Chapter Thirty-Two Worries

  "What's going on, it was he who suggested sending Zhi Xiao to the mountain in the first place. If not for him, our daughter would still be living at the foot of the mountain now. And yet, you want to give gifts to this kind of person? Are you out of your mind? We're busy running around every day, what's it all for? If you send more things over, that's just throwing them away, I won't allow it!"

  Lan Niang's words were very clear, a straightforward refusal, which meant she did not agree to send the person away. As for Liu Lao Tou, he was just borrowing their car and had no choice, so he had to put on a show of doing something about it.

  Luckily her family had two small cottages on this mountain, otherwise where would they be driven to?

  Knowing the end sat and continued listening.

  Liu Er limped over, took a sip of wine and chimed in: "Sister-in-law, I think you can't just not send this meat."

  Ling Nu didn't understand: "Why is this?"

  Liu Er put down his chopsticks, and everyone in the house looked at him before he slowly said:

  "I reckon by now every household in the village at the foot of the mountain knows that your family has caught a wild boar. If they don't know yet, it's only a matter of time, especially for your family - with even the slightest commotion, they'll perk up their ears."

  "Didn't you see, just now those three pork sellers, one of them Liu Quan is the village head's nephew. This person has a small heart, I saw him thinking that you would give it to him for free. He didn't dare to speak up in front of us, but afterwards he will definitely gossip and tell his uncle. Even if the village head doesn't do anything now, who knows what will happen in the future."

  Lan Niang's face turned bright red with rage, her grip on the chopsticks tightening as she exclaimed: "Can't our family have a bit of good fortune? We'll just shut our doors and live our own lives. Let others gossip all they want. From the day I was born until now, I've never been talked about by this bunch of foul-mouthed people."

  Lan Niang was like a dead pig that wasn't afraid of boiling water, and she huffily gulped down a mouthful of wine, just to show her disagreement with sending meat to this family.

  Liu Er sighed, he lived next door to them and knew all about the good deeds of these three aunts and six grannies. So when he returned from the battlefield with a lame leg, they wanted to arrange a marriage for him, but he was not willing. He would rather find someone who caught his eye and had fewer troubles, and live a peaceful life.

  Looking at him with a face full of disdain and a small mouth completely agreeing with his mother's knowing, he didn't believe in any disaster star talk. From the battlefield where blood flowed like rivers, he had almost forgotten what his own surname was, who would still care about these things.

  Nor did I see this girl do anything earth-shaking as a "disaster star", at most it was the death of an old scholar, his wife followed and made a fuss, but also died in her own bed, which is a bit hard to say, who knows what good things he did with his wife that night before he died.

  Liu Er thought to himself with a smile in his heart, and then he picked up the wine and drank again.

  "Xiao Lan, your second uncle is right. If you can avoid it, then avoid it a bit. If you can make fewer trips, then make fewer trips. You know this kid is still young and has already moved to the mountain, nothing else should happen."

  Liu Jian brought up the matter with a serious tone, it's not a big deal, just giving some meat away, this Lian Niang is someone who likes to be meticulous about small things but sloppy about big things, isn't that also a way to avoid a lot of trouble?

  Liu Jian was drinking, making a "zizi" sound, and Lian Niang was too mindful of this knowledge, not allowing others to say a word. As long as she heard it, with her unchanging temperament, she would definitely find someone to reason with.

  Lan Niang pulled Zhi Xiao over, embracing her in her arms, and looked at Er Ni and Mu Tian with a frown, her face full of worry, the fire in her heart not burning in one place.

  Look at all these things, good children are forced to live in the mountains by them, and they can't even have a peaceful life. They also need to send gifts to avoid trouble with them in the future.

  Lan Niang was annoyed in her heart, she couldn't stand this kind of person. She thought that as long as she lived a good life at home, it would be fine, but she had to guard against this person's knife in the back and also try to please him with flattery. How could she not be angry?

  Looking at these three children again and hearing such annoying things, Lan Niang's heart softened once more.

  Liu Er finally limped away with the cleaned pig's head, tied up with a rope and carried in one hand, while carrying half a bucket of pig's blood and the pig's lower limbs wrapped in lotus leaves in the other, humming a tune as he walked down the mountain.

  As soon as they entered the village, several good wives from the households, who had been informed by children keeping watch outside, came out to observe at the door. Seeing Liu Er walking with a big pig's head in his hand, coming from the direction of the mountain, further confirmed what the three men who bought pork said.

  There are those with red eyes, those who turn up their noses, those whose eyes stare straight ahead without blinking, those whose faces are not in harmony with their hearts, and also those who approach with a sour tone.

  "I say Second Uncle, where did you get rich from again? Look at this huge pig head, it must be over several tens of kilograms."

  Her two eyes stared at him, looking at the pig's head on Liu Erlang's right hand. "Ah, look at the meat on this pig's cheek, it must be delicious when stir-fried." The woman gave Liu Erlang a very affirmative answer, her two eyes shining brightly as she looked at him, waiting for him to continue the conversation so that she could go on talking.

  Liu Er understood what she meant as soon as he heard it, nodded his head, shook his brain and said nonsense, pretending not to understand: "Okay, want to eat the meat on this side, one hundred coins a catty."

  Liu Er limped forward, his eyes fixed on her courtyard, and said with a very pleased expression, "Otherwise, I can exchange it for the two old hens in your house." He nodded, looking like he had made a very profitable deal.

