Ning Wei endured the nausea, forcing a smile to deal with Li Bai.
Go ahead, touch!
The happier you are now, the more painful you'll be later!
Ning Wei had already claimed these hands for herself!
A table full of dishes was quickly laid out.
Seeing that his mother was truly going to be arranged for by Ning Wei, Li Bai was overjoyed. He even took out their homemade grain wine and poured it.
Li poured a cup for himself and his father, and then poured a full half bowl for Ning Wei.
Their homemade wine was much stronger than anything bought outside, and the key word was "pure."
If Ning Wei drank this half bowl, she'd sleep until dawn and wouldn't recognize her parents if they came.
Ning Wei saw through Li Bai's thoughts and, lowering her eyebrows, drank her chicken soup, avoiding the half bowl of white wine.
After a cup of wine, Li Bai grew bolder.
He pushed the bowl of white wine towards Ning Wei, "Why aren't you drinking? This is excellent grain wine, you can't get this in the city!"
Ning Wei pushed it back, "I don't drink."
Li Bai pushed it back again, "It's okay if you don't know how. You'll learn after a few more sips."
His words were firm, leaving no room for Ning Wei to refuse. His eyes fixed on her face. Just then, someone burst in from outside.
Seeing this person, Li Bai immediately stood up to greet him, his tongue slightly slurring from the wine, "Shunli ge, why are you here?"
Wang Shunli's mouth curled into a cold smile. *If I hadn't come sooner, the deed would have been done!*
They were from the same village, and it wasn't time to fall out completely.
Wang Shunli grinned, "I heard Auntie was stewing an old hen today, and I got cravings. I came without an invitation, you won't turn me away, will you?"
Wang Shunli played the rhetorical question perfectly. Li Bai dared not say no.
Wang was a prominent surname in Chaonan Village. Besides the village chief, there was a large family, and Li Bai, as an outsider, had no grounds to offend them.
Li Bai immediately made space for him, "How could I? Come, come, ge, sit here."
Wang Shunli plopped down. He noticed the half bowl of white wine in front of Ning Wei, his eyes flickered, and then he drank it all down without a word.
When Li Bai returned with new bowls and chopsticks, Wang Shunli was already gnawing on a large chicken leg from the clay pot.
Chicken soup wasn't an everyday dish, and a large chicken leg was a rare treat.
The old woman wouldn't have killed a chicken if not to coax Ning Wei into coming today.
To think she wouldn't get the girl and had wasted a chicken. The old woman sighed inwardly.
Wang Shunli was truly shameless, claiming more than half of the meat from the pot for himself, not fearing a stomachache.
The old woman knew she couldn't afford to offend him, so she didn't show her displeasure. Instead, she kept urging him to eat and drink more.
The old man, relying on his age, had an unhappy expression, but Wang Shunli didn't even look up at him, completely absorbed in his chicken.
After he had eaten and drunk his fill, he wiped his mouth unceremoniously with the sleeve of his white shirt, leaving a yellowish smudge, which he paid no mind.
He turned to Ning Wei and asked, "Finished eating?"
Ning Wei put down her empty bowl and nodded.
Wang Shunli glanced outside. It wasn't dark yet. "Why don't you go back? I heard Professor Mei seemed to need you for something, like finding some documents or something. I don't really understand. You should go back and ask him."
Ning Wei thanked the old woman and then turned to leave the Li family's house.
After Ning Wei was gone, Wang Shunli stomped his foot on a stool with a "bang."
"Forget about Ning Wei. She's mine!"
Hearing this, Li Bai's face turned ashen.
The old woman was displeased. She had finally found a daughter-in-law she liked and wasn't willing to give her up so easily.
"The village rule is highest bidder wins. No one has made a bid yet, so why have you claimed her, Shunli? Isn't that against the rules?"
She thought she could use the rules to control Wang Shunli, but she forgot who Wang Shunli was!
As expected, Wang Shunli didn't care. He arrogantly said, "What rules? I, Wang Shunli, am the rule of Chaonan Village! These people were brought here by me, so I get to choose first. If you're not satisfied, you can go find your own!"
If finding a wife were that easy, Chaonan Village wouldn't resort to such trickery.
The old woman looked displeasedly at her husband, hoping he would say something.
But Old Man Li was too busy smoking his pipe, paying no attention to the matter.
It was Li Bai who couldn't hold back. Not only his mother, but he too was extremely fond of Ning Wei.
He still vividly remembered the feel of her hand when he served her chicken soup, and he'd decided not to wash his hand today.
Her hands alone were so soft. How much more captivating must the rest of her body be!
Li Bai summoned his courage and said to Wang Shunli, "Brother Wang, I'll give you the three fat pigs in the pigsty outside, and that woman. Can you let me have Ning Wei?"
Wang Shunli scoffed, "That woman has been living in the pigsty for so long, she smells of pigs no matter how much she's washed. You dare to offer her to me?"
Li Bai felt a bit awkward but continued, "Then I'll add two more fat pigs. I'll raise them and deliver them to you personally. How about that?"
Wang Shunli flatly refused, "No! Don't talk about five fat pigs, even with five more, I won't back down! I'm not here for anything else today, just to remind you not to covet what isn't yours! You can't afford the consequences!"
This was a blatant threat.
However, Old Man Li had been in the village for a long time and wasn't to be trifled with.
Hearing this, his face darkened immediately. He tapped his pipe on the table.
On the surface, he was just dusting off ash, but in reality, he was sending a warning.
Old Man Li had been quite the character in his youth. Some women in the village had been sold to the village through him. However, as he got older and couldn't work the trade, and his son was a disappointment, he had gradually faded from public view.
Even Wang Shunli's mother was brought to the village by him personally.
Back then, Old Man Li was handsome and eloquent. Many women were attracted to him.
Once, he met a fellow villager outside and heard that people in the village were buying wives from outside because they couldn't find brides locally, and the price for a wife wasn't low.
At that time, the village was very poor, and some families had to sell all their belongings to afford a wife.
Old Man Li was tempted by this. He immediately set his sights on the prettiest woman in the factory.
Under the assault of his silver tongue, the factory flower quickly fell into the trap of love.