After a while, taking advantage of the fact that the Zhou family members were all napping, Li Chunzhu stealthily crept closer to Zhou Mianmian. Her small, bead-like eyes were darting around shiftily.
“Mianmian, quickly tell Fourth Aunt, how exactly did you make that bamboo fungus turn so big?”
Zhou Mianmian had just grown drowsy, her small body curled into a soft, doughy ball. As she was just about to sleep, she naturally couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to her.
Unexpectedly, Li Chunzhu refused to give up. Raising the very hand she had used to pick her feet moments ago, she actually shoved it forcefully over little Mianmian’s nose.
“Speak up, you little girl! If you tell me, your aunt will buy you candy to eat!”
“If you don’t speak, your aunt will secretly eat all the pastries your brothers saved for you!”
Zhou Mianmian was jolted awake by the stench, nearly retretching. When she raised her head again, her small face was completely flushed, and her large, watery eyes held a layer of aggrieved moisture. If Song Nianxi or the others were to see this, their hearts would break from distress.
Zhou Mianmian was genuinely angry. Clenching her small fists, which resembled two little steamed buns, she delivered two swift thumps right into Li Chunzhu’s stomach.
“Auntie is smelly!” she scolded in a milky voice.
“Ouch, you child!”
Li Chunzhu hadn’t taken a three-year-old’s strength seriously, but the next moment, her mouth contorted in pain. Who could have guessed that Zhou Mianmian’s strength was even greater than that of a seven or eight-year-old child?
Clutching her stomach, Li Chunzhu muttered, “You miserable girl, I’ve asked you several times and you won’t say a word. How can your heart be so wicked? Would it kill you to tell Fourth Aunt?”
Zhou Mianmian glared at her huffily. Her small face was red, but she suddenly and cunningly spat out a single word.
“Soak!”
What? Li Chunzhu’s spirits instantly revived. “Mianmian, say that again.”
Zhou Mianmian blurted out the words in indistinct speech, “Soak… soak in water. Once the bamboo fungus is soaked in water, it becomes big.”
“Really?” Li Chunzhu was somewhat skeptical. Such excellent Golden Bamboo Fungus couldn’t even grow out of the earth, yet it could be managed just by soaking it in water?
Regrettably, as a rustic village woman who had rarely even stepped foot outside her village, it was incredibly difficult for her not to be hoodwinked.
Zhou Mianmian revealed her milky white teeth and turned her head away with a grunt. “It’s true, but believe it or not.”
With this proud, aloof little manner, even someone like Li Chunzhu who disliked her could hardly fail to be swayed. Furthermore, Li Chunzhu had also personally witnessed that when the Golden Bamboo Fungus appeared in the pot, there was indeed quite a lot of water inside.
Consequently, Li Chunzhu believed it instantly, her face lighting up with joy.
A moment later, using the excuse of going to the bushes to relieve herself, Li Chunzhu slipped away in secret. Then, she headed straight back toward Ju Yun Pavilion!
Thinking that since Zhou Mianmian could secure a package of refined pastries from Shopkeeper Bai just by being a small child, Li Chunzhu brought Meifu along as well. In any case, if there was an advantage to be taken, she would be a fool not to take it!
Asking for directions all along the way to Ju Yun Pavilion, Li Chunzhu entered and without another word loudly demanded to see the shopkeeper. She and Meifu, one big and one small, both looked around with shifty eyes, wishing they could inspect every single bit of food on all the tables.
When Shopkeeper Bai walked over, he couldn’t help but frown. From which village did this mother and daughter come from? They looked exactly like a pair of large black rats.
Thus, he casually picked up half a piece of leftover steamed bun left by a guest and tossed it to Li Chunzhu. “In the future, don’t enter Ju Yun Pavilion to beg for food. For the sake of the child, here is a bite to eat.”
“What? Begging for what food?” Li Chunzhu was dumbfounded.
