Chapter 28: That Wretch is Sinister
Hearing this, Liu couldn’t stay quiet any longer. "In that case, let Dazhu go. You stay home and work. Your big brother is taller than you and usually has a bigger appetite. If he goes to the steamed bun eating contest, he’s sure to win."
Bai Erzhu grew frantic. "No way! I’m the one who found this opportunity. What does it have to do with my big brother? How can you just tell me to give it up? I won’t do it."
The two brothers started arguing right there in the courtyard, and they nearly came to blows. In the end, the old woman had no choice but to take out another fifty cents and let both Dazhu and Erzhu go to town.
With Zhao Lan injured and away, and Bai Dazhu and Bai Erzhu gone to town, they likely wouldn’t be back until dusk. This left only the women, children, and the elderly at home—and none of them were inclined to work. Not a single person was willing to tend to the fields. While the old woman frequently scolded her daughters-in-law, she couldn’t bear to say a single harsh word to her precious grandsons. When they said they didn’t want to go to the fields, she didn’t force the issue, simply letting them rest at home.
Villagers passing by the front of their courtyard shook their heads. "I’ve never seen such a lazy family. At a time like this, everyone else is working from dawn till dusk. But look at them, sleeping soundly in broad daylight."
A little while later, Liu returned from the riverbank with a basket of freshly washed clothes. Spotting the old woman sitting in the backyard to cool off, she hurried over. "Mother, I was just washing clothes by the river. Guess what I heard?"
The old woman shot her a sideways glance and snapped, "I don’t have super-hearing, how could I possibly guess? If you want to say something, say it. If not, then drop it."
’She was still brooding over what happened yesterday. That bitch Liu... and after I treated her so well, always taking her side in everything. But when push came to shove, she threw an old woman like me under the bus. Hmph!’
Liu had no idea what the old woman was thinking. As she hung the clothes to dry, she said, "I just heard that yesterday evening, that little bitch Bai Zhi also went to the river to do laundry. When Yingzi fell in the water and Hu Feng pulled her out, she was already gone—not breathing at all. But that little bitch Bai Zhi, who knows where she learned some kind of demonic art, started kissing and touching Yingzi all over. A moment later, Yingzi was alive again! Isn’t that the strangest thing? The whole village is buzzing about it now. They’re saying that little bitch Bai Zhi has an evil aura about her. She was clearly dead as a doornail yesterday, so how did she suddenly come back to life? And Yingzi was clearly dead too, but after she fiddled around with her, she came back to life as well! Tell me, isn’t that just wicked?"
The old woman didn’t know whether it was wicked or not, but it did make her think of Mrs. Yingzi’s visit to their courtyard that morning.
"Mrs. Yingzi came by this morning," she said thoughtfully.
Liu stopped hanging the clothes and turned back to the old woman. "Mrs. Yingzi was here? Don’t tell me something happened to Yingzi last night! Did she come to settle things with that little bitch?" As she spoke, a hint of excitement crept into her voice. She was practically hoping someone would come and put that little bitch in her place, which would be sweet revenge for her.
The old woman shook her head. "No, Mrs. Yingzi brought Yingzi with her. She looked perfectly fine; nothing had happened."
Liu was instantly deflated. "Then what did she come for?"
The old woman said, "She was carrying a basket when she came. I didn’t know what she was here for at the time. But now, hearing what you’ve said, it means that bitch Bai Zhi is the one who saved her family’s Yingzi. She must have come to thank that little bitch. And that basket she was carrying... who knows what was in it, but it must have been something good."
And if it was something good, how could they possibly let it get away?