Chapter 59: Looking for Eggs
’They want to sell me to get a wife for their son. Heh. In their dreams.’
She turned to leave, only to bump right into someone’s chest. She rubbed her nose, took a step back, and frowned at him. "Why do you always walk so quietly?"
Hu Feng raised his eyebrows. "Overhearing people plotting to sell you... how does that feel?"
Bai Zhi scoffed and started toward the newly repaired cabin. "It’s nothing. They can try to sell me, but they’ll have to see if I’ll let them. I’m not the old Bai Zhi who’d let them walk all over her without a fight. Like you said, I won’t cause trouble, but if someone causes trouble for me, I’ll pay them back double. If they’re going to make my life difficult, I’ll do the same to them. Just you wait and see."
She had such a calm and collected expression, as if taking on the Bai family was the easiest thing in the world. And yet, he couldn’t bring himself to doubt her. In his eyes, her nonchalant expression wasn’t arrogance or conceit, but pure confidence. She was sure she could handle it all, and he believed in her.
"The cabin’s fixed. I’m heading back now." Hu Feng strode off, leaving as abruptly as he had arrived.
"Mother, you get some rest. I’m going to tidy up the cabin." Although the cabin was repaired, the inside was still a mess. Dirty water from last night’s downpour still pooled on the floor, and the straw that padded the bed was soaked through. Thankfully, the cabin wasn’t large, so cleaning up wouldn’t take long.
She hadn’t finished cleaning when Liu and Old Mrs. Bai came out of the main house. They walked over to Zhao Lan, who was sitting in the courtyard, and demanded, "Hand over the key to the Hu family’s cabin."
Zhao Lan did indeed have the key, but it didn’t belong to the Bai Family, so she wasn’t about to hand it over easily.
"What do you want the key for?" Zhao Lan asked.
Old Mrs. Bai scoffed. "What else? Look at you, with your hand injured and Zhi busy. We’re going to get your clothes and quilts for you. You’d better not be ungrateful." During the earlier chaos, Zhao Lan had been dragged back from Hu Changlin’s main house, so the old women hadn’t yet had a chance to go to the small cabin themselves. The eggs from Yingzi’s family must still be hidden there.
Of course, Zhao Lan didn’t know what they were plotting. But offering to help her get her things? That wasn’t their style at all. She naturally grew suspicious and was even more hesitant to give them the key.
"That won’t be necessary. When Zhi’er is finished in a bit, she and I will go get them."
Liu shot Zhao Lan a cold glare and shrieked, "Oh, so you have to go yourselves, do you? I suppose your real intentions lie elsewhere. Perhaps you’re hoping for another chance to see your old flame?"
Zhao Lan trembled with anger. Pointing at Liu, she stammered, "You—don’t you dare spread such vicious lies! There’s nothing going on between Brother Hu and me. Slander me if you must, but don’t you dare spout nonsense and ruin his reputation!"
"Just listen to yourself! You’re saying the exact same thing that Hu Changlin did. Defending each other like this, and you still claim nothing’s going on? Who would believe you?"
Bai Zhi, who was inside the cabin, heard every word clearly. ’That old hag and that vicious shrew Liu are usually lazy as sin,’ she thought. ’They’re always ordering other people around and never lift a finger themselves. And now they’re suddenly kind enough to offer to get our quilts for us? Not a chance.’
’Then she remembered the eggs Mrs. Yingzi had brought over that morning. Mrs. Yingzi must have come to the Bai Family home first, and when she saw that my mother and I weren’t there, she went to the Hu Family’s place to find us. The old women must have seen the basket of eggs. They want to use ’getting our things’ as an excuse to find those eggs and confiscate them.’
’Once the eggs are confiscated, they won’t belong to us anymore. And knowing that old hag and Liu, they would rather let the eggs spoil and rot than ever let Mother and me have a single one.’