Pastoral Splendor

Xiao Wangshi stood at the door, her eyes darting around, making Yan Ying frown.

This step-grandmother is really outrageous. The Xiao family is so poor, and she never comes to visit them usually, but now she's come running over. She must have smelled the mutton! Look at her smug look. The Xiao family must have spoiled her rotten. She rushes to put any good food into her own bowl.

Yan Ying shook her head repeatedly. Old Master Xiao was far too easy to bully. If she had been there when the family divided the property, she would have definitely spoken up! The family had about thirty mu of paddy fields; even divided equally, they should have at least five or six mu, enough to feed and clothe the whole family. But now they only had four or five mu near the mountain. In spring, with plenty of rain, it was still paddy field, but in summer and autumn, it became dry land. She didn't know how Old Master Xiao had managed to feed such a large family all these years.

Yan Ying tugged at Er Hua and told her to sit down: "Let's eat, ignore her."

Seeing the sisters standing so neatly, crowding the small table, Xiao Wangshi was furious. She strode over and reached out to push Erhua aside, saying, "You're the older sister, you should set a good example. You don't even know to offer mutton to your grandmother? You're really too impolite."

Erhua didn't move, but stubbornly blocked the table with her body. Xiao Wangshi was a little annoyed, and with a shove, she pushed Erhua aside. Her eyes were fixed on the bowl of mutton, and she sniffed hard: "So delicious, so delicious!"

Yan Ying smiled at Xiao Wangshi and picked up the bowl of mutton: "Whether this mutton is delicious or not is none of your business."

Xiao Wangshi looked at Yan Ying in surprise, somewhat puzzled. This Sanhua, like her eldest sister, was a quiet person who would only hide when something happened. Why was she acting so out of character today and daring to go against her?

Xiao Wangshi rolled up her sleeves, a fierce glint in her small eyes: "Hurry up and bring the mutton over!"

"Send it over? You wish!" Yan Ying shoved the bowl into Er Hua's hands, grabbed Xiao Wangshi's arm, twisted her hand, and pushed her towards the door. "When you were enjoying yourself, you never sent anything to our family. Now you come here asking for food. You wish!"

Sihua and Liuhua stared wide-eyed as Yanying forked Xiao Wangshi out of the house. The two were so excited that they stomped their feet: "Third Sister is so strong!"

Wu Hua tugged at Er Hua's sleeve: "Second sister, if Third sister fights with Grandma like this, won't Grandpa come and scold her? Tell Third sister to stop quickly. Don't we still have a lot of mutton? Let's send some to Grandpa and Grandma."

Hearing this, Sihua grabbed Wuhua and rushed to the backyard: "Don't say anything, watch Third Sister!"

Xiao Wangshi was no match for Yan Ying. Before she could even finish a cup of tea, Yan Ying had already subdued her, hoisting her onto her shoulder and carrying her to the courtyard wall. She then tossed Xiao Wangshi outside the courtyard, clapped her hands, and looked at Xiao Wangshi, who was slowly getting up, with a contemptuous smile: "Grandma, you still have six granddaughters to feed here. If you have anything good to eat over there, please bring it over."

"You!" Covered in mud, Madam Xiao stood up, her eyes blazing with anger as she glared at Yan Ying. She strode to the mud-brick courtyard wall, but seeing Yan Ying standing there, she dared not rush in. Instead, she pounded on the door and roared, "Heavens above! Quickly strike this unfilial daughter to death! A granddaughter beating her grandmother! This is outrageous!"

"Take a good look at your conscience and see if you're qualified to be my grandmother!" Yan Ying slammed the door shut, and a cloud of dust fell from the mud brick wall, blinding Xiao Wangshi. She stood there, stunned, staring at the closed door. When she turned around, she saw several villagers pointing and whispering behind her. Her face flushed, and she turned and went back.

Yan Ying walked back into the house, and Er Hua breathed a long sigh of relief: "San Hua, you were really fierce just now!"

"What can we do if we're not a little fierce? We finally get to eat mutton, and we're going to let them take it all?" Yan Ying sat down, picked up her rice bowl, and called to her younger sisters, "Eat quickly, so that no one will keep trying to take it."

Erhua stared at Yanying with a probing look in her eyes, which startled Yanying. Perhaps she had become too immersed in playing Xiao Sanhua and the change was too great, arousing Erhua's suspicion.

"Erhua, what's all the commotion outside?" Aunt Xiao's voice suddenly came from behind. Yan Ying turned around and saw her slowly shuffling in, supporting her back: "Is the wild civet cooked?"

“A stray dog ​​just came outside, trying to steal the meat of the mountain cat.” Yan Ying said calmly, helping Aunt Xiao over. “Mother, I was just about to ask Wu Hua to bring you some food, but I didn’t expect you to get up.”

Erhua moved over a taller bamboo chair, wiped the dust off with her sleeve, and said, "Mother, please sit down."

