Never Enough Taking Advantage

Early the next morning.

The old village headman came through the door, carrying more than fifty pounds of eagle meat, and called out cheerfully, “Old woman, come see what a fine thing I’ve brought home!”

At that moment, Old Lady Li was busy in the kitchen preparing the family’s meal.

Hearing the old village headman’s call, she wiped her greasy hands twice on her apron and poked her head out, displeased.

“What’s got you so happy?”

The moment Old Lady Li looked out of the kitchen, she spotted the piece of eagle meat in the old village headman’s hand. Her eyes immediately locked onto it, and she rushed out of the kitchen.

She snatched the meat from his hands.

The fifty-plus pounds nearly made her twist her waist and collapse onto the ground.

Fortunately, the old village headman caught her.

Old Lady Li was immensely excited. “Our family hasn’t had meat in nearly half a month! Where did you get so much? The provincial examination is coming up, so this is perfect for Da Bao to nourish his brain. Maybe he’ll even become the top candidate!”

The old village headman chuckled. “Where else could it have come from? Yang An gave it to us! Erlang is truly capable. He brought down an eagle the size of four or five men in the Cloudridge Mountains and divided it among everyone in the neighborhood. Every household got a share.”

As he spoke, he remembered the matter of lending out the horse.

The old village headman began scolding Old Lady Li.

“You were unwilling to lend them our horse before. Just look at what fine people Erlang and his family are! We lent them our horse once, and they sent us so much meat in return. Ordinary families only received twenty pounds, but they sent us more than fifty!”

“And it’s meat from a ferocious beast!”

“If we sold it to the authorities, we could get more than thirty taels of silver for it!”

“Look at how much they value friendship. You’re the one with such a narrow mind, always thinking they’re no good.”

Old Lady Li had a deep-rooted prejudice against Yang Erlang’s family.

What was more, when Yang Erlang’s family had previously received an imperial commendation, all the neighbors had focused on congratulating them and ignored her. This had left Old Lady Li so upset that she could not sleep for two whole nights.

Now, hearing the old village headman praise the Yang family, her anger flared. She was just about to curse back when she suddenly froze and grabbed his arm.

“What did you just say? Everyone in Longevity Ward can go and collect meat? Every household gets a share?”

“Yes.”

The old village headman looked puzzled. “What’s the problem?”

Old Lady Li hurriedly tore off her apron and called out from inside the house to her grandson, Da Bao, who was studying, and to her daughter-in-law.

Then she rushed toward the door.

The old village headman called after her, “What are you doing?”

Without even turning her head, Old Lady Li replied, “Didn’t you say everyone could collect meat? Then I’m going too! I’ll take Da Bao and his mother along. That way, we can collect even more.”

The old village headman was completely dumbfounded.

No one took advantage of others quite like this!

Too ashamed to be seen with her, he covered his face and shouted, “A family can only collect one share! Erlang personally delivered the meat to our house! How could you go and collect more? Have you no shame?”

Old Lady Li answered with complete confidence.

“Can our family really be compared with the others? If we hadn’t lent Li Yan our horse, that brat Yang An might still be locked up in the Yunzhou prison!”

“He could have been stuck there for years!”

Old Lady Li raised her chin proudly. “Do you know what this is called? It’s a life-saving favor—a favor as great as heaven itself! And all he gave us was a few dozen pounds of meat?”

“Hmph! What’s the difference between that and tossing a few scraps to a beggar?”

The Li family’s daughter-in-law was every bit as sharp-tongued as Old Lady Li.

She chimed in from the side, “Mother is right!”

Old Lady Li smiled in satisfaction. Rubbing her grandson Da Bao’s head, she asked, “Da Bao, do you want some meat? Grandma will take you to get some. I’ll make sure you have meat for dinner tonight, all right? Once you’ve had your meat, you might even come in first in the academy examination a few days from now.”

The moment he heard that there would be meat to eat, Da Bao shouted excitedly, “Yes! Grandma, I want meat! I want meat!”

Watching the three of them leave, the village headman—who had been unable to stop them—coughed angrily. Feeling completely out of place in this family and utterly despairing, he covered his face and cried out toward the heavens:

“What a sin! What a sin!”

Word spread that the Yang family was giving out meat.

Before long, all the common folk from Wanshou Ward had arrived.

The Yang family’s small courtyard was packed shoulder to shoulder. Yang Ning and Li Yan were far too busy to manage on their own, so Yang An went over to help as well. The three of them worked deftly, distributing meat to the villagers.

Manman remained crouched beside Yang An, gnawing on a strip of dried meat.

The villagers who received their portions were all beaming with joy.

They carried away their meat, repeatedly offering their thanks.

This year, the winter drought had been followed by heavy snow sealing off the mountains, making life unbearably difficult. Many households had already run out of grain.

At a time like this, receiving even a piece of ferocious beast meat from the Yang family was practically enough to save an entire family.

Some villagers were so moved that they burst into tears on the spot. Others even tried to kneel before Yang An and his family of three. The courtyard was lively and bustling.

Worried that they would be unable to keep up, Old Mr. He, who lived across the way, also came over to lend a hand.

