Transmigration: The Little Chef Calls The Shots
Chapter 390 Li Feng’e Loses Face (4)_1

Chapter 390: Chapter 390 Li Feng’e Loses Face (4)_1

They say even fools have their obsessions, and breaking his legs must’ve been Lin Yongle’s. No wonder he was adamant on crawling over to take his revenge on Lin Yuan.

Seeing that her words had no effect, Li Feng’e didn’t want to get her hands dirty by bringing this filthy person back home, nor did she want the villagers to witness the disgrace of her family. With a spit, she hurried home to call for Lady Ma.

After sending Li Feng’e off, Lin Yuan hadn’t even had the chance to go back inside when she was called over by a slender figure at the doorway.

This figure was all too familiar to Lin Yuan—in the past, she would see it three or four times almost every day.

"Aunt Chen, what brings you here?" A visitor was a guest, and even though Lin Yuan no longer had any connection to Chen Zhu, she still held some fondness for this elderly woman who always bore things with silent patience.

The visitor was Lin Yuan’s neighbor, the mother of Chen Zhu.

Aunt Chen gave an awkward smile, glanced in the direction of her own home, and then handed over the basket she was holding to Lin Yuan, saying with embarrassment, "Well, Yuanyuan, this is just a little something from me, don’t think it’s too little, take it, huh."

Lin Yuan looked down and saw the basket contained a few assorted vegetables. It wasn’t much, but she knew this was probably the most Aunt Chen could spare. After all, their household didn’t have anyone capable of working; Chen Zhu hadn’t returned from his journey to the capital to take the exams, Old Man Chen was blind, and extremely chauvinistic. Whether it was tasks at home or in the fields, he never lent a hand. Everything depended on the frail Aunt Chen.

So, even without any connection to Chen Zhu, the original Lin Yuan couldn’t help but want to assist them, simply because the old woman was too pitiable.

"Aunt Chen, I appreciate your kindness, but I can’t accept this. Please take it back. It’s not easy for you to grow your own vegetables, and I cannot take them."

Lin Yuan pushed the basket back into Aunt Chen’s hands, but Aunt Chen insisted, not taking it back: "Yuanyuan, you must be looking down on me, aren’t you?"

Hearing this, Lin Yuan felt somewhat embarrassed: "Aunt Chen, that’s not what I mean at all, please don’t think like that."

"If it’s not, then accept this gift."

Lin Yuan had no choice but to accept it. She changed her mind and said, "Aunt Chen, wait here for a moment. I’ll put these vegetables in the kitchen and bring your basket back to you shortly."

Given the hard conditions in Aunt Chen’s household, they really only had that one basket. She nodded in agreement and looked back towards her own courtyard, making sure Old Chen hadn’t noticed, and urged Lin Yuan to be quick.

Lin Yuan ran back to the kitchen and dumped the vegetables on the chopping board, then packed six freshly steamed white buns and two pieces of pork into the basket. She covered it with a cloth and rushed to the door to return the basket to Aunt Chen.

When Aunt Chen saw what was in the basket, she refused to take it: "Yuanyuan, I didn’t come to ask for things from you, I won’t take them, quickly take them back, take them back."

Lin Yuan smiled as she pushed the basket into her hands: "Aunt Chen, you’re not from our Zhuma Town, so you might not know our customs. Whenever someone brings a gift for the warming of the pot, the host is supposed to send off the guest with some cakes and food. If you don’t take them, it implies that you don’t want to have any further relations with the host."

There indeed is a custom of giving gifts, but there is no rule that says if you refuse, you cannot associate with each other anymore. Lin Yuan was probably afraid that Aunt Chen wouldn’t accept the gift, so she deliberately made up this excuse to deceive her.

Aunt Chen’s family had fled from the south to Zhuma Town. Even though they had lived there for many years, because of Old Man Chen’s peculiar temper, he did not interact with anyone in the village. As a result, Aunt Chen truly had no knowledge of whether such a custom existed in Zhuma Town.

However, seeing the seriousness with which Lin Yuan spoke, Aunt Chen took her words as truth. But she insisted that she couldn’t accept so much, and wanted Lin Yuan to take some back.

Lin Yuan smiled and pointed to the courtyard, "Aunt, if you weren’t so reluctant to go inside, I would have really liked you to see my new room. We’ve had so many guests at our house today; we won’t miss these few items."

Aunt Chen kept glancing back at her own house. What else could Lin Yuan not understand? It must be that she had heard about Lin Yuan’s warming of the pot at home and took the opportunity while Old Man Chen was not paying attention to sneak out and give her the gift.

Aunt Chen forced a smile, looking at the young girl grinning mischievously in front of her, she remembered how more than half a year ago, Lin Yuan would always come to her house, bringing gifts and helping with work every few days.

Such a good girl, she had originally thought would become her daughter-in-law. Who knew that Old Chen had broken them apart. She wondered when Zhu Zi would return, and whether, by then, the girl would have a change of heart and become her daughter-in-law after all?

Just as she was about to ask Lin Yuan if she could wait for Chen Zhu to return, Aunt Chen saw a handsome and distinguished-looking young man, exuding nobility, walk out from the house.

The young man was incredibly handsome, myriad times more so than her own Chen Zhu. Even his clothes were superior to any that she had seen on wealthy people before; such clothes must cost at least several dozen taels of silver, she presumed.

Aunt Chen’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. In fact, this wasn’t the first time she had encountered Xia Zheng, but it was the first time she had observed him from such a close distance.

"Everyone’s eating; what are you doing out here?" As if he hadn’t noticed Aunt Chen’s gaze, Xia Zheng smiled gently and affectionately ruffled Lin Yuan’s hair.

Lin Yuan felt her skin crawling with goosebumps as Xia Zheng looked at her. This Xia Zheng, his jealousy was bubbling up again. He clearly knew that the old woman in front of him was Chen Zhu’s mother, yet he insisted on looking at her with this sticky, cloying gaze.

As expected, with just one glance, Aunt Chen understood the nature of the relationship between the two and felt it was inappropriate to ask Lin Yuan to wait for Chen Zhu.

As much as she had confidence in her son, once compared with Xia Zheng, Aunt Chen was clear about the fact that her son was no match for him—not even worthy of comparison.

Just as Aunt Chen was about to tell Lin Yuan to go back to eating, she heard her husband’s voice filled with rage, cursing, "Where have you run off to again? All day long, running about outside! Don’t you know what time it is? Everyone else knows it’s time for their meals, and you still haven’t come back to cook? Are you happy only when you’ve starved me to death, is that it? Hmph, I’ll make you happy—I’ll live to be seventy or eighty, just to spite you when you’re dead!"

Old Chen’s rant grew more and more vigorous, eventually leading to the loud crashing sound of pots and pans, though it was unclear whether they had fallen accidentally or he had purposefully smashed them with his cane.

Aunt Chen’s face went pale, and without bothering to bid Lin Yuan farewell, she grabbed her basket and hurried back home.

Watching her frantic departure, Lin Yuan shook her head. Old Chen truly did not realize his good fortune. Blinded and foul-tempered, yet Aunt Chen stayed steadfast by his side. At the slightest sign of his discontent, she would rush to cajole and comfort him, terrified of him feeling even the slightest bit unhappy.