Jiang Wan, her face cold, took the snake gall and turned into the tent, shoving it into Jiang Yu's mouth.
Jiang Yu refused to swallow, pushing it out with her tongue. The snake gall burst, making her gag and rush out of the tent, retching uncontrollably.
Chen Yuezhi, seeing the snake gall wasted, stomped her feet anxiously. "Oh, my gall!"
Jiang Wan, her chubby face stern, said, "That's a snake's gall! Alright, Mother, tell me, how did she end up here!"
Chen Yuezhi's heart ached, tears welling up. Such a large snake gall! So rare!
After a while, Chen Yuezhi recovered. "She was sick. Her parents didn't give her food or water, and they hit and scolded her, making her ill."
"Serves her right!" Jiang Wan felt no sympathy for Jiang Yu. "Her parents are no good, but she's not much better."
"Mother, have you forgotten how she pushed us down the mountain? We almost died! Why did you save her?"
Seeing her daughter so angry, Chen Yuezhi pulled her aside and whispered, "Actually, Mother didn't want to save her, but the village chief sent her over, and Mother couldn't refuse."
Jiang Wan huffed angrily, "What can't be refused? You're just too soft-hearted! Mother, this kind of ungrateful, wicked person shouldn't be saved! If you save her now, she won't remember your kindness later, and might even harm us."
Chen Yuezhi sighed, "Mother knows."
"Knowing, and you still saved her!"
Jiang Wan couldn't understand her mother's thinking.
Chen Yuezhi looked at her daughter's dirty little face and took a damp cloth to wipe it clean.
"Mother didn't want to save her either, but she was afraid that not saving her would diminish our family's fortune. Wanwan, the old immortal is willing to help our family, which is our fortune. We must not only cherish our blessings but also accumulate more, so as to be worthy of the immortal's grace."
Jiang Wan gritted her teeth in anger.
There was no old immortal! Their family didn't need to cherish or accumulate blessings at all!
But she couldn't admit that she had made up the old immortal, so she had to swallow her anger.
"Fine, even if it's to accumulate blessings, now that she's awake, let her leave. I don't want to see her!"
Chen Yuezhi stroked her daughter's head. "Alright, I'll let her go in a moment. Don't be angry. When our Wanwan gets angry, her little face looks like a bun, so cute."
Jiang Wan glared, "Mother! I'm really angry!"
What bun? She had only gained a tiny bit of weight!
Chen Yuezhi pursed her lips and smiled. Her little daughter was aware of her appearance and didn't like being called fat.
Jiang Wan whined and snuggled up to Chen Yuezhi, who indulged her, letting her act spoiled.
Jiang Yu watched Chen Yuezhi dote on Jiang Wan from afar, her eyes full of jealousy. Why was Jiang Wan, also a daughter of the Jiang family, so favored, while she suffered neglect and mistreatment?
She wanted to be like Jiang Wan!
Besides the large snake, Jiang Pan and his daughter brought back a bag of dead snakes from the mountain.
Although the weather was no longer hot, they decided to skin and dry all the snakes overnight for preservation.
After her previous fear of snakes, which caused her skin to crawl, Su Shi could now calmly set up a pot to boil snake.
With water and so many snakes caught, the group was filled with laughter and joy. Almost every household was busy preparing snake meat, and the air was filled with the aroma of meat.
Families who hadn't gone up the mountain looked enviously at everyone else's busyness and kept asking if there were more snakes in the mountain. Upon receiving affirmative answers, they decided to go into the mountain to hunt snakes the next day.
After Su Shi finished stewing the snake meat, Chen Yuezhi also served a small bowl of snake soup to Jiang Yu.
"Drink it, and then you should go back."
Jiang Yu refused to take it, tears streaming down her face.
Chen Yuezhi asked, "Child, why are you crying? Aren't you happy to have something to eat?"
Jiang Yu got up and knelt on the ground. "Aunt, let me stay with you and be your daughter. I don't want to go back. If I go back, they'll beat me to death sooner or later. Aunt, please be kind and take me in."
Sanlang sneered, "I didn't expect you, despite your ugly appearance, to have such grand ideas. You want our family to take you in? What a dream! Drink your soup and get lost. Don't be disgusting, or you won't even get the soup!"
Jiang Yu still refused to take the bowl, reaching out to grab Chen Yuezhi's skirt, crying, "Aunt, I know I was wrong before. I shouldn't have bullied Wanwan, and I shouldn't have pushed you. But I know I was wrong now. Why won't you forgive me? Aunt, please pity me. I promise to listen to you from now on."
She knew that the softest heart in the eldest branch family belonged to Chen Yuezhi. If she pleaded with her properly, she might actually let her stay.
After all, Chen Yuezhi was willing to save her.
Unexpectedly, Chen Yuezhi forced the bowl into her hand. "I don't lack daughters, and I certainly don't lack a daughter with such ill intentions. Jiang Yu, if you had treated Wanwan better before, I would have pitied you more."
After speaking, Chen Yuezhi ignored her and turned back to Jiang Wan.
Jiang Wan took a sip of snake soup from her own small bowl, feeling delighted. Her mother was still quite sensible!
Chen Yuezhi picked up a piece of snake meat, carefully removed all the bones, and fed it to Jiang Wan. "Eat slowly, there's more in the pot."
Jiang Yu watched Jiang Wan's happy appearance, her jealousy reaching a fever pitch.
Why wasn't she the one born to her eldest aunt? Why did she have to suffer in the second branch?
Sanlang noticed Jiang Yu's strange look and immediately stepped forward, glaring at her. "Jiang Yu, if you dare to plot against Wanwan again, I'll kill you!"
Jiang Yu shrank her neck, not daring to speak. She held the bowl and drank the soup clean, then left without a word.
Sanlang snorted, wishing he could throw away the bowl Jiang Yu had used. But thinking about their current financial situation, he grabbed a handful of dry grass and scrubbed Jiang Yu's used bowl several times.
That night, except for Jiang Wan and the injured Erlang, no one in the Jiang Pan family slept.
They had to dry the snake meat quickly.
Without enough salt, the meat wouldn't last. If not dried, it would spoil in a few days. With food being so important now, they couldn't bear to waste it.
Fortunately, there were dry branches and weeds everywhere, so firewood was not lacking.
Other families who had caught snakes shared the same idea, so the small mountain village was bustling with activity that night, the children's dreams filled with the aroma of snake meat.
The next morning, the villagers who hadn't gone into the mountain the day before could no longer wait and hurried into the mountain.
The Jiang Pan family stayed behind to catch up on sleep.
Their family had caught the most snakes. The large snake alone, after drying, yielded dozens of pounds of meat. Together with the other bag, the snake meat was enough for their family to eat for about a month.
As the villagers were busy catching snakes and drying meat, the caravan would definitely not depart today. Jiang Wan, with nothing to do, called her little bird and fed it a small handful of grain.
The village children, seeing that Jiang Wan had a pet bird, were so envious they gnawed on their fingers.
Jiang Wan felt a bit mischievous and deliberately let the little bird perch on her head, then on her shoulder. The bird flew wherever she directed, making a group of children stomp their feet in envy.
Just then, a soft, sweet voice called out, "Aunt Jiang, my mother sent me to check on Brother Erlang."
Jiang Wan turned around and saw Zheng Cuier, the girl they had rescued the night before.