Chapter 694: Chapter 598: After Revision

Seeing the three of them blocking the courtyard gate with no intention of moving, Liang Panqiu was first mortified, then her heart sank. ’She’d lived for decades and wasn’t a fool; how could she not see it? Grandpa Mo was disappointed with the Liang family and, by extension, wanted nothing to do with her. His wife was disgusted, Jiabao had refused them, and now even these children were showing her no respect!’

’She had miscalculated. Of all the mistakes she could have made, she never should have goaded her mother into bringing so many people over. And that Liang Xiaoju was the worst of them all—that damn girl was the single rat dropping that ruined her whole pot of soup!’

Liang Panqiu despised Liang Xiaoju with a passion. Now, she had to think hard about how to salvage the situation.

Zhang Lanni didn’t notice her mother’s despondency and dismay. Her only thought was to take her cousin inside to see the new building, acting as if it were her own house where she could do as she pleased.

But whether she tried to go left or right, Da Zhi and Gu Shaoqin blocked her path, preventing her from entering the gate. Zhang Lanni grew displeased. However, she wouldn’t dare show her displeasure to Gu Shaoqin. On the contrary, she even gave the handsome, refined young man from the city a shy smile.

Then she turned to Da Zhi, her brows furrowed in a glare. "Hey! What are you doing standing there? Can’t you see we want to go in? Get out of the way!"

Da Zhi was furious. ’Who does she think she is, acting so high and mighty in someone else’s house? And what’s with the double standard? All smiles for the guy from the city, but a nasty look for the country folk? This kind of woman is the absolute worst!’

"So what if I like standing here? What business is it of yours? Let me make something clear: this is my house! You’re already outside the gate. We were seeing you off and about to close it. Why are you even turning back?"

Da Zhi’s expression was grim and his tone aggressive. From behind, Liang Panqiu quickly called out her daughter’s name in warning. Zhang Lanni froze for a moment before it dawned on her, and her face instantly turned beet red. ’In her excitement, she’d forgotten she was on someone else’s turf. This Da Zhi might be dark and built like a young bull—not as handsome as Gu Shaoqin, and lacking his refined air—but his surname was Mo. He was Grandpa Mo’s legitimate grandson, a young master of this house. How could she possibly afford to offend him?’

In the time it took Zhang Lanni to lower and raise her head, her expression changed completely. The smile she forced was strained, but it carried a hint of sincerity. Her tone softened. "Brother Dazhi, I was wrong. My cousin Li Hua wanted to see your big new house, right? I was in such a hurry to take her inside that I wasn’t thinking. I was rude. Please don’t be mad at me!"

"How can I not be mad? You barge into my house and try to kick me out? By what right? Try shouting like that at someone else’s house and see if they don’t chase you out with a broom!" Da Zhi glared at Zhang Lanni. He had sisters at home and girls often came over to play, so he actually knew how to be considerate of a girl’s feelings. But right now, he was utterly disgusted with this cousin of his and had no intention of showing her any courtesy.

"Now hurry up and leave. Don’t stand in my doorway blocking the light. My house isn’t open for tours!"

Xiao Man added, "This isn’t a national museum or a public space. It’s a private residence where our family lives. Unrelated people are not welcome to tour it!"

Zhang Lanni was quite pretty, with rosy cheeks, big eyes, and a sweet smile. In the countryside, where boys were favored over girls, most girls dropped out and went home if their grades in elementary school were poor. Yet, Zhang Lanni was still in junior high. The envious and jealous gazes of the other village girls had inevitably given her an overblown sense of superiority. This, combined with Liang Panqiu’s influence, had fostered a proud, arrogant, and self-centered personality. She had rarely been publicly humiliated, but today, at Grandpa Mo’s home, she suffered one blow after another—and all in front of her cousin and cousin-in-law. She had often bragged to the couple about how wealthy Grandpa Mo’s family was. She boasted about how much he valued her mother and, by extension, her, his studious grand-niece. She’d painted a picture where she was an honored guest who could do as she pleased, and everyone had to respect and dote on her.

