This little money grubber.
Not even old enough to earn silver...
Xiao Xinling had Nanny Gao give her a silver ingot. "Take it!"
Little Xi Tian pouted. "That's too much!"
Xiao Xinling crouched down, tickled Little Xi Tian's nose. "Who's afraid of having too much silver? Take it if I give it to you. Also, does that slimming exercise really work?"
She wanted to sculpt a figure like a devil, slim down like a lightning bolt, and be the center of attention wherever she went...
Little Xi Tian smiled sweetly. "It only works if you practice consistently. Now, I'll teach you the first move. Watch carefully!"
She then took off her small satchel and started hopping around, demonstrating with gestures.
Zhao Guihua watched from the doorway for a while, covering her mouth and chuckling.
Oh my, her sister-in-law was so cute and amusing, hopping around the yard like a porcelain doll...
Xiao Xinling followed suit, exercising along with Little Xi Tian.
In the Yun family's field.
Old Man Yun tied up a bundle of wheat and straightened up, patting his aching lower back. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "Ah, isn't it Sweet Baby's birthday tomorrow? Look at my memory! Sigh, Da Man, stop what you're doing and ride the horse to the county town immediately. Buy a rack of ribs and a piece of pork belly. Hurry, hurry..."
Yun Da Man smiled and said, "Dad, Mom remembers sister's birthday. We'll go to the county town tomorrow morning to buy things, so don't worry!"
"What's the rush? If you don't stew that pork knuckle in advance, can you even bite it? Hurry, hurry! Pick the bigger pig trotters and buy a few, and pig ears too. Stew them and mix them with shredded cucumber for a cold dish. They're great with wine!" Old Man Yun licked his lips.
Yun San Man re-wove a broken basket and looked up. "Dad, are you craving meat? I see we have a few pigs. Why don't we slaughter one and eat it..."
Pork sold in the county town wasn't cheap.
Old Man Yun refilled his pipe and puffed on it. "We can't slaughter a pig now. Wait until the New Year. We'll slaughter one for ourselves to eat, and sell the rest to supplement our income!"
It wasn't a festival or holiday now, so slaughtering a pig would just be a waste...
Yun San Man shook his head helplessly and sighed. "If you want to eat it, just slaughter one. If not, we can raise a few more piglets in the spring. Those things are hardy and can be raised on leftovers.
Now that the family's conditions are better, there's no need to live so frugally.
Besides, Nanny Jin and the others send over a lot of leftovers every day. We chop them up with dandelions and sow thistle, and the pigs finish everything in the trough...
Even if that's not enough, we still have wheat bran. Grind it with a millstone, and it can feed the pigs.
These livestock aren't picky eaters.
"We'll talk about that next spring!" Old Man Yun blew out a smoke ring and suddenly thought of Hu Xi'er, a wave of disgust washing over him. "Pah, that little vixen, why doesn't she just die!"
He was utterly disgusted.
Yun Er Man scratched the calluses on his palm. "Dad, do you think that madam sent her to the officials, or took her back to the brothel? I think someone like Hu Xi'er definitely won't have a good end..."
"What good end could she have?" Old Man Yun glared at him. "Let her go wherever she wants. What does it have to do with our family? Listen up, all of you. If Hu Xi'er dares to come back shamelessly in the future, you beat her! Beat her with a carrying pole!"
If the tiger doesn't show its might, they'll think the old Yun family is a sick cat.
"Understood, Dad!" Yun Er Man finished scratching his calluses and stood up. He suddenly saw Jin Huaihua walking over with his sister.
They were carrying baskets, but no one knew what was inside...
"Oh, my little daughter, why are you here!" Old Man Yun lost control as soon as he saw his daughter, directly picking up Little Xi Tian and kissing her twice.
"Daddy, your beard pricks my skin!" Little Xi Tian pressed Old Man Yun's face, her big eyes like gems, bright and dewy.
Old Man Yun chuckled, "Heh heh," and put his daughter down. "I'll shave my beard when I get back!"
"Ah ah!" Jin Huaihua took out the fried dough balls from the basket and handed them to Old Man Yun. "Ah ah!"
The Yun family all knew that Jin Huaihua's fried dough balls were fragrant and chewy, and tasted very good...
The three brothers gathered around and ate a few with tea.
Jin Huaihua gestured with her hands after holding back for a long time. "Ah ah!"
Old Man Yun could understand a little sign language, but when the amount of information was too large, his brain couldn't process it.
The three brothers were even more confused and all looked to Little Xi Tian for help...
"Sister, what is Huaihua trying to say?" Yun Er Man asked.
Little Xi Tian was momentarily stunned. How could this happen?
It turned out that during the time her second sister-in-law was driven out, such an absurd thing had happened.
"Dad, Eldest Brother, Second Brother, Third Brother, Huaihua says that Second Sister-in-law gave birth to a daughter!" Little Xi Tian explained.
"What?"
As soon as this was said, the old man and his sons were all shocked...
For someone like Liu Cui Rong to actually give birth to a daughter, it was too abnormal!
Yun Er Man suddenly stood up and looked in the direction of the county town. "I need to bring my daughter back to raise her!"
Liu Cui Rong couldn't even support herself, so she shouldn't let his daughter starve to death.
Little Xi Tian sighed. "But, but Second Sister-in-law eats anything. That little daughter died very early..."
"What do you mean? What do you mean she died?" Yun Er Man's eyes widened.
"Second Brother, Sister means that Second Sister-in-law probably gave birth to a stillborn!" Yun San Man said.
Little Xi Tian also nodded. "That's right, it was a stillborn!"
Alas, it seemed Second Sister-in-law really wasn't destined to have daughters...
"This useless thing, this dead weight, what else can she do? Cough cough!" Yun Er Man was so angry he coughed.
Old Man Yun patted Xue Ling's large head and sighed slightly. "This is probably fate. Before, Cui Rong said she was pregnant with a girl, and we didn't believe her!"
"That's her own doing!" Yun Er Man said sulkily.
A creature that couldn't understand human language, no one would care even if she died outside...
Jin Huaihua continued to gesture, and Little Xi Tian looked at it, once again shocked.
"Huh? Really?" Little Xi Tian covered her mouth.
"What's wrong, Sister?" Yun Er Man asked curiously.
"Eldest Brother, Huaihua says that the reason Hu Xi'er became a prostitute was, it was Second Sister-in-law who instigated her, saying that to earn money quickly, and once she saved enough, she would find a man in the countryside to marry..."
After hearing this, Yun Er Man felt completely fine.
He was truly grateful that he had divorced Liu Cui Rong with a piece of paper and swept her out of the house. Otherwise, this troublemaker would eventually tear the old Yun family apart.
Old Man Yun snorted. "You watch. Liu Cui Rong is lazy and wicked. It's likely that Old Madam Lu and Liu Cui Jin will kick her out sooner or later!"
After speaking, Old Man Yun stood up, took his daughter's hand, and said, "You guys pack up your things and go home for dinner!"
At the same time, outside the Jinxiang Academy in the county town, a large crowd was gathered...