He pretended to wipe away his tears, stepped forward and hugged Meng Anci, choking back tears, " Anci, for your father's sake, don't hold a grudge against your uncle."
Meng Hongyi spoke up at the opportune moment, "Yes, Anci, please forgive us."
Feeling disgusted, Meng Anci stepped out of Meng Hongde's embrace and nodded gently, "Okay, Uncle, I'll listen to you."
Seeing this, Meng Hongde and Meng Hongyi were overjoyed. They exchanged a glance and asked in low voices.
"Good child, tell your uncles, did your aunt... take money from the Meng Household to buy a shop?"
Whose name is on the property deed? She's an outsider; she can't just take over the Meng Household's property..."
No one gets up early without a reason, and there's always a cause for greed.
Meng Anci tugged at Meng Hongde's sleeve, obediently looking up, "Uncle, I don't know whose name was written."
Meng Hongde thought to himself, "He's wasted his education; he doesn't even recognize these characters." He forced a fake smile.
"Go steal the property deed and let your uncle see it, then he'll know." If it's in Meng Anzhi's name, then he'll have to change it later.
Meng Anci obediently, ran quickly into the yard with her short legs, then turned around, raised her arms high, and forcefully threw the wild fruits and malt candy at the two of them.
Standing with her hands on her hips in front of Dahuang and Xiaoli, she raised her head and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Auntie, Meng Hongde and Meng Hongyi want to see the house deed!"
Boom... Meng Hongde and Meng Hongyi were so frightened that they were at a loss for what to do, their faces turning ashen with anger.
Meng Anci retorted sarcastically, "Uncle, Second Uncle, I'm not a child anymore. If you keep playing these tricks, don't blame me for disregarding our father-uncle relationship."
He originally intended to poison the two men, but he couldn't; he still needed to pass the imperial examination.
"You, you little beast, how dare you play us?" All that talk of forgiveness and softening is just a pretense to get information out of them.
Looking at the children in the yard, Meng Hongde felt a cold sweat break out on his back. It was terrifying; such young children had such heavy minds.
He didn't dare linger and ran away in terror; he didn't want to get his ribs broken again.
Seeing that his brother had run away, Meng Hongyi was not going to be foolish enough to wait for the Jin Shanyao, so he also made a hasty escape.
Seeing the two of them fleeing in such a panic, Meng Anci couldn't help but chuckle.
Meng Hongde and Meng Hongyi ran home, still shaken.
Meng Hongde peeked through the crack in the door and, seeing that Jin Shanyao hadn't followed, collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted.
His face was deathly pale. "Second brother, did you see that just now? The way that kid looked at people... it was as cold as a wolf cub... he didn't act like a child at all."
Meng Hongyi couldn't help but shudder. "This is too eerie. Do you think he might be possessed by something unclean?"
"Bah! He's been like that ever since his father died, and now that he has the Jin Shanyao backing him up, he's become even more arrogant."
Meng Hongde looked at Meng Hongyi with a reproach, "I told you to just let it go. We thought the third brother's family was all dead, but you insisted on trying to get information out of them. Now look what's happened, I wonder what Jin Shanyao will do next."
Meng Hongyi's face turned cold. "Brother, was this my idea? Wasn't it my sister-in-law who sent us to try and get information out of them?"
I told you the shop was valuable, and you two stared at me with wide eyes. When things went wrong, you tried to pin the blame on me.
Meng Hongyi looked at the two children collecting dried vegetables in the neighboring yard. The New Year was just around the corner, and he couldn't let the two children go without even a bite of dumplings.
He gritted his teeth and said, "I won't talk to you about anything anymore. I'll figure it out myself." With that, he went back to his own yard.
Wang Guihua hadn't seen her husband all morning, and then she saw him come back covered in sweat.
He asked, "Where have you been? Winter is almost here, and we haven't even gathered enough firewood yet."
"You lazy woman, stop meddling in men's affairs and go get me a bowl of water."
As Meng Hongyi spoke, he plopped down on the kang (a heated brick bed), and Wang Guihua handed him a bowl of water.
Meng Hongyi took a sip and slammed it down on the kang table with a thud. "You want to freeze me to death?"
"Where did you get upset again, taking it out on me when you get home?" Wang Guihua took the bowl away. "Drink it or don't, it's up to you."
Meng Hongyi scratched his head in frustration, "Go and try to get on good terms with that guy from the third brother's family."
Wang Guihua asked in confusion, "Didn't you forbid me from associating with her?"
"Just go, don't waste your breath." Meng Hongyi raised his eyebrows, startling Wang Guihua into taking a half-step back.
