Transmigrated Farmgirl's Scheme to Get Rich - Chapter 191
Beating up a Dog
As the workshop’s time-sensitive commission had been completed, according to the agreement they had to send it to the Upper Valley first, and the military supply camp would collect it before having people send the commission to the frontline.
If this was an ordinary good, it would be sufficient to have Chong Zheng send it, but this time, Lu Junming wanted to personally go. Mo Yan knew he wanted to learn about the situation on the frontline.
After they did a count of the goods and loaded them onto the carriages, the caravan was still led by Zhong Cheng, with Lu Junming riding ahead on horseback. They agreed to meet up at the military supply camp.
It wasn’t busy at the workshop anymore, and everything had returned to normal, so only the workers of the workshop went to work. Mo Ling was also tired after this time at work, and wanted to go back home to rest.
However, when she raised the subject of returning home, Mo Yan noticed that her facial expression seemed a bit resigned, so asked, “Sis, what’s the matter? Are the members of the Zhong family troubling you?”
Mo Ling shook her head, “Not really, but for whatever reason, my second sister-in-law’s dog runs towards our courtyard all the time.”
“Has the courtyard wall not been fixed yet?”
“Don’t we also have wheat to harvest? We’ve also been busy with work from the workshop, so haven’t had time to fix it.”
“If you don’t place fixing the wall as a priority, there’ll never be time to fix it. Let’s stop waiting, I’ll go to your home today and help you fix your courtyard wall tomorrow!”
As they didn’t know anyone in Xiahe Village, it would be hard to find suitable craftsmen now, so Mo Yan immediately went to find the team of people who built Ms. Hua’s courtyard and asked them to go to Xiahe Village early the next morning. As they were only fixing a courtyard wall, with that many people, it would be fixable in a single day.
The two sisters went to the market to buy some meat and vegetables in preparation to thank the construction workers for their labour. Then, they took the carriage to Xiahe Village. This was the first time Mo Yan had gone to their house since Mo Ling’s marriage.
The new courtyard gate opened at the south of their courtyard was very large, and the carriage could be directly driven inside. After dismounting, Mo Yan saw a large dog leashed to the east side of the courtyard, who started barking when it saw people entering the courtyard. If it hadn’t been leashed, it would definitely have run over.
Mo Ling was really afraid of dogs, so its bark made her jump even though the dog was leashed. However, Mo Yan wasn’t scared and walked over to the dog with the horse whip. When she was a few paces away from the dog, she stopped and brought the horse whip down to the ground forcefully.
She didn’t actually whip the dog, and just wanted to scare it, while yelling, “How dare you pathetic beast not even recognise your owner?! You haven’t been beaten enough, have you?! If you bark more, you’ll be slaughtered to be eaten!”
At this moment, Zhong Cheng’s second sister-in-law came in from the eastern courtyard gate. When she saw Mo Yan berating her dog, she immediately said, “What are you doing? Why are you beating up my dog!”
Mo Yan retracted the whip in her hands, “This beast doesn’t recognise its master and barks wantonly, it deserves a beating!”
The woman replied with a face full of anger, “This is my courtyard, and my dog. I’m its master!”
Mo Yan raised her eyebrows, “Oh! Then it’s my bad, so this is your dog. Then you have to take good care of it. If it runs towards my sister’s courtyard, I’ll treat it as an ownerless mutt and whip it and beat it with a stick.”
“You dare? You’re even holding an animal accountable, it seems like you aren’t much of a good person!”
Hearing someone yell at her sister, Mo Ling called, “Yan’er, come back, don’t deal with a beast so much.”
The word ‘beast’ could be used to refer to a dog or a person, so second sister-in-law couldn’t say anything. She turned her body and left furiously.
The sisters didn’t start a fire and make dinner, and instead ate some of the ready-made food they had bought and sat down to chat under the lamplight.
Before, Mo Ling was busy working at the workshop, so the two hadn’t been able to speak properly. Since they had a rare moment of free time, the two said everything they wanted to say, as well as all of the drama in the village.
Mo Ling said that she wanted to go to the village before getting ready for bed, but when she opened the door, a furry creature instantly ran over and pawed at Mo Ling’s leg. Mo Ling looked down to see that dog, and was so scared she didn’t even move, and only cried for help loudly.
