"You child, complaining that two cents isn't enough? How did I raise you? A person should be content and have a conscience..." Li Baoying scolded while pulling her youngest son's ear.
The grudge between Zhang Jinlin and the Wang family had to be settled today.
"Alright, Baoying, don't hit the child anymore. Here is six cents; you divide it among the four children. Jinlin suffered the most, he should get three cents." Old Lady Wang shakily took out six cents and handed them over.
Li Baoying stopped twisting her youngest son's ear, and Zhang Jinlin cooperatively ceased his crying.
"That's enough, stop crying. Six cents is quite a lot; you know Uncle Wang's family doesn't have much money. Don't go around spouting off, and from now on, consider today’s incident as if it never happened. Understand?"
"If I find out you've been spreading this around, I'll tear your mouth open!"
Receiving the signal, Zhang Jinlin stopped crying, though he still sobbed intermittently because his back hurt badly.
Li Baoying reached out and took the six cents. It wasn't much, but it was acceptable; after all, the Wang family was poor, and she couldn't push them too far. Most importantly, the old couple were decent people. Although they could be muddled at times, the fact that they took the initiative to pay meant they had a good attitude about admitting their fault.
Zhang Jinlin watched his mother take the six cents and felt happy—he would get three cents for himself soon!
"Alright, Baoying, since you're not pursuing this further, we'll head back now."
The wrinkles on Old Lady Wang's face deepened. They tightened their belts all year round, not daring to eat or drink properly, only to end up paying someone else six cents! Her heart ached; it was miserable.
"No, Mom, why give her money?" Liu Cui struggled against Wang's hold. "If that brat goes around running his mouth, just beat him! I bet he won't be so defiant then!"
"Enough, Liu Cui! Your aunt is showing you mercy here. You came to make a scene at someone's house on New Year's Eve; it’s lucky enough they didn't call the village leaders to deal with you. Are you going to keep going? If it weren't for your greed today, our whole family wouldn't have come here to lose face like this!"
Liu Cui fell silent upon hearing this.
The family turned to leave, but Li Baoying spoke up.
"Sister-in-law, don't be in such a hurry to leave. Since this was all caused by Liu Cui, wouldn't it be appropriate for her to apologize to me before you go?"
"The children have been compensated, and I don't want her money, just an apology."
Liu Cui started to say, "Apologize my ass," but was checked by her mother-in-law. They had already paid the money; why fear an apology?
Just then, Zhang Jiandan, who had been strolling outside, arrived with the village leaders. He walked through the crowd to his courtyard and asked the old couple, "Old Man Wang, what are you doing at my house?"
Turning to Li Baoying, he asked, "Are you alright? Did they lay a hand on you?"
He had been out walking when someone told him a dozen people from the Wang family were surrounding his home. Fearing for his family’s safety, he had rushed to find the village officials.
The village leader stared sternly at Old Man Wang’s family, waiting for an answer. Fighting on New Year’s was strictly forbidden.
Li Baoying waved her hand to indicate everything was fine. The old couple looked pale; this would not look good if it reached higher authorities.
"Oh, Jiandan, we’re fine. We just came over early to pay our New Year's respects," Old Lady Wang said quickly. "Liu Cui, hurry up and kowtow to your auntie to wish her a Happy New Year!"
Since they were neighbors, the usual custom was just to exchange greetings on the morning of New Year's Day; kowtowing was unnecessary. Making Liu Cui kowtow was clearly a way to force an apology. Liu Cui knew this, but facing the suspicious gazes of the leader and Zhang Jiandan, she had to grit her teeth, kneel, and kowtow.
Li Baoying hadn't expected such a grand gesture and quickly said, "No need for the kowtow, I can't accept that, I really can't!"
Liu Cui stood up after kowtowing and walked away immediately. She was afraid that if she stayed any longer, something else might happen. *Zhang Jinlin, you brat, remember the humiliation I suffered today! Wang Yuhang, when you grow up, beat this little bastard to death!*
Having received an unexpected kowtow without having to give out any lucky money, Li Baoying felt much better. The Wang family and their son left. Seeing that the two households were peaceful, the leader didn't say much and chatted with Zhang Jiandan for a while before leaving. The leader respected Zhang Jiandan and his second son for their hard work, which was why he was willing to sit for a bit.
There was nothing in the house to entertain guests, so Li Baoying could only pour the leader a bowl of water. Once the leader left, Zhang Jinlin timidly walked up to his mother and asked, "Mom, can we divide the money the Wang family gave us?"
Old Lady Wang had said to give him three cents.
"Fine, so you want to split the money? I'll give it to you, but after the New Year, you'll be paying your own school fees." Li Baoying handed him the three cents.
Zhang Jinlin felt aggrieved and dared not take it. School fees cost several dimes; three cents was enough to buy some candy, but nowhere near enough for tuition! His mother was being unfair, pinching him and then not even letting him keep the money!
"Mom, never mind. You pay the tuition."
Li Baoying put the money away and boiled water for the children to wash their feet and go to sleep.
On the morning of the first day of the New Year, she led the children to pay their respects to their relatives in the village before returning home. There was still half a catty of meat left, and Li Baoying chopped some radishes, planning to make dumplings. She had originally wanted to slaughter a chicken for Jintian, but seeing the five chickens had grown large and were about to start laying eggs, she couldn't bear to do it. With pork dumplings, the chicken could wait.
Making dumpling filling for six people with half a catty of meat meant there was hardly any meat in each dumpling—just a hint of flavor!
"Cluck-cluck!" Just as she finished mixing the filling, she heard a sound from the courtyard. She knew that sound well; it was the noise a hen made after laying an egg!
She hurriedly wiped her hands, ran out of the house, and headed straight for the coop. Inside, a hen jumped down from the nesting spot, strutting and clucking triumphantly at her. Li Baoying immediately reached into the straw and felt a warm egg! She was thrilled; the eggs would save her son!
"Cluck-cluck!" Suddenly, another sound came from the adjacent straw. Another hen walked out, head held high! Li Baoying collected a second egg!
Two eggs today—it seemed like a day for a treat. She took the eggs inside and said to her youngest son, who was playing with stones, "Jinlin, go chop some wild greens for the chickens, add some rotten cabbage leaves too!"
Hearing his mother, Zhang Jinlin glanced at his elder brother, who was reading, and moved slowly. The chickens belonged to his brother; why should he have to feed them? His mother was so biased!
Li Baoying thought that since she had two eggs, perhaps she could get three tomorrow. She decided it wouldn't be right for her eldest son to eat all the eggs alone on New Year’s, so she would fry them up and put them into the dumpling filling so everyone could get a taste. After all, with only half a catty of pork, there was hardly any meat to go around.
While Zhang Jinlin was feeding the chickens, he smelled an enticing aroma wafting from the house. He hadn't eaten it often, but he recognized the scent from their neighbor Zhang Shun’s house—his brother had said that was the smell of fried eggs. He quickly finished mixing the greens and hurried back inside; if he was too late, there wouldn't even be scraps left! His mother was definitely biased!