Chapter 277: Reborn in the 90s: The Village Tyrant Chapter 278 Who Dares Provoke Me

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Protagonist:

Chai Mi

The noisy commotion outside continued for a long time, but Chai Mi didn't take it to heart at all. Even later, when Song Qiushui came running over to show off, saying: "This village belle, I set the dogs on that sickly weakling and chased him until he was rolling all over the ground..."

Chai Mi didn't feel the slightest bit of excitement.

It was just a minor episode in life.

Chai Mi really didn't care much about what Chai Min wanted to do or what she was up to.

Of course, she also didn't really regard Chai Min as a person...

The next day Chai Mi went to the vegetable garden again and picked some Chinese cabbage, pulled some green onions.

However, the leeks at home had mostly been used up last time when they made a meal of leek and egg dumplings. Although leeks can be cut many times, if you cut them too frequently, the leek roots will be ruined.

Better to let them recover a bit.

So next time she set up a stall, Chai Mi planned to make Chinese cabbage with pork and pork with green onion.

Those two are less trouble.

She finished cooking the dishes at noon, and in the afternoon Chai Mi made a trip to the county town. By the time evening came, a freezer had been delivered to the house.

Since Chai Mi hadn't discussed it with the family beforehand and just went into the city and bought it directly, when the freezer was placed in the courtyard, both Mother Su Wan and Father Chai Youqing had blank, bewildered expressions.

The couple inquired and found out this freezer cost 1,300 yuan.

Even though Su Wan had always absolutely supported whatever Chai Mi did, at this moment she felt a bit unable to bear it. One thousand three hundred yuan, just spent like that, without a sound?

The problem was, last time selling dumplings they only earned sixty yuan total, and she gave twenty to Song Qiushui, and Chai Mi bought clothes for the two younger sisters, so the remaining forty yuan was long gone...

That meant she hadn't earned a single cent, and instead put in over a thousand more. The problem was, from the start, including buying that inverted donkey, plus some pots and pans and miscellaneous chaos, it all added up to several hundred. So calculated together, two thousand yuan had gone out...

When would they ever earn that back?

"Chai Mi, this... this... freezer cost quite a lot of money. When will we be able to earn it back..." Su Wan said with a pained expression.

"Keeping it at home is useful too. Winter is still far off; we can store popsicles and ice cream and such. And we can freeze some meat for emergencies. Mom, in the future freezers, televisions, and such will all become common."

"Ah... televisions can become common too?" Su Wan was a bit surprised.

"They will. Next time I make money, I'll buy you a television."

"Don't... absolutely don't buy one." Su Wan couldn't bear Chai Mi spending money like this: "We have to live frugally and make things last... earning money doesn't mean you can work yourself to death spending it."

However, what's done is done now. No matter what Su Wan said, it couldn't be changed.

"In a bit, I'll go buy a box of ice cream for you." Chai Mi laughed cheekily, then asked Chai Xiu: "Want ice cream?"

Chai Xiu nodded obediently.

"Then..." Chai Mi looked at Chai Xiu with a smiling expression.

Chai Xiu turned to Su Wan and said: "Mom, there's a saying: 'You can't catch a wolf without risking the child.' Doing business always requires some fixed asset investment. Big Sister buying this freezer is a kind of investment. Not only does she need the freezer to store meat and vegetables when she goes to buy dumpling supplies, our family can use it too. It's definitely not a loss. In the future, whatever leftover food you have, freeze it, it'll keep for a while. That'll save money too."

After Chai Xiu put it this way, Su Wan finally stopped fussing over it.

Chai Mi pointed at the freezer, then called Father Chai Youqing: "Dad, lend a hand, carry it inside."

The freezer was then carried into the room.

The room was a bit small; after the freezer was placed inside, it looked a bit cramped.

"This house is a bit small. In the future we'll have to build a big house."

Chai Youqing's biggest dream in this life was to build a big house. Hearing Chai Mi bring it up, he immediately perked up: "Build four big bungalows. We'll build them three meters three by seven meters five, absolutely wide enough. The outer room a full five meters... that, spacious. Plenty of room for everything."

"Too big, the room will be cold." Chai Mi didn't really want the house too big.

With the temperatures in the Northern Region, if the house area is too large, heating becomes a huge expense. And it's extremely hard to keep warm; the bigger the house, the more uncomfortable.

Like the house Chai Mi lives in now, although it's relatively small and the walls are relatively thin, in winter it's relatively warm. When firing the kang, just burning a bit of firewood is enough.

But a big house would need a stove and burning coal.

Otherwise, they really couldn't endure it.

"A big house is spacious."

"Just about right is fine. A span of six meters five is suitable. If the span is too large, the four walls need to be at least three-seven ratio, and half the bricks would be wasted."

