Chapter 155: Chapter 151: No Money, No Talk

Yang Liying packed up her stall and went home, where she told Lin Lan, “There are more vendors out there now, so we have to make much more tofu pudding every day. I had your brother-in-law buy some bricks and tiles. We’ll finish the surrounding wall and build an annex. From now on, we’ll make the tofu at home.”

Lin Lan didn’t try to change her mind. She just nodded. “Okay. When the time comes, you can get coal from my place.”

“Okay!” Yang Liying didn’t stand on ceremony and readily agreed.

Early Sunday morning, after Lin Lan finished her deliveries and fed the pigs, she shouldered her back basket and headed toward the foot of the mountain.

As she neared the grass shed by the fishpond, she saw two furtive figures. The moment they saw her approaching, they ducked inside. One of them looked like that scumbag Liu Jinbao.

Lin Lan took her scythe out of the back basket and slowed her steps as she walked toward the shed.

Liu Jinbao and the master were hiding in the grass shed. Liu Jinbao asked excitedly, “Master, do you see? Isn’t there something strange about her?”

“Well…” The master put on a mysterious expression. “Judging by her vitality, she doesn’t seem to be possessed by a restless spirit. Of course, we can’t rule out the possibility that a powerful, malevolent creature has possessed her.”

“A powerful, malevolent creature?” Liu Jinbao looked at him with excitement. “Yes, yes, that’s her! My intuition is spot on. There’s a hundred percent something weird about that broad. Take a good look. Can you get rid of it?”

The master glanced at him. “Well, cleansing evil and subduing demons consumes a great deal of energy. Besides, you’re not part of her family, so you can’t bring me to her house to perform a cleansing. That makes the ritual much more difficult. On top of that, we’re not allowed to do this sort of thing these days. If I get caught, I’ll be sent away for labor reform.”

Liu Jinbao clutched the ten yuan in his pocket, his confidence wavering. “Just take a clear look first before you say anything else.”

The master glanced at the hand Liu Jinbao had stuffed into his pants pocket. ’If he doesn’t have money, what’s the point of talking?’

He replied unenthusiastically, “Rest assured, if there’s something wrong with her, it won’t escape my sight.”

Liu Jinbao saw Lin Lan walking over through a gap in the shed and nervously tugged the master’s sleeve. “She’s coming, she’s coming!”

The master turned his head to peer through the crack and saw the cold glint of a scythe. He watched as a tall figure walked past the shed, swinging the scythe.

Liu Jinbao asked in a low voice, “Master, did you get a clear look?”

The master nodded. “There’s nothing really wrong with that woman. If you’re still afraid, I can give you a talisman to take home. Just put it under your pillow, and no evil spirits will dare to bother you.”

Liu Jinbao pouted in disappointment. “What would I do with that? It can’t make her show her true form!”

The master shot him a sidelong glance. “Just make sure you don’t regret this, young man.”

Liu Jinbao shook his head. “Let’s go. This was all for nothing.”

The two emerged from the grass shed to find Lin Lan standing there, casually watching them. They quickly ducked their heads and hurried toward the fishpond.

Lin Lan watched the two men emerge from the shed, one after the other. ’So it really was that scumbag Liu Jinbao. What was he doing hiding in there so furtively with that old man?’ Only after they were a good distance away did she start her work.

When she reached the threshing ground with a basket of fodder on her back, she saw everyone outside, turning the compost in the fertilizer pit. The patch of rapeseed at the edge of the grounds was ready for transplanting.

Lin Lan glanced over, dropped off the fodder, and started walking back. She heard someone calling her from behind and turned to see Yang Meihua. “Meihua! You’re here turning compost, too?”

Yang Meihua nodded and lowered her voice. “I heard from Xiang Hua that Liu Guozhi announced at the team meeting yesterday that everyone has to show up for work to plant the rapeseed this time.”

“I don’t care what he says. My assigned task is just cutting fodder.”

“He also said that certain people buying work points with money is a sign of degeneracy, and that ideological education needs to be reinforced.”

