The Whole Village Thrives After Adopting a Lucky Girl

As both sides argued, it did not stop them from continuing to fish.

One side would scoop up a basket, and the other would net a catch, almost coming to blows.

Jiang Sanlang walked forward, spreading fish bait as he went. After using up the entire pot of bait, he and his older brothers and nephews claimed a part of the river, catching a lot of fish.

Seeing that they had enough, they started to pack their baskets, preparing to go home.

The villagers were reluctant to leave, staying until no more fish came swimming. Only then did they reluctantly pack up their tools.

At this point, a grubby young man approached Jiang Sanlang, “Jiang Sanlang, do you have any more bait?”

“No.” Jiang Sanlang glanced at him, not wanting to say more. He and his older brothers and nephews picked up their baskets, ready to leave.

This man suddenly grabbed the back of Jiang Sanlang’s basket and shouted out loud, “You clearly have more, why won’t you share with us? Does your rich family care so much about such trifle? You profit while lacking in humanity. Are you trying to starve us poor folks to death?”

Before Jiang Sanlang could shrug off his basket, Wang Ke and Li Dayong had already charged over and punched the man in the face.

The young man fell to the ground screaming for help, “Murder! Jiang Sanlang is murdering me! Help! Help!”

Little did he know, not only did nobody come to his aid, but more people from East Village came rushing over. With everyone piling on, they punched and kicked the man, who was begging for mercy.

“Alright, don’t kill him.” Seeing that it was enough, Jiang Sanlang quickly called for an end.

The crowd finally dispersed.

Looking at the man again, he was now cowering on the ground, too scared to say anything. Seeing Jiang Sanlang approaching, he recoiled in terror.

Jiang Sanlang gave him a cold glance before leaving with the crowd.

Despite the man’s disheveled state, Jiang Sanlang recognized him.

He was the brother of his second older brother’s ex-wife, the son of old Widow Cao from Leng Village, Leng Da.

It seemed that this scoundrel had squandered the money from selling his sister, otherwise he wouldn’t be in such a sorry state. He even dared to cause trouble in front of him, truly tired of living. Jiang Sanlang was never one to be messed with.

The East Village people followed Jiang Sanlang, striding back to South Slope.

This time, almost every household caught a good number of fish.

Chen Zhu and his second cousin, Chen Yin, together caught over a dozen fish, each weighing over ten kilos. They divided the fish between them, each getting six.

Chen Zhu gave one to his oldest brother, and the second brother’s family also received a fish. The rest were kept for the family’s use.

With the winter festival approaching, the clan would perform a sacrifice for ancestors, and each family should contribute offerings. These fish were enough for that purpose.

Seeing her son catching so many fish, Tang’s mother was overjoyed, and she busied herself with setting up a water tank for the fish.

The clan leader, hands clasped behind his back, came over and looked curiously at the fish, asking, “How did you all catch these?”

Chen Zhu laughed and said, “Jiang Sanlang had fish bait. Once thrown into the water, the fish all came swimming over.”

“What kind of magical bait is this?” the clan leader was skeptical.

Chen Zhu washed his hands in the water. “Jiang Sanlang said it was a mixture of crushed Auricularia auricula-judae and bran. Big fish really love it.”

The clan leader nodded, gazing at the huge fish leaping in the water tank.

After a moment, he asked, “Zhu, how much auricula-judae do you have left to plant?”

“About a hundred jars,” Chen Zhu responded, drying his hands with a towel handed over by his mother.

“How many pieces can you divide next year?” the clan leader asked again.

“About four hundred pieces should be possible,” Chen Zhu said.

After considering for a moment, the clan leader said, “Zhu, both your elder brothers lost their auricula-judae. When you’re dividing the pieces next year, each of their families should get a hundred pieces.”

Chen Zhu was taken aback.

When Tang’s mother heard what the old man said, she jumped up with indignation, “Why? Why should the seeding that my son painstakingly nurtured be given to them?”

The clan leader was displeased, “What do you mean, ‘them’? Those are my sons, Zhu’s biological older brothers!”

“Bah!” Tang’s mother scoffed, “When Zhu was lying on the kang (bed), none of them considered him their true brother! Oh, now they remember the blood relationship.”

