Pastoral Splendor

"Xiao Sanhua, how dare you!" Xiao Wenhua was furious when he saw that he had intimidated both Xiao Laoda and Xiao Da Niang, but the third daughter of the Xiao family who came in ignored him completely and directly helped Xiao Da Niang to sit down. He jumped up from the chair in anger: "Didn't you see that I'm sitting in your house? How dare you let your ungrateful mother sit down!"

Aunt Xiao felt uneasy as she listened to Xiao Wenhua's reprimand. She tried to stand up, supporting her waist with one hand, but Yan Ying pressed her down and made her sit down again: "Mother, you are almost eight months pregnant. How can you stand for so long? Don't listen to his scaremongering. He is unreasonable and ignorant. We don't need to pay attention to him."

"Xiao Sanhua!" Xiao Wenhua was so angry with Yan Ying that he could barely speak. He was the village chief of Xiao Family Village, who dared to disobey him? But this Xiao Sanhua was acting like she was possessed, daring to speak so arrogantly in front of him. This made him feel really embarrassed. How could he, a dignified village chief, be looked down upon by a little girl? What kind of nonsense was this!

"Village chief, one should take responsibility for one's actions. If you have any problems, just come to me directly. It's wrong of you to bully my father and mother." Yan Ying crossed her arms and looked at Xiao Wenhua with a grin: "As the saying goes, every wrong has its source and every debt its debtor. You haven't even figured out who your creditor is, yet you're showing off your power here. Have you lost your mind?"

"Xiao Sanhua, you, you!" Xiao Wenhua exhaled a puff of smoke from his throat. It was truly a case of one Buddha appearing and two Buddhas ascending to heaven. He pointed at Yan Ying and said, "Fine, fine, if you want to take responsibility for your own actions, then I'll come and talk to you! You killed Old Lady Sijin's sheep, how are you going to compensate her?"

Aunt Xiao, wiping away tears, interjected, "Village chief, why are you still saying that? I've already told you that it was a wildcat that my Sanhua picked up from the mountain, not the sheep from Old Lady Sijin's house. She's so timid, how could she dare to kill someone else's sheep to cook and eat!" As she said this, she didn't dare to look at Xiao Wenhua. Although she already knew that Yanying had killed Old Lady Sijin's sheep, she still wanted to say a few words in Yanying's defense to prevent her from being arrested and imprisoned.

"You're still so protective of your own. No wonder your family has produced such a bold and reckless third daughter. It's all because you spoiled her!" Xiao Wenhua stood up with a "whoosh" and pointed at Yan Ying, saying, "You killed Old Lady Sijin's sheep. I don't see anything of value in your family that you can compensate her with. So, just give her your vegetable garden instead."

"Village Chief!" Old Xiao, who had been holding back for a long time, had his face flushed red. He had been reluctant when Xiao Wenhua said that his family would have to give their vegetable garden to Old Lady Sijin, but seeing Yan Ying arguing with Xiao Wenhua, he couldn't help but speak up: "How much is a sheep? My vegetable garden is a good piece of land, and the vegetables in it are growing very well..."

"You still have the nerve to talk!" Xiao Wenhua glared at Xiao Laoda, who shuddered and stood dejectedly to the side, not daring to utter another word. Seeing that Xiao Laoda had been silenced by her own power after only one sentence, Xiao Wenhua felt incredibly pleased and straightened her back a bit: "You've failed to raise your daughter properly, and you still dare to try and bargain with me? The mutton is practically turned to dung in your stomachs, and you still have the nerve to talk about your family's vegetable garden?"

After being scolded by Xiao Wenhua, Xiao Laoda shrank back and dared not speak again. He slumped down like a wilted eggplant, staring at the tips of his shoes. He kept blaming Yan Ying in his heart. This Sanhua was really inconsiderate. No matter how greedy she was, she shouldn't have killed someone else's sheep. Now, the vegetable garden that he had worked so hard to cultivate for several years, which was almost an acre and a half, was going to be given to Old Lady Sijin!

"Heh, what a big mouth you have! Do you think we have to do whatever you say?" Yan Ying was furious as she watched Xiao Wenhua spitting as she cursed Xiao Laoda. She took a step forward and glared at Xiao Wenhua fiercely: "It was clearly that old hag Sijin who told her grandson to drive her sheep into our vegetable garden to eat our vegetables. I've warned her several times already, and I'll let her know how powerful I, Xiao Sanhua, am, but she just wouldn't listen. Now that she's been taken advantage of, she's trying to take over our vegetable garden? Bah! What a clever scheme! She thinks she can take over our vegetable garden just because of one sheep? She can dream on!"

"I'd like to ask everyone in the village to judge this and see who's really in the wrong. Are you being biased, village chief? You're colluding with that old woman Sijin, plotting to seize our family's property!" Yan Ying emphasized the word "colluded," gave Erhua a wink, and Erhua understood. She dashed out and stood at the door, shouting, "Dear elders, old woman Sijin and the village chief are having an affair!"

It was almost dinnertime, and many villagers had already finished work and gone home, leaving them with nothing to do. Erhua's shout brought everyone together: "What? Old Lady Sijin is hooking up with the village chief?"

"No wonder I often see them exchanging glances. They're so indecent at their age, with children and grandchildren all over them. It's shameful!" Someone kept shaking their head: "They should at least give their children and grandchildren some face. They shouldn't let them go out and be talked about behind their backs!"

The old woman in the crowd was so angry that she was trembling all over. She had originally wanted to see if the matter had been resolved, but she hadn't expected that as soon as she reached the gate of the Xiao family, she would hear Erhua shouting at the top of her lungs. People around her kept pointing and whispering about her, and she felt that she could hardly speak.

