Da He Village ate two meals a day, a little in the morning and a little in the afternoon; there was no cooking at noon.
But at this moment, a faint smell of meat wafted through the air.
Aunt Wang was sitting in her courtyard, taking a deep sniff. This was the smell of pork, definitely pork.
At this time of year, someone in the village was still eating pork!
Aunt Wang followed the scent out to the yard and saw Zhao Si Dan coming from the other side of the field. His small body carried a very large basket on his back, filled with water celery.
"Si Dan, why are you gathering so much water celery?"
Zhao Si Dan honestly replied, "My mother said water celery is delicious."
Aunt Wang's mouth twitched. Cooking water celery wasted a lot of firewood, and it was very bitter. Was Zhao Dajie deceiving her child?
What do little children know? They just eat whatever their mother gives them. Oh, the pity!
"Si Dan, wait a moment."
Aunt Wang turned and went into the house, took out a corn cake, then turned back, broke the cake into two halves, and put more than half into Zhao Si Dan's hand. "Eat quickly, fill your stomach."
Zhao Si Dan hurriedly tried to give it back. "Auntie, I can't..."
"This child, I'm giving it to you to eat, why are you being so polite?" Aunt Wang scolded angrily. "For goodness sake, everything good goes to the Cheng family, and it's hard for the four of you. A ten-year-old child who looks like six or seven... Your mother deserves it too, always thinking about her maiden family, and then she gets beaten by her own elder brother! It really makes me laugh to death! Si Dan, when you grow up, quickly go out and live on your own. Don't be like your elder brother and his wife, staying in the house and working yourselves to exhaustion, not even having a bite to eat. I think she's even more vicious than a stepmother..."
Cheng Luanluan was washing her hands in the courtyard when she suddenly heard angry shouting coming from outside.
Who was it, standing in front of her house and scolding her in broad daylight?
She dried her hands and went outside, only to see Aunt Wang pulling Zhao Si Dan, talking next door. Several times Si Dan tried to get away, but Aunt Wang forcefully pulled him back. "Alright, quickly eat this half corn cake. Absolutely do not let your mother see it, otherwise, you won't get a single bite..."
Cheng Luanluan was exasperated by her; clearly, sharing food was a good thing, yet Aunt Wang deliberately made others feel stifled.
But when she recalled the things the original owner had done, she could understand why Aunt Wang was so angry with the original owner. The two families were neighbors, with several large trees between their two courtyards. Living close to each other naturally led to many conflicts, and the original owner was someone who liked to take advantage of others. Aunt Wang had suffered losses at the hands of the original owner more than once.
Many times, Aunt Wang was scolded so fiercely by the original owner that she felt her head would burst, and could only go back and close her door.
Despite all that, Aunt Wang still gave corn cakes to the original owner's child.
As the proverb says, distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors. If she could change her relationship with Aunt Wang from war to silk, it would be a good thing. But the original owner's personality was sour and sharp-tongued; if it suddenly changed, it would truly be surprising.
"You keep this for yourselves and eat it." Cheng Luanluan stepped forward and took the basket from Zhao Si Dan. "Our family has meat to eat today, who would still crave corn cakes?"
Her words were three parts sarcasm, three parts teasing, and four parts showing off, clearly imitating the original owner's temperament by eighty percent.
Aunt Wang smelled the meat in the air, her face filled with disbelief. "Your family still has meat to eat?"
"The Cheng family broke my head open. Before, I gave them meat; now I'm snatching it back to eat myself. What's wrong with that?" Cheng Luanluan said with sound reasoning. "Let's go, Si Dan. We're going home to eat meat."
She was not deliberately boasting; she wanted to let Aunt Wang spread the word to all the villagers that she had cut ties with the Cheng family.