Chapter Twenty Borrowing a Car

  In the end, everyone unanimously agreed to sell cooked ones. Although it was a bit more hard work for themselves, they could earn some more money and were all happy about it.

  Lan Niang's brow furrowed in concern as she said, "In the future, if each mu yields such a large quantity, I'm afraid it won't be possible for just us few people to handle."

  She raised her head to look at her, thinking that she might have gone too far. She still wanted to advise her, lest she worry too much. "Mother, let's talk about this later, you're thinking too far ahead." After swallowing the last mouthful of noodles, she put down her bowl and chopsticks, wiped the sauce from her mouth with her hand, took the handkerchief handed over by Erni, and lightly wiped her hands.

  "This is for later, tomorrow we'll just wash the pumpkin clean and throw it into the pot to cook without peeling, first sell it and then talk about it, if it can't be sold it's no big deal, now that it's cold outside it can be stored for a few days, we can also eat it ourselves."

  "Alright, let's settle it for now. It's decided then." Lan Niang clapped her hands to emphasize the decision and turned around with great enthusiasm to discuss with Liu Jian about bringing the large iron pot from the house at the foot of the mountain. They wanted to build a small stove outside using stones, otherwise, just relying on the one inside wouldn't be enough.

  Just now, I inadvertently saw Erni's hand. She and Mutian both had their hands worn out from digging sweet potatoes today. My heart ached for them, but I didn't say anything, just continued to observe for the time being.

  The thorn in her heart was forever stuck there, she would never be able to forget that after her parents passed away, she suddenly saw clearly that the people around her were so strange and even terrifying, they didn't hesitate to deceive her to achieve their goals.

  ……

  Shanxia Liujiacun, today Liu Jian and Lan Niang both got up early, finished their chores and went out.

  Lan Niang is now waiting outside Liu Lao's house, with a large pot at her feet, which was taken from the stove in this house. Nowadays, she and Liu Jian have three meals a day on the mountain, and when they come back, they just wash and sleep. There are no people staying in the house during the day, and everything is done in the small house on the mountain.

  The other day, she and her father also moved a lot of daily necessities such as chairs, bedding, washbasins, etc. to the mountain house. Now everything that is not needed at home in the mountains is being moved up the mountain, making the small hut on the mountain even more crowded, but all this is necessary.

  Liu old man's next-door neighbor Chunxiang and her mother also got up early today, holding two hot eggs that had just been picked from the chicken coop. This is for her daughter to eat in the morning to nourish her body.

  Looking far away, separated by a low fence surrounded by tree branches, I saw Lian Niang standing there facing the cold wind, and I was curious.

  Hurriedly returned home to put down the still hot eggs, tidied up her clothes and turned around to go out, ran quickly to the front, separated by a fence with a smile asked: "Lan Niang, what are you doing standing here, it's cold, do you want to go inside and sit for a while?"

  Lan Niang was originally lost in thought with her head down, when suddenly a loud voice appeared beside her, startling her and making her jump. She turned around to see Chun Xiang's mother standing in front of her, beaming with warm smiles, as if the two were extremely close and had a great relationship. However, the curious and gossipy glint in her eyes did not escape Lan Niang's notice.

  "It's all right." Lan Niang replied lightly, feeling extremely depressed in her heart.

  This year, Chunxiang's mother is the same age as herself. She usually likes to gossip about other people's families. In the first few years after marrying Liu Jian in this village, she didn't discover her this characteristic, maybe because they hadn't conceived a child yet, so everyone wasn't very familiar with her.

  Three years ago, it was a big deal when she finally got pregnant with one, and that's when people realized Liujiacun had someone like her.

  She used to stay at home and never go out of the gate, even if someone came to visit, she would hide in the inner room and not see anyone, letting her husband deal with outsiders.

  After getting pregnant, she became more outgoing and loved to chat with people, always pulling out this and that topic, especially loving to ask about other people's family gossip and then sharing it with others.

  People in this village are enthusiastic about sharing their insights with others as long as it's not their own family affairs, and they all love to chat with her.

  She also had a experienced midwife check on her after she got pregnant, and went to the temple to draw lots, all of which said that this child was a boy. She herself was certain it was a boy, but who would have thought that when the baby was born, it was actually a girl? Although she likes girls too, as previously mentioned, she had told everyone in the village that this child was a boy, so now she felt like she couldn't show her face to anyone.

  The problem is that she's a talkative person, since childhood at home she loved chatting with her mother, and the thing she loves to hear most is gossip. If because of having a daughter she can't go out, she won't be happy.

  So she stayed at home for a few days, thinking hard and came up with a plan. She invited an old Taoist priest to come over and secretly gave him a string of cash.

  It wasn't long before the whole village knew that there was an ominous thing in the village, turning boys into girls. It was originally a small matter, but the villagers were idle and guessed it was related to Zhi Xiao.

  Chunxiang's mother never came out to clarify, and the situation got more and more out of hand. Unconsciously, she smeared Zhi Xiao's reputation, so Lingshan had always disliked this woman. But this person seemed not to have noticed at all, still nagging her nonstop.

