Chiang Songhai heard the noise in the courtyard from inside the house, but when he came out, he was frightened to see his old wife sitting on the ground.
"Ah Tao, what happened to you?"
"Uncle Hai, don’t worry, don’t run! I’m fine." Ge Liutao saw him about to run over to help her and was equally frightened. He had an injury on his back still, he definitely couldn’t run.
She got up, only to feel that the fall had been quite severe, and she moved awkwardly as she tried to walk.
"What happened, did Baohe push you?" Chiang Songhai saw her pale complexion and was both shocked and angry. He reached out to help her, his hand shaking.
"He took our pork, and when I tried to pull him back, he pushed me away. I just wasn’t steady on my feet." Ge Liutao, supporting herself with his hand, felt weak all over. The scare had been too much for her; her heart was pounding rapidly and uncomfortably, and cold sweat had broken out.
A fall at their age could be serious; there was a woman in the village who had taken a light fall, and as a result, hadn’t been able to stand up again, and had been paralyzed for over a decade.
Thinking of such dangers, Ge Liutao broke out in a fresh sweat.
At that moment, both she and Chiang Songhai recalled what Chiang Xiao had just said.
The meat shouldn’t have been hung outside.
But where did they expect Chiang Baohe to actually do something at the beginning? Just running to his uncle’s house to steal the pork, even pushing down his aunt, if word of this got out, wouldn’t Chiang Baohe be spat upon by everyone?
Chiang Songhai, thinking back to the lecture he had given Chiang Xiao earlier, felt his face grow hot with embarrassment.
"Walk a few steps, hurry and walk a few steps to see if anything’s wrong," he urged Ge Liutao.
Ge Liutao then walked a few steps in the courtyard.
Her legs were a bit weak, but thankfully, there was no serious issue.
Chiang Songhai breathed a sigh of relief but also felt that this was not a trivial matter. As an uncle, he had always been able to speak a few words to his nephew, so he and Ge Liutao went next door, supporting each other.
"Big brother, sister-in-law, where is Baohe?"
Ho Laidi, who was cooking in the kitchen, handed her spatula to Song Xiyun upon hearing Chiang Songhai’s voice, asking her to take over the cooking as she quickly rushed out. Without waiting for them to speak, she pointed at Ge Liutao and started shouting angrily.
"What’s this, Second Aunt, haven’t you caused enough trouble? Are you dragging Second Uncle here to pick a quarrel with us, his own brother and sister-in-law? What exactly are you scheming?"
Ge Liutao was blamed and scolded by her without having done or said anything and although she was initially confused, the shove she received from Chiang Baohe earlier had agitated her enough to make a retort: "Sister-in-law, I didn’t drag Uncle Hai here to argue with you..."
"Look at this, you say you didn’t come to argue? Isn’t it an argument if you contradict everything I say?" Ho Laidi glared at her with a dark expression, "Now you’ve become quite something, managing the household well, hiding whatever little things you buy. What about us? Did Father Baoguo deserve to nearly die saving a brother ! The man he saved is now, over some meat, not only driving us out of our home but also coming to our doorstep to quarrel!"
She brought up the past life-saving grace of Chiang Songtao to Chiang Songhai and then complained about the dispute over some meat, which stirred unrest in Chiang Songhai’s heart again.
He looked at Ge Liutao with a sense of guilt.
Every time, the sister-in-law didn’t directly scold him; she took out her anger on his wife. It had been for decades, and he truly felt sorry for her.
Yet, he didn’t know what to do, and could only keep his face red with suppressed frustration.
"Sister-in-law, there’s no need to bring all that up. If you want something just say it outright. But how could Baohe take the meat without saying a word? Alright, even that aside, he still pushed down his Second Aunt!"
Ho Laidi gave Ge Liutao a sidelong glance, "So what, did the fall cripple you?"