Chapter 5: Beat You Up

When Yu Wan returned home after plucking the garlic sprouts, Mrs. Zhao had already taken away a steaming bowl of stewed chicken with bamboo shoots.

“Evil woman! Return my chicken! It’s not for you to eat! Sis caught it for us to eat!” Little Bruiser’s indignant voice came from the other side of the kitchen.

Yu Wan quickly walked through the hall. She saw Little Bruiser standing in the empty pigpen with his hands on his hips, his face red with anger. But he was too short to climb out.

Their family had long stopped raising pigs. The pigpen was clean, but even so, Yu Wan’s eyes turned cold when she saw her brother locked up here.

Yu Wan removed the bolt from the wooden board and carried her brother out. Then, she walked into the kitchen and lifted the lid of the pot to take a look. She saw that the pot of stewed chicken with winter bamboo shoots had been scooped until there was nothing left. “What happened? Who did this?”

Initially, Little Bruiser was only angry. However, as soon as his sister held him in her arms, he felt wronged and told her everything that had happened.

After hearing Little Bruiser’s words, Yu Wan realized that there was an unfulfilled marriage. The strange thing was that the Host of the body did not keep such an important matter in her memory.

That Mrs. Zhao kept calling her ‘my daughter-in-law’, but look at what she had done. When she was unconscious, she didn’t come to visit her. Instead, she took away the chicken and didn’t even greet her. She even pinched her younger brother!

It was not her fault that the Host didn’t want to remember her before she died. If she didn’t forget such a wicked woman, was she keeping her for the New Year?

“The chicken’s gone… I didn’t keep a good eye on the chicken…” Little Bruiser said, tears welling up in his eyes. That was the chicken that Sis caught! It was not easy to get a chicken, but it was snatched away just like that…

Yu Wan placed the garlic sprouts in the basin and patted her brother’s shoulder. “Wait for me at home. I’ll be back soon.”

“Sis, where are you going?” Little Bruiser asked in confusion.

Yu Wan did not say anything. She walked into the kitchen, took a kitchen knife, and left with a cold expression.

…

On the other hand, after Mrs. Zhao left Yu Wan’s house, she ran all the way home. Along the way, some villagers greeted her, but she ignored them.

The rich aroma of chicken soup wafted through most of the village.

Mrs. Zhao was originally a peasant woman from the Zhao Clan Village in the northwest. After the war broke out, Zhao Clan Village was taken over by enemy troops. She and her husband escaped with a pair of children. Along the way, her husband was shot to death by arrows. She and her young children tossed and turned several times before finally arriving at Lotus Flower Village.

It was difficult to make a living with her being widowed and the kids, fortunately, Mrs. Zhao had a good son.

Not only was Zhao Heng talented and intelligent, he was even more diligent and motivated. He was a candidate for the country level imperial exam, and because of this, his family was made an exception and obtained the household register of Lotus Flower Village.

However, their family didn’t have any adult males, and their only son, Zhao Heng, had a life of studying. How could Mrs. Zhao bear to let him work on the fields? Mrs. Zhao herself was a lazy person, and the daughter she raised didn’t have a pair of diligent hands and feet. All these years, their family had relied on Ah Wan’s family to support them, and even the field was planted by Ah Wan.

It wasn’t entirely true that Mrs. Zhao was dissatisfied with her prospective daughter-in-law, but it wasn’t necessarily true that she was grateful. After all, her son was the only scholar in the village. Ah Wan, that wild girl,was lucky to be able to get together with her son!

By now, more than half of the fog had dispersed. The people in the village began to work one after another. Although there wasn’t much farming in the winter, they still had to cook and wash their clothes.

When Mrs. Zhao stepped through the door, Zhao Baomei had just woken up. Her hair was a mess, and before she even opened her eyes, she could smell the alluring fragrance of chicken soup. She rushed out. “Mother! What is this?”

She hurriedly went to remove the lid of the jar that Mrs. Zhao had placed on the table, but Mrs. Zhao slapped it away.

Mrs. Zhao said, “Where’s your brother?”

Zhao Baomei pouted. “He went to the academy.”

Mrs. Zhao looked at the fragrant earthen jar and swallowed her saliva with all her might. “Then he shouldn’t have gone far. I’ll scoop some out first and you can bring it to your brother.”

Although Zhao Baomei was not happy, she knew that her brother was the most important person in the family. If her brother did not eat, no one could eat. “Got it, Mother,” she said, grinning.

Mrs. Zhao went to the kitchen to find two empty bowls. Just as she was about to scoop some chicken meat for her son, before she could even touch the earthen jar, she saw a bright kitchen knife chopping down on her wooden table!

Mrs. Zhao trembled in fear!

“Yu, what do you mean?!” Zhao Baomei, who was standing at the side, was the first to come back to her senses. When she saw the murderous look on Yu Wan’s face, she was stunned.

Yu Wan couldn’t be bothered with her. Her gaze fell on Mrs. Zhao’s pale face as she coldly said, “You were the one who went to my house just now?”

She came over smelling the chicken soup. She did not remember the Zhao family, nor did she remember what they looked like. However, there were only two women in the house. No matter how she looked at it, her “mother-in-law-to-be” would not be that sloppy little girl.

Mrs. Zhao was also stunned for a moment. She didn’t expect that Ah Wan, who usually didn’t even dare to breathe loudly in front of her, would dare to talk to her so rudely and even use a knife!

After all, she had bullied Ah Wan for many years, so she was not afraid of Ah Wan. She said domineeringly, “What are you trying to do bringing a kitchen knife to my house early in the morning! Are you crazy?!”

Yu Wan said coldly, “You bullied my younger brother, stole my chicken, and even asked me why I’m here. Zhao, who’s the one that’s crazy?”

Zhao? What did this wretched girl call her?! Mrs. Zhao was instantly enraged. She pointed at Yu Wan’s nose and said, “You still have the nerve to say, you bought a chicken and didn’t bring it to show your filial piety to me! You ate it in the house by yourself! What kind of intentions do you have? Do you still have me in your eyes…”

Noisy! Yu Wan couldn’t take it anymore. Without waiting for Mrs. Zhao to finish speaking, she picked up the kitchen knife on the table and swung it at Mrs. Zhao.

Mrs. Zhao was jumping up and down in fright!

Zhao Baomei wasn’t any better off. She had long been scared silly by Yu Wan’s imposing manner. She stood there in a daze and watched in horror as Yu Wan grabbed Mrs. Zhao’s hair and dragged her to the pigsty behind the house like she was dragging a sack.

Her pigpen had pigs!

“Ouch!” Mrs. Zhao was ruthlessly thrown into the pig feed trough!

Zhao Baomei could not remember what happened after that. She only knew that by the time she came back to her senses, Yu Wan had already taken away the earthen jar that emitted the fragrance of chicken soup.

…

Little Bruiser sat on the threshold of the hall, looking depressed. He knew that Sis had gone to the Zhao family, but he wasn’t sure if she would get the chicken back.