Chapter 70
Chapter 70
Finally, Ning Xi came up with a brilliant idea:
Disguising herself as an old woman.
“Now that I’m an old lady, there’s no way Auntie will try to throw me, right?”
Ning Xi was feeling quite smug, convinced she was a total genius.
Niu Xiaohua and Niu Xiaocao, the siblings, looked at the incredibly realistic old-age makeup on Ning Xi’s face and gave her an admiring thumbs-up.
“It really had to be you!”
[AI can never replace humans, because humans are sometimes just so inexplicably weird.]
And so, Ning Xi-the fifty-year-old middle-aged version-carried a hidden camera and followed the Niu siblings to the Niu Family home.
Niu Xiaohua had arranged a backstory for Ning Xi: she was the mother of a former colleague who just happened to be back in Ling Village today to visit relatives, so Niu Xiaohua had invited her over as a guest.
Niu’s Mother had just finished making dinner and immediately called out for Ning Xi to eat, her attitude exceptionally warm and welcoming.
Seeing the table full of home-cooked dishes, Ning Xi couldn’t help but quietly swallow her saliva.
“So, sister, how old did you say you were?” Niu’s Mother chatted with Ning Xi.
Ning Xi’s eyes were glued to the food as she replied, “I’m fifty-two this year.”
“Oh my, same as me! We’re at the age where we should be grandmothers, but my daughter is so disappointing. She still doesn’t want to get married…”
Niu’s Mother immediately opened the floodgates of conversation.
“Mom, aren’t you tired of this? Can’t you just let people enjoy their meal?” Niu Xiaohua complained.
“Am I not doing this for your own good? Look at everyone your age-who isn’t married yet? Because of you, I can’t even sleep at night, tossing and turning for hours…”
“Then, old sister, do you want me to help you find a night shift?” Ning Xi began to exert her power.
Niu’s Mother: ?
Niu Xiaohua burst out laughing.
Niu’s Mother glared at Niu Xiaohua before looking back at Ning Xi suspiciously.
Why did she feel like Xiaohua’s colleague’s mother was mocking her?
But after looking into Ning Xi’s pure and sincere eyes, Niu’s Mother shook her head. She must be overthinking it!
“Oh, old sister, this has nothing to do with a night shift. It’s because I’m worried that I can’t sleep. You see, at our age, don’t we all just want to see our children start their own families…”
“Mom’s lying! Mom snores so loudly when she sleeps, I can hear it from the room next door!” Niu Xiaocao couldn’t help but call out the bluff.
Niu’s Mother choked on her words.
Then, her expression turned stern as she started nagging Niu Xiaocao instead:
“You’re not even that old yet you have so much to say. Look at Li Xiaoniu from the neighboring village. Not only are his grades good, but he also does chores and doesn’t play video games. What a great kid. If you could just…”
“-Just marry him, then everything would be fine,” Ning Xi interjected.
Niu’s Mother: ?
Niu Xiaohua and Niu Xiaocao: ?
Ning Xi looked at Niu’s Mother with innocent, wide eyes. “That Li Xiaoniu is so wonderful, do you want Xiaocao to take him as a wife?”
Niu’s Mother stammered, “S-Sister, that Li Xiaoniu is a boy…”
“Oh, then you can let Xiaocao marry into his family instead. Since Li Xiaoniu is so excellent-good grades, does chores, doesn’t play games…” Ning Xi nodded in agreement.
Niu’s Mother was completely petrified, her lips trembling.
[Is Ning Xi’s mental state really okay?]
[Ning Xi’s ‘read and reply with nonsense’ skill is top-tier.]
[From now on, Niu’s Mother won’t dare mention that boy to Xiaocao ever again, hahahahaha!]
Ning Xi quickly shoveled food into her mouth.
She suspected she might be kicked out by Niu’s Mother at any second, so she had to eat as much as possible!
“Niu Xiaohua! Did you make her say that on purpose!”
Niu’s Mother couldn’t bring herself to scold Ning Xi, an old lady of her own age, so she vented all her fury on Niu Xiaohua.
Niu Xiaohua pointed at herself in disbelief. “Me?”
“It must have been you who egged her on. Otherwise, how could a fifty-something-year-old lady say such things…”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
Niu Xiaohua let out a shrill scream like a boiling tea kettle.
