Chapter 40

“Oh.”

Ruan Xiaoxue responded. She didn’t like sweet potato rice either. It made her fart and cause heartburn. But if she didn’t add sweet potatoes, there wouldn’t be enough food at home.

“Second sister, do you want to eat roasted sweet potatoes?”

Ruan Xiaoxue roasted two sweet potatoes in the fire pit. The fragrance was overflowing, and honey was flowing out of the skin. It looked delicious.

Ruan Qiqi peeled off the skin, revealing the golden and soft meat, which was steaming hot. She blew a few times and was still burned when she bit it, but it didn’t affect her eating. This kind of sweet potato roasted with firewood must be eaten while hot. It won’t taste good when it’s cold.

The two sisters finished breakfast, locked the door, and were about to set off.

Ruan Qiqi walked a few steps, then came back and took a hoe to dig a hole in the yard.

“Second sister, what are you digging for?”

“To lure turtles into the hole.”

Ruan Qiqi asked her to help. The two sisters dug a half-meter deep and one-foot wide hole between the courtyard gate and the main gate, and they were sweating from exhaustion.

“Cut these out!”

Ruan Qiqi went to the firewood room to find a bamboo, and together with Xiaoxue, cut more than a dozen sharp bamboo sticks and inserted them all into the bottom of the hole.

“Second sister, no one will die, will they?”

Ruan Xiaoxue was a little panicked. It was so long and so sharp that it would kill someone.

“It deserves to die!”

Ruan Qiqi disagreed, but she knew that she would definitely not die, at most her legs would be crippled.

Ruan Xiaoxue swallowed hard, her second sister was so cruel now, she liked it so much!

Imagining the miserable appearance of her aunt Yang Huiying falling and bleeding, she couldn’t help but want to laugh, and she felt very happy.

The two sisters buried some dead firewood at the entrance of the hole, and then covered it with grass and soil. If you don’t look carefully, you will definitely not see it. The dug soil was also hidden.

The courtyard door was not locked, but just ajar, waiting for Yang Huiying to take the bait.

There is a bicycle at home, which was ridden by Ruan’s father when he was alive. Although it is five or six years old, it is well maintained and looks about 70% new.

The bike was a 28-inch bicycle. Ruan Xiaoxue was taller. She rode the bike while Ruan Qiqi sat behind her. The two of them went to Baili Village empty-handed.

Baili Village was about 20 miles away from Ruanjiawan. If it was a flat road, it would take less than an hour. The road in the mountains was bumpy and difficult to ride. Ruan Qiqi’s butt hurt.

“I’ll walk by myself!”

Ruan Qiqi couldn’t stand it anymore and decided to walk.

Even at this speed, it was not much faster than walking, and it hurt her butt.

Ruan Xiaoxue also got off the bike and pushed the bike. It was more than eight o’clock in the morning. The villagers had all gone to work. There was no one on the road, no cars, and it was very deserted. There were only tung trees blooming on the roadside. When the wind blew, the Tung flowers fell like snow.

“I’ll pick some Tung leaves and steam them to make tung leaf cakes. I haven’t eaten them for a long time.”

Ruan Xiaoxue was a real foodie and loved to study food. It was a pity that there were too few ingredients at home and she had no place to use them.

Ruan Qiqi was also greedy. She had never eaten Tung leaf cakes, but they sounded delicious.

Tung leaves wrapped with glutinous rice flour, corn flour, flour are all fine. It is a snack for the Ghost Festival in some places in Hunan.

“I’ll go to the commune to exchange rice tomorrow and make it when I come back.”

She waved her hand and made the decision.

“Send some to my eldest sister when it’s done. She also likes to eat tung leaf cakes.”

Ruan Xiaoxue smiled happily, feeling that she had returned to the time when her father was not dead. The family had no shortage of food or money. Even if something big happened, as long as her father was there, the sky would not fall.

The second sister now also made her feel at ease, as if there was no problem that the second sister could not solve.

The two sisters walked for an hour and a half and finally arrived at Baili Village. There was a tall and big old camphor tree at the entrance of the village. Ruan Qiqi stood under the tree to rest and asked the old camphor tree about Ruan Shuangjiang.

“That girl is pitiful. She gets beaten every day. Her husband is a piece of shit. He beats her to death when he fights. He even beats the children. He is really inhumane!”

The old camphor tree has a compassionate heart and sympathizes with Ruan Shuangjiang’s experience.

