Pastoral Splendor

Three or two peach blossoms outside the bamboo, the spring river plumbing duck prophet.

Peach blossoms were planted both inside and outside the courtyard walls, and there was also a secluded bamboo grove. It was truly a picturesque place. Yan Ying sat in a corner of the house, chopping firewood with a machete. She looked up at the stove, where the fire was almost out. Steaming heat escaped from the gaps in the pot lid. Liu Hua squatted in front of the stove, poking a piece of firewood into the firebox.

"Third Sister! Third Sister!" An anxious shout came from outside the courtyard wall. Yan Ying stopped what she was doing, craned her neck to look outside, and saw a small figure running over from the dirt path. The faded floral cloth clothes were ill-fitting, with the sleeves almost reaching her elbows and the hem of the clothes hanging high. As she ran faster, a section of her white belly was exposed.

"Wuhua, what's the panic? Watch your step!" Yan Ying pushed the door open a little: "What happened?"

"Third Sister, that Qi Mu is herding sheep into our vegetable garden to eat vegetables again!" Wu Hua said breathlessly, her little face flushed, with a bamboo basket slung over her arm, filled with green vegetables.

"What? They're here to eat vegetables again?" Yan Ying frowned. "Where's Si Hua? Why didn't you stop her?"

"Third Sister, we couldn't stop them." Wu Hua's voice trembled with tears. "The flowers you planted a few days ago were eaten too! Fourth Sister and I have been trying to herd the sheep, but that brat Qi Mu keeps driving them back. There are several sheep that Fourth Sister and I can't take care of... Waaah, Third Sister, please don't blame us, we can't beat Qi Mu..."

In the countryside, the people are simple and honest. Old Master Xiao's vegetable garden is just enclosed by a bamboo fence; he can easily drive his sheep in by simply pushing open the wooden gate. Four-Flower and Five-Flower are weak, and Seven-Wood is strong and domineering, so naturally they can't stop them.

"What?!" Yan Ying gripped the machete tightly, her anger rising. Those few flowers were the ones she had finally found in the mountains, which she had intended to use as rootstock for grafting, but they had been eaten by sheep!

"Third Sister, hurry and go to the garden. Fourth Sister is still there alone. She's probably going to get beaten up by Gou Dan." Wu Hua tugged at Yan Ying's clothes, her eyes filled with hopeful longing, almost brimming with tears.

Yan Ying took a deep breath, trying to suppress her anger, but she couldn't calm down. This vegetable garden was one of the ways that Old Master Xiao made money. Every few days, Old Master Xiao would fill two baskets with vegetables and carry them to Yuzhou City to sell. Even if they didn't make a lot of money, they could always get some money for household expenses, which was better than them living a frugal life with nothing.

But the eldest daughter of the village, Si Jin, was really cunning. She always made her grandson drive the sheep into her vegetable garden to eat the vegetables. Since she came here, she has caught the sheep of the eldest daughter of the village several times. The first few times, she tried to talk to the eldest daughter of the village in a nice way, but she only saw her smiling with her eyes slanted: "It's just a few vegetables, why are you so stingy?"

Yan Ying was so angry that she threw a tantrum and turned to leave, saying, "Old lady Si Jin, I'm speaking to you politely today. If you let your grandson drive the sheep into our vegetable garden again, don't blame me for being rude!"

Unexpectedly, the old lady Sijin completely disregarded her words and sent her grandson over with the sheep again today! Yan Ying suppressed her anger, squatted down, reached out and patted her two younger sisters' heads, a smile appearing on her face: "Wuhua and Liuhua, do you want to eat meat?"

"I want to, I want to! How could I not want to eat meat?" Wu Hua sniffed. "The last time we ate meat was when someone else got married. My father went to the wedding banquet and secretly brought back a few pieces of meat for us to eat."

Liu Hua's little face lit up as she grabbed Yan Ying's hand and shook it repeatedly: "Third sister, third sister, our family hasn't had meat since the New Year. When will we have meat again?"

Yan Ying felt a pang of sadness. Seeing her two younger sisters' greedy expressions, she secretly made up her mind. She smiled at Wu Hua Liu Hua and said, "Third sister will let you eat meat today!"

"Really?" Rikka's bright eyes darted around in surprise, and she clapped her hands excitedly, shouting, "Great! We get to eat meat! We get to eat meat!"

"Wuhua, you stay home and take care of Mother. First, take the boiled eggs out of the pot and let them cool down before giving them to her to eat. Then wash these vegetables and wait for Third Sister to come back and prepare the meal." Yan Ying looked at Wuhua, who had her fingers in her mouth, and smiled slightly: "The one in Mother's belly is waiting to eat, so hurry up and go."

Liu Hua nodded: "That's right, little brother must be hungry. Fifth sister, let's go see Mother."

Yan Ying grabbed the machete and ran quickly toward the vegetable garden. The garden wasn't far from her house; just around the corner, she could see a fence enclosing a plot of land, about an acre in size. Inside, some fruit trees were planted, some of which were quite old, their branches covered in blossoms that rustled down in the wind.