When Yang An saw the old man arrive, he hurried over to support him. “Old Mr. He, you should rest first. Be careful not to overexert yourself!”

Old Mr. He replied with a hearty laugh, “Don’t let my age fool you. I’m still strong and hale, and I’ve got several good years left in me! Your family has such kind hearts—you sent a hundred jin of meat to my house, and there’s no way this old man could eat it all. If I didn’t come over and help with something, I wouldn’t feel right about it!”

The people nearby burst into laughter when they heard this.

Quite a few of them sighed emotionally.

“Erlang, Big Brother Li, and Sister-in-law Li really are kindhearted people. They’re all good folks!”

“This winter has been so difficult for everyone, with barely any grain or rice to spare. If not for the Yang family, who knows how we would have survived?”

“This family has hearts of gold! If anyone dares say a single bad word about them in the future, I, Er Gou, will be the first to fight them!”

Listening to everyone’s praise, Yang Ning felt warm inside.

When it was time to distribute meat to Widow Chen, Yang Ning knew that her life was even harder than that of the other villagers—she was raising a child alone. So Yang Ning cut her an extra jin of meat and handed it over.

The instant Widow Chen accepted it, her eyes reddened.

Her husband had died in a drought many years ago, leaving her to struggle through life alone with her daughter. As a woman, she had little strength, and the harvests had been poor these past few years.

The rice jar at home had long since gathered dust.

She had been watching helplessly as they neared the point where they would not survive the winter.

Now, with these ten-odd jin of meat, she could exchange it for silver and not only secure enough food to last the household for half a year, but also afford the seeds needed for spring planting.

Such a great kindness was tantamount to being given a new life.

Widow Chen brought her daughter, who was in her early teens, along with her.

With a loud thump, she dropped to her knees before Yang Ning and began kowtowing repeatedly.

“Madam Yang, Young Master Yang, and Military Officer Li—you’re all living bodhisattvas! If not for you, this widow and her children wouldn’t have made it through the winter! We can never repay such kindness. So long as Madam Yang doesn’t mind, my daughter and I will work like oxen and horses for you and serve you for the rest of our lives!”

Yang Ning, softhearted by nature, couldn’t bear to see such a scene.

She hurriedly helped Widow Chen to her feet. “Sister Chen, what are you saying? We’re all neighbors from the same village. Come on, get up!”

But Widow Chen refused to rise no matter what.

Yang Ning had never encountered a situation like this before and was at a complete loss.

Nearby, Yang An’s hands had gone numb from distributing the meat.

Seeing that Big Sister Chen still looked fairly presentable, he thought to himself:

Life would surely get better from here on out. They couldn’t let his sister handle all the household chores every day—it would be too exhausting. Sooner or later, they would have to find a few maids to wait on them. Rather than buy strangers, it would be better to find someone whose background they knew.

Big Sister Chen had been a widow for so many years.

Her life had been so difficult, yet no one had ever gossiped about her. That showed she was a woman of good character.

Yang An said, “Sis, just take Big Sister Chen in.”

Yang Ning looked troubled.

For more than a decade, they had been ordinary commoners. Now, all of a sudden, she was supposed to take on a maid. It still felt awkward to her.

Seeing his sister’s embarrassment, Yang An signaled that she needn’t worry. He smiled and said to Widow Chen and her daughter, “Big Sister Chen, please don’t keep talking about working like an ox or a horse. From now on, you can come work at our house. My sister will pay you a monthly wage. How does that sound?”

She would even be paid?!

Widow Chen hurriedly shook her head. “Young Master, Madam, I could never repay your kindness in this lifetime. I absolutely cannot accept any silver. If there’s any odd work to be done, just give me the order!”

Yang Ning also felt that she couldn’t have someone work for her without pay.

Besides, hiring Big Sister Chen for a monthly wage made her feel more at ease.

“Sister Chen, how can you refuse the money? Yuan Yuan is already over ten years old. In another year or two, she’ll have to find a husband. How can you manage that without some money on hand? Just listen to Erlang. If you insist on refusing, I truly won’t dare keep you and your daughter here.”

With that, Yang Ning gently took Widow Chen’s and Chen Yuan’s hands.

Tears of gratitude streamed down the mother and daughter’s faces.

Ever since her husband’s death, no one had treated them so kindly.

The two of them once again tried to kowtow to Yang Ning and Yang An.

That was their way of agreeing to the arrangement.

Seeing this, everyone sighed with emotion.

The mother and daughter were truly blessed. Having attached themselves to the Yang family—a household whose fortunes were rising like the sun—their days would surely turn around from now on.

Just then—

“Well, well! Why are there so many people here?”

An insincere shout came from outside the courtyard.

Old Lady Li entered the yard with her daughter-in-law and eldest grandson. The moment everyone saw her, their expressions changed, and they hurriedly moved aside.

Widow Chen and her daughter had only just risen from the ground and had no time to get out of the way before the Li family’s daughter-in-law shoved them aside.

Old Lady Li ordered Yang Ning in an arrogant tone, “You’re handing out meat, are you? There are three of us here, so cut several dozen jin for each of us!”

……

……

……

An extra chapter.

A promise kept.

T_T