Transmigrated as My Aunt in the 70s
Chapter 138 - 132 Sweet potatoes as a meat substitute

Chapter 138: 132 Sweet potatoes as a meat substitute

Tian Sisi had instructed Weiguo to first visit the village head’s house and slip out a hint implying they were still going to take some meat to grandpa’s place, letting Weiguo show just a little bit of the meat in the bowl to make sure the village head’s family could see, especially the two shiny, fatty pieces on top.

As long as the village head saw these two pieces of meat, it would be equivalent to letting the villagers know that the niece didn’t forget to bring a nice bowl of meat for her parents-in-law to eat. As for the sweet potatoes at the bottom of the bowl, who knows? Anyway, what the village head saw was the meat on top.

Tian Xinhua was sitting next to Sisi, and he clearly heard the bad idea that girl gave to Weiguo, but he did not stop it. Mainly because he thought Sisi’s idea was quite good. There was no need to resort to a gentleman’s methods in dealing with such a villain.

It didn’t take long for Weiguo to come back, all excited, carrying an empty basket, with a gleam in his eyes. Jianguo quickly gave his brother a bowl of rice and told him to eat quickly. Weiguo stealthily winked at Sisi, indicating that the mission was accomplished.

The little fellow was feeling smug, unable to stop grinning whenever he thought about the infuriated expressions on his uncles’ faces when they discovered bones and sweet potatoes beneath the meat later.

Old Mr. and Mrs. Shou lived with the eldest, Shou Chengzu. The news that Sisi and the others had brought back game had already spread throughout the village, and Old Mrs. Shou was also aware. She was just waiting for Man Lan to bring some meat over. If that wretched girl didn’t bring the meat, she would go around the village spreading the word tomorrow, to see how that little tramp would manage to stand in the village?

Weiguo came into the house and called everyone over, placing the meat on the table and saying, "Li Guo will bring the bowl back tomorrow," then left. The people in the house paid no heed to Weiguo, only Shou Chengzu responded with a few laughs.

"Hmph, so many wild games were caught, and only sending such a small bowl of meat over, really unfilial. Tomorrow, ask Man Lan for some more meat, Li Guo, come and eat the meat."

Old Mrs. Shou was not satisfied at all. According to her usual way of doing things, she would have taken all the wild chickens and hares even before Man Lan started cooking. Even if didn’t take everything, she would definitely have taken one back. Now with only such a small bowl of meat, of course she was not satisfied. What this old lady didn’t know was that even this bowl of meat wasn’t pure!

The Shou family members all watched with grins as Li Guo grabbed the meat with his hands to eat. Those people during the day were clever, all aiming at Li Guo but leaving not a single mark on his face; hence, the Shou family did not realize their precious darling had been beaten up by the crowd.

Li Guo grabbed the meat with both hands while eating, getting his face and hands all greasy. After finishing two pieces, he grabbed another one—hey, why is it so lean?

The little fatty looked down to see, and what he held was a bone. He hurriedly threw it out and rummaged through the bowl for more meat, but after picking and choosing, he found no other piece of meat. Towards the bottom, not even bones were left, all but sweet potatoes. The little fatty was dumbfounded.

Shou Chengzu also sensed something was amiss. He took the bowl and turned it over, dumping out the meat, revealing the majority of the bowl filled with sweet potatoes and bones.

"That little wretch Man Lan, how dare she deceive old mum with sweet potatoes and bones, let’s see how I’ll deal with her."

Old Mrs. Shou was so angry that her eyebrows stood on end, and she spat in anger. She scooped the sweet potatoes and bones back into the bowl, ready to confront Man Lan, but Shou Chengzu held her back.

"Mama, let it go. We can only swallow this loss."

"No, I can’t swallow this insult. I have to scold her to let off some steam no matter what."

"What would scolding Tian Manlan over there accomplish? To accuse her of treating a bowl of sweet potatoes as meat to give away? Who would believe that? No one saw it this late at night, and if Tian Manlan flatly denies it, we have no way to prove it. Besides, the village chief uncle is siding with Tian Manlan now, we better just forget about it."

Although Shou Chengzu was also infuriated, he managed to suppress his anger. Ever since Tian Manlan’s maternal family came and stirred up trouble last time, Tian Manlan’s standing in the village had changed greatly, and she held herself with more confidence. Most importantly, the village chief, Uncle Yaowutang, was on Tian Manlan’s side. If Mama went to confront her now, no one would back them up.

Old Mrs. Shou, who always listened to her eldest son, was extremely angry but had not planned to make a scene. However, she still felt terribly uncomfortable about it, and Mr. Shou was not pleased either. He decided to have a serious talk with his good-for-nothing second son the next day. How could he let his daughter-in-law serve sweet potatoes as if they were meat? Was filial piety dead?

The adults might let it go, but Shou Liguo was not willing to. He had only had two pieces of meat and hadn’t had his fill. He started to cry for meat then sat on the ground refusing to give in. In the end, it took Shou Chengzu’s promise to go hunting in the mountains the next day to turn the little fatty’s tears into a smile and get him to get up and eat.

Shou Chengzu’s youngest daughter, Shou Lanhua, seeing that her brother didn’t eat the bones, picked one up and gnawed on it with gusto. She chewed the bone to bits. When she was about to reach for a second piece, Old Mrs. Shou knocked her hand with her chopsticks.

"All you do is eat, eat, eat. Isn’t one piece enough? Don’t eat these bones; I’m saving them to cook in the porridge tomorrow."

Old Mrs. Shou said this as she gathered the bones into a bowl, eyeing them since they still had some fat on them that would give the porridge a bit of a greasy taste tomorrow.

Shou Lanhua pouted and reluctantly glanced a few more times at the greasy bones. Ah, they looked so delicious! How long had it been since they’d had meat? Any tasty food at home was always eaten by her brother, Li Guo, and her two elder sisters never got a share.

Shou Chengzu had three daughters: the eldest, Shou Hehua, 16; the second, Shou Taohua, 15; and the youngest, Shou Lanhua, 13. These three daughters were unlike Old Mrs. Shou in temperament and were quite honest and decent.

However, they were not close with Tian Manlan and Shou Jizu’s family either, simply because they grew up witnessing the distance and indifference between the elders in their household and their second uncle’s family. Therefore, the three sisters also distanced themselves from Shou Jizu’s family and were not close with Jianguo and his two brothers either, yet they never bullied them.

Shou Hehua quickly pulled her younger sister aside. The little one must have eaten a leopard’s gall to dare to reach for the meat. Luckily, Granny didn’t think of hitting her today. If it had been any other time, she would have definitely received a beating. What Shou Hehua didn’t realize was that Old Mrs. Shou wasn’t in the mood today; all her anger was directed at Tian Manlan.

Let’s put Shou Chengzu aside for the moment. Over at Shou Jizu’s place, they had a joyous and plentiful dinner, but after dinner, how to go to sleep became a big problem.

Tian Manlan’s household had only one house with a total of two rooms. The outer room was used as both a kitchen and living room, while the inner room was dedicated to sleeping, which Tian Manlan had partitioned with a curtain into two sections. The area closer inside was where Jianguo and his two brothers slept, and the outer half was Tian Manlan and Shou Jizu’s room.

But now, with so many people, how could they be accommodated? Tian Manlan was troubled, and so was Tian Sisi, who really didn’t want to squeeze in and sleep with others. She had an idea and asked, "Auntie, are there any more mats? I can just sleep on the floor."

"Sleeping on the floor is a good idea, but let Qinghua and I sleep there; Ah Nan can sleep on the bed."

(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it with recommendation and monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.