Mo Yan swiftly grabbed the doorstopper from behind the door, and threw it at the dog with all her might. The dog hadn’t been hit lightly, and ran away whining. [1]
Quickly, second sister-in-law called from the east of the courtyard, “Xiaohuang, who beat you up to this state?”
She had come out without even hearing a sound from her courtyard gate, it seemed like she had been standing in her courtyard waiting for the ‘good news’!
In the past, when Zhong Cheng was here, he would pay special attention to that dog as he knew Mo Ling was afraid of them. But today, Zhong Cheng wasn’t present. Although the dog wasn’t present, second sister-in-law felt happy just thinking about Mo Ling being so scared her spirit practically flew out of her body.
When Mo Ling was calling for help, she must’ve been laughing. But now her dog had been beaten up and was whining, she was crying out too.
The woman sharply called ‘Zhong Yi’, and the door of their house opened. Zhong Yi asked, “What happened?”
“Xiaohuang was beaten up by someone!”
“Isn’t the courtyard gate locked? It can’t get out, who beat it up?”
“The people to our south.”
“Isn’t she afraid of dogs? She’s so scared of them she doesn’t dare move when she sees them.”
“Her sister has come! If you beat up a dog, you still need to take its master into account! They’re intentionally slapping our faces!”
Chong Yi strided over to the southern side of the courtyard and loudly asked, “Who beat up my dog?”
Mo Yan grabbed the doorstopper and went over, “It was me, so that was second brother-in-law’s dog, I couldn’t see it clearly in the dark. Hadn’t your dog been leashed up? How has it run over here?”
“Dogs are used to watch over the family. At night, the courtyard gate is closed, so the dog is naturally unleashed to keep a lookout.”
“It’s understandable for you to protect your own courtyard, but why did you let the dog run over here? My sister is afraid of dogs.”
“So if she’s afraid of dogs others aren’t allowed to own dogs? If she chokes while eating, are we not allowed to eat either?!”
This couple was truly unreasonable, and couldn’t even be compared to dogs.
Mo Ling returned to her senses, and went over to stand by Mo Yan, “Second brother-in-law, you’re an adult, so why are you arguing with a child? You’re even speaking so crudely.”
“A child? If she were my younger sister, and was that ignorant about the world, I’d have slapped her a long time ago!”
“You dare try anything against her! The only reason I’ve tolerated you this much is because you’re Zhong Cheng’s second brother. Don’t try and get a mile just because I’ve given you an inch.”
Second sister-in-law entered this verbal battle, and even the dog hobbled over. That woman’s voice was shriller than a lifeguard’s whistle, and could spread very far in the silent night.
The two side’s arguments became fiercer and fiercer, and there were signs that hands were about to be thrown. At this time the voices of Zhong Cheng’s parents could be heard from the eastern side of the courtyard, “Yi’er, why are you arguing in the middle of the night and not going to sleep?”
Second sister-in-law started crying in her shrill voice, “Father, Mother, she beat up my dog!”
The woman went over to open the door with a self-righteous appearance on her face. The old couple entered, and after Mo Ling tugged on Mo Yan by her side, the two greeted them at the same time.
Mrs. Zhong said, “Our in-laws are here. You didn’t come to the back courtyard for a meal, I apologise for not treating you properly.”
Mo Yan greeted her again, “Aunt Zhang, you’re being too courteous. We returned home late, and didn’t return home and were afraid we would disturb you. I was planning on greeting you properly tomorrow!”
Mrs. Zhong nodded, “You’re a well-mannered young lady! You should get some rest earlier!”
Mr. Zhong glared at Zhong Yi, “Don’t be impolite and yell in front of guests. Shouldn’t you apologise to the young lady?”
Zhong Yi didn’t dare to continue arguing, but his wife continued to squabble, “They beat up my dog for no reason.”
Mrs. Zhong rolled her eyes, “If your dog had stayed in your courtyard obediently, who would beat it up? It’s just an unreasonable beast, so what if it’s beaten.”
The woman still didn’t want to back down, but Zhong Yi tugged at her sleeve to make her stop. After all, it wasn’t a good thing to argue with your parents-in-law.
P.S. There have been a few references to Zhong Yi and unnamed second sister-in-law are dogs (or more accurately b****es) that have been generally lost in translation. I don’t use profanity in my translations as the boss told me not to when I was first hired, and I prefer using family-friendly alternatives rather than censoring the words.
[1] The doorstopper is a large, heavy stick instead of the small triangular slip you’re probably thinking of.