Li Qiao held a meat bun and finished it in one go. Li Jiaojiao had only taken a few bites when Li Qiao had already eaten his whole one, and she couldn’t help clicking her tongue. “Eat slower! From now on, once I earn money, I’ll bring you here to buy meat buns every day!”
“Sis, one is enough!”
Clearly Li Qiao could have eaten another one, but the little boy set his face seriously. “Sis, we’d better eat less from now on. If Grandmother and the others find out, you’ll get beaten again!”
Li Jiaojiao crouched down. “Why be afraid of them? We earned the money, we’ll quietly take it home and hide it! Qiaoqiao, come on, have another one!”
Li Qiao looked at Li Jiaojiao, then looked at the fragrant meat bun, and swallowed hard. “Sis, I’ll pass. Save it for Mother! Mother works so hard at home, and she doesn’t even get to eat her fill!”
A five- or six-year-old, and already thinking of Wang shi like this, Li Jiaojiao was deeply moved. She pointed at the seven remaining meat buns in the basket. “Don’t worry, eat up! You can have two, even three! Mother can have three, I’ll have two, and the last two or three, we’ll leave for Father!”
Leaving meat buns for Wang shi was no problem, but leaving some for Li Chengcai made Li Qiao pout his little mouth high in reluctance, which Li Jiaojiao couldn’t resist teasing him about.
Li Jiaojiao carefully put all the remaining money into a pouch, and by the time she and Li Qiao got home, the Li family had already finished lunch, without leaving any for the two siblings at all.
Li Jiaojiao snuck into the house like a thief, and when she came back out, she made a point of using a cypress branch to sweep the smell of meat buns off herself before walking out with Li Qiao.
“Li Jiaojiao!”
Li Jiaojiao and Li Qiao turned around and saw Hu shi’s eldest daughter, Li Juanjuan, pointing at Li Jiaojiao’s nose. “Where were you two going? Grandmother had people looking for you to cut pig fodder, and searched the whole house, but couldn’t find you. Tell me, where did you go? Were you off meeting some wild man?”
Li Juanjuan was only twelve, and the moment she opened her mouth it was Li Jiaojiao seducing some wild man. Li Jiaojiao couldn’t help rolling her eyes, sure enough, like mother, like daughter. “Oh my, Juanjuan, you’re only twelve and you already know about wild men? What a shame for you!”
Li Juanjuan realized Li Jiaojiao was mocking her, and, stamping her foot in anger, shouted toward the main hall, “Grandmother, Li Jiaojiao and the others are back!”
Li Jiaojiao’s teeth itched with anger, this wretched girl, rotten to the core, unable to out-argue her, went and called Deng shi out instead!
Wang shi was the first to run out of the kitchen. She hurried over and looked at Li Jiaojiao and Li Qiao. “Where did you two go? Do you have any idea how worried I was?”
Then Deng shi, Hu shi, and Li Chengfu’s wife Zhao shi also came out of the house.
Seeing Li Jiaojiao and Li Qiao, Deng shi’s face immediately soured. She kept a stern face and unleashed her fury straight at Li Jiaojiao. “You’ve grown some wings now, have you? I told you to go up the mountain and gather firewood, so where did you die off to? Shameless little wretch, never learning anything good all day, I’m warning you, that boy Chen Xuan is already married, and if you keep shamelessly clinging to him, you’ll see how I deal with you!”
Having scolded Li Jiaojiao, Deng shi turned and pointed at Wang shi. “Keep an eye on your daughter! If she does something disgraceful, it’s our whole Li family’s face that gets thrown away!”
Wang shi felt deeply wronged, she’d wanted to go look for the children, but Deng shi had made her wash dishes and clean up the kitchen, giving her no time at all to search for them.
Li Juanjuan looked utterly pleased with herself. “Grandmother, I’ll go tell the Chen family, you all must watch her closely, don’t let her run over to the Chen family and make a fool of herself!”
