His two sons recalled the time when they were almost struck by lightning, and they shouted in shock, "Dad..."
"What are you doing?" Chen Dayong was startled by his sons' voices, "You won't believe what this girl is making up, will you? What about ginseng essence? It's all superstition! Besides, you dug this ginseng in the first place.
, if you want to chop it, it’s Jiang Dong who stole it, not us!”
Chen Jinbiao glanced around to make sure there was no lightning, and he breathed a sigh of relief, "Yes, yes, Huzi and I dug it out. This ginseng needs to recognize its owner, and it also recognizes the two of us."
"Brother, are you really okay?" Chen Shenghu felt a little frightened.
His brother winked at him and said, "Keep your voice down."
"I'm a little scared..."
They had left the ginseng and ran down the mountain. They originally wanted to go home directly, but they felt unwilling to do so and turned back to the foot of the mountain. They happened to see Dadongzi carrying a sack down the mountain, with the little Lingbao jumping next to him.
"There's nothing wrong with this thing!" Chen Shenghu said regretfully, "That thunder just now has nothing to do with ginseng, it just happened to hit us. Oh, we shouldn't have lost the ginseng! Oh...oh
…”
"Stop 'hey', can't we just grab the ginseng back again?"
Chen Shenghu was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at his brother and asked: "But now in the village, there are people everywhere, how should we rob?"
"Let's steal it from our father in the open!"
When their father came to Jiang's house to ask for ginseng, they already didn't believe in ginseng essence at all, but now after hearing Lingbao's words, they began to be afraid again, especially Chen Shenghu, who was relatively timid.
At this moment, he swallowed several times and said, "Dad, I think this quarrel is too harmful to the harmony. Why don't you give up the ginseng?"
"What are you talking about? We want our things back, so why don't we want them back?"
At this point, Chen Dayong shouted to Jiang Qingshan, "Be sensible and don't want to cause trouble with the captain, so quickly hand over all the things your son stole! In addition to ginseng, there is also the sack of fern roots that my son dug!"
"
Just as Jiang Qingshan was about to answer, his daughter spoke first: "Uncle, if the ginseng essence hasn't split you by tomorrow morning, it means the eldest brother is the one who lied. Not only will the eldest brother send the fern roots to your home, but he will also
You apologize."
Xiao Lingbao's words made Chen Dayong laugh out loud, "Hahahaha... little girl, uncle, I think you are young and I don't care about you. If you dare to say such superstitious words again, your whole family will have to pick them."
Shit!"
"Is uncle scared?" Lingbao asked.
"Ha! What a joke! What am I afraid of? I don't believe these scaremongers at all! Besides, my family is not afraid of slanting shadows. This ginseng was dug out by my two sons. What do I have to be afraid of?
?”
Lingbao said with a little milky voice: "Since you are not afraid, uncle, please take away the ginseng first, otherwise no one can convince anyone with all this quarrel."
The crowd of onlookers felt that there was a good show to watch, and they all started cheering, "Yes, since this little girl from the Jiang family has said so, I don't think her parents and brothers have any objections. Uncle Dayong, you can just take the ginseng."
Take it away."
"Ahem! Let me bear witness to you! If nothing happens in Lao Chen's family, then the ginseng belongs to the Chen family, right?"
The speaker was a middle-aged man in his fifties named "Uncle Chai". He usually loved to join in the fun. Now he was smiling and asked the people around him, "Do you have any objections?"
"No objection! Not only you, Uncle Chai, but all of us can also be witnesses!"
"Uncle Dayong, please give me a word!"
Chen Dayong was surrounded by everyone and said confidently: "Okay! Let's have an agreement. If nothing happens to me tomorrow, the Jiang family will not only return the bag of fern roots to me, but also give me an extra five yuan."
Money and apology.”
"Why?" Wu Chaozi gritted his teeth, "Don't go too far!"
"Hey, what's going on? Are you scared?" Chen Dayong sneered, "If you're scared now, just give me the fern root back! To avoid being even more embarrassed tomorrow!"
Dadongzi pulled his fifth brother back and said, "What am I afraid of? Don't talk about five yuan. If you have nothing to do tonight, I will pay you ten yuan!"
Changing the topic, he added: "But if you are struck by lightning tonight, not only will the ginseng be returned to me, but your son will also have to apologize to me in front of the whole village and admit that they not only robbed me of my things on the mountain, but also ran away."
If someone comes to my house and the thief calls, catch the thief!"
Chen Dayong immediately agreed, "Sure! Then we can make a deal!"
After saying a few harsh words, he took the ginseng and left with his two sons.
Uncle Chai said with a smile: "Hahaha, there will be a good show tomorrow. Who do you think is apologizing to whom? I think the Jiang family may have to pay compensation."
"Is this big boy stupid? He actually made such a bet with the Chen family. How can the little girl take the nonsense she says seriously? I don't believe there is any ginseng essence."
This matter soon spread in the village. Everyone said that Dadongzi's wife had run away, that he had broken a pot and made a wild bet with others.
"I don't know whether Dadongzi paid for it himself or his parents. Five yuan can buy a lot of rice."
"They have all separated their families. Dadongzi must be here!"
When this news reached Erhuazi's ears, his wife was surprised and said, "What's wrong with your brother? Is he crazy? I've heard before that if you don't tie a red string around a ginseng, the ginseng will run away.
I’ve never heard that ginseng can cause lightning strikes.”
Several pictures emerged in Erhuazi's mind, about how he and Lingbao went to town together before, and Lingbao stunned several educated youths who were robbing money.
Thinking of this, he said: "My eldest brother has always been prudent in his work. Since he dares to make this bet, he must be well aware of it."
"I don't know if he is stable or not. Anyway, if he loses the bet and comes to you to borrow money, you are not allowed to borrow it," Huang Yuezhu said.
"What kind of money are you borrowing? Captain Li just paid out dividends on New Year's Eve. I secretly looked at the work-hour record book. My eldest brother earned more than 3,200 work points last year, and my sister-in-law also earned more than 1,200 work points. Together, the total is almost 4,500 work points. After calculating the dividends, I can just pay it off.
I already have two hundred yuan, but if I lose the bet, will I not be able to pay five yuan?"
Huang Yuezhu lowered her voice and said: "I heard that your sister-in-law took away all the dividend money and didn't leave a penny for your brother."
"Who did you listen to?"
"What's your name?" Huang Yuezhu tried hard to think of a name, "Oh, Fang Guizhu, she is Shui Wangniang. Her natal family and her sister-in-law are from the same village. She quietly told me this morning that this matter has spread throughout Fangjia Village.
"
Erhuazi was surprised and angry, "What do you mean, sister-in-law? She took all the money away, what will my elder brother do? She won't give all the money to her brother, right?"
"If you don't take some money and food back, will her parents allow her to take her two children back to waste food?" Huang Yuezhu said, "But taking them all is a bit too much. It's not a divorce, it's just a quarrel.
."
Erhuazi frowned, "What the hell is this!"
Saying this, he felt uneasy, so he stood up and said, "Please stay at home and don't wander around, so as not to get bumped. I have to go see my big brother."
Huang Yuezhu called to him, "If you leave now, who will cook dinner?"
"Don't worry, I'll be back soon. You won't be hungry. I'll have cornmeal gnocchi tonight. I've already ground the cornmeal in the morning."