Qian Yuemei was startled.
“What happened?”
“Second Sister… pant, pant… my brother-in-law caught a whole bunch of big fish…”
Panting for breath, Qian Sicao blurted out the incredible feat of the Su family’s fish catch today.
In the end, she directly demanded a reward for delivering the news:
“Second Sister, I want to eat fish! Go to the Su family’s house and bring back a few big fish.”
Qian Yuemei’s mouth gaped open, so stunned she even forgot to crack her sunflower seeds.
“Are you serious? Your brother-in-law really caught a lot of fish?”
Qian Yuemei had a face full of disbelief, her voice pitched several octaves higher.
“It’s true, totally true!” Qian Sicao nodded furiously. “So many people saw it!”
After saying that, she added, “I originally wanted that big fish Erpan was holding, but Erpan insisted on giving it to his Little Auntie to eat! It made me so mad—Second Sister, you’ve got to teach Erpan a lesson…”
While Qian Sicao was still venting her indignation, Qian Yuemei abruptly stood up.
Immediately, she clutched her stomach and let out an “Aiyo!”
Lady Wang was startled and hurriedly said, “Slow down! Be careful with your body!”
Qian Yuemei stroked her belly, still wearing a face full of shock.
Then, she stared with wide eyes at Lady Wang.
“Mother, could it be that her Little Auntie… really can bring fortune and prosperity?”
Qian Yuemei’s voice trembled slightly.
Before Lady Wang could answer, Qian Sicao reported the gossip floating around the village.
“Second Sister, everyone in the village is saying right now that those fish were brought by your little sister-in-law…”
Lady Wang suddenly grew spirited!
“Isn’t that obvious?” Lady Wang said loudly. “In recent years, the fish in the river have been practically fished clean. Where could such large fish come from out of nowhere? Yet the moment your little sister-in-law was born, those huge fish appeared in the river, and they just happened to be caught by your family…”
Before her mother could even finish, Qian Yuemei couldn’t sit still any longer.
“Mother, I’m going home to take a look.”
With that, she rushed outside as if walking on wind.
“Hey! Wait a moment, take these two ounces of brown sugar back to your mother-in-law!” Lady Wang shouted from behind.
“Save it for me to drink after I give birth to a daughter! Mother, don’t you go siding with outsiders…”
Qian Yuemei bolted out without even turning her head.
Lady Wang choked on her words.
This vexing daughter of hers!
Why couldn’t she understand her own mother’s intentions?
Wasn’t everything she did just to give her daughter confidence and backing in her husband’s family?
At this moment, the Old Su family’s courtyard was surrounded three layers deep inside and out.
Some people had even climbed up and stood on top of the walls.
When Qian Yuemei arrived home, she couldn’t squeeze her way in at all.
“Sister-in-law, what happened to our house?”
Su Dahu’s voice sounded from behind Qian Yuemei.
Qian Yuemei turned around.
“Cluck, cluck, cluck…”
“Gaggle, gaggle, gaggle…”
Before she could even see Su Dahu’s head, she saw two enormous pheasants greeting her face-to-face.
Qian Yuemei was completely stunned.
She hadn’t seen a pheasant in years and had almost forgotten what one looked like.
“Eldest Brother, w-where did you catch these pheasants?”
Qian Yuemei asked, her face full of shock and her voice shrill.
Startled by her screech, the two pheasants fluttered violently.
At Qian Yuemei’s shout, the people in front turned their heads one after another.
And then, everyone saw the pheasants hanging around Su Dahu’s neck.
Two fat, glossy-feathered big pheasants were tied with a newly woven straw rope, one on each end, hanging over Su Dahu’s neck.
Su Dahu’s look instantly shocked the crowd.
Especially those two huge pheasants—they were extremely eye-catching.
No, they were extremely mouth-watering.
Seeing the pheasants made people instinctively think of delicious, fragrant pheasant meat.
“Dahu, did you go up the mountain?” someone asked suspiciously. “Are you out of your mind?”
