Outside the door, Zhao Hongxia saw that Bai Lu couldn't answer, so she took the lead and shouted: "Hurry up and take out the meat and divide it! This is meat for all of us!"
"Yes, yes, divide the meat quickly..."
"Don't be like this, oh! If you have something to say, please say it."
Zhang Hongmei, who came a step behind, was about to persuade, but was pushed aside by the crowd and almost fell to the ground.
"Divide the meat! Divide the meat!" everyone shouted.
Amid the roar of the crowd, Yao Ye walked out with a childish but calm voice, "Didn't I crush this fox to death? How did it become your flesh?"
When Li Qinghua saw Yao Hua, she gritted her teeth angrily, remembering the condescending manner in which his mother spoke to him that day.
"I heard that your father didn't want the fox that night and gave it to Master Su. Later, Master Su asked Xiaosi and the others to tell Sister Hongmei that they would give all the meat to everyone. Of course, this meat belongs to us...
…”
"Wait!" Yao Hua interrupted her and turned to Su Xiaosi and asked, "Xiaosi, did Uncle Su promise to give all the fox meat to everyone?"
"Dad said we should wait until Jinbao's first birthday party before eating meat."
"How much meat should we eat? One pound or five pounds? Or ten pounds? All of it?"
Faced with Yao Hua's question, Su Xiaosi frowned and shook his head, "Dad didn't say how many kilograms of meat we would treat everyone to. He only said that we would wait until the first birthday party and let the neighbors and I borrow some salt to marinate the meat.
"
Understanding the meaning of Yao Hua's question, Su Zhiyuan said: "That's right! Aunt Zhao, you were also present at that time. We didn't say that we would make all the meat into dishes for you to eat at the banquet."
"This dried meat weighs at least ten kilograms and uses more than forty kilograms of fresh meat to make it. Why should I give it all to you to eat?" Lin Yulan put her hands on her hips and asked sarcastically, "Only for the little salt you gave me?
"
Zhao Hongxia's chest couldn't help but rise and fall.
She was a little worried that she wouldn't be able to quarrel with Lin Yulan, so she pointed at Bai Lu, who seemed to be the most bully, and asked: "What? Your old Su family wants to default on the debt now, right?"
Li Qinghua also took advantage of the situation and said: "Sister-in-law Su, you are so shameless in picking out words like this! We are all neighbors. If you lie to us this time, who will believe you in the future?"
"That is to say, we kindly sent salt to your house..."
"Good intentions?" Bai Lu asked with a smile, "Why didn't I see it?"
Zhao Hongxia was choked by her words and was stunned for a long time before she came back to her senses, "Sister-in-law Su, what do you mean by this?"
"Bringing salt? That's a nice thing to say. Aren't you just greedy for the jerky made by my family?"
I didn't expect Bai Lu to speak so bluntly, and everyone showed embarrassment on their faces.
An older aunt felt embarrassed and coughed, "What you said is too unpleasant, isn't it?"
"You don't think it's ugly to block my house, but you actually think my words are ugly?" Bai Lu smiled disdainfully, "Aunt Chen, we are all adults, and no one is a fool. Some things are boring to talk about if they are made plain."
After living in Tongzilou for so many years, no one has ever seen Bai Lu with such sharp teeth and sharp mouth.
In everyone's memory, Bai Lu always saw everyone smiling gently and kindly, looking very easy to get along with.
I just heard her say again: "You have lived a hard life these past few years. You don't have any oil or water to eat, and you are greedy for the taste of fox meat. I understand, and I am willing to share it with you, but this does not mean that my family owes you this meat! The Su family doesn't
I owe you nothing!"
In Bai Lu's mind, hundreds of Bai family shops were smashed and burned.
After experiencing a huge change in her family, she has taken many things lightly and does not like to argue with others. She tries her best to live in the same building with everyone in a harmonious way, but this does not mean that she can let others bully her...
"I won't host Jinbao's first-year banquet! I'll pay you back double the amount of salt you lent to my family that night. If my family doesn't have enough salt, I'll pay it back with this dried meat at the current market price!" Bai Lu said.
After saying that, she looked at Zhang Hongmei and said, "Hongmei, I really want to hold the first-year wedding banquet and the wedding banquet with you, but you have also seen that in this situation, I think it is really unnecessary to do so.
, what do you think?"
Zhang Hongmei nodded, unable to hide the disappointment and helplessness in her tone, "Indeed, originally I wanted to let the neighbors have fun and celebrate Jinbao together, but now it seems... ugh! There is no point in doing it.
…”
Her words made everyone feel a little embarrassed, and many people lowered their heads in embarrassment, feeling that they had gone too far.
Hearing that the banquet was cancelled, Li Qinghua immediately became anxious and asked: "We agreed to hold a birthday banquet for everyone to eat meat, how come you don't keep your word?"
The brothers who had once been noisy and wanted to hold a birthday party for Jin Bao now fully agreed with their mother's decision.
"You just want to have a banquet and don't want to celebrate Jin Bao at all. Why do I treat you to free food at my sixth sister's birthday party?"
"That's right! When your child is one year old, who invites our family? We don't want to be taken advantage of!"
Little Jinbao in the cradle heard what his brothers said and patted the quilt happily.
Great, brothers finally figured it out!
Although having a big banquet is very nice, it is not necessary to make a fool of yourself. Besides, who really cares about the person who is hosting the banquet? You may say a few words of flattery, but in your heart you may think that the other person is a big fool.
"Aunt Li, if I remember correctly, you didn't lend me any salt, right?" Su Zhiyuan said, "If you don't mind borrowing salt, please say goodbye and block the way, and let the person who borrows salt come in first."
Li Qinghua's face turned red and white, "I..."
"Okay, just slide aside!" Lin Yulan said in a disgusted tone.
"Lin Yulan, you..." Li Qinghua was about to scold, but was immediately pushed out by a group of women behind her.
Everyone doesn't care whether Jinbao wants to hold a birthday party, but now they just want to try some fox meat jerky instead.
"Sister-in-law Su," a woman who looked a few years younger than Li Qinghua said at the front, "I brought a lot of salt to you that day, do you remember? I don't know how much dried meat I can exchange for it.
?”
She then added: "My son has never eaten beef since he was born. He heard about beef jerky that night and talked about it every day at home. I wanted to take two sticks back and give him a taste."
Yao Hua said: "You can't exchange for two sticks of jerky! A pound of pork costs eight yuan, and a pound of salt only costs 28 cents. Not to mention that Aunt Bai makes jerky, which is more expensive than fresh meat. You can use a handful of it."
You want to exchange salt for two sticks of jerky? Impossible!”
"Then if... if we calculate it this way, wouldn't my salt only get a tiny bit of minced meat?"
Seeing her pouting and almost crying, Bai Lu handed her two sticks of dried meat, "Take it home and give it to your son to try."
The woman was in disbelief at first. When she came to her senses, she hurriedly took the dried meat and said, "Thank you, thank you Sister-in-law Su!"
With tears still in her eyes, she held the dried fox meat in her hand like a precious treasure. She thanked her again, turned around, squeezed out of the crowd and ran towards her home.