Proofread by Claire.KK
Xiao Baoshan had just finished talking when they heard Xiao Baocheng speaking outside. “Ma, third aunt, you’ve finally returned!”
They’ve come back?
Ye Xiaoxian and her family came out also.
The day had not quite become fully dark and they could just vaguely see that Wong Mudan and Chen Ju were in a bad situation. They were coming back, supporting each other hand-in-hand.
“Ma, where did you go? Why have you come home so late? No one was cooking and Grandpa was scolding us just now at home!”
Wong Mudan was enraged all of a sudden. “Are all of you in this family dead apart from us two? You were just waiting for us to cook dinner and doing nothing?”
Xiao Baocheng answered, “You should have at least told us where you had been. There were only men in our family.”
Wong Mudan’s anger grew.‘So what? Men don’t have to work?’
‘Xiao Baoshan and Xiao Baofeng of the second household just work like others do, don’t they?’
‘Especially Xiao Baoshan, who is always seen chopping firewood or washing vegetables outside.’
Xiao Baocheng saw her mother’s anger, so he added, “Ma, don’t you remember that you said this? You said that men should go out to learn in school and make money, and that it’s alright to leave all the chores back home to women.”
Wong Mudan almost spat blood.
Indeed, she said this.
In this family, Old Mr. Xiao naturally did not work, and her man and Chen Ju’s man were both working for the government office, getting paid two taels of silver every month. In the past, to bully the second household, Wong Mudan always threw all the chores to them and mocked Li Hongmei for not having a man.
Now she was foiled by her own plan.
After Xiao Baocheng finished talking, Wong Mudan’s man, Xiao Tieshu, came out too and also began to scold her. “Where the hell have you two been? You came home that late? I thought you two were dead out there.”
Wong Mudan suddenly felt wronged. “I went up the mountain!”
“What were you doing there in such weather?”
“Little Ye picked up a wild hare in the mountain so I thought maybe I could pick something else, so Ju and I were going up there as well.”
“So? Did you get anything?” asked Xiao Tieshu panting with rage.
‘Get anything? I haven’t picked up a damn thing, not even a hare’s hair, but only tripped over to the ground.’
Wong Mudan was trying to find someone to comfort herself, however not only did nobody come to console her, but she was now almost suffocated by anger.
She then let out her anger onto Ye Xiaoxian. “Little Ye, you little bitch. It’s all your fault. You said there was game meat to pick up in the mountain and you let me run up there for nothing.”
Ye Xiaoxian was not happy with her accusation. She had just said it randomly, and who knew that Wong Mudan would go up the mountain herself?
“Yes, I did say there was game in the mountain but didn’t you say that they were not edible because of disease? Since they weren’t edible, why did you bother going up the mountain?” Ye Xiaoxian retorted.
“I…” Wong Mudan stuttered.
Again her husband scolded, “Why are you still standing there? Hurry up and cook the meal!”
Wong Mudan said in a pathetic tone, “But I fell over and my hip seized up.”
Xiao Tieshu replied, “So? So there’s nobody cooking dinner then?”
“Okay…okay, I will cook dinner right away!”
She failed to gain any sympathy and without any help she could only cook dinner by herself.
…
The following day.
Ye Xiaoxian had halved the amount of shortbread she was going to sell. She planned to sell them only in the morning and slowly decrease the amount day by day. Right now she had to focus on selling cold jelly.
On the one hand, cold shortbread was not tasty and on the other hand, the weather was hot.
Still, she needed to add more new produce which would only happen when she had made enough money.
Just as she opened her cold jelly stall that day, Housekeeper Liu came to her. “Ah young Mrs. Xiao, you finally came. Our young lady has been looking forward to seeing you all day.”