Chapter 11 Chen Pan wanted to hide from her...

"What rumors?" Hearing Wang Xiaoya's words, Xu Chunhua was subconsciously stunned for a moment, and then her heart began to beat wildly. She didn't know why she reacted like this at this time, but at this moment her heart was pounding so hard that it was about to burst out of her chest.

"You don't know? Actually, there's nothing wrong. I'm just guessing."

As if suddenly awakened from a nightmare, Wang Xiaoya, who had been in a daze, stood up straight at once, and then immediately reached out and quickly took the things in Xu Chunhua's hand: "Aunt, you are right, this is all a misunderstanding. Since Panpan doesn't like old clothes and shoes, I will definitely not give them away blindly in the future. The good relationship between our two families for more than ten years will definitely not be ruined by the little things of a child. Anyway, don't worry, I definitely didn't take what happened that day to heart, and please don't take it to heart. By the way, I'll put down the blood sausage soup now. Aunt, wait for me, I'll wash the small pot for you right away."

After saying that, Wang Xiaoya, who was wearing a clean cotton jacket in the middle of the night, immediately turned around and walked into the yard.

"No, you can just give it to me tomorrow."

It's almost ten o'clock now. Looking at the big wolf dog barking at her in the Wang family yard, Xu Chunhua said subconsciously.

"It's okay, I'm quick, just wait for me for two or three minutes."

After kicking the big wolf dog that they had bought more than a year ago, Wang Xiaoya immediately disappeared from Xu Chunhua's sight.

The Wang family's courtyard was very similar to the Chen family's. No, it should be said that any courtyard built in Qingshui Village for more than ten years had the same basic layout. They all had an outer courtyard in the front, a living courtyard in the middle, and a large courtyard in the back for growing vegetables. They all had three entrances.

Xu Chunhua used to go into the Wang family's yard frequently. But ever since their eldest daughter was admitted to high school, the Wang family moved to No. 4 Middle School where Wang Qingshan taught, and they raised a large wolf dog in their yard to serve as a guard dog, Xu Chunhua never went into the yard again.

Subconsciously, she looked at the ferocious wolfdog that Wang Qingshan's brothers only occasionally fed. Soon, Xu Chunhua's mind flashed back to what the Wang family's wife had just said to her.

"A rumor I'm not aware of?"

Just as she was daydreaming, Wang's daughter-in-law had already brought out her small aluminum pot.

"Auntie, I put a few brown sugar cakes in it. You can enjoy it slowly when you go back."

"good!"

When Xu Chunhua finally returned home that evening, she didn't immediately tell her husband or Chen Pan about the gifts she'd sent to the Wang family. They had a tradition of giving something back to anyone who gave you something; never leave their bowls or plates empty. Some of the families she sent gifts to returned steamed buns and flower rolls, others placed fried dough sticks and sanzi in her bowl, and someone, lacking anything suitable, placed a bowl of barley noodles. With those things in hand, the few brown sugar cakes the Wang family had sent weren't particularly unusual.

Since it was really late, Chen Pan took out the walnuts and egg cakes she'd received from her great-grandfather and second grandfather. Chen Aiguo took out a bag of old-fashioned bread and a giant steamed bun he'd been given. They briefly discussed their experiences delivering blood sausage and quickly packed up for bed.

Chen Pan was indeed exhausted after the whole day. After returning to her room, she fell asleep again as soon as she closed the door.

Chen Aiguo is old and was really exhausted after being busy all day, so he fell asleep quickly.

Amidst his snoring, Xu Chunhua, who had also been busy all day, did not feel sleepy at all.

"Aunt, you are suddenly treating my family like this, did you hear some rumors from somewhere?"

Wang Xiaoya's strange words and her obviously nervous expression when she saw her coming out of her house tonight were magnified inch by inch in Xu Chunhua's mind.

Thinking carefully about Wang Xiaoya's obvious relieved behavior, Xu Chunhua, who was covered with a thick quilt, subconsciously turned her body.

"What's wrong, old woman? Did something happen?" The other party tossed and turned in the quilt too many times tonight. Chen Aiguo, who had been snoring, suddenly woke up and asked subconsciously.

"Old man, have you heard any strange rumors recently?" Unable to sleep, Xu Chunhua, who was wearing patched sweaters and trousers, simply turned over and faced the other party.

The kang in her house is very large, and they don’t put away the small kang table in the middle of the kang even when they sleep, so now the couple sleeps on the left and right sides of the kang table.

"What rumor?" Chen Aiguo couldn't sleep either, so he simply pulled the pillow over and lay on the kang.

"that is--"

Xu Chunhua hesitated and told the whole story that she had sent some blood sausage soup to the Wang family tonight.

"Her daughter has already said that about us, why do you have to—"

Chen Aiguo's anger rose when he heard her say that. But when he thought about how they had worked hard together for their entire lives and how they hadn't even lost their only son, the nameless anger in his heart suddenly subsided.

Subconsciously suppressing his irritation, Chen Aiguo softly consoled him, "Forget it, it's a gift. Since it's already been given, don't think too much about it. As you said, you gave her blood sausage soup, and she gave you some brown sugar cakes in return. Even if the relationship between the two families can't be restored to what it was before, at least it's still acceptable on the surface."

"No, you don't understand what I mean at all. I'm talking about what the Wang family's daughter-in-law said, 'Sister-in-law, your family treats us like this, have you heard some rumors from outside?' What does she mean? What kind of rumors could be spread outside? What kind of rumors could cause a quarrel between our family and hers? What kind of rumors would make her act so guilty and excited towards me—"

Seeing that her old man still didn't understand what she meant, Xu Chunhua, who had been lying in bed, suddenly sat up.

