Chapter 26: Not Obsessive, But Crazy!

Old Lady Mu returned, her back basket half-full of roses.

The fragrance wafted wherever she went, attracting many inquiries along the way about why she was picking flowers in the mountains. She was too embarrassed to admit that her eldest son had forced her to find roses!

Because of these measly flowers, she didn’t go to work that afternoon. She walked a long mountain path and even fell.

She was filled with resentment.

But all that resentment vanished upon entering the house and smelling the aroma of rendered lard.

As soon as she entered, she was shocked: “Who’s rendering lard?”

“Mother, Third Brother bought pork fat to render oil,” Li Lan said.

Old Lady Mu was extremely relieved.

Still, Third Son had a conscience; whenever the family ran low on oil, he would buy some.

Seeing Old Lady Gao peeking over the wall to smell the fragrance, Old Lady Mu became even prouder, placing her basket down and boasting, “Ah, having many sons is truly a blessing! Each one can earn money for the family.”

Old Lady Gao, who only had three daughters and never had a son, considered this her life’s greatest sorrow.

Hearing Old Lady Mu flaunting her numerous sons, her face flushed red.

Just as she was about to scold, Old Lady Mu grabbed a broom and swung it: “What big rat is this? I’ll kill you!”

Old Lady Gao was unprepared and was hit by the broom, falling back into her own courtyard.

“Old Lady Mu, are you crazy? You mistook me for a rat?”

“I didn’t see anything, I just knew a rat was stealing oil. A big rat smelled the fragrance of our oil and wanted to eat the cracklings!”

Old Lady Gao, who had just been thinking of asking Su Tang for some cracklings: …

“Mom is amazing!” Su Tang gave a thumbs-up in admiration.

There’s an old saying about rats stealing lamp oil, isn’t it just a way of saying Old Lady Mu wanted the oil?

Her uneducated mother-in-law was surprisingly skilled at arguing.

Old Lady Mu, smelling the fragrant oil, found Su Tang pleasing to the eye: “Here, the flowers you wanted are back.”

“Okay.”

Su Tang took the basket and poured the roses into a sieve to separate the petals and calyxes.

A full basket of flowers, twice the amount they had previously collected!

It was impossible to use all these flowers in soap.

Su Tang had another idea: extracting rose hydrosol.

Air-dried rose petals have limited fragrance. If rose hydrosol could replace water, the soap’s fragrance could be significantly enhanced.

Easier said than done!

There was no still, no fancy glass pot, only a deformed antimony pot.

Su Tang put the roses and water into the pot, found a stand to place a bowl in the middle, and then inverted the lid.

Seeing her elaborate setup, Li Lan had a bad feeling: Is this really how you make soap? What about the lard…?

She quickly ran to Old Lady Mu to complain.

“Mom, Third Brother said he’s using the lard to make soap, not for eating.”

Old Lady Mu: ???

Are they crazy? Good lard should be used for cooking, not for soap! She’d never even heard of such a thing.

This is nonsense!

Old Lady Mu rushed into the kitchen; the oil had been rendered and put into the antimony pot. The cracklings were in an enamel basin.

Fragrant! So fragrant!

She really wanted to sprinkle some brown sugar powder on it and eat some warm cracklings right now.

“Third Son, this oil…”

“It’s not for eating.”

Mu Jingzhou interrupted his mother before she could finish, “This oil is for Second Sister-in-law and Su Tang to make soap, no one is allowed to touch it.”

Old Lady Mu gasped, almost fainting: “Third Son, are you crazy too? Why are you following their nonsense?”

“Mom, if you keep talking, there won’t even be any cracklings left,” Mu Jingzhou said.

Old Lady Mu: …

“Mother, we won’t waste it,” Yu Miaomiao said, “Just support us, and we’ll give you a bar of soap when it’s done.”

Did Old Lady Mu care about soap?

Regardless of whether they could make it or not, even if they did, she wouldn’t be willing to trade lard for it!

She only wanted the lard!

“Mom, I’m back.”

Just as Old Lady Mu was about to explode, Mu Jingyun returned, a bruise on his handsome face.

Everyone was shocked.

“Second Brother, did you get into a fight?” Li Lan asked.

Mu Jingyun nodded, pulling twenty yuan from his pocket and handing it to Yu Miaomiao.

One of the five-yuan bills was stained with blood!

Could it be blood? This money felt hot to the touch.

“Second Brother, you didn’t rob someone again, did you?” Old Lady Mu panicked instantly.

Su Tang raised her eyebrows in shock: Second Brother seems to have a history…

“This is the medical fee from Elder Sister and her husband,” Mu Jingyun stuffed the money into Yu Miaomiao’s pocket, smiling gently, “Use this money to buy more when you finish the Gastrodia elata.”

Yu Miaomiao didn’t know what to say.

He hadn’t been seen all day; he’d gone to confront Mu Fengzhen for her? What should she do with these feelings of gratitude?

“Second Brother!” Old Lady Mu exclaimed, “Your elder sister is already having a hard time at her in-laws’ house, how could you ask her for money?”

“Should I let them beat my wife for nothing?” Mu Jingyun retorted.

The gentle man from moments ago now had a gloomy expression.

Quite, jarring.

“Second Brother, why didn’t you call me?” Mu Jingzhou said.

Su Tang and Yu Miaomiao twitched.

Should the two brothers go beat up their brother-in-law together?

“From now on, anyone who dares to hit my wife will pay,” Mu Jingyun said.

Li Lan was speechless.

Old Lady Mu’s inner thoughts: Crazy! How did he become crazy again in just a few years? I have to warn Second Miss not to provoke Second Brother’s family…

“Wife, you’re not well yet, why are you working?” Mu Jingyun turned, his gentleness returning.

A gentleness tinged with injury, jarring, yet alluring.

Yu Miaomiao swallowed, saying, “I’m much better today, Third Sister-in-law and I are making soap to sell, this lard is the raw material. Third Brother and Third Sister-in-law went to the county to buy pork fat, so I rendered the oil.”

“Good, go ahead, I support you!” Mu Jingyun said.

He didn’t even ask, just unconditionally supportive.

Old Lady Mu looked at her second son with complex eyes and fell silent.

Su Tang lit another furnace, placing the antimony pot on it to steam the hydrosol, and quietly asked Mu Jingzhou: “Why do I feel like Mother is afraid of Second Brother?”

“They’re all afraid.”

“Why?”

“Second Brother was abducted when he was young, and he killed the trafficker and ran back himself.”

“Uh, how old was Second Brother then?”

“Eleven.”

Su Tang gasped: “Then, the trafficker?”

“He was in his thirties, I forget. I only remember that when Second Brother came back, he was covered in blood, it was terrifying…”

Su Tang imagined the scene and found it terrifying as well.

The drama didn’t have these details; Mu Jingyun was already quite obsessive. Now, with these added details, he seems like a madman!

Perhaps his character isn’t obsessive, but crazy!

Su Tang swallowed nervously.

My white moonlight, when will you return? Hurry up, I don’t want to wait any longer!

“Afraid?” Mu Jingzhou looked up, seeing his wife’s pale face, and smiled, “It’s okay, Second Brother can’t beat me.”

Su Tang: …

That makes me even more afraid!

Someone who can beat a crazy brother can’t be a good person, right?

Maybe I should talk to Miaomiao and run away?