A'Lei, You Married a Treasure

When Zhou Chenglei saw how frightened Jiang Xia was, he said, "Great-Grandmother was joking. Snakes are only found in the mountains and grasslands; they won't be everywhere."

Great-Grandmother said, "A'Lei, don't lie to her! I wasn't wrong. These snakes are common—they're everywhere in vegetable gardens and fields. They even crawl into houses at night. I once caught one in my bedding."

Crawl into the bedding? Jiang Xia's face went pale as she recalled the news stories she had seen before.

Seeing Jiang Xia's utterly hopeless expression, Zhou Chenglei felt he could not let Great-Grandmother say another word. He said, "Great-Grandmother is lying to you. She's deliberately trying to scare you. Great-Grandmother, could you help me throw these two snakes away?"

If Great-Grandmother kept scaring her, she probably would not dare sleep tonight.

He picked up a Snakeskin Bag that had been used to carry rubbish earlier and tossed the snakes inside.

The village elders said that snakes that entered a house could not be beaten to death; they could only be thrown out.

"I wasn't lying. It's true." But the reason there had been a snake in the bedding was because Great-Grandmother had caught two snakes for her Grandson to play with. That night, the bamboo basket lid had not been tied securely, and the snakes had crawled out.

Seeing how pale Jiang Xia's face had become, she felt she had scared her enough. Jiang Xia probably would not dare sleep alone tonight.

She tossed the snakes into the Snakeskin Bag as well, then carried it and called to the neighboring family. "All right, it's fine now! Go back and get on with your own work! Anyone with nothing to do can stay and help my Little Stone tidy up the courtyard."

As soon as Pan Daidi's family heard that, they all left.

There was a pile of work waiting at home early in the morning. Who had time to help someone else clean up their courtyard?

Zhou Junjie glanced at Jiang Xia. He had wanted to stay, but his wife dragged him away.

After everyone had left, Great-Grandmother deliberately wanted to toughen Jiang Xia up. How could someone living in the countryside be afraid of snakes? In the height of summer, a snake could dart out at any moment while walking down the road.

Great-Grandmother grabbed Jiang Xia's hand and headed outside. "Come on, Great-Grandmother will take you to throw out the snakes."

Jiang Xia let Great-Grandmother pull her along, her whole body stiff. Great-Grandmother's hand had just held snakes, hadn't it?

The two headed toward the fields.

Not far ahead, Pan Daidi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Today, we're going to weed the Peanut Field."

Zhou Junjie was Pan Daidi's youngest son. The moment he heard that, he said, "Mom, I'll go to the docks and see if there's any work."

Then he ran off! Pan Daidi's eldest daughter-in-law pursed her lips. At this hour, all the boats had already gone out to sea. What work could there be at the docks?

Her second brother-in-law was lazy, greedy, lecherous, and fond of gambling. He was probably off gambling again. She wanted to split up the family herself.

Pan Daidi ignored him and led her two daughters-in-law toward the Peanut Field.

Pan Daidi's younger daughter-in-law said, "You got scared like that over two Grass Snakes? Making a mountain out of a molehill—I thought something serious had happened!"

The eldest daughter-in-law spoke with envy in her voice. "She's from the city. How would she normally ever see snakes? She's probably seen plenty of cars, though."

Thinking of how Jiang Xia had ignored her, Pan Daidi said in a strange, mocking tone, "I've seen plenty of people afraid of snakes, but it's my first time seeing someone as scared as she was! If she's so delicate, she shouldn't have married into our village! Didn't you see the way she acted just now? She wouldn't even respond when people spoke to her—her eyes were practically on top of her head. So what if she's seen lots of cars? It's not like her family owns one!"

Remembering the way her own husband had looked at Jiang Xia, the younger daughter-in-law could not help sneering. "So city people are so great? She's a city girl, yet in the end she still married a fisherman. And they say she's educated—would an educated person be so shameless? Climbing on top of a man in broad daylight, she has no shame at all. Even the chickens in District Three can't ride as well as she can."

Those words angered both Jiang Xia and Great-Grandmother!

Jiang Xia wanted nothing more than to throw the snakes in the Snakeskin Bag onto her.

As if seeing through her thoughts, Great-Grandmother handed her the Snakeskin Bag.

Jiang Xia did not know where the courage came from, but she immediately took it, swung the bag, and flung the two snakes out. They landed right behind the three women's feet.

