Seeing this, Meng Sijing quickly stepped forward and blocked their path with her only remaining hand.
"Are you deaf? Didn't you hear me calling you?"
Cheng Sanhu looked displeased. "What is it?"
Their younger sister's suicide attempt a couple of days ago had made her a laughingstock across several surrounding villages. In the end, the accusation of infidelity proved completely groundless, yet not a single person from the Meng family had ever come to give them an explanation.
Today, the brothers had come to town because it was the day for their monthly stipend to their younger sister. Worried that her daughter hadn't come home in a long time and fearing she was being mistreated in her in-laws' household, Mother Cheng had specifically asked the two brothers to sell a few dozen eggs the family had saved up for a long time. Pooling together a hundred-odd copper coins, they had also bought two pounds of pork and a pig's trotters, along with some cooking oil and salt, intending to visit Cheng Siniang in Yunxi Village.
Who would have thought that the moment they finished buying the supplies, they would run into Meng Sijing.
If she managed to take the items away directly, they would lose all pretext to visit their younger sister at the Meng family home.
Seeing the pork and trotters in the brothers' hands, Meng Sijing knew immediately they were intended for her family. She triumphantly held out her hand. "You haven't paid my brother's book and paper fees for this month yet. Since we happen to run into each other, hand over the one tael of silver."
The so-called book and paper fees were monthly sponsorships given by the elderly Cheng parents to their daughter and son-in-law. Since the Cheng family had not yet split up, all earnings were turned over to the family head. To be precise, this money was pooled together by the entire family.
Before Meng Nanzhou passed the imperial examinations, it was one thing for the elderly parents to subsidize them. But now that Meng Nanzhou had passed the exams, this financial support should have been cut off; how could they still have the nerve to ask others for money?
"What are you standing there stunned for? Hand it over." Meng Sijing's tone was impatient. She was still waiting to take the medicinal herbs back to decoct; the doctor had said her hand required delicate care, and she could just take the pig's trotters back to stew and nourish her body.
Cheng Ershun said, "We don't have any money. All the money at home was used up on our brother-in-law's studies."
Meng Sijing refused to believe it. "What a coincidence—my brother just passed the imperial exams, and you've run out of money? Which year don't you cry poor? Anyway, in the end, by tightening your belts and squeezing every last drop, the money always appears. Don't waste your breath."
With four men in the Cheng family making money, could they not scrape together one tael of silver?
Or did they really need Cheng Siniang to come crying to their doorstep before these country bumpkins were willing to show their bottom line?
Seeing Meng Nanzhou standing off to the side without a word, Cheng Sanhu knew that his brother-in-law approved of what Meng Sijing was saying.
Instantly, his anger flared up. "Meng Nanzhou! A grown man like you, living off your wife's maiden family—aren't you ashamed?"
Meng Nanzhou flicked his sleeves. "Third Brother, you are mistaken. Back then, it was my father-in-law and mother-in-law who insisted that I accept the monthly book and paper fees; neighbors and townsfolk can all bear witness to this. Very well, let us consider this a loan of one tael of silver from my two brothers-in-law today, and I will have Siniang return it to you another day."
A loan?
When had the money "borrowed" by the Meng family from the Cheng family ever been repaid?
It was merely taking things under the guise of a loan, all perfectly justified.
Cheng Ershun and Cheng Sanhu felt a surge of fury, and they genuinely did not have one tael of silver on them.
Meng Sijing lost all patience. "My brother is a juren now; people who want to curry favor with him line up from the city gates all the way to Yunxi Village. Don't be ungrateful when given an opportunity. In the future, how Cheng Siniang fares in my Meng household is entirely a matter of a single word from my brother."
Cheng Siniang was the soft underbelly of her two brothers.
At the mention of her, no matter how much grievance Cheng Ershun and Cheng Sanhu felt in their hearts, they could only swallow it down.
Their sister had returned home a few days ago looking like she wanted to make a clean break with the Meng family, but there had been no news in the past couple of days. Perhaps, won over by a few smooth words from Meng Nanzhou, she had changed her mind and stubbornly decided to continue being a Meng daughter-in-law.
If they refused to give the money, what would happen if Meng Nanzhou mistreated their sister?
Hardening his heart, Cheng Ershun pulled a hairpin from his tunic. "I'll go pawn this."
Cheng Sanhu hurriedly stopped him. "No, you saved up for three or four years just to buy this jewelry for your second sister-in-law."
"She might not even like it anyway." Thinking of his wife's cold expression, Cheng Ershun's heart sank. "Forget it. Our sister's affairs are more urgent."
