Chapter 22: Despicable
The villagers looked at each other in disbelief.
This little girl is really something.
Su Guilan was about to die of anger, yet she still provoked her on purpose.
"You little brat, you must be behind this..."
Su Guilan lunged at Su Yaoguang.
Su Yaoguang stepped back in fright.
Zhou Wangshu stretched out his leg and kicked hard.
Su Guilan fell into the cesspit.
With a splash, the dirty water sent up waves.
"Ugh..." The villagers retreated again and again.
Su Guilan, short and skinny, sank into the cesspit the moment she fell in.
"Glug glug..."
The villagers heard the sound and started gagging once more nearby.
"Oh my God, that’s disgusting."
Su Yaoguang looked worriedly in Su Guilan’s direction, "Wangshu, will Aunt be alright?"
"She’ll be fine. The cesspit isn’t deep, she just needs to stand up."
Upon hearing this, Su Guilan struggled to get up. Indeed, when she stood up, the cesspit only submerged her chest.
"Pull me up, quick." Su Guilan lost control.
No one moved.
"I beg you all, pull me up!" Su Guilan pleaded desperately.
"I can’t, I’m ill! Tell you what, Uncle Wang, could you please get my Second Uncle and Second Aunt over here and have them figure this out?"
Addressed by Su Yaoguang, Uncle Wang agreed to make the trip for her.
Su Yaoguang followed Uncle Wang to the courtyard, slipped him a cent, and whispered a few words.
With the money in hand, Uncle Wang moved with renewed energy, running even faster.
"Da Bao’s father, Da Bao’s mother, come quick, something’s happened at Su Yaoguang’s place." Uncle Wang shouted loudly in the courtyard.
To wait for news, Uncle Su didn’t go to the fields today, nor did Second Aunt Su go out for a walk.
Hearing Uncle Wang’s words, the two exchanged a glance, eyes full of excitement at their success.
Grandpa Su and Grandma Su followed them out.
"What happened with that girl Yaoguang?" Grandma Su imitated a clueless expression.
"You’ll know when you see for yourself; it’s very troublesome," Uncle Wang sighed. "By the way, you’d better bring some money. I have a feeling this problem won’t be solved without it."
"Bring money? Are we discussing a dowry?" Second Aunt Su whispered to Uncle Su.
Others in the Su Family had the same thought.
The elder Su couple and Uncle Su and his wife certainly didn’t want to give Su Yaoguang and her mother a lot of money for nothing. In fact, what they really wanted was the big house’s fields that Su Yaoguang’s mother and daughter inherited. If they were willing to buy it, they could find someone else to purchase the land. They didn’t want to spend money; they only wanted to swallow up the big house’s land.
When the bad news of Oldest Su’s death reached the village, Zhang Zhaodi was suicidal, which troubled the Su Family immensely. Initially, the family wanted Zhang Zhaodi to remarry, but she refused, insisting on splitting the family estate, saying her husband died for the second household, and now she wanted to split it on his behalf.
During that time, several funerals were held in the village, and there was much sympathy for the plight of mother and daughter. The clan leader personally intervened, forcing Old Su to divide the property among his three sons. The clan leader even supervised the division, warning Old Su that any unfairness would damage his reputation in the clan.
Thus forced, Old Su gave the big house a large portion of land. Over time, they grew increasingly regretful. What right did a little girl have to claim the Su Family’s land? Of course, they wanted to reclaim it.
Only by marrying off Su Yaoguang could they reclaim those lands.
Su Yaoguang bringing in a husband had disrupted their plans.
Now that their scheme succeeded, they could finally marry off that brat Su Yaoguang.
"Husband, how much money should we bring?"
"Take one tael of silver and some copper coins; without the silver, we won’t get the land."
Arriving at Su Yaoguang’s house, they had prepared plenty of words to persuade a marriage, only to find they weren’t needed at all.
The situation was not what they imagined.
"Grandpa, Grandma, you’re here too. We didn’t want to trouble you, didn’t intend for you to come. Now that you’re here, please help us figure it out! Cousin Mutou is really childish, sneakily stealing our cesspool water. Aunt got too excited and fell in. I’m weak, really can’t help. Please pull them up."
"Dad, Mom, pull Mutou and me up," Su Guilan cried, "Mutou hasn’t responded at all, no idea if he got hurt."
"How did you get into this mess?" Second Aunt had a dark expression, "This cesspit isn’t high, can’t you climb up yourself?"
"It’s too slippery, I can’t climb up at all." Su Guilan broke down in tears.
Grandpa Su and Grandma Su covered their noses.
Uncle Su and Second Aunt looked like they didn’t want to get any closer either.
Second Aunt looked at Su Yaoguang, "Yaoguang girl, the fall happened at your house, you should quickly pull them out."
"I don’t know what’s wrong, I have no strength at all today. I would love to save Aunt and Cousin, but I’m not capable. How about this, there are so many uncles here, you pay them a little to pull you up."
"Well... it’s not about the money," a middle-aged man chuckled, "I’ve done too much work today, really can’t muster the energy."
"Five cents, I’ll offer five cents," Su Guilan said, "Begging you to pull us up."
The people on the scene showed disdain.
"Fifty cents, I’ll pull you up. One hundred fifty cents, I’ll pull both you and your son up," a woman said with a smiling face.
"You might as well just rob me," Su Guilan shouted angrily.
"Then forget it, not meddling then."
"Mutou’s mother, your son is so heavy, it would probably take several people to pull him up. Besides, doing such a disgusting thing would mean we can’t eat for days. Sort it out yourself, if you’re not willing, then forget it."
"One hundred cents, one hundred cents to pull us up," Su Guilan had no choice but to concede.
"One hundred cents it is, since we watched you grow up! We’ll just have to take a small loss," said the woman, "Everyone come help, and we’ll split the money together later."
"Wait a moment..." Su Yaoguang stopped the women.
"Su Yaoguang, what do you want now?" Su Guilan had had enough and just wanted to leave this disgusting place.
"I said earlier, you’ve spilled so much of our cesspool water, and Cousin Mutou even ingested a lot. At the very least, you should compensate us three hundred cents. If you don’t compensate, you’ll have to stay right there!"
"Are you crazy about money?" Grandma Su scolded, "That’s your real aunt and real cousin. They’re the ones who got into trouble at your house. It’s already good enough they’re not giving you a hard time, and you actually demand money from them."
"Then have them vomit up the cesspool water in their bellies," Su Yaoguang said, "You decide. We’re orphans and widows living here, everything costs money. Right now, I’m just someone whose eyes light up at the sight of money."
"Truly insane." Grandpa Su said angrily, "For some cesspool water you want three hundred cents. How about this, let your aunt fill it back for you, okay?"