  Liu Erbie had been craving it for a long time, and the fat hen in their yard that clucked and searched for food was already very old.

  The woman heard this, spat at Liu Erlong's face and scolded: "Your heart is too black, with a big pig head like yours, and a bucket of pig blood. Look, there are still many pig trotters here. You're not satisfied yet, you want to take advantage of me."

  When the old woman said these last two words, Liu Er's crippled body shook with a burst of laughter.

  But the woman still had an air of not giving in, and she loudly shouted to the neighbors who were peeking out of their windows, afraid that others wouldn't know that Liu Er was greedy for her family's few old hens.

  Don't mention the price of one hundred coins per catty, this old woman had long heard that selling to those three people was very cheap. Does Liu Er think she doesn't know? He still wants to swindle her, no way.

  And then there are those two old hens, who every day wait for them to lay eggs to supplement their grandson's nutrition. They were also targeted by this cripple.

  Since she couldn't gain an advantage, she gave up and hurriedly leaned forward to block Liu Er's body from poking his head into her own courtyard.

  The several women standing at their own doors to gather news and watch the excitement, seeing this, also turned pale and went back into their respective houses.

  Liu the Second saw it, didn't care, had just drunk some wine, with a buzz on, shaking his head and walking back and forth. He went back to sleep for a while, and tomorrow he would get up to deal with this big pig's head. The pork head meat is more fragrant than the meat on its body, pig ears, pig nose, and pig cheeks are all good dishes to go with wine. Today, he really got a bargain, feeling pleased and dizzy thinking about it.

  Lan Niang and Er Nian put away the bowls and chopsticks, washed their faces and came out. Liu Jian had already cut about a catty of meat from the pig and taken down half a leg of pork, saying that he would send it to the village chief's house later. Lan Niang followed him, ignoring him and letting him do it himself.

  She wasn't actually angry at that foolish Liu Jian, but just couldn't accept such a result. What a frustrating thing! It really makes one's blood boil and rush to the head. Better not to care about it, ignore him, let him be, and save oneself from annoyance.

  She went back home alone, took care of the three kids until they finished washing up and went to bed, then she headed down the mountain to hurry back home.

  From start to finish, he didn't say a word to Liu Jian, and Liu Jian had no choice but to sullenly carry the meat and follow behind.

  Mù Tiān emerged from the quilt on the bamboo chair and was about to snuggle into the middle of their bed.

  He knew he was seen, and with a fierce face, he wanted to drive him away. He smiled and slipped away like a fish, crawling past his sister's feet, lifting up the quilt and drilling in.

  Erni grasped his icy little foot that wasn't wearing shoes and scolded: "Don't even know to wear a pair of shoes, what if you catch a chill, it's still cold outside."

  "This kid didn't say a word either, turned his gaze and looked at Zhi Xiao: "Sister, it seems that the big aunt is scolding the uncle, right?""

  "You say you're stupid and you still don't believe it. This is something everyone knows, but you've only just realized." Zhi Xiao pinched his chubby cheeks.

  "I discovered early on that since Uncle said he wanted to send pork to the village chief's house, Auntie immediately put on a long face and was unhappy. At the time, I didn't say anything because I was afraid of making Auntie angry."

  Erni heard this and also pinched him under the quilt, making him cry out loud, "Sister, be gentle, my hands are still sore from lifting that mountain pig's head today. Why aren't you as gentle as Sister Zhixiao?"

  Finally, there was a soft murmur of complaint.

  Erni sneered, lifted the quilt and slapped him a few times. "You little sycophant, let me show you what it means to be fierce. I just raised that pig's head, no one was fighting with you for it, who was eager to eat it? Wasn't it you? And yet you speak as if you were the only one who lifted it."

  Seize Mu Tian who is about to drill into the quilt, tickle his armpits and neck, tease Mu Tian until he laughs and begs for mercy.

  Knowing that she saw this, she lifted the quilt and was even more eager to bully this stinky boy. How could she forgive him for teasing her more and more?

  Erni was laughing so hard she was gasping for breath, leaning forward with her body tilted to one side, watching the scene in front of her.

  Knowing is better than she thought, and although her brother and sister were a bit repelled at first, they also trembled with fear that Knowing would not accept them and drive them out. Compared to the other siblings, she had more reason to do so, but Knowing still accepted her brother and sister living here. Maybe because she needed playmates living alone on the mountain, whatever the reason, she was very grateful in her heart.

  Today was ruined by Liu Er Can's careless words, and she actually started worrying about Zhi Xiao.

  She is often bullied in the village, although she is very brave and can scold someone's ancestors for eighteen generations wherever she is cheated, if she can't scold enough, she dares to fight with people.

  Look at her now laughing so happily, after all, she's only in her early teens, and wants to compete with the villagers, plus the village chief's character, isn't this like an egg hitting a rock?

  Her arm couldn't twist around other people's thighs. If Uncle Liu sent some meat over, she could avoid unnecessary trouble, and she agreed.

  Maybe she thought too much, when she first knew about going up the mountain, being forced to live on the mountain, and then came to open her mouth to ask for tribute. How dare they? They often spoke ill of Xiaozhi in the past, now they are begging Xiaozhi to share food with them? Are they not afraid of Xiaozhi now?