Chapter 161: Magpie comes to visit

“I don’t want to go!” Ah Jian interrupted Xi Que, staring at her coldly. “I am not your friend and we are not familiar! I don’t want to go, Miss Xi Que, please go back!”

Xi Que worked for a wealthy family and was used to people being lenient with her. When she heard Ah Jian’s words, how could she not feel sad? Her eyes were red and she choked as she spoke: “I— I invited you personally, won’t you give me face? This is for my birthday; can’t you say something nicer? Brother Ah Jian, what’s wrong with me? Why do you hate me like this!”

As Xi Que spoke, she wept softly and her slender shoulders trembled pitifully.

It as a pity that Ah Jian had no waves in his eyes. He hated women like this the most, not to mention Xi Que was not very clever.

Seeing her sobbing and crying unpleasantly, Ah Jian simply don’t bother to pay any more attention to her. He stepped up into the house.

The sobs and wails stopped abruptly as Xi Que, stunned, stared at his back with her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide. Her face was full of disbelief!

Two small heads emerged from the corner, silently watching from the side. It was Lian Fang Qing and Lian Che.

Xi Que glanced at the two children, her pretty face flushed red, and her chest rose and fell sharply.

Inside, Ah Jian entered the room and took a long breath. He saw Lian Fang Zhou quietly look at him and made a pitiful expression of annoyance. “That girl is simply bizarre!”

Lian Fang Zhou smiled and said, “Beautiful women love heroes! I understand, running around my house all day must be a very boring life!”

“It’s not!” Ah Jian said quickly.

In fact, he wanted to add that the Yang family was not the only dog skin plaster…

“Oh, she hasn’t left yet.” Lian Fang Zhou said, looking outside.

Ah Jian snorted. “I don’t want to deal with her anymore!”

“I don’t want to do it!” Lian Fang Zhou really did not want to get involved so she sent Lian Ze to the kitchen to find Third Aunt.

Lian Ze nodded and left.

After a while, they saw Third Aunt step out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron as she walked towards Xi Que, saying loudly: “I say, girl, it’s going to be dark soon! Our house has nothing to spare, there are no extra beds or food for you to eat, so get moving!”

“You—!” Xi Que’s face flushed from red to purple after hearing this and she was shivering with anger.

Such a poor house in the countryside, even if an eight-carriage sedan chair invited her, she would  never come inside! This country woman couldn’t even compare to her own rough maid and she actually thought Xi Que wanted to eat her food!? Bah, the dogs in the mansion were probably eating better than them!

Just hearing her words was enough to make people angry.

Third Aunt glanced at her indifferently: “Still not going? I’ll tell you now, no matter what excuses you have, I won’t be swayed, let alone give you half a bowl of rice! You understand? Now hurry up!”

Xi Que was so angry she couldn’t move, staring at Third Aunt and trembling. “Who, who wants to eat your family’s dinner! Me? I don’t want it!”

“Hmph!” Third Aunt gave her a disdainful look and said, “What are you so angry about? It must be because your heart is embarrassed! Well, get going, go on!”

Third Aunt waved her hands, looking disgusted.

Xi Que felt her head spin, dizzy, and a gush of steam went straight to the top of her head. She stomped her feet and pointed at Third Aunt, cursing: “You vulgar country woman! There is nothing good in your mouth!”

Although Xi Que was just a girl, she had grown up next to Miss Jin in the deep inner courtyard, a lady who was a bit different than most young ladies.

In the inner courtyard, there was no lack of intrigue but it was all yin*, fighting with insinuations instead of guns and sticks, and she had rarely been scolded. Even if you hated someone to death, you had to smile kindly at them as if you had met a good sister.

Therefore, despite how angry Xi Que was, she couldn’t find the words to scold Third Aunt.

The best she could do was to shout ‘vulgar’.

Third Aunt hummed, “What’s the matter with this old woman being vulgar? How noble you are! Aren’t you just a little girl who still has to carry a shitbowl? How amazing! Now get out! We’re going to eat!”

Xi Que was so embarrassed her face and neck were flushed. Coupled with the grievances suffered from Ah Jian earlier, she couldn’t help but cry until tears were covering her face.

She turned and ran towards the door before suddenly stopping. She looked over her shoulder, hoping that Ah Jian would come out of the house to apologize to her.

But she was disappointed, Ah Jian did not come out.

Instead, Third Aunt rolled her eyes at her.

Xi Que couldn’t bear it anymore and ran away crying.

“Shameless!” Third Aunt snorted, rolling up her sleeves as she headed back to the kitchen.

Watching from inside, Ah Jian finally let out a sigh of relief.

“Brother Ah Jian, are we still going to make a beehive?” Lian Fang Qing and Lian Che asked, coming back inside.

To the west, the sun was slowly falling, and the golden glow was fading to darkness at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Soon, it would be dark.

Ah Jian glanced at Lian Fang Zhou, consulting with her silently.

Lian Fang Zhou complained in her heart at Xi Que’s troublesomeness. If it hadn’t been for her, they would have already finished!

“Let’s do it! Ah Jian, thank you for your hard work!” Lian Fang Zhou said finally, sighing lightly. “Otherwise, the bees will continue to die.”

Ah Jian nodded: “It won’t take much time, it’s okay!”

Lian Fang Zhou smiled and directed the three children to help him. She went over to Carpenter Zhang’s house to borrow a saw.

They had caught a lot of prey that day and their dinner would be very rich. Third Aunt and Lian Fang Zhou discussed making a braised rabbit meat dish, a plate of chicken stir-fry, and a mushroom chicken soup.

There were a lot of dishes to make and the time for dinner was not far off. While the food cooked, Ah Jian finished the beehive and Lian Fang Zhou carefully moved the bee colony in, gently placing it under the eaves of the attic. Crushing the remaining pine nut candy into sugar, she sprinkled it inside before going to wash her hands and eat.

The three children watched her work until the hive was secured. Thinking about having honey the next year, they were all very happy.

“Sister, let’s take the bamboo beehive with us tomorrow, maybe we can find another colony!” Lian Ze suggested eagerly.

Lian Fang Zhou laughed. “How can there be so many?” Thinking about it, she laughed again: “But it’s okay, take it! We will put it on the side of Xianteng Mountain next time. Use it or forget about it, its fine.”

TN: *Yin as in women (Yin Yang)