Chapter 50: A Taste of Her Own Medicine
"Tingting."
Lu Tingting had just finished lunch and was heading out to school when she ran into Chen Xue.
In fact, Chen Xue had come looking for Lu Tingting on purpose.
The Chen Family had many children, and Wu Miaoyun couldn’t manage them all. After Chen Xue was weaned, she was sent to be raised at their old family home in the countryside and was only brought back after finishing middle school.
This upbringing made Chen Xue different from children like Lu Tingting, who had grown up in the residential compound. She exuded a timid and unsophisticated air.
Lu Tingting looked down on her for this and usually didn’t include Chen Xue in her activities.
But Chen Xue always tried to get close to her.
However, Chen Xue wasn’t shamelessly annoying like Jiang Moli. Lu Tingting neither disliked nor liked her.
"What do you want?" Lu Tingting asked, looking at Chen Xue.
Chen Xue glanced left and right, looking cautious. "Your Third Aunt came to my house for lunch today."
The moment she heard Jiang Moli’s name, Lu Tingting’s face fell. "Don’t you dare mention her to me!"
With that, she turned to leave.
Chen Xue quickly grabbed her. "You have no idea what she did! She made my mom so mad."
Hearing there was gossip, Lu Tingting stopped. "What did she do?"
Seeing Lu Tingting’s interest, Chen Xue was secretly pleased.
She knew Lu Tingting and Jiang Moli didn’t get along, so her first thought after the incident was to use it to get closer to Lu Tingting.
After learning what Jiang Moli had done at the Chen Family’s home, Lu Tingting wasn’t in a hurry to get to school anymore. Instead, she followed Chen Xue to the Chen residence.
When she saw the mess Jiang Moli had made of the Chen’s home with her own eyes, Lu Tingting couldn’t help but gloat.
Wu Miaoyun was her grandma’s closest old friend. With Jiang Moli making such a mess of the Chen’s place, her grandma’s temper meant she would surely give Jiang Moli a harsh scolding!
’Maybe she’ll even give her a beating!’
"Grandma! Grandma!"
Lu Tingting ran into the Lu Family’s living room, only to see Jiang Moli at the dining table eating noodles. She was thoroughly disappointed.
’She caused such a huge mess, and they’re still letting her eat? They should have made her skip a few meals!’
An Hui looked at her granddaughter with concern in her eyes. "Tingting, have you had lunch?"
"I have. Mom asked me to bring this over for you to put on your lower back."
Lu Tingting handed the dog-skin plaster to An Hui.
Zhou Jinyu had indeed asked Lu Tingting to deliver the plaster during lunch.
But Lu Tingting, not wanting to see Jiang Moli, had flat-out refused.
After finding out about the trouble Jiang Moli had caused at the Chen’s house, Lu Tingting ran back home to grab the plaster, hoping to use the delivery as an excuse to watch the drama unfold.
"Niece Tingting, we meet again."
In contrast to Jiang Moli’s beaming smile, Lu Tingting was so furious she nearly ground her back teeth to dust.
An Hui glanced at Jiang Moli, then at Lu Tingting, and said, "Your Third Aunt is greeting you. Don’t be rude."
This was exactly why Lu Tingting didn’t want to see Jiang Moli.
Every time she saw her, she had to call her "Third Aunt."
’It’s so infuriating!’
After sullenly forcing the words "Third Aunt" through her teeth, Lu Tingting immediately tattled, "Grandma, Jiang... everyone in the compound knows about the trouble she caused at the Chen Family’s home! You have to keep her in line, or who knows what kind of trouble she’ll stir up next and bring shame to you and Grandpa."
Jiang Moli actually quite liked this about Lu Tingting.
Her dislike was always out in the open, displayed plainly on her face, unlike those treacherous, two-faced backstabbers.
An Hui could naturally see through her granddaughter’s little scheme. She simply wanted to use her to teach Jiang Moli a lesson.
But in her eyes, Jiang Moli was a powder keg that could explode at any moment.
She didn’t dare touch it, nor did she want to.
It might just blow up and cover her in ash.