Aunt Xiao picked up the bowl and took two bites before she felt something was wrong. She had eaten wild civet meat a few years ago, and the meat was very coarse, nothing like the fine meat in this bowl. The meat in this bowl was definitely not wild civet meat.

She glanced at Yan Ying: "San Hua, how did you catch this mountain cat?"

Yan Ying started making things up: "I went up the mountain to dig some bamboo shoots, and I saw a wildcat caught in a trap, so I picked it up." Seeing Aunt Xiao's skeptical look, Yan Ying smiled: "Mother, you're happy to have meat to eat, why are you asking so many questions?"

“I didn’t think this meat looked like it was from a civet cat, that’s why I asked you this.” Aunt Xiao picked up another piece of meat and tasted it. “Sigh, even if you found it, it was someone else’s trap. If you take someone else’s things, they will suffer a loss.”

Yan Ying nodded, thinking that her adoptive mother was kind-hearted and still caring about others. Just for Aunt Xiao's kindness, she would do everything she could to ensure that Old Master Xiao's family could live a good life!

After dinner, Erhua pulled Yanying aside and stared at her: "Sanhua, I feel like you're different from before."

As expected, Erhua noticed something was wrong.

Yan Ying smiled at Er Hua: "How am I any different?"

"Look, your smile is so different!" Erhua poked Yanying's shoulder with her finger: "Before, you didn't dare to smile even if you wanted to. Even if you did smile, you would just lower your head and pull the corners of your mouth. You've never smiled like this with your head held high, and you've always smiled so happily!"

"Second sister, I'm going to tell you a secret, but don't tell anyone else." Yan Ying sighed. Er Hua was the most clever person in the Xiao family. Anyone with eyes could tell what her younger sister was like before and what she had become now. She couldn't hide it from her. She had to find an excuse to make her believe that she was still the same Er Hua.

"A secret?" Erhua's eyes widened as she sized up Yanying. "What secret do you have?"

"Last time I fell down the mountain, didn't you all say I came back from the dead?" Yan Ying smiled gently: "Second sister, to tell you the truth, I really was dead back then."

"You... are dead?" Erhua's face changed drastically, and her whole body trembled. "Then what are you now..." She looked at Yanying with a forced calm, but her legs were shaking uncontrollably. Could it be that there was a ghost in front of her?

"Second sister, aren't you usually the bravest?" Yan Ying reached out and patted Er Hua's shoulder, but Er Hua was so startled that she quickly turned away and dodged to the side: "San Hua, don't come any closer!"

"Second sister, let me finish!" Yan Ying was both annoyed and amused: "I did die back then. I met an old immortal who said that King Yama had misread my Book of Life and Death and that the Impermanence had mistakenly taken my soul. The old immortal was on his way to the Queen Mother's Peach Banquet when he met me on the way. Seeing that I was still alive and not someone whose yang energy had been exhausted, he stopped the Black and White Impermanence and sent me back to the mortal world."

Although she didn't yet know which gods and bodhisattvas Xiaojia Village worshipped, Yan Ying still rambled on about the few she knew from her previous life. Er Hua listened, nodding repeatedly, and then let out a long sigh of relief, patting her chest: "My goodness, how could the King of Hell do that? How could he just look at the Book of Life and Death like that!" She happily grabbed Yan Ying's arm and wiped her eyes: "I saw you lying on the ground, not breathing at all, and it scared me half to death! Luckily, a kind god brought you back."

"That's right, that fairy was so kind. Not only did she send me back, but she also gave me a book." Yan Ying found Er Hua's appearance amusing and patted Er Hua's hand: "Second sister, from now on, everything we eat and wear will come from this book."

Erhua rolled her eyes: "Ah? Where is that book? We'd better hide it well, lest those people find out and try to take advantage of it!" She pouted: "If they find out there's such a precious book, our grandma will definitely be the first to rush into our house and bring those uncles to turn our house upside down!"

"Second sister, don't worry, this book is hidden in my head!" Yan Ying pointed to her head and smiled smugly: "That old immortal patted me on the head, and I saw a book in front of me. It teaches us how to farm, grow vegetables and flowers, and how to make rouge and face powder..."

"That's great?" Erhua's eyes lit up, and she giggled, "Then our family is going to live a good life?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Yan Ying was also infected by Er Hua's smile and was especially happy. She pushed her and said, "Hurry up and take our father to eat. He must be starving right now!"

Erhua jumped up in surprise, slapping her forehead: "Of course! In my excitement, I forgot about that!" She rushed to the stove, grabbed a bamboo basket, quickly filled it with food, and covered it with a yellowish-gray cloth. As she tidied up, she suddenly stopped: "Sanhua, that old woman Sijin definitely won't let this go. What do we do?"

"What to do?" Yan Ying smiled slightly. "Let's just deal with it!"

...