Chapter 21
So Shameless
Xie Lan grinned and greeted Xie Yunjin, “Third brother, how are you doing? Are you better?”
Xie Yunjin’s lips curled up sarcastically. So this was the little sister he spoiled in the past. She sure had a wolf heart.
“What do you think? Do I look better?”
Xie Yunjin asked Xie Lan instead, which stumped Xie Lan. She was a little frustrated at her third brother’s tone. Whatever, since he was injured, his sister decided not to fight him on this.
Xie Lan ignored Xie Yunjin and turned to speak to Lu Jiao, “Third sister-in-law, I heard you hunted down a wild boar. Mom had spoken – keep the hindlegs of the boar for the family. Sell the rest and keep the money for third brother’s treatment.”
Lu Jiao was speechless as she stared at Xie Lan. Just how shameless did she have to be to say something so sick and delirious? That family forcefully moved them out and now they have the audacity to come over here and ask for meat?
Lu Jiao bluntly snickered, “Xie Lan, I want to ask you, where do you get the audacity to speak such words?”
Xie Lan’s expression changed as she stared at Lu Jiao, “What do you mean by that?”
Lu Jiao sarcastically continued, “I hunted the boar. Why do I have to give you the hindlegs? I have to do that just because you have a big face with thick skin? You moved us out and gave us only 5 taels of silver. Now, I don’t even have enough money to get treatment for your third brother. Despite all this, you have the audacity to come here and ask for meat?”
Xie Lan’s face dropped after she heard Lu Jiao’s words. She glared at Lu Jiao and angrily said, “Lu Jiao, you are being unfilial. You captured a wild boar and as your parents, they only asked for the hindlegs. You are refusing that small request from them? If this news gets around, aren’t you afraid that others would curse you as disobedient?”
Then, Xie Lan turned to look at Xie Yunjin and said angrily, “Third brother, why aren’t you setting her straight?”
Xie Yunjin coldly snickered. There was no warmth in his eyes.
“If you want meat, pay for it. Alternatively, you can carry me back and treat my legs. Then I will give you the whole pig.”
Xie Lan was furious and her eyes spat out fire. However, when she thought that she would lose out on the taste of pork, Xie Lan spoke without filter.
“I see how unfilial and disobedient you are. You have meat yet you do not give any to your parents. Your rudeness is going to be a joke to others.”
Lu Jiao was exasperated and shouted at Xie Lan, “Get the hell out of here.”
Why would Xie Lan leave when she failed to get the pork she came for? Dirty words started to shoot out of her mouth, “You ungrateful rats! You eat meat and you are not even letting your mom and dad drink the soup. I’m going to go out there and tell everyone just how you treat your parents.”
Lu Jiao was too lazy to speak to this shameless piece of crap. She walked up to Xie Lan and pulled her hair to drag her outside.
“You want to tell everyone how we are ungrateful? Let’s go. Let’s speak outside.”
Xie Lan was defenseless towards Lu Jiao’s violence and was forcefully dragged out by the hair. She felt like her scalp was almost torn off and started to scream in pain.
“Lu Jiao, you fat woman! Let me go! Let me go this instant!”
She struggled and tried to hit Lu Jiao. However, instead of her strikes landing on Lu Jiao, Lu Jiao slapped her a few times. Lu Jiao smartly avoided her face and hit the back of her head instead.
Xie Lan stopped. She was being dragged out and was hit, this made her begin to cry uncontrollably.
“Lu Jiao, you b!tch! Let me go, ahhh, let me go.”
Inside the yard, a lot of villagers came out to buy pork. When they saw the fight between the sisters-in-law, they started to gossip, “What is going on?”
“Why is Lu Jiao hitting Xie Lan?”
While Lu Jiao wasn’t the best person, the villagers also disliked Xie Lan. This woman was obviously a countryside woman with her being dark, skinny, and ugly.
However, she loved makeup and was very prideful. She thought since she was the sister of a scholar, she didn’t want to marry a commoner and wanted to marry into town.
She was even picky with the people from town. She wanted the person to be from the city, but also wanted a lot of money and an endowment. With her ugly face, nobody from the city wanted her. In the end, she ended up unmarried at 17 and she was very mean to everyone she talked to.
When everyone saw her getting hit, everyone thought she deserved it. However, there were some people who came out to break up the fight.
“Yunjin’s wife, let go. What’s happening here?”
Lu Jiao let go and pointed at Xie Lan. Towards the crowd in the yard, she said, “This shameless woman came running asking me to give her the boar’s hindlegs.”
Xie Lan started to cry, “It’s for mom and dad, not for me. As the daughter-in-law of the Xie family, it’s within your responsibility to give your mother and father-in-law the hindlegs of the boar you hunted.”
Lu Jiao ruthlessly fought back, “The audacity to even speak those words… Xie Yunjin was wounded and the family forced him out of the house. There is absolutely nothing useful and of value where we live now. All we can do is for me to get something good and trade it for money so I can buy him medicine and food.”
“You guys open your mouths and ask for hindlegs… how come you didn’t know to bring money to help your brother get treatments?”
“Today, I, Lu Jiao, am going to make a statement here. From today onwards, do not dream of getting anything from my family. Xie Yunjin is wounded. We have a critically ill and four babies who rely on me to figure out a way to keep them alive. Yet somehow, you guys have the face to come here and ask for food. I’d rather hit my head and die.”
Lu Jiao’s words caused some chatters to go around the yard. Most of the villagers were on her side.
Xie Yunjin’s legs were so gravely hurt yet his parents only gave him five taels of silver. Lu Jiao had to make money to buy him medicine and keep the four children alive. It was so difficult for her.
The Second Grandma walked into the yard and said to Xie Lan, “Go home and tell your parents: if they want Yunjin to be filial in the future, they should bring him and his family back home.”
Many people in the crowd nodded in agreement. That was a reasonable request. If they pick him up now and treat his legs, Xie Yunjin will continue to respect them in the future.
Xie Lan heard the murmurs and her face dropped. She continued to cry as she picked herself off the ground and left. At the entrance, she turned her head to stare at Lu Jiao, “Lu Jiao, just you wait. Sooner or later, I will ask my parents to tell my third brother to get rid of you.”
Lu Jiao rolled her eyes. She wished that Xie Yunjin would get rid of her. That would save her a lot of trouble.
Many people in the yard started to comfort Lu Jiao and told her to ignore Xie Lan.
The Second Grandma came as well. Lu Jiao thanked everyone with a kind and respectful attitude. Many people from the village didn’t like her before but found her to have changed.
Just then, Xie Lu had cleaned up the entire boar. After he opened up the belly, he pulled out all the organs and chopped the meat into pieces.
Lu Jiao said to the villagers, “Alright, the boar is prepped. However much you guys want, just let Xie Hu know.”
Lu Jiao didn’t count too much on the money she’d make from the pork. If she wanted to make the most money, she would’ve taken the boar to the restaurant, or sold it to a wealthy family.
She would have earned more money by selling the pig whole. A dead boar’s meat wasn’t worth as much money – at most, it was worth half a whole boar.
She didn’t count on the boar to make her money. She counted on the ganoderma from her space to do that.