Chapter 35
Treat
Seeing the Liu family beating the Mas up one-sidedly, Mu Yangling was eager to join in. However, before she could roll up her sleeves, Mu Shi rushed over quickly to cover his daughter’s mouth and pull her behind him. Lowering his voice, he scolded, “Didn’t you say that you were coming to help your Great-aunt harvest grain crops? You brat, who asked you to interrupt? Do you wish to stay unmarried in the future?”
Mu Shi was on his way there when he heard a few youths vividly saying that his daughter had taught her great-aunt to drag down Ma Dagui’s family before dying. He was so angry that smoke was about to rise from his head.
“Hurry up and bring your cousins to harvest the grains. This is a matter for the adults to handle. You’re not allowed to get involved. If you continue to be disobedient, I won’t bring you out in the future.”
Mu Yangling shrunk her neck and gave a disheartened “oh”. Then, she went forward and grabbed Liu Ting and the others, who were watching with relish, and said, “Let’s go and help Great-aunt’s family harvest the grains. Cousin, quickly bring us there.” Mu Yangling reached out and pulled Ma Xiuhong.
Ma Xiuhong looked at her grandmother and then at the scene, feeling a little worried.
Liu Ting patted his chest and reassured her. “Cousin, don’t worry. With my grandfather around, no one can bully Great-aunt.”
Ma Xiuhong took her sister’s hand and led everyone to the field. Then, she stole a glance at Mu Yangling and said softly, “Thank you, Cousin.”
Mu Yangling raised her eyebrows. Ma Xiuhong said, “If it weren’t for you, Great-uncle and the rest wouldn’t have come.”
“You should’ve called someone to get Great-uncle to come long ago. Although they’re busy, they can still squeeze out a few days to handle Great-aunt’s matter.”
Ma Xiuhong shook her head and said even more softly, “It’s different for my grandmother. The witch said that she jinxed her husband, children and grandchildren.”
Mu Yangling frowned. “You believe that?”
“I don’t believe it.” Ma Xiuhong shook her head. “But everyone else does. Grandmother said that Great-uncle also believes it…”
Mu Yangling immediately stopped talking and started pondering. With such a reputation, no matter how hard Great-aunt worked, she would be ostracized by West Mountain Village and the Ma Family. Even her maternal family would not like her too much.
Otherwise, it was impossible for Nearhill Village to not stand up for Great-aunt for the past few years. Ultimately, it was because Great-aunt was still burdened by this reputation.
Mu Yangling narrowed her eyes. Four Village wasn’t too far away—just turn left along the main road and one should arrive in an hour.
As the six children stood in the field, Mu Yangling said, “I’ll go pull the thatch. You guys rub the rope behind. Later, you can bring the grains over and I’ll tie them up. We’ll carry them back when we more or less finish tying them up.”
Everyone listened to Mu Yangling’s arrangements. The children, including the youngest, Ma Xiulan, were used to farm work, so they were very fast. Besides, Liu Rong and Ma Xiuhong also took care of her. The children played around without feeling tired at all. When it was almost noon, the grains in the two fields were all tied up by the six children.
Mu Yangling waved her hand and said, “I’ll carry it in the afternoon. You guys go and play.”
Chuckling, Liu Ting said, “There’s no need to go through so much trouble. The uncles are still here. They can just make a few trips each.”
Mu Shi did not want his daughter to be too tired, but he did not agree to let the men of the Liu family help his Great-aunt carry the grains. “Everyone is here to seek an explanation. If we ask them to do farm work, they will definitely feel a little uncomfortable even if they don’t say it. Therefore, it’s better for us and your two uncles to go. We’re strong, so a few rounds will be enough.”
“We’ll do as you say, Father.” Mu Yangling asked curiously, “Father, where are they?” There was no one on the threshing floor now.
“He was invited to the Ma family’s patriarch’s house. I guessed that you were almost done here, so I came over to take a look.”
“What did the Ma family say?”
