Chapter 43: Rumors
Editor: Atlas Studios
Hence, when Mu Yangling carried some rabbits to visit Eldest Great-aunt again, the atmosphere in West Mountain Village was rather strange. When the villagers saw Mu Yangling from afar, they avoided her.
Though a little puzzled, Mu Yangling still headed straight for her eldest great-aunt’s house.
When Ma Xiuhong and Ma Xiulan saw Mu Yangling, their eyes lit up. “Cousin, you’re here!”
“Where’s Eldest Great-aunt?”
“Grandma went to the threshing floor. Someone recently came to our village to buy grains, so Grandma sold all the grains from last year. Now, we’re just waiting to dry the new grains and store them in the warehouse.”
Mu Yangling placed the things in the kitchen and asked, “When I entered the village just now, I saw that the villagers’ attitude was strange. Did someone bully you again?”
The two children shook their heads in confusion. Ma Xiuhong said, “No, no one has been bullying us recently. Eldest Great-uncle hasn’t come over either.”
Mu Yangling thought for a moment before saying, “Have a seat. I’ll go to your second aunt’s house to take a look.”
Madam Ma-Zhang was sitting in front of her house, munching on melon seeds. When she saw Mu Yangling coming over, she stood up and patted her sleeve. With a smile, she said, “Aiyo, you’re here to see your great-aunt?”
Mu Yangling smiled and nodded. “Second Aunt, you seem to be quite free. Have you finished harvesting your grains?”
“I’ve already finished harvesting that little bit of grains long ago. I’m just waiting to thresh it and dry it in the sun.” Madam Ma-Zhang’s gaze slid across her hand. In a hushed voice, she asked, “Lass, are you sending meat to your great-aunt again? Aiyo, after you left that day, the fragrance of meat lingered for a few days. Your family is really good to your great-aunt.” She wondered why they were nowhere to be seen for the past three to four years though.
With an embarrassed smile, Mu Yangling said, “Our family hunts, so this is all we have to offer
Eldest Great-aunt. Otherwise, it would be embarrassing to always take things from her.”
Madam Ma-Zhang asked, “What do you take from her?”
“A lot. My family doesn’t grow grains, and we don’t even have many side dishes like pickled vegetables, pickled beans, soybeans and peanuts. Even though Great-aunt is generous, my father and I can’t very well keep taking these things from her for free. We can only reciprocate with some stuff and come over from time to time to see if there’s anything we can help with.” Mu Yangling slapped the wall vigorously and smiled. “My father and I don’t have anything else but strength.”
Some soil fell off from the impact of that slap.
Mu Yangling immediately forced a smile in embarrassment. “I failed to control my strength, hehe…”
“Hehe…” Madam Ma-Zhang also laughed dryly. Recalling the strength Mu Yangling had displayed the last two times, she didn’t dare to provoke her again. Thinking of the rumors in the village these few days, she wanted to sell her a favor.
Pulling her into the house, Madam Ma-Zhang whispered, “Lass, I have something to tell you. When you go out, don’t tell anyone that I told you this.”
Mu Yangling asked curiously, “What’s so mysterious?”
“Aiyo, isn’t it mysterious? Didn’t the witch from Four Village say that your Eldest Great-aunt jinxed her husband and children?” Seeing Mu Yangling’s cold expression, Madam Ma-Zhang hurriedly added, “Let me finish speaking. There’s a new development about this matter now.”
“What is it?” Mu Yangling frowned and said, “I don’t believe what the witch said.”
“That’s because you’re still young. You’ll understand when you grow up.” Madam Ma-Zhang continued, “Two days ago, that witch brought something over and left it outside your great-aunt’s house. I heard that there were two catties of brown sugar inside.”
Sugar was more expensive than salt in this world, and was one of the expensive gifts in the countryside. Here, two catties of brown sugar was considered a medium-grade gift. Why would the witch give Madam Ma-Liu a gift for no reason?
Madam Ma-Liu didn’t know who had gifted her the sugar, but many people in the village who had seen it told her.
