Chapter 71: Chapter 71: The Siblings’ Intimidation

An Ning grabbed An Guoqing, stopping him. They stood at the doorway without going inside.

"You slut! Tell me, where did you learn all these tricks?!"

Chen Mingliang’s furious shouts, mingled with Miao Xiaohua’s sobs, carried clearly out of the house.

"Ming Liang, I didn’t... I didn’t do anything... I just wanted to please you."

"Get out!"

Chen Mingliang stormed out of the room, fuming. He felt like he’d been cuckolded.

Miao Xiaohua knew too many tricks. At first, he was too busy enjoying himself to care, but he started to feel something was off when he was swapping crude stories with the other men out by the fields.

’What decent woman knows that many moves?’

But Chen Mingliang couldn’t be sure. There had been blood their first time, which was why he hadn’t left her.

But his suspicion grew, and he started beating her. Yet Miao Xiaohua had no intention of leaving, nor did she fight back. She only treated him better, taking on all the chores both inside and outside the house.

A woman like Miao Xiaohua only served to inflate Chen Mingliang’s bloated male ego.

Chen Mingliang stormed out of the house in a huff and immediately spotted An Ning and An Guoqing at the entrance. He completely ignored An Guoqing.

Bathed in the light of the setting sun, An Ning looked stunning.

Her pure, clean air, in particular, made Chen Mingliang’s heart ache with regret.

He instinctively smoothed down his hair, plastered on what he considered a handsome smile, and started walking toward the gate.

The sight of his smile made An Ning’s stomach turn. She ducked behind An Guoqing, not out of fear, but simply to get away from him.

"Ah Ning—"

"Who the fuck are you trying to disgust!?"

An Guoqing had zero tolerance for this kind of bullshit. He grabbed Chen Mingliang by the collar and lifted him off the ground with one hand. His eyes bulged like saucers, giving him a truly menacing look.

"You’d better watch your damn mouth. Just hearing you say my little sister’s name makes me sick!"

With a THUD, An Guoqing threw Chen Mingliang to the ground. He then folded his arms across his chest and jutted out his chin.

"Pay up!"

Sprawled on the ground, Chen Mingliang seemed to sober up a bit, but he turned to look at An Ning with a wounded expression.

Miao Xiaohua, who had come outside, saw this. So did An Ning.

The smile on An Ning’s face faded, replaced by an icy expression. She stepped forward without a word, calmly placed her foot on a rock by the Chens’ front gate—a rock larger than a washbasin.

CRACK! CRUNCH!

The solid boulder cracked into several pieces under her foot.

"Are your bones harder than this rock?"

Her threat delivered, An Ning stepped back, leaving the floor to An Guoqing to do as he pleased.

An Guoqing cracked his knuckles loudly. "Pay up!" he growled, his voice laced with menace.

Miao Xiaohua, who was standing in the doorway, had been worried. But after seeing An Ning’s display, her heart settled.

She realized something. Even if Chen Mingliang was willing to go back to An Ning, it was clear that An Ning, and by extension the entire An family, wanted nothing to do with him.

"Ming Liang, get up."

Miao Xiaohua rushed over to help Chen Mingliang to his feet.

"We’ll pay the money back, but it’s the lean season right now and we don’t have any cash. We’ll pay you after the autumn harvest."

An Guoqing snorted at her words. "Don’t you forget it," he warned. "Or next time I’ll tear this house down around you."

"Let’s go, Little Sis."

"Right, Eldest Brother."

An Ning played along perfectly, her tone matching An Guoqing’s. With their combined presence, anyone would have believed they were seasoned members of the criminal underworld.

They looked exactly like professional debt collectors.

The two of them left, not really expecting to get the money back on this trip. But they knew that if you don’t ask for it, some people will start acting like they never owed it in the first place. So, a reminder was essential.

Miao Xiaohua helped Chen Mingliang up and began fussing over him, her face etched with concern.

Chen Mingliang, in turn, began to regret hitting Miao Xiaohua and murmured a few gentle words to her.

But who knew how long this peace would last. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Meanwhile, An Ning and An Guoqing quickly reached their own front gate.

An Ning watched as An Guoqing’s entire demeanor changed in an instant. His eyes once again held a simple, honest joy.

"Little Sis, do you smell that? Meat?"

An Guoqing was always direct about what he liked; there was no hiding his feelings. If he liked something, it was obvious, and if he didn’t, that was obvious too.

An Ning was no less direct. She nodded enthusiastically and added her own review: "Smells amazing."

The two of them dashed into the courtyard, where everyone else was already gathered by the door, looking toward the kitchen.

Lin Cuihua, who was about to serve the food, shooed at them with one hand. "Go wash your hands! Dinner’s ready."

"Alright!"

"Alright!"

The two siblings answered in unison. One went to grab a basin while the other went to the well and worked the hand pump a few times.

"Eldest Brother, use this soap. It’ll get your hands cleaner."

"You use it. That stuff’s all slippery. I don’t like it."

An Guoqing finished washing in a couple of splashes, leaving An Ning to wash her hands thoroughly with the soap by herself.

"Time to eat!"

At Lin Cuihua’s call, everyone immediately dropped what they were doing to eat.

When An Ning sat down, she saw that they were having flatbreads. In the center of the table was a large basin of pork bone stew with bok choy, potatoes, and glass noodles.

The bok choy would shrink down to almost nothing in the pot, so it wouldn’t have been enough for everyone on its own.

"Go on, eat up."

An Sancheng spoke, and Lin Cuihua added, "Go on and eat. I’ve already set some aside for Lao San."

Only then did everyone pick up their chopsticks. Each person took one of the large bones, and just like that, there were none left.

"Little Sis, here, you can suck the marrow out of this."

An Guoming hadn’t even touched his own bone, instead offering the marrow to An Ning, who was sitting next to him.

An Ning had never eaten large soup bones before, so she had no idea what "sucking the marrow" even meant.

"Second Brother, how do I eat it?"

An Guoming pointed to the opening at the end of the bone with his chopsticks. "Right here. Just suck on it real hard. The marrow inside is delicious."

An Ning understood. She lowered her head and gave it a powerful suck.

"AHH—AHH—AHH—HOT, HOT, HOT—"

It was scalding hot!

But once the burning subsided, the flavor of the marrow flooded her senses.

Her eyes lit up. It was unbelievably delicious.

"An Guoming, look what you’ve done!"

Lin Cuihua handed An Ning a piece of flatbread. "Quick, take a bite, that’ll help."

An Ning took the flatbread and took a bite, easing the burning sensation in her mouth. She turned her head to a rather embarrassed An Guoming and said, "It really is delicious, Second Brother."

An Guoming’s expression brightened instantly. "Of course! Would I lie to you?"

The family continued with their meal.

The others also offered their marrow to An Ning, but she politely refused. As for An Guoming’s, well, she’d already eaten it, so that was that.

An Ning gnawed happily on her bone, especially enjoying the chewy bits of cartilage.

’The bok choy from the stew was incredible too. It was saturated with the rich, meaty flavor of the bones but wasn’t greasy at all. A bite of flatbread, a bite of the stewed vegetables... Perfect.’

After dinner, the family sat out in the courtyard to enjoy the cool evening air.

"Dad, tomorrow I’m planning to go out and look for ways to sell the schoolbags."