Chapter 9

Upon hearing his words, Shen Cui felt extremely comforted and couldn’t help but smile.

“I’m so grown up, do you still need to worry about me?”

Mu Er Pang didn’t dare to retort; he just raised his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders.

The meaning was clear: we’re even, neither of us should look down on the other, we’re both equally troublesome!

Shen Cui laughed and reached out to adjust his hat on his head. After laughing, she said, “If you don’t want to go, then don’t go. There’s no need to argue with your grandma over it. Don’t do things you don’t want to do. If you want to lie at home, then lie down. Mom won’t say anything to you.”

“It’s not that, usually during the New Year, I go to grandma’s house. There’s plenty of good food and fun there!”

So, it turned out she had misunderstood. This little guy wasn’t doing it all for her. Shen Cui playfully pinched his chubby face and then sent him outside.

Before parting, Shen Cui awkwardly said to Li Shi, “This child gets hungry easily, and when he’s hungry, his mood turns bad. It’s troublesome, so please take care of him more.”

Li Shi hadn’t had a good relationship with this sister-in-law in the past, and she was not a saint. It was impossible for her to not care about the past. However, in the two recent contacts, Shen Cui seemed to have changed a lot, showing much more courtesy than before.

Li Shi was also easy-going and her tone softened a bit, saying she would take care of Mu Er Pang and that Shen Cui could rest assured.

After saying that, Li Shi hesitated for a while. Obviously, she still felt soft-hearted and thought it wasn’t good for Shen Cui to spend the New Year alone, but she was afraid of being blamed by Zheng Shi if she went back on her own.

Shen Cui smiled and shook her head, “Sister-in-law, don’t worry. I’m a grown woman. I usually take care of Mu Er Pang, so these days will be a bit more relaxing for me.”

Seeing that Shen Cui seemed truly relaxed, Li Shi also smiled and assured her again that she would take good care of Mu Er Pang.

After seeing them off, the house suddenly became quiet.

Shen Cui could bear loneliness and found something to do for herself.

Since she had just cleaned the kitchen and the main hall, there were many other chores left by the original body in the house for her to do.

Shen Cui had gotten used to multitasking, opening his attribute panel on the screen and glancing at it from time to time.

At this moment, Mu Er Pang’s mood was indeed quite good. As he said, he didn’t mind going to his maternal grandparents’ house. It’s just that today’s experience was a bit different.

Don’t look at Li Shi sincerely assuring Shen Cui that she would take good care of Mu Er Pang. She was also a mother of several children and had a strong foundation in taking care of children. But in fact, she was a bit uncertain in her heart.

Because in her opinion, Mu Er Pang… Mu Er Pang was a bit different from other children.

First of all, of course, there was the difference in body size. Although Li Shi also treated him as a little lucky star, she had to admit that the child’s body size was indeed much larger than that of children of the same age.

Fat people get tired easily and breathe heavily. Usually, when Li Shi or Zheng Shi took him into the city, they would hire a cart especially for him.

Today, luck was not on their side. The two of them waited at the village entrance for a long time without seeing a cart coming. Moreover, the weather was changing, and if they didn’t leave soon, it might snow. They had no choice but to walk.

Shuiyun Village was the closest village to the county seat, but for a half-fat child like Mu Er Pang who rarely exercised, it would take at least twenty minutes to walk.

Before they could get on the cart, Li Shi started to lead Mu Er Pang.

Top of Form

Mu Er Pang hung the small bundle in his hand around his own neck, then squatted in front of him, saying he would carry him.

Although Mu Er Pang was usually dull-witted, he was very clever when it came to being lazy.

Being carried by adults was something the old Mu Er Pang was used to.

He subconsciously reached out his arms, but after he did so, he felt embarrassed—his two arms were as fat as sections of lotus roots, even thicker than his young aunt’s arms!

He tucked his chubby arms back into his sleeves, casually telling Li Shi, “There’s still a long way to go. I want to walk by myself. When I can’t walk anymore, I’ll tell my aunt.”

While speaking, the sky became even darker. Seeing that they couldn’t delay any longer, Li Shi didn’t force him to listen to her on the way but only told him to speak up when he felt very tired, not to force himself.

Mu Er Pang nodded obediently, then held Li Shi’s hand and they set off on their way into the city.

After walking for a short while, Mu Er Pang started to pant. Before Li Shi could say anything, he said he wanted to rest for a bit.

There was no place to sit by the roadside, so he just stood for a while, waiting until his breathing was steady before walking again.

Li Shi looked at him like this and couldn’t help but size him up from head to toe.

Mu Er Pang was still the same Mu Er Pang, with a chubby face, slender eyes, delicate nose and mouth, about four feet tall, wearing a plain gray thick coat, and a leather hat on his head, like an enlarged New Year’s painting doll.

No matter how you looked at it, he was still the child Li Shi had watched grow up.

There was no saying what was different, but she felt like he had changed somehow.

The two entered the city gate in the afternoon, and after another quarter of an hour’s walk, they arrived at Teapot Alley where the Shen family was located.

The terrain of Teapot Alley was as its name suggested. The entrance was a slightly narrow long alley, and after passing through the alley, it opened up into a wide area with rows of houses, large and small, densely packed together.

With this kind of terrain, it naturally wasn’t considered a good place, so most of the people living there were ordinary folks.

