The three Jinlai brothers were nothing but trouble makers.
They couldn't stay out of mischief for even a moment. When they set off firecrackers near the stray dog, it wasn't badly hurt but the explosion awakened its wild nature. With a howl, the dog turned around and started chasing the children, barking furiously.
Jinlai: "Ahhh!"
Though the three brothers usually acted tough and intimidating, when real trouble came, they were just children after all - Jinlai, the oldest, was only nine. He let out a high-pitched scream and ran away at full speed, completely forgetting about his younger brothers.
Yinlai was no better. The other children who had been standing around quickly scattered, running towards the main gate. Many kids had been playing in the alley, and when the fierce stray dog charged at them, they all started screaming in terror.
"Run! The wild dog will eat us!"
"Quick, escape!"
"Help!"
...
The children were screaming chaotically as they fled. Hutou saw the big stray dog running towards them. Though his little face turned pale with fear, the sharp-eyed boy quickly grabbed his sister's hand and ran towards home, shouting: "Run away! Everyone run!"
His shout as he pulled his sister along snapped the other children out of their frozen state. They quickly followed suit - if not now, when else would you run? It was a big dog after all!
A big dog that could bite!
Hutou was yelling as he pulled his sister along. Though Xiao Yanzi was tiny, she ran just as fast. The siblings were the first to reach the courtyard, followed closely by children from other households who ran in after them. This courtyard was closest, so everyone rushed inside!
The children's screams brought people out of their homes. "What's going on?"
Bai Fendou's family lived closest to the gate and came out first. Hutou, panting heavily while leaning against the courtyard wall, said: "There's a stray dog, it's chasing us!"
Bai Fendou responded, "Why would a stray dog chase you for no reason? Did you provoke it? You little rascals can't even behave during New Year." Though he said this, he was a kind-hearted man and quickly went outside. As he stepped out, he witnessed a terrifying scene - the stray dog had pounced on Tonglai, who had been running the slowest. Bai Fendou shouted: "Stop!"
He quickly picked up a stone and threw it at the dog. Adults generally had better aim than children, and the stone hit its mark. The dog yelped and bared its teeth at Bai Fendou.
Jinlai, who had run ahead, was crying and shouting: "Uncle Fendou, save me, save us, please save us!"
Bai Fendou: "Don't be afraid, uncle's here!"
He would have helped any child in this situation, but these were Wang Xiangxiu's three children, so he was determined to give it his all.
Bai Fendou darted forward, picking up stones and throwing them one after another.
The dog dodged the stones, while Tonglai crawled forward and managed to run away whimpering.
This time, Bai Fendou's aim wasn't as good. While it was indeed a stray dog, these street dogs faced many "dangers" daily and knew how to survive.
It had been caught off guard earlier, but now the dog was alert and quickly dodged away, running incredibly fast. The dog was angry too - during New Year's, it just wanted to find something to eat, but these humans were being cruel, throwing firecrackers at it. Though dogs can't speak, this one was clearly furious.
The stray dog avoided Bai Fendou's stone attacks, growling at him, and they reached a standoff. At this point, Jinlai, seeing he had escaped, started laughing and shouted: "Stupid dog, try to bite me! I'll blow you up!"
He threw another firecracker.
Bang!
It missed the dog but landed close to Bai Fendou, who jumped and yelled: "You little brat, watch where you're throwing that! Don't provoke it!"
Jinlai shouted back: "How can a grown man be so useless, afraid of just one dog? Kill it! Let's eat dog meat, dog meat!"
Bai Fendou frowned and sighed, thinking this child was truly too mischievous. Though naughty children were often clever, this was going too far.
His moment of distraction gave the dog an opening, and it suddenly charged forward.
"Oh no~"
Bai Fendou had run out of stones. He tried to dodge hastily, but the dog ran past him and went straight for Jinlai, who turned to run... "Woof!"
The dog bit him right on the bottom!
"Oh shit!"
"Ahh!!!"
"Oh heavens!"
Hutou and the other children were peering from the main gate, their faces pale with fear, trembling and calling for their mothers. By now, others had come out too.
Despite all the commotion, the women of the Su family stayed inside, their door tightly shut.
