Qiao Mei's village was in a mountainous area, so all the neighbors were located far away from one another.
However, the aggressive manner in which Qiao Zhuang and his family rushed to Qiao Mei's courtyard meant that the act was witnessed by many people.
These people did not crowd around to join in as this was a family matter between Qiao Qiang and Qiao Zhuang and both of them had strong personalities.
If this was happening at someone else's house, the busybodies would have come over to add their few cents' worth.
However, what Qiao Mei said was indeed not very appropriate. In that era when village life was pure and simple, it was very usual for people in the countryside to take food from one another. It was not considered as being demanding.