She was originally from another village and shouldn't have been able to marry into Little River Village, but her parents agreed to the marriage because Meng Hongyi offered a large dowry.
She only realized after marrying into the family that Meng Hongyi was gentle on the surface but actually had a terrible temper, and no girl in Little River Village was willing to marry him.
Since their marriage, Meng Hongyi had always scolded her, but he had never laid a hand on her. Over time, she had gotten used to it, but this was the first time he had ever berated her so harshly.
Wang Guihua pursed her lips, feeling a little wronged. She worked hard from morning till night for her family, risking her life to go up the mountain just to pick more wild vegetables and mushrooms, planning to dry them and eat them in the winter.
Meng Hongyi not only didn't care about her, but also made her go and curry favor with Jin Shanyao.
Thinking this, tears streamed down my face. "Can't we just live a normal life together?"
Why target the third wife's family? It was fine when her younger brother and sister-in-law were alive, but now they only have two motherless children left. How could you bring yourself to do that?
"If I don't take action, what will you and the children eat? Will you eat wild vegetables every day? Look at the two children in the third son's family, they not only have meat at every meal, but they can also go to the academy to study."
Wang Guihua, you should really think about this! Instead of pitying other people's children, why don't you think about your own?
The Lunar New Year is just around the corner; letting your child eat dumplings is more important than any sense of dignity.
Wang Guihua was speechless after being scolded. She held the rough porcelain bowl in her hand for a long while before woodenly saying, "I'll give it a try."
Meng Household
Lu Chi and Dahuang stared at each other, Lu Chi feeling indignant. He pointed at the dog and asked Meng Anci.
Why should I eat what the dog eats?
Meng Anci sat on a small stool, holding a bowl, picked up a meatball, put it in his mouth, and mumbled something.
You eat whatever the dog eats.
"What did you say?" Lu Chi stood up.
Meng Anci looked up at him. This guy was really strange; he got angry so easily. He reached out and tugged at Lu Chi's trouser leg twice. "Do you still want the fried meatballs? If not, give them to me."
"Dream on," Lu Chi stuffed the meatball into his mouth, and an indescribable deliciousness exploded in his mouth.
The stifling feeling of eating with a dog was completely overshadowed by the delicious food, and he even had an absurd thought: what if all the dishes were this delicious?
It's not that it's unacceptable.
He squatted down next to Meng Anci, "Who were those two men who came looking for you yesterday?"
Meng Anci glanced at him sideways, "Don't pry into the master's affairs."
"Little brat, I'm just worried you'll get taken advantage of," he said, glancing out of the corner of his eye as Meng Anzhi poured half a bowl of morel mushrooms into a clean earthenware pot with a "splash".
Under the eaves, a mountain leopard lazily sunbathed. I got up and walked over, then lowered my head and began to munch on its fur. Its glossy fur shimmered with a golden light under the sun.
Meng Anzhi turned and went into the kitchen. When she came out again, she added half a basin of water to the pot for Dahuang.
Lu Chi utterly shocked. The soup... the soup was filled with morel mushrooms and porcini mushrooms.
"Cough! Cough cough cough!" Lu Chi suddenly pounded his chest... Oh no, he choked.
After catching his breath, he asked Meng Anci, "What are these meatballs made of?"
Meng Anci frowned slightly. "Call me Master."
Lu Chi chuckled in exasperation, picked up Meng Anci with one arm, and bounced her around a couple of times in his arms. "Little Master, tell me, please."
Meng Anci's ears turned slightly red as she tried to keep a straight face and scolded, "What kind of behavior is this? Put me down right now!"
"No, unless you tell me what ingredients you used."
Meng Anci pursed her lips, seemingly helpless, and said in a childish voice, "There are matsutake mushrooms, morels, porcini mushrooms, lion's mane mushrooms, chanterelles..."
Lu Chi was astonished. "You're feeding matsutake mushrooms to dogs? These are things that can be used as tribute."
Meng Anci took a bite of the fragrant fried meatball. "Tribute? To whom? The emperor? The emperor is too far away; we can't send it."
My aunt said that good things should be kept for oneself, and only things one doesn't need should be given to others.
Having at least half a year of schooling, he already knew that some of his aunt's words were outrageous and couldn't be spoken aloud. For example, these morel mushrooms—his aunt said that eating them could help him grow stronger, clear his mind, and improve his eyesight.
If the emperor ate it, he would just turn into a pile of shit, ugh... how disgusting.
Meng Anci shivered involuntarily. He broke free from Lu Chi's embrace and took the empty bowl into the kitchen.