USWHC -Chapter 97 My Woman (Part 7)

While turning over the ground, Zhu Jie was secretly watching Ji Mei with her eyes. Well, would you look at that! She was casually cracking sunflower seeds as if nothing had happened!

Ji Mei somehow pulled out a handful of sunflower seeds from somewhere, crunching them loudly. The smugness on her face—there was absolutely no hiding it!

Zhu Jie, however, put on a deliberately exasperated expression and said, “Meizi, why is this ground so hard to turn?”

Hard to turn? That’s exactly right! Ji Mei thought to herself secretly, but on the surface, she frowned and spat out, “You need to use force! How could it move without force?”

“Use force, huh?” Zhu Jie repeated slowly and deliberately. “Like this?” And she really lifted the hoe high into the air.

Seeing the hoe raised so high, Ji Mei knew this would take a lot of effort. One good swing would surely make her arms ache and tingle painfully.

Ji Mei couldn’t help but feel a secret thrill, her eyes widening. “Yes, yes, raise it higher!” The higher she raised it, the harder it would hit! Though she didn’t actually say that last part out loud.

“Like this?” Zhu Jie said with a sly smile, lifting her hands even higher as if following Ji Mei’s instructions. Higher and higher, past her head, pointing straight at the sun, almost as if she were trying to poke a hole through the sky.

Ji Mei, thrilled, shouted, “Yes, yes, higher! Higher!”

The next moment, Zhu Jie suddenly let out a howl, “Ouch! So heavy! So heavy!”

Before Ji Mei could even react, Zhu Jie staggered, lifting the hoe and stepping backward, wobbling as if it could fall any second.

“Ahhh! What are you doing!” Ji Mei scrambled backward, her eyes wide as the hoe seemed about to crush her. Wait—she raised it too high and might hit herself?

Just as Ji Mei nervously shut her eyes, there was a dull thwack! The hoe flew out of Zhu Jie’s hands, hitting the ground with a sound that made Ji Mei scream, “Ah! No!”

Seeing Ji Mei’s scared face, Zhu Jie covered her mouth to stifle a laugh, but hurriedly called out, “Sister, are you okay? You’re okay, right?” She rushed over, grabbed Ji Mei’s arm, and spun her around like a spinning top. “It’s fine, it’s fine!”

Ji Mei was spun around several times on the spot and had no way to stop. Soon, dizziness hit her, the world spinning uncontrollably—she couldn’t catch her balance at all.

But Zhu Jie kept a face full of concern, her expression engraved deeply with worry, eyes full of it as she kept spinning Ji Mei.

“Stop!” Ji Mei finally yelled, her voice echoing across the mountain, scaring the birds into flight.

At her shout, Zhu Jie loosened her grip, and Ji Mei finally stopped. But the next moment, she stumbled and couldn’t stay on her feet, landing squarely on the ground with a thump!

“Ouch! That hurts so much!” There was a dull bonk as Ji Mei’s head hit the hoe stuck in the ground. She felt her head shoot up a few inches—she thought she had grown taller!

“Pain, pain, pain! It hurts so much!” Ji Mei clutched her head, tears streaming down her face. No need to touch it to know—she hadn’t grown taller, there was a giant bump on her head!

“Sister! Sister! How can you be so careless?” Zhu Jie cried, more agitated than anyone, as if Ji Mei were her own sister. She reached out carefully and poked the big bump hard.

“Ouch!” Ji Mei grimaced. “What—what are you doing?”

Looking up, she saw Zhu Jie’s eyes filled with tears, whispering hoarsely, “What am I supposed to do now?”

Her voice sounded even sadder than Ji Mei’s own pain, tears hanging at the edge of her eyes, full of love and concern. Even Ji Mei’s mother hadn’t looked so heartbroken for her.

Ji Mei silently fumed. Wait—wasn’t this on purpose?

Before Ji Mei could get up, Zhu Jie yanked the hoe from the ground with a fierce shout: “You hit my sister, so I’ll hit you too!”

But as she lifted the hoe, intentionally or not, the tip sliced across Ji Mei’s clothes with a shhh!—a long tear ran down the back of her shirt.

A hoe—hardly sharp—had somehow ripped her perfectly fine shirt into a backless outfit. Ji Mei felt a chill run down her back. Wait—was this really necessary?