zhao approaching, their eyes lit up and they greeted her warmly.
So Mother Zhao set aside the question of whether to eat half an egg and joined their gossip.
Women all loved idle chatter and gossip, and Mother Zhao was no exception.
Then, as the conversation went on, Mother Zhao’s face darkened. She frowned and asked the women, “That wicked woman Zhou, she really went and harassed Yulou again?”
Her focus was on “Zhou harassing Shen Yulou,” not on “because of Zhou’s harassment, Shen Yulou lost a big chunk of good beef for nothing.”
Unfortunately, the women weren’t on the same wavelength as her, and projecting themselves into the situation, they assumed her anger was over the beef that had slipped right out of reach.
Such good beef—a big piece, at least four or five catties.
And it was all lost because of Zhou’s ruckus. Anyone would be furious about that.
“How could it be false—I saw it with my own eyes!”
“I was there too… Mother of the eldest, you should’ve seen it—the shameless face Zhou put on, absolutely disgusting.”
The women all chimed in to tell Mother Zhao the story.
It wasn’t until she heard that Shen Yulou had thoroughly taught Zhou a lesson, scaring her so badly she soiled herself, that Mother Zhao’s expression improved somewhat.
But she was still so angry her chest heaved violently.
That child Yulou had a weak constitution—he’d only just recovered a bit these past days, and Zhou went and stirred things up again. What if she made him sick with anger?
Zhou might not care, but she did!
“Black-hearted, black-lunged, black-gutted wicked thing—I’ve never seen such a heartless mother… I’ll tear her mouth apart today, see how she dares to make trouble again!”
Mother Zhao marched off in a killing fury to settle scores with Zhou.
The women, worried she might come out on the losing end but also eager for some entertainment, followed along.
When they arrived, they saw there was no need for them to make a scene—the Shen household was already in an uproar.
The doorway was packed with onlookers, chickens were flying and dogs jumping in the yard, curses and crashes rang out without end… and amid it all, Zhou’s wailing cries.
Mother Zhao stood in the crowd, listening with a grim face for a while, and slowly the fire in her chest began to ease.
She didn’t go in to tear Zhou’s mouth apart. Instead, she slipped out of the crowd, clutching her celebration money and red eggs, and hurried home with quick steps.