Niu Xiaocao also took the opportunity to join in the chaos and go wild:
“If anyone dares mention Li Xiaoniu in front of me again, I’ll marry him! I’ll have his babies! I can’t stand school anymore anyway! From now on, whoever you compare me to, I’ll marry them! Man or woman, I don’t care!”
“Niu Xiaocao! You’re a damn man! How are you going to have a baby?!”
Niu’s Mother swung a hand at him.
Niu Xiaocao dodged it nimbly. “You can’t catch me! I’m a swift wolf of the mountains!”
He then proceeded to play a game of “eagle catches the chicks” with Niu’s Mother right there in the courtyard.
Meanwhile, Niu Xiaohua provided the accompaniment with a high-pitched scream that sounded like a boiling kettle, dedicated to inflicting maximum psychological and auditory torture on everyone present.
Ning Xi watched the three members of the Niu Family go mad with her jaw dropped, all while frantically shoveling food into her mouth.
Good grief, these two siblings, Niu Xiaohua and Niu Xiaocao, were way more unhinged than she was.
Once she was about eighty percent full, Ning Xi took advantage of the chaos in the Niu Family household to slip away quietly.
However, just as she stepped out the door, she ran into an elderly neighbor who had come over to investigate the noise and get some gossip. The old woman quickly caught up to Ning Xi.
“Oh my, what’s going on with the Niu Family now? Sister, you just came out of their house, do you know what’s happening?”
Ning Xi glanced at the old lady, whose eyes were full of gossip and prying curiosity, and slammed on her mental brakes.
Then, right there on the spot, she performed a backflip, faked a fall to the ground, and let out a cry of pain. “Ouch-!”
The old woman was completely bewildered. This old sister was in her fifties; why did she suddenly bust out a backflip?
“Th-this has nothing to do with me if you fell! I just stopped you to say a few words… Don’t you dare try to pin this on me…”
The next second, Ning Xi sprang up using a glute bridge.
“I fell? I didn’t fall!”
The old woman was dumbfounded by Ning Xi’s mental state. Once she snapped out of it, she turned around and bolted toward her own home.
“This person is crazy and trying to scam me, I’ve got to get out of here…”
Ning Xi grinned, hiding her merit and fame.
Want to get gossip out of her? Impossible.
[So unhinged! I swear, this is so damn unhinged!]
[I can’t even imagine what Niu’s Mother’s face would look like if she saw her ‘old sister’ doing a backflip.]
[We’ll probably find out after the show airs, hahahahahaha!]
At this point, most of the tasks in the village were nearly finished.
Ning Xi walked with her hands behind her back, sporting her elderly face, and began to loiter around like a local hoodlum while trying to think of ways to keep making money.
As she wandered and pondered, she ran into Jiang Sheshe, who had just finished a task and earned two hundred and fifty yuan.
Ning Xi’s eyes lit up.
“Ugh, why did they make me feed the cows? I even broke a nail, this is so annoying…”
Jiang Sheshe complained with a pout, looking at her broken nail extension.
Then, not paying attention, she collided with someone.
The other person flew back three meters, hit the ground, and lay there motionless, as if they had fallen into a deep sleep.
Jiang Sheshe’s eyes widened. ?
Was she really-that-strong? She could knock someone three meters away?
But now wasn’t the time to wonder why her strength had suddenly spiked. Jiang Sheshe rushed over to the unconscious person and shouted:
“Grandma! Grandma, wake up! An ambulance! Someone call an ambulance!”
The “Grandma” hit by Jiang Sheshe slowly came to and looked at her.
Jiang Sheshe was overjoyed. “Grandma, are you alright?”
The other person pointed to her own mouth and shook her head.
Jiang Sheshe froze. “You can’t speak?”
The person nodded slowly and then tried to crawl up with great fortitude, only to collapse back down as if her “strength had failed her.”
Jiang Sheshe’s heart grew heavy.
Gritting her teeth, she took out all the money she had earned that afternoon.
“Grandma, why don’t you take this money and go see a doctor?”
A glint flashed in the other person’s eyes.
For some reason, Jiang Sheshe found the look familiar, but she couldn’t place where she had seen it before.
In the moment she hesitated, the other person snatched the red envelope with lightning speed.
Then, she scrambled to her feet and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Jiang Sheshe: ?