Chapter 7

The two unfamiliar little girls stood out in a village full of familiar faces, but everyone knew who they were and no one took the initiative to approach them. Only a few mischievous kids ran over, jumping and playing.

“Hutou, I heard that Grandma Jinhua’s house is where they’re staying!”  

“Hmph! How dare they live in my house! Just wait, I’ll deal with them!”  

A slightly chubby little boy with a round face squinted his eyes and threw a handful of sand at Jiang Wan. He wasn’t scared at all; these outsiders wouldn’t dare offend the villagers. Even if he hit them, they would have to swallow their anger.

“Hey! Ugly girl, hurry up and move out of my aunt’s house! That’s mine!”  

Jiang Wan brushed off the sand without feeling hurt, but the boy’s attitude was so arrogant it made her want to teach him a lesson.  

“You just said it’s your aunt’s house; how can it be yours?”  

“It’s mine! They don’t have any sons and are out of descendants; I’m the only boy in my family, so that house should belong to me.”  

The little boy stood proudly with his hands on his hips, saying shameless things as if they were perfectly reasonable, clearly having heard adults talk about it many times at home.  

“You better move out quickly, or I’ll get my dad and mom to kick you out. People like you don’t deserve to live in our village!”  

“Hutou is so powerful!”  

“Hutou is so amazing!”  

A group of little kids around them echoed praise, making Hutou even more smug.  

Jiang Wan rolled her eyes and walked towards the little boy step by step. Yin Ning, worried that her cousin might act impulsively, quickly pulled her back.  

“That kid is only seven or eight; we shouldn’t make a move…”  

If such a big girl hit a child, especially if an outsider hit a local, it would surely end up being her cousin who suffered.  

“Don’t worry, cousin, how could someone as weak as me possibly hit anyone?”  

Weak…  

Yin Ning recalled the way her cousin had smashed a fish tail hard against the rocks and twitched her mouth; her cousin might have a slightly misguided understanding of what “weak” meant.  

Jiang Wan walked up to the boy called Hutou and glanced at the other kids, suddenly coming up with an idea.  

“Are you the leader because your name is Hutou?”  

Hutou snorted, and his little followers eagerly answered for him.  

“Of course! Our Hutou is super impressive.”  

“Oh? If you’re so impressive, why are you the shortest among you? I’ve heard that those who are leaders are all strong and tall; how can there be such a shorty like you?”  

The little brat was being quite rude, and there was no need to spare him any face; after all, who wouldn’t poke at a sore spot?  

Sure enough, as soon as she said this, the kids froze. Hutou, who had just been so proud, suddenly turned red in the face when met with the scrutinizing gazes of his little followers.  

Height—this was the thing he cared about the most. His father was the shortest man in the village, and his mother was short too. He often heard others say that both his parents were short, implying that he wouldn’t grow tall either. Later, he secretly compared himself to peers his age and realized he really was much shorter than them.  

This was something he had always kept hidden in his heart, and he never expected it to be pointed out by this outsider!  

“You!!”  

“What’s wrong with me? What did I say that was wrong?”  

Jiang Wan glanced at his little followers, and the followers, not picking up on the mood, replied seriously: “Hutou, she’s not wrong; you really are the shortest among us.”  

A little boy whispered, “Can the shortest really be the leader?”  

The little followers fell silent.  

Hutou was suddenly hit hard, and his little authority built upon being tough crumbled instantly. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he shouted, “Just wait! I’ll get my mom to deal with you!”  

After saying that, he wiped his tears and ran away faster than a rabbit.  

With the leader gone, the little followers were left stunned. Jiang Wan lost interest in teasing the kids and turned to leave, but suddenly heard a little boy remind her from behind: “You should hurry back and find your parents; Hutou’s mom is really strong, and you can’t beat her.”  

Jiang Wan thanked the child, glancing at the half-full basket of cat’s eye conchs she had caught, and decided it was time to call her cousin to head back.  

That boy named Hutou was clearly spoiled, being raised plump in a poor household, and he had mentioned being the only male descendant, which hinted at a family that favored sons over daughters. Even though she had only said a couple of words to him, she had managed to make him cry, and his parents would surely come looking for trouble.  

Just from the fact that he could casually mention Grandma Jinhua’s family being out of descendants showed that his family was not reasonable or kind. Right now, it was just her and her cousin, and if a fight broke out later, it would be her cousin who got dragged into it. So she thought it would be better to find their uncle and mother first before deciding what to do.  

