Farm Tough Girl

Chapter 30: Chapter 031 Mighty Two Ounces_1 Chapter 30: Chapter 031 Mighty Two Ounces_1 Er Liang, overwhelmed by everyone’s compliments, could only respond with a dry chuckle. Muniang noticed his embarrassment and said with a smile, “He just got lucky. Let’s not tease him anymore. The tiger skin is full of wounds; we don’t even know if it will fetch much money.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll find a buyer for you. I deal with this all year round and have contacts. The price will definitely be fair,” Li Cheng stepped forward.

“Then we’ll have to thank you, Li. But we don’t really know how to dismember and skin it; perhaps you could lend us a hand with that too? We’ll pay you for your work then.”

Li Cheng waved his hand dismissively, “What work payment? We’re all neighbors here. It’s just a small favor.”

Not saying more, Muniang then smiled, “Then stay for a meal.”

Because of this event, everyone in the village, who had initially turned Muniang marrying a simpleton into a joke, suddenly felt a pang of envy. How come they did not have the fortune of finding such a spouse for themselves? Er Liang became the village’s tiger-fighting hero. Even though he always said his wife also played a part, who would believe that a frail village girl could take on a tiger?

What made Muniang happiest was not how much money they made, but that she could make Er Liang lift his head high in the village, so that people wouldn’t just call him an idiot. At least now, he had a title to be proud of.

Li Cheng brought over the butchering tools from his home, especially to help Muniang with the tiger. They segmented the limbs, cleaned the innards, neatly packaged all the different cuts of meat, and, most importantly, skinned the pelt without a scratch.

Mrs. Lin and Er Liang helped Li Cheng outside, while Muniang went to the kitchen to cook. Fortunately, they had stocked up on enough ingredients during their last big shopping trip to town, so there was no worry about not having enough food.

In a rural household, hosting a meal didn’t need to be fancy. As usual, they prepared three vegetarian dishes: eggplant with green beans, savory spinach salad, and steamed a large bowl of eggs. Er Liang wouldn’t be happy without meat, and as Li was a guest, he couldn’t be neglected, so Muniang also made sweet and sour pork ribs, crispy crucian carp, shredded pork with garlic sauce, and simmered a pot of pork bone soup.

Seeing that everything was almost ready, she left the kitchen to check on things and found Li Cheng had also finished his task.

“Look at this fur; it feels amazing. If we sell it, it’s sure to be worth quite a bit of silver. Despite the sword cuts, they should not be too much of a problem. I’ll go make some arrangements for a buyer tomorrow. After all these years in the business, I do have some connections.”

“Thanks for the trouble,” Muniang smiled and asked, “By the way, is Qinghe at home?”

Li Cheng was momentarily taken aback, looking somewhat embarrassed. “What can she do? Naturally, she’s just staying at home, embroidering patterns.”

Muniang noticed Li Cheng’s discomfort and simply said with a smile, “I’ll call her over to join us for the meal. I’ve made plenty of dishes; it would be a shame for her to be at home alone, probably too lazy to cook for herself.”

Li Cheng seemed a bit glum, “Even if I go back, she wouldn’t bother to cook.”

“Are you two fighting?”

“Ah, it’s hard to explain, and rather embarrassing,” Li Cheng said, his face showing his difficulty. Muniang, understanding somewhat, pressed no further.

Mrs. Lin waved her hand dismissively, “Siblings arguing and fussing is normal, but in the end, blood is thicker than water, isn’t it? Muniang, you might as well go over to Chengzi’s house and call Qinghe over for the meal. It’s not right for her to be at home hungry.”

Muniang agreed and looked toward Li Cheng. After all, Qinghe was his sister, and he naturally cared for her. So he reluctantly nodded.

Mrs. Lin then welcomed Li Cheng into the house. Upon seeing the dishes Er Liang brought out from the kitchen, Li Cheng’s eyes almost popped: “This, this is so much food; we don’t even eat this well during New Year’s!”

Er Liang beamed with pride, “My wife’s cooking is excellent.”

Mrs. Lin had pretty much adapted to Muniang’s way of cooking and didn’t seem to mind at all, merely saying with a smile, “That child Muniang, she’s very particular about food. Today you’re the guest, it’s only right that we treat you well. Just relax and eat, see if it suits your taste.”

Li Cheng nodded stiffly, he really hadn’t expected that Muniang, who once was so poor she couldn’t even lift the lid off her pot, could now be living in such wealth.

Shortly after, Muniang dragged Qinghe into the house. Qinghe was somewhat unwilling initially, but didn’t want to make a fool of herself in front of others, so she had no choice but to follow. Yet, she was clearly still upset, and her attitude towards Li Cheng was rather indifferent.

“Please sit down, I’ve made such a big spread, I don’t know if it’ll suit your tastes, but I figured we country folk don’t fuss over such things.”

Li Cheng quickly replied, “Exactly, us country folks, we can even eat grass and tree bark, there’s no such thing as not suiting one’s taste. Muniang, I’ve never eaten such fine dishes in my whole life.”

Li Qinghe’s eyes also lit up, looking at Muniang in amazement, “How can your family afford to eat these things? Could it be that you actually made a lot from selling hawthorns that time?”

The village had been abuzz with the news, but Li Qinghe had never believed it – two bags of hawthorns were worthless after all. The village gossips just loved to exaggerate, and she always dismissed such rumors. But facing the current situation, it seemed it might actually be true.

“Hawthorns aren’t worth much, what’s valuable is my wife’s culinary skills.”

Li Qinghe understood right away, she quickly tasted the dish Muniang had made and couldn’t help but click her tongue in appreciation, “It’s really delicious! This dish is also so novel, Muniang, where did you learn these skills?”

“I figured them out myself. As they say, ‘Heaven never seals off all the exits,'” Muniang brushed off the question casually, and they naturally believed her, for there was no other explanation.

During the meal, both Li Cheng and Li Qinghe ate with exceptional gusto, after all, such flavors were rare, even for a New Year’s feast.

Mrs. Lin watched her daughter skillfully manage everything, which made her beam with pride, joy bubbled in her heart, and even her normally pale face flushed with a bit of color.

After the meal, Muniang and Qinghe went together to wash the dishes in the kitchen, and that’s when they started discussing the argument she’d had with Li Cheng.

“Did you fight with your brother? You didn’t say a word during the meal. You’re a sixteen-year-old girl now, why act like a child and sulk,” Muniang teased, seemingly forgetting that she herself was scarcely more than fifteen.

Talking about it made Qinghe lose her spirits, “He’s such a blockhead, he doesn’t understand a girl’s heart at all, only knows how to bully me!”

“Oh, come on, don’t provoke me. Your brother dotes on you, he wouldn’t bully you. What am I then, who grew up in such hard straits?” Muniang retorted.

Qinghe pouted and mockingly said, “Where does he dote on me? He won’t even let me decide my own marriage!”

“Oh?”

Like realizing she had said too much, Qinghe covered her mouth, her face flushing red.

“It’s not my Uncle Si, is it?”

Qinghe’s eyes widened in disbelief, looking at Muniang, “How did you know?!”

But Muniang didn’t engage her on that topic, simply saying, “Your brother doesn’t want you to marry Yuanzhen for your own good. You’ve seen what the Qiao family is like, and you’ve also seen the situation my mother and I are in now. If you really get involved in this mess, you’ll likely have no peace in the future, and if you’re bullied, wouldn’t your brother be heartbroken?”