activa-t Chapter 18 Eating melons
Chapter 18 Eating melons
The next morning,
Early in the morning, Xiao Qinian and Xiao Qili took the remaining 20 bars of soap to town.
At lunchtime, the two returned with good news: Liuyue Pavilion had asked them to make another batch of scented soap.
Xiao Siyue hadn't originally planned to create a new style, but after thinking about it, she decided to improve upon the original design.
"Dad, didn't we make bamboo and orchid before? This time we'll make plum and chrysanthemum to complete the Four Gentlemen of bamboo and chrysanthemum, and the colors will match perfectly."
Xiao Qinian thought about it and thought, "This is not bad."
Many people prefer the Four Gentlemen flowers, and perhaps it will have a good effect, so they immediately agreed to go to their room to draw the picture.
This time, Xiao Siyue didn't interfere with making the scented soap. Her family already knew how, and as long as they mastered the proportions and followed the steps, there wouldn't be any problems.
Watching her family busy making scented soap, she seemed to have nothing to do, so she thought she might as well go outside for a walk.
Without thinking, Xiao Siyue arrived at the village's riverbank.
Today, the weather is very nice, and there are several women washing clothes by the river.
Nowadays, many people wash their clothes in the river because it's more convenient. There's no other way; washing clothes at home requires carrying water, which is too strenuous. So, as soon as the weather gets warmer, they all bring their clothes here.
However, Xiao Siyue's family doesn't need to go through such trouble. They have a well and only come to the river occasionally.
"Isn't this Qinian's youngest daughter? What brings her out to play today?" The speaker was Ma Lanhua, the wife of Xiao Li from the village, who was from the same clan as Xiao Siyue.
"Hello, Auntie. The weather is nice today, so I came out for a stroll," Xiao Siyue quickly greeted.
"Aunties, you do the laundry, I'm going to play over there." After saying that, Xiao Siyue went to the side and went to catch fish with a few other girls from the village. There were only small fish in the river, and they were just catching them for fun.
"That Xiao scholar's family is something else. Look how well they dress their little girl. She'll belong to someone else sooner or later. What's the use of dressing her so nicely? Humph, aren't they afraid of losing their good fortune?" Liu Damei, standing next to Ma Lanhua, glanced at Xiao Siyue and muttered under her breath.
The others didn't respond, focusing only on the clothes in their hands. The Xiao family had some prestige in the village, after all, they had produced a scholar. In addition, they had heard that Li Daya, who had been divorced next door, was dead. They didn't dare to provoke the Xiao family's precious daughter.
However, Ma Lanhua threw down the clothes in her hand, turned to look at Liu Damei, and said, "Liu Damei, are you jealous again? You can't stand seeing others do well."
"Who are you talking about? Who's got conjunctivitis?" Liu Damei exploded like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
"I'll say whoever answers."
"You little brat, Ma Lanhua! You're just trying to curry favor with the Xiao family because they're doing well, aren't you? Don't you even know who you are? You think you can just say a few words here and they'll give you some handouts?" Liu Damei angrily pointed at Ma Lanhua's nose and started cursing.
"Whether I fawn over you or not is none of your business!" Ma Lanhua was immediately enraged when her secret was exposed: "I just can't stand your face, and you look down on girls. Do you think I don't know that you mistreated your daughter before, and now you're mistreating your granddaughter? You're utterly absurd, and aren't you afraid of retribution in the future!"
Actually, Ma Lanhua had similar thoughts, but she also quite liked Xiao Siyue. So when she heard this, she felt both angry and guilty, her face turning as red as a monkey's bottom.
Liu Damei has always favored sons over daughters. She used to be very envious when she learned that her daughter had married into a family in town. She always wanted to marry her own daughter into the town to gain wealth and status, but she never had the chance.
When a wealthy family in town, Mr. Ding, came looking for a second wife, Liu Damei couldn't wait to send her daughter to him. Mr. Ding was over fifty years old, even older than Liu Damei.
Unexpectedly, the daughter died less than two months after getting married.
At first, they didn't know the reason. It wasn't until later that they heard that the old man, Mr. Ding, was abusing his wife and that several women had been beaten to death. Only then did they realize that Liu Damei's daughter had also been beaten to death.
Because of this incident, the villagers disliked Liu Damei's family. Moreover, Liu Damei did not repent and has now started abusing her granddaughter again. They often saw the little girl, who was only a few years old, as thin as a bamboo pole, with whip marks all over her face and hands.
Hearing Ma Lanhua mention her daughter, Liu Damei felt a moment of panic. Several years had passed since then, and she had almost forgotten that she had nightmares every day during the period immediately after her daughter's death. She dreamt that her daughter's eyes were bleeding and her voice was filled with sorrow as she questioned her why she had disregarded her wishes and married her off to the Ding family, and why she hadn't come to save her.
"Shut up, I didn't!" Liu Damei wanted nothing more than to tear Ma Lanhua's mouth apart.
Seeing the argument, Xiao Siyue started watching the drama unfold, unaware that she was the one who started it all.
As for Liu Damei's mistreatment of her daughter, she knew even less about it. That happened many years ago, and the Xiao family members weren't the type to gossip, much less talk about such dirty things to Xiao Siyue.
"What, you've already done it, and now you won't let people talk about it?" Ma Lanhua said provocatively to Liu Damei, not caring about sentiment at this moment.
"Ahhh, Malanhua, I told you to shut up, didn't you hear me?" Seeing Malanhua's provocative gaze, Liu Damei pounced on her, grabbed her hair, and pulled her into the river.
"Liu Damei, you bitch, how dare you drag me into the river!" Ma Lanhua was still a little dazed.
"Do you think your daughter will have a good ending? A hen that doesn't lay eggs will be divorced sooner or later, and then I'll see you make a fool of yourself." Liu Damei stood on the bank, looking smugly at the Malan flowers in the river.
When Ma Lan Hua heard Liu Da Mei cursing her daughter, her eyes turned red with anger. She grabbed Liu Da Mei and pulled her into the river as well. Her daughter had been married for almost three years but had not conceived, which had become a source of great distress for her. She couldn't bear to hear it being brought up again.
The two started fighting in the river, slapping each other and punching each other, fighting fiercely. Several women nearby saw that things were getting out of hand and quickly separated the two and pulled them back to the shore.
Although the weather was hot, the river water was still a bit cold in March. The two sat on the bank, shivering from the cold, and kept cursing under their breath.
"Wow, this fight is really intense!" Xiao Siyue was watching with great interest when she was suddenly startled.
"Host, host, what's wrong?" Oh, it's the system.
"System, you haven't appeared in so long, why did you suddenly pop up?" This system disappeared after issuing the mission last month, and she had almost forgotten about it.
"Host, I saw that your mission was progressing smoothly, so I went into hibernation and just woke up."
"Oh, I see. So what's the matter this time?" Did waking up suddenly mean there's a new mission?
"It's nothing, host," it said, actually it was just bored.
The two men chatted and watched the farce unfold until the two men took the woman back home, at which point Xiao Siyue finally returned home.