Wang Xiangxiu was mending her son's clothes when she started to get up, but Aunt Su stopped her, saying meaningfully: "What else could cause such a ruckus but children fighting? No need to go out. With our three boys together, they won't come off worse. If they're involved, we'll only end up having to apologize if we go out. During New Year's, everyone will make a big deal of it. If we don't go out, we can pretend we don't know. They can't hold a grudge against a child, can they?"
Wang Xiangxiu smiled and said: "Mom, you're so clever."
The two women sat calmly, not moving an inch.
However, the Zhuang family rushed out anxiously. When Liang Meifen saw her son and daughter, she hurried forward: "What happened? Are you alright?"
Hutou and Xiao Yanzi both shook their heads, pointing outside, too scared to describe what had happened.
By then, Zhao Guihua and others had come out too, and what a sight they saw!
The stray dog had bitten Jinlai's bottom, and naturally, Bai Fendou couldn't let that slide. He rushed forward to save the child, shouting: "You mongrel, I won't let you get away with this!"
He looked around, grabbed a stick, and charged at the dog. The dog yelped and fled quickly. As Bai Fendou gave chase, the panicked dog ran towards the toilet area. Madam Zhou Li had just come out to use the toilet. Hearing the commotion outside, she was afraid of getting bitten and hid inside the toilet, not daring to come out. But unexpectedly, Bai Fendou chased the dog right to where she was.
Madam Zhou Li: "Bai Fendou, what are you doing! Stop chasing it! Ahh, don't come here!"
She turned to run, and dogs being what they are - if you don't run, they might not chase you, but once you start running, they chase even harder.
Seeing the dog now chasing her, Madam Zhou Li cursed: "Su Jinlai, you little beast, provoking a stray dog, you heartless little devil..."
She continued: "Bai Fendou, stop chasing it, quickly drive the dog away, drive it away!"
After cursing a few more times, she lost her footing and suddenly pitched forward, falling right into the toilet, her upper body landing in the squat toilet with her hand plunging in.
"Ahhh... damn your ancestors!"
Thank goodness for the resilience that comes with age. At this point, Zhao Guihua quickly called out: "Fendou, stop chasing the dog, look after the child!"
Su Jinlai, who had been bitten on the bottom, had stopped crying. Watching Bai Fendou chase the dog, the unfortunate child was now enjoying the show, stretching his neck like a turtle to peek, and shouting: "Catch it, catch it, let's eat it!"
Well, here was a child who truly stayed true to his original goal.
Zhao Guihua: "Don't even think about eating it, that dog eats excrement all day, and you want to eat it?"
Su Jinlai: "..."
Onlookers: "..."
Initially, eating dog meat had seemed like a good idea, but thinking about it more carefully made everyone feel disgusted. If dogs eat excrement, and people eat dogs, wouldn't that indirectly mean people are eating excrement?
Ah!
Too disgusting!
No way!
Everyone quickly shook their heads, banishing the thought of eating the stray dog from their minds. Even Jinlai fell silent. Though he was a greedy child, he hadn't reached the point of not caring about such things.
It was fine until someone mentioned it, but now it just seemed gross.
Hearing Zhao Guihua's call, Bai Fendou came to his senses. The urgent matter was taking care of the child, not chasing the dog. He quickly turned back and helped Jinlai up, saying: "How are you? Let uncle take a look."
As he spoke, he pulled down the pants to check the bite.
On the last day of being nine years old, on such a special day, a young boy had his pants suddenly pulled down, exposing his private parts in public. Even little boys have a sense of shame - he covered his face while crying, "My bottom hurts!"
Bai Fendou looked and saw there were indeed bloody dog bite marks on his bottom. He exclaimed, "What should we do?"
He immediately looked up and spotted Zhuang Zhixi, saying, "Little Zhuang, you work in the medical office, come take a look!"
Zhuang Zhixi: "..."
This was truly a case of desperate times, desperate measures.
He said, "I work at the medical office, but I charge fees!"
Besides, he wasn't even a doctor - how could he examine anyone?
Bai Fendou: "Quack!"
Zhuang Zhixi: "???"
What nonsense was this? No wonder being a doctor was so difficult, with ignorant fools like this around. He said, "I'm not even a doctor - what if I make things worse? How am I a quack? Do you even think before you speak? Isn't your brain not working right? But let me warn you, for a dog bite, you need to go to the hospital immediately for rabies shots. Otherwise, he might develop rabies. Plus, that dog's always hanging around the toilets - who knows what it's eaten and how many bacteria it carries. You better hurry to the hospital."