Since Madam Ma-Liu had a feud with the witch from Four Village, she immediately asked someone to return it. However, the witch asked her youngest son to send it back. This time, she even added 20 eggs. She only said that she had wronged Madam Ma-Liu, and begged her forgiveness, hoping that she would not hold any grudges against her.
Naturally, Madam Ma-Liu had to get to the bottom of this, but the witch refused to speak no matter what. Seeing that she was mumbling, Madam Ma-Liu became even angrier. She threw those things out and cursed, “There is never a foul face but there’s a foul fancy.” Then, she simply left it at that.
However, right now, the autumn harvest had just ended and everyone was taking a break from all that hard work. Naturally, they would not let go of such good gossip. Some nosy-parkers even deliberately went to Four Village to find out more. After squatting outside the witch’s house for two days, they heard some things here and there.
It turned out that more than four years ago, when Ma Dagui went to her to have his fortune told, she had just recovered from a serious illness and her powers were greatly weakened at the time. Misled, she had made a wrong judgment. Now that four years had passed, she wanted to select a plot of land with good Feng Shui, so she took a risk and read her own fortune. Unexpectedly, she suddenly saw that she had done something to accumulate bad karma, and that this would probably affect her Feng Shui and peace in the future. Not daring to be negligent, she searched the cases by one. Finally, she found that the culprit was the fortune-telling she had done for Madam Ma-Liu four years ago.
She had read the fortune wrongly then. Because she caused Madam Ma-Liu to suffer from rumors, this bad karma might befall her instead.
Madam Ma-Liu said mysteriously, “That witch was afraid that this matter would affect her peace after her death, so she prepared a big gift to apologize. She’s hoping that your great-aunt can accept that gift and absolve her of her sins.”
Mu Yangling tried her best to restrain herself from twitching the corners of her mouth. This was obviously gibberish made up by the witch, yet many people believed this. Thankfully, she had given the witch free rein to say whatever she wanted.
Evidently, the witch was giving her utmost for that money.
Mu Yangling tried her best to look shocked and asked, “Did the witch say who misled her?”
Madam Ma-Liu pointed to the east and said, “Who else could it be? Back then, it was their family who went to have their fortune told. Later on, it was also their family who benefited. That’s not all. The witch also said that the reason why your uncle’s family is in such a miserable state is because his life is too tough and he robs people of their luck. Your great-aunt’s family’s luck will more or less be snatched away because they’re too closely-related to him and live in close proximity.”
Needless to say, this person was Ma Dagui.
Mu Yangling frowned. This witch was so ruthless, it was almost as if she had a feud with Ma Dagui. Didn’t she just ask her to fabricate some specious words to turn the attention away from her great-aunt?
She wondered if her being so ruthless would have the opposite effect and implicate Great-aunt in the end.
Madam Ma-Liu said worriedly, “In this village, apart from a few with external surnames, who doesn’t have the surname Ma? Almost everyone here is related to their family, one way or another. No wonder their family has been so prosperous in the past few years. It turns out that it’s because they’ve snatched our luck, especially your great-aunt’s family. I heard that the reason why their family is so prosperous is because all the luck that originally belonged to your great-aunt’s descendants has been snatched away by them.”
Mu Yangling’s eyes widened. “Did the witch say that too?”
“There’s no need for her to say that. Everyone can guess it with their eyes closed.”
Indeed, the wisdom of the working people could not be underestimated. Geez, just look at the rumors.
Mu Yangling asked, “Does my great-aunt know about this?”
“Tsk, who would dare to tell your great-aunt about such a big matter?”
Mu Yangling quickly took the opportunity to ask a favor of her. “Then I’ll have to ask Aunt to hide it from my great-aunt for a few more days. If she finds out about this, there’ll definitely be trouble. I’ll tell her when the time is right.” Mu Yangling paused and said, “Next time when I come to exchange things with my great-aunt, I’ll bring a piece of meat for you. Aunt, please don’t stand on ceremony.”
Eyes lighting up, Madam Ma-Zhang replied with a smile, “There’s no need to be so polite. Don’t worry, with me around, I won’t let your great-aunt find out. Remember to come and play often.” Getting a piece of meat with just a few words was such a great deal.