Chapter 301: Rebirth in the '90s: Overlord Flower Chapter 302 Dog Bites Dog

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Protagonist:

Chai Mi

A few people drank wine and ate rice; there wasn't anything too important, just some family matters.

The next day Chai Mi went to Chai Youqing's and then to Chai Chunfang's house, arriving after nine in the morning.

Chai Chunfang's matter had long been settled; afterward she was cremated. Around ten o'clock, they held her funeral.

Sun Shengyue and her sister cried quite heartbrokenly, but most others didn't care much.

Afterward she was carried up the mountain and buried.

Chai Mi didn't follow them up the mountain, didn't eat lunch, and came back.

After returning home, Chai Mi cut some pickled vegetables, planning to set up her stall tomorrow anyway. She hadn't set up her stall for several days; she couldn't keep not going.

Afterward she told Song Qiushui, and Song Qiushui pretended to come help.

But Song Qiushui could actually do very little work.

She only knew how to eat...

"By the way, a few days ago when you went out, a few of your family's corn went missing. Not many... I just didn't want to say anything."

"Someone stole them to cook and eat?" Chai Mi was stunned.

"Eighty percent it was your family's old woman who stole them." Song Qiushui was almost certain it was Wang Huirong: "Out of several thousand people in the whole village, only your grandma likes to steal from others."

Chai Mi: Uh...

Look!!!

I don't even need to spread the word; now everyone knows what kind of people Chai Zhongxiao and his wife are.

"Where did the old man go? Haven't seen him for a long time." Chai Mi asked.

"You don't know?" Song Qiushui was stunned: "The old man was caught by the police!!! I thought you knew, so I didn't say anything."

"Ah..." Chai Mi felt it was bizarre: "Owing grain during a famine is normal; not paying back is illegal, but he didn't do that, so why arrest him?"

Song Qiushui frowned: "That day you happened to go out; afterward I heard it from others. Chai Zhongxiao was reported by Che Lianyun and his wife, saying he beat his wife, domestic violence. Afterward Wang Huirong even testified. Then Chai Zhongxiao was taken away by the police. As for the specific situation, I don't know after that."

Hearing this news, Chai Mi was actually extremely shocked.

Logically speaking, Chai Zhongxiao and Chai You De were on the same side; how could Chai Lao San be so desperate as to send his own father in?

"It's really strange, right?"

"Right, everyone says so. The big shots say, if you sent Chai Zhongxiao in, that would be normal. That was Chai Zhongxiao digging his own grave, but Chai You De and his wife sending Chai Zhongxiao in is really bizarre." Song Qiushui heard this from her father Song Qingshan.

Anyway, not many people in the village knew, and information was limited; they only said Chai You De and his wife didn't know what they were thinking, going to the police station to report Chai Zhongxiao for assaulting Wang Huirong.

Of course, this matter truly existed.

The big shots actually all knew.

But generally no one cared about this.

Chai Zhongxiao beating his own wife—others were too lazy to care. Let him hit if he wants; anyway he's not hitting someone else's wife, why would others meddle in this idle business?

Moreover, Chai Zhongxiao and his wife's reputation was now so bad that adults and children alike ignored them, so no matter how the old house tossed about, there was actually no splash.

But the result was Chai You De and his wife went against the grain and reported Chai Zhongxiao.

It was just fucking bizarre.

"Very bizarre." Chai Mi couldn't figure out why for a while.

"Xiu'er, come here."

Chai Xiu was actually smart to a bizarre degree; Chai Mi thought asking her might save her from racking her brain. Afterward Chai Mi told Chai Xiu about this, then asked: "Xiu'er, tell me, Chai Lao San reporting Chai Zhongxiao—what's the situation?"

Chai Xiu rubbed her head: "Maybe Chai Lao San thought the old man and old woman were too useless, wasting air while alive and wasting land when dead. He wanted a plan to kill two birds with one stone. Sister, think about it... this Third Uncle sent Grandpa to the bamboo fence, and even got Grandma to provide the evidence. Afterward, won't the old man have to squat for three to five years, and by the time he comes out he'll probably be old and dead. That way, rounding it off, Chai Zhongxiao is as good as gone. Only Wang Huirong remains. Given that our family and the old woman are sworn enemies, and Second Uncle's family wants to beat her whenever they see the old woman, the old woman is actually on a dead end. If Chai Lao San kicks the old woman out in a couple of days, logically speaking, our family and Second Uncle's family definitely won't interfere. The old woman is also on a dead end."

Chai Xiu's analysis was incisive: "At this time, the negative assets originally belonging to Chai Zhongxiao and Wang Huirong immediately became positive."