But now, being so rudely driven away by Da Zhi was tantamount to telling her cousin and cousin-in-law that she was, in fact, a nobody in Grandpa Mo’s house. Everything she had said before was a lie!

Furious and anxious, Zhang Lanni covered her face and burst into tears.

Liang Panqiu felt she had lost face as well, her status diminished in front of her niece and nephew-in-law. She shielded her daughter while adopting the tone of an elder to lecture Da Zhi and Xiao Man: "You two shouldn’t be acting like this. We’re all relatives, so how can you say we’re ’unrelated people’? This is Wang Ligao; you should be calling him ’Cousin-in-law’. What’s wrong with them wanting to take a look at the new building? Da Zhi, if you keep being naughty, your father will give you a beating when he gets here! And Xiao Man, didn’t your Grandma teach you not to be so stingy?"

Da Zhi just gave her a contemptuous look and didn’t bother to reply. ’He hadn’t done anything wrong, so why would his dad beat him? Besides, his dad wasn’t the type to hit his kids. He never had, not once.’

Xiao Man sneered, "It’s not your place to question how my Grandma raised me. You and your daughter, on the other hand, barging into someone’s house without permission—that’s what’s called rude and ill-mannered, you understand?"

Liang Panqiu’s expression turned ugly. She tried to smile several times but couldn’t manage it, so she finally gave up.

Wang Ligao had just been startled. He didn’t dare to openly stare at the pretty girl, but he couldn’t help sneaking glances at Xiao Man. When Liang Panqiu suddenly mentioned his name, he thought he’d been caught. His heart pounded furiously. He quickly tugged on Zhang Lihua, wanting to leave. "W-we’re not looking, we’re not looking! Let’s go back!"

But Zhang Lihua was reluctant to leave. She had longed to see this courtyard and the new building inside it for a long time. They were already at the gate, so why not go in and have a look?

She said to Xiao Man, "When guests come to your door, you should welcome them, right? If you came to my house, my husband and I would definitely treat you with warm hospitality!"

Xiao Man rolled her eyes. "What godforsaken corner do you live in? Who’d be interested!"

"Hey, how can you talk like that? Our village isn’t some backwater; it’s not far from the main road! And to think you’ve been to Beijing, yet you’re so impolite!"

"You talk about manners? Then what are you doing blocking someone’s front door? In the city, if they catch you behaving like this, they’ll send you straight to the station to cool your heels!"

Zhang Lihua was taken aback. "The station? What’s that?"

"The police station."

Zhang Lihua’s face changed. She pursed her lips. "Who are you trying to scare? Who hasn’t been to the city these days? So what if it’s the Public Security Bureau? It’s illegal for them to arrest people for no reason!"

Wang Ligao hurriedly tugged at Zhang Lihua. "Alright, that’s enough. We’re at their doorstep. Let’s go home!"

Furious at being denied a tour of the building, Zhang Lihua huffed at Xiao Man, "It’s not that great anyway!"

Wang Ligao pushed her toward the tractor, then turned to call out to Liang Panqiu and Zhang Lanni, "Auntie, Lanni, get on! We’re heading back, it’s getting late."

Xiao Man patted Da Zhi’s shoulder. Da Zhi and Gu Shaoqin went into the courtyard first. Xiao Man remained, leaning casually against the gatepost. She didn’t look at the group, just stared down, nonchalantly fiddling with her fingers.

Wang Ligao took the hand crank and turned it at the front of the engine ten times. With a CLANG CLANG CLANG, the tractor roared to life. He steered the tractor from the side of the road onto the main road. Suddenly, a small, powerful gust of wind spun up from beneath the wheels. It swept up dust and fallen leaves from the ground and rushed straight at the four people in the tractor bed. The group simply thought it was the wind kicked up by the tractor. They all squinted and frantically brushed at their clothes to keep the dust and leaves from getting in their eyes or sticking to them.

No one noticed that, with the exception of Zhang Lanni, the fallen leaves stuck to the heads and backs of Wang Ligao, Zhang Lihua, and Liang Panqiu flickered like stars for a few moments, and then bizarrely vanished.

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