“You!” The Clan Leader was practically choked with rage by his old wife, and he flung his sleeve and returned to the room.

Madam Tang gave a cold snort, pulling her son aside and said, “Don’t listen to your father! When you went to war, we women suffered enough at home. The whole family were eating boiled eggs, yet they didn’t give us any, saying there weren’t enough. My poor Yaoyao, watching with envy those cousins of his eating eggs. Oh, it grieves me to recall this.”

Seeing his mother start to ramble, Chen Zhu said helplessly, “Mother, don’t mention these things anymore, it’s not good if Yaoyao hears.”

“What’s so bad about it!” Madam Tang gave her son a glare: “If we don’t make it clear to him, others will take him for a fool to be bullied in the future.”

Chen Zhu sighed and didn’t say anything more.

It seemed there might be no more peace between his family and his older brothers’ families.

After lunch, Madam Tang, leading her grandson, went to visit the Jiang Family.

Madam Tang instructed her little grandson, “Be nice to Yingbao when you play with her. Don’t bully her, understand? ”

Yaoyao nodded.

“And remember to give Yingbao the silk flowers that grandma gave you,” Madam Tang reminded with a beaming smile.

Yaoyao blinked and didn’t understand why grandma always asked him to give gifts to Yingbao and play with her.

In fact, he preferred playing with Jiang Jie and Jiang Wu.

Entering the yard of Jiang Sanlang’s house, Madam Tang called out, “Is Chunniang home?”

Chunniang hurriedly ran out: “Oh, Aunt Tang, come in quickly.”

Leading her little grandson into the house, Madam Tang looked around without seeing the three children. She asked with a smile: “My Yaoyao insisted on coming over to play with Yingbao, but I don’t see her anywhere? ”

Chunniang moved a bamboo chair for Madam Tang to sit and said, “Baobao is practicing writing in her room.”

“Oh dear, what a diligent child.” Madam Tang lightly patted her little grandson, “See how hardworking Yingbao is? You should learn more from her in the future.”

Chunniang laughed, “Yaoyao is still young.”

“He is not young, he is only a few months younger than Yingbao, it won’t be a big deal as they grow older.”

Madam Tang sat on the bamboo chair, turned to her little grandson and said, “Go play with Yingbao. Oh, Chunniang, you have no idea how fond Yaoyao is of Yingbao. He insists on coming to see her every day.”

Yaoyao, who was about to head into the inner room, turned back, wanting to tell his aunt that he hadn’t, but was glared back by his grandma.

Yaoyao pursed his lips and ran into Yingbao’s room, where he indeed saw her practicing writing at a Kang table.

Jiang Jie and Jiang Wu were also practicing at another Kang table.

“Jiang Jie, Jiang Wu,” Yaoyao waved his hand happily at them. After a thought, he took out a pair of silk flowers from his pocket and said, “Here, wear these.”

Jiang Jie and Jiang Wu were delighted to see a visiting playmate at this time, and they quickly invited him to join them on the Kang.

So, the three boys sat on Kang and began discussing how to wear the silk flowers to look the best.

“My second cousin wears it at the side of his ear, like this, he learned it from the city people, people in the city all wear it this way.”

“My grandpa only wears it during festivals, he wears it on his hat,” Yaoyao gestured with his small hands.

“My grandpa never wears flowers, but dusts powder during festivals,” Jiang Jie said, “Let’s put this flower on him.”

Yaoyao and Jiang Wu agreed. Just powdering the face without wearing a flower was quite unattractive.

Having finished writing a page, Yingbao put down her brush and looked without a word at the three boys discussing about wearing flowers and powdering faces.

“Jiang Jie, Jiang Wu, have you finished your homework?”

Jiang Jie and Jiang Wu shrank their necks and said no more.

Yingbao then asked Yaoyao: “Chen Bozhong, have you finished your homework?”

Yaoyao slowly moved behind Jiang Jie, covered his eyes with his small hands, and peeped at the girl on the opposite side through the fingers.

She was scary, scarier than Master.

Yet, grandma keeps saying she is cute and wants me to play with her. She’s not fun at all.