“Song Dachuan, what are you saying?”
A loud shout rang out as Sun Xiuhe returned with Song Yaozu, just in time to hear Song Dachuan’s words, “Waste of food.”
“What do you mean I waste food? All the food I cooked before ended up in dogs’ stomachs.”
Faced with Sun Xiuhe’s fiery temper, Song Dachuan’s little bit of toughness immediately softened, and he stammered, “It’s not because Zhaodi’s cooking is really delicious that I just said it casually.”
Well, they’re trying to shift the blame.
Sure enough, the next moment, Sun Xiuhe turned her attention to Song Zhaodi.
With her hands on her hips, she glared angrily at Song Zhaodi and said, “You little brat, tell me, how much oil did you waste while I was away these past two days?”
She then said to Song Dachuan, “Her cooking is delicious, but that’s only because she’s willing to use a lot of oil! This isn’t about managing a household; it’s about squandering money!”
Song Dachuan didn’t dare to refute. Song Yaodong couldn’t stand it anymore and was about to stand up when Song Zhaodi grabbed him and held him down.
She winked at her worried parents, signaling them not to worry, and then looked at Sun Xiuhe and said, “When it comes to being a spendthrift, I’m not even one ten-thousandth as good as you, Grandma.”
“No matter how much oil I put in, it was bought with money from my uncle, not a penny from you.”
Zhao Lanzhi was somewhat surprised to hear this, as the money for the oil came from selling water celery, and her elder brother hadn’t given her any money.
Hearing this, Song Yaodong, unaware of the reason, truly believed that the mother and daughter had gone to borrow money. He felt uneasy, ashamed, and guilty.
Song Zhaodi continued to contribute.
“But Grandma, where did you buy the pork, brown rice, and that big rooster the other day?”
As soon as he finished speaking, Song Dachuan, who had been hanging his head after being scolded, immediately raised his head and looked at Sun Xiuhe questioningly.
Sun Xiuhe, however, calmly pulled Song Yaozu out and argued, “You’re such a rude girl. Yaozu was so angry with you that he went to my older brother’s house. How could I go to find him empty-handed?”
“So you didn’t care about Grandpa and us living or dying, and took all the food and vegetables with you.” Song Zhaodi poked her. “Besides, Uncle left because you made him angry, it has nothing to do with me.”
Song Yaozu gets angry whenever this is mentioned. If his mother weren’t so petty, he wouldn’t have lost face in front of his friends.
Thinking of this, Song Yaozu, who was originally going to speak up for Sun Xiuhe, glared at his mother and stormed back into the house.
Receiving a resentful look from her son, Sun Xiuhe’s momentum weakened slightly. “There’s still half a fish at home…”
“Half a fish, enough for the five of us to eat for two days?” Song Zhaodi continued to question.
Sun Xiuhe opened her mouth, as if to say something, but glancing at Song Dachuan’s dark face, she changed the subject, saying, “You have no food to eat, can’t you go buy some yourselves?”
“All the money is with you, where would we get the money to buy anything? If it weren’t for the money we borrowed from Uncle, we would have starved to death!”
At this point, Song Dachuan was also angry. He could ask his daughter-in-law’s family to pay for his son’s medical treatment, but as the head of the family, he couldn’t even afford to eat or drink and still relied on his daughter-in-law’s family for support.
Pointing at Sun Xiuhe, he said angrily, “Give Zhaodi some money, and she’ll be in charge of cooking from now on.”
He didn’t want to be gossiped about by his neighbors later, accused of being a kept man.
Sun Xiuhe was unwilling to agree, but Song Dachuan was in a fit of anger, so she reluctantly went inside and took a few coins, throwing them to Song Zhaodi as an explanation.
In the afternoon, Song Dachuan led everyone to work in the fields. Song Zhaodi said she wanted to go to the mountains to find some wild vegetables, and Song Dachuan agreed.
Song Zhaodi went to the same mountain where she had picked mushrooms last time. She wanted to pick more wild mushrooms to sell at the market the next morning and earn some money to buy her father more medicine for a couple more days.
At the foot of the mountain and halfway up, there weren’t many mushrooms left because they had been picked last time, so Song Zhaodi could only keep walking up to the top of the mountain, and she was almost there.
A ray of sunlight shone through the gaps in the leaves, and Song Zhaodi saw from afar that the light was very dazzling. Squinting, she saw a mushroom-shaped object about the size of her palm.
