Carrot and Stick

Qiao Mei took a few perfunctory steps to send them off. Before they even left the courtyard, she went back to prepare dinner.

She took out the meat that her grandfather had bought a few days ago to prepare stewed meat tonight. It had already been a few days and it would spoil if they did not eat it soon.

The old widow, who had just walked out of the courtyard, turned around and saw her carrying half a catty of meat and throwing it into the pot. Her heart immediately ached.

Isn't this too extravagant?

"This big piece of meat looks to be half a catty, right? If you cut it two or three pieces at a time, you can have meat for a month. Won't that be great? This Qiao Mei is really too wasteful! I have to teach her!"

The matchmaker rolled her eyes and stopped her. "She hasn't even entered your house yet. It has nothing to do with you, don't go asking for a snub."

It would be really embarrassing to let this old widow go in and sprout nonsense. The marriage was not even cast in stone yet, so why did you care about how others ate meat?

This was too embarrassing.

The Wang family was indeed very poor. They did not have the money to buy piglets, even if they did, they did not have any food to feed them. Therefore, it had been a long time since they had eaten any meat.

Wang Yong was also craving for it, but he cared about his reputation, so he simply turned his head to avoid looking at the pork.

This Qiao Qiang doted on his granddaughter so much that he was willing to spend all his money on her. So this part of the rumors was true.

Besides, one could tell just by looking at Qiao Mei's figure.

The old widow turned her head back three times with every step she took. She kept muttering, "Too wasteful, this Qiao Mei is too wasteful!"

"Qiao Mei, we want her."

However, there was nothing they could do if the Qiao family refused to give in and was unwilling to let her marry into their family. It was really worrying.

"Yong Yong, what do you think we should do now?" As she turned her head to look back, she asked Wang Yong. In her heart, Wang Yong was the one who held absolute power in the family.

Wang Yong followed her gaze and turned his head to look at the courtyard behind him. They did not walk fast and by now, the fragrance of pork had already wafted out from the courtyard, making him gulp.

"If we can't do it today, then we come back tomorrow!" he said with a vicious look in his eyes.

A fat woman cannot be so particular. If they don't succeed, they will try again. If a soft approach cannot do it, they will do it by force. There will be a way to make this fat woman relent.

Besides, he had experience in hitting a woman in such a manner that she would suffer but be unable to talk about it.

Seeing how determined her son was, the old widow finally felt relieved and went home.

…

Qiao Mei did not take the marriage proposal to heart and went up the mountain again after dinner.

Now that the little piglets had been bought, she had to go up the mountain to get some food for them. The rice in the rice jar at home was not even enough for her grandfather and her. There was simply no food for the piglets!

Qiao Mei shouldered the carrying pole and went up the mountain along the village road. What she did not expect was that along the way, there were villagers who took the initiative to talk to her.

"Mei Mei, are you going up the mountain now?"

The auntie smiled and greeted her normally. Qiao Mei smiled and replied, "Yes, Auntie Sun. I'm going up the mountain to find some food for the pigs, otherwise the little piglets will go hungry."

"Going to the hot spring again?" Auntie Sun continued to ask.

"Yes!"

There was no other place to go except that area. The grass nearby had only just sprouted, and it was not even enough to fill two shovelfuls.

Auntie Sun seemed to want to say something when she heard that, but she only smiled and kept quiet.

Qiao Mei felt that it seemed a little strange.

But when she met the second person who took the initiative to talk to her, she understood what was happening.

"Qiao Mei, are you going up the mountain to the hot spring again?" This auntie was more straightforward. Without waiting for Qiao Mei's reply, she continued, "If you can still find pumpkins, can you come back and exchange them with my family? Other than green beans, my family also has red beans, soybeans and other things. If not, there's also some rice and potatoes, depending on what you want."

The auntie had stewed the pumpkin last night. The fragrant aroma filled the air when it was cooked, making her children cry out in anticipation, and it tasted a hundred times better than meat.

She would have gone to look for the pumpkins herself if not for the fact that the place at the back of the mountain was too far away from the village. It would take half a day to travel back and forth, in turn delaying her work in the village.

When Qiao Mei heard this, her eyes lit up. She was only just worried that there was not enough food at home.