"I’ll handle it. You should go to school."
"Grandma..."
"Be good now."
An Hui was at her wit’s end with Jiang Moli, but she maintained her authority in front of Lu Tingting.
When she gave an order, Lu Tingting didn’t dare disobey.
After Lu Tingting left, An Hui turned to Jiang Moli, who was slurping her noodles with her head down as if nothing had happened. "Among the gifts you received yesterday, there were several sets of ceramic bowls and chopsticks. Pick one out and take it to your Aunt Wu this afternoon as an apology."
"Okay, I’ll go right after I finish eating."
Seeing Jiang Moli’s obedient compliance, An Hui couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
She didn’t know it then, but she had sighed in relief a bit too soon.
After eating, Jiang Moli went back to her room, picked out a set of ceramic bowls, and headed for the Chen Family’s home.
An Hui had wanted to go with her, but her back was acting up. Besides, she thought, Jiang Moli was a grown woman; surely she could handle such a small matter.
Furthermore, she and Wu Miaoyun had been friends for over a decade. Once Jiang Moli delivered the bowls, she could just give Wu Miaoyun a call, say a few nice things, and the matter would be settled.
...
When Jiang Moli arrived at the Chen residence, the living room was still filled with residents from the compound.
"Well, look at this crowd. Are you having a meeting?"
Seeing Jiang Moli return, Wu Miaoyun couldn’t even be bothered to feign politeness. Her tone was cold and indifferent:
"Xiao Jiang, is there something you need?"
Jiang Moli held up the gift box with the ceramic bowls. "I accidentally broke your bowls at lunch, so my mother-in-law had me pick out a new set from my wedding gifts to compensate you. Aunt Wu, see if you like this one. If not, I have other styles at home. You can come over and pick one you like."
With Jiang Moli putting it that way, Wu Miaoyun found it hard to maintain her stern expression.
"You don’t have to..."
"I knew it! Aunt Wu isn’t the petty type! You and my mother-in-law have been friends for decades. Why would you fuss over a few broken bowls? Of course you wouldn’t!"
"Anyway, Aunt Wu, you look busy, so I’ll head back for now. I’ll come over for some of your celery another day when I’m free. It was really delicious."
As soon as she finished speaking, Jiang Moli turned and left, taking the ceramic bowls she had brought with her.
The people in the living room all looked at each other, dumbfounded.
"What kind of person is she? Miaoyun was just being polite, and she took her at her word, even taking the gift back with her?"
Wu Miaoyun’s face flushed red, then went pale with anger, as if an artist’s palette had been overturned on it.
She wasn’t just being polite to Jiang Moli. What she had meant to say was, "You don’t have to go to so much trouble, this set is fine," but Jiang Moli hadn’t even let her finish her sentence!
Breaking her bowls and replacing them with a new set was only right and proper.
So if she had accepted the compensation, she would have been the petty one?
’This is going too far!’
...
After leaving the Chen residence, Jiang Moli didn’t hurry back to the Lu Family’s home. Instead, she planned to go to the bank first to deposit some money.
If she went back to the Lu home now, An Hui would find out she hadn’t delivered the bowls and would definitely go over to the Chen residence to apologize in person immediately.
’That won’t do. I’m counting on Wu Miaoyun to help me earn Disdain Value.’
In the less than half an hour between breaking the bowls and going home to eat noodles, she had already gained over a dozen Disdain Value points. It was a testament to Wu Miaoyun’s ability to spread gossip.
Besides, Wu Miaoyun’s house was full of a group of women who loved a good spectacle.
’Whether my mission progress today can break the 3,000-point mark all depends on Wu Miaoyun and her gang of busybodies!’
...
"AHH! I’m so mad! How can such an annoying person exist!"
Lu Tingting jabbed her pencil hard into the pages of her book, wishing the illustration on the page was Jiang Moli herself.
"I’ll stab her to death!"
Seeing Lu Tingting so enraged, Wu Meixia and Song Ke both looked at her with sympathy.
"Tingting, why not give her a taste of her own medicine?"