Chapter 88

Chapter 88: Envy

To sniff out the truth, Granny Zhang would have to rent an ox cart, ride for hours into the county seat, and pay the entry fee at the gate. It wasn’t something she would ever do for the sake of idle curiosity.

If others had the time and the whim, Qin Hui Yin didn’t care to stop them.

She had already decided what she would let people hear.

For most commoners, making 500 or 600 wen a month sounded tempting, but it wasn’t enough to make eyes go red with envy. Besides, she’d made it sound like their whole family had to work themselves half to death just to squeeze that much out—every copper earned with sweat.

But if she named a higher number—say, one tael of silver—then envy would multiply like flies.

A normal family of three, living frugally, could stretch one tael for half a year. If Tang Da Fu’s household were truly earning one tael a month, how could the village not grow sharp and hungry over it?

Under the big locust tree at the village entrance, Granny Zhang hurried over, held out her hand, and called, “Any pumpkin seeds left? Give me a handful.”

Whenever women gathered to gossip, there were seeds. Not sunflower seeds—those were too expensive. Pumpkin seeds, cracked between teeth, tossed aside like little bones.

Granny Zhang still had some in her pocket. She was used to taking advantage. Even if the seeds were worthless, saving a little was still saving.

On an ordinary day, no one would have spared her a handful. Today was different. Everyone was waiting to hear what she’d dug up, so the seeds were handed over generously.

Madam Wang leaned forward, eyes gleaming. “What did you find out?”

Granny Zhang cleared her throat, took her time choosing a seat, then said, “I found out. They’re selling meat and things like baked flatbreads.”

“Do they make money?”

“From what she said, they sell quite a bit,” Granny Zhang answered, “but they don’t actually make much. The county seat isn’t like our little town—there are more rich people. Those rich people are willing to spend on food. Their goods are cheap, so the rich buy them, too.”

She flicked a seed shell away. “But they have to pay stall rent, the entry fee, and protection money to the local boss. After all those deductions, they have at most 500 or 600 wen left in a month.”

Then she added, as if very fair-minded, “But that girl Qin Hui Yin isn’t an honest one. She probably hid some. It’s still around 700 or 800.”

“Seven or eight hundred wen isn’t little,” someone murmured.

Madam Wang snorted. “The whole family works for it and they only earn 800 wen. What’s so great about that?”

“If it’s only a few hundred, why not go find work?” another woman said. “Tang Da Fu used to earn two taels a month. That was much better than this.”

Granny Zhang lifted her chin. “Would anyone even hire Tang Da Fu now? And other than Tang Da Fu, Li Tao Hua, and Tang Yi Chen, the rest of that household are children. Who’s going to work?”

She counted them off with satisfaction, like she was delivering a verdict. “Tang Da Fu and Tang Yi Chen won’t do labor. And no one dares send that seductress Li Tao Hua out to work either. All told, it’s not bad that their family can earn seven or eight hundred wen.”

She looked around, daring someone to contradict her. “You’re looking down on seven or eight hundred—do you have a way to earn seven or eight hundred a month without leaving your own home?”

The women exchanged glances.

If it really was only seven or eight hundred, the envy wasn’t sharp enough to bite. But the fact remained: none of their households had that kind of income.

Even so, they told themselves there was nothing to envy about a whole family straining so hard for so little.

Madam Wang refused to let it rest. “I don’t believe it. You don’t live next door like I do—you don’t know how things are over there. If they only earn that much, why are all their clothes brand new? Did they spend everything they made on clothes?”

“And that well,” someone added.

“Right. That well cost a lot, too.”

Madam Wang’s eyes narrowed. “That girl Qin Hui Yin is as sly as her mother. She wouldn’t tell you the truth. I think we need to see it with our own eyes.”

“They do business in the county seat,” a woman said, frowning. “You still want to go all the way there? Renting an ox cart for one trip costs 20 wen, and you still have to pay the entry fee to get in.”

Madam Wang leaned in, voice dropping to a conspiratorial hiss. “It’s not that hard. We live this close—why would we need to run that far just to find out?”

The youngest wife blinked. “Even if we find out, what’s the use? Their money is theirs. We can’t spend it. Didn’t we start out just curious about what business they were doing?”

Silence fell for a beat.

She was right. At first it had been simple curiosity. Then it turned into wanting to know how much the Tang family earned. Now, just to satisfy that itch, they were talking about sneaking into someone else’s home and prying. If it blew up—if Li Tao Hua caught them—what would happen?

The more they thought about it, the more wrong it felt.

One woman shook her head. “We don’t want to pry anymore. We only asked out of curiosity. Honestly, whether we know or not doesn’t matter. Don’t do anything extra.”

Li Er Niu’s miserable state was a warning none of them dared forget.

Since that incident, Li Er Niu’s mother-in-law had ground her down every day, and even her own son treated her like a punching bag. She couldn’t touch a single coin in the house anymore. She only worked—endlessly, like an old ox harnessed until its back broke.

The women sobered, their excitement cooling.

Only Madam Wang and Granny Zhang still hesitated.

Granny Zhang had gone out of her way to gather information. After finally bringing something back, everyone was calling it fake. She hated that. She wanted to prove she was right.

And Madam Wang… Madam Wang was simply unwilling. She wanted to know exactly how much Li Tao Hua was making. She hated the laughter she heard next door, and she hated even more the thought of Li Tao Hua living comfortably.

Women’s malice toward other women had a way of blooming without reason. Maybe it was because Li Tao Hua was too dazzling—living the life most of them longed for and couldn’t reach.

Madam Wang kept tempting them. “Don’t you want to make money? Didn’t you say we should find out what they’re doing and do it ourselves?”

“We already asked and found out,” someone snapped. “But whether it’s meat or flour, it takes money up front. Our families can’t come up with that.”

“Exactly. If my man found out I spent money to buy meat and flour, he’d divorce me for sure.”

The voices rose and fell, then scattered like birds when the conversation ran out of easy prey.

—

When Madam Wang got home, the more she thought about it, the more it gnawed at her.

Just then, Tang Ming Xiu came back sashaying down the lane, face powdered and touched with rouge.

Madam Wang snapped, “Where have you been fooling around now?”

Panic flashed across Tang Ming Xiu’s face. For a split second she looked like she’d been caught with her hand in someone else’s rice jar.

Then she realized Madam Wang was only scolding out of habit, like always. Tang Ming Xiu lifted her chin. “What’s your problem? I hauled the water you told me to haul, chopped the firewood, pulled the weeds in the field. Can’t I go out and get some air?”

Madam Wang waved a hand as if none of that mattered. “Tell me—do you know what business the neighbors are doing?”

“How would I know?” Tang Ming Xiu snapped. “They walk around with their noses in the air whenever they see me. They don’t even put me in their eyes. What dealings could I possibly have with them?”

Madam Wang’s tone turned strangely sweet. “Do you want to know?”

Tang Ming Xiu’s eyes narrowed. “What’s your idea?”

Madam Wang craned her neck to look outside, sniffing the air as if she could smell secrets on the wind. “Not yet,” she said.

They wouldn’t prepare anything these next two days. They only got things ready the day before they went into the county seat, gathering what they needed for the next day’s stall. If they went now, they wouldn’t see anything.