The three heard the sound and looked down.

"Ah!"

The two snakes wriggled wildly around their feet. The three women screamed again and again, hopping about like live fish.

Just then, an old man came up from the narrow path through the fields, and the younger daughter-in-law leaped straight onto his back! After throwing the snakes, Jiang Xia grabbed Great-Grandmother and ran! The two raced all the way back to the Zhou Family Old House. Looking at each other, they both burst into laughter.

Zhou Chenglei was cleaning inside the house. Hearing them, he came out and looked at them in confusion.

Great-Grandmother laughed. "A'Lei, your wife is quite something. You must cherish her properly."

Jiang Xia was embarrassed. How had Great-Grandmother decided she was quite something? Was throwing snakes at people something to be proud of?

Or was it admirable to run away after throwing them, fleeing the scene of the crime? Zhou Chenglei glanced at Jiang Xia, not understanding, and only nodded politely in response to Great-Grandmother.

Feeling a little awkward, Jiang Xia hurriedly said, "I'll go sweep the house."

Jiang Xia walked into the house and looked around. She kept feeling that a snake might be hiding in some unknown corner, waiting for her.

Zhou Chenglei thought she was still afraid. "I can clean the house. Go home and pack your things."

Jiang Xia shook her head. "No. We'll clean together. I need to inspect it carefully."

Zhou Chenglei said nothing more. He knew that unless she checked every inch herself, she probably would not dare move in.

He suddenly understood a little why she had made a fuss every few days. She probably truly found rural life very difficult to get used to.

Zhou Chenglei looked at the drafty house that smelled of mildew. Their living conditions were even worse now.

She probably would not last more than a few days before leaving.

Great-Grandmother said, "I'll help you weed."

The husband and wife answered in unison, "No need, Great-Grandmother. We can do it ourselves!"

Great-Grandmother chuckled. "It's fine. I'm idle anyway. Xiao Xia, remember to inspect everything carefully. Who knows whether that pair of snakes laid a nest of eggs in the house, then hatched a litter of baby snakes."

Jiang Xia: "."

What kind of ferocious nonsense was that? A nest of snake eggs, then a litter of baby snakes?

Was that even possible?

She wanted to transmigrate back!

She missed the one-bedroom, one-living-room apartment she had bought in Capital City, even though it had not been handed over yet.

Great-Grandmother smiled as she wielded her hoe over the weeds. Haha. She refused to believe Jiang Xia would still dare sleep alone tonight.

Wouldn't she be so frightened that she would have to cling to A'Lei to sleep? Great-Grandmother was still waiting to hold a great-grandchild!

Great-Grandmother's son was the same age as A'Lei, though they were of different generations, and the grandsons he had borne were already old enough for primary school.

Great-Grandmother held seniority in the family. She was only two years older than Mother Zhou, yet her generation was above Mother Zhou's.

She worked with incredible efficiency. With each swing of the hoe, she shaved away a thin layer of turf.

It would not do to leave Great-Grandmother alone in the courtyard, so Jiang Xia went to weed alongside her.

Jiang Xia held a hoe and copied Great-Grandmother's movements, but she could not do it as well. Either she dug too deep and made a pit, or too shallow and left the roots behind. The ground ended up pocked with holes, a miserable sight.

After hoeing for a while, her waist hurt, and so did her hands.

When she looked, blisters had already risen across her palms.

These hands were too soft; they had blistered so quickly. This body was far too delicate.

Jiang Xia only glanced at them and ignored them, continuing to hoe slowly.

By the time Zhou Chenglei finished cleaning, Great-Grandmother and Jiang Xia had also cleared all the weeds from the courtyard.

Jiang Xia was good with her hands and had already learned how to use the hoe to weed. Only, several blisters had formed on both palms and burst. She did not feel much pain while working, so she paid them no mind.

Great-Grandmother looked at the patch of ground Jiang Xia had tidied—flat and clean—and praised her cheerfully, "Xiao Xia learns so quickly. A'Lei, you married a treasure."

Someone so capable, who could learn at a glance—this was Great-Grandmother's first time seeing such a person.

Zhou Chenglei looked over.

This chapter had been stockpiled several months ago. I experienced snakes entering the house as a child, but I made up the part about a snake crawling into the bedding. I never expected to see a video of that exact thing just a few days ago.