She wasn’t afraid of being reasonable; she was just worried that her small frame couldn’t match up against others, and if it came to a fight, she wouldn’t even have a chance to reason with them.  

The sisters returned home with their half-full basket of cat’s eye conchs, and at this time, Mao Cuifang had already left, leaving the family digging up a pile of clams.  

Today’s harvest was quite plentiful, and Yin Huaishan was in a very good mood. However, he felt that his hands and feet were tired and lacked strength, thinking that his wife and sister must feel the same. Just as his daughter and niece returned, the whole family decided to pack up and go home together with their catch.  

“These clams need to be kept to spit out the sand; let’s eat that fish first at noon, but this fish…”  

Song Wenhui looked a bit troubled because she didn’t know how to make fish soup or handle fish. She had been a pampered young lady before marrying and didn’t have to cook for herself. Even when she occasionally made food for the family, the cooks prepared all the ingredients and seasonings, and she just put them in the pot. She had only learned to make corn porridge from watching the officials cook on the way to exile, being envious of their food.  

“Big sister-in-law, let me handle it.”  

Yin Huaixi was quite good at modern cooking and could handle chicken, ducks, and fish easily. At this moment, she wasn’t afraid of revealing anything; after all, the situation was clear.

She had been married for over ten years, so even if her older brother and sister-in-law were puzzled, they could say it was something she had learned to please her ex-husband and mother-in-law. At this time, they wouldn’t ask too many questions.

As expected, the couple exchanged glances and fell silent. The younger sister’s skills had undoubtedly been learned from the Jiang family; bringing it up would only upset her, so it was better left unsaid.

So, one of them went to gather firewood while the other went to fetch water to raise clams. Yin Huaixi took the fish to the Niu family to borrow a knife to gut it. As for the few blue crabs, Jiang Wan directly shoved them into the stove while boiling the fish soup.

After just a short time, the fish soup wasn’t ready, but the kitchen was already filled with a fragrant aroma. It was the smell of the crab shells being roasted.

“It smells so good!”

Who would have thought such ugly crabs could smell so fragrant!

Yin Ning watched the already orange-red crabs in the stove, her mouth watering uncontrollably.

So hungry…

Jiang Wan couldn’t help but laugh at her cousin’s greedy look. In fact, she was also salivating, but seafood was best eaten well-cooked. After about half a tea’s time, when the tips of the blue crabs’ legs started to turn black, she took them out.

Jiang Wan and her cousin quietly discussed how to divide the four large blue crabs: three crabs for the adults, one for the two of them to share.

Song Wenhui stared at the blue crab she had received, looking conflicted.

“Isn’t it said that women can’t eat this?”

“It can be eaten, but not too much, and it must be cooked thoroughly first.”

Yin Huaixi explained that she had read a lot of miscellaneous books about the sea, which all had records about it.

“And over the years, I’ve also studied quite a few medical books. My medical skills may not be high, but I can handle minor ailments; this doesn’t contain any poison.”

Saying this, she directly tore off a crab leg and started to gnaw on it, her blissful expression igniting everyone’s appetite. Yin Huaishan and his wife also stopped being conflicted. They believed that their younger sister wouldn’t harm them.

“Mom, we’ve eaten crabs before; you teach Uncle and Auntie how to eat, and I’ll teach my cousin.”

“Got it~”

The mother and daughter exchanged glances, their little secret unspoken.

Jiang Wan pulled her cousin to sit on a large stone in front of the house, where they could eat, enjoy the breeze, and keep an eye out for any trouble.

“Cousin, start with the crab legs. Here, bite down like this and push forward to squeeze the meat out.”

Eating the crab legs was simple, and Jiang Wan had a technique. With a few gentle bites, she squeezed the meat out of the crab leg.

So fragrant, so fragrant!

Whether it was because she had been hungry for so long or because the water here was good, she felt that this blue crab’s meat was sweeter and more delicious than any she had eaten before. Unfortunately, because it was roasted, the crab leg meat had so little juice; otherwise, she could have savored the flavor more.

“Cousin, is it good?”

Yin Ning was squinting her eyes, chewing on the crab meat, and subconsciously nodded vigorously.

This is meat! Such fragrant meat, of course, it’s delicious!

“This is just a little appetizer.”

Jiang Wan cracked open the crab shell, deftly removed the gills and heart, then pulled it apart into two pieces, handing one to her cousin.

“The meat inside is more than in the legs, but it’s a bit tricky to eat.”