More and more villagers gathered outside the house, drawn by the prospect of something interesting. This quiet little mountain village had nothing particularly exciting, but whenever something happened in someone's home, everyone would eagerly come to watch the spectacle.

"Old lady Sijin, you're really shameless. How dare you come here and embarrass yourself?" A woman saw Old Lady Sijin and scoffed, "If I were you, I'd lock her in her room for days!"

"What are you saying? You believe everything you hear!" Old Mrs. Sijin was so angry that she trembled all over. She reached out to push her sister-in-law: "Which eye of yours saw me flirting with someone?"

Erhua put her hands on her hips and shouted in a crisp voice, "Grandma Sijin, if you hadn't hooked up with the village chief, he would have come to our house to cause trouble and help you take over our vegetable garden!"

Xiao Wenhua heard everything clearly from inside the house, and felt a surge of annoyance. She never expected that the Xiao family would produce two shrewish women. Everyone else treated her with utmost respect, but these two women didn't listen to her at all and were spouting nonsense, linking her to Old Lady Sijin!

Who would even look at Old Lady Sijin's face? If it weren't for wanting to curry favor with her so he could get his grandson a job as a clerk in the Yuzhou government office, would he need to fawn over her? Hearing Erhua arguing with Old Lady Sijin, repeatedly accusing him of having an affair with her, Xiao Wenhua could no longer tolerate it. He strode out of the house with a fierce look on his face and glared at Erhua: "What the hell did you say!"

"What the hell are you talking about now?" Erhua was furious when she heard him swearing. She opened her mouth and cursed, "You think you're so great just because you're the village chief? People don't curse you because they're being polite, but you're being shameless and insisting on coming up here to be cursed!"

"Erhua is right!" Yanying strode out of the house, blocking Erhua behind her, her eyes looking fearlessly at Xiao Wenhua: "You say you want to uphold justice, then I'll ask the villagers to judge this!" Yanying turned to look at the people in her yard, putting on a pitiful voice: "That old woman Sijin thinks we're easy to bully, and she's repeatedly sent her grandson Qimu to our vegetable garden with sheep. Every time they come, our vegetables and seedlings are eaten up! Everyone knows our situation; let alone meat, even vegetables are a luxury!" Yanying reached out and wiped her eyes, feeling a few tears welling up. She wiped them again, and her eyes immediately reddened.

"That's right, Old Xiao's family can't afford meat, so they rely entirely on these vegetables. Old lady Sijin is so bored, she's practically stealing food from people's mouths!" Some villagers shook their heads and sighed, "It's really unfair of her. How long would it take her to go up the mountain to graze? Why did she have to come to someone's vegetable garden to steal vegetables!"

Seeing that everyone's reaction was just as she had expected, Yan Ying was secretly pleased and quickly pressed her advantage: "As everyone knows, my mother is pregnant. How can she eat only coarse rice and not any vegetables? Old lady Si Jin is clearly trying to prevent my mother from giving birth to a healthy baby!"

“Sanhua is right, Aunt Xiao is pregnant with another one. Oh dear, this woman is really ruthless!” The villagers all cast dissatisfied glances at Old Lady Sijin, and many were still shouting, “Old Lady Sijin, you are really too immoral!”

The old woman, Sijin, was so angry that her face turned red. She pointed at Yanying and said, "So what if I ate your vegetables? You killed my sheep. Sheep are much more precious than vegetables, so of course you have to compensate me!"

Seeing that the old lady Sijin was looking at him with dissatisfaction, Xiao Wenhua quickly nodded and said, "Even if you eat all the vegetables in the garden, it's only a little money. A sheep costs a lot, so it's only right that your vegetable garden should compensate you."

"My vegetable garden is so big, and you think killing one of your sheep will take over my vegetable garden?" Erhua glared angrily at Xiao Wenhua: "You still say you haven't hooked up with Old Lady Sijin? Why are you siding with her like this!"

“Her sheep are ewes. If they hadn’t been killed, they could have had lambs, and those lambs could have had more lambs. All things considered, your family would be lucky to lose a vegetable garden!” Xiao Wenhua said smugly. “I haven’t even considered the long-term implications. If Xiao Sanhua hadn’t killed that sheep, in just a few years, the old lady’s family would have fifty sheep. If each sheep was worth one tael of silver, could your family afford to lose that?”

Yan Ying chuckled as she listened. Wasn't this the story of the egg that lays eggs? She pointed at Xiao Wenhua and said, "That sheep ate the peony seedlings I planted. Those are precious. If I take them to Luoyang to participate in the Peony Festival, I can get three hundred taels of gold! Even if Old Lady Sijin gave me all her property, it wouldn't be enough!"

Xiao Wenhua was so angry at Yan Ying's words that his face turned red. It took him a long time to come back to his senses: "What flower seedlings do you have? And you can get three hundred taels of gold? Who are you trying to fool!"

"That sheep can give birth to fifty lambs? Who are you kidding?" Yan Ying imitated Er Hua, putting her hands on her hips and staring at Xiao Wenhua with wide eyes: "That sheep might be infertile!"

The villagers burst into laughter upon hearing this: "Third daughter of the Xiao family, you really have the nerve to say that! You're no less capable than your second sister!"

"You, you, you..." Xiao Wenhua trembled all over and rushed over with his fists clenched. When Aunt Xiao, who was standing at the door, saw that Yan Ying was about to be beaten, she quickly pulled Xiao Wenhua's arm: "Village chief, my Sanhua is ignorant, please don't take it to heart."

Xiao Wenhua shoved Aunt Xiao aside: "Go to hell! Stand over there, you have no right to speak!"

"Mother!" Erhua cried out in surprise, and saw Aunt Xiao fall to the ground.

...