There were a few other people in the yard who had just had their chilies weighed and were waiting for Zhao Ger to settle the payment. Hearing him say he wouldn't accept any more, they thought he had bought enough.
But if he had decided to stop buying, why hadn't he informed everyone sooner? Harvested chilies had a short shelf life. If the weather was sunny, they could be dried and saved, but in winter, the weather was gloomy and damp, they would rot quickly.
Everyone immediately felt that Zhao Ger hadn't handled this matter properly.
Before Zhao Ger could speak, Zhou Ger, who was helping nearby, spoke first: "Why? Go home and ask your daughters-in-law! It's not right to take the silver from selling your chilies and then, with full bellies and nothing better to do, spend your days gossiping and saying bad things about people."
Zhou Ger felt a surge of indignation. While Zhao Ger held back, unwilling to cause a scene for Fang Zichen's sake, but Zhou Ger held no such reservations.
Somehow, Aunt Liu found out about what happened at the threshing ground yesterday and told Zhou Ger about it last night.
"It doesn't matter where he buys chilies. If he bought them in town, the sellers could even deliver them directly to the shop. Why does Zhao Ger trouble himself to come back to the village to buy them? Isn't it precisely because he wants to give everyone a hand? Yet some people can't keep their mouths shut; they claim it's dirty to even speak with him, but then they turn around and sell him their chilies. People like that want to be a whore and still set up a chastity arch—utterly shameless."
When the old women heard this, they knew their daughters-in-law had caused the trouble.
What Zhou Ger said was indeed true.
Several surrounding villages grew chilies. Zhao Ger didn't necessarily have to buy from them. Coming back to the village to buy meant he still had to borrow an ox-cart to transport them back, which was somewhat inconvenient.
The old women looked ashamed at Zhou Ger's words, but they still pressed on, pleading: "Zhao Ger, my daughter-in-law was ignorant. I'll definitely give her a good talking-to when I get back. Can you please not hold it against them? Look at our chilies..."
"I said I don't want them, so I don't want them," Zhao Ger suddenly looked up and said. "Many things can't be brushed off with just 'she was ignorant'."
"Exactly," Zhou Ger chimed in. "Those daughters-in-law of yours are all well into their twenties, aren't they? Still 'ignorant' at that age?"
Being shamed by two juniors like this, one of the old women felt both humiliated and angry: "But... what's the harm in a few words? It's not like anything actually happened!"
Hearing this, Zhao Ger frowned. The middle-aged women standing in the yard couldn't take it anymore.
As the saying goes, malicious words bring a chill even in the sixth lunar month (midsummer). A few words might not seem like much—they don't break bones or make you lose weight—but when the person involved hears them, can their heart ever be truly comfortable?
[惡語傷人六月寒 (è yǔ shāng rén liù yuè hán): lit. malicious words bring a chill even in the sixth lunar month; fig. hurtful words can cause deep emotional pain regardless of the situation].
Some words are like blunt knives. They aren't fatal, but scraped over the body again and again, they will eventually draw blood and cause pain.
"Hey, you old hag," a younger woman retorted, pointing at Old Madam Ge. "You, a wanton slut who married three men, stop your nonsense here. You'd be better off using your free time to sweep the graves of your first and second former husbands, then go home and cook a decent meal for your current man. Let him eat well—who knows, he might be the next one you send to an early grave. What a cruel fate that would be!"
"You... what are you saying?" Old Madam Ge's face flushed red with anger. She had married her first husband at seventeen, but not long after the wedding, that short-lived ghost went up the mountain to gather firewood and was bitten to death by a poisonous snake.
Usually, someone like her, who had lost her chastity, wouldn't marry well a second time. But Old Madam Ge had good looks and large hips, which made her seem fit for bearing children.
Her second husband's family was poor and couldn't find a wife. Through a matchmaker, he married Old Madam Ge.
Less than two years into her second marriage, that husband also died. While her first husband's death could be dismissed as a tragic accident, the second was a healthy man who died under mysterious circumstances. Soon, people started spreading rumors that she was a kefu, cursed to bring death to any man who married her.
[克夫 (kè fū): lit. overcome husband; fig. a wife whose husbands die, implying she brings bad luck to them].
The rumors grew rampant, spreading far and wide. No one dared to seek her hand anymore. It wasn't until Old Man Ge went to their village to help build a house that Old Madam Ge hooked up with him, abandoned her daughter, and returned with him to Xiaohe Village.
Everyone knew about this. A woman marrying three husbands wouldn't be a big deal in modern times, just a normal thing. But in the Da Xia Dynasty, it was rather disgraceful. Old Madam Ge endured enough pointing and whispering in her youth. Now, decades later, the matter was no longer brought up. Having it suddenly mentioned in front of the younger generation made her both furious and ashamed.
"Aiya, why so angry? It's just a few words, isn't it? It's not like anything happened!"
"You... you..."
The old women left in a huff.
Zhao Ger thanked her.
The woman waved her hand: "It's nothing. I just found what she said hard to listen to."
When Fang Zichen returned in the evening, he told Zhao Ger about the matter with Lin Xiaoxia's family. Zhao Ger didn't mind, as long as it wasn't buying those flirtatious types with impure intentions, anything else was fine.
He kept staring at Fang Zichen. Fang Zichen blinked: "Why are you staring at me? Is today's me especially handsome?"
"..." Zhao Ger said: "Mhmm!"
He was so straightforward it made Fang Zichen a little embarrassed. He scratched his head: "Damn, telling the honest truth again. Was your husband not this handsome every other day? I wake up every single day because I'm stunned by my own handsomeness. But there's no helping it. When you're born with this face, it's a curse you just have to bear."
Zhao Ger laughed softly.
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