Before even getting close to the fence, they could hear the bleating of sheep inside, as well as Sihua arguing with someone else. Yan Ying listened carefully and realized that the person was Qi Mu, the little grandson of Grandma Si Jin.

She ran briskly into the vegetable garden and saw several sheep munching on her vegetables, swaying their heads contentedly as they ate. Meanwhile, Sihua was chasing Qimu, cursing and picking up small stones to throw at him. Yanying didn't say a word, but quietly walked towards a sheep near the fence. The sheep was happily munching and didn't notice Yanying approaching. Yanying bent down slightly and grabbed the sheep's horns.

"Baa baa baa," the sheep said anxiously, its back pressed against the fence as it kept backing away. Yan Ying smiled coldly, raised her wood-chopping knife, and chopped hard at the sheep's neck. A spurt of blood shot towards her face, but Yan Ying quickly turned around, letting the blood slowly fall to the ground.

The sheep struggled a couple of times, seemingly exhausted, and collapsed softly to the ground, its eyes still open, its short whiskers trembling incessantly. Yan Ying stepped onto the sheep, released her grip, and breathed heavily. In her previous life, killing sheep was effortless, but now, transmigrated into Xiao Sanhua's small body, killing a sheep required some effort.

"Xiao Sanhua, how dare you kill our sheep!" Qi Mu rushed over upon hearing the sheep's bleating, only to find his sheep lying on the ground, looking like it was about to die. He was almost in a panic; he had driven the sheep out to eat vegetables, and now that one was missing, he didn't know how his grandmother would scold him!

"So what if I kill your sheep? Who told you to drive them into our vegetable garden? I told your grandma long ago not to drive the sheep into our vegetable garden, but you wouldn't listen. Do you think we're easy to bully?" Yan Ying raised the wood-chopping knife in her hand, with a faint trace of blood on it: "Xiao Qimu, come and try, see if I dare to chop down the sheep and the person together!"

Yan Ying stood there, her eyebrows raised high and her eyes wide open. Qi Mu had been itching to fight her, but seeing Yan Ying's fierce expression, as if she wanted to devour someone, he felt a little scared. Seeing her gleaming wood-chopping knife, he became even more timid, but he still kept saying, "Xiao Sanhua, you really dare to chop someone?"

"Do you think I dare to chop it?" Yan Ying bent down, grabbed the sheep's horns with one hand, and charged towards Qi Mu with a knife in the other. Seeing Yan Ying's murderous intent, Qi Mu was frightened and took two steps back. Seeing the dark red trail of blood trailing behind the sheep, he was even more terrified and shouted, "Xiao Sanhua, you're insane!"

"You're the one who's crazy!" Yan Ying gritted her teeth and charged at Qi Mu, brandishing her wood-chopping knife. Qi Mu was terrified and quickly ran backward, calling to his sheep to rush over the fence: "She's gone mad! Xiao Sanhua has really gone mad!"

Sihua breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Qimu driving the sheep away. She rushed over to check on Yanying and said, "Third Sister, he's gone."

Yan Ying took a breath, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and pointed at the sheep, saying, "Let's go, carry it back."

"What? Take it back?" Si Hua was taken aback, looking at the sheep lying on the ground, her voice stammering, "Take it...take it back? What would we do with it?"

"What are we doing?" Yan Ying laughed heartily, "Killing a sheep, eating meat!"

She'd been in Xiaojia Village for half a month now, eating nothing but vegetables and brown rice every day. Her mouth was bland and tasteless, and she really wanted something good to fill her stomach. Now that Old Lady Sijin had delivered meat to her door, she wasn't stupid; why not take advantage of it?

“But Third Sister, Old Lady Sijin will come looking for us…” Sihua was a little scared. This sheep should be worth at least one tael of silver, right? Third Sister just said one sentence and easily ate the sheep… She hesitated and said, “Let’s give the sheep to Old Lady Sijin and tell her not to drive the sheep into our vegetable garden again.”

"Do you think that old woman Sijin will let this go?" Yan Ying shook her head and pulled Sihua over. "A good horse will be ridden, and a kind person will be bullied. That old woman Sijin only let Qimu drive the sheep to our vegetable garden because she saw that our father and mother were weak. Otherwise, why didn't she drive them to other people's houses? Today I must teach her a lesson!"

Sihua's eyes slowly brightened after hearing Yanying's words: "Third sister, what you said seems to make some sense."

"Third Sister is right. Let's hurry up and carry the sheep back. We'll have mutton for lunch." Yan Ying smiled at Si Hua: "Don't panic. A living person won't die from holding their pee. Old Lady Si Jin will definitely come and cause trouble, but I'll always find a way to deal with her."

Four-Jin Old Lady is a wicked woman in Xiao Family Village. Relying on her cousin who is the registrar in the Yuzhou government office, she acts like a tyrant in the village. In her words, "We have connections in the government office!"

Even if she has connections in the government, she still has to be reasonable! Yan Ying carried the sheep and ran home as fast as she could. No matter what, she had to eat her fill first, and then figure out how to deal with Old Lady Si Jin slowly.

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