Oh, now this was rare!
Wang Hehua’s sorrowful and indignant cry of grievance startled Meng Wenzhou, who was putting away the bicycle by the foot of the wall.
One had to know that his eldest sister-in-law had always carried herself with the dignity of the eldest daughter-in-law, always adopting the mannerisms of an elder in her daily speech and actions, and loved lecturing people over nothing.
In Meng Wenzhou’s memory, he had never seen Wang Hehua look like this, begging his parents to decide a matter for her.
“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s head out to work, no need to make things difficult for Father and Mother.”
Before the old couple of the Meng family could open their mouths, Meng Wenguo stepped forward and yanked Wang Hehua, who was standing in the middle of the courtyard, toward the exit.
As Meng Wenguo shoved her along with his hands, he said, “We are the eldest, why should the family fuss over things so much?”
At the same time, he turned his head to say to Meng Wenshan, “Third Brother, it’s fine, you all go get busy too. Just have Third Sister-in-law pay more attention in the future, we are all one family.”
Meng Wenshan stood there with a flushed face, not uttering a single sound either.
Slap!
A crisp slap echoed out, and this slap was truly loud.
Everyone present was stunned into silence!
“Ah!”
Yang Zhaodi clutched her face, let out a loud shriek, and prepared to pounce forward to tear at Meng Wenshan.
“Meng Old Third, you useless thing, you actually dare to hit me!”
“Wow!”
Xiaohuzi, who was hiding behind Yang Zhaodi, was directly frightened into crying by this sudden turn of events.
Instantly, the courtyard erupted into a frenzy. For a time, those stepping forward to break up the fight and those grabbing the child all began to move.
“Third Brother, what are you doing?”
“Huzi don’t cry, come over to Uncle.”
Yang Zhaodi plopped straight down onto the ground, pounding her chest as she wailed, “I don’t want to live anymore, my poor Huzi!”
Thud!
An egg-sized stone was smashed violently onto the ground. Along with this sound, the courtyard fell back into a brief moment of silence.
Wang Cuihua swept a fierce glare across everyone in the courtyard before choking down her anger and speaking.
“Enough, everyone get back into your rooms. Day after day, nothing but noisy bickering.”
“Little Fifth, take your brothers to the main hall.”
“Second Sister-in-law, take these little ones to your room.”
“Eldest Sister-in-law and Third Sister-in-law both follow me into the inner room.”
With just a few quick commands, she sorted out everyone’s destinations.
Even though Yang Zhaodi felt deeply aggrieved after being beaten, she was ultimately still afraid of her cold-faced mother-in-law, so she followed behind while sobbing.
In the main hall, several grown men stood there without speaking. Meng Wenzhou thought to himself: What a mess. Not a single moment of peace early in the morning; these muddy waters just kept coming one after another.
“This… Father, you sit first, I’ll go pour a bowl of water for everyone.”
Meng Guoqiang glanced at the interrupting Meng Wenzhou.
“No rush, Little Fifth, you stay here and listen too.”
After saying that, he looked at Meng Wenguo again and said, “Eldest Brother, speak for yourself.”
Meng Wenguo bore a thoroughly honest and simple expression.
“Third Brother, it’s all your brother’s fault. Don’t let you two couple be unhappy over this matter; bickering hurts the family affection.”
Meng Wenshan’s breathing was rapid, his face turning even redder than before. “This… I… I… it’s all my fault.”
Meng Wenzhou watched coldly from the side.
Tsk tsk tsk, Eldest Brother, tsk…
But given Yang Zhaodi’s virtue, it was likely the eldest brother and his wife had grown annoyed long ago, and perhaps they had engineered this scene on purpose.
Meng Guoqiang tapped the tobacco pipe in his hand, looked at his sons in front of him, and said, “Second Brother, lend the bricks you bought to Third Brother first, and let Third Brother convert the money to pay you back.”
Meng Wenjia had already guessed that things would mostly develop this way when Wang Cuihua threw the stone.
“Sure. Third Brother, you go find the village chief to get a plot of land approved over these next two days, and I’ll help you haul the bricks together when the time comes.”
“Father, I… I didn’t mean to force Third Brother and his wife to move out…”
Meng Guoqiang impatiently cut off Meng Wenguo’s words.
“Alright, it was already agreed upon when the family split up. You are all grown now, and each has your own mind.”