"The bigger the house, the more spacious." Chai Youqing seemed to be quite fixated on this.

Chai Mi was helpless; he talked as if they were building a house right now...

"Fine. I'll listen to you. We'll build it wider in the future."

After not wrangling over this issue anymore, Chai Mi plugged in the freezer, then went out to find Song Qiushui.

She arrived at Song Qiushui's house, but discovered this guy seemed to be sleeping...

There was no one else at home. Song Qingshan and the Meng Clan wife were both not home. Chai Mi just quietly slipped into Song Qiushui's room on her own.

Fortunately, those few dogs Song Qiushui raised had no interest in Chai Mi. And since Chai Mi came often, the dogs should recognize her too. They just glanced at Chai Mi casually, then never looked again.

Right now it was already evening. Although the sunset glow filled the sky outside, inside the room it was pitch black...

Chai Mi poked and prodded the sleeping Song Qiushui.

Song Qiushui yawned, looked at Chai Mi with a lifeless expression, turned over, and continued sleeping.

"Come to my house for dinner."

"Not going. I have to sleep. Yesterday chasing that bastard Chai Min, I threw out my back... damn it, hurt so bad I couldn't sleep half the night. Only feeling better now, but I'm dazed with sleepiness." Song Qiushui didn't want to eat right now; she only wanted to sleep.

"Then where are your dad and mom?" Chai Mi asked.

"They ran to my Second Uncle's house to make trouble. My mom made my Second Uncle drag Song Qiuping back home. My mom plus my Grandmother, they're holding a struggle session." Song Qiushui slowly sat up, eyes closed, groped around for a long time before finding the teacup, took a sip of water, but still said listlessly: "Damn it, Chai Min has lived long enough, daring to provoke me! You tell me, is your cousin an idiot? She actually went and told my dad bad things about me! She's a real fucking idiot! I've grown this big, no one has ever dared say bad things about me. Damn it... my dad and mom, in their forties, finally had me. That was a late-in-life child. I heard my mom say, to give birth to me, my dad ran all the way to the Shuangxing Temple on Longfeng Mountain. From the bottom of the steps, he kowtowed all the way to the top. Eight hundred eighty-eight steps. My dad kowtowed over a hundred times. He kowtowed until the abbot was dizzy, scared him into calling the police. My dad only walked up after that... praying to gods and Buddhas, suffering that much, even Heaven was moved, and only then did they have me."

Song Qiushui coughed a couple of times, seeming to imply she had caught a chill: "My Grandmother... started eating vegetarian from when my mom got pregnant, ate vegetarian for twenty years. Haha... with that kind of situation, that brain-damaged thing Chai Min still ran to my dad and Grandmother to say bad things about you! She really has a screw loose. Sick in the head, and not lightly either."

"Am I on the same level as Song Qiuping? Let alone Chai Min being a generation below me, even her mother Song Qiuping has to be polite when she sees me. In our Old Song Family, as long as I, Song Qiushui, stand there, I am the Village Belle. Who dares to provoke me!!!"

"Alright, alright, alright, our Qiu Shui is the Old Song Family's heirloom treasure, the Empress Dowager. Then may you be auspicious, Elder..." Chai Mi teased, "But even the Empress Dowager can't just keep sleeping. You have to go out for a stroll sometime. You don't sleep at night and don't get up during the day — can your body bear it?"

"I was asleep, you woke me up tossing and turning." Song Qiushui said listlessly, "There's nothing I like more than being treated to a meal. But I'm sleepy today, not going."

Song Qiushui paused, then asked, "Right, what's the treat for?"

"Buying a freezer, to celebrate. After that, I plan to try selling some food near that industrial zone besides market days — lots of people eat there — so I'll have to trouble you to come... Of course, from now on, your summer ice cream is on me."

"Deal. Eat someone's food, your mouth goes soft; take someone's hand, your hand goes short. But still, let's go eat tomorrow morning. It's bizarrely sleepy now. Go tomorrow morning? Then I'll get up early tomorrow." Song Qiushui agreed readily.

"Deal."

The next day, early in the morning, Chai Mi got up very early to chop filling and organize things.

Only then did she start making breakfast.

After breakfast was ready, Chai Mi called Mother Su Wan to eat: "Mom... Xiu'er, get up and eat."

Finally Chai Mi checked the time; it was already five-thirty, so she went to Song Qiushui's house to call her to eat.

Song Qiushui woke up dazed; she vaguely heard someone calling her to get up and eat in a daze. After hearing her mom go out to watch the dog, she lay on the window sill and looked.

Outside it was still a bit gray; she lay back down and dozed for two minutes, then got up unwillingly.