These are what it heard from the birds and mice in the village. As the oldest tree in Baili Village, it knows everything about the village, including who is cheating on someone else and who is having an affair.

Ruan Qiqi asked about Li Hailiang’s family, but the old camphor tree knew too much gossip and it couldn’t remember it for a while.

“Don’t worry, think about it slowly, I’ll come to you in the evening.”

Ruan Qiqi gave the old camphor tree some spiritual energy.

“Thank you, sister. I just thought of something. Do you like gold bars?”

The old camphor tree absorbed the spiritual energy and felt comfortable all over. It blamed itself more and more for not being able to help Ruan Qiqi.

“Yes, there are gold bars in the village?”

Ruan Qiqi’s eyes lit up. She liked gold the most. The more the better. Even if she couldn’t spend it now, it would be good to put it in the space and touch it every day.

“Yes, there is a can of gold bars and Yuan Datou buried behind the mortuary in the village. Go and dig it up.”

The old camphor tree felt much better. It was glad that it could help Ruan Qiqi. It would think about Li Hailiang’s family slowly later. It had to come up with something. It didn’t believe that this family had never done anything immoral.

“Was the gold bar buried by Bai Landlord?”

Ruan Qiqi asked curiously.

There are two big surnames in Baili Village, Li and Bai. There is a Bai Landlord in the village. He has hundreds of acres of fertile land, but he is just a small landlord. Unfortunately, all landlords are equally unlucky, regardless of size.

Bai Landlord was lucky. He died of illness a few years ago and escaped.

His wife and children are living in dire straits. However, the original body said that Bai Landlord’s grandson is quite promising. He made a fortune in business during the reform and opening up, and he also opened a company and became a well-known big boss.

“Yes, sister, do you know Bai Landlord?” asked the old camphor tree.

“I’ve heard of it.”

“Sister, let me tell you something. The son of the landlord Bai was not born to his cousin, but to another woman. That woman had a husband and gave birth to three sons. The landlord Bai gave six acres of good paddy fields in exchange for this woman to give birth to a son for him. Her husband personally sent her here.”

The old camphor tree remembered another strange thing and quickly told Ruan Qiqi.

“That woman is also from Baili Village?”

Ruan Qiqi became interested. Isn’t this the same as pawning wives before liberation? Pawning wives to other people to give birth to sons, and then taking them home after the birth. She remembered that there was a movie about this, and the female lead was pretty.

“No, her husband is from Ruanjiawan. He is not good-looking, with triangular eyes and high cheekbones. He looks fierce, but he has a big butt. The landlord Bai liked her big butt. He only slept with her three times and she gave birth to a son for him.”

When talking about these romantic gossips, the old camphor tree talked endlessly.

Ruan Qiqi was silent. How come the woman that the old camphor tree was talking about was so much like the original cruel grandmother?

Old Lady Ruan also had triangular eyes, high cheekbones, and a big butt. She was most proud of her ability to give birth to sons. She gave birth to five sons in a row, but the first three did not grow up, and only Ruan Guiming and Ruan Dad survived.

Moreover, the Ruan family did have six acres of good paddy fields before. With the incompetence of old man Ruan, he would not be able to earn so much land in his lifetime.

Could it be that the woman that the white landlord rented was old lady Ruan?

Ruan Qiqi’s mind appeared with old lady Ruan’s wrinkled face. Then he imagined the scene of this old lady and the white landlord rolling in bed, and shuddered with aversion.

Sure enough, it had to be the melon of the old generation, big and sweet, and they would not say a word when they ate one.

The old generation seemed conservative, but they were actually wild, especially when it came to the little things in bed, which were much more open than the young people of later generations.

Ruan Qiqi asked about the facial features of the woman in detail, and basically confirmed that it was old lady Ruan.

Tsk… Old man Ruan put a big green hat on himself with his own hands, what a capable man!

“After the big-butt woman gave birth to a son, her husband took her back. The landlord Bai still had feelings for her, and she also liked his bravery. The two of them were still in contact. Once her husband caught her, and the landlord Bai compensated him with two acres of mountain land.”

The old camphor tree told another explosive news, and Ruan Qiqi listened with relish.

The Ruan family really had two acres of dry land before. This big-butt woman must be Old Lady Ruan, who is really open-minded!

It’s a pity that Old Man Ruan lost his wife and his army. The land he got from selling his wife was all confiscated, and now they all work together. No wonder Old Man Ruan has become more and more gloomy in recent years. He must be too aggrieved in his heart.