Chapter 163: A Toad Lusting After a Swan’s Flesh

Chapter 163: Chapter 163: A Toad Lusting After a Swan’s Flesh

"Mom, how are you planning to convince them? You’re not going to just say all this directly to Uncle and Auntie, are you?" Gu Nuan Nuan asked curiously.

"Do you really think your mother is an idiot?" Zhang Minzhen poked Gu Nuan Nuan’s forehead, annoyed. "I would never say this in front of your uncle and auntie. I’ll go straight to your grandpa and grandma and tell them what you said. With their life experience, they’ll probably understand it even better than we do. As long as they agree, your uncle will eventually come around. But I also believe he’ll make it up to you in his own way later. The most likely outcome is that if this business really takes off, your dowry will be taken care of, and I won’t have to worry about it."

Zhang Minzhen looked at Gu Nuan Nuan lovingly and sighed, "More importantly, if anything happens to you in the future, your two cousins on your uncle’s side won’t just stand by and do nothing. You’re all alone. You don’t have any brothers of your own to back you up. What I worry about most is your future... Even if you had a mountain of gold, what good would it do if you ran into a master schemer with enough patience? Even if you’re smart, it might not be enough..."

She seemed to drift off for a moment. ’No matter how smart a woman is, sometimes she can’t see through the trials of love. This world doesn’t lack for loyal and affectionate men, but there’s no shortage of heartless, cruel ones either—’

"Mom, hurry and add water! The tomatoes in the pot are about to boil dry." Gu Nuan Nuan saw her mother staring blankly. Having already lived one life, how could she not understand her mother’s unspoken worries? ’It’s just about the relationships between men and women, isn’t it? Mom is worrying way too early. Besides, she doesn’t know that I’ve already seen right through men in this life.’

"Oh no—"

Zhang Minzhen snapped back to her senses and quickly filled the pot with water, then put the lid on. She took a bowl, cracked a dozen or so eggs into it, whisked them, and set them aside. Then, she took another basin, scooped in more than half a basin of flour, and started mixing it with water. Gu Nuan Nuan now understood that she was making tomato and egg drop soup with dough bits. Seeing they still needed scallions, her gaze swept across the room and spotted a bunch of unwashed ones on a nearby table. She grabbed them and dashed outside. "I’ll go wash the scallions."

When the clock struck eleven-thirty, lunch was finally ready. Gu Nuan Nuan, being strong, helped her mother move the four wooden buckets—filled with meat buns, steamed buns, soup, and bowls and chopsticks, respectively—onto the handcart and secured them. "We can go."

Zhang Minzhen locked the door, went over, and grabbed the two handles of the handcart to pull it. Gu Nuan Nuan immediately steadied one side and helped her push. It wasn’t that Gu Nuan Nuan was unwilling to help her mother pull the cart; it was that despite her strength, her body hadn’t fully grown yet. Her arms and legs were too short, her arms not long enough to pull the cart, so she could only stand to one side and help her mother push.

The two of them traveled a good distance without any trouble. As they were passing the front of a house in the village, the courtyard gate suddenly opened, and a man in his early forties with a fierce face and sleepy eyes walked out.

He yawned and looked outside, just in time to see Zhang Minzhen’s face clearly. That one look was enough to make him freeze on the spot, his mouth hanging open, oblivious to the drool dripping from it—the woman before him had an oval face, fair skin with a rosy glow, and a long, slender neck... She was prettier than any woman he had ever seen.

He had seen plenty of women in his time, but most were country women who dressed plainly and were tanned dark as charcoal from working in the fields. On the rare occasion he came across one who was decent-looking, fair-skinned, and pretty, she was almost always taken. He didn’t dare make a move on just any married woman. Most of them were holier-than-thou and hard to seduce, not to mention their husbands kept a tight watch on them.

But this one... she was a new face...

Han Bingquan figured that while he might not be good at much else, he had no problem recognizing and remembering all the pretty young wives and unmarried girls in Lihua Village, even if he wasn’t personally acquainted with them. Yet this woman, who had made his heart itch at first sight, was a complete stranger. He stood there dumbfounded for a long time, only snapping out of it when the backs of the mother and daughter were about to disappear from view. His eyes darted around, and he suddenly remembered hearing a couple of days ago that a divorced woman with a child had come to their village.

He’d heard that this divorced woman was the daughter-in-law of the Gu Family, outsiders who used to live in the village.

Han Bingquan swallowed hard and cursed the Gu Family under his breath. ’The well-fed don’t know the starving’s hunger. Here I am, unable to find a wife like that, and their family just throws away a goddess-like woman just like that? Ugh, comparisons are infuriating—’ He seethed with resentment where he stood, but then a sly grin spread across his face. ’This isn’t so bad. Who knows, even if I can’t take her for myself, maybe I can still get a little something out of it?’

’But I heard her father and brother are in Lihua Village now, helping her build a house. They even hired people. It’s obvious she’s planning to settle down here, isn’t she?’ Han Bingquan let out a "heh heh" laugh, a lewd expression covering his face. ’The spot she picked for her new house is pretty good, too. Right at the foot of the mountain. Barely anyone lives there now. If I want to sneak over in the middle of the night and make a scene, no one will be around to get alarmed and spoil my fun. How perfect is that?’

The more Han Bingquan thought about it, the more his heart itched. He was filled with an agonizing itch of regret. ’Why didn’t I seize the opportunity just now to chase after her, get acquainted, exchange a few words, or even invite her over to my place?’ But from the looks of it, she was probably going to deliver food to the people helping build her house. ’I’ll just wait here at my door. I refuse to believe she won’t come back this way.’

Meanwhile, after they had walked some distance, Zhang Minzhen, still unaware that she had been targeted, showed a look of extreme disgust on her face. "Nuannuan, that man back there was obviously not a decent person. If you see him trying to talk to you in the future, don’t pay him any mind. You have to stay far away from him, understand?"

The mere thought of the naked way that hooligan-like man had looked at her made Zhang Minzhen feel sick to her stomach. She wasn’t too worried about herself. In her mind, as long as she ignored people like that, it would be fine. If she didn’t engage, what could they possibly do to her? But then she suddenly remembered that her daughter was still young and didn’t understand the matters between men and women at all. If she didn’t warn her, she was afraid Nuannuan wouldn’t be on guard against someone who so clearly had bad intentions. What if she wasn’t careful and someone took advantage of her? Wouldn’t she regret it for the rest of her life? So, she quickly began to instruct her daughter: "There are bad people nowadays who specifically like to secretly bully young girls. You have to be more careful from now on. Be alert around any man or boy who approaches you. You’re not a little kid anymore. You have to avoid anyone who tries to get handsy with you, no matter who they are, understand?"