"Done for. Getting old, can't take it anymore." Song Qiushui said with morning grumpiness: "In the past, I could stay up all night, no problem. Now, I'm done for... I've been sleeping since yesterday afternoon until now, and I'm still damn sleepy. But my back isn't so sore anymore, and I'm not so angry. If I hadn't slept this nap, I reckon I'd have enough energy to go out and beat Chai Min up."

"Alright, let's go eat." Chai Mi persuaded: "Why worry about nothing? That Chai Min is a born sickly thing; you don't hit her, she's still full of illness. If she doesn't cheat you, you're wrong."

Song Qiushui pouted: "Hmph. Sooner or later I'll sneakily screw her over once."

However, although she said that, Song Qiushui still didn't get up.

Chai Mi had no choice but to coax and pester for half a day before Song Qiushui put on her clothes: "No good, really sleepy. These two days I've been sleepy and muddled."

"There's work that isn't tiring too. We have to earn money, don't we? You dream of being a rich woman every day, but you can't just be a rich woman in your dreams — you have to act. As the saying goes, the day's plan lies in the morning. You can't get up in the morning and can't sleep well at night; you might as well do some work. Work tires you out, then you sleep soundly."

"I'm afraid work will tire me..."

"Eating doesn't tire you..."

"But I have to live, don't I?"

"Working is also to live." Chai Mi pursed her lips: "Your parents aren't young either. If you don't work, later if you can't find a good match, that's when you'll really suffer hardship. Better to earn some money while you're still unmarried. Then when you have money, your backbone will be stiff. If you have no money, you'll have no choice — you'll just have to leave it to fate and see if your partner has money. If he doesn't and you don't either, you two won't do anything else all day, just fight."

"Look at Chai Chunfang — her family was poor. She married the even poorer Sun Yuguang. Not yet forty, and she was worn to death. If she'd had a bit of money at the start, she wouldn't have had to scrimp and save, wouldn't have lost her life over a bit of money."

"Sigh, you win. That's not the same thing. But I really have to get up now." Song Qiushui tidied up, didn't even wash her face, just jumped off the kang and left with Chai Mi.

It was still a bit dark outside. The two walked quickly to Chai Mi's house. Song Qiushui washed up a bit, wiped her face dry, and prepared to eat.

Chai Xiu, dressed neatly, was already gnawing on her steamed corn bun at the table... Mhm, indeed a steamed corn bun.

Ask and it's because yesterday Chai Mi made a few steamed corn buns, but no one liked them. A few were left. In the morning, Chai Mi cooked some porridge and made some pickled vegetables.

But Chai Xiu felt drinking porridge wasn't satisfying, so she gnawed on steamed corn buns.

This wasn't Chai Mi deliberately bullying Chai Xiu.

Su Wan was also holding the child, hadn't eaten yet. She let Song Qiushui sit at the head of the kang, then said: "Chai Mi cooked some millet porridge, said it nourishes the stomach. Eating it with pickled vegetables is good. Mainly this millet porridge has more nutrition. You don't like eating in the morning; drinking some porridge is good. If you don't like it, there are a few steamed corn buns..."

Song Qiushui glanced — only four or five steamed corn buns, all in Chai Xiu's bowl.

Song Qiushui reached out and took one...

Chai Xiu: "Drinking porridge is so much better... steamed corn buns are hard to eat."

Song Qiushui took a bite, frowned.

Because this steamed corn bun was actually quite tasty — sugar added, quite sweet. After that, her look at Chai Xiu became a bit strange.

Chai Mi smiled: "Xiu'er is just like that, protective of her food."

A few people ate. Chai Mi finished first, smiled and said: "I'll go check the things again. You all eat."

Chai Mi went out, counted the things to bring — should be enough — then came back.

Song Qiushui was eating — steamed corn bun, millet porridge, and a bit of small tofu and celery pickled vegetables. It tasted pretty good.

Although all very home-style, Chai Mi's cooking was indeed tasty.

"Hey... this tofu... feels weird. Cool, like frozen, but not quite... taste is pretty good though." Song Qiushui pointed at the tofu: "You didn't put the tofu in the freezer to chill it, did you? This feel... tasty, a bit like jelly."

The pickled vegetables weren't too salty, flavor just right.

Chai Xiu also sneakily picked up a piece, felt it was also delicious, then explained in a serious manner: "Eldest Sister probably used hot water to heat it in the pot, then added salt, then put it in the freezer to chill, and it became this texture. And Eldest Sister probably added a bit of sesame oil and cilantro. But before eating, she fished out the cilantro. So the flavor is good but not so salty and fresh."

Chai Mi glanced at Chai Xiu, frowned, thought how does she know: "Just you talk too much. Ate three steamed corn buns and still not full? Careful, young as you are, you'll eat yourself into a fat girl."