Pei Qin, no matter what, was an adult in her twenties. Seeing Old Man Hu about to lay hands on her, she jabbed her bamboo broom toward him, "What? You want to hit someone over a pile of cow dung?"
"I'll hit you wild eggs, so what? You pick up my family's cow dung and don't give it back, obviously born with a father but not taught by one!" Old Man Hu cursed as soon as he opened his mouth.
Pei Qin's face immediately changed, a cold light flashed in her eyes. Her grip on the bamboo broom tightened, and she really wanted to greet his face with it. Seeing his fearless and rascally demeanor, she turned her head to Si Ya, "Give him the cow dung."
But she saw that Si Ya's face remained unchanged, as if she didn't care much about being insulted about her father. She held on to the cow dung with both hands protectively and just wouldn't give it up. In her view, being scolded about her dad was far less important than not bringing the cow dung home.
Seeing her stubborn refusal, Pei Qin frowned, "Give it to him!"
"No! Why should I? Just because he says it's his cow dung, does it respond to him when he calls?!" Si Ya refused and glared at Old Man Hu with resentment. A pile of cow dung, arguing with a little girl, she just wouldn't give it!
Old Man Hu was also enraged, "You call out, see if the cow dung answers you?"
"The cow dung is in my hands, so it's mine!" Si Ya retorted, turning around and running towards the bundle of firewood, leaving Pei Qin to confront Old Man Hu.
Pei Qin glared, muttering "Damn it" under her breath, she watched Old Man Hu coldly, "A grown man arguing with a little girl and wanting to fight over a lump of cow dung, isn't that shameful!? Instead of this, you could spend the time feeding the cow more grass and it would excrete another lump soon."
Old Man Hu, seeing her somewhat contemptuous look, was just about to get angry when the cow he was holding mooed and let out another pile.
Pei Qin rolled her eyes skyward, pointed at the fresh, steaming dung on the ground with a white vapor rising from it, shouldered her bamboo broom, and walked away.
"Damn these wild eggs..." Old Man Hu wanted to call her back for that pile of dung, but because he was holding the cow and also afraid that this pile of dung would be picked up by someone as well, he cursed and scrambled to find a large leaf to scoop up the dung.
Pei Qin, holding her bamboo broom, stood on the hillside watching him.
Seeing that the three sisters all stood their ground, watching him, Old Man Hu's eyes flashed with anger, and he led the cow back to the village first.
San Ya breathed a sigh of relief and worriedly said, "This Old Man Hu is quite cowardly. We took his cow dung, he doesn't say much now, but later..."
"If he doesn't say now, later it'll be even less of an issue!" Si Ya was still in high spirits, urging, "Let's hurry and carry the firewood home! Otherwise, we'll be late again!"
Pei Qin grabbed the tied straps sewn on the cloth sheet, and the three of them carried it towards home.
After the busy autumn season, the people in the village had some spare time, and all the male laborers went to the town or county to find work to supplement their household expenses.
The women stayed at home, shucking corn, doing needlework, and taking care of the last batch of vegetables before winter set in.
Old Pei's house was located at the head of the village. Like the other families, Lady Zhu was leading two daughters-in-law at home, shucking corn.
Hearing the gate move, Lady Fang looked up and saw the three daughters bringing in a large bundle of firewood. She quickly got up and ran over to help.
The cloth-bundled firewood was too much and got stuck outside the door.
Pei Qin tried several times but couldn't pull it out; pushing it out didn't work either, so she just stared with a flat expression at the large bundle stuck in the door.
"I've got this! I've got this!" Lady Fang said, coming over and pulling hard on the cloth sheet.
Pei Qin, watching, called out, "San Ya, Si Ya, push from the outside!" and came to help Lady Fang pull.
With the combined strength of the mother and four daughters, they finally managed to get the big bundle back into the yard.
Old Pei's house had a large courtyard with four main rooms, two wing rooms on each of the east and west sides, and a backyard with a vegetable garden, firewood shed, cattle shed, and pigsty.