My humble days in ancient times

She was furious that the can of chili oil she had carefully crafted had disappeared without a trace. She planned to ask her neighbors, hoping someone had seen who had taken it.

She first came to Xu Xiaohua's house next door. Xu Xiaohua was weaving straw sandals in the yard. Seeing Xu Ruyi, she smiled and asked, "Sister Ruyi, what's going on?"

Xu Ruyi teased her: "What's wrong? If nothing goes wrong, you won't welcome me here?"

Xu Xiaohua quickly brought out a stool for Ruyi and said, "How could that be? Sister Ruyi can come play whenever she wants, I'm happy for her!"

Xu Ruyi saw that Xu Xiaohua said this sincerely, and her heart suddenly felt warm.

Xu Ruyi did not sit down, but said: "Xiaohua, you go ahead and be busy, don't worry about me. I just want to ask you, have you seen anyone carrying a ten-pound jar walking past your house." After Xu Ruyi finished speaking, he gestured with his hands to indicate how big the jar was.

Xu Xiaohua wanted to say something but stopped herself. She lowered her head and remained silent.

Xu Ruyi saw all of this, and her intuition told her that she should know something.

Xu Ruyi said, "Xiaohua, tell me. I know what you might know. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone after you tell me."

Xu Xiaohua looked up at Xu Ruyi and saw that she seemed eager to know who it was. She hesitated. After thinking for a moment, she said, "I had lunch late. After washing the pots and dishes, I came out and saw Huang Guiyun's sister-in-law walking by with a jar. I just... just took a quick look and didn't pay much attention to it."

Xu Ruyi's expression was serious: "I understand. Don't worry, I won't mention you to anyone. You go ahead and do your work. I'm leaving first."

Xu Ruyi left Xu Xiaohua's house and went straight to Huang Guiyun's house.

Huang Guiyun returned home with the jar and rested for a while before opening it in the kitchen, scooping out some chili oil and tasting it. Wow, it was indeed delicious, and the color was beautiful. There were sesame seeds, oil, and chili powder, but what else was there? Maybe salt, but after taking a sip, there was only spiciness, nothing else. What should Huang Guiyun do? She was terrified.

Got it, Huang Guiyun thought. Oh, I'll go back to town and ask the owner of the ingredient store to help me taste it, maybe I can tell.

Huang Guiyun was content to leave the kitchen, but when she looked up, she was startled to see someone standing at the door. After a closer look, she was even more shocked because it was Xu Ruyi.

Xu Ruyi said with a gloomy face, "How come Mrs. Huang took my things away without even saying hello?"

Huang Guiyun's face was thicker than a city wall, and she didn't show the slightest bit of embarrassment. Xu Ruyi stared at her face closely, trying to catch even the slightest embarrassment or unnaturalness from it, but in the end she found nothing.

Huang Guiyun remained calm and composed, and said calmly, "Oh, I just picked it up to try it!" After saying this, she even smiled as if nothing had happened, as if she had done something very normal.

Huang Guiyun then asked softly, "Sister Ruyi, your chili oil is truly amazing! I wonder what special method you used to make it taste so good. Can you tell Sister Huang about the secret?"

Xu Ruyi widened her eyes, looking at the shameless woman in front of her in disbelief, and a strong sense of anger and shock surged in her heart.

It must be said that Huang Guiyun's shamelessness once again made Xu Ruyi "look at him with new eyes."

Xu Ruyi suppressed the anger in her heart and said, "Mrs. Huang, this is a secret recipe, how can it be passed on to others?" After that, Xu Ruyi left with the jar.

Huang Guiyun didn't stop her, nor did she get angry. But Xu Ruyi still felt that she had a problem with her character and her brain: she was crazy about making money.

Xu Ruyi left Huang Guiyun's yard and passed by Liu's house next door. Liu asked, "What are you doing holding the jar, Miss Xu?"

Xu Ruyi smiled and said, "Some people took the jar from my house without my permission. It's not an empty jar. It contains the chili oil I made. They just took it away. What's the difference between that and stealing?" After saying that, she pouted and looked towards Huang Guiyun's house.