Just as she subconsciously suppressed her voice and growled, she suddenly froze.

"What's wrong? What's wrong? Why are you suddenly angry in the middle of the night?" Chen Aiguo felt truly distressed for his wife, who had married him at sixteen and nearly died giving birth to his son at seventeen. Seeing her so emotional, he was startled and subconsciously sat up in bed.

"It's okay, go to sleep, go to sleep!"

Completely shocked by the sudden thought in her mind, Xu Chunhua immediately comforted her husband.

Seeing that the other party looked completely confused, Xu Chunhua no longer had the energy to persuade him. She pulled the quilt over her body, turned around to face the wall of her house, and immediately began to think seriously.

If there is one rumor that Xu Chunhua is most afraid of and most unwilling to hear, it is actually about her granddaughter.

It was a year after she lost her son and when she really started to consider adopting a son for the Chen family, she suddenly heard a baby crying at the door in the middle of the night and found Panpan wrapped in a small bundle.

Although Panpan is a girl, although the child looked so small at the time that it seemed as if she was not even a month old, and although boys and girls are completely different in rural areas.

But because the child was left at her doorstep with a clear purpose, and she looked at the pitiful little kitten, she finally softened her heart and decided to adopt the child.

Because of this decision, she offended the Chen family, who were eager to adopt her child, and her own family. As a result, the relationship between her family, her husband's two brothers' families, and her own family became strained.

Anyway, for Xu Chunhua, what she hates and fears the most now is others mentioning their granddaughter's life experience to her.

After she held the child, she told many people in the village that the child was sent to her overnight by her son's fiancée, an educated youth who had returned home.

But her husband's two brothers, her mother, brother and sister-in-law knew the truth about this matter.

Apart from what they couldn't help but say in person, there was no guarantee that no one had seen her carrying the baby Panpan back to the house that night.

If this is the case, then the person is most likely Wang Xiaoya who lives across the street from her or her husband Wang Qingshan.

If that's the case, everything actually makes sense.

"That's because she told the rest of the village about this matter, so she felt so guilty and uneasy—"

Xu Chunhua was constantly speculating in her mind and did not sleep well at all that night.

Although she didn't sleep well, she still got up early the next day and made the fried dough twists and fried dough sticks that she hadn't made before.

In the past, she had specifically sought help from the Wang family across the street on this matter.

But this year, Xu Chunhua invited Chen Xiufen, Yang Kai's wife from next door, and the two families fry the cake together.

Just like the New Year's cleaning, this is also a big project that requires the participation of the whole family.

Knead the dough, make the raw dough for twisted dough sticks and fried dough sticks, and finally the final step is frying.

The process looked simple, but the first step of kneading the dough alone took several people more than two hours. Rolling the twists one by one was also extremely tedious, and the adults also worked together for more than an hour.

Seeing them busy, Grandma Wang who lived across the street even brought her little grandson to help them.

Of course, they eventually joined in, bringing some flour, eggs, and rapeseed oil. Then, in the evening, her family also brought back two basins of fried dough twists and fried dough sticks.

Because they were busy, neither Chen Pan nor Grandma Chen had time to think about anything else.

After a busy day, they finally finished frying all the dough balls. Everyone sat at Chen Pan's house and casually fried a big pot of pickled cabbage, vermicelli and meat. They ate dinner together with the fried twisted dough sticks. Suddenly, a voice that made Chen Pan frown appeared outside his house again.

"Uncle San, Aunt San, I heard that your family is frying fried dough twists and fried dough sticks today, so I came over—"

After calling out twice casually, Wang Qingshan, carrying two gift boxes, smiled and lifted the heavy door curtain of Chen's house.

After lifting the second curtain and seeing everyone in the room, he, wearing a brand new blue coat, smiled even more amiably: "Oh, Aunt Wang, Brother Yang and Sister Yang, everyone is here. Am I coming at a bad time? I hope I didn't disturb everyone's meal?"

"No, no, Qingshan, you're here at the perfect time, come in quickly!"

"Teacher Wang——"

"Brother Wang——"

"Teacher Wang——"

In Qingshui Village, Wang Qingshan, a mathematics teacher at No. 4 Middle School, is definitely an extraordinary person.

Seeing him suddenly approach, everyone, whether it was Grandpa Chen, who had previously argued with his family, or Grandma Chen, who had been speculating about his family last night, all put down their things and quickly stood up. Even Grandma Wang, who was sitting in the center of the Chen family's kang, immediately put down her bowl and chopsticks and quickly put on the most polite and warm smile on her face.

As for the two children from the Yang family and the particularly naughty child from the Wang family, everyone stood up subconsciously when they saw Wang Qingshan, the teacher, and greeted him politely.

As for Chen Pan, she was holding her bowl and chopsticks, and with a dull expression, she casually opened her mouth along with everyone else. Then she took the things in her hands and went directly to her kitchen.

Her kitchen had been frying fried dough twists all day, and she had just cooked some vegetables. Now this place was the hottest place in her house except for the main house.

He didn't want to face the Wang family, and he didn't know how to face them. For the time being, Chen Pan just wanted to have dinner here peacefully.

Chen Pan wanted to hide from Wang Qingshan, who had suddenly come to her house, but just as her butt touched the stove, the next second, the twin brother of the Yang family next door, who was three years younger than her, came over and timidly told her, "Sister Panpan, Grandpa Chen is calling you. He wants you to come in."