Lin Lan laughed and gently tapped him on the forehead. "You silly goose. Money doesn’t just appear out of thin air. You earn it with your brain and by working hard."
Little Douzi blinked his big, dark eyes. "Great-Grandma told us to sleep with our pillows propped up high, and we’d have monkey fur when we woke up!"
Lin Lan burst out laughing. "Great-Grandma ant she wants you to dream. You can have anything you want in your dreams!"
Little Douzi looked at Lin Lan earnestly. "Mama, how do you dream?"
Lin Lan thought for a mont. "Dreaming is like... during the day, I’m craving a big at bun. Then when I’m asleep, I get to eat one, but when I wake up, it’s gone. That’s a dream!"
Little Douzi pouted. "If it’s gone when I wake up, then never mind!"
"You little money-grubber!"
Lin Lan smiled and gave him a kiss. She straightened out the money, bundled it with a rubber band, then took Little Douzi to wash his hands. When they returned, she quickly stripped off his clothes and tucked him into bed. "Bedti."
Little Douzi held up his picture book. "Mama, read Sorsault Cloud!"
"Okay!" Lin Lan gently read the story, then read the pinyin annotations above the characters. Little Douzi’s eyes slowly closed.
Lin Lan lightly patted his back. Only after hearing the faint sound of his soft snores did she turn off the light and go to sleep.
The next morning, she first went to the ditch to wash the clothes, then hurried ho to heat up leftovers and feed the pigs.
After finishing her chores, just as she was about to wake Little Douzi for breakfast, Zhao Dehai entered the courtyard carrying a shoulder pole with baskets, followed by two n carrying wooden ladders. The baskets were filled with small, grayish-blue tiles.
Zhao Dehai smiled politely. "Lin Lan, I’ve brought the tiles. Master Xu and Master Liu are here too."
Lin Lan smiled and thanked him. "Sorry to trouble you, Third Brother-in-law. Have you eaten yet?"
The two masters smiled politely. Zhao Dehai nodded with a smile. "We’ve eaten. If you have things to do, go ahead. We can handle this ourselves."
"Alright. I’ll let you get to work. I’m going to boil so water!"
Lin Lan went to the east wing to wake Little Douzi. After the two of them ate, she boiled a kettle of water, brought it out to the courtyard, said a quick word to Zhao Dehai, and then took Little Douzi to the old madam’s house.
As soon as they arrived, Little Douzi ran into the yard to play.
Carrying her back basket, Lin Lan reached the foot of the mountain and saw Xu Chunyan standing by the fishpond with a dustpan, feeding the fish.
After Old Chen left, Liu Guozhi had arranged for Xu Chunyan to guard the fishpond.
’Liu Guozhi really has no regard for public opinion,’ Lin Lan thought. ’All the easy jobs in the Lexing Team are being done by mbers of the Liu family.’
"Aunt Xu, feeding the fish!"
Xu Chunyan turned to glance at Lin Lan, then continued tossing green grass into the pond. As Lin Lan drew closer, she said, "I heard you found soone. From town, even."
Sun Xiuhua had been saying nasty things, claiming Lin Lan had probably hooked up with that man a long ti ago.
She even suggested that when Lin Lan’s husband drowned in the ditch, it might have been because Lin Lan and her lover, seeing him as an obstacle, pushed him in.
Fortunately, Liu Guozhi had so sense and didn’t believe Lin Lan could have hard her husband.
Because on the day her husband’s body was discovered, soone from the criminal investigation team had co to examine it, and the officer in the white coat had said he drowned.
Besides, if her husband had really been murdered, Yang Dingbang, a captain in the criminal investigation team, definitely wouldn’t have let it slide.
Liu Guozhi warned Sun Xiuhua not to spread rumors. He added that Lin Lan was feisty, and if she found out Sun Xiuhua was slandering her, she would surely report her to the Public Security Bureau.
Lin Lan understood imdiately. ’That day, when I was talking with Li Xiangyang on the road, those two bitches Sun Xiuhua and Zhang Yazhen must have seen us and are now spreading rumors about again.’
She thanked her softly, "Aunt Xu! Thank you!" Although Lin Lan understood why Xu Chunyan was tipping her off, she was still grateful.
Xu Chunyan said with a pained expression, "Don’t thank . I’m not really helping you. I just can’t stand that gossiping old hag. Just keep your head down, bear it, and it’ll blow over."
