Chapter Five: Naughty Kids Deserved Beatings

The next day, Gu Guo'er went to school as usual and Guo Xiang went to the village for a walk.

The village was quite big, with about a hundred households. It was built next to a small creek called the Plum Blossom Creek.

The creek bed was only about ten meters wide, and the water was not deep enough to sail a boat. However, there were still people fishing on bamboo rafts.

There were mountains around the village, but the mountains were barren and full of weeds. There were not many trees.

The fields in the village were almost all terraced fields. They were narrow and small, and you would have to climb the slopes to plant any crops, making it quite difficult for plantation. 

This place was really poor! It was a typical impoverished county. 

In her previous life, Guo Xiang had read one or two time travel novels. They talked about going up the mountains to pick herbs and going down the river to catch fish to sell at the market. It wouldn't work here because there was nothing!

Guo Xiang sighed. It seemed that the only way to make money was to go out.

When she went back, she saw someone fishing by the creek. She decided to go check it out. 

There was an old man, his hair half gray, wearing a bamboo hat and sitting under a tree by the creek. Guo Xiang looked over and saw a lot of fish in the bucket, but they were not big. The biggest fish was only three fingers wide. Most of them were small fish, measuring around one to two fingers.

Thinking of the fish soup her mother cooked in her previous life, Guo Xiang was a little hungry.

"Sir, are you selling the fish?" Guo Xiang asked.

"You want to buy them?" The old man turned to look at her. He didn't seem to know her. "Who are you? Which family are you from?"

"Uh... I'm from Gu Zhennan's family..." Guo Xiang was a little embarrassed. She was a little awkward since her marriage wasn't really glorious.

"You're the new daughter-in-law of the Gu Family? You don't look stupid!" The old man looked at her in surprise.

"Well..." Guo Xiang smiled awkwardly. "I was a little muddle-headed a while ago, but I'm back to normal after the sleep."

"Did Zhennan drive away your bad luck?" The old man laughed.

He drove away my bad luck? Honestly, that was really the case. However, Zhennan drove away my bad luck, but he also had to pay for the marriage. In the end, he was the one who had terrible luck. Guo Xiang grinned slightly. 

"You want to eat fish? I'll give some to you for free. Take two of them. The small fish will only be delicious if it's fried in lard. Nobody around here could afford that, so no one will eat it. Take them," the old man said.

"I can't do that. How could I take your things for free?" Guo Xiang replied quickly.

"The big carp in town is only two yuan per kilo. No one would wanna buy such a small fish," the old man shook his head. "Take it. No need to be so polite."

Guo Xiang picked two relatively big carps from the bucket and picked a willow branch from the willow tree next to her to make a knot. She strung the fish's cheeks and carried them. They only weighed about 250 grams, but she gave the old man 50 cents anyway. Catching fish wasn't an easy task. She couldn't just take the fish for granted. 

It was best to cook the carps with tofu. She still had to buy two pieces of tofu.

"Grandpa, does anyone in the village sell tofu?" Guo Xiang asked.

"Yes," he nodded. "Old Man Liu's house in the east of the village makes tofu. You need to go there as soon as possible or it'll be too late. Tofu doesn't last long in hot weather, so he won't make a lot of them."

"Okay, thank you, sir," Guo Xiang nodded.

The old man watched Guo Xiang as she left with the fish in her hands. She was a very polite girl. 

Guo Xiang went to Old Man Liu's house and bought one catty of tofu. It was only 20 cents. She couldn't help but comment on how cheap food was in the 80s. 

Old Man Liu mentioned that he also sold tofu in the village. However, if Guo Xiang wanted to get it in town, she would need to use food tickets to buy the tofu. Guo Xiang just remembered that food tickets were required when purchasing food in the 80s which was quite a pain and very inconvenient. 

Guo Xiang started walking home with the fish and tofu in her hands. Finally, she could eat something different for once.

Just as she walked to the door, she suddenly heard a scream. Very soon, she heard Guo'er's heart-wrenching cry which gave her quite a fright. 

She hurried and pushed open the door. Inside, Guo'er was kneeling on the floor, crying as she looked at Wang Guiying who was lying on the ground. Wang Guiying's must have hit her head somewhere. Blood was trickling down her face. 