She was used to just biting off a piece and chewing, then spitting out the shell. Yin Ning didn’t want to eat slowly; she copied Jiang Wan, biting a piece off and chewing. The two sisters enjoyed their meal. The large claws were the real surprise; they were mostly meat, so they were fun to eat and not troublesome.

“It’s so fragrant! Cousin, let’s go catch crabs again later, okay?”

Yin Ning felt a bit unsatisfied.

Jiang Wan shook her head and explained to her cousin, “The tide has already come in; we have to wait until tomorrow’s low tide to go beach combing.”

Just as she was preparing to explain the tides to her cousin, she suddenly saw two people approaching from the road, looking fierce and not to be trifled with.

“Cousin, it’s him!”

That bully, Hutou, had come with his mother for backup.

“Mom, it’s her!”

With someone backing him up, Hutou felt emboldened, his little face full of pride. He looked a lot like his mother, except her face was rounder. At this moment, Hutou’s mother had her hands on her hips, looking fiercely at Jiang Wan.

“You little brat, were you the one who bullied my Hutou just now?!”

Jiang Wan shook her head earnestly, “No, I’m an older girl; how could I bully a child?”

She was merely stating the truth.

“Mom, she’s lying! She just bullied me! She said I’m short! The others don’t recognize me as their boss anymore! Boo hoo hoo…”

The last sentence triggered Hutou’s grievances, and the little brat started crying again. Hutou’s mother immediately got angrier and reached out to grab Jiang Wan.

“What are you doing?!”

Three adults heard the commotion and came out, and the odds of three against one made Hutou’s mother’s confidence waver a bit. But she was not to be trifled with, and her voice grew even louder.

“What’s wrong, too many people?! I’m not afraid! You exiled criminals settling in my village is your good fortune. You think you can bully my villagers just because you haven’t even settled in yet? No way!”

The loud commotion attracted several neighbors to watch the excitement. Among them, the Cai family felt quite satisfied. Yesterday, Jiang Wan had pulled a trick on them, and the village head took back their house, leaving their family to spend a night on the hillside, covered in bug bites; it was a painful experience. They were now eager to see Jiang Wan’s misfortune.

At this moment, Hutou’s mother grabbed her son and pointed at Jiang Wan, saying, “Who does this little girl belong to? If she bullied my son today, let’s teach her a lesson! Otherwise, this matter isn’t over!”

Although the village chief had said not to cause trouble for these people, this time it was they who had provoked the issue, so they couldn’t be blamed.

“If you can’t bear to lay a hand on them, I will!”

Hutou’s mother was itching to act. Just as Yin Huaixi was about to speak, she saw her daughter stand up, trembling, her voice weak as if she hadn’t eaten for three days.

“Auntie, it was your Hutou who smashed me; how can you turn black into white?”

“You’re talking nonsense! What’s black or white? My Hutou would never smash anyone; if anyone did the bullying, it was you first!”

Jiang Wan seemed startled by the loud voice, shrinking back a little before carefully saying, “I really didn’t bully him; he said I was living in his house and wanted to kick me out, so he smashed me.”

At this moment, Yin Ning also understood and followed her cousin’s lead, speaking softly, “Yes, we’ve all said that house belongs to Grandma Jinhua, but Hutou said Grandma Jinhua’s family has died out, and the house is his…”

The two slender and weak young girls appeared timid, like pitiful victims of bullying. Meanwhile, Hutou’s mother’s face turned red and white in turn, clearly not expecting her son to spill those words.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, if Grandma Jinhua hears this, she’ll definitely come over to teach her family a lesson.”

“To be so young and already mention the death of a family, what a twisted thought.”

“A child couldn’t come up with such words; they must have heard their family say it often to remember it. Tsk, tsk, tsk~”

The villagers chimed in one after another, making Hutou’s mother’s head spin. She was fierce but also cared about her reputation. At this moment, she didn’t even remember wanting to cause trouble and just wanted to hurry home with her son.

Just as the mother and son were about to take a step, a ‘heartbroken’ Jiang Wan fainted.

Yin Huaixi immediately understood, pinching herself to hold back her emotions as she rushed forward, holding her daughter and crying, “My Wanwan, how could you be bullied without telling your mother! Wake up quickly! If anything happens to you, your mother won’t be able to live! Hutou’s mother, I only have this one daughter. If you want to hit someone, hit me! It’s meaningless for us to live alone, boo hoo hoo…”

Hutou’s mother thought: Is anyone going to believe her when she says she doesn’t want to hit anyone now?

The weak always evoke sympathy, especially when the other side is the notorious bully of the village, Hutou’s mother.

“What’s going on here?!”

The old village chief had arrived!