Ugly girl only wants to farm

After shouting those words, Aunt Zhang, seething with anger, turned around and began to hurl insults at people.

"You old codger, you're so old, and you still have women coming to your door, aren't you ashamed? Your children are all grown up, and you still have these romantic entanglements. These women are coming to your door to bother you, you deadbeat, what else can you say? You caused these romantic entanglements, so you should settle them yourself. Get your ass over here right now."

This was the first time Meng Jiuhe had ever seen the old woman lose her temper. Usually, the two elderly people spoke very gently. In addition, the two elderly people were quite old and had some illnesses. When he heard the old woman's voice, which sounded like a shrew, he was stunned for a moment before he could react.

The uncle was checking the door bolt, which had been a little loose. Before leaving, he thoroughly inspected the house. During his months-long trip to the county, the yard had been locked, overgrown with weeds and looked rather dilapidated from long periods of neglect. There were even stray cats and dogs that had somehow wandered into the yard and built a den. The yard was already somewhat neglected, and the rats were even more rampant, chewing up furniture, leaving pieces missing legs or broken pieces.

When the old woman returned, she looked at the mess on the floor and felt a pang of heartache. Although life was much better now, this was still the home she had lived in for most of her life. A golden nest or a silver nest can never compare to one's own doghouse. Before leaving, they wanted to tidy it up so that at least it could provide shelter from the wind and rain.

The roof tiles were quite old and leaked when it rained. I originally planned to stay home for a couple more days and have someone replace the tiles. But then my cousin's wife came to borrow money.

The old woman couldn't wait to set off. Before, her family was so poor that relatives didn't even want to visit. But now, after only a short time, she's started a small business and has a little extra money, and people are already eyeing her.

It's also her own fault for having such a foul mouth. She shouldn't have said a word. That Zhu family woman was a gossip. The day they came back, the woman's eyes lit up when she saw her new clothes. She always spoke in a sarcastic tone and even tried to find out where they had gone and what they had done.

Aunt Zhang's family had always been looked down upon by this Zhu family woman. Unable to hold back her anger, she retorted, but did nothing more, continuing her tofu business. After all, the county had a larger population, making it easier to make a living than the town.

Before long, her cousin's wife caught wind of it and came over. She herself had forgotten about that incident; her cousin's wife and the Zhu family woman were related through a roundabout way.

Hearing that a woman had brought a girl to the door, her anger flared up instantly. She immediately berated her husband, who looked completely bewildered and gave her a pitiful look.

"Old woman, with a junior like me here, can't you spare me some face? Besides, a woman coming to the door doesn't necessarily mean she's looking for me. Why don't you go out and see? Maybe it's just a neighbor coming to say hello. Don't slander my innocence. You know how I've lived my whole life."

"Tofu seller, tofu seller, are you home? Why haven't you said anything for so long? We rushed over from all this way, our throats are practically on fire. Who is this little brat? It's so rude of her to block us from coming in."

An old voice came over, and Uncle Zhang slapped his forehead and exclaimed, "Old woman, doesn't this voice sound familiar?"

Aunt Zhang was a little puzzled: "It does look somewhat familiar, let's go take a look quickly."

Before the two could even approach, the three men pushed open the courtyard gate on their own. Their eyes darted around the courtyard, each silently pondering their next move.

"Tofu seller, it's been many years. You're still as robust as ever. And look at your outfit, the fabric is quite nice."

The old man, with a pipe in his mouth, puffed twice and then proceeded to criticize Uncle Zhang.

Only then did Aunt Zhang realize who these people were. The three of them acted as if they were old friends, pulling over a long bench and sitting down.

“I told Tofu Zhang to hurry up and get us some water. Our throats are practically burning. How come you don’t recognize us? You’ve become rich and forgotten about us poor relatives.”

Aunt Zhang quickly winked and forced a smile: "Old man, hurry up and fetch a kettle of water. Oh, so that's the Changshou family. What brings you here today? Do you have some important business to attend to in town? It's getting late."

Before she could finish speaking, the daughter-in-law from the Changshou family took over and started talking non-stop.

"We did come to town from the village this time because we have important business to attend to. By the way, where did you come from, Mrs. Tofu? Look at you, all adorned with gold and silver, and your clothes are much shinier now."

The old woman quickly and subtly put her hands behind her back, looking disdainful: "What's with all the gold and silver? It's just a piece of junk. It's not presentable at all."

She was wearing a thin silver bracelet on her wrist, which Yue Niang had bought for her before. The woman in front of her noticed it, and Meng Jiu and her brother and sister, realizing that the woman was getting to know them and probably wanted to talk about something, tactfully went back into the house to pack their things.

Every now and then, you could hear the group of people talking loudly outside. One moment they were saying how beautiful the fabric was, how soft it felt, and how much cotton must have been stuffed inside that long coat. The next moment, the old lady looked radiant, her face noticeably rounder.

Meng Jiuhe found these people very noisy, but there was no sound from the old lady. The uncle was boiling water in the kitchen, and Meng Jiuxia was helping him add firewood.

Meng Jiuhe walked over and asked softly, "Uncle, who is this family outside? Are they planning to have lunch with us? Should we change our plans for today?"

The uncle sighed and shook his head helplessly: "It seems that today's itinerary will have to be changed and we can't go. We'll have to wait until tomorrow. This is a long story. Did you see that girl outside? Did she have an engagement with Xuyang when they were young?"

"What do you mean by a childhood betrothal? Zhang Xuyang is almost twenty and still not married. Why didn't you two get married sooner?"

The uncle sighed as he poured water into the kettle: "They used to look down on our family because we were poor, and they kept putting off this marriage. Originally, we planned to sell more tofu to earn more money and get the marriage done as soon as possible, but that year my wife and I were both in poor health and injured our legs, making our family even more difficult. So they canceled the marriage and married the girl off to a neighboring village."

Hearing the woman's loud voice outside, Meng Jiuhe frowned and asked with some confusion, "Then what are they doing here today? Since the engagement has been called off, what's the meaning of them coming to our door now?"

The uncle was also puzzled: "That's exactly what I've been wondering about. Our family hasn't been in touch for many years. What do they want now that they've come looking for us again? They were just being materialistic and openly or secretly looking down on our family for being too poor. If it weren't for our parents still being alive, the marriage would have been called off long ago when Xuyang was fifteen or sixteen. They found all sorts of excuses to cancel the marriage."

"Tofu seller, tofu seller, did you fall into the pot or go to the well to fetch water? Why hasn't the water come yet? Are you trying to kill us with thirst?"

The old woman's face darkened, and she quickly stopped her husband from bringing the kettle over. Her smile remained, but now tinged with disgust.

"Changshou family, what exactly is the meaning of your visit? We haven't had any contact with you in recent years. If you're just visiting properly, we welcome you. But we have important business to attend to and need to travel far away, so we won't keep you for dinner. Please make yourselves at home."

The old woman with longevity smiled and looked ingratiating.

"Tofu lady, what are you saying? What do you mean by 'not visiting for a long time'? Back then, it was because our family was too poor. We were afraid you would look down on us poor relatives, so we didn't keep in touch. Now that we heard you've returned, we brought Xiao Tao to see you. Why didn't we see Xuyang's child? We heard that the child has become successful, and we are happy for him."

The old woman scoffed, "You're all happy for my son? Good heavens! Didn't you look down on him for being just a poor scholar? What's going on here? It's like a weasel offering New Year's greetings to a chicken—you're up to no good, aren't you?"