CHAPTER 329: CHAPTER 327: SPOIL YOU (PART 3)

"Really?" Mu Shuangshuang asked, feigning surprise.

"Of course!" Ma Houhou replied with confidence, thinking to himself, "It’s just a brat, being able to eat pig feed is good enough."

"Then I want to eat stir-fried willow branches," Mu Shuangshuang said, eyeing the willow tree with a wasp nest.

"What? Willow branches? Hahaha... you’re really silly, eating something like that, I’ll humor you,"

Ma Houhou looked around and set his sights on the willow tree Mu Shuangshuang was staring at. He walked over casually and began to bend the willow branches under the tree.

Mu Shuangshuang followed behind him, finding the angle and height suitable for throwing stones. Suddenly, she bent down, picked up a large stone, and hurled it forcefully at the wasp nest.

With a "clang," the wasp nest fell to the ground, landing right by Ma Houhou’s feet.

From inside the nest, a swarm of wasps began to fly out, buzzing loudly. Mu Shuangshuang ran with all her might, coincidentally bumping into Lu Yuanfeng, who was worried and had chased her from Zhang Huai Shu’s house.

Mu Shuangshuang shouted loudly, "Fengzi, run... wasps... wasps are coming!"

Lu Yuanfeng didn’t hesitate. As Mu Shuangshuang approached, he grabbed her hand, and the two started running desperately, leaving the wasps far behind.

At the tree, the wasps, unable to find the culprit who disturbed their nest, took out all their anger on Ma Houhou.

The buzzing swarm of hundreds of wasps stung Ma Houhou relentlessly, injecting him with venom. Under the willow tree, Ma Houhou danced, hopping around and shouting incessantly.

"Help... oh my... someone’s gonna die!"

"Help!"

"Ouch... it hurts..."

The sound was pitiful and pathetic, as Mu Shuangshuang and Lu Yuanfeng hid in the grass, watching him dance helplessly like a shaman.

Shortly after, Ma Houhou’s face was covered in stings.

The low wailing sound was so pitiful it was heartbreaking.

But Mu Shuangshuang was in a great mood, lying in the grass, laughing uncontrollably, to the point where even Lu Yuanfeng beside her could feel her body trembling constantly.

Lu Yuanfeng knew Ma Houhou was bullying Shuangshuang, which is why he ended up so miserable. He didn’t consider Shuangshuang’s actions excessive, but rather regretted not participating himself.

"Shuangshuang, I..."

"Don’t talk, let’s wait a bit more, wait until the wasps have stung Ma Houhou enough, then we’ll collect the nest."

The small wasp pupae in the nest are good stuff, rich in protein, even more effective than meat and eggs.

By now, some villagers had heard the commotion and came to watch the fun, though no one dared get too close, fearing involvement.

"Damn it, do you think Ma Houhou’s brain is sick? He even dared to poke a wasp nest, everyone knows that wasps are as venomous as snakes in June. We’re barely past June, and he did something so stupid."

"Right, he doesn’t seem normal, does he? Look, he’s not even hiding, just letting the wasps sting him."

"I reckon Aunt Zhang did too many bad things, maybe Ma Houhou got possessed and doesn’t know what he’s doing."

The villagers gathered, each chiming in energetically.

As they talked, Ma Houhou ran out of energy to bounce and was just shaking like a sieve.

After a while, it seemed even the wasps lost interest, some flew away, others returned to their nest.

The villagers, having seen enough of the spectacle, didn’t bother with Ma Houhou’s continued wailing and went back to their business.

Mu Shuangshuang and Lu Yuanfeng kept waiting until everyone dispersed. Mu Shuangshuang found some dry grass on the ground, mixed it with some leaves, and used the flint in Lu Yuanfeng’s hand to ignite the dry grass.

Because the leaves were wet, they produced a thick smoke. Taking advantage of the smoke, Mu Shuangshuang intended to collect the wasp nest herself but was stopped by Lu Yuanfeng.

"Give it to me, your leg hurts, if something happens, you won’t be able to run. It’s better if I do it, at least I’m faster."

"You knew?" Mu Shuangshuang froze, she had been trying hard to appear calm.

Lu Yuanfeng nodded, and then took out a bottle of medicine from his pocket: "Just got it from Uncle Zhang, he said to apply it wherever it hurts for a quick recovery!"

Mu Shuangshuang took the medicine Lu Yuanfeng handed over, her heart suddenly swirling with mixed emotions, and her heartbeat became unusually fast.

Her palms sweated profusely...

In the grass, she watched Lu Yuanfeng run towards Ma Houhou. Her heart felt like it was in her throat, worrying not only about potential stinging wasps in the nest but also the danger of Ma Houhou lying there.

Lu Yuanfeng, after using the smoke to disperse the wasps, calmly used a stick to pick up the nest, and before leaving, gave the endlessly wailing Ma Houhou a kick.

Immediately, another heart-wrenching scream came.

Mu Shuangshuang thought that one kick alone was enough to make Ma Houhou suffer, not to mention the stings all over his body.

Lu Yuanfeng came over, and before he arrived, he had made sure that the nest no longer had wasps.

"Shuangshuang, what do you want the nest for? Honey?" Lu Yuanfeng asked curiously.

"No, it’s the pupae inside the nest, very nutritious. We’ll fry them in hot oil later, they’ll taste heavenly!

Fengzi, you might as well come home with me, yesterday’s things haven’t been touched, there’s wild eggs and the dried fern my grandma sent, fry the fern with lard, it’s bound to be delicious."

Lu Yuanfeng was feeling a bit hungry, and considering it was almost noon, he said: "Should we grab a wild chicken from home to eat?"

Having caught three wild chickens, Lu Yuanfeng left one at Yu Family Village, intending to give the rest to Shuangshuang, but she refused and suggested selling them next time they go to town.

Last night, Lu Yuanfeng had fed some food to the chickens, and they were more tame.

"No need, let’s sell the wild chickens; if we want chicken, we can buy a domestic one, much cheaper."

At the moment, Mu Shuangshuang is counting every penny, as she needs to pay off debts, save up silver to buy corn, and prepare for Xiao Han and Yuanbao’s tuition fees in spring—all requiring money.

Lu Yuanfeng grinned and nodded: "Alright, whatever you say goes!"

"That’s what you said, so you’ll take care of your own meals and not worry about me, okay?

I know you think I’m too thin and want me to eat more, but gaining weight isn’t something that happens overnight. Even if you roast me a pig, I can’t eat it all, and even if I did, it won’t turn into my flesh."

This has happened several times already, so Mu Shuangshuang treated it as a serious matter, lest the foolish guy gives her all the good stuff.