As soon as Chen Shenghu finished speaking, his sister-in-law's laughter came from beside him, "Brother-in-law, are you stupid? You don't really believe that this ginseng has become essence, do you?"
"You didn't see the thunder in the morning..."
"Okay!" Chen Dayong interrupted his second son impatiently, "Your elder brother said it was a coincidence. Stop scaring yourself."
"Dad, I didn't mean to scare you. The thunder that morning was really strange. It struck several thunderbolts right next to me and my brother."
Having said this, Chen Shenghu swallowed his saliva and turned to look at his brother, "Brother, can you say something?"
His brother Chen Jinbiao's expression was unnatural, "What do you want me to say? If there is really something wrong with this ginseng, why aren't you doing it now?"
In order to appear brave in front of his wife, he said with a straight face: "Second brother, if you are so scared, go back to the house and hide under the quilt!"
His wife held her son in her arms and giggled.
After laughing for a while, she said: "Brother-in-law, why didn't I realize that you were so timid before? You were actually frightened by the words of a little girl."
"Don't say it, that girl is quite clever." The person who spoke was her mother-in-law, Chen Dayong's wife, and everyone called her Aunt Yong.
"What's wrong? Is it possible that her mouth has been opened before?"
Aunt Yong said: "Didn't she say that the Lin family's daughter-in-law was unlucky before? That night, the eldest girl fell into a manhole. Although the captain said these were coincidences, I still think that girl is unusual."
Her daughter-in-law joked: "What do you mean? Mom, you don't believe that this ginseng can strike people with lightning, do you?"
"I didn't say that, but I just think the girl the Jiang family brought home has a pretty good mouth."
"In all my life, I have never seen anyone dig ginseng and be struck by lightning in the end." Chen Dayong said.
His daughter-in-law thought about it for a while and agreed: "That's right. That ginseng is not the male of thunder and the female of lightning. Even if it becomes a spirit, it is impossible for it to make thunder. At most, it can run faster and not be easily caught."
"Okay, don't worry about it," Chen Dayong put his chopsticks on the table and said, "Our family will definitely win this bet! Not only will we get a big bag of fern roots from Jiang Qingshan's family tomorrow, but we can also get it from his eldest son.
I got five dollars from it.”
Chen Jinbiao smiled and said: "Dad, we have made a lot of money this time! Not only did we make money, we also made face. That big boy will have to apologize to us in person tomorrow. It makes me happy just thinking about it! I will give him a good scolding then."
!”
"That's right! If we want others to give us face, we have to be firm enough in what we do, and we have to be justified even if we don't get it!"
Having said this, Chen Dayong looked at his second son, "Huzi, you and your brother should learn from each other, you are still not brave enough."
"I know, dad." Chen Shenghu lowered his head.
His father put the ginseng on the table and boasted some more. He became more and more proud as he talked and patted his chest, "As long as your father and I are still in the position of scorekeeper, even the branch secretary will give us face, right?
"
"That's for sure! You also remember the branch secretary's work points!"
The family was chatting enthusiastically when there was a sudden "bang" outside, and they saw lightning and thunder outside the window. The lightning was like a giant dragon hovering in the sky, slicing through the sky with its claws and teeth, illuminating the night as bright as day in an instant.
This thunder was so majestic that compared to the few thunders that struck near the Chen brothers in the morning, they seemed like a joke.
The older generation in the village said that the weather was weird, saying, "Ah! Thunder and snow, blood everywhere, it's either a plague or a disaster!"
"Dad," Chen Shenghu said fearfully, "can't it be the ginseng essence? I-I think we should hurry up...send the ginseng back to Jiang's house right away?"
His father was also a little panicked at this moment, so he pretended to be calm and said: "What are you talking about? This is just ordinary thunder. Have you never seen thunder? What does it have to do with ginseng? If you talk nonsense again, be careful or I will beat you up!"
Seeing his father raising his hand to hit him, Chen Shenghu hurriedly dodged back, "I won't say it anymore. It's okay if I don't say it. It's true."
Less than five minutes later, another burst of thunder sounded, "Boom!"
The sound was louder than before, like a warning.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu""Chen Jinbiao's son was frightened by the thunder.
"Biaozi, take your son back to the house!" Chen Dayong said.
His eldest son looked at the ginseng on the table, hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said nothing. He held his son in one hand and took his wife with the other hand back to the house.
In the Jiang family, little Lingbao, who had eaten well, put his hands on the window, looked at the sky with a pair of golden eyes, and counted in his mouth, "99, 98..."
Her mother carefully opened the curtain and saw that Lingbao was counting silently. Without saying anything, she slowly lowered the curtain.
"Mom, what is Lingbao doing?" Wu Chaozi asked in a low voice.
"She's counting by the window, don't go in and disturb her." Shen Su'e made a "hush" gesture towards her sons.
Wu Chaozi originally wanted his mother to ask Lingbao whether the thunder outside had anything to do with her, but now he looked confused and said, "Count?"
His eldest brother explained, "I guess Lingbao is giving the Chen family a chance. Lingbao is too soft-hearted and will not strike down the Chen family immediately."
"Oh, that makes sense. If that guy Chen Dayong and his two sons knew each other better and returned the ginseng to us before Lingbao finished counting, Lingbao might not have hacked them." Sihaizi said.
His fifth brother clicked his tongue twice, shook his head and said, "People like them won't shed tears until they see the coffin. They will definitely not return it."
Lingbao counted down to "1", and the golden light in his eyes became brighter.
At the same time, a bolt of thunder fell from the sky and hit the Chen family's kitchen. Then, red sparks flew everywhere, and the entire kitchen instantly turned into a sea of fire.
"Oh! The boss!" Aunt Yong shouted anxiously when she saw the flames outside the window, "It's on fire! The kitchen is on fire! Oh, the food is all in the kitchen, what should I do? Where are the two big bags of corn cobs, oh!
…”
Soon, the whole village knew that the Chen family had been struck by lightning.
"Have you heard? The Chen family is on fire. The lightning just hit the kitchen and the whole kitchen was on fire."
"Oh, is that guy okay?"
"The person is fine, but all the food is probably burned."
People living near Chen's house helped put out the fire. Seeing that the kitchen had been burned to ashes, they comforted them and said, "Fortunately, this kitchen is far away from other houses. Otherwise, if such a big fire breaks out, all your houses will be burned down."
Already."
Many of them whispered, "Isn't this too effective? Didn't they make a bet with the Jiang family this morning? Because of the ginseng thing."
"Yeah, I thought the Chen family must have won this time, but I didn't expect that their home was actually struck by lightning."
"So they robbed the Jiang family of the ginseng?"
"No, they have robbed people's things once or twice. Before, my father went into the mountains to dig a few pieces of sweet potatoes, but they were snatched away by Chen Dayong's two sons. They threatened my father that if he didn't hand it over, he would be killed next year.
All work points are cut in half, that’s so arrogant.”