Seeing Li Juanjuan about to run off, Deng shi immediately called her back. “What are you going to the Chen family for? Isn’t our Li family disgraced enough already? Wretched girl, money-losing goods, none of you are any good, you should all have been married off long ago…”
Seeing Deng shi scolding her own daughter, Hu shi hurriedly tried to smooth things over. “Mother, why get so worked up at a half-grown child like Juanjuan? Don’t wear yourself out over it! Still, I think Juanjuan has a point, we really do need to keep an eye on her. If she runs off and makes a fool of herself… then you and Father will both lose face, and who knows how many people in the village will be talking behind our backs!”
With her fiery temper, if it hadn’t been for last night, when talking back had gotten Wang shi scolded and Li Qiao beaten, Li Jiaojiao would have wanted to spit right in Hu shi’s face!
Hu shi kept going, more and more out of line. “When it comes down to it, it’s Second Sister-in-law who needs to keep her watched properly, so she doesn’t go making a fool of herself out there, the Chen family’s new bride hasn’t even left yet, we can’t let people laugh at our family!”
Li Jiaojiao couldn’t hold back anymore, the fury she’d been suppressing about to erupt.
Since that was how it was, there was no need to hold back any longer. She gave a cold laugh. “Third Aunt, Juanjuan, you two really care so much about the Chen family, anyone who didn’t know better would think you were part of the Chen family! I’ve always found it strange, did Chen Xuan pay you, or give you some kind of benefit? You say I’m shameless, clinging to Chen Xuan without a shred of decency, but the truth is, it was Chen Xuan who wrote me all those letters…”
“I’ve never once gone to the Chen family on my own, but yesterday, Third Aunt, no matter whether I felt well or not, insisted I go to the Chen family. Third Aunt, were you hoping to watch me make a fool of myself? Third Aunt, exactly where have I wronged you, or where have my parents wronged you, that you’d bully me like this?”
Getting to the wronged part, Li Jiaojiao pinched herself hard, putting on a look of deep grievance. “I know shame too! But you, Third Aunt, seem desperate for me to do something, afraid the Chen family won’t get the chance to laugh at our family. You have a daughter too, your Juanjuan is only a few years younger than me, and in a few more years, she’ll be at the age for matchmaking too. You keep trampling our Li family’s reputation into the dirt, are you really part of our Li family, or part of the Chen family?”
Hu shi’s face changed color instantly, and Deng shi’s face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
Zhao shi, hearing this, thought it over carefully and realized it did seem that way, yesterday, when the Chen family’s daughter-in-law came back, Hu shi had insisted on making Li Jiaojiao go to the Chen family. What exactly had she been scheming?
Hu shi grew a little flustered and pointed at Li Jiaojiao. “Li Jiaojiao, don’t talk nonsense…”
Li Jiaojiao gave a cold laugh. “Third Aunt, just look at your own face, gone that pale, do I even need to say anything? Everyone already knows!”
Zhao shi kept a stern face. “I thought it was strange yesterday too, you making such a fuss about dragging Jiaojiao off to the Chen family. Looking at it now, you were just hoping Jiaojiao would humiliate herself!”
Hu shi laughed repeatedly, trying to smooth things over. “Oh, Eldest Sister-in-law, don’t listen to that wretched girl Li Jiaojiao. I have a daughter of my own too, if I really had some evil scheme in mind, what would happen to my own daughter…”
“Don’t, Third Aunt, your Juanjuan is still young, it’ll be years yet before her coming-of-age. I’m the same age as Cousin Qiaoqiao, and Cousin Qiaoqiao is in the middle of matchmaking right now. If word gets out that a daughter of our Li family is shameless and thick-skinned, and it ruins Cousin Qiaoqiao’s marriage prospects…”
After that, Zhao shi and Hu shi started quarreling with each other, with Deng shi caught in between, her face turning livid with anger.
Li Jiaojiao seized the chance to pull Wang shi and Li Qiao into the house. Old Man Li had no wish to listen to the women’s endless bickering and simply took the other men of the family out to work instead.
Shutting the door, Li Qiao hurriedly held out a few meat buns. “Mother, Sis and I went to the pharmacy in town. Sis dug up some herbs for me to carry, we sold the rest of the herbs, and bought buns with the money. Mother, eat quickly!”