"Guo'er, what's going on?" Guo Xiang put down everything in her hands and helped Wang Guiying up.

"It's uncle and aunt. They came to steal food and even pushed Mom..." Gu Guo'er sobbed as she pointed to the hall.

Guo Xiang was furious. She stood up abruptly, but Wang Guiying quickly pulled her back, "Xiang Xiang, forget it. There's only so much food in the house. They'll leave after they finish eating!"

"But Mom, that's everything we had! And the eggs..." Guo'er cried as tears fell from her cheeks, "We've been saving them up for ourselves. How could they..."

"Mom, it's fine. I'll go and take a look," Guo Xiang pushed Wang Guiying's hand away.

"Don't go. Your aunt is a well-known shrew in the village. You can't beat her," Wang Guiying said anxiously.

Can't beat her? Guo Xiang sneered. We'll see about that! 

Guo Xiang walked into the living room. There were three big bowls of white rice and a huge plate of scrambled eggs on the dining table. Two elders and a six or seven-year-old child were about to start eating.

"Stop!" Guo Xiang shouted, scaring the three of them.

"Who are you? Who let you in?" Gu Jianmin looked at Guo Xiang with a gloomy face.

"I should be the one asking you. This is my home. What right do you have to come in and eat my food?" Guo Xiang questioned.

"Your home? Are you Zhennan's wife?" Aunt Gu looked at Guo Xiang suspiciously. "Didn't he marry a fool?"

"That's none of your concern. Who let you in? Get Out!" Guo Xiang walked towards them.

"I'm your aunt. Why can't we come in?" Aunt Gu looked up at Guo Xiang and pointed outside, "look at your mother-in-law. She lied to us that even though she had plenty of food at home. She refused to lend us any food. Zhennan earns so much every year, but he refused to lend us any money. He really doesn't have any conscience!" 

"That's right. She refused to let me eat the eggs even though she had plenty of them. I will eat them all, and you will have nothing!" The child said fiercely as he grabbed his chopsticks and reached for the eggs. 

Guo Xiang picked up the chopsticks next to her hand and hit the child's hand.

The child jumped up in pain after a loud slap. "Grandma, Grandma, she hit me! Hit her!"

"How dare you hit my grandson? You're asking for death..." Aunt Gu stood up abruptly and raised her hand to slap Guo Xiang's face.

Guo Xiang grabbed her hand and twisted it hard behind her back. Aunt Gu cried out in pain, "It hurts, it hurts! Let go, let me go! My hand... my hand is going to break!"

"You b*tch, how dare you?!" Gu Jianmin stood up, absolutely furious. He picked up the stool and threw it at Guo Xiang.

"Xiang Xiang, be careful!"Wang Guiying, who came to the door, shouted in shock.

Guo Xiang threw Aunt Gu to the ground. She blocked the stool with her hand and raised her long legs to kick Gu Jiamin. Gu Jianmin hit the wall and screamed in pain.

"Old Man..." Aunt Gu turned pale. She rushed over to help Gu Jianmin and shouted anxiously, "how are you? Are you hurt?"

By the dining table, the child realized that they couldn't eat the food anymore. He picked up the eggs on the table and was about to smash the plate on the ground. "If I can't eat it, you can't eat it either!" 

However, Guo Xiang was faster. She grabbed the plate and looked at the child coldly. What a naughty kid. He was asking for a beating. 

"Guo'er, come and put the food away," Guo Xiang called out.

"Coming!" Seeing how strong her sister-in-law was, Guo'er felt braver than ever. She ran in and grabbed the bowls of rice, hugging them to her chest as she ran towards the kitchen. She was scared that if she didn't do it sooner, the rice would end up on the ground too. 

"Let go!" Guo Xiang stared at the child. She did not want to hit the child unless she had no other choice.

"Bah!" The obnoxious kid spat at the eggs. Guo Xiang reacted quickly as she covered the plate with her hand before the spit even got close to the eggs.

Now, the child had really pissed her off. The kid was being ridiculous, and he deserved to be punished. She wouldn't mind helping his family teach him a good lesson.

"Slap!" A crisp slap landed on the brat's forehead, and the child cried out in pain.