Li Shi had just led Mu Er Pang out of the long alley when they ran into some neighbors nearby.

Entertainment activities were not abundant for city dwellers in this era. At the moment, a few women were standing in front of their doors, huddled up with their necks pulled in and sleeves rolled up, chatting.

“Is Shen’s daughter-in-law bringing her nephew over again?” The speaker was a woman of similar age to Zheng Shi, with some white hair.

As she spoke, the other women with her cast their eyes over Mu Er Pang from head to toe.

However, unlike Li Shi’s gaze, their looks were not friendly, and even somewhat disdainful.

Because Mu Er Pang often visited the Shen family, and his characteristics were very obvious, people in the vicinity knew that the Shen family had such a silly and fat child who, at the age of ten, could barely speak.

Zheng Shi was known to be fierce, so everyone only dared to gossip behind her back and never dared to say anything to her face.

Now that Zheng Shi was not around, and only Li Shi, who was as soft as dough, was there, it did not stop them from mocking Mu Er Pang with their eyes.

Seeing them like this, Li Shi, who was as soft as dough, also felt a bit angry.

But she was not good at arguing, and she didn’t want to argue with anyone on this occasion, so she just glared back with unfriendly eyes.

Mu Er Pang, looking at the Shen family so close by, asked, “Aunt, why don’t we go on?”

As he spoke, Mu Er Pang started to take a step forward, trying to distance himself from the group of women.

Mu Er Pang poked half of his chubby face out from Li Shi and said, “Oh, it’s Auntie Zhao, Auntie Sun, Auntie Qian…”

Speaking of which, it was only natural for a ten-year-old child to recognize people.

But the old Mu Er Pang couldn’t recognize them. After he had called out to each of them, the women realized their status as elders and laughed, making way for them.

Li Shi snorted lightly, then took Mu Er Pang to their doorstep.

When they were far away, Li Shi smiled and asked Mu Er Pang, “Er Pang, did you recognize those people just now? How come you’ve become so smart in just a few days?”

Mu Er Pang, hearing the praise, smiled and replied, “I should have recognized them all along. And a few days ago, I was reading ‘Hundred Family Surnames’ at home, and their surnames are easy to remember.”

Upon hearing this, Li Shi knew she was right before. Mu Er Pang was really different now!

When the mother-in-law was in a bad mood, even the Shen family was cautious before the New Year. Informing her of this good news would make her happy, and the rest of the younger generation could also have a comfortable New Year!

As Li Shi laughed and stepped into the Shen family’s gate, she suddenly heard a voice that seemed to be laughing sarcastically, “Wow, the grandson of the in-laws can read now?”

Li Shi took a closer look and saw that the Shen family’s main hall was full of people.

Seated in the main seat was, of course, Zheng Shi, and beside her was another woman with a long face.

This woman with the long face was not a stranger; she was the mother of Chen Shi, the eldest daughter-in-law of the Shen family.

Speaking of which, there was also a lawsuit involved here.

When Shen Da was apprenticed to the city by his mother-in-law, he was apprenticed to Chen Shi’s father as his master.

At that time, Chen Shi, who was still a young girl, and Shen Da had spent a lot of time together, and they developed feelings for each other.

Old Mr. Chen saw that Shen Da was diligent and capable, with a simple and honest peasant demeanor, and did not dislike his peasant background.

The Shen family, of course, had no objections either. They pooled together half of their savings and proposed to the Chen family.

The relationship between the two families was very good in the past few years.

But the problem arose when Chen Shi entered the Shen family and gave birth to two daughters in a row.

Zheng Shi’s extreme temperament began to show. She often gave Chen Shi a hard time, saying harsh words to her.

Chen Shi, being a city girl, was raised to be delicate and could not bear it. She often went back to her parents’ home in tears.

Mrs. Chen, the mother of the house, was even more annoyed. Her own daughter could not bear children for the family, which in a way lowered their status and left her with no outlet for her anger.

It wasn’t until a few years ago that Chen Shi finally gave birth to a son, which finally allowed Mrs. Chen to breathe a sigh of relief.

But she didn’t know that Zheng Shi’s attitude wasn’t because her eldest daughter-in-law couldn’t have a son, but because that was her nature!

What if the eldest daughter-in-law had a son later? Wasn’t that supposed to happen?

And if it weren’t for their Shen family having Mu Er Pang as a lucky star, Chen Shi’s stomach might still be as uncooperative as before!

If Mrs. Chen knew about this, she would be even more furious, thinking that her daughter had a son, but the credit had to go to their Shen family’s grandson?

If their grandson was really smart and clever, it would be one thing. But everyone knew that the boy was chubby and silly, more like a fool than anything else!

So in recent years, the relationship between the two families has been getting worse, trending from in-laws to enemies.

During the New Year, it was customary for in-laws to visit each other and exchange New Year’s gifts.

Shen Da had already gone to the Chen family to visit once, and today the Chen family had come to return the visit.

As the two families sat down in the hall, they began to chat about family matters without much enthusiasm.

Just as Li Shi and Mu Er Pang were talking and entering, Mrs. Chen was in a bad mood—she didn’t like Zheng Shi, but because her daughter was in someone else’s family, she had to make this trip for her daughter’s future.

When she heard Mu Er Pang’s words, Mrs. Chen laughed. She knew exactly where she could undermine Zheng Shi!