The moment Meng Sijing caught sight of the hairpin, her eyes lit up brilliantly.
What a fine piece! The pearl flower on top was even bigger than the one Meng Nanzhou had given her for her birthday.
Did the wife of a rustic country fellow deserve to wear something so precious?
"Let me see it." Meng Sijing snatched it into her hands and examined it closely. The hairpin was cast on a pure silver base, engraved with delicate patterns. The more she looked, the more she liked it. "I'll take this hairpin. Find another way for the money part... Ouch!"
Before she even finished speaking, her head was suddenly covered by something, and the world went pitch black.
"If you love snatching things so much, why aren't you rushing off to be reincarnated?"
Hearing Cheng Nuo's voice, Meng Sijing cursed with rage, trying to pull off the object covering her head. But one of her hands was crippled, and her other hand was holding the hairpin...
The next second, the hairpin was gone too.
Cheng Nuo handed the hairpin to Cheng Ershun. "Second Brother, keep this safe."
Still in a daze, Cheng Ershun let out two murmurs of assent as the hairpin was safely back inside his tunic.
The basket on Meng Sijing's head had two hemp ropes attached to it; Cheng Nuo had tied them into a secure knot right at her neck. Meng Nanzhou was clumsily trying to untie the fastening for his sister, flustered and entirely all thumbs.
Cheng Sanhu said, "Little Sister, you came to town too?"
Cheng Nuo nodded. "I caught a couple of wild pheasants and came to sell them."
Her younger sister had caught wild pheasants?
And two of them at that?
Cheng Sanhu doubted his own ears. He was a hunter himself, living off the mountains year-round by hunting.
At this time of year, most animals in the mountains were hibernating. Even those that didn't hibernate would reduce their activity to conserve energy, spending most of their time holed up in caves. One could wander the mountains all day without catching sight of a single one.
When had her younger sister learned how to hunt?
Sensing his confusion, Cheng Nuo explained, "I watched Third Brother set traps a few times, so I gave it a try. I didn't expect it to work."
Cheng Sanhu grinned from ear to ear. "Our little sister hit the jackpot!"
"It's because Third Brother is smart and designs great traps. I'm just basking in your good fortune," Cheng Nuo said.
"Not at all, not at all."
Praised, Cheng Sanhu bashfully scratched his head. It was the first time his younger sister had ever called him smart; in the past, she always said he grew tall without growing a brain. He had fretted over this for a long time, always feeling stupid and inferior to scholars like Meng Nanzhou.
Cheng Nuo had caught the wild pheasants in the mountain that morning using two ham sausages as bait.
Perhaps never having tasted such exotic feed, the two chickens had displayed extreme excitement when captured, smashing their heads against the ground as if to say their lives were now complete.
She had originally planned to recycle them through the system shop, but realizing she would inevitably need to pull items out in the future, it wouldn't do to have them materialize out of thin air every single time. So she decided to bring the chickens to town to sell. Besides, she hadn't visited the town yet since becoming Cheng Siniang, and this way she could get familiar with the place in advance for future convenience.
Wild pheasants fetched a high price in winter, and the two she had caught were plump, sturdy, and weighed a solid seven or eight catty.
Of course they were fat—they had dared to forage in the dead of winter despite the risk of freezing to death.
In the end, she sold them for half a tael of silver.
Just as she was thinking of buying something to take back for Father Cheng and Mother Cheng, she spotted Meng Sijing trying to rob her two brothers.
Over there, after tireless efforts by Meng Nanzhou, the wicker basket was finally pulled off Meng Sijing's head.
The moment Meng Sijing was restored to the light of day, she was greeted by countless looks of disgust and derisive jeers from passersby.
"Mom, look, the big sister has chicken poop on her face. It stinks."
A passing child had his nose covered by his mother as they skirted wide around her.
Crowned in chicken feces, Meng Sijing looked around in panic. As she turned her head, several streams of liquid trickled down her forehead, ruining the makeup she had carefully applied early that morning.
She reached out to touch it—it was a brownish-green, foul-smelling chicken mess, warm, soft, and fresh.
"Ugh... Brother... Ugh!"
Meng Sijing reached out toward her brother for help, but Meng Nanzhou recoiled several steps backward as if he had seen a ghost.
She glared viciously at the culprit.
Cheng Nuo fanned the air in front of her nose, her tone entirely devoid of apology. "The two chickens were too rowdy on the way here, so I gave them a couple of smacks. Who knew they were such cowards and lost control of themselves..."