"No!" Xiu Xi responded vehemently, looking up at him, "Exchange for money! Buy candies!"
To exchange his catch for money to buy candies for Ruan Jiaojiao was more important to Xiu Xi than anything else; nobody should even think about stopping him!
Ruan Jianguo was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing.
However, luck wasn’t on their side this time. When they returned to the Ruan Family’s house, Liu Mei was standing in her own fenced yard and saw Ruan Jianguo carrying the roe deer. This time, she smartly didn’t come up with any schemes, but she deliberately muttered in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft, just loud enough for Ruan Jianguo to hear, "As expected of a family reincarnated from mountain spirits, they can casually bring back some meat without fearing that eating it will turn the whole family into monsters."
Ruan Jianguo’s forehead throbbed with a vein, but remembering she was a woman, he refrained from arguing and entered the yard with a cold face.
Hitting cotton with a fist, Liu Mei was displeased as well, rolled her eyes, and went back into the house.
In the main hall, the Ruanlin Family matriarch was cleaning. Seeing them carry in the roe deer, she paused and asked, "What is this..."
"Xiaoxi got it," Ruan Jianguo explained.
The Ruanlin Family matriarch put down her broom and started advising Xiu Xi. He listened without objection, and only after she had finished her instructions and told him to go to the kitchen to eat the food that was kept warm for him, he then replied, "Sold it, exchanged for candies."
The Ruanlin Family matriarch couldn’t help but smile through her tears, and Ruan Jianguo shared her helpless expression.
However, the matter wasn’t easily forgotten.
Liu Mei initially thought the roe deer was caught by Ruan Jianguo, so even though she coveted it, she held back due to fear of the Ruanlin Family. But in the evening, when she overheard people in the brigade discussing that the worker who was building a house for the Ruan Jianguo’s family mentioned a young boy from their brigade who had incredibly good luck and had picked up a thirty-something-pound roe deer on the back mountain, she blew up.
The young boy who had been with Ruan Jianguo, wasn’t that the debt-ridden ghost from her own family?
He actually caught a roe deer? And took it to the Ruan Family’s house? This ungrateful cur!
Fuming, Liu Mei stormed all the way to the Ruan Family’s home, barged in and began furiously berating Ruan Jianguo who was washing his feet in the courtyard, "Ruan Jianguo, you shameless deadbeat, you’re already so old, yet you still covet the little possessions of my boy, are you even a man? Explain yourself to me!"
Ruan Jianguo was so berated he was somewhat stunned.
Next door, Ruan Jiandang heard the commotion and came out, leaning on his crutch, and a few children who had just come home from school also ran out.
Ruanlin Family matriarch and Ruan Jiaojiao, as well as Xiu Xi, were the last to emerge.
Seeing Xiu Xi walk out from behind the Ruanlin Family matriarch, Liu Mei turned her wrath on him as well, "You ungrateful cur, have you gone mad? After so many years, even raising a pig or a dog, they would know to be grateful!"
Her shouting was so loud and unbearable that many villagers passing by could not help but stop and peer through the doorway, eager for the post-dinner drama, which they thoroughly enjoyed.
The Ruanlin Family matriarch faced Liu Mei with a stern expression and demanded, "Xiu Family’s woman, you better make yourself clear! Otherwise, don’t blame me for being rude to you!"
"Ha, aunty Ruan really has the nerve to play the victim here, but today, I must make things clear!" She turned to the onlookers behind her who were there for the excitement, "Come on, everybody, come inside, I want to see how aunty Ruan is going to explain this to me!"