The color is a bit too bright, and I don’t know if it’s poisonous.
Song Zhaodi didn’t have high hopes either, but when she got closer, she was dumbfounded.
This doesn’t look like a wild mushroom; it looks more like a Ganoderma lucidum!
There were still two large ones, bigger than her palm.
Unsure if it was true, she cautiously looked around to make sure there were no poisonous snakes, insects, or other venomous creatures guarding the area before mustering her courage and groping her way over.
The subtitles immediately appeared: “Perennial Ganoderma lucidum, with a small stalk, grooved cap, kidney-shaped, semi-circular, or nearly circular, with a brownish-yellow or reddish-brown surface. It is a precious medicinal material for strengthening the body and replenishing vital energy. Contraindications: Not suitable for those with allergies, external pathogenic factors, or internal fever.”
Haha, how much is this worth!
Song Zhaodi smiled and quickly picked the two Ganoderma lucidum mushrooms. She didn’t dare to stay in one place for long, for fear of encountering the legendary poisonous snakes. She quickly changed direction and went down the mountain.
The path down the mountain led to the other side, where no mushrooms had been picked. Song Zhaodi picked quite a few mushrooms along the way, and also dug up some shepherd’s purse and purslane.
Seeing that it was getting late, she quickened her pace down the mountain. When she got home, it was time to make dinner.
Upon entering the courtyard, Song Yaozu, who had just woken up, glanced at the contents of her basket. When he saw the lush green wild vegetables, a look of disdain and disgust flashed in his eyes.
He retorted bluntly, “What’s so great about wild vegetables? Didn’t my mother give you money to buy them?”
It’s true that the well-fed don’t know the hunger of the starving.
They love to eat wild vegetables!
Song Yaozu lived the life of a pampered young master, truly believing that his family had no worries about food and drink.
Thinking of the grievances the original owner had suffered at his hands, Song Zhaodi didn’t give him a kind look either, and retorted, “Your mother gave you five coins, is that enough to buy a pound of meat or two pounds of brown rice?”
“If you don’t eat wild vegetables, do you think you can still be a rich young master in the private school?”
Upon hearing this, Song Yaozu was displeased. It was as if he was the one who caused their life of eating wild vegetables.
“What nonsense are you talking about? What does it have to do with me if you like to eat wild vegetables?”
“By the way, my mother also said that you girls will belong to someone else’s family sooner or later, so there’s no need to eat so well.”
Song Zhaodi took a deep breath, gritted her teeth and cursed, “Your mother said, your mother said, but what about you? You’re at least fifteen years old, and you’re always revolving around your mother. Are you even a man?”
“Furthermore, we are eating wild vegetables because of you. All the money was used to pay for your education and to treat your drinking buddies to meals. That’s why we are starving and cold. All of this is related to you.”
“If your classmates and friends found out about this, do you think they would look down on you, or would they look down on you?”
Those who are literate are well-educated and consider themselves superior, so they naturally look down on people who suck the blood of their relatives like leeches.
Although Song Yaozu was an incompetent rich kid, he had also been influenced by others and was somewhat arrogant. He was even more afraid that his classmates would find out about this and he would lose face.
So he frowned and scolded, “Stop talking nonsense, it’s not like that at all.”
Song Zhaodi said, “I gave you all my ten taels of betrothal money for your marriage. Am I lying?”
When it came to the bride price, Song Yaozu felt a little guilty. He had heard Sun Xiuhe mention this before and knew that Song Zhaodi had not wronged him.
Being young, he couldn’t help but get agitated. In order to prove that he hadn’t taken advantage of her, he angrily pointed at Song Zhaodi.
“It’s just ten taels of silver, you wait, I’ll pay you back right away!”
Song Yaozu stormed into the east room and quickly ran out, throwing a money bag at Song Zhaodi.
“Take the ten taels of silver. Use the remaining half string of cash to buy some good wine and food in town tomorrow morning.”
“My friend is coming, so you’d better treat him well. Otherwise, I’ll teach you a lesson!”
It turns out that none of the ten taels of silver were used!
What I didn’t expect was that the provocation tactic actually worked on Song Yaozu!
Holding the silver, Song Zhaodi immediately smiled and said, “Don’t worry, Uncle, I will definitely treat you well!”