Although Bai Fendou was a muddle-headed fool and Jinlai wasn't exactly a good kid, since it was a matter of life and death, Zhuang Zhixi still kindly offered this advice.
Bai Fendou: "You think I don't know that?"
He immediately picked up Jinlai and started running.
Jinlai, whose pants weren't even pulled up yet: "Ahhh..."
Zhuang Zhixi: "What the hell..."
It wasn't that he wanted to use crude language, but the situation was truly beyond words.
What kind of mess was this?
Zhuang Zhixi was speechless.
Everyone else was speechless too.
Yang Lixin had somehow made his way to Zhuang Zhixi's side and poked his shoulder with a finger. When Zhuang Zhixi turned around, Yang Lixin asked, "With someone like him, are you sure he can find a wife?"
Zhuang Zhixi fell into a deep silence, and after a long while, he said: "Maybe, possibly, perhaps... *cough cough cough!*"
No way, absolutely no way he'd find one.
As Bai Fendou ran off carrying Jinlai, Yinlai and Tonglai were left in a daze. The two children didn't know what to do, but after a while, Yinlai suddenly said, "Wait for us!"
He quickly chased after Jinlai's direction.
"You have to admit, those three brothers have deep feelings for each other. They stick together when something happens. They're worried about their brother," someone commented.
"Your brother's going to the hospital, what are you following for? Don't go!" another person called out.
Yinlai: "Big brother will cry when he gets the shot, and Uncle Fendou will definitely buy him candy. I can't miss that!"
Tonglai: "Right, there will definitely be candy, I want some too! Wait for me, second brother!"
The onlookers fell silent again.
After a while, Zhuang Zhixi was the first to snicker. The person who had earlier commented about their "deep feelings" felt his face burning with embarrassment. What kind of children were these! They clearly just wanted candy! What brotherly love? Nonexistent!
Zhuang Zhixi: "Alright, they're gone, let's disperse."
He asked: "None of the other children were hurt, right?"
"No!" the children answered in their clear voices. Though they weren't hurt, they were all quite scared.
Zhao Guihua: "It's fine, it's fine."
The older generation knew the three traditional remedies, but they'd just quietly tell their children about them at night. None of them said this out loud, and everyone was particularly in sync about this.
If they spoke about it, it would be considered superstitious, but if they didn't mention it, then nothing happened!
"Anyone who got scared should definitely tell their elders at home, understand?"
The children: "We understand."
"Alright then, let's disperse!"
Just as everyone was about to leave, they suddenly heard a weak voice: "Help me..."
Everyone's footsteps suddenly stopped. Zhao Guihua: "Who's calling?"
As soon as she asked, she realized herself, slapping her forehead: "Oh right, Madam Zhou Li! Madam Zhou Li was being chased by the dog earlier."
But it was a stray dog, and quite fierce at that. Everyone looked at each other, reluctant to step forward. If it were anyone else, they would have rushed to help, but Madam Zhou Li was quite unpopular in the courtyard.
Not only did she have a sharp tongue for insulting people, but she also liked to stir up trouble between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law, between husbands and wives, and she was quite skilled at it. At first, she had caused several families to get into fights, but as time went by and people learned what kind of person she was, they grew tired of her.
So now, everyone just stood there, not moving an inch.
Besides, who knew if the dog was still there.
Zhao Guihua looked around and noticed Aunt Wang wasn't there, which wasn't surprising. Aunt Wang was a good person, but she had one hobby - she loved drinking. Usually, she wouldn't drink, but during the New Year, she would definitely have a few cups.
At her age, after drinking, she was probably sleeping at home.
With Aunt Wang, who usually took charge, not around, and nobody moving, Zhao Guihua hesitated before volunteering: "Well, I'll go take a look."
She really didn't want to get involved, but they were all living in the same courtyard after all.
Zhuang Zhixi: "Mom, I'll go."
He turned back to get the courtyard's broom and said: "I'll go!"
Zhao Guihua shook her head: "I better go, it's the women's toilet, who knows if there are others inside!"
Although there probably wouldn't be anyone at this time, it wouldn't be good for her son, who had just gotten married, to get a reputation for going into the women's toilet. She grabbed the broom from her son's hands and headed straight for the toilet. She walked carefully, and when she reached the toilet entrance, she looked around - the stray dog was nowhere to be seen.