Chai Mi was a bit stunned; she could understand what Chai Xiu said before, but what she said afterward about assets being negative or positive still confused her a bit.

"Xiu'er, stop talking nonsense; say something I can understand."

Chai Xiu pouted: "What don't you understand?"

"The negative and positive thing..."

"This is easy to understand." Chai Xiu explained: "Objectively speaking, the old man and old woman are definitely in a state of being despised by people and abandoned by dogs. Their reputation is bad; for Chai Lao San and his wife, that directly affects the quality of the whole old house."

This was indeed true. Chai Zhongxiao and Wang Huirong's repeated antics had long extinguished everyone's last bit of warmth. Especially for Chai Mi, who already had no fondness for Chai Zhongxiao and Wang Huirong, but the two of them showed no restraint, becoming more and more outrageous, truly reaching the level of not caring even at death's door.

Although from the start Chai Mi had no illusions about these two people, what they did was becoming more and more excessive, with a posture of fighting to the death.

Chai Chunfang's disturbance was also bizarre, but in the end Chai Mi still went to take a look when she was buried today.

But for someone like Chai Zhongxiao, Chai Mi probably wouldn't go even if they both died.

And a very crucial point was that Wang Huirong was shameless, and Chai Zhongxiao was shameless. The whole Chai Family's face was lost by these two people.

Now when people in the village mention Chai Zhongxiao, they just shake their heads.

"The old man and old woman are a kind of negative moral standard. It can be said their reputation has gone to the dogs. Of course, Che Lianyun might not think his own reputation is bad. Chai Zhongxiao and Wang Huirong offended all their relatives, friends, and everyone in the village, but Che Lianyun hasn't offended his own family's relatives on that side. To the old Che family's relatives on that side, Che Lianyun is still a person. She only has a slight chance of salvaging a bit of her remaining connections if she can find a way to kick the old man and old woman out. Secondly, the old man and old woman not only have no money but also owe a pile of grain debts; sooner or later the credit union or court will come knocking. Chai Lao San and his wife haven't separated from the old man and old woman, and they live in the same courtyard, so it's inevitable that people will come to them for money."

Chai Mi nodded; with Chai Xiu sorting it out like this, she didn't need to rack her brain anymore. Moreover, Chai Xiu's little head indeed had the right train of thought; actually Chai Mi herself could have thought of it. Chai Lao San and his wife doing this was naturally aimed at profit.

The so-called no profit, no early rise; Chai Mi felt even more that the main reason Chai Lao San and his wife did this was to kill off Chai Zhongxiao and Wang Huirong, so that afterward they wouldn't need to pay back the grain debt and could also occupy Chai Zhongxiao and Wang Huirong's land.

You have to know, Chai Zhongxiao had land for five family members under his name. Plus some ditches and ridges from when Chai Mi's family's two old gentlemen helped reclaim land before; for Sanjiacun, that was a lot of land. This land was Chai Zhongxiao's; although the corn produced from it was basically sold by Chai Zhongxiao and given to Chai You De to spend, including daily expenses and building houses and such.

But after all, Chai Zhongxiao and Wang Huirong were living people; living people need to eat, drink, defecate, urinate, and get sick and hospitalized. Once they died, the land would still be there, but wouldn't there be two fewer mouths to feed?

This deal was profitable.

Actually, theoretically speaking, since Chai Zhongxiao and Wang Huirong were extremely biased toward Chai You De and his wife, this land itself was waiting for Chai Zhongxiao and Wang Huirong to die, and the family property would naturally be Chai You De's.

So Chai Mi didn't figure it out at first — why were Chai You De and his wife in such a rush?

After all, Chai Zhongxiao was already in his sixties; in the countryside that counted as old age, and even if he lived longer, how many years could he have left?

Ten or eight years at most.

Moreover, Chai Zhongxiao had already fallen out completely with Chai Mi's family, Second Uncle's House, Chai Chunfang's family, and Chai Chunhua's family who never came home — these children were definitely too lazy to bother with Chai Zhongxiao, so under these circumstances the only ones Chai Zhongxiao could count on were Chai You De and Chai Chunwei, but judging by Chai Mi's understanding of Chai Chunwei, that bitch was even more disgusting, her character even worse than Chai You De's, so Chai Zhongxiao could only rely on Chai You De.

Given that premise, the family property would go to Chai You De anyway, and even if a famine struck, Chai Zhongxiao would bear it himself — everyone knew that.

So for Chai You De to be so impatient to send Chai Zhongxiao to the nursing home — logically speaking, it was a bit bizarre.

