Mrs. Zhang on the side dropped the wild vegetables on her hand, got up and walked to her husband’s side: “Sister-in-law, my family doesn’t feel comfortable these days, I’m afraid they can’t do farm work.” She said, then looked at Bai Erzhu with a meaningful look in the eyes.

Bai Erzhu understood what she wanted to do, he grasped his chest and said: “I’ve been forcing myself to walk today, I don’t feel so comfortable. I feel so stuffy in my chest. I’m afraid I can’t work tomorrow.”

Old Lady Bai became so anxious when she heard this: “This can’t be done. We must catch up to work, we can’t delay any further. If you delay the work, it will be troublesome once it rains.”

Bai Erzhu rubbed his chest and said: “But, I feel uncomfortable. Even if I go to the field, I can’t do anything.”

Mrs. Liu also became anxious: “Second brother-in-law, I just saw you were okay when you’re coming inside the yard. How can you suddenly say that you have chest pain now that you have work to do in the fields?”

Mrs. Zhang said: “Why can’t he? When we are having lunch, I saw Dabao also in good condition. When he finished eating a bowl, he wanted his second bowl. Fugui hasn’t eaten enough, but he wanted to take his meal. I heard his loud voice while scolding Fugui. He doesn’t look like a sick person. A sick person won’t have that ability, right? Well, he can do this, so why other’s can’t?”

Mrs. Liu’s eyebrows frowned as she pointed her finger to Mrs. Zhang’s nose: “Zhang Shumei, what do you mean by this? Are you saying that my family is faking sickness?”

Mrs. Zhang sneered and pushed away Mrs. Liu’s finger at her, then said: “I didn’t say that, I’m just telling you that if your son can get sick when he wanted to be sick. My husband and son can do it too. Don’t think all people are fools and don’t use their brains.”

Old Lady Bai’s face drastically changed. Her heart wanted to save her first son’s family. She easily gets distressed for her two grandsons in the first branch. Naturally, she knows that Bai Dabao likes pretending to be sick. But now, the second branch was not satisfied with it, she has no way to defend them.

“Then tell me, what do you want to do with those 2 acres of fields? Nothing? If you don’t want to work, you won’t have any foods during the winter.”

Mrs. Zhang replied: “It’s not that we don’t want to work, we just want a fair distribution of work. The first branch has four people, the second branch also has four people. We’re just the same, no one should take advantage of one another. One mu per family.”

Mrs. Liu’s busily argued: “How can that be? Dazhu’s legs are still not good. He can’t go to the fields to work. How can it be the same?”

Mrs. Zhang’s cold eyes swept to Mrs. Liu, the sarcasm in her tone cannot be hidden: “I don’t care, don’t you have two sons? What are they tall men that want to be treated like young ladies in the family?”

Mrs. Liu pointed her finger to Mrs. Zhang and angrily shouted: “What nonsense are you saying? Your son is the young lady. My Dabao has always been a hard-working man. It’s just he has a fever. My Xiaofeng wants to study, so how can he work in the fields? In the future, he will be a big official. If you don’t clean your mouth, you’ll be jailed in the future.”

Mrs. Zhang laughed and said: “Oh, I’m so scared. I don’t know what rank your family’s Xiofeng get in this exam? If he wants to become a big official, he should be in the first place.”

Mrs. Liu was stupefied, she doesn’t know what rank Bai Xiaofeng get in the exam. He didn’t say anything. She also didn’t ask about it. What could be his rank?

Mrs. Liu propped her chin and yelled: “With my Xiaofeng’s talent, its only natural for him to be in the first place. Is that enough?”

Mrs. Zhang originally doesn’t want to hit her pride, but now it seems to be the right timing. She wonders if she could swallow it.

“Indeed he is in the first place, but that is if you count reverse.”

Mrs. Liu was confused: “What are you saying? What count reverse?”

 

*Mu – a unit of area equal to one-fifteenth of a hectare.

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