These stray dogs were particularly alert and would run away quickly when something happened.
But it might still be inside the toilet.
"Help me, someone help me!" Madam Zhou Li's crying voice came from inside the toilet.
Zhao Guihua asked: "Old Zhou, is the stray dog in the toilet?"
Madam Zhou Li paused for a moment, and this brief pause was so peculiar that Zhao Guihua immediately realized and said: "The stray dog is in the toilet!"
She stopped advancing and said: "I'll call for more people."
She turned back and called out: "We need more people, the stray dog is in the toilet."
"Huh...?"
Nobody really wanted to move.
Zhao Guihua: "Hurry up, let's all chase the dog away together. We can't just watch Madam Zhou get mauled by the dog, can we?"
At these words, several more people immediately grabbed whatever tools they could find and joined in. Although nobody liked helping Madam Zhou Li, as mentioned before, if something really happened and so many people just stood by watching, it wouldn't look good.
Besides, it was still a human life at stake.
Everyone approached the toilet entrance together, now with both men and women present.
With so many people, it didn't matter anymore. They all walked in together, but as soon as the first few people peeked in, they let out a yelp and turned around to retch.
Madam Zhou Li was truly unfortunate - she had fallen in the toilet with her upper body landing in the squat toilet. Her hands were covered in excrement. And at this moment, the stray dog had rushed in, as Bai Fendou hadn't chased after it.
The saying "you can't stop a dog from eating excrement" proved true - the stray dog immediately approached Madam Zhou Li and started licking her fingers. The dog hadn't bitten anyone though.
But the dog had gotten it all over its mouth, inside and out, making everyone sick to their stomachs. This stray dog was definitely not one they'd want to eat... otherwise they'd disgust themselves to death.
When the stray dog saw so many people, it whimpered twice, then suddenly bolted for the exit.
Zhao Guihua and the others quickly made way - run away, run away, we definitely won't chase you, we'd lose if we did!
The stray dog howled once and fled, and everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief. Zhao Guihua, holding the broom, looked at Madam Zhou Li sprawled on the ground and asked: "Madam Zhou, can you get up?"
Fearing Madam Zhou might say no, she added: "I don't see anything wrong with you, you better get up yourself."
Madam Zhou Li had fallen into the squat toilet, and while she wasn't hurt, she was quite dirty, though not from the excrement - it was just the toilet's general filth. However, her arm had been hanging down and the dog had "eaten" from it, leaving the entire arm covered - it wasn't a lot, but it covered a large area!
It was unbearable to look at.
Zhao Guihua, fighting back nausea, quietly took a step back.
The others, like her followers, also stepped back.
Zhao Guihua: "You better go home and wash up."
Madam Zhou Li had been too afraid to move earlier, fearing she would be mauled to death by the wild dogs. She was completely exhausted. Now that the dogs had run away and no one was coming to help her, she wailed, "What are you all waiting for? Come help me!"
Zhao Guihua spoke bluntly, "It's not that we don't want to help, but you seem fine. Why don't you just get up yourself? In your current state, I dare not touch you!"
Madam Zhou Li was furious and wanted to curse, but even in this situation, she knew better than to provoke Zhao Guihua, especially after being berated by her just yesterday.
After hesitating, she called out, "Jiang Lu, where's Jiang Lu? What kind of daughter-in-law is she, being so useless? Jiang Lu, come help me up!"
She cursed, "That little tramp just spends all day at home acting coquettish, serves her right! Jiang Lu, Jiang Lu... get over here now!"
A young wife from the outer circle of onlookers said, "I'll go get her."
She ran quickly to Jiang Lu's house, but despite all the commotion outside, the door was closed with no response. She knocked, "Jiang Lu, come out for a moment, your mother-in-law fell in the toilet, come quickly!"
After calling several times, just when she thought no one was home, Jiang Lu rushed out with disheveled hair and disheveled clothes, asking, "What happened? What's wrong with my mother-in-law?"
The young wife's expression immediately turned awkward.
Who would have thought she'd be doing that in broad daylight?
Jiang Lu didn't care what others thought and rushed to the toilet, where she found dozens of people gathered around. No one could blame them for watching – after all, it was the New Year holiday with nothing else to do. Without much entertainment these days, people relied on such gossip for amusement.
Jiang Lu called out, "Let me through, what happened?"
