"Upstairs, hide upstairs. It's dark upstairs, find a corner to hide in."

Chen Fengjuan helped Zhang Xuemei upstairs, intending to hide her there.

"Oh my, what are you hiding upstairs for? I'm really impressed with you guys. Come on, come with me, hurry up."

Zhou Nianmei supported Zhang Xuemei with one hand and casually grabbed a small basket with the other to sling over her arm.

Looking back, Chen Fengjuan was still standing there, and he was both anxious and angry. "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and come help me support her. We need to get out of here quickly, or someone will come looking for us at home!"

"Oh, oh, I'll go, I'll go." Chen Fengjuan quickly ran a few steps to support Zhang Xuemei on the other side, and asked anxiously, "Sister-in-law, where should we hide? Aren't we going to the back mountain?"

When family planning officials come, they usually hide up the mountain and only dare to come down after the others have left.

Zhou Nianmei helped Zhang Xuemei walk along the path out of the village, looking back as they walked.

Hearing Chen Fengjuan's question, he couldn't help but get angry and said, "Are you stupid? Are you running up the mountain because you're afraid no one will see you?"

Let me tell you, if you run up the mountain, people will be able to see you from a distance, so you can't go up high places now.

Besides, look at her belly, how far can she run?

"Alright, stop talking and let's go while no one's around."

Fortunately, everyone was working in the fields at that time, and not many people were walking on the road, so Zhang Xuemei and her group were relatively safe on their journey.

"Sister-in-law, I can't go on anymore, I really can't walk any further." She was already holding her breath, and now that she had walked for so long, she really couldn't walk anymore.

"Tsk tsk, really useless. Oh well, it should be fine now. Come on, let's go over there. I remember there's a pile of firewood under the paddy field embankment. Let's hide there."

Zhou Nianmei remembered that once her son had fallen asleep there, which made her search for him for a long time.

"Phew~," Zhang Xuemei leaned against her sister-in-law and slowly slid down to sit down. She was exhausted.

Zhou Nianmei looked around and said to Chen Fengjuan, "Go and get some water, she's so thirsty."

"Okay, I'll go right away." Chen Fengjuan was familiar with this place and knew where to find mountains and rivers.

"Sister-in-law, thank you for today. I apologize for what I said. I'm so sorry!" Zhang Xuemei looked up at Zhou Nianmei, who was covered in sweat, and felt a wave of guilt wash over her.

I had upset her so much before, and although she left in anger, she would still turn around and run back to tell me whenever something happened, and even take me with her.

Looking back now, I really shouldn't have argued with her.

Zhou Nianmei glanced at Zhang Xuemei and muttered softly, "I'm not doing this for you, I'm just worried about the baby in your belly."

Zhang Xuemei knew that her sister-in-law was just stubborn but soft-hearted; she wasn't a bad person, just had a sharp tongue.

If she could do it all over again, Zhang Xuemei wouldn't hold a grudge.

So he smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, logically speaking, we both have the character 'Mei' in our names. Although we are not the same character, we have the same pronunciation."

"You've married into the same family again, we should be very close, so why do you always tease me every time we meet?"

"You really want to know?"

"Hmm, I want to know." Zhang Xuemei really couldn't understand why her sister-in-law disliked her in both her past and present lives.

"You even said that since I'm the eldest sister-in-law, the bride price should be based on my dowry. We've only been apart for a few years, yet you still have fifty more than me."

You have no idea what people in the village say about me. They say I'm such a boring sister-in-law, especially since I'm the eldest sister-in-law!

Zhou Nianmei gets angry whenever this is mentioned. How can they bypass her? Isn't that looking down on her?

Zhang Xuemei had no idea that her sister-in-law would hold a grudge for half her life over this incident, which was both funny and infuriating.

"Didn't Mom tell you? The extra amount was filled in by Minghan himself. It was the same amount for my sister's wedding, so that's what my parents asked for."

Zhou Nianmei glared at her defiantly, "How do I know if it's true or not? What if you're just trying to fool me!"

Zhang Xuemei was also helpless. "Really, I swear, what's there to lie about?"

"Really? You'll turn into an ugly monster if you lie."

Zhang Xuemei looked at her with a childish expression. She was almost thirty years old, how could she still be so childish?

"See, you don't dare to do it now, do you?" Zhou Nianmei looked at Zhang Xuemei smugly, as if she had caught something red-handed.

She knew Zhang Xuemei wouldn't dare; she loved being beautiful, how could she possibly swear on her face?

Zhang Xuemei rolled her eyes. "I swear, if I'm lying to you, I'm an ugly monster, is that alright?"

Zhou Nianmei looked at her with a puzzled expression. It seemed that the third brother really had paid for it himself. Honestly, he had made her angry for so long for nothing.

"Here it is, here it is, Xuemei, have some water first. Luckily there's a bamboo tube over there, otherwise I really wouldn't have been able to fill it with water." Chen Fengjuan handed the water in her hand to Zhang Xuemei, and after watching her drink it all in one gulp, she asked, "Do you want more? Should I go get some more?"

Zhang Xuemei shook her head, "No need, thank you, Second Sister-in-law."

Chen Fengjuan waved her hand, "Look at you, you're being so polite, trying to say thank you like city people do."

Then he looked at his sister-in-law Zhou Nianmei and asked, "Sister-in-law, are you thirsty? I've already had some over there. Shall I go get you some more?"

"Are you still thirsty? My throat is parched. Never mind, give me the bamboo tube, I'll go myself, so you don't have to walk back and forth."

Zhou Nianmei took the bamboo joint and walked downstairs, feeling irritable from the heat.

Zhang Xuemei sat in the shadow of the firewood pile, fanning herself with her hand, unaware of where her husband had gone.

"Second sister-in-law, you should go back later! It's quite noticeable that there are a few fewer people at home." Although Zhang Xuemei was a little scared, she had no choice; she couldn't let the two of them stay with her forever!

Chen Fengjuan hesitated, "Are you sure you can manage on your own? If you get caught, you won't be able to escape."

"It's alright. Go back and find an opportunity to talk to Minghan and ask him to come pick me up." Zhang Xuemei thought her husband should know what to do.

"Hey..." Chen Fengjuan was about to say something when Zhou Nianmei returned, with several handfuls of wild fruits in her front clothes.

"Sister-in-law, are these wild fruits you brought for the children? They'll be so happy to see them."

Chen Fengjuan reached into her sister-in-law's clothes and took out all the wild fruits, giving the first one to Zhang Xuemei.

Zhou Nianmei glanced at Zhang Xuemei and said in a rough voice, "Keep it for her! She probably won't be able to have lunch. Here, there's an egg too, keep it to fill her stomach."

As he spoke, he pulled a hard-boiled egg out of his pocket.

When Zhang Xuemei saw it, the corner of her mouth twitched involuntarily. Wasn't this the very thing she was supposed to eat this morning?