The Village Belle is Trying to Cause Trouble Again

Chapter 5: It Was Difficult to Live or Die
 

Seeing his back gradually disappearing from sight, Su Tao's hope was gone and she wailed in her heart.

It was difficult to live or die!

Mrs. Xie-Qin was blocked by the umbrella and didn’t see Su Tao pulling her son. When she saw her son coming back with reddened eyes, she asked in a concerned voice, “What's wrong?”

Xie Yuntang was afraid that Su Tao would be beaten, so he quickly shook his head, took Mrs. Xie-Qin’s hand and said softly, “Mom...”

Su Tao was so... so scary.

Had she gone crazy...

“I’m here.”

Mrs. Xie-Qin thought he was frightened by Su Tao's fainting and comforted him, “Don't be afraid. She's fine.”
 

Over at this end, Su Tao lay down for a while. When she saw that no one cared about her, she simply sat up again. Her mouth was dry and she licked her lips.

At this moment, Su Zhi suddenly ran over from the room beside her. He said with a voice that indicated that he did something bad, “Sister, eat this." He ran away after saying that.

Su Tao looked down. It turned out to be an egg.

Happiness came so suddenly.

She opened her eyes slightly, gulped and before she could hide the egg in her sleeve, she heard Mrs. Su-Qian yelling from the main house, “Who stole my boiled egg?! Who stole it? Take it out! If I find the culprit, I’ll beat that person to death.”

Su Tao shuddered in fright. She quickly stuffed the egg into her sleeve and knelt properly.

In the house, Mrs. Su-Qian was already searching Su Zhi and the others one by one. When she failed to find the egg on them, she began to search the rooms one by one. In the end, she even searched the chicken coop.

With the way Mrs. Su-Qian was searching, Su Tao would be searched sooner or later. She panicked, then looked left and right. There was no other place to hide the egg except the stinky ditch.

If she were caught, she would die here.

She struggled a little in her mind before throwing the egg into the stinky ditch. She looked over and could only see a little bit of white. It wasn’t obvious unless one looked carefully.

Before she even turned around, Mrs. Su-Qian had run out and picked her up in a rough manner with one arm. She searched Su Tao from head to toe and let her go after she couldn't find anything.
 

After searching everywhere, Mrs. Su-Qian couldn't find the egg and began to yell, "Which loser stole the egg? He might as well eat the eggshell too. I’ll beat him to death if I find the egg!”

“I must have been unlucky in my past life. How dared that person steal an egg? Have I not been giving you food or clothes?”

“I curse whoever ate the egg to have no arsehole!”

The corners of Su Tao's mouth twitched. She lowered her head and said nothing, thanking her little stars.

Fortunately, the egg wasn’t found.

Mrs. Su-Qian cursed for a long time, but still could not vent her anger. She searched every corner of the house again. The kids did not dare to go anywhere and stood timidly in the main room.

Su Zhi hid behind Lin Sanzhu and peeked at Su Tao. Su Tao didn’t know if he was afraid that she would snitch on him or that she would beat him.

The Jiang family next door couldn't stand the noises from the Su family. Granny Jiang came out with a dustpan and rebuked, "Qian Cuihua, what are you doing? The village doesn't belong to your family. What’s the big deal about a missing egg? Need you cause such a ruckus?”

“Everyone's family is poor, but they're not as stingy as yours!”
 

“If you aren’t stingy, give me an egg then. If you were in my shoes, you wouldn’t have said that. Sooner or later, your eggs will be stolen!” Mrs. Su-Qian wasn’t to be trifled with. She ran out angrily when she heard that.

Granny Jiang gave her a sharp look. “Your face is really big.”

“Not as big as yours. Your face is as big as a plate.” Mrs. Su-Qian was as equally sharp-tongued.

Su Tao looked at Granny Jiang. Her face was quite big.

Mrs. Su-Qian had touched a sore spot. Granny Jiang gave Mrs. Su-Qian a glare and then went back with the dustpan.