"Xiu'er's later analysis was a bit perfunctory. The first part was right. Chai You De and his wife still harbor illusions, thinking everyone's a fool who can't see their low character. They sit at home thinking they're a good family — what a joke!" Chai Mi laughed.

"This is purely dog bites dog. Do Xiao Doubao and Chai Lao San have no self-awareness at all? What kind of people they are — don't they know themselves?"

Song Qiushui spread her hands: "Who can feel they have bad connections? No one badmouths themselves — who'd call themselves a bastard? My dad also said Chai Lao San doing this is really unconscionable."

Chai Mi couldn't be bothered to think about this mess anymore. For Chai Mi, not getting to personally send Chai Zhongxiao to the nursing home was a bit of a regret.

But...

Life is always full of regrets; a few more don't matter.

Regret, then let it be regret.

"Fine, let them toss about however they want. We'll live our own lives. Qiu Shui, how did those pickled vegetables taste yesterday?" Chai Mi asked: "The ones I brought back from my Second Aunt's house — good?"

"Not bad, flavor's pretty good." Song Qiushui felt so-so about it: "I I don't really like eating pickled vegetables, just tasted a couple bites, pretty crisp, flavor's okay. Anyway way better than what my mom makes... my mom's pickled vegetables, oh my..."

Song Qiushui's face turned green as she spoke: "That's seriously hard to eat. Tough and stringy, mushy and messy, sour in a weird way, bitter in a weird way... awfully hard to eat."

Chai Mi sympathetically patted Song Qiushui's shoulder: "About the same, my mom's are damn hard to eat too."

Chai Mi wasn't badmouthing Su Wan behind her back — Su Wan's pickling skill really seemed about the same as Song Qiushui's mother's... hard to eat.

If they tasted a bit better, Chai Mi wouldn't have had to go far instead of near, running all the way to Second Aunt's house to ask Yao Lianhua for pickled vegetables.

Song Qiushui nodded in deep agreement, pursing her lips: "Problem is, my mom's cooking is also damn hard to eat. Recently she got busy with those apricot kernels and started being perfunctory. Morning she'd make some rice, I didn't get up. Noon we started eating leftover rice, I took one look — ruined, not tasty, evening we kept eating leftover rice, I couldn't swallow it. After that I got thinner..."

Anyway, looked really hard to eat.

"Just make do and eat." Chai Mi was helpless too: "If you can't stand it come eat at my place, what's there to be shy about."

"You make it sound like if I came to your place for meals, I'd actually be able to get up..."

The two chatted for a while; Chai Mi had eaten those pickled vegetables herself yesterday and thought they were fine too, flavor pretty good, mainly they weren't too salty, and had a bit of soy sauce and vinegar added, giving them a side-dish feel — anyway they were really good.

"Tomorrow we set up the stall. This afternoon I'll knead dough, chop dumpling filling, and then you help chop those pickled vegetables fine, the finer the better." Chai Mi got down to business: "Don't chop them all crooked and twisted, that stuff is the whole presentation."

"Deal."

So the two started getting busy.

"Right." Song Qiushui recalled something while working: "My great-uncle on my mom's side came yesterday, seems like he made a fortune down south or something? Came back to acknowledge relatives, and brought me two blocks of tea leaves."

Song Qiushui gestured as she spoke: "Block-shaped, ever seen them?"

"Pu'er?" Chai Mi knew Pu'er came in tea bricks.

Jianghu rumors say that stuff is pretty damn expensive.

But the actual taste is damn terrible.

Has a distinct flavor like old cucumber boiled — truly undrinkably bad.

The problem...

Expensive AND damn bad, yet a whole crowd says it's good — very strange.

Maybe it's because Chai Mi's own taste is too low.

Those rich people eat bird's nest too... what's edible about a swallow's nest?

But that's what makes it precious.

Scarcity creates preciousness.

But precious doesn't necessarily mean good taste, and doesn't necessarily suit everyone.

The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors all grew up eating millet porridge, Chai Mi grew up eating millet porridge too, so rounding off she's practically a descendant of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors — even more precious status.

But she never says it...

"Seems it's called that name. My dad sneaked a sip, reminisced all day, then couldn't bear to drink more — I'll bring you some." Song Qiushui said.

"No need. You keep it yourself." Chai Mi refused directly: "How could I take everything? Your great-uncle barely made it back once, brought such expensive stuff for your family... good things you should keep. I can't rob someone of what they love..."

"Hiss..." Song Qiushui gasped: "Speak human."

"Too damn bad, you drink it yourself."