“Wha… What are you talking about?” the Wang Family asked.
Nan Feng looked at her pocket: “Are you hiding in the pocket on your right, the face cream that you took from my vanity?”
“Who said? I, a respected former wife of the clan chief, need something of yours?” Wang snapped, starting to walk away.
Nan Feng stopped her: “I saw it all, Auntie. If you don’t pull it out, I will have to take it back.”
Wang was angry and ashamed, reluctantly taking out the item: “Fine, fine, you don’t even want to give this away to me? I simply took it seeing that you had used it before, assuming you didn’t care any more.”
Nan Feng took the bottle of face mask, “Then, Auntie, take your time, don’t bother seeing me out.”
“…”
Wang scurried home red-faced and frustrated.
Every time she came across any villager with the surname ’Nan’, she had a good plaint, “Nan Quanyou and his daughter are so arrogant. They have all sorts of wild games in their home, but only gave me two dried fish. They infuriated me!”
Initially, the villagers had planned to visit Nan Feng’s home for New Year’s greetings in turns, but witnessing Wang’s continuous grumbling, they changed their mind. They had expected to get some wild boar meat or a rabbit from Nan Feng’s home.
But instead, they all got two tiny, shriveled dried fish.
Not only did Wang say these things in the village, she also spread them among acquaintances she met outside.
Anyway, she spoke ill of Nan Feng everywhere, saying that Nan Feng was very stingy at such a young age, as was Nan Quanyou. Well, they were so poor in the past half of their lives, how could they not be poor while being so miserly?
Later, someone asked Wang,
“I heard that when you went to Quanyou’s house the other day, you brought dried vegetables?”
Wang: “…”
“Shouldn’t you carry some noodles, or pork for New Year’s greetings?”
Wang: “…”
“Isn’t it quite worthwhile to exchange a bunch of Chinese Cabbage for two dried fish?”
Wang: “…”
“Your youngest brother said in the village that Sister Nan Feng is good, he ate many peanuts and sunflower seeds.”
Wang: “…”
The villagers all spoke up for Nan Feng: “Nan Feng is quite generous usually. She has done so much for the village, doesn’t she seem like a stingy person?”
Some echoed, “That’s right, no matter how many game they have in their family, those wild animals were hunted by them in the first place. Besides, her family needs to exchange those animals for money to support the family.”
Wang: “…”
In the end, the public sentiment in the village shifted dramatically.
Everyone said that the Nan Meng clan, who had never contacted the Nan Quanyou family before, came to build relationships with them because they saw the family had some money now. They began plaining about receiving only two fish.
Some “witnesses” claimed that the two fish Nan Feng originally gave were huge, but they just looked small because they had dehydrated into dried fish. If the fish were still alive, they would weigh three or four taels each.
That day Wang packed her bags and dejectedly left for down, no longer feeling fortable staying in the village.
The other people surnamed Nan didn’t dare to take advantage of Nan Feng’s hospitality under the pretense of kinship anymore.
Nan Feng didn’t expect that the villagers would stand up for her just because she had casually helped them a few times. It seemed that the villagers were quite innocent, and they always reciprocated kindness.
Especially later during the busy farming season.
…
The rice in Qingshui Town is grown twice a year. After the beginning of spring, villagers started busy seeding.
Before seeding, they needed to buy seeds first.
The seeds could be bought from the village chief. People typically bought according to their own situations; the ones with more fields or people bought more, while the ones with fewer fields or people bought less.
Nan Feng had been living in Daping Village for half a year. Through her daily observations, she had already learned how to grow rice. This time, she was in charge of buying seeds.
She needed to line up to buy seeds. When she got to the village chief’s house, she met Uncle Ye, who was already in the middle of the line.
Nan Feng greeted Uncle Ye, and he nodded at her.
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