Lin Lan looked at her sallow face and said, word by word, "Aunt Xu, I appreciate your kindness. But I walk a straight path and do what’s right. Why should I have to bear it?"
’I’ve already tried to avoid them, but those two bitches are still looking for trouble.’
’I won’t bear it anymore. The character for ’endure’ has a knife over a heart. I don’t want that knife stabbing any longer.’
’Besides, Li Xiangyang was just being kind and helping . If I let Sun Xiuhua and Zhang Yazhen spread these rumors, a good young man would be branded with a bad reputation by those two bitches, and I’d never be at peace with myself.’
Xu Chunyan was taken aback for a mont. She looked at Lin Lan with an envious expression. "People like you really live freely."
Lin Lan looked at her. "If bad people can live so freely, shouldn’t good people live even more freely?" With that, she walked straight towards the foot of the mountain.
"You’re right. Good people should live more freely!" Xu Chunyan murmured to herself as she watched Lin Lan’s retreating back.
After a recent rain, the cattle fodder had grown wildly. Taking advantage of the cool morning, she rolled up her sleeves and worked quickly, filling her back basket in no ti.
She packed the fodder into the basket, hoisted it onto her back, and strode towards the sunning-ground.
During the slack season, the team’s few water buffalo were all tied up in the pen. A glance inside revealed nothing but big bovine eyes and curved horns.
Lin Lan had once been nearly gored by a neighbor’s rampaging bull, and ever since, she’d been terrified of beasts with long horns.
She stood at the entrance to the pen, pulled the grass out of her basket, bundled it up, and from a safe distance, forcefully threw it in front of the water buffalo.
After quickly tossing all the fodder from her basket to the buffalo, Lin Lan prepared to head to the pig farm behind the pen. She turned and saw a cattle whip hanging by the gate. She thought for a mont, then grabbed it and turned towards the pig farm.
Before she even got there, she saw Sun Xiuhua carrying a wooden bucket, speaking animatedly to two other won.
"Yazhen and I saw the widow and her son giving a whole back-basket of things to her lover. The man was tall and strapping, his arms were all muscle, and his ass was so perky. You could tell at a glance he’s got more stamina than her late husband, good for f—"
The two won, who had been listening with relish, looked up and saw Lin Lan standing there with a murderous look on her face. They frantically winked at Sun Xiuhua. "Sister Sun, we’re still busy, we’ve got to go!"
Sun Xiuhua never dread Lin Lan would show up. She grabbed the two won. "Let tell you..."
"Little Lin, we weren’t bad-mouthing you!" the two won said, looking at Lin Lan sheepishly.
Lin Lan looked at them coldly. "Every injustice has a source, and every debt has a debtor. I’ll deal with whoever is running their mouth!"
The two nodded and quickly picked up their back baskets to flee the scene.
Hearing Lin Lan’s voice, Sun Xiuhua froze as if struck by lightning. She looked back just in ti to see the cattle whip flying toward her face with a SWISH. She hastily blocked it with the pig feed bucket. CRACK! The whip struck her body.
"AHH—" Sun Xiuhua cried out in pain.
The two won, who had only walked a few steps with their baskets, heard the cry. They looked back and saw Sun Xiuhua shudder in pain. ’That’s terrifying,’ they thought. They glanced at Lin Lan, then at each other, and decided never to provoke her again.
Caught bad-mouthing Lin Lan red-handed, Sun Xiuhua knew she was in the wrong. Seeing Lin Lan swinging the cattle whip like a demon, she ignored the pain and turned to run.
Lin Lan cracked the whip, making it whistle through the air. "You bitch! You uncultured piece of trash! Didn’t your parents ever teach you that you can eat shit, but you can’t spew it? You animal, eating human food but not acting like a human! I’m going to teach you a lesson on behalf of your parents today!"
Sun Xiuhua took a few more lashes, shaking all over from the pain. She shrieked, "She’s killing ! The widow’s gone insane!"
Lin Lan chased after her, swinging the whip. "You old whore! Don’t run if you’ve got the guts! Your mouth is a damn sewer all day long! I’m gonna tear you apart!"
"I’m not an idiot!" Seeing Lin Lan catching up, Sun Xiuhua scurried like a rat into the feed room and slamd the door shut with a BANG.
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