Transmigration: On the Gossip Front-Chapter 1008 - 1009: The Lonely Village Girl 53

Li Cui returned home again with her fishing rod and a bucket containing a few fish, and a few neighbors couldn’t help but become envious once more.

"Old Li, you’ve got quite the haul today."

Li Cui smiled, "Just lucky, just lucky. I’m also hoping to improve the meals for the kids."

Li Cui’s mood was genuinely great. Although she occasionally returned empty-handed, more often than not, she had a catch.

This certainly made the old lady very happy. Besides improving the household meals without spending money, it was more satisfying to see the jealousy, dissatisfaction, and twisted faces of the surrounding neighbors.

Old Wang’s wife came out, "Aunt Li, it seems you’ve got a good catch today. How about selling one fish to me?"

"Sell?" Li Cui’s expression immediately soured, "Wang Family, what are you talking about? I’m not a market vendor, what fish am I selling?"

"If you want to eat fish, either go buy it at the market or catch it yourself. You’re home all day; you definitely have some free time."

"The fish I catch is for my family. Really, I can’t catch fish every day."

Li Cui rolled her eyes unceremoniously at the other, then strode back home. Had she been tempted and agreed, who knows, she might be reported by someone by evening.

Li Cui had now learned many ways to eat fish, such as making fish soup, braising, and pickling the fish, so it could last a little longer.

The Wang Family’s wife saw that Li Cui was completely ignoring her, and she was infuriated, "What’s so great about being able to fish?"

"Then you go and try." A middle-aged woman who didn’t get along with the Wang Family’s wife retorted unceremoniously.

"There were fish for sale at the market today, weren’t you notified? You said you didn’t want to eat fish."

"Now you want fish, thinking everyone is a fool and can’t see your intention."

Being neighbors for so long, everyone knew each other’s motives. The Wang Family just wanted to avoid spending money at the market by getting fish cheaply from Li Cui.

"Exactly, one should think, Li Cui would rather pickle the fish than sell it, saying that selling it would be a mistake."

Everyone understood why Li Cui did that, fearing that once she did it, someone might report her with a flip of the hand.

"Say, how about I go fishing too?" Often watching Li Cui come back with catches made the thought hard to resist.

"Do you have a fishing rod?"

"The fishing rod Li Cui uses was left by Old Zhang when he was alive."

People who knew about the Zhang Family knew the rod was left by Old Master Zhang.

Although they didn’t know the exact price, it was understood it wasn’t cheap, much different from Old Master Zhao’s rod in the neighboring courtyard.

Someone sneered, "If the rod is that expensive, better sell it. Who knows how much fish it could buy?"

Everyone looked at her with disdain, "Does the Zhang Family lack money?"

By now, everyone knew that the Zhang Family lacked nothing, including money. "Nowadays, you need coupons to buy things."

"Exactly, and even if you have coupons, it doesn’t mean you’ll be able to buy things."

A neighbor complained, "A couple of days ago, I heard there was meat for sale. I went there with my meat coupon, but only bones were left."

Others also expressed that now, going late means missing out on many good things.

"Aunt Li still has it good; even though fish isn’t as tasty as pork, it’s still meat at least."

Everyone nodded in agreement, noting the late time and beginning to disperse to prepare dinner.

Just then, everyone smelled a rich aroma of frying fish, "That smells delicious."

Wang Pandi, directing Liu Li in cooking, happened to smell the cooking from across the way, "Geez, just because they can fish, they think they’re something."

"And they’re family, knowing our situation isn’t easy, yet not willing to help even a bit."

Liu Li listened to Wang Pandi’s ceaseless nagging and felt a headache. She had gone to a friend’s place today, hoping they would agree to installment payments.

Instead, she got mocked by the friend, who said if she had no money, she shouldn’t waste their time and also gave her an ultimatum.

Recalling the eavesdropped conversation from the night before, Liu Li pursed her lips again. No matter what, she was determined to get a job and leave.

Wang Pandi talked on and on until her mouth was dry, only to find Liu Li hadn’t responded in agreement, which pissed the old lady half to death.

With a large hand, she rudely struck Liu Li’s back, the force nearly making Liu Li cry out.

"You damned girl, you dared cry out, wanting everyone to know I’m hitting you?"

"What an unruly damned girl." Wang Pandi fumed, "If you keep this up, I’ll find someone to teach you a lesson."

Liu Li had no reaction. She really wanted to retort, questioning them since they already found someone for her?

But she dared not speak, as they didn’t know she was aware of it, which gave her a chance to escape.

Liu Li couldn’t imagine if they knew she’d overheard their plan, how crazy they would react, possibly moving their plan forward.

"Grandma, I was just thinking about something."

"I was thinking, if that old hag across the way can go fishing, we can too." Liu Li knew Wang Pandi wanted fish but didn’t want to spend money.

That’s okay, not wanting to spend money could be arranged.

Fishing? Wang Pandi thought Liu Li had a good point, "Then starting tomorrow, you go fishing. I don’t have high demands."

"At least three fish a day." The old man and her eldest son one each, Wang Pandi said her demands weren’t high.

Three fish a day? Wang Pandi’s words prompted an immediate backlash from Liu Li, who bluntly said, "Forget it, I can’t manage that."

"Even with such a good rod across the way, there isn’t a catch every day, and even with daily catches, not three a day."

"Grandma, since your demands aren’t high, why don’t you go fishing." After all, there’s no point persevering without achieving anything; better to admit incompetence from the start.

Wang Pandi was really furious at Liu Li’s disrespectful attitude, and spotting a broom nearby, she quickly grabbed it.

Liu Li, seeing her actions, swiftly snatched the broom away and, under the old lady’s astonished gaze, countered her.

"Aren’t you all that tough?"

"Aren’t you planning to hit me? Then let me show you when I’m angry, who cares who you are."

Liu Li gave Wang Pandi several swats, leaving the latter intimidated by Liu Li’s aggressive stance.

The old lady never expected the girl Liu Li to fight back, and as she realized, she quickly fled the house.

The old lady worried that if she didn’t run, she’d receive more hits from the girl.

"Help, help, Liu Li’s going to kill me."

"Help, help." Wang Pandi shouted loudly by the water tank.