How I Tamed My Wolfish Husband Back in 80s-Chapter 127: Picking Pine Cones_1

Qin Jin led Feng Fugui and Feng Kui to Jiangpu Village to find Liu Er, and they brought tools to pick up pinecones together.

Feng Fugui noticed they were being followed by Feng Hu and signaled for Qin Jin to look back.

Qin Jin sneered with ill intentions, "I saw him a while ago." That hill was called Pig Waist Ridge, and according to the elders nearby, it was the highest point in the county. Bandits used to live there, and ghostly fires would appear at night. They only dared to go there to pick up firewood at the foot of the hill and never ventured deep into it.

He was waiting for Feng Hu to go up there; he guaranteed the guy would behave for a good while after returning home.

The group reached their destination, and Qin Jin locked the bike and led the way into the mountain.

Feng Hu planned to let the air out of Qin Jin’s bike tires and, since there were two bikes, he couldn’t tell which was Qin Jin’s and prepared to deflate both.

Just as he reached for the valve, he heard Feng Fugui’s voice, "Er’hu, what are you doing?"

Feng Hu straightened up in panic, only to see four people not far from him, staring him down fiercely. He was related to Feng Fugui and Feng Kui and also the same age, though Feng Hu was a few months older. So, he called out to his younger cousin, "I saw some bugs on your bike, just picking them off."

Qin Jin enunciated each word, "Picking bugs? You mean letting air out, right?" He had plenty of experience with such tricks. "If my tires are flat, you’ll be the one to answer for it!" He was the first to head deeper into the mountain.

Feng Hu: "...."

Feng Kui and the others followed; Feng Hu quickly caught up. The men moved quickly, but it still took them almost half an hour to reach the spot.

Liu Er kicked a pinecone, "If these things could make money, would I wait for you to pick them up?"

"My wife said they could sell, so they will sell! Now hurry up and fill them," Qin Jin retorted.

"Whipped!" Liu Er spat out.

Feng Kui also ridiculed Qin Jin for being henpecked, and while cursing, he started singing, "Got a ’tigress’ at home, always beating the drum in my heart. She’s the boss of all matters, big and small inside and outside the house. The wife says hens lay eggs, and the husband says roosters can lay eggs...."

"Damn it! Did you come here to work or to act in a play?" Qin Jin grabbed a shovel and chased after him, while Feng Kui ran ahead still singing.

In the midst of all the horseplay, they managed to fill six bags.

Feng Hu came empty-handed, watching as everything got packed by others. The loss pained him, and he said to Feng Fugui and Feng Kui, "At least leave some for me, will you?"

"Who told you not to bring a bag?" retorted Feng Fugui.

Qin Jin pointed upward, "There are still some on the tree."

Feng Hu looked up to see a tree five or six meters high with a bare trunk. How could he climb it?

Besides, weren’t the greenish pinecones on the tree unripe compared to the ones on the ground?

Loser Qin, that man, he was no ordinary kind of bad. After filling several bags himself, he absolutely refused to leave any for Feng Hu, who stomped off down the mountain in anger.

Qin Jin asked the other three to carry a bag each and go down first, while he watched over the rest of the goods.

Taking his chance, Feng Hu tried to stir trouble: "Loser Qin is really cunning, relaxing up there while ordering you around to work."

"We’re happy to do it, what’s it to you?"

"Exactly!"

Qin Jin followed them secretly, picking up stones and aiming them at Feng Hu.

Hit in the leg, Feng Hu leapt up, "Who hit me?" He scrutinized Liu Er with a suspicious gaze.

Liu Er, his head tilted, carrying a sack, met Feng Hu’s eyes: "What? You think I hit you?"

Feng Kui intervened, "Er’hu, how could we three hitting you while carrying these big bags? Must be your imagination."

Feng Hu wished it was just his imagination, but his calf was throbbing with pain.

To prove his innocence, Liu Er walked in front.

Another pain hit Feng Hu’s leg, "Ouch!"

The three men’s shoulders were burdened with pinecones, and the slope was steep. They couldn’t be bothered with Feng Hu and kept moving downwards.

Left behind, Feng Hu was getting hit with no one in sight. The tree shadows on the path blocked the sunlight, and as the wind blew, the coolness came in waves.

He thought he had encountered evil spirits and was scared to the point of wetting himself.

Qin Jin, hiding, laughed stealthily.

