“Zhao Dongxue, you crazy woman, get the hell out here! Shameless lunatic, it’s broad daylight and you’ve locked your courtyard gate, are you hiding inside stealing my chicken?!”
“Crazy woman, you stole my chicken! Has your conscience been eaten by dogs?!”
“Zhao Dongxue, you madwoman, you rat in a sewer, open the door! If you don’t open it, I’ll go get the brigade leader and the production team leader to come and judge this fairly for me!”
Wang Muxiang kept banging on the gate with loud thuds while calling out accusations against Mother Song, making sure everyone could hear.
The two neighboring households across the way heard the noise and came out to ask what was going on. Wang Muxiang tearfully and angrily denounced Mother Song, spreading the story that she had stolen their laying hen.
“Surely not? Zhao Dongxue may be a bit crazy, but with Song Yueying watching her, I’ve never heard of her stealing anyone’s chickens or ducks!”
“Yeah, even though Song Yueying has a bad temper and scolds whoever she sees, she still keeps her crazy mother under control like she’s raising her own child. She’s pretty strict about it.”
“A chicken is a living thing, maybe you should look again. It might have just run off somewhere.”
Hearing the neighbors defending Mother Song, Wang Muxiang was so angry she almost started cursing them too.
Fortunately, she didn’t lose her rationality completely and remembered what she was there to do.
Ignoring the neighbors, she continued pounding on the gate with her fist.
Inside the courtyard, in the main room—
“Oh no, oh no, this is bad! Wang Muxiang is here looking for her chicken! She’ll even take the bowl of chicken soup away and might hit us!” Mother Song suddenly stood up.
In her panic, she knocked over the long bench, but didn’t even glance at it. Her eyes were fixed tightly on the remaining half of the chicken in the basin, full of reluctance.
She had put in a great deal of effort to catch that chicken, falling several times before finally managing to kill and stew it. She had only eaten half of it, and now the other half was about to be taken away. She couldn’t bear it.
Anyone would have felt the same.
“No, the chicken must not be taken away by Wang Muxiang. I have to hide it!” Mother Song picked up the basin of chicken soup and rushed around the room, darting left and right.
She wanted to find a safe place to hide it, but the room was so bare and simple that everything was visible at a glance, there was nowhere to hide it.
Seeing Mother Song running around in a panic like ants on a hot pan, Song Yueying couldn’t help but think: did Wang Muxiang even know she had beaten Song Rumei so badly she looked like Zhu Bajie?
Probably not. If she knew, she wouldn’t still have the mood to come here looking for a chicken.
With a sigh, Song Yueying said, “Go block her at the gate. Don’t let Wang Muxiang force her way in. I’ll figure out a way to hide the chicken soup.”
She really couldn’t stand watching Mother Song running around aimlessly anymore, so she took the task upon herself.
“Okay, okay, okay.” Mother Song didn’t even ask where she planned to hide such a large basin of chicken soup and immediately agreed three times in a row.
Deep down, she already believed her daughter was more reliable than herself. Likewise, her trust in her daughter was absolute.
“Xiao Ying, hurry and hide it. I might not be able to stop your aunt,” Mother Song reminded her.
“Alright,” Song Yueying nodded. “Even if you can’t stop her, it’s fine, just let her in. But no matter what she says, don’t admit that we stewed her chicken.”
“Don’t admit it?” Mother Song hesitated a little. She wasn’t good at lying.
Song Yueying said, “Right. Deny it to the death.”
“Alright, I’ll deny it to the death.” Mother Song nodded firmly, placed the basin she was holding on the table, and turned to rush out.
Watching her fiery back as she ran off, Song Yueying closed her eyes and thought of entering the laboratory space.
Three seconds later, she opened her eyes again, she was still in the main room.
Song Yueying frowned. Had she guessed wrong? Had the lab not followed her through the transmigration?
But if the lab hadn’t come with her, where did the pills she had taken out come from? She was certain she had a space that allowed her to store and retrieve items at will.
As for why she couldn’t enter it now, perhaps she was using the wrong method.
Thinking of the pills, a pill immediately appeared in her hand.
“This is… a bit strange,” Song Yueying muttered to herself, placing the pill on the table. She stared at it, resting her chin on her hand in thought.
She recalled that when she was killed in the explosion, she had been inside the experimental vehicle. She could say she and the vehicle had been blown to pieces together.
No, more accurately, she had been blown to pieces, and the experimental vehicle had been reduced to scattered parts.
The experimental vehicle… right, it was her small laboratory.
As soon as she thought of entering the vehicle, the next moment she found herself inside it.
Song Yueying couldn’t help but let out a wry laugh. “Heh… so what came with me through the transmigration wasn’t the lab, it was the experimental vehicle.”
The vehicle was smaller than a full lab, but fortunately, all the necessary equipment was inside.
With a thought, Song Yueying instantly returned from the spatial experimental vehicle to reality. She placed her hand on the square table and thought “collect”, and the table was immediately taken into the space.
She had only intended to store the items on the table, not the table itself.
Song Yueying immediately corrected her mistake, returning the table to its original place. Then she only collected everything on the table, including the chicken bones, into the spatial experimental vehicle.
Looking at the empty tabletop, Song Yueying finally showed a satisfied smile.
She walked over to Qi Yanjue, took his hand, and tried to bring him into her spatial experimental vehicle. But…
He couldn’t be taken in.
A living person couldn’t be brought into her space. So Song Yueying had no choice but to drag the unconscious Qi Yanjue into her room, hide him, and close the door.
At the same time, at the courtyard gate—
As soon as the gate was opened, Wang Muxiang shoved Mother Song aside and strode in.
After staggering and steadying herself, Mother Song quickly ran in front of her again, spreading her arms to block her. “Sister-in-law, this is my home. What are you doing?”
“Zhao Dongxue, what shameful things are you doing inside the house that you only just now opened the door?” Wang Muxiang snapped back instead of answering, cursing her with harsh words.
A strong, mouthwatering aroma drifted out. “So fragrant… what are you mother and daughter eating behind closed doors? It smells so good.”
Mother Song didn’t answer, just stood there with a serious expression, still blocking her way.
After sniffing carefully, Wang Muxiang suddenly let out a loud shout, “Chicken soup! That’s chicken soup!”
“It really is chicken soup!” She glared fiercely at Mother Song. “Zhao Dongxue, you crazy woman, did you really kill my laying hen and stew it?!”
Mother Song was so frightened by Wang Muxiang’s almost ferocious expression that she took a few steps back. But she still remembered what her daughter had said.
“I didn’t see your hen,” she said, lowering her head.
“I didn’t see your hen,” she repeated.
“How could you not see it? The smell of chicken soup is clearly coming from this courtyard!” Wang Muxiang didn’t believe her at all.
Perhaps because she rarely lied, Mother Song’s palms were already sweating from nervousness. She still forced herself to lift her head, sniffed the air like she was pretending to investigate, and shook her head.
“I don’t smell any chicken soup. There’s no smell.”
“How could you not smell it? The whole yard reeks of chicken soup! Zhao Dongxue, how dare you lie to me with your eyes wide open!” Wang Muxiang was so angry she looked ready to hit her.