  Now, seeing her coming up again with a pack on her back, Lan Niang suppressed the depression in her heart, and with a faint smile on her face, she replied slowly in a tone that was slightly distant: "It's Liu Jian who cut some firewood on the mountain and wants to sell it in the city. He came to borrow a cart from Old Man Liu."

  "That's going into the city." Chunxiang's mother suddenly had a bright and spirited look, and leaned in closer. Her own daughter wanted to eat the osmanthus cake that her aunt brought back from the city last time, but it couldn't be bought in the village, now isn't this just perfect timing?

  "Does she know, you..." Spring Fragrance's mother lowered her head, hesitating to speak up. Her face was full of flattering smiles, but she didn't say a word, just stared at her with blinking eyes.

  "What's wrong, just say it." Lan Niang was reluctant to bother with her, but after all, they were from the same village and would have to live together for a long time.

  "By the way, help me buy a box of osmanthus cake from Shen's store in town, okay?" Chunxiang's mother smiled even more deeply.

  "It's easy, not a big deal. You go get the money and come back." Lan Niang knew that she wanted to take advantage of the situation, usually when someone in the village asked someone else to buy something for them, it was to save some money on transportation costs, and also to avoid having to go themselves. Some people would even give a few extra coins out of embarrassment. She didn't mind helping out with this errand.

  "Alright, you wait, I'll go get it."

  Chunxiang's mother hurriedly ran back home, she also knew that Lanniang was not a good person to get along with. A few years ago, she had offended her and until now, Lanniang always had a bad attitude towards her whenever they met. But Chunxiang's mother thought it wouldn't be wrong to put on a smiling face when facing her, after all, in this village, only she was the one who welcomed Lanniang with a smile. Who made herself feel guilty about something? However, this matter wasn't brought up by her own family, but rather what people in the village thought, so it couldn't be blamed on her.

  Lan Niang saw her running back home to fetch money, thinking that she would also bring some for Zhi Xiao and Er Ni later, so they could taste something new. Now that the family was slightly better off, there was no need to be stingy with the children. They should eat and drink as they pleased, Lan Niang didn't want them to miss out.

  Lan Niang waited at home for Chun Xiang's mother, Liu Jian sat idly in Old Man Liu's house for a while.

  Half a month ago, Old Liu rushed out of the city early in the morning and returned to the village entrance. On the way, he met Zhi Xiao, who was frightened. His wife then held a grudge against this family. But who can blame them? They were scared by themselves.

  Liu Jian rushed over early today to explain his intention and borrow a car. Liu Lao had already gotten up to pull the cow cart, but was stopped by Liu Pozi's glare.

  Liu Jian sighed, he had a number in his mind, but didn't show it on his face. It seemed that he had to give some real benefits, otherwise, with this woman's personality, there was no way to borrow the car today.

  "Sister-in-law, I won't borrow your family's cow for nothing." Liu Jian took out ten copper coins from his pocket and put them in front of her. "Sister-in-law, don't worry, I'll help take care of your family's cow too."

  Liu's wife sneaked a glance at the money on the table, her eyes flickered with some movement, but soon she withdrew her gaze, holding a handful of melon seeds and slowly cracking them, occasionally taking a sip of tea, not saying a word, the three people just sat there for a long time.

  Liu Jian felt uncomfortable in his heart, borrowing a car was such a hassle. Normally, when others borrowed something from them, it would be enough to just feed their cow, who would give money? He really wanted to get up and leave now, but the village only had their family's ox cart, there was nowhere else to borrow one. Usually, they didn't have many things, he could carry everything himself and run a circle in the city, but now with so many melons at home, it would be more convenient to get a cart.

  Half a day passed, and Liu Pozi didn't let Liu Jian take the money back either. She was still leisurely cracking melon seeds and sipping tea.

  Liu Jian caught on to something, his mouth corners slightly raised, and he glared at the woman. With a flick of his hand, he patted off non-existent dust from his body, stood up, and walked out while saying: "Forget it, I won't lend you any money. If my family still wants to come into town with me, let them come talk to you themselves. Those pieces of firewood aren't worth much anyway, using them ourselves is the same."

  "Come back, come back quickly." Liu's wife was anxious. According to her understanding of the situation, it wouldn't be that easy to get rid of him. He must be coming to her house to cause trouble. Why bother herself? Besides, there was still money to be made.

  Liu Pozi least wanted to get involved with was Zhi Xiao, and her parents were also somewhat disliked.

  Liu Jian stopped and turned around, Liu Pozi hastily said to the stunned Liu Lao: "Take out the cow for him, you have to return early, originally I didn't want to lend it, my family is also waiting for the cow to be used."

  Liu Jian smiled secretly, of course, he agreed with his mouth, at this time there was no farm work to do, and the cow in their house was the most idle. Liu Pozi took a look and knew that what he said was a lie, but Liu Jian didn't bother to expose it, seeing that our family's daughter's reputation is getting bigger and bigger.

  Liu's wife swept the ten copper coins on the table into her palm and turned back into the inner room.