Chapter 22: The Tiger Doesn’t Roar, Is She Still Just a Sick Cat?

Jiang Yue hadn’t slept well the night before, and she had woken up early. She had just closed her eyes again when the noise woke her up. No matter how hard she tried to block it with her blanket, the sound kept drilling into her head, making her more and more irritable.

The knocking was especially urgent, one after another, like a death sentence. It felt as if the person would keep knocking until Jiang Yue opened the door.

One minute later, Jiang Yue suddenly pulled off her blanket and angrily yelled: “Who is it?!”

That person had better be in a real hurry, or she would seriously consider teaching them a lesson!

Jiang Yue put on her shoes and stormed out into the courtyard with a murderous look on her face. She removed the latch and yanked open the door.

The person outside was just about to raise their hand to knock again. When the door suddenly opened, they lost their balance and almost tumbled inside.

“Ouch!” Li Hongying hurriedly grabbed the door frame to steady herself and immediately started scolding: “Jiang Yue, are you deaf? I’ve been knocking for ages, and you couldn’t hear it?”

As soon as Jiang Yue saw that it was Li Hongying, her anger flared up even more. “Is your brain broken? What are you doing running over to knock on my door for no reason? You’ve ruined my door panel! Pay for it! If you don’t have ten yuan today, don’t even think about leaving!”

Li Hongying didn’t expect Jiang Yue to immediately start talking about her breaking the door. Of course, she wouldn’t admit to it. “Your door panel isn’t made of paper. How could it break after just a few knocks? Jiang Yue, don’t try to scam me! And you’re asking for ten yuan? Why don’t you just go rob someone?”

“Look for yourself! Here! And here! You’ve ruined my door panels! Ten yuan isn’t enough; it should be twenty!” As Jiang Yue saw Li Hongying act this way, her thoughts couldn’t help but flash to the rotten vegetable leaves on her dinner table that had been contaminated by the lymph meat. Now she felt like a barrel of gasoline, ready to explode with just a spark.

“Jiang Yue, have you lost your mind? Your door panels were already broken, so how can you blame me?” Li Hongying wasn’t about to let this slide and immediately wanted to argue.

“If you hadn’t knocked so hard, how could the door panels have broken when they were properly attached?” Jiang Yue snapped.

“I’m not arguing with you about this! I’m going to cook! Move aside!” Li Hongying reached out to push Jiang Yue aside.

“I told you yesterday, I don’t need you to cook anymore!” Jiang Yue’s anger flared up again when she saw Li Hongying walking in with a basket of vegetables. She blocked Li Hongying, not letting her in.

“That’s not going to work! I was invited here by Regiment Commander Gu to help, and unless Regiment Commander Gu says otherwise, your words don’t count!” Li Hongying ignored Jiang Yue’s obstruction and forcefully shoved her aside, heading straight for the kitchen.

Li Hongying had been working for many years, and her strength was not something Jiang Yue could match. When her large, hefty body collided with Jiang Yue, she almost got knocked over.

Jiang Yue coldly stared at Li Hongying, took a deep breath, and held it in!

She still wasn’t sure whether Gu Ye had truly not said anything to Li Hongying, or if it was because he didn’t trust her.

But then she thought, wait a minute. Even if Gu Ye didn’t trust her, it was only because he was worried she might mistreat Ningning. But today’s lunch was made for her, right?

Could it be that Gu Ye purposely didn’t say anything because he already knew that Li Hongying was giving her scraps to eat?

Suddenly, Jiang Yue remembered that she had bought a lot of vegetables today. She quickly followed Li Hongying into the kitchen and, sure enough, saw her putting tomatoes and eggs into the basket she had brought in.

“Hey, didn’t you say you were here to cook for me? Why are you putting things into your own basket?” Jiang Yue mocked.

Li Hongying was caught red-handed but didn’t show any signs of guilt. “Who said I was putting things into my own basket? These are the vegetables I bought for you this morning. I’m just taking them out!”

As she spoke, she reluctantly took the tomatoes out of the basket, but she tried to secretly hide a few eggs to take home.

“You take it in and take it out, and now it’s yours? Let me tell you, Li Hongying, I remember everything I bought this morning! If one thing’s missing, I’ll report it to the police! Take the eggs out!” Jiang Yue was stunned by Li Hongying’s shamelessness. Even after being caught, she could still lie right to her face!