Feng Hu ran ahead of the three, and after descending the mountain, he hopped on his bike and took off.

Feng Kui, being the thinnest, was tasked with guarding the sacks while the other two went up the mountain. They met Qin Jin and together, they carried the last three sacks down the mountain before working together to transport them home.

Li Qiao took out some roasted pine nuts for them to try.

"These taste really good. If they were a bit saltier, they would be even better. Sister-in-law knows best; being a college graduate really makes a difference," they praised.

Li Qiao smiled with her eyes narrowed. She took out a plastic bag and filled it for them, "I’ll make some more and bring them to you later."

"Don’t mention it."

Li Qiao decided that tomorrow she would buy more ingredients and make two different flavors. She planned to let Qin Jin sell them at the restaurant. With his gift of gab, she had no worries that they wouldn’t sell.

No sooner said than done.

She continued to hammer at the pine cones, while Qin Jin directly found a small stone roller and started rolling it back and forth on top of them.

Li Qiao thought to herself that people who were used to farm work really had the best ideas; why hadn’t she thought of using a stone roller?

Qin Jin was busy dealing with the pine cones in the courtyard.

Yu Feng was angrily scolding Feng Hu, "What’s the matter with you? Five grown men went out, and you were the only one yelling about ghosts! Look at all the things in the Qin family’s yard; they’re going to profit again from this haul."

"We could go and report them," Feng Hu mumbled after some thought.

Yu Feng stamped her foot in frustration. "If they say they gathered them for their own consumption, what could you possibly do to them?"

Feng Hu tentatively suggested, "So we just watch their family prosper?"

Yu Feng slapped her forehead in exasperation, "I’ve been smart all my life, how did I end up with such a fool for a son? Can’t you find some evidence? Once you have it, then you report them."

Feng Hu thought to himself, where am I supposed to find evidence?

Peng Chunhua, out of sight out of mind, decided to leave the house with her swollen belly and take a walk to clear her mind.

The moment she stepped out the door, she saw Li Qiao, relaxing in the shade of a tree, eating pine nuts and fanning herself with a woven fan.

Her heart filled with both envy and admiration, she couldn’t help but walk over.

Li Qiao had such good skin, even the palms of her hands were white and delicate, clearly not the result of hard work.

Unlike herself, having to work even with a large belly.

She asked, "Have Jin’s friends left? I heard from Old Mrs. Qin that you were planning to go out. Are you not going anymore?"

Li Qiao’s eyes first swept over Peng Chunhua’s protruding belly before looking up and coldly responding with a grunt.

"I saw several skirts drying in your yard before, why haven’t I seen you wear them? And that wristwatch you have, you don’t wear it either," Peng Chunhua inquired.

Li Qiao replied with a teasing smile, "You’ve been paying close attention to me. Nobody else in the village wears skirts; I’m a bit too shy to wear them. As for the watch, sweat isn’t good for the components, so I don’t wear it." The wristwatch was the first valuable gift she had received from her friends upon arriving here.

It was of special significance, and she needed to take care of it.

Thinking of her friends from the city, she packed a bag of pine nuts to take to them.

The city friends were hiding in their house, eating watermelon to escape the heat.

"Weren’t you traveling with Qin Jin?" one asked.

Li Qiao replied, "I just got back."

"Where did you go?" Du Xinxin offered Li Qiao some watermelon as she sat down the pine nuts and took the fruit, finding it fresh and sweet.

Du Xinxin pinched a pine nut. "What’s this?"

Han Ting explained, "They’re pine nuts. You can eat them directly after removing the shell. Where did you get these? They’re not cheap, and you don’t often see them; they’re hard to come by."

Li Qiao told them about picking up the pine cones with Qin Jin.

"The ones you picked must be from last year, right? Or maybe even the year before; aren’t they moldy?" Han Ting was somewhat incredulous.

Li Qiao answered, "Most of them are fine, maybe because that place gets light and air?"

"You’re also lucky," he commented.

After finishing a slice of watermelon, Li Qiao chatted idly with the city friends. Suddenly, Wang Nannan spoke up, "I heard from the villagers that your sister is getting married into our village. Did you introduce them? Didn’t she stab Feng Bing? And then Feng Bing blamed Qin Jin?"

Her implication was clear: even if you had a grudge against your sister, this wasn’t the way to exact revenge.