Chapter 25: Don’t You Understand Human Speech?
The rich aroma wafting from the courtyard made Su Tao’s stomach rumble even louder. She spoke to Su Qing with an air of entitlement, "Grandma sent me to get some meat."
Hearing this, Su Qing rolled her eyes. "There isn’t any."
With that, she slammed the courtyard gate shut with a BANG. Su Tao had been about to step inside, not expecting Su Qing to suddenly close the gate. She scrambled backward, but her nose still nearly smashed into the wood. The gate struck the bowl in her hand, jamming its rim into her stomach.
"Oof!" Between the shock and the pain, a cold sweat immediately broke out on Su Tao’s back.
Stunned for a moment, Su Tao began to bang on the gate in frustration. "Su Qing, what’s the meaning of this?"
"Are you stupid? I made myself perfectly clear, and you still don’t get it? Can’t you understand plain language?" Su Qing retorted with a cold snort from behind the gate. Paying no mind to whatever else Su Tao was shouting, she started humming a little tune and went back to the kitchen. ’My meat hasn’t even started stewing yet.’
"Su Qing, open this gate! Make yourself clear!" Enraged, Su Tao pounded on the gate even harder. "What right do you have to refuse? You’re a granddaughter of the Su Family! Grandma sent me to get meat from you. If you don’t give it, you’re being unfilial!"
The gate to Su Qing’s courtyard rattled with a loud BANGING under Su Tao’s assault.
’If she keeps this up,’ Su Qing thought, ’my gate is going to be ruined.’
So, she grabbed a fire poker, yanked the gate open, and swung it at Su Tao, who was still shouting curses at the entrance.
"Ah—!" Su Tao cried out in alarm and scrambled back, but her foot caught on a stone behind her. She fell flat on her bottom, and the bowl in her hand dropped to the ground, splitting in two with a CRACK.
"Scram!" Su Qing had no intention of being nice to Su Tao. ’The original owner of this body suffered endlessly at Su Tao’s hands. If you were to rank the people who bullied her, Su Tao would be right near the top.’
"Su Qing, you won’t even give meat to our grandparents! You’re so unfilial!" Furious at having been scared so badly, Su Tao pointed at Su Qing and shrieked. ’I’ll make sure everyone knows Su Qing is unfilial. In this day and age, a reputation for being unfilial is terrible. My own reputation in the village is already ruined, so I can’t let Su Qing get off easy either!’
Su Qing sneered. "When I was living with the Old Su Family, I never ate a single bite of your meat. I’ve paid the support I owe our grandparents, down to the last penny. As for anything else, stay out of my business. I don’t owe you a thing. I’ve said it before: if you people come looking for trouble again, I’ll risk my life to make sure you regret it, even if I can’t win the fight. Go on, try me if you don’t believe it."
In that instant, the aura of someone who had fought to survive for years in an apocalypse fully radiated from Su Qing, making Su Tao’s heart tremble. ’I have a strange feeling,’ she thought, ’that if it weren’t for the law, Su Qing might actually kill me.’
At that thought, Su Tao shivered violently. Without another word, she scrambled up from the ground and tried to run.
"Stop," Su Qing called out coldly.
"Wh-what do you want?" Su Tao swallowed nervously, watching Su Qing with wary eyes.
Su Qing pointed the fire poker at the bowl that had broken in two on the ground. "Take your trash with you."
Seething but silent, Su Tao picked up the broken pieces of the bowl and fled back to the Old Su Family’s home without a single glance back.
Because the houses were so close, the people at the Old Su Family home had overheard bits and pieces of the argument between Su Qing and Su Tao. When they saw Su Tao run back with a bowl broken in half, their expressions soured.
Old Su shot Su Tao a vicious glare. "Useless girl! You even broke the bowl. Why didn’t you just smash yourself instead?"
As she spoke, she raised her hand and slapped Su Tao hard twice. Su Tao felt incredibly wronged. "That damn Su Qing refused to give me the meat! She wouldn’t even let me in the gate."
When Su Lihui saw that Su Tao had returned without any meat, he immediately threw a tantrum, flailing his arms and wailing, "I want meat! I want to eat meat!"
Su Lihui had always been well-fed at the Old Su Family home. At fourteen, he was already about five-foot-seven and sturdily built, which made his tantrum an especially unbearable sight.
But in Old Su’s eyes, her grandson could do no wrong. Seeing Su Lihui clamoring for meat, her heart ached for him. "Eat, eat, you’ll eat."
With that, she went back into the house, retrieved a small piece of cured meat, and handed it to Tian Aixiang. "Stir-fry this for Bao’er separately."
"I want stewed meat!" Su Lihui wasn’t satisfied and continued to shout.
"Let’s have cured meat today. Then tomorrow, I’ll have your dad take you into the city for some braised pork, okay?" Old Su quickly coaxed.
After a great deal of coaxing, she finally managed to placate Su Lihui.
Once Su Lihui was pacified, Old Su’s pent-up anger was directed entirely at Su Qing. But she had been scolded by Zhao Youcai just yesterday, and Old Su had also warned her not to cause trouble for Su Qing for the time being. So, the only thing Old Su could do was stand by the earthen wall between their courtyards and hurl insults. She cursed Su Qing for being unfilial, for being unloving toward her brother, for hogging all the food, and on and on.
Su Qing paid no mind to Old Su’s impotent rage. The most important thing to her right now was stewing the pork belly.
’Su Qing seriously suspected that the manager of the black market in Xiyuan County must have some serious connections. The spices she’d bought this time were surprisingly complete. Besides salt and sugar, she had also managed to buy star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, and cumin. The vinegar and soy sauce were pre-packaged in jars, and she had bought one of each—paying for the jars, of course.’
’The original owner of this body had never cooked pork belly before. Back at the Old Su Family home, she was never allowed to touch anything related to meat. But Su Qing knew how. The memories were distant, however, and her skills had grown rusty.’
Following the recipe for braised pork from her distant memories, Su Qing falteringly managed to finish stewing the meat. At the same time, she also made a pot of bone broth in an earthenware pot.
Instantly, the aroma of meat grew even richer.
"Time to eat!" Su Qing happily set out her meal. By this point, Old Su on the other side of the wall had presumably tired herself out from all the cursing and had fallen silent, allowing Su Qing to eat her meal in peace.
Meanwhile, at Zhang Erlai’s home on the west side of the village, he pushed open his courtyard gate and yelled as soon as he stepped inside, "Ma, is dinner ready? I’m starving!"
"It’s ready, it’s ready! Er Lai, you’re back!" Seeing Zhang Erlai had returned, Er La Niang chuckled and said, "Go sit down. Ma will bring the food out right away."
When he saw the food brought to the table, Zhang Erlai couldn’t help but frown. "Ma, why is it sweet potato and wild vegetable buns again? Didn’t I bring home a piece of meat the day before yesterday?"
Hearing this, Er La Niang looked a little uncomfortable. "Your uncle had guests over and needed to entertain them, so I let him take the meat to help out. I figured you wouldn’t be home for a couple of days, and he’ll return it later."
Zhang Erlai frowned. "Ma, when has Uncle ever returned anything he’s borrowed?"