Liu Shi still had something to wonder about. She had just seen Xu Ruyi walk out of Huang Guiyun's courtyard. Liu Shi said, "We always have to be on guard. This jar is quite a lot, isn't it?"

Xu Ruyi put down the jar and said, "I ordered all these ten-jin jars to sell chili oil. You knew someone was selling it, but you still stole it. Do you have a problem with your character or your brain?"

Xu Ruyi deliberately spoke loudly. Huang Guiyun, who was in the kitchen, heard it and ran to the yard to argue, "I just borrowed it to take a look. Didn't I return it to you? Xu girl, please don't spread nonsense everywhere!"

Xu Ruyi was disgusted and said, "So, if I can't find your house, will you return the jar to me after tasting it?"

Huang Guiyun said confidently: "Of course, I will definitely pay it back."

Xu Ruyi was furious. "Why didn't you tell me when you took this ten-pound jar? If you wanted to borrow it, you should have told me in person and I would have lent it to you... No, I'll just give you a bowl. You carried such a huge jar all the way from here, and you weren't afraid of getting tired. And you took it in broad daylight without even saying hello. Who gave you the face to do that? It's not yours, and you just took it without saying anything. You're totally shameless."

Huang Guiyun shouted, "Didn't I give it to you? And you're still not done with it."

Xu Ruyi was speechless. She couldn't get along with shameless people.

Xu Ruyi said, "Next time I go to your house I'll borrow something too. Just don't get angry then."

After hearing this, Huang Guiyun stomped her feet and went back into the house, then leaned on the window and looked at them like a spy.

Xu Ruyi then said to Liu: "Fortunately, I don't want to be her neighbor. Otherwise, I would be affected by her mood every day. Wouldn't I be annoyed every day?"

Liu understood this well and said, "They say a close neighbor is worse than a distant relative, but a bad neighbor is nothing but a nuisance, like a troublemaker. Oh, only those who live with it know. I really wish I had the money to move away. I've had enough of living with you."

Xu Ruyi was deeply touched and could understand Liu's helplessness. She said, "Aunt Liu, don't take it to heart. Just stay away from her. Think about me. I stay away from her, but she still targets me. Aunt Liu, take a look at the chili oil I made and don't think about those unhappy things."

Xu Ruyi opened the can. Liu looked at the bright red inside and asked, "Is this chili oil? It looks good."

"Of course, otherwise it would attract thieves." After Xu Ruyi finished speaking, the two of them laughed.

Finally, Xu Ruyi gave Liu a big bowl of chili oil before leaving.

Xu Qinghe had just returned from his grandfather's house. Seeing Xu Ruyi holding the jar, he looked puzzled and asked, "What are you doing holding the jar?"

Xu Ruyi sighed, "It's too much to walk and rest. Some people are mentally ill. Oh, I'm tired. Some people are just crazy... They don't do anything all day."

Xu Ruyi recounted what had happened before, and Xu Qinghe was shocked. He then said angrily, "You are really blinded by greed and don't care about anything."

Xu Ruyi nodded: "It's a good thing I found it, otherwise she would have gotten away with it."

Xu Ruyi poured out two bowls and placed them in a basket, one for Aunt Zhang's family and one for the village head's family.

After returning, he wrote a notice outside the yard: Chili oil is 20 cents per pound.

Xu Xiaohua came over to take a look: "Sister Ruyi is really amazing, she collects eggs and sells chili oil."

Xu Ruyi poured out a bowl of chili oil and said, "I don't know if you and Grandma Wu are used to eating it. Take this chili oil back and try it."

Xu Xiaohua wanted to refuse, but was frightened by Xu Ruyi's look. She quickly ran back to free up the bowl and then gave it to Xu Ruyi.

Xu Ruyi poured another bowl of chili oil to Uncle Zhang's house next door. Uncle Zhang gave him a large bundle of wild vegetables.