“If someone’s willing to sell their work points and someone’s willing to buy, what business is it of his!” Lin Lan said, suddenly remembering the morning’s events. “Meihua, is there a skinny, tall, sort-of-old man on the team with a long face and beady eyes?”

“Beady eyes, skinny and tall…” Yang Meihua thought for a moment. “That’s probably Lu Jianbin from the second production team. He’s a ritual master. My great-grandpa used to say that his grandfather’s generation had some real skill, but Lu Jianbin himself is basically a con artist.”

“Oh!” Lin Lan exclaimed in sudden understanding. “So that scumbag Liu Jinbao must have run into something ’unclean’ at the Construction Team’s graveyard and decided to pin it on my family. He had that guy hiding in the grass shed by the pond this morning. Who knows what they were furtively plotting?”

Yang Meihua laughed. “Lu Jianbin has no real talent. He’s just in it to scam a bit of spending money.”

Lin Lan nodded. “And a wastrel like Liu Jinbao is the easiest kind of person to get money from.”

The two chatted and laughed until they reached Lin Lan’s gate, where they parted ways and went home.

When Little Douzi saw Lin Lan return, he eagerly trotted over to pour half a basin of hot water and bring it out. He then placed a small stool in front of the porcelain basin. “Mom, wash your face! Auntie’s finished making dinner.”

Lin Lan put down her back basket and sat down happily. “Good boy! Have you finished your homework?”

“I finished! I know everything the teacher taught,” Little Douzi said, running inside to get his notebook for Lin Lan. “Mom, look! I got a perfect score on everything.”

Lin Lan opened the notebook and saw the homework inside was written neatly and carefully. She smiled at her son, who had grown so much taller. “My Yang Xiaoguo is so smart! But don’t get conceited, okay? You’re only in preschool. If you can still get all perfect scores when you’re in first grade, Mom will have a reward for you!”

Little Douzi’s eyes sparkled as he nodded. “Okay! I’ll remember. Mom, I heard from Dandan that we bought a house over by No. 1 Elementary?”

“That’s right! Dandan’s family lives right across from our new place. It even has a small loft. We’ll turn it into a study, so you kids will be able to do your homework up there.”

“Really?!” Little Douzi looked at Lin Lan happily, but then his face fell as a thought occurred to him. He looked at her with a worried expression. “You can’t raise chickens over there. What will happen to our Big White and Speckles? And what about the big pig?”

“You silly boy!” Lin Lan pinched his nose. “This place is our home too! We can just keep them here!”

Little Douzi realized she was right and nodded happily.

’When Little Douzi is old enough for school, he should be able to enroll at No. 1 Elementary, right?’ Lin Lan thought. ’If worse comes to worst, I can pull some strings or pay a non-resident tuition fee. I don’t plan on moving my household registration to the city.’

’Lexing is so close to the urban district, but a rural household registration is still better than an urban one. With a rural one, you’re allocated your own contracted farmland and a residential plot.’

’Once I have enough spare cash, I could tear this place down and build a four- or five-story building. Renting it out or opening a guesthouse wouldn’t be a bad idea either.’

Lin Yuezhen set the meal on the table: stir-fried pork stomach with celtuce and garlic, a soup with blood pudding and cabbage, and a plate of braised pork intestines.

Little Douzi chewed on a piece of braised intestine. “Pig intestines are so stinky, but these don’t taste stinky at all.”

Lin Lan placed another piece of intestine in his bowl. “Wait until Mom gets back from your grandma’s house. I’ll make some fermented stinky tofu and fry it up for you. Now *that* is something that smells terrible but tastes delicious.”

Little Douzi pouted at her. “Mom, you’re going to Grandma’s house again?”

Lin Lan smiled and nodded. “Mom is going to Grandma’s house with your great-aunt and your older cousin to help him find a girlfriend. You need to stay home and help your Aunt Yuezhen with her chores, understand?”

“Oh… okay. Come back soon, then,” Little Douzi agreed, clearly disappointed.

“I will. And when your winter break starts, Mom will take you to Grandma’s house, too.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep