Changping Village, the old house of the Yang family.
Yang Ruoqing and her daughter followed Jin to the backyard of the old house. Yang Huamei was already guarding the door while supporting Tan.
Behind them, the door of the house was open, but there was no one inside.
"But the third wife and the fat girl are here?"
Tan heard the footsteps and raised his voice to ask.
Yang Ruoqing had no time to talk to Mrs. Tan, so Mrs. Sun hurriedly responded, "Yes, we just came back from town."
Mrs. Tan nodded and pointed in the direction of the house: "Hurry up and help us find her. That crazy lady from Mrs. Mo's has run away!"
Yang Ruoqing followed Jin into the house.
Needless to say, the mess in the house was nauseating.
After looking around, Yang Ruoqing retreated to the door and took a few deep breaths of fresh air in the yard before talking to Yang Huamei and the others.
"Auntie has been gesturing for a long time and still can't figure it out clearly. Auntie, do you and Nainai know what's going on?"
Yang Huamei glanced at the house and said worriedly: "It's really shameful to say that we didn't go anywhere but just stayed here in the backyard. We didn't even know what was going on when Mrs. Mo disappeared. It was because my sister-in-law came back from town earlier. I found that the door of this room was open, so I ran to the east room to sign with us, and my mother and I found out about it when we came over."
Mrs. Tan added next to her, "From last night to this moment, neither of us came to the backyard to use the toilet. There is a urine bucket in the house."
"Then where has little cousin Yongqing gone? Could it be that he took Mo with him somewhere?"
"I don't know..." Mrs. Tan and Yang Huamei both asked questions. On the side, Mrs. Jin clapped her legs anxiously. The little girl at her feet was held under her arm and ran around after getting off the carriage. She was so tanned. Her face was red, and her slightly yellowed natural curly hair was filled with fine beads of sweat.
"Auntie, please take the child inside to cool down first. Wipe the child's face and drink some water. We'll help think of something."
Yang Ruoqing said loudly while gesticulating.
Mrs. Jin lowered her head and glanced at her little granddaughter who was sunbaked beside her. She was anxious and a little distressed. She nodded to Yang Ruoqing gratefully and expectantly, and took the little girl back to the house.
Mrs. Sun also followed in and helped take care of the child.
In the yard outside the house, Yang Huamei was anxious and guilty. She said to Yang Ruoqing: "Qing'er, do you think there is anything I can do to help?"
Yang Ruoqing thought for a moment, "Auntie, go to the front yard and call the third brother to help find Yongqing's little cousin first. Maybe he is not with Mr. Mo at all, but is hiding at someone's house. Went to drink and play cards!”
"Hey, I'm going right now!" Yang Huamei turned around and ran to the front yard.
"Last night was the Ghost Festival. It's not like people in the town like to be busy. In our village, people go to bed after dark. How could he go to drink and play cards? Impossible!" Mrs. Tan did not stop Yang Huamei, but waved her hand and gave her in advance. This guess was rejected.
Yang Ruoqing didn't bother to argue with her. The forest was big and there were all kinds of birds. There were nearly two hundred households in Changping Village, with over a thousand people. What kind of people weren't there?
Mrs. Tan took out her handkerchief and wiped the sweat from her forehead, "Fat girl, when you come here, please stay and help find someone. It's too hot, so I'll go back to the house first. If you find me later, tell me." Voice!"
"Milk, I'll take you back to the house."
"No need to send him off, I can walk this road thousands of times with my eyes closed."
Yang Ruoqing glanced at Tan's eyes. Although they were open, they were no different than closed.
"Having an elder in the family is a treasure. I'm not worried. Let's take a walk. I'll take you back to the east room first."
Yang Ruoqing raised her voice and confessed to Ms. Sun in the room. After receiving Ms. Sun's response, she turned around and walked to the east room in the front yard.
Mrs. Tan raised her hand and waited for a while. Not only did she not wait for Yang Ruoqing to come over to help her, but she heard that she had already walked forward, and she suddenly became angry.
"You damn fat girl, didn't you say you would take me back to the east room? Why did you run away alone?"
"Nai, didn't you say you could walk a thousand times and back with your eyes closed? Let's not talk about it for now. I'll go to the east room and open the door for you."
Hearing Yang Ruoqing's footsteps running away, Tan was so angry that all the hot air came out of her nostrils.
She stamped her feet and spat on the ground: "You damn fat girl, you can't even let me take advantage of you verbally. What the hell!"
Despite the scolding, Ms. Tan lowered her hands and groped back to the east room alone.
In the east room, Yang Ruoqing took a bamboo chair with a backrest and sat at the door. She held a big cattail leaf fan in her hand and fanned her bangs.
Mrs. Tan was cursing on the street, but when she entered the east room, she was muttering. She took off her shoes and sat cross-legged on the bed covered with a mat, her eyes drooping and looking uncomfortable.
Yang Ruoqing sat at the door, keeping an eye on what was going on outside, too lazy to pay attention to Mrs. Tan.
After more than ten years of fighting, this old lady knew Yang Ruoqing's tricks well.
When it comes to the bottom line of being a human being, an old lady is slightly better than an old man.
But willfulness, domineering, and recklessness are all based on bullying the weak and fearing the strong.
The more you encourage her, the more she likes to target you. If you have a fight with her, your impression in her mind will plummet even more. When she meets others, she will accuse you and scold you, burying you in all kinds of ways. It's not pleasing to the eye, but at the same time, the bad impression you gave her also created a firewall in her mind.
At least she will attack next time. She will not provoke you easily unless she has to kill everyone in a group of people.
This is called "weighing the pros and cons" in psychology, so sometimes you have to be a little more "arrogant" as a person.
After a while, there was movement in the yard, and Yang Huamei and Yang Yongzhi teamed up to bring Yang Yongqing back.
Why is it called joining forces?
Because Yang Yongqing didn't walk back by himself, he was carried back by Yang Yongzhi. Yang Huamei was supporting him, lest Yang Yongqing slip off Yang Yongzhi's back.
Yang Ruoqing stood up and picked up the stool to make way for them. She watched Yang Yongzhi carry Yang Yongqing into the house and throw it heavily on the bed next to the bed. He stood next to him, panting heavily and still cursing: "You drink so early in the morning, family." Even if you don’t care, my mother-in-law has run away, why don’t I drink you to death!”
Just scolding couldn't relieve his anger, so Yang Yongzhi leaned over and slapped Yang Yongqing twice.
Yang Yongqing was drunk and turned into a puddle of mud, lying on the cool bed like a dead pig. Not to mention two slaps, you would probably throw him into the pig pen without making a sound.
Yang Yongzhi was so angry that he wanted to fight again, but Yang Huamei stopped him.
"Forget it Yongzhi, it's useless even if you beat him to death. The first priority is to let him sober up. How about this, you guys stay here and I'll borrow the stove in the fourth room to make sobering soup."
In the east room, Mr. Tan was sitting cross-legged on the bed, as steady as a mountain as a Bodhisattva.
However, his mouth was unforgiving: "What I hate most is when a man drinks. He is so drunk that he doesn't care about anything. No wonder he can't marry a woman from a good family. He picks up a crazy woman and can't stand it. She deserves to be beaten." A lifelong bachelor."
