Chapter 173: Explanations

Tang Yixiao was left at the medical clinic, so the group returning was one person short.

Seeing that Tang Luwu had been silent the entire way, Qin Huiyin took her hand and said, "Although little brother's health has improved a lot, he is still a bundle of medicine. Especially every winter, he practically spends the whole season in bed. If this Physician Wei can really condition his health and let him grow up like a normal boy, it will be his great fortune."

"I know," Tang Luwu said. "Not only can that Physician Wei condition his health, but he can also teach him medical skills. These are all opportunities for little brother. It's just that little brother and I have never been apart. Now that he is suddenly not by my side, I'm a little not used to it. Yinshi, don't worry, I'll adapt to it soon."

"We will go see him the next time we go into town and bring him delicious food. Eldest brother has his path to walk, little brother has his path to walk, and we have our own path to walk."

"Yinshi, I'm not smart, nor do I have insight like you. I only know that listening to you is never wrong." Tang Luwu tightly held her hand. "You won't dislike me, will you?"

"What silly things are you saying?" Qin Huiyin hugged Tang Luwu's shoulders. "You are my sister, my sister for a lifetime."

Li Taohua led her two daughters to continue managing their business. Although there were no men in the family, it didn't affect their lives at all.

However, to make things less exhausting for everyone, Li Taohua and her two daughters discussed the matter and decided to hire Xiang Chuntao and Wang Jiuying to help them at the stall.

Upon receiving the news that Qin Huiyin wanted to hire them, Xiang Chuntao and Wang Jiuying beamed from ear to ear. They were extremely enthusiastic in their work, learned things very quickly, and mastered the tasks in no time.

Qin Huiyin found that Xiang Chuntao and Wang Jiuying were exceptionally efficient. With their help, they suddenly found themselves with much more free time, so they decided to implement a rotational rest system.

Now, with the mother and her two daughters plus the Xiang sisters, five people were responsible for the food at the stall, allowing one person to rest each time. Uncle Tang San was getting old, and always making him overwork wouldn't do, so Uncle Tang San, Song Tieniu, and Zhang the Stammerer also joined the rotation. Two men went each time; not only was there someone to help carry heavy loads, but they could also protect the women if any ruffians or scoundrels showed up.

When the villagers saw that the families of Song Tieniu and Zhang the Stammerer had become prosperous following Li Taohua and her daughters, they were filled with envy and jealousy. Those who used to look down on Li Taohua's demeanor now proactively curried favor with her. Unfortunately, Li Taohua held grudges; she remembered everyone who had gossiped about her in the past and would never give them an opportunity. As for those who hadn't offended her, even if they couldn't eat meat, they could at least drink some meat broth.

"Which heartless wretch pulled up all my vegetable seedlings? Who is it? If you have the guts, stand out and let me know who did it, and I'll definitely chop off your hands!" Second Aunt Song stood in the vegetable plot, hands on her hips, cursing angrily.

A woman in the neighboring vegetable plot gloated and said, "Second Aunt, who on earth did you offend? Yesterday, nightsoil was splashed all over your family's courtyard, and today your vegetable seedlings were pulled up."

Since Second Aunt and Second Uncle Song learned that Song Tiegen had found a powerful backer at the dam construction site and become a manager, they had been showing off everywhere, boasting about how smart their son had been since childhood and that was why he was so capable.

Aside from people like Widow Wang—whose husband had passed away and whose children were too small to be sent to work on the dam—almost every other family had sent someone to labor there. A person like Song Tiegen had become a manager, yet their families hadn't received any good news from him; who could feel happy hearing that? Coupled with the fact that Second Uncle and Second Aunt Song usually didn't know how to conduct themselves socially, aside from a few families cut from the same cloth, everyone else loathed them.

Now that trouble had struck, many people reveled in their misfortune, and not a single person went to comfort them.

Qin Huiyin carried a wooden basin as she walked back and told Li Taohua about what had just happened.

Li Taohua was measuring a newly bought silver hairpin against her hair.

"I was the one who pulled them up," Li Taohua said lazily. "His son sent people to bully us, so I just splashed nightsoil all over her courtyard and pulled up her vegetable garden seedlings. I let her off too lightly."

"When did you splash it? How come I didn't know?" Qin Huiyin sat down opposite her.

Li Taohua took off the silver hairpin and pinned it into Qin Huiyin's hair. "This pattern is more suited for a young girl like you. It looks a bit out of place when I wear it."

"Who says so? My mother is more delicate than an eighteen-year-old girl! Put it on quickly." After flattering her, Qin Huiyin continued to ask, "When exactly did you go, and why didn't you call me?"

"I had Song Tieniu go. Those things smell so awful, what if they splattered on me? I told him I'd give him ten copper coins to accompany me on a mischievous deed in the middle of the night, and the boy was so scared he almost cried. What a silly boy, could I possibly have any improper ideas about him? I just told him straight out that I was going to teach that Song family couple a lesson, and I even shared the plan with him. He patted his chest and said he didn't need any money and that he would go do it himself, so I sent him. I didn't show my face; he finished it all by himself. As for the vegetable seedlings, when I went to pick vegetables today, I saw his family's plot and felt annoyed, so I pulled them up."

Qin Huiyin laughed uncontrollably.

The mother and daughter continued discussing today's hair accessories, hairstyles, makeup, and attire.

Li Taohua took out a newly made outfit and asked Qin Huiyin to try it on.

After Qin Huiyin put on the new clothes, Li Taohua began restyling her hair.

Usually, for convenience, Qin Huiyin liked to tie her hair into a high ponytail. Li Taohua had been unsatisfied with it for a long time and had always wanted to change her hairstyle. Since everyone had free time today, she decided to put it into action.

When Tang Luwu walked in, Qin Huiyin had just finished dressing her hair. She stood in front of Tang Luwu and spun around. "How does this outfit look? And my hair, is it pretty?"

Tang Luwu said, "Pretty. Yinshi is naturally the prettiest girl in the whole village."

"Come here too, I'll comb your hair for you. You're a young maiden, why are you so reluctant to dress up?" Li Taohua called out to Tang Luwu.

Tang Luwu said shyly, "Mother, Little Aunt has brought her two cousins over."

"Where are they?"

"In the courtyard."

Li Taohua stood up. "Since we have guests, I'll comb your hair another day. Let's go take a look; we mustn't be impolite."

Li Taohua walked out with her two daughters.

In the courtyard stood a woman wearing patched clothing, accompanied by two emaciated young girls. Her face was covered in wrinkles and her hair was gray; though she was Tang Dafu's younger sister, she looked like an old woman. The two little girls beside her were not much younger than Tang Luwu, yet they were about the same height as Tang Yixiao.

"Yunniang, bring the children inside to sit down!" Li Taohua said. "Your eldest brother is not home, Chen'er is at the academy, and Xiaoge is an apprentice at the medical clinic. There are only three of us at home."

"Sister-in-law..." Tang Caiyun dropped to her knees and kowtowed to Li Taohua. "We truly cannot survive any longer; we have no choice but to come beg Sister-in-law."