Ma Xiuhong and her sister pricked up their ears. Mu Shi stroked their heads and said, “The threshing floor won’t be redistributed. What happened yesterday was Ma Dagui’s family’s fault, and they have to apologize to your Great-aunt. Because your great-aunt also threw their grains on the road and caused them some loss, there’s no need for Ma Dagui to give her any compensation.”
Mu Yangling frowned. “Aren’t they being blatantly biased?”
“Alright, it’s already not bad to have such an outcome, considering Ma Dagui has three sons and seven grandchildren.” In this era, it was key to have many sons.
Although Mu Yangling was helpless, she had no choice but to adapt to this rule.
When everyone returned to the Ma family, Great-aunt was already washing rice and cooking. Seeing Mu Yangling and the rest return, she couldn’t help but wipe her tears. She went forward and held Mu Yangling’s hand. “Child, you’re too straightforward, just like your grandmother. Even men will suffer with such a personality, let alone girls. I sincerely thank you, but you can’t be so rash next time. You still have to get married in the future.”
Afraid that she would be dragged out to be lectured in private if she didn’t nod, Mu Yangling hurriedly nodded and said, “I understand, Great-aunt.”
Only then did Madam Ma-Liu heave a sigh of relief. She said to Mu Shi, “Go deal with that goat. I’ll bring the children to the vegetable garden to pick vegetables. The rice is ready. Just watch the fire.”
Mu Shi agreed.
Seven or eight-year-old children were already capable of doing housework. Therefore, with the help of the children, Madam Ma-Liu quickly started a fire to cook.
Because there was a lot of mutton, Madam Ma-Liu did not have any scruples. She first made a large pot of mutton soup, then two dishes of braised mutton. She then chopped the two rabbits that Mu Yangling had sent over yesterday and turned them into stir-fried rabbit meat. In the past, it was already not bad to have one meat dish on the table. Now that there were so many, Madam Ma-Liu was very satisfied.
When Liu Daqian led everyone back and smelled the fragrance, they all swallowed their saliva in unison and looked at the kitchen eagerly.
Emerging from the kitchen with bowls and chopsticks, Madam Ma-Liu smiled and said, “Hurry up and set up the table. The food is ready.”
Liu Zhuang was the first to run out. Smiling, he said, “Let me do it! Aunt, where shall we eat?”
“Let’s eat in the courtyard. It’s shaded, windy, and cool here.”
In order to eat early, everyone rolled up their sleeves and helped set up the tables. Soon, two tables were filled. However, although they swallowed their saliva at the delicacies on the table, no one dared to eat first. They waited for the elders to start eating first.
At the elders’ table, everyone looked at Liu Daqian.
Seated at the head of the table, Liu Daqian picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks and placed it in his mouth. After chewing and swallowing, he said to everyone, “Alright, everyone, eat.”
Liu Zhuang and the others grabbed their chopsticks anxiously. After the uncles and elders picked up some food, they wolfed down the meat dishes.
Their families were not like the Mu family, who were born hunters who returned fruitful from the mountains and got to eat meat every day. Although they would also go into the mountains when they were free, it was already not bad if they could hit their prey three out of ten times.
When it was busy farming season, they could only run to town to buy a few taels of meat to savor the fragrance of meat. Naturally, the meat was eaten by the children and elders at home.
Mu Yangling and the children could not eat at the table, for it was not good for Great-aunt to be too biased towards them. There was originally only a small bowl of meat, but Mu Shi scooped out quite a bit into two basins for them to eat in the central room.
Seated on small stools around a small table made of wooden planks, the six children quickly finished the meat and vegetables in the basins.
As Liu Lun grabbed a piece of mutton and nibbled on it, he mumbled, “I knew that there would be meat to eat if I followed Cousin. Cousin, next time you go into the mountains and hunt some prey that you don’t want, do give it to us. My brother is excellent at roasting meat.”
Liu Rong looked up at her younger brother, then gazed at Mu Yangling longingly. Mu Yangling said, “We’ll talk about it later. I’ve been a little busy recently. If you want to eat meat, look for me. I’ll catch rabbits for you.” As she spoke, she frowned. “There are too many rabbits these days. If we don’t catch more, we will have a disaster next spring.”