“Fine, fine! Whatever you say!” Li Hongying curled her lips and took the eggs out of her pocket. She didn’t want to tear things apart with Jiang Yue today.

However, seeing that Jiang Yue actually went out to buy her own groceries made Li Hongying feel an uneasy sense of foreboding.

Although Gu Ye had said that she no longer needed to come over, she pretended not to hear it. Cooking one meal and cleaning up didn’t take much time, and she could still pocket the money for the groceries and sneak home some rice, flour, and oil.

There was plenty of profit to be made, and their family had been doing much better. Now that she was suddenly told she didn’t need to come anymore, Li Hongying was the first to disagree!

“What are you still standing there for? I need to cook!” Li Hongying tried to get Jiang Yue to leave.

“I’ve already cooked the rice.” Jiang Yue raised her chin haughtily. “Let me see what vegetables you bought!”

“What’s there to look at? Once it’s done, you can just eat it!” Li Hongying pulled the cloth covering the basket, anxious to get Jiang Yue out of the way.

Once the food was done and served on the table, even if it didn’t look great, she could always say it was because she overcooked it. But taking the food out now? That wouldn’t work. The meat had already gone bad today, and the butcher hadn’t charged her for it. Even Jiang Yue, no matter how slow, would be able to smell it.

Li Hongying knew that Jiang Yue had cooked rice, and as soon as she entered, she smelled the fragrance of the rice. When she lifted the lid, she indeed saw a large pot full of white rice.

It was white rice, the fragrant kind of rice that didn’t have any sweet potatoes or brown rice mixed in! Li Hongying immediately felt uneasy. When she glanced at the rice jar, she saw that only a tiny bit of rice was left at the bottom.

Li Hongying was furious at that moment. She had planned to take some rice back home today, and she knew Jiang Yue, this wasteful woman, wouldn’t do anything good!

“Well, now I really have to keep an eye on it! Lately, things have been going missing at home, and I suspect we’ve been robbed!” Jiang Yue said deliberately.

Li Hongying didn’t change her expression at all, pretending to be casual as she picked up the vegetable basket and headed towards the water well. “Well, you can keep an eye on it. I’m going to wash the vegetables!”

Just as Li Hongying stepped out of the kitchen door, she heard the sound of a splash in the water. She quickly walked over and, upon seeing the bass swimming in the water basin, her eyes gleamed with greed.

Jiang Yue, this wasteful woman, had actually bought such a large bass! It must have weighed several pounds! At least one or two yuan worth of fish!

Li Hongying felt an irresistible itch in her heart. How she wished the fish was hers!

Meanwhile, Jiang Yue noticed that Li Hongying was still holding the vegetable basket, and the cloth covering it was hiding something. There was clearly something suspicious going on. So, while Li Hongying was distracted by the fish, Jiang Yue seized the basket and immediately dumped its contents outside.

First, a handful of wilted, nearly rotten vegetable leaves fell out, followed by a piece of meat about the size of a palm. However, the meat was a dull, grayish-black color, with a slimy, sticky layer of  on top, and a terrible stench immediately hit Jiang Yue’s nose.

Just looking at it made her want to vomit.

“Jiang Yue, what are you doing?!” Li Hongying quickly grabbed the basket back and started shoving the rotten meat and vegetables back into it.

“Li Hongying, is this the food you brought me?” Jiang Yue immediately exploded. The tiger didn’t roar, and she was still considered a sick cat?

Rotten vegetable leaves and lymph meat—now she was even serving her spoiled, stinking meat?

Li Hongying realized she was caught red-handed!

Her mind quickly raced, and she forced a smile, saying: “How could that be? These are the vegetables I kept for my own family! How could I possibly bring such food for you to eat?”

She had come today to try and deceive Jiang Yue. As long as Jiang Yue kept being lazy, she could keep her job. She didn’t expect Jiang Yue to see what was in the basket.

But it didn’t matter. Jiang Yue was foolish; otherwise, she wouldn’t have eaten all that rotten food without realizing it.

“Oh, really? Then let’s go! Go home and cook it right now, and I’ll watch you eat it before I believe you!” Jiang Yue wasn’t about to let this slide easily.

She couldn’t just let Li Hongying get away with this. She wasn’t going to swallow her anger without making sure this time!