The Winnowing Basket That Flyed Twice

Hou Da used an axe to chop at the broken wood on the ground, feeling that Yang Wuni's idea was not very reliable.

"Look at me, if I weren't heavily pregnant, would I have been able to get married without spending a single penny?"

If you ruin her reputation, who else can she marry if not you?

If you really don't have the guts, then you deserve to be poor and a bachelor for life.

Yang Wuni saw Hou Da silently digging at the dirt with his fingers, and she knew that the boy was interested.

As long as Hou Da Yanjing is interested, this matter will be settled.

Yang Wuni didn't wait for his definite answer and got up to leave.

Bad people's deeds are different from good people's deeds; we can't be too pedantic about every single detail.

Let him figure it out himself; the more he thinks about it, the more he'll realize that's the truth.

"Hey! How's it going? What's your idea? Will it work?" Zhang Changyao asked, following behind Yang Wuni.

"How would I know if it will work or not? I'll just go home and wait and see."

Yang Wuni really didn't know if it would work out; she was gambling on Hou Da's courage.

"I told you I couldn't count on you; all you do is cause me trouble."

Zhang Changyao muttered something under his breath as he turned a corner and headed to his older brother Zhang Changguang's house.

Dad and my older brother are picking out moldy soybeans from the soybeans in the yard.

When he saw Zhang Changyao arrive, he glanced at him but said nothing.

"Dad, Zheng Meizhi says she's pregnant with my child. What should we do?"

Zhang Changyao leaned over to help pick the beans, but Zhang Changguang blocked him with his hand.

"I told you you weren't being nice. That Zheng Meizhi is practically supporting eight men."

You believe her when she says the child is yours? I could say it's another man's!

Why is it that only your thing works, while other men's are just firewood sticks?

You're the only one who reads books all day long, making yourself look stupid.

Even Hu Daleng from our backyard wouldn't believe what she said.

Zhang Kaiju threw the moldy beans in his hand to the ground and pointed at Zhang Changyao's forehead, saying something to him.

"Dad, you can't talk about Zheng Meizhi like that, it's all just rumors."

Did you see that person keeping eight big men? Who are those eight people? Tell me.

Zhang Changyao dodged his father's finger and, unconvinced, demanded that Zhang Kaiju reveal who the men Zheng Meizhi was involved with were.

"The two brothers, Ma Wu and Ma Liu, from Nantun, and Hu Xiao from Beitun."

Du Laixiao, a bricklayer in the town, and Liu Changqing in the ditch.

"Er Gouzi and Hou Da Yanjing from our village, plus you, is that eight enough?"

In order to convince Zhang Changyao, Zhang Kaiju actually listed eight people.

"Dad, and Li Mentou from our backyard, I saw it with my own eyes," Zhang Changguang added without missing a beat.

"Changyao, Sun Liudi's wife said that Zheng Meizhi is also seducing her husband."

It seems they kissed, but she didn't say whether they did anything shameful.

Zhang Changguang's wife, along with Yumi, leaned out of the window, holding their child, to join in the fun.

"You...you guys just can't stand to see other people doing well. According to you, then every man in the village has slept with her!"

Zhang Changyao, his face flushed with anger, kicked over the winnowing basket in Zhang Changguang's hand.

"Changyao, you can't generalize and condemn everyone based on one example."

My older brother didn't have any shady dealings with your Zheng Meizhi.

Your older brother knew you and Zheng Meizhi went into the woods and even stopped Hou Da-yan for you.

That Hou with big eyes would follow you two around every night to eavesdrop, and then he'd come back and try to climb over Zheng Meizhi's wall.

Sui Yumi is a rigid person; she doesn't joke and doesn't understand that Zhang Changyao's words were said in anger.

His small face, wrinkled with anxiety, blinked his triangular eyes and pressed the cricket's beak against the window to explain.

Logically speaking, Zhang Changguang is not bad-looking, but he is not as tall as Zhang Changyao.

He is of medium build with a square face, thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a square mouth, just like his father Zhang Kaiju when he was young.

He just looked dull and didn't seem like a quick-witted person.

Zhang Changyao, however, was different. He had a thin, oval face, bright, large eyes, fair skin, and was also tall.

Compared to my older brother, he's like heaven and earth.

Why would Zhang Changguang marry a woman who is like a cricket possessed by magic?

It's all because he's clumsy with words and can't speak properly.

Unless he doesn't speak, nothing he says is pleasant to hear.

In this respect, he took after his father, Zhang Kaiju, who was stubborn and wouldn't submit to anyone.

"Sister-in-law, that's not what I meant, please don't take it to heart."

Zhang Changyao knew Sui Yumi's temperament, scratched the back of his head, and didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Changyao, listen to your father and your older brother. We are all family. Who would harm you?"

Now that you have a wife, stop thinking about Zheng Meizhi.

"We can't keep a woman like that in our family. Even if we could, she'd still cheat on you."

Seeing that Zhang Changguang and his father-in-law were not speaking, Sui Yumi had no choice but to start persuading Zhang Changyao again.

"Sister-in-law, it's not that I'm thinking about her, but she said I have to raise enough money to marry her in three days, or she'll accuse me of raping her."

"I...I'm just afraid of going to jail, that's why I came to talk to you."

Zhang Changyao clutched his head and grabbed his hair, squatting against the wall.

"Changguang, Dad, you can't ignore what Guangyao said."

Zheng Jingren from the Zheng family is the kind of person who will poop anything.

If Zheng Meizhi is really pregnant with Changyao's child, Changyao might really end up in jail.

Since it was inconvenient to talk through the window, Sui Yu took the child out and tried to persuade Zhang Changguang and Zhang Kaiju.

"Then let him go to jail. Who told him to be such a bad guy who can't control himself?"

Other men can sleep soundly for five or six minutes and nothing happens to them.

How come it's become like poop stuck to your hand, impossible to shake off or wipe away?

"It's because you're so naive and easy to fool that I let you take advantage of her."

Zhang Kaiju turned the winnowing basket over and picked up the soybeans on the ground.

"Dad, it's just a matter of a hundred dollars."

If you had a hundred dollars, could I marry a woman who was already heavily pregnant?

Even if Zheng Meizhi isn't good, she's still better than this woman.

I want Zheng Meizhi. I don't want to go to jail. Go and get me the money.

Zhang Changyao didn't want to waste any more time and went straight to the point, telling his father to borrow money.

"Where do you expect me to borrow from? Whose house should I borrow from? If I could borrow it, would I watch you go to jail?"

Changyao, when it comes to money, if you say you don't have it, then you really don't.

It's not that Dad didn't lend it to you, it's that Dad really couldn't borrow it.

"You've read so many books, how come you can't understand what I'm saying as well as your older brother?"

Enraged by Zhang Changyao, Zhang Kaiju kicked the dustpan on the ground far away.

"Hey! Which of you guys can speak up? Stop taking your anger out on the winnowing basket!"

"We only have this one winnowing basket that's about to fall apart. If it gets broken, we don't have to buy a new one, do we?"

Feeling sorry for the winnowing basket, Sui Yu picked it up with her child and took it inside.

"Father, I knew you were biased. My eldest brother is here and can understand what I'm saying."

It was you who spent five hundred yuan to marry him off his wife.

"If you give me five hundred yuan to get a wife, I'll understand what you're saying."