Chapter 21 21 Envy, Jealousy, and Hatred!
"Sis, sis~"
"Huh?"
Su Yunjin's cheeks were burning when Ruirui tugged on her clothes.
"Sis, what does lard taste like, is it good?"
Ruirui stared at Su Yunjin with her big watery eyes, her face full of expectation. It would have been even better if the corners of her mouth weren't greasy.
"Didn't you just eat?"
"I ate too fast, I didn't taste it."
Hearing this, Chen Jie laughed. This had become a traditional project; the last time she drank fish soup, it was the same.
Chen Jie laughed, "Alright, Yunjin, go scoop some sorghum rice, make a sorghum rice dish. Today we'll have sorghum rice mixed with lard, okay, my little glutton."
As Chen Jie spoke, she lightly pinched Ruirui's cheek.
Ruirui nodded vigorously, "Mm-hmm."
Su Yunjin didn't say anything and went to scoop the rice, while Chen Jie said to Su Yunjin, "By the way, Yunjin, scoop out ten pounds of sorghum rice separately. I'll take it to Uncle Erba later; Uncle Erba gave us five pounds of rice last time. Now that we have food, we should return it."
"Mm, it's the right thing to do."
Su Yunjin went inside to pack the rice.
Chen Jie continued to refine the oil, and soon the rice was packed.
Carrying the rice bag, she also took two pounds of pork belly.
"Yunjin, I'm going to Uncle Erba's place for a bit. Keep an eye on the oil in the pot."
"Got it."
Saying that, Chen Jie went out the door. On the way, she passed by the big locust tree where people gathered for shade. The villagers greeted Chen Jie, and seeing her with both rice and meat, someone curiously asked, "Jiu Si, where are you going with all that rice and meat?"
"Ah, I just bought some rice and meat to give to Uncle Erba."
Upon hearing this, the person immediately laughed, "Haha, Jiu Si, you're really good to the uncles."
Chen Jie caught the implication in his words. Uncles, her uncles weren't just Uncle Erba. Wasn't there also Uncle San Liu sitting over there?
If it were the old Chen Jie, she might have been very embarrassed, but the current Chen Jie was not that easy to handle.
Chen Jie chuckled, "Heh, yes, but when I was down, it was only Uncle Erba who helped me out. Not all uncles are the same, right?"
Having said that, Chen Jie added, "Alright, I'm off. My family is waiting for me to eat."
Chen Jie stepped towards Uncle Erba's house. Watching Chen Jie leave, Chen Sanliu's face turned green with anger. *Wasn't this a slap in the face?*
*What did they mean by not all uncles are the same?*
*This Chen Jiusi was really getting above himself, just buying a bit of pork, who cared about that?*
*And that Chen Erba, what kind of person was he, with such a scheming mind, showing off as a cripple, born to be a bad seed.*
The more Chen Sanliu thought about it, the angrier he got. He stood up and headed home, while those cooling off around him said, "Old Chen, not sitting a little longer?"
"No, I'm hungry, going home for a meal."
"Hey, didn't you say you weren't cooking at noon today?"
"Can't I change my mind? Not only am I going to eat today, but I'm also going to eat well. I'm going back to eat salted meat with wild vegetables."
...
Watching Chen Sanliu's back, a few old friends exchanged glances and smiled at each other, pointing at Chen Sanliu.
"This guy is full of schemes. When Jiu Si was down, he couldn't hide far enough. Now that Jiu Si is doing well, he wants to come back and cash in. Oh my~"
Saying this, everyone shook their heads, many with sarcastic smiles on their faces. *Actually, who doesn't have their own little calculations? But it's rare to see someone so shamelessly blatant.*
Chen Jie arrived at Uncle Erba's house, pushed open the yard door, and called out, "Hu Zi, Uncle Erba, are you home?"
Hu Zi and Uncle Erba were weaving baskets when they heard the voice, so they came out. Chen Jie raised the rice and meat in her hands.
"Uncle Erba, I'm here to return the rice."
Uncle Erba and Hu Zi were taken aback, and Aunt Erba, who heard the voice from inside, also came out. Seeing Chen Jie with both rice and meat, she was also surprised.
Chen Jie repeated her intentions, and Uncle Erba leaned on his crutch and said, "Jiu Si, your family is having a hard time, just eat it first. No need to return it so soon."
Chen Jie said, "No need, I've found a livelihood. Today I bought quite a lot of things back, so I must return this rice. Here, Auntie."
Chen Jie pushed the rice into Aunt Erba's hand.
"Oh my, Jiu Si, this must be ten pounds, it's too much, too much."
Aunt Erba could tell the weight of the rice just by lifting the bag. She said, and Chen Jie replied, "Not too much, just take it. You've taken care of us a lot these days, and this meat too. Take it, Hu Zi is growing, he needs nutrition."
"Oh, Jiu Si..."
"Alright, no need for these words. I'm leaving. No need to see me off, Hu Zi, go back, go back, among family, no thanks needed, bye..."
Chen Jie strode away.
Auntie looked at the rice and meat in her hands with a face full of shame.
"Husband, this?"
Chen Erba hesitated a bit, but then nodded, "Jiu Si means well, let's accept it."
"But, this is really not good, before, I... oh..."
Aunt Erba regretted the way she used to treat Chen Jiusi.
She was a standard rural woman; if someone took advantage of her a little, she would be calculative, but if she took advantage of others, she felt uneasy, always feeling she owed people something.
Thinking about it, she went into the house, quickly picked out a bowl of big yellow apricots.
"Hu Zi, take these apricots to Jiu Si; tell him to let them ripen a bit before eating, they're a bit sour."
Hu Zi replied, "Okay."
After saying this, he chased after Chen Jie.
Soon he caught up with Chen Jie, explained the purpose, and Chen Jie did not refuse. She patted the somewhat hard apricots and said, "Okay, thank Aunt Erba for me. Go back."
Waving goodbye, Hu Zi soon passed by Chen Sanliu's house.
The moment he reached the door, he saw Aunt San Liu standing there. This woman used to avoid Chen Jie like a plague, yet today she seemed especially enthusiastic.
"Oh, Jiu Si, busy, are you? Drop by our place when you're free, your Uncle San Liu was just talking about you yesterday."
Chen Jie casually nodded, brushing off the comment, thinking *they were probably jealous of me giving meat to Uncle Erba's family.*
Chen Jie couldn't be bothered to engage.
Watching Chen Jiusi walk away, Aunt San Liu went home and saw Chen Sanliu sulking and said, "I just saw Chen Jiusi, seems like he came from Erba's place."
Chen Sanliu sneered, "They're just close, nephew and uncle."
"Hey, that's not right; you're also his uncle, why does he only give meat to Erba's family and not ours? What kind of nephew does that?"
Aunt San Liu said angrily.
"Humph, back when Chen Yongwang was alive, he was biased. He helped Chen Erba learn a craft but wouldn't teach me medicine. If he had, I'd be a doctor now, eating good food and drinks. Why am I farming every day instead?"
Chen Sanliu was so angry that he even called out the name of his great uncle, but he didn't realize that more than half of his family's assets were given by Chen Yongwang. The Chen Erba family only learned weaving; who wasn't clear on who was favored back then?
But now he felt wronged; human greed is insatiable, like a snake trying to swallow an elephant.
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