Chapter 8: I’ll Tease Your Child Too

The meat stir-fried this way is tender and not easy to stick to the pan.

A pound of meat really fills a big bowl.

In this village, it’s not common to use plates for dishes; if there’s little food, they use a large bowl, and if there’s more, they use a basin.

They eat from two bowls, and at home, they also have fine and small bowls, but they don’t use them, and Lin Bingwei feels too embarrassed to use them either.

During lunch, her in-laws praised her again, saying her stir-fried meat was delicious.

They don’t fuss much about food; they’re usually busy and don’t spend time on elaborate meals.

As long as it’s meat, just stew it with a bit of salt, and they think it’s tasty and convenient.

When Lin Bingwei served this bowl of stir-fried meat, they realized that meat could be this delicious.

After lunch, they needed to rest for a while before going to work, and Lin Bingwei gave Li Yurong the remaining two yuan.

“Mom, after buying the pork and ribs, there are two yuan left.”

Li Yurong didn’t take it and smiled, “You’re such an honest child; keep the change for yourself. Buy whatever you want to eat.”

“Oh, thank you, Mom.”

Her saying to keep it was one thing, but letting her know about the unspent money was another.

After lunch, Lin Bingwei began teaching Zhang Jianguo to recite Tang poems as agreed, while her in-laws went to take a nap.

At that moment, Wang Pozi arrived with her son and daughter-in-law, knocking loudly on the bamboo door.

“Zhang Yuanxiu, Li Yurong, come out! Your daughter-in-law Tingyuan ruined my winter melon; you need to compensate me!”

The couple hurried out.

“Wang Jie, what happened?”

Wang Pozi said, “Look at this winter melon! Your daughter-in-law Tingyuan poked it like this; how can we eat it now?”

“Huh? That’s not right; why would Weiwei poke your winter melon for no reason?”

“Don’t believe me? Call her out and ask if I’m wronging her.”

Just then, Lin Bingwei was also leading Zhang Jianguo out.

She glanced at Wang Pozi and said, “I poked it; so what?”

“See? You all heard her; she ruined my melon and still acts so righteous.”

Li Yurong asked, “Weiwei, why did you poke her melon?”

“Because she cursed first.”

Wang Pozi exclaimed, “When did I curse? I was just teasing your child.”

“You were teasing the child, yet you said you didn’t want him and even encouraged his uncle and grandparents to chase him away?”

The expressions on the Zhang couple’s faces turned quite ugly; hearing this, they basically guessed what was going on.

People in the village can be so harsh with their words.

Li Yurong said, “Don’t say such things in the future; children take things seriously. You can keep the ruined winter melon; go to our house and pick a good one to take with you.”

Wang Pozi was delighted and was about to go into the house to pick a winter melon.

“Wait.” Lin Bingwei directly stopped her.

The Zhang couple may be called honest people in a nice way, but in a harsh way, they’re seen as weaklings who don’t want to cause trouble and just want to keep the peace.

Those who take advantage of others won’t be grateful; they’ll just want more.

Lin Bingwei couldn’t stand this nonsense and wouldn’t allow such things to happen.

Zhang Yuanxiu and Li Yurong both looked at Lin Bingwei.

Lin Bingwei blocked Wang Pozi and said, “You insult me and tarnish my reputation, and I only poked one of your winter melons; I’ve already been considerate of your age. Hmph, you still want compensation? No way, unless you take back what you said about me.”

Wang Pozi was taken aback, thinking, when did Lin Bingwei become so fierce?

Wasn’t it said that Lin Wangsheng’s daughter from the neighboring village was honest and simple, spending all her time working and was a bit foolish?

She argued, “I said, teasing children doesn’t count as serious. I was just joking; why are you so petty?”

“Petty?” Lin Bingwei sneered, “What if I tell your grandson that his dad found a new mom for him outside, that he has a new little brother now, and that he and his mom are no longer wanted? How would that be?”

“Hey, how can you say such nonsense?” Wang Pozi panicked.

Her son and daughter-in-law also felt anxious.

Wang Pozi glared fiercely at her husband.
Wang Pozi’s son said, “You’re slandering me! If you make my wife and me argue, it’ll be the end for you.”

He turned to his wife, “There’s nothing to it; she’s just talking nonsense.”

Lin Bingwei calmly said, “Oh, I can say your grandson’s mom despises your dad for being poor and ran away with someone else, leaving him with a new little brother.”

The three of them became anxious again, “How can you speak so irresponsibly?”

Lin Bingwei replied, “How can this be called irresponsible? I’m just teasing a child; you can’t take those words seriously.”

“You’re ruining our reputation.”

“Then telling Jianguo that I would encourage his uncle and grandparents to chase him away isn’t ruining my reputation?”

Wang Pozi’s son and daughter-in-law fell silent, but Wang Pozi was still unconvinced, “I’ve said it before, I’m just playing with Jianguo.”

Lin Bingwei replied coolly, “Fine, I’ll go tease your Jianguo too.”

Wang Pozi: “…”

“You dare!” Wang Pozi raised her voice.

Lin Bingwei shouted even louder, “Hmph, just watch if I dare.”

Wang Pozi felt a bit intimidated.

Her son said, “Mom, just let it go.”

“How can we let it go? It’s such a big winter melon.”

“What will happen if we don’t let it go? If she really go with those words, what will he think? There wasn’t anything to begin with, but if the neighbors hear it, who knows how it will spread? Do you want us to live in shame?”

“But this winter melon…”

“Forget the winter melon; after digging out these holes, it can still be eaten.”

“Exactly, it’s not worth the embarrassment. Mom, you need to watch what you say from now on.” Her daughter-in-law was particularly unhappy and scolded her a few times before turning to leave.

Her son was carrying the ruined winter melon and hurried to catch up.

Seeing that her support had left, Wang Pozi could only leave in dejection.

Li Yurong watched them walk far away before saying, “Is that it? We’re just letting it go?”

“Otherwise, what can we do?” Lin Bingwei sighed and said to her and Zhang Yuanxiu, “Dad, Mom, you shouldn’t be so easy to talk to in the future.”

Zhang Yuanxiu said, “I just thought about one winter melon; let her take it to avoid her constant complaints.”

“Don’t! Kindness can lead to bullying; a good horse can be ridden. If you let go of this winter melon, next time they’ll be even more unreasonable. A winter melon is a small matter; their slandering isn’t the main issue. The key is that they’re speaking nonsensically in front of Jianguo. Look at how Jianguo is.”

Li Yurong sighed, “Jianguo is indeed suffering; that child is unfortunate.”

Lin Bingwei found it hard to understand, what’s going on?

“Big brother is gone, big sister-in-law has run off; this is an unchangeable fact. We won’t talk about these things, but we need to look forward. Right now, the biggest issue is that Jianguo doesn’t go to the village to play with other kids. At three years old, he still isn’t speaking; that’s the real problem.”

Zhang Yuanxiu said, “Jianguo isn’t mute. When he was little, he cried loudly, and when he was over a year old, he could babble and talk, though not very clearly. But then somehow, he started to talk less, and by the time he was two, he completely stopped speaking. He should be a late talker.”