She wore a set of rather unclean clothes, and the child she led had a face completely covered in dirty dust; if they weren’t beggars, could they possibly be here to dine? Shopkeeper Bai snorted. Times were bad these days, yet how could beggars be so insatiable?
“What, you think it’s too little?” Shopkeeper Bai instructed someone to bring over the slop bucket. “Some of the leftover food inside hasn’t spoiled yet. The two of you can pick through it and eat.”
Li Chunzhu looked down, and only then did she realize what was happening. Her face instantly flushed deep red with intense embarrassment.
On what basis? When Zhou Laosan brought that girl Zhou Mianmian here, he could sell the bamboo fungus and even receive a portion of pastry. Yet she and her daughter became beggars, only fit to receive a dirty, leftover steamed bun and a bucket of slop!
Seeing Shopkeeper Bai turn to leave, Li Chunzhu couldn’t contain her anger and called out to stop him with her chin held high. “Don’t look at people through a crack in the door and look down on them! Keep this leftover food to feed your pigs! I came to tell you how to grow good bamboo fungus. Will you listen or not?”
Shopkeeper Bai paused, turning around in astonishment. He stared at Li Chunzhu for a good while before guessing that what this woman spoke of was probably related to the man who sold the fungus.
“You know where that man’s Golden Bamboo Fungus was obtained from?” Shopkeeper Bai’s expression turned serious.
Li Chunzhu grew proud and crossed her arms. “Of course, but you have to give me some benefits.”
The moment these words were spoken, Shopkeeper Bai let out a cold snort. He immediately drew two strings of coins from the accounts and gripped them in his hand. Ju Yun Pavilion acted efficiently; if this woman truly could assist the restaurant in obtaining the source of the Golden Bamboo Fungus, let alone two strings of coins, even ten or twenty strings would be nothing. However, if this woman dared to perform a deception, Ju Yun Pavilion would absolutely not tolerate it.
Looking at those strings of copper coins, Li Chunzhu’s eyes were instantly filled with a greedy, sharp light. She raised her hand to grab them, but was checked by Shopkeeper Bai.
“Speak first, then the money will be given,” Shopkeeper Bai said in a cold voice.
“Yes, yes, yes, I’ll speak.” Li Chunzhu was so eager her breath became uneven. She wished nothing more than to secure this money immediately. “It’s just taking that immature bamboo fungus that grows in the wild, throwing it into water to soak, and after soaking for a night, its appearance changes. It’s incredibly easy.”
Shopkeeper Bai’s expression froze.
Soaking in water, waiting for a night, and it grows well? These words were likely insufficient to deceive even a three-year-old child!
“It’s true! If you don’t believe it, you can try it yourself to find out. Quickly give me the money, and also wrap up a portion of that whatever pastry for me to eat.” Li Chunzhu shamelessly extended her hand.
Shopkeeper Bai’s face turned crimson with rage.
A moment later, accompanied by a miserable shriek, a dark, disheveled woman was thrown out by the thugs of Ju Yun Pavilion. After a barrage of punches and kicks, Li Chunzhu clutched her head and covered her stomach, beaten black and blue. Nosebleed even trickled down to the edge of her mouth, dripping onto her clothes.
“On what basis do you beat people, boohoo…” Li Chunzhu was in too much pain to speak properly.
Two strings of coins! Her two strings of coins! Why didn’t they give them to her and beat her instead!
At the back door of Ju Yun Pavilion, Shopkeeper Bai stared at Li Chunzhu, who was wailing ceaselessly on the ground, and squeezed a few words from between his teeth: “Get lost. Is Ju Yun Pavilion a place where the likes of you can come to swindle people?”
Having been a shopkeeper for many years, this was the first time he had seen someone dare to play their crooked ideas on Ju Yun Pavilion. Shopkeeper Bai clenched his fists, feeling as though he had suffered an immense insult. He then commanded the thugs to “reward” Li Chunzhu with that bucket of slop.