She quickly pushed through the crowd and saw her mother-in-law's arm covered in "gold" – not much, but concentrated.
She retched, which immediately triggered Madam Zhou Li's fury: "Well, well, you little tramp, you dare to show disgust! How did I let my son marry such a heartless woman? Here I am suffering in the toilet while you're enjoying yourself at home. Damn you, you really deserve to die!"
Despite being injured, her scolding voice remained strong.
Clearly, she wasn't seriously hurt.
Zhao Guihua said, "Alright, alright, stop cursing. Hurry home and wash up. At your age, the toilet floor is too cold."
"Yes, Aunt Zhao is right. Let's help her up quickly. At her age, bones are fragile. Better go home, clean up, and check if you need to go to the hospital."
"Oh, oh my, I can't go on! My life is so bitter..."
Jiang Lu bit her lip, feeling utterly disgusted. Who wouldn't be disgusted by such a scene? But what could she do?
This was her mother-in-law after all.
Fighting her nausea, she stepped forward to support her mother-in-law, saying, "Mom, let me help you."
Fortunately, Madam Zhou Li was a skinny old woman. If it had been Aunt Wang, Jiang Lu wouldn't have been able to lift her at all. Even so, she struggled to help her up. Jiang Lu smelled the strong stench and retched again.
Seeing her reaction, Madam Zhou Li started cursing again: "I knew you looked down on me. You, the director's daughter, think you're better than common folk. Can't handle any hardship or suffering, already showing disgust before anything's happened. If I become old and need help with toilet matters, you'll probably throw me out of the house. What a misfortune to have someone like you in the family!"
Jiang Lu: "Mom, I'm not looking down on you."
With so many onlookers, Jiang Lu felt utterly humiliated. Biting her lip, she struggled to help Madam Zhou Li out, only to feel even more faint as she realized the crowd had grown even larger. It was mortifying.
Jiang Lu had never imagined facing such a situation, but this was her mother-in-law, Zhou Qun's mother – she couldn't possibly ignore her.
Jiang Lu: "Mom, let's walk slowly. How do your legs feel?"
"Broken, they must be broken. Hospital, I need to go to the hospital..."
Zhao Guihua watched Jiang Lu help her all the way home, listening to Madam Zhou Li's continuous wailing, and shook her head, saying, "What a mess!"
Surprisingly, at this point, seeing Madam Zhou Li injured, the Su family's mother and daughter-in-law finally came out. Aunt Su looked at Madam Zhou Li, covering her nose and mouth, saying, "My goodness, what a stench! Sister, did you fall into the toilet?"
She was secretly delighted, her eyes betraying her joy, but still pretending to care: "How could you be so careless?"
Madam Zhou Li glared at her and cursed: "You're here gloating! If it weren't for your little beast, would I be suffering like this? You devil. Just wait until I'm cleaned up – if you don't give me an explanation, I'll dump a bucket of manure all over your house!"
Aunt Su: "???"
Having not been outside earlier, she naturally didn't know what had happened, and asked confused: "What's wrong now? Why are you suddenly angry at me?"
Zhuang Zhixi, being mischievous, immediately explained: "This actually has something to do with your family. Your Jinlai was setting off firecrackers at wild dogs, the dogs chased the children, and just then Bai Fendou came out and got into a fight with the dogs. Aunt Zhou was just collateral damage. She fell in the toilet and got... well, you know."
Madam Zhou Li: "...You didn't need to mention that last part."
She put her hands on her hips: "You heard that? Your family is responsible for this, everyone here witnessed it. Don't think you can get away with denying it. Just wait until I'm cleaned up."
Aunt Su: "Ah!!!"
Her mind raced, thinking of how to escape responsibility. She said, "Well, you said it yourself that it was Bai Fendou's doing, you can't blame it all on our child! Where is Bai Fendou? Where are Jinlai and the others?"
Zhuang Zhixi: "Jinlai was bitten by the dog. Bai Fendou took the children to see a doctor."
"Ah!" Aunt Su cried out, "To the hospital? Which hospital? Xiu'er, what should we do? What should we do?"
Wang Xiangxiu: "It's okay, it's okay, with Fendou there, he'll definitely take good care of our child. Let's go, let's go now!"
At this point, they forgot about hiding and rushed towards the gate.
But they had no idea where to look for them. That's when Old Man Bai stepped forward – yes, after his son Bai Fendou had stepped up, Old Man Bai wasn't going to stay behind.
