Pastoral Splendor

"You little brat, Xiao Sanhua, you must be tired of living, daring to mess with our family!" Old Mrs. Si Jin spat into her palm and lunged at Yan Ying.

"Sanhua!" Erhua exclaimed, "Watch out!"

Sihua grabbed a stone from the ground, hid behind Erhua, and secretly threw it at the old lady Sijin.

Yan Ying was already on guard. She stood there motionless, waiting for the old lady Si Jin to get close. Suddenly, she twisted her body and pushed hard with both hands. The old lady Si Jin was caught off guard and fell to the ground, her face covered in dust.

"You little brat, Xiao Sanhua, how dare you hit me!" The old lady, Sijin, was lying on the ground, feeling utterly ashamed. This Xiao family's Sanhua looked small and thin, like a dried vegetable, but she never expected her to be so agile and strong, throwing her to the ground in one go.

"Who hit you?" Yan Ying crossed her arms and smiled. "Everyone in the village saw it. It was Old Lady Sijin who rushed at me and fell down because she lost her footing."

Was all that Taekwondo I learned in my past life for nothing? It's more than enough to deal with this kind of old country woman.

People around pointed and whispered about the old woman, saying, "At her age, bullying a young girl like that is shameful!"

"He clearly fell down on his own, yet he blames Sanhua. That's completely unreasonable!"

As the old woman listened to everyone gossiping about her behind her back, her face turned bright red. Seeing Yan Ying's expression, she knew she wouldn't get the sheep back today. She stamped her foot sullenly and said, "You two, Erhua and Sanhua from the Xiao family, just you wait! If you dare kill my sheep, I'll take your vegetable garden as payment!"

"You think you can just settle the debt like that?" Yan Ying strode up to Old Lady Si Jin, staring at her with wide eyes. "Try it and see who dares to take our vegetable garden!"

The old woman, Sijin, was startled and took a big step back: "We have connections in the Yuzhou government!"

"So what if you have connections? Bring it on, who's afraid of who!" Yan Ying glanced contemptuously at the old woman with four jin, a cold smile playing on her lips: "I'd like to see if you can cause trouble in Xiao Family Village!"

A gentle breeze blew by, lifting the corner of Yan Ying's clothes. She stood there, raising her eyebrows, looking at Old Lady Si Jin with a mocking expression, as if she didn't take her seriously at all. Old Lady Si Jin wanted to say something, but was intimidated by Yan Ying's aggressive demeanor and stood there speechless for a moment.

The villagers nearby burst into laughter: "Old Lady Sijin, everyone says you have connections in the Yuzhou government, how come you can't even control the third daughter of the Xiao family?"

The old lady was so angry that her hands trembled. She glared at Yan Ying with hatred and said, "We'll see!"

She turned around, took Gou Dan's hand, and walked into the crowd, getting a little further away from Yan Ying. Then she turned back, spat, and cursed viciously, "You bastard!"

Yan Ying didn't respond, but Er Hua rushed forward angrily, spitting viciously. Just as she was about to start cursing, Yan Ying grabbed her: "Second sister, why bother arguing with someone like that?"

Erhua stared at the old lady's back, panting heavily. Yanying smiled and said, "Don't waste your breath arguing with her. Let's hurry inside and eat the mutton while it's hot. We'll take a bowl to Dad in the fields later so he doesn't go hungry."

Erhua then remembered that her father was still plowing the field, so she quickly ran back. As soon as she entered the house, she smelled a strong fragrance and gave Yanying a thumbs up: "Sanhua, you're really brave now!"

Yan Ying scooped up the mutton with a spatula. She had just been arguing with Old Lady Si Jin and almost forgot that there was still food cooking in the pot. Luckily, Si Hua was stingy and only added a few handfuls of firewood. The fire in the stove had already gone out, so the mutton didn't burn. The sisters surrounded the big bowl of mutton, their eyes wide open, their colorful fingers in their mouths, saliva dripping down their faces.

Looking at the way they looked, Yan Ying felt a pang of sadness. She patted Liu Hua's head and said, "Liu Hua, don't worry. From now on, follow your third sister, and I guarantee you'll eat meat every meal!"

"Really? Really?" Rikka jumped up happily, clapping her hands and shouting, "Third Sister is so amazing!"

"Eat meat every meal?" Erhua rolled her eyes at Yanying: "Sanhua, did you hurt your brain? Today we only killed one sheep from Old Lady Sijin. You can't kill one sheep from her every day, can you?"

Yan Ying set the bowls and chopsticks on the table. A large bowl of mutton sat in the center, each piece a tempting mix of red and white. Unfortunately, the smaller bowls beside it were cracked, the rice inside a dark, grayish-brown hue, with no trace of white rice. Yan Ying picked up a bowl, glanced at the coarse grains and brown rice inside, and sighed. No wonder Er Hua didn't believe her; looking at this destitute family, it would be quite difficult for her to lead the Xiao family to prosperity.