That beast up on the mountain had claimed several human lives over the past few years.
Daring to go up the mountain now—wasn’t that just seeking death?
“No, I just wandered around the foot of the mountain,” Su Dahu replied.
“How could there be such fat and big pheasants at the foot of the mountain?” someone said in a tone clearly full of disbelief.
“A few days ago I spent two whole days wandering around the foot of the mountain and didn’t even pick up a single pheasant feather,” someone uttered a deep, soulful complaint.
“It’d be a miracle if you found anything! The kids in this village are so starved for meat they’ve gone crazy—all day long they’re either swarming the riverbank or combing the foot of the mountain like a total sweep.”
“Isn’t that right…”
Everyone chimed in with chatter, clearly not believing Su Dahu’s words.
“Alright, stop doubting it! If so many fish could suddenly spring out from the river, why couldn’t pheasants pop up at the foot of the mountain? The Old Su family just had a daughter, so they’re about to strike it rich!”
As soon as these words fell, all the questioning voices vanished.
With great difficulty, Su Dahu and Qian Yuemei made their way into their courtyard, where they immediately saw two large wooden buckets sitting in the yard.
The inside of the wooden buckets was a gleaming white of fish.
Qian Yuemei’s heart beat wildly.
Her eldest brother-in-law had pheasants hanging around his neck, and there were so many fish right here in the yard…
Could it be… the Old Su family really is about to strike it rich?
“Erpan, did you really catch all these fish yourselves?”
Qian Yuemei rushed over in a few steps, asking her son with a face full of excitement and joy.
“Mother, we didn’t catch them with nets—these fish kept jumping onto us one after another.”
Erpan’s childish voice delivered words that made Qian Yuemei’s heart leap in her chest.
Seeing the fish in the wooden buckets, Su Dahu was also filled with shock and excitement.
Fortunately, being naturally honest, simple, and steady by nature, he managed to keep his cool.
“Wife, hurry and get a basin to put these wild pheasant eggs in.”
Su Dahu instructed his wife, Zhao Chunhua, looking quite calm on the surface.
As it turned out, the reason he had hung the pheasants around his neck was that he was cradling a bundle of wild pheasant eggs in his arms.
After speaking, Su Dahu loosened his hands slightly, revealing the wild eggs inside.
Zhao Chunhua, who was Eldest Sister-in-law Su, her eyes lit up.
Those gleaming white wild eggs—there must have been more than twenty of them!
“You’re amazing, dear!”
Eldest Sister-in-law Zhao Chunhua showered her husband with praise without hesitation.
This was wonderful—now her mother-in-law would have eggs to eat while recovering during her confinement month.
Perhaps her milk would come in soon, and her little sister-in-law wouldn’t have to go hungry.
Being praised by his wife, Su Dahu couldn’t help but chuckle softly.
The onlookers on the outer ring already knew that Su Dahu had caught two pheasants with his bare hands, but those on the inner ring didn’t know yet.
And so, everyone’s gazes turned in unison toward Su Dahu.
The first thing they saw was not Su Dahu himself, but the pheasants hanging around his neck.
“Cluck, cluck, cluck…”
“Gaggle, gaggle, gaggle…”
Accompanied by the clucking of the pheasants, the eldest son of the Su family became the new object of everyone’s admiration.
“Dad, where did you catch these?” Dapan looked at his father with idolizing eyes.
With pheasants this big, how much meat would that be?
And those wild eggs—how delicious must they taste!
Dapan couldn’t help but swallow his saliva.
Compared to eating fish, he preferred fragrant, savory pheasant meat.
“Catch what? Your dad just strolled around the foot of the mountain, and the pheasants flapped their wings and flew straight into my arms!”
Even though Su Dahu was usually steady, facing his son’s worshipful gaze and the countless envious eyes around him, he couldn’t quite hold it together, and his tone grew a bit puffed up.
Hearing Su Dahu’s words, the people in the courtyard felt a wave of complex emotions.
Envy, jealousy, craving…
In short, the whole yard was filled with the sour scent of lemons.