He said, "I know where Fendou usually goes. Follow me, we'll definitely find them!" The two panicked widows hurriedly followed Old Man Bai as they left.
The crowd of spectators hadn't dispersed at all, with neighbors commenting: "This is the second time for their child this week, isn't it?"
"Indeed!"
This child was truly too mischievous, something had to be done about it. Otherwise, it seemed this would never end.
Madam Zhou Li fumed: "The monk may run away, but the temple stays put."
She instructed: "Jiang Lu, boil some water, I'll take a bath in the courtyard."
Zhao Guihua: "What the hell, are you even human? You smell terrible, and you want to bathe in the courtyard? There are young men around here, have you considered their innocence? Who wants to see you? Taking a bath in the courtyard! Have you no shame?"
At this moment, she had to take a stand. This was just disgusting everyone.
"I'm telling you, if you dare to bathe in the courtyard, I'll report you to the street committee for indecent exposure!"
Madam Zhou Li stared hard at Zhao Guihua, who wouldn't back down. Damn it, how could they allow this? Pity the families in the front courtyard – the other two families had run out, leaving only her to stand up. Fortunately, the back courtyard residents were also against it. There wasn't even a door between the front and back courtyards, and they had to live there too!
Who wanted to deal with sewage water, who wanted to see an old woman – damn, it would burn their eyes!
In short, it was absolutely not acceptable.
As soon as Zhao Guihua took a stand, others chimed in: "Exactly! How can you be like this? If you dare do this, we'll all go to the street committee. You can't bully people like this."
"That's right, whoever wronged you, go find them. Why torment us innocent bystanders!"
"You already stink so much, won't messing with hot water make it worse? If we don't mind, you shouldn't either."
"Exactly, exactly."
The scene was chaos.
Madam Zhou Li couldn't win against everyone. She snorted and said, "None of you know how to respect your elders. Fine, I'll go home to wash. Jiang Lu, what are you doing just standing there watching everyone criticize me? Are you secretly enjoying this? How did I end up with a daughter-in-law like you?"
Jiang Lu: "Mom, no, I'm not. Let me help you up. I'll heat some water for you. Let's wash at home, I'll take care of everything."
Madam Zhou Li: "Bah, who needs you pretending to be nice?"
She lashed out and then said, "You really can't be counted on at all."
Zhao Guihua watched as Madam Zhou Li berated her daughter-in-law without restraint, wanting to say that the truly unreliable one was her son. With all this commotion at their doorstep for so long, her son hadn't even bothered to come out and check.
However, Zhao Guihua ultimately held her tongue. After all, it wasn't her son, and if Madam Zhou Li was content with it, and Jiang Lu didn't mind, then so be it. Not wanting to smell the stench any longer, she turned to go home.
Not only did she leave, but she also called out: "Everyone go home! What's there to see!"
Zhuang Zhixi wanted to say it was quite entertaining to watch, but thought better of it, not wanting to agitate his mother. This kind of excitement was rare, and you had to admit, Madam Zhou Li was really something, giving everyone such entertainment during the New Year.
Even if this entertainment came with quite a smell!
This drama would be talked about for at least a year!
It was truly unprecedented, but he knew this wasn't over yet. Given Madam Zhou Li's personality, she wouldn't let Old Man Bai and Bai Fendou off the hook.
This was just the first act; hopefully, the second act would be even more spectacular.
Zhuang Zhixi felt there must be a second act, and hoped his wife would make it in time. He quickly caught up with his mother and whispered, "Mom, do we have any sunflower seeds at home?"
Zhao Guihua gave him a side-eye.
Zhuang Zhixi didn't hide his intentions from his mother, saying directly, "There's definitely going to be another round, and watching drama is better with sunflower seeds. Otherwise, something's missing."
Zhao Guihua chuckled and said, "Missing something? Missing shame!"
Zhuang Zhixi played innocent, saying, "Look at you, how can you talk about your son like that?"
Zhao Guihua: "Fine, we have raw ones at home. We can roast some later."
Zhuang Zhixi: "Oh perfect! Mom, you're the best!"
Zhao Guihua: "Hehe."
Zhao Guihua: "Never mind other people's business now, let's prepare to make dumplings. I'll chop the meat, and you all help out later."
Zhuang Zhixi immediately said, "Okay."