A rich aroma wafted into the room, an aroma the farm girls had never smelled before. It was so fragrant and sweet, it wafted straight into their nostrils and permeated their hearts. Liu Hua held her bowl, gazing greedily at the bowl of mutton. Yan Ying lovingly placed a piece in her bowl: "Liu Hua, you try it first."

Rikka carefully held the bowl to her nose, took a deep sniff, and grinned, "Third Sister, it smells so good!"

Wu Hua sniffed, "It smells so good, I almost don't want to eat it."

"What's there to be reluctant to eat? You'll have plenty to eat in the future." Yan Ying tapped her rice bowl and smiled slightly at the little girls: "Come and try your third sister's cooking, see if it's delicious!"

Erhua laughed heartily beside her: "Wuhua and Liuhua, you two need to eat slowly. After this meal, who knows when we'll have meat again?"

"Second sister, don't you believe me? If I say there will be meat, then there will be meat." Yan Ying glanced at Er Hua, took a bite of rice, and felt something hard against her teeth. Enduring the discomfort, she swallowed hard. The rice stuck in her throat was finally pushed down by the saliva.

"I believe in Third Sister!" Wu Hua and Liu Hua, who were devoted to Yan Ying, looked at her with admiration: "Third Sister said we could eat meat today, and we did."

"Second Sister, if anyone says our Xiao family line has ended, don't argue with them." Yan Ying put a piece of mutton into Er Hua's bowl and winked at her: "There are six of us sisters, how can they say the line has ended?"

“But none of us are boys.” The fiery Erhua suddenly became dejected, tapping her rice bowl with her chopsticks: “Girls can’t carry on the family line. Our family is all sisters. If Mother can’t give birth to a younger brother, then the family line will truly end.”

"What's wrong with girls? Who will give birth if there are no women?" Yan Ying was a little angry when she saw Er Hua's appearance. "Second sister, we can't underestimate ourselves. Girls are definitely no worse than boys!"

Rikka nodded vigorously beside her like a chick pecking at rice: "Third Sister is right, that's exactly it!"

"How could it not be bad?" Erhua shook her head again: "We don't have the strength of boys, and we can only help out with the work in the fields. Isn't it all thanks to them?"

Yan Ying laughed and said, "Second sister, we don't need that kind of strength. We can hire them to do the work for us!"

"Hiring someone?" Erhua's eyes widened in surprise, and she reached out to touch Yanying's head: "Sanhua, are you out of your mind because of a cold and fever, talking nonsense here?"

Yan Ying pushed her hand away: "Second sister, why don't you believe me? Just you wait and see, I will make sure that our Xiao family builds a big brick house with several courtyards, filled with all kinds of flowers and plants, and fruit trees along the walls. In autumn, the ground will be covered with persimmons and dates."

Sihua stared at Yanying in a daze. With each word Yanying spoke, she would swallow hard: "Third sister, I really want to live in a house like that, where I can pick dates to eat every day."

Before she could finish speaking, footsteps sounded outside. Yan Ying looked up and saw an old woman in a blue cotton dress standing in the doorway. Er Hua jumped up with a start, blocking the table with her body to completely cover the mutton, and stared warily at the doorway.

"You bunch of brats, you don't even know to bring your grandma a bowl of mutton?" The old woman took a breath and looked greedily toward the table.

Yan Ying stared intently at the old woman. Since she transmigrated to Xiaojia Village, she had never met the so-called "grandmother," but she had heard a lot about her.

"If only our real grandmother were here, she definitely wouldn't treat us like this." Erhua sighed occasionally. "Look at how the land is divided up, and our father just keeps quiet about it."

Yan Ying and her sister's biological grandmother passed away many years ago. Their grandfather, Xiao Mugen, remarried, and this stepmother's surname was Wang. Everyone called her Xiao Wangshi. Since she came to the Xiao family, she gave birth to three sons in one go. As a result, she held herself upright and always felt that she was a great contributor to the Xiao family. She was lazy and loved to eat all day long and was always scheming.

Years ago, Xiao Wangshi disliked that Xiao Laoda had given birth to several children and needed more food, so she urged Xiao Laoda to divide the family property. The Xiao family had about thirty acres of good paddy fields, but not a single piece was given to Xiao Laoda. Instead, his three younger brothers took it all.

“Your family is all girls, so you don’t need to prepare money for your grandson’s wedding.” Xiao Wangshi took off her shoes and banged them on the bench leg. “We have to prepare money for our grandson’s wedding, so of course we have to divide up the good land.”

Xiao Mugen sat silently to the side, puffing on his pipe. After a long while, he finally said, "There are a few dry plots of land on the hillside. You can have that one. Just sift it out and divert the water there. Who knows, it might turn into paddy fields."

And so, they were given a few plots of dry land and the dilapidated old house was given to Xiao Laoda. His family was then kicked out of the house and could only watch as the other three households of the Xiao family ate meat and drank wine. They were dirt poor, poorer than the rats in the temple.

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