As a bucket of slop containing a myriad of flavors was splashed down, Li Chunzhu opened her large mouth in distress, crying even harder. As she cried, some vegetable soup actually flowed into her mouth; that flavor was truly something sour and pungent!
“In the future, whenever you see Ju Yun Pavilion, stay far away, or else we’ll beat you every single time we see you.” Leaving behind these words, Shopkeeper Bai returned inside with a dark face.
After crying for a long time, Li Chunzhu wiped the filth from her face. She craved those two strings of coins so much she nearly wanted to cry herself to death. Except, since they wouldn’t give them to her, what options did she have?
Having no other choice, she could only lead Meifu back in a filthy state. Along the way, the more she thought about it, the more aggrieved she felt, and she even delivered several kicks to Meifu, venting all her anger onto her own daughter.
“You unfilial thing! Watching your mother get beaten with your own eyes, yet you didn’t even help beg for mercy.”
“Zhou Mianmian could beg for pastries, yet you are nothing at all, a cheap good!”
Meifu also opened her mouth and wailed loudly, thick mucus even running into her mouth. “Mother, stop beating me. Mother, I want to eat that pastry, didn’t you say you were going to get it for me?”
“Spit out your old mother’s fart! I want to eat it too, where am I supposed to get it!”
At this time, the Zhou family members were just about to set off to find a place to settle down, but they couldn’t find Li Chunzhu anywhere, and were growing anxious. Consequently, before long, they spotted a woman covered entirely in filth, leading a loudly wailing child as she walked over.
“Fourth’s wife, what on earth happened to you?” Song Nianxi was shocked, her gentle, large eyes widening considerably.
Zhou Lousan knitted his brows tightly, glaring at his own wife. Grabbing her by the collar, he dragged her down to the ground. “You spendthrift woman, who did you provoke when you took the child out?”
Old Madam Zhou was nearly made to vomit by the stench of the slop. Furious, she smacked her thighs and cursed loudly, “Fourth’s wife, where did you go to seek your death again! Speak, did you go to steal someone’s slop to eat and get beaten for it?”
If she hadn’t put it that way, it might have been better, but hearing this made Li Chunzhu feel even more miserable. Feeling utterly humiliated, she lay on the ground and began to cry, her mouth wide open. “Mother, why would I steal slop to eat? Would I stoop that low?”
What, did even her mother-in-law think she looked like someone who would beg for food? In what way did she look like a beggar!
Watching the chaotic mess before her, Zhou Mianmian narrowed her smiling eyes, revealing her small, milky white teeth. A flash of satisfaction crossed her soft, doughy face. She deserved it; she knew this creature would go to Ju Yun Pavilion to act foolishly, and Ju Yun Pavilion had taught her a fine lesson. She flailed her short arms and legs, remaining joyful for a good while.
Just then, out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly caught sight of a commotion up ahead. Thus, she toddled back toward the adults. Li Chunzhu deserved to suffer, but the Zhou family’s proper business could not be delayed by her.
Zhou Mianmian stretched out her small hand, grabbing the sleeve of Zhou Laosan’s garment. “Daddy, look.” After speaking, little Mianmian pointed urgently ahead.
Zhou Laosan followed the direction his daughter pointed. Not far away, a fair number of fleeing fellow villagers were gathered together. Beside them were also people sent by the city’s local government.
“Something must be happening over there; Daddy needs to go take a look.” Zhou Laosan’s expression turned somewhat grave.
Currently, refugees were numerous, and the government would not sit by and ignore them; they had surely sent people to manage the situation. Furthermore, if they wished to remain and settle down, they would inevitably have to go through the government to resolve their household registration issues. It seemed highly necessary to go over and take a look.
Thus, Zhou Laosan shot a glance at Zhou Lousan, telling him to keep a tight hold on Li Chunzhu so she wouldn’t cause any more chaos.
Then he said to Old Madam Zhou, “Mother, Axi, there are government soldiers ahead. I’ll go see if we can secure a way to make a living here.” After Zhou Laosan finished speaking, he walked briskly toward the crowd ahead.