The formidable power of this cold snort made the Eldest Lady and Si Lang Wulang in front of Qin Shuangshuang instantly lose the smile on their faces. They retreated a step back, muttering silently, with their heads half-lowered, twisting their fingers and looking behind Qin Shuangshuang.
Qin Shuangshuang turned around, and it turned out that Old Chen had somehow appeared behind her! Old Chen's eyes were filled with greed as she looked at the large piece of meat on Qin Shuangshuang's shoulder. When she turned her gaze to Qin Shuangshuang, it was so fierce as if she wanted to tear her apart!
Looking at the direction Old Chen came from, it wasn't from the house in the courtyard, but from the village.
Qin Shuangshuang understood. The commotion she caused this morning by delivering meat everywhere was quite significant, and the meat she sent out would be worth at least one to two taels of silver if sold in town.
Mainly because wild boar meat is rare, and it tastes better than the meat of penned domestic pigs, so naturally, it's more expensive than domestic pork.
Seeing the remaining small portion of wild boar meat and a pile of bones on Qin Shuangshuang's shoulder, Old Chen had a look of greed mixed with heartache on her face!
Perhaps she was too heartbroken, Old Chen aggressively dragged Qin Shuangshuang into the courtyard, glaring fiercely at the Eldest Lady and Si Lang Wulang, who had been happily talking with Qin Shuangshuang before, clearly venting her anger.
The Eldest Lady, Si Lang Wulang evidently did not have the confidence of Qin Shuangshuang, as the children in the family have always been very afraid of Old Chen.
With Old Chen glaring, the three small ones followed behind her, sneaking along the edge like little mice, trying to minimize their presence as they entered the yard, then hid by the fence in fear of being seen and beaten by Old Chen.
These little ones had been used to seeing Old Chen finding fault with Qin Shuangshuang every day since childhood, and now seeing Old Chen's attitude, they knew. Old Chen would surely find an excuse to scold Qin Shuangshuang again, and if it wasn't for Qin Shuangshuang's great strength, Old Chen would not only be scolding!
Old Chen was extremely rough with the children; none of her grandchildren escaped her beatings. Her grandson fared a bit better, as a boy, Old Chen didn't often beat him. But the Eldest Lady, this granddaughter, almost got slapped a few times every day!
In the past, Old Chen had considered beating Qin Shuangshuang herself or inciting her son Qin Laoer to beat Qin Shuangshuang, but Qin Shuangshuang was strong and appeared small but could easily overpower both her and Qin Laoer!
This left Old Chen repressed because whenever she tried to hit Qin Shuangshuang, she ended up not hitting her and instead having Qin Shuangshuang howl so loudly that the entire village knew Old Chen was abusing her granddaughter again!
Whenever Qin Shuangshuang started to howl, a group of nosy villagers would come to reprimand her, and sometimes it would even alarm the village chief, making Old Chen's reputation even worse!
Having experienced this multiple times, Old Chen also got wiser. She found that as long as she didn't lay a hand, Qin Shuangshuang generally ignored her scolding, only occasionally talking back because of Mrs. Bai! Realizing this pattern, Old Chen mainly resorted to scolding when confronting Qin Shuangshuang!
But today, seeing the butchered meat, Old Chen was so heartbroken her eyes turned red! She completely forgot that she couldn't hit Qin Shuangshuang, and raised her hand to slap Qin Shuangshuang!
As she moved, she cursed: "You wasteful dead girl! How come you didn't bring the wild boar home? You took the liberty to slaughter it and generously gifted it around the village!
Look at this village, which girl is as bold as you! At such a young age you dare to make such decisions, when you grow older will you give away the household's land and house as favors too!
This shows how generous you think you are, how capable you are! Our Old Qin family, what sins did we accumulate to have you, this wasteful, family-wrecking troublemaker born!
If I had known, I should have drowned you in a manure pit when you were born! Spare you from now ruining our Qin family! Today I must beat to death this wasteful, ruinous creature!"
Qin Shuangshuang, of course, couldn't be hit by Old Chen. She took a step back to dodge the slap, her voice a bit cold as she spoke: "Grandmother, what you're saying has no reason, what have I wasted? Did I take the household's rice or the household's flour? Or did I cut the meat from the pig you raised? Or have I ever taken anything from the house to give away?"
Old Chen was stumped by Qin Shuangshuang's retort, in Old Chen's heart, although the wild boar was caught by Qin Shuangshuang, Old Chen already considered the things Qin Shuangshuang brought home from the mountains as her own, so naturally, the wild boar meat too!
Now, without a word to her, Qin Shuangshuang gave away so much of the wild boar meat, in Old Chen's mind, it was like she had meat cut from her own flesh to eat! Almost making her heart ache to death!
Being choked by Qin Shuangshuang's words, unable to reason, Old Chen resorted to being unreasonable. She sat on the ground, slapped her thighs with her hands, and fake wailed like a drama: "Oh no, it's terrible! There's an unfilial child in the family, here to defy their elder! I say one word and you respond with eight—oh God, I can't live like this..."
Qin Shuangshuang's face darkened, truthfully, Old Chen just standing in front of her already made Qin Shuangshuang unable to stop remembering all the excessive things Old Chen did to her in her past life, causing turmoil in her heart!
Now with Old Chen's act, Qin Shuangshuang involuntarily recalled the past life where Old Chen often sat on the ground manipulating her. Then her father Qin Laoer would see it and, under the instigation of Qin the Third or Little Chen and Mrs. Fang, would severely beat her to vent Old Chen's anger!
Qin Laoer was always extremely brutal when beating her; it was entirely unrecognizable that Qin Shuangshuang was his daughter, rather like she was an enemy, every time beating her so she couldn't get out of bed for a day or two.
The more Qin Shuangshuang thought about it, the more she resented, the more she thought, the angrier she got, her breathing started getting unsteady, her eyes slightly reddened. Taking several deep breaths, Qin Shuangshuang didn't want to argue with Old Chen in the courtyard and carried the wild boar meat directly into the house.
She planned to go to the kitchen, cut the meat into strips with a knife, marinate it with salt, and then find time to chop some fruitwood from the mountain to make smoked meat! Smoked meat is very well-preserved, lasts for a year or two without a problem, and has a unique flavor.
With Qin Shuangshuang not speaking and avoiding, Old Chen became more aggressive, got up from the ground, and followed her without letting up!
She raised her hand, her fingers almost poking Qin Shuangshuang's eyes as she continued to angrily scold her: "What kind of attitude is this! An elder is speaking to you, and this is your attitude! Oh heavens, why don't you open your eyes and strike this unfilial thing with lightning…"
Bang! Unable to bear it any longer, Qin Shuangshuang slammed the cleaver into the chopping board with a fierce gesture, turned her head, and stared at Old Chen with a terrifying glare!