  ……
 

It wasn't until dark that the men of the Su family returned home and it was only then that Su Tao was allowed to enter the house. Her legs were already numb from kneeling and she had to cling on to the threshold for a while before she could move again.

Su Tao's grandfather, Su Dagui, heard that Su Tao had cut off the sweet potato leaves and his expression turned ugly. He said lividly, “Can't you tell the difference between sweet potato leaves and ragweed? Have you been eating in vain for so many years?!"

“Su Fu’s wife is absurd too. How have you been teaching your kids?”

Lin Sanzhu stood at one side and didn't dare to speak. Su Tao wasn’t stupid. This must be the decision-maker of the family, so she followed suit and remained quiet.

Although she didn't know much about this place yet, she knew one thing for certain. Women's status was low and they didn't have much right to speak.

“Dad, it's Taozi's fault. I’m sure Taozi has realized her mistake after kneeling for a whole day. It couldn’t be helped that the sweet potato leaves were cut off. I'll dig the sweet potatoes out tomorrow morning. They probably should still be edible.” Su Fu, a tall man next to Su Tao, apologized in an honest manner.

He had been the first person to defend Su Tao since she came to this place. She subconsciously disregarded the help she received from Xie Yuntang, that unlucky hero. She looked at the man. He was probably the original host’s father.

Her father was probably a good person.

She moved behind him, praying that she would not be beaten again.

She was really scared of the beating.

“They’re edible! Of course they’re edible. Even mud can be eaten these days!”

After Su Dagui got angry, he yelled at Mrs. Su-Qian. “Is dinner ready? I’d been working all day!”

“It's ready. It can be served right away. Su Fu’s wife, hurry, serve the food.”
 

Mrs. Su-Qian nodded quickly and then complained to Su Dagui, “Today, I had boiled three eggs for you to eat when you returned, but some short-lived loser stole one of them. I had to cook one more egg in the end.”

Su Zhi, who was the short-lived loser, leaned close to Su Fu in fear. Su Fu didn't think much about it. He touched Su Zhi’s head to signal him not to be afraid.

Su Dagui had worked all day and was too tired to bother about these messy matters. “Forget it. Hurry, scoop up the rice!”

When Su Tao watched the food being served on the table, her stomach let out a loud rumbling sound. Everyone suddenly glanced in her direction.
 

Su Tao, “...”

She had been so embarrassed that she no longer felt the embarrassment.

Then, Su Dagui said, “Sit down and eat.”

When Su Tao saw that they had all sat down to eat, she gulped and took her bowl to scoop the rice in the rice steamer. However, her hand was slapped by Lin Sanzhu just as she was about to scoop up the rice. Lin Sanzhu cursed in a low voice, “Do you still want to kneel further? Go eat the porridge!”

The Su family wasn’t well-to-do, so only the men who had done physical work could eat the rice.

Su Tao felt the pain from the slap. She looked at the big bowl of soup next to her. This wasn’t porridge. It was obviously soup.

Reluctantly, she scooped up the porridge. After eating a big bowl of it, her stomach still felt empty. Thus, she ate a few chopsticks of sweet potato leaves.

Even that earned a few glares from Mrs. Su-Qian.

Su Tao wasn't even thirty percent full after the meal. She walked out of the main room feeling her flat stomach and muttered softly, “I'm so hungry...”

Suddenly, she remembered that there was an egg in the stinky ditch. Her eyes lit up and she turned her head to look at the people sitting and talking in the main room.

They must have earned a little money because the whole family was delighted.

After Su Tao left the yard, she looked left and right. There was no one outside at this hour. She ran to the stinky ditch. The foul smell made her retch. “Ugh~”

She stood on the spot and struggled in her mind for a while before she pinched her nose and grabbed the egg from the stinky ditch in one go. Just as she was about to run off, she saw a short figure not far away under the moonlight.

Although she couldn't see his face, she knew who he was.

Milksop!

Su Tao was a little discomfited for a while...

She actually picked up food from the stinky ditch.

And her action was even spotted by someone.