Chapter 453: Chapter 440: Watching the Fun

Especially when Zhang Yongchang’s face looked unwell, they became more nervous, unsure of what they had done wrong.

“You two little rascals, confess honestly, did you bully Little Sister Ning?” Zhang Yongchang shouted angrily.

What?

Lian Rong and Ma Tong both froze, and then glanced at each other before looking towards Zhang Yongchang.

Their eyes were full of infinite grievance.

Bully Zhuang Qingning? Dared they?

Not to mention lending them one hundred and twenty gallbladders, even if they were drunk and borrowed two hundred gallbladders, they would not dare do such a thing.

“Not answering implies an admission of guilt?” Zhang Yongchang roared again.

“Master, we did not…” Lian Rong hurriedly defended.

“You still want to argue!” Zhang Yongchang shouted again.

Well, explaining seems pointless, but so does not explaining.

This really proved the saying, a person is busy working in the backyard, then suddenly a large pot falls down from the sky, even dazing the person.

The grievance couldn’t be voiced.

The two of them were too unfortunate…

Zhuang Qingning immediately widened her eyes.

She did not expect Zhang Yongchang to have such a thought process.

“No no, Uncle Zhang, Lian Rong and Ma Tong definitely did not bully me. It is just that the workshop has been really busy these few days and we are a little tired. Seeing Ma Tong and Lian Rong’s capability and how they set my mind at ease, to compare them with the people in the workshop, I just feel that it’s really infuriating to compare people with people.” Zhuang Qingning quickly explained.

Not only did she explain, but she took the opportunity to praise Ma Tong and Lian Rong, and to apologize to them for being unjustly implicated by her.

Lian Rong and Ma Tong, hearing Zhuang Qingning’s praises, appeared star-struck. They looked at Zhuang Qingning full of gratitude.

No wonder, Little Sister Ning knew how to empathize with them and understood their hardships.

“Capable and giving peace of mind?” Zhang Yongchang scoffed, “They’re just passably useful, to say more would be giving them too much credit.”

“Enough, you two get to work quickly, hurry and prepare the lamb soup, there will definitely be people asking for it later.”

The weather was gradually getting colder, a bowl of hot, fragrant lamb soup can be considered an excellent choice to dispel the cold and warm the stomach.

Even for those who come to drink, after a few rounds of wine, eating a few good side dishes, and at last having a bowl of lamb noodle soup with fresh soup and chewy noodles, or soaking bread in lamb soup, it’s a great pleasure.

Because of this, Ruyi Pavilion’s lamb soup had been selling extremely well.

Those who are wealthy and like to eat lamb, come for the lamb soup; those who are not so well-off, come for the lamb offal soup, which is just as delicious.

Upon hearing this, Ma Tong and Lian Rong quickly go to work on their respective tasks, while Zhuang Qingning has a casual chat with Zhang Yongchang.

Shortly before noon, Zhang Yongchang had to enter the kitchen to be busy, while Zhuang Qingning went to the tofu store to check on her own business, and see if she could lend a hand during the busiest time before lunch.

Before she even got to the tofu shop, she saw a crowd of people gathered in front of the shop.

Although the tofu shop business was good, and the hot and sour noodle stall was also quite popular, today was not a market day, so it didn’t seem right to have so many customers.

Especially those people who were clearly crowding around, they did not look like they were there to buy things.

Rather…

They seemed to be there to observe some excitement.

Especially in addition to the crowd’s discussions, one could vaguely hear cries and voices coming from inside.

Moreover, when the voice sounded familiar, Zhuang Qingning felt a sudden sinking feeling in her heart.

Could it be that Zhang Xiangrui’s couple, who had been warned before, were still not reconciled and came to the tofu shop to cause trouble again?

Zhuang Qingning quickened her pace. When she reached the front, she indeed saw Mrs. Guo, whom she had met before, and next to her was a tall and thin man who looked like her age. This was presumably Mrs. Guo’s husband and Zhang Xiangrong’s younger brother, Zhang Xiangrui.

At this moment, the couple was kneeling on the ground, heads down, wiping away tears.

Mrs. Guo was crying and saying, “Big brother, big sister-in-law, this mother is not just your mother, how come only you have the sole right to show filial piety, and we are not allowed to even see her?”

“Exactly, big brother, big sister-in-law. We know we are poor, but even though we are poor, we are only poorer than your family. It’s not like we are really poor, we at least have enough to eat and drink.”

Zhang Xiangrui agreed, “If mother were to live with us, we would definitely take good care of her, we would absolutely not allow her to suffer the least bit.”

“Mother is so old, following you guys every day, and you guys are busy with your business on normal days. Even if you are filial to mother, there are always times when you can’t look after her. We, as her son, daughter-in-law, as the younger brother and sister-in-law, also want to help you, to show our filial piety towards mother.”

“I know, before, my family was poor, so mother didn’t think much of us, big brother and sister-in-law also despise us, thinking that we were embarrassingly poor during the holidays, not even able to give big brother and big sister-in-law a piece of meat as gifts, not able to give few taels of silver as a New Year’s gift for nieces. But even though my family is poor, the sincerity is there. Big brother, big sister-in-law, don’t tell me we’re to become estranged just because my family is poor…”

Zhuang Qingning listened to Zhang Xiangrui’s words, her eyes widened.

Before, she had witnessed Mrs. Guo’s ability to twist the truth. She had always thought that there was a rare number of shameless people in the world like Mrs. Guo, but Zhang Xiangrui was even worse and had stronger audacity.

Listen to what he said, what about showing filial respect to big brother and big sister-in-law, the New Year’s money should be measured in silver and taels, it clearly implies that Zhang Xiangrong and the Cao family are fond of wealth and despise poverty. They bully their family everywhere.

As expected, after listening to these words, the onlookers’ expressions changed a bit.

Some even started to discuss amongst themselves.

“Ah, seeing that Zhang big brother and Mrs. Cao are generally kind, we thought they were generous people, we didn’t expect them to be like this.”

“This is indeed a case of one can know a person’s character but not his mind…”

“But you can’t say that. This is only what those two are saying, this is just one side of the story. Maybe this matter isn’t the truth?”

“If it’s not true, why don’t they come out and refute it? If they don’t come out, it could be because they have something to hide.”

“You do have a point, let’s just observe and see what is really happening.”

Zhuang nodded slightly after listening for a while.

Fortunately, not all the comments were completely biased, and the spectators still had some judgment. It indirectly indicated that Zhang Xiangrui and his wife may not have intentionally hired people to manipulate public sentiment.

In this case, it was easier to deal with.