The other two men in the Zhuang family also agreed - how could they not? If they didn't agree, the old lady would surely explode, and they couldn't handle that.
Though this New Year certainly had quite a "flavor" to it.
Old Man Zhuang said, "Do you think there's a possibility that Aunt Zhou was trying to create some entertainment because she thought New Year's was too dull?"
Everyone silently stared at him, and Old Man Zhuang laughed awkwardly, saying, "No- never mind!"
"Of course not! What are you thinking!"
Zhao Guihua: "When it comes down to it, today's incident was because Jinlai's kids didn't know better. Why provoke stray dogs for no reason? These strays roam around outside all day, if you don't bother them, they generally keep their distance and don't bite. I think it's just that Jinlai is too much of a troublemaker, asking for it. Otherwise, look at Aunt Zhou - she was alone with the stray dog, and it didn't bite her, right?"
Old Man Zhuang muttered, "Maybe it was too busy eating excrement to do anything else."
Zhao Guihua: "..."
She smiled slightly and said, "You just have to get a word in everywhere, don't you?"
Old Man Zhuang quickly made a zipping motion across his lips and said no more.
Zhao Guihua: "That's better."
Zhao Guihua: "Alright, let's make dumplings. Is there anything more important than eating dumplings?"
"Definitely not."
How could anything be more important than dumplings?
They're dumplings, delicious dumplings!
The family quickly got busy. Zhuang Zhixi watched his mother take out a piece of meat weighing about two pounds and start chopping the filling, grinning from ear to ear. How could he not be happy? They usually didn't use this much meat in their dumplings. Looking at it this way, his mother wasn't really stingy; it was just that they had so little before and had to be careful with everything. This year they had more, so they could be more generous.
Though they were busy chopping dumpling filling, it didn't stop Zhao Guihua and the others from peering outside. They were constantly watching to see when the Su family would return - this matter definitely needed an explanation.
They couldn't miss this drama.
Zhao Guihua prepared a huge bowl of filling, and the dough was properly rested. She called everyone to help - some rolling out wrappers, others wrapping dumplings. As Zhao Guihua kept looking outside, Zhuang Zhixi teased, "Mom, you really enjoy watching drama, don't you? You can't multitask like this."
Zhao Guihua gave him a look: "What nonsense are you talking about? I'm watching out for our Hutou and Xiao Yanzi. The children were quite scared earlier, but now they're playing by the door again. Children really are carefree."
Zhuang Zhixi mused: "That's because they don't have enough homework."
Zhao Guihua: "You're really something."
She could tell that when it came to being sarcastic, her son was champion.
"Mom, how much do you think Aunt Wang drank to not show up all afternoon with such big drama happening?"
Zhao Guihua: "How would I know? Your Aunt Wang likes her drink, and who could have predicted this?"
The Zhuang family nodded in unison. This was truly unexpected - who could have imagined someone would do such a thing on New Year's Eve? It was truly unthinkable!
However, reality often differs from expectations. The Zhuang family waited anxiously for either the Su family or the Bai family to return, but as they waited and waited until it was almost dark, no one came back.
Not just the Zhuang family, but people from the back courtyard and neighboring courtyards kept "visiting," their intentions obvious.
But still, no one returned.
Madam Zhou Li had already positioned herself on a stool by the door, staring intently at the main gate, but still no one appeared.
Zhuang Zhixi posed a soul-searching question: "They haven't fled in fear of Aunt Zhou, have they?"
Zhao Guihua: "..."
Could he stop making wild guesses?
Was that even possible?
She said: "Most likely, the two widows from the Su family used the children's injuries as an excuse to get a free dinner from those two. They can eat outside too. For them, saving one meal is saving one meal."
"What... not eating dumplings at home on New Year's? That's too much."
But thinking about it, it did seem like something the two from the Su family would do!
"Just watch, Aunt Zhou's anger is building up more and more. She's bound to explode soon," Zhao Guihua concluded definitively.
As dusk fell, the street lights came on, and there were few people on the streets. Ming Mei got off work early; originally, Zhuang Zhixi was supposed to pick her up, but since she finished early, she came alone. She jogged as she approached the alley, where firecrackers were constantly going off. Ming Mei quickly ran to their courtyard entrance, and as soon as she entered... she was stunned.
Everyone in the courtyard turned to look at her in unison.
Ming Mei: "Ah! This... were you all waiting for me?"