Before anyone could express their devotion, he continued to speak: “Only, you must remember that you are siblings from the same womb; even if your bones are broken, you are still connected by your tendons. Even if the family is split up, you are still brothers!”
Meng Guoqiang half-squinted his eyes as he stared dead at his sons present, his gaze exceptionally piercing.
After a good while, he took a puff of the tobacco pipe in his hand, and a mouthful of white smoke slowly drifted from his lips.
“Alright, everyone get out.”
Having said that, he closed his eyes and leaned sideways against the backrest, no longer paying any attention to his sons standing in front of him.
……
Meng Wenzhou didn’t stay long at the Meng house before returning.
“You’re back!”
Meng Wenzhou was greatly shocked to see Xia Xianxian with a filthy face and body!
“What are you doing, my ancestor! You don’t feel uncomfortable anymore?”
“Mm-hmm~ I feel pretty good right now, not as miserable as yesterday.”
Since her body felt much better today, she had enthusiastically gone to the kitchen to fiddle with plant ash.
“Did the system assign you a mission?”
“No, didn’t I bring back a pillow towel and expiring brown sugar from the Xia house yesterday?”
Seeing Meng Wenzhou look at her with raised eyebrows, Xia Xianxian finally reacted. “Uh, did I forget to tell you yesterday?”
“Mm-hmm!”
Within the span of just a few brief sentences, this modal particle had appeared twice.
As his deep voice entered her ears, she felt guilty for a split second before continuing, “That’s not important! Even though the mission was canceled, I can still take these things and turn waste into treasure myself!”
Meng Wenzhou looked at Xia Xianxian with amusement. Originally, he had planned to go to the old house to ask Mother Meng how to alleviate a stomach ache and see if dietary supplements could help, but the old house turned out to be a chaotic mess today.
He hadn’t expected that Xia Xianxian, who had been weeping with watery eyes from the discomfort yesterday, would recover her spirits so quickly and even find amusement for herself.
“Oh~ Student Xia Xianxian, I wonder if I have the honor of participating in this project of yours?”
“Hmm? I’ll think about it!”
As soon as her voice fell, Xia Xianxian could not help but burst into laughter.
Once she caught her breath, she said, “Even though this brown sugar has expired, it hasn’t clumped up either. It would be quite a pity to just throw it away like this, so it’s better to do it ourselves.”
“Very nice, rewarding you with a little red flower. But how exactly did you get these things from the Xia house?”
“Hahaha, a wise person always has brilliant plans.”
……
That day, when Xia Xianxian followed Lin Jiafeng back to the room, she began to wail, “Mother, I’ve missed you so much over these past few days!”
Hearing this made Lin Jiafeng feel miserable as well, and she raised her hand to wipe her tears.
“Our home isn’t far away, come back to visit more often when you miss home. Once you are pregnant with a baby, Mother will bring things over to see you.”
The memories of the body were still present, and the sourness of the original owner surged out under Lin Jiafeng’s words.
For a time, Xia Xianxian actually began to cry in earnest.
“Boo-hoo~”
But as a pampered little foodie, after only wailing a few times, she was already thinking about her Spicy Cold Rabbit again.
“I miss home terribly, I miss you and Father, and I also miss Eldest Brother, Eldest Sister-in-law, and Little Brother.”
She couldn’t get her hands on Eldest Sister-in-law’s dowry for the time being, but she could work hard for the other items first! If all else failed, she would go negotiate with the system to see if she could complete a portion of the mission and get a small reward first.
Carefully glancing at Lin Jiafeng, she said pitifully, “I want to take some items that carry the scent of my family’s daily life back with me, so that it feels like you are still by my side.”
“You silly child.”
“I know it’s inappropriate, who sweeps through their mother’s house like this? Mother, I just want to take some old things that the household doesn’t use. Like that old pillow towel I used before, I want to take it back home so that it feels like I’m still living at home.”
“Always talking nonsense. How can you bring trash back home? People will laugh at you if they find out.”
“How could they? If others find out, they will only envy how good our family’s relationship is.”
Lin Jiafeng pondered for a moment before saying to Xia Xianxian, “Mother will make a pair of new pillow towels for you. Don’t worry, Mother will make them with her own hands!”
Xia Xianxian’s heart skipped a beat. How could that work? She still wanted to eat Spicy Cold Rabbit!