Witty Wife, Better Life
Chapter 283 - 273 Annoying Child

Chapter 283: Chapter 273 Annoying Child

"Oh Yunfang, don’t be busy, I need to ask you for a favor," Qiu Fengmei said, pulling at Shen Yunfang.

Shen Yunfang suddenly had a feeling that it had finally come to this. Ever since Qiu Fengmei had come over today, she had a premonition that it wasn’t just to chat. And sure enough.

"What’s all this talk about asking, sister-in-law? Just say what you need, if I can do it, I will," she said regarding things she couldn’t handle, well, there was simply no way.

"It can be done, definitely can be done; it’s not a big deal. It’s just that yesterday, when I saw you moving in, you brought quite a few cabbages over. I was wondering if you could spare one for your sister-in-law. Ah, you have no idea, the people at my house, they eat like they’ve been wronged, the cabbages we bought for the fall were all eaten up in one go. Now in the dead of winter, tell me, where am I supposed to find cabbages and radishes? In a few days after the New Year, we’ll be out of vegetables. We’ve been eating pickled vegetables every single day, and all of our stomachs are turning sour. I saw that your family had plenty, and that’s why I thought to come ask you for one," Qiu Fengmei said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

In her heart, Shen Yunfang wondered—they spoke so casually, so righteously about it—is this what people here do when they run out of vegetables at home? In their eyes, it must be a very ordinary thing.

"Ah, alright, we did indeed bring a few cabbages over yesterday. Just wait, sister-in-law, I’ll go get one for you right now," said Shen Yunfang as she put her well-soothed son on the kang, saw that he wasn’t crying and was playing by himself, and prepared to go to the storage room to fetch a cabbage for Qiu Fengmei.

But before she could even step out, she heard a loud crash outside; something had broken.

Shen Yunfang hurried outside, and Qiu Fengmei followed her out.

Following the sound, the two found their way to the storage room and entered to see what had happened. Almost enough to make Shen Yunfang flip over in anger.

The jars she had put on the ground, which were originally covered, now had their lids half-opened by Qiu Fengmei’s two girls. One girl was still squatting in front of a jar, stretching her dirty little hand into the jar, digging something out to wrap up and take. The jar beside the younger girl was broken, and judging by the smell of the soup that had spilled, it was her pickled sweet-and-sour garlic.

"Oh dear, my little ancestors, what are you doing here?" Qiu Fengmei also saw the jars on the ground, and after glancing at Shen Yunfang’s unhappy face, she quickly pulled her own little girl aside, whopping her on the back twice.

The smacks sounded like she really didn’t hold back, and Erni immediately cried out loud in response.

The sound also startled Pangpang inside the house, and he too began to cry.

Shen Yunfang rushed back to the room, not forgetting to instruct the person behind her, "Sister-in-law, please take your kids out quickly, there are porcelain shards everywhere, don’t let the children get hurt."

"Oh, don’t worry about it, these kids just deserve a beating, causing trouble wherever they go," Qiu Fengmei said, but as soon as she saw people leave, she quickly questioned her own children about what had happened.

Both kids told the same story: they came to this room to play, saw the jars on the ground and curiously opened them to look, and the food inside smelled so good that they tried each one, sticking their hands in to taste. The younger one, when she tasted the sweet garlic, wanted to drink the garlic juice, tried to lift the jar, but it was too heavy, and the jar fell and broke.

"You two deserve a beating, get home now," Qiu Fengmei ordered her children to leave after hearing their story. She feared that later, Shen Yunfang might ask her to compensate, and if the children were not there, the matters would become unclear, and she wouldn’t have to pay.

After chasing the children away, she looked at the jars on the ground. She didn’t blame them for being greedy; the smell really was too tempting. She couldn’t help bending over, reaching into one of the jars, dipping a finger in, and sucking it off her finger. Hmm, it must be chili sauce, with sesame seeds and peanuts added. Truly delicious.

"Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, don’t hit the child anymore. It wasn’t on purpose," Shen Yunfang came out holding Pangpang from the house, mainly because she hadn’t seen those women enter the house for a while, so she thought of coming out to see what had happened.

Qiu Fengmei quickly wiped her hands on her clothes, pursed her lips, and then forced a smile in response, "Oh dear, they do deserve a spanking. I ran them off already. I was thinking of covering these jars for you, but these two kids don’t know any better, opening so many all at once."

Shen Yunfang clicked her tongue, what did she mean, if they hadn’t opened as many, they would be knowing right from wrong? It’s truly a wonder to see how parents educate their children these days.

"Sister-in-law, you don’t need to bother, I can cover them myself later." To be honest, she was wary of her. She didn’t know if she was like her daughter, unsanitary. If that was the case, it might be better if she covered the jars herself.

Qiu Fengmei, taking this as her cue, got up as well. She looked at the shards on the ground with embarrassment and said, "Look at this, the two kids are always causing trouble, even breaking your jars. Whenever I have time, I’ll go to the city and buy you a new jar to make up for it."

"There’s no need, sister-in-law. It’s not a big deal. No need to go to all that trouble to make up for it," Shen Yunfang replied upon hearing the offer of compensation, feeling her displeasure fade away. If she really accepted Qiu Fengmei’s offer to replace the jar, she would become well-known in this family housing area for all the wrong reasons.

"Hehe, then let me clean up for you. Where’s your file? A dustpan will do too," Qiu Fengmei said, her smile becoming more genuine upon hearing there was no need for her to replace the jar.

"No, that’s not necessary, sister-in-law. You don’t have to clean up. I’ll handle it later. You should hurry back and check on the kids," Shen Yunfang now just wanted to quickly send her away. This entire family was too much trouble.

Qiu Fengmei hesitated a moment before saying, "Alright then, I’ll head back home first."

Shen Yunfang quickly nodded in agreement.

"You don’t need to bring me the cabbages either; I’ll choose them myself." After saying this, Qiu Fengmei walked over to the cabbages stacked against another wall inside the house.

After shuffling through, she picked out the largest one, "I’ll take this one. Alright, Yunfang, you stay at home. I’ll be off then, I’ll visit again when I have time."

Shen Yunfang saw her to the door, thinking to herself that she hoped she wouldn’t visit again—she couldn’t stand her or her kids.

Once she was gone, Shen Yunfang went inside to feed the child and put the child to sleep, and then finally got around to cleaning up the messy storeroom.

She covered each jar one by one, and though she felt disgusted that the kids’ hands had been inside the jars, given the scarcity of supplies, it seemed unrealistic to throw away so many pickles over such a small incident. She consoled herself by thinking, an excess of salt can sterilize, and eating something a little dirty won’t cause illness.

As for the jar that had been broken, fortunately it hadn’t shattered completely. It had broken in half from the opening downwards, so a small portion of the pickled garlic in vinegar had spilled on the ground, but the majority had remained inside the jar, untouched by the floor. However, the bottom of the jar had cracked, and the brine had leaked all over the ground.

Shen Yunfang took out an empty jar and transferred the clean pickled garlic into it. She looked at the garlic on the ground, and not having the heart to just throw it away, picked it up with a small basin. Then she took it to the main room and rinsed it with clean water. After washing, she peeled off and discarded the outermost layer, leaving the rest in a bowl, planning to eat it soon.

After four years of living in this place, she had assimilated into the local environment and people, unable to bear any waste.

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