Chapter 48 : Grab the Egg Cake

“Weigh me two pounds of egg cakes.”

Jiang Li remembered that Grandma Qi’s teeth were not very good, so she couldn’t chew hard things, but the egg cakes were soft and sweet, and the old lady would surely like them.

She walked to the counter and spoke to Feng Liping. Feng Liping changed her usual arrogant attitude and smiled ingratiatingly. She weighed the egg cakes skillfully and even gave two more pieces. She stammered, “This is a gift.”

Jiang Li frowned and paid for the extra two egg cakes.

She paid, picked up her things, and prepared to leave, but Feng Liping stopped her and pulled her aside.

Feng Liping scratched the ground with her feet, her face flushed. “Yes, I’m sorry. I was blind and offended you. I apologize.”

“I accept your apology.”

Jiang Li didn’t plan to bother with this person. She had seen many people who flattered the powerful and looked down on the weak. There was no need to care about her, and she didn’t want to bully her back.

She turned to leave, but Feng Liping stopped her. “Can you talk to Director Qi and ask him to let me go? I can’t get the goods from the supply and marketing cooperative counter, and our director wants to fire me. Please, please. I’ve already reviewed my mistakes, and you’ve accepted my apology. You should be satisfied now, right?”

Feng Liping reached out and grabbed Jiang Li’s sleeve tightly, her face full of reluctance. Jiang Li saw it, snorted coldly, and shook her off. “You’re doing this review because you insulted the customer. As for why your factory can’t get the goods, I don’t know and it has nothing to do with me. We’re not even close, and you should know I will refuse such an impolite request.”

Jiang Li left quickly, and Feng Liping was completely defeated. She threw the money in her hand to the ground as if to vent her anger, and started shouting.

Li Wei also returned empty-handed. He talked to Qi Shaoqiang about getting the goods, but Qi Shaoqiang talked to him about cooking.

He asked Qi Shaoqiang to meet the factory director, but Qi Shaoqiang talked to him about making clothes and couldn’t get to the point.

Qi Shaoqiang appeared to be a young and inexperienced guy, but he was actually very slippery, which made Li Wei very worried.

He had staked out the food factory many times recently, but either he came up empty-handed or was beaten back with a round of Tai Chi.

With the Mid-Autumn Festival just around the corner, not only was it impossible to get mooncakes, but even the food factories that usually supplied them had stopped providing them.

He thought about it and decided that the key must lie with Qi Shaoqiang.

So Feng Liping was dealt with overnight and asked to make a self-criticism. But even so, they only got a small amount of goods, which was not enough for the supply and marketing cooperative to sell. Every day, they were sold out in less than 20 minutes.

The customer came many times, but there was no stock, so gradually they went to other supply and marketing cooperatives.

Li Wei was so anxious that he got angry frequently these past two days.

But Qi Shaoqiang refused to accept the challenge and refused to give in. Li Wei was so angry that he gritted his teeth.

Seeing that Jiang Li had bought the batteries, Qi Shaoqiang followed her. Before leaving, he did not forget to buy Jiang Li a cream popsicle. The two chatted and laughed, and soon arrived at the village.

It was dinner time, but Jiang Hongmei went out with her chamber pot to empty it, and she ran into Jiang Li and Qi Shaoqiang walking towards her side by side.

Her eyes were sore, and her chest was burning with anger. She stepped forward and stopped in front of the bicycle, staring at the cloth bag hanging on the handlebars. “Jiang Li, what did you buy at the supply and marketing cooperative?”

“What’s it got to do with you? Jiang Hongmei, if you have something to say, just say it. If you have to fart, just fart,” Jiang Li said impatiently.

Jiang Hongmei was furious, “I’m your cousin, can’t I even ask you a question?”

While Jiang Li wasn’t paying attention, she snatched the cloth bag and opened it. The golden egg cakes were soft and fragrant.

Jiang Hongmei hadn’t eaten anything all day, and her stomach was growling with hunger. She said as a matter of course, “I’m hungry. Give me two pieces of this egg cake.”

The two children were lying in front of the door of the village, peeking. They had been coveting the bicycle for a long time.

Seeing Jiang Hongmei holding the egg cake in her hand, Zhuang Xiaoyu’s eyes lit up and she whispered something into Zhuang Xiaobao’s ear. Zhuang Xiaobao then ran over and grabbed Jiang Hongmei’s clothes.

“Hey, I want to eat egg cake.”

Jiang Li grabbed Jiang Hongmei’s hand and pushed her back, causing her to stagger. “Jiang Hongmei, are you okay? Have I been too polite to you these days?”

Jiang Hongmei then recalled the fear of being beaten by Jiang Li, but the temptation of the egg cake was too great.

She swallowed but still mustered up the courage to say, “It’s not me who wants to eat, it’s the child who wants to eat. You are Xiaobao’s aunt, so this egg cake is a gift for him.”

“Give it to me!” Zhuang Xiaobao looked fierce. He rushed forward and tried to grab the cloth bag from Jiang Li’s hand, but was picked up by Qi Shaoqiang.

He was so angry that he kicked his legs in the air. “Put me down. If you don’t give me egg cake, I’ll ask my grandma to beat you to death!”

“Put him down quickly,” Jiang Hongmei cried, rushing over to take Zhuang Xiaobao back, but Jiang Li held her down with her backhand, pressing her face against the rough earth wall, covered with yellow mud.

Jiang Hongmei cried out in pain as her arm was twisted. Jiang Li lowered her voice and leaned closer to her, saying, “Next time, it won’t be so simple.”

As the force on her arm loosened, before Jiang Hongmei could even catch her breath, a warm yellow liquid with the smell of urine came toward her.

“Ahhhhhh, Jiang Li, are you crazy? How dare you throw urine at me?”

Jiang Li threw away the empty bucket in her hand and said in disgust, “Next time you dare to make trouble, I’ll make you eat shit.”

Ugh, ugh, Jiang Hongmei vomited again. Zhuang Xiaoyu and Zhuang Xiaobao, who were standing aside, were also affected. They ran in crying to complain to Zhao Xiangyu.

“Jiang Hongmei, you can’t even empty the chamber pot, look what you’ve done to our Xiaobao! I will beat you to death, you useless thing,” Zhao Xiangyu’s broom fell on Jiang Hongmei mercilessly.

Wu Meili covered her mouth and laughed secretly. Cheng Yanyan didn’t care about it and just complained, “You can’t do any work well. When will dinner be ready?”

Only Gao Xiuqin sighed and turned back to the house.

The three days she spent at the banker’s house were more unbearable than three lifetimes. In the blink of an eye, it was the day to return home. Jiang Hongmei went back to her parents’ home early in the morning and started crying before she even entered the door.

When she saw her mother, Wang Juhua, she threw herself on her and cried, “Mom, you don’t know how much I’ve suffered. My mother-in-law is so mean. She makes me work all day long, feeding chickens and pigs, washing clothes, and cooking. She makes me do everything. It’s fine that I have to work, but I can’t even eat enough. The food on the farm is also bad. It’s either pickled vegetables or boiled vegetables, and there’s wheat bran in the steamed bread…”

Wang Juhua looked at Jiang Hongmei. In just two or three days, she had lost a lot of weight, and her originally round double chin had become pointed.

But when she thought of her daughter’s ungrateful look before she got married, she snorted coldly. “You didn’t listen to me to married Qi Shaoqiang. You are suffering now because of yourself.”

“Mom, how can you say that!” Jiang Hongmei sat up straight. “I’ve already told you that Zhuang Guoliang will make a fortune in the future. Just believe me this time.”