Chapter 133. Guaguaguaguagua.

"You know what? The daughter-in-law actually beat up her parents-in-law. Hehe, we all secretly watched, and they were beaten black and blue!"

"Especially that old woman. Both her eye sockets were swollen. She looked like a frog. It was hilarious!"

Talking about this, Li Xudong's face was full of gloating, and it was obvious that he extremely disliked the old couple in his heart.

"Those two husband and wife are not human beings. They take advantage of their seniority and do nothing all day long. They just order their daughter-in-law around and find fault with her. They go around saying bad things about her."

"My son is just a lazy good-for-nothing. All year round he's either out eating, drinking, or gambling. His wife does all the work around the house."

Xiang Yao thought to herself, as expected, behind every bullied woman, there is a cowardly scumbag.

She couldn't help but sigh, "This whole family is like blood-sucking leeches, just pointing at one person and sucking all the blood!"

Li Xudong slapped his thigh and said, "That's right! Isn't the wife behind me pregnant? Do you think she can just rest? No, she still has to work with a big belly!"

"Even after giving birth, she couldn't rest peacefully during the confinement period because her sister-in-law had to breastfeed the baby and couldn't go out to work. Her husband would make a scene at home every few days, and he wouldn't care about anything. He just wanted money, and if she didn't have it, he would curse and beat her."

Xiang Yao frowned, feeling disgusted: "Bah! What a beast!"

I hate such beasts the most. Such people should die young, even as soon as they come out of the womb, so as not to harm others!

Her voice unconsciously rose a little when she got excited. Zhang Wan poked her head out of the kitchen and asked, "What are you talking about? Why are you so angry?"

Li Xudong smiled awkwardly: "Mom, I was talking about the family at the end of the alley. My sister-in-law was angry when she heard it..."

Zhang Wan stretched out her damp hand, pointed at her son, and said unhappily, "It's a good thing I haven't bothered you about this matter yet. You're already showing off!"

Li Xudong coughed twice and urged, "Mom, hurry up and cook. I'm hungry!"

Zhang Wan finally retracted her head, and Li Xudong breathed a sigh of relief. However, when he turned around, he saw his brother Chuan and sister-in-law Xiang Yao staring at him as if they were interrogating a prisoner, and he couldn't help but feel a chill on his back.

Xiang Yao blinked and spoke out preemptively: "Tell me, why is Aunt Zhang bothering you for such a thing? What did you do?"

Without waiting for Li Xudong to speak, she suddenly realized, "Could it be you who made the crying sound of the baby in the tree?"

Li Xudong quickly waved his hands: "No, no, I don't have such superb ventriloquism skills, how could I have come up with that!"

Xiang Yao acted like Lu Yu: "Really? I don't believe it."

Li Xudong rubbed his head. Under the distrustful stares of his brother and sister-in-law, he confided shyly, "Okay, it wasn't me, but it was my friend. I was just keeping watch."

Xiang Yao raised an eyebrow: "You actually have such an amazing friend!"

Li Xudong perked up again: "That's right, my friend is really good at imitating some sounds. He used to imitate the teacher's voice and the sounds of animals and played tricks on us countless times."

Xiang Yao: "Hasn't that family at the end of the alley ever thought about this?"

Li Xudong shook his head. "They didn't know my friend, and they didn't know anyone else had this ability. Plus, they were already feeling guilty, so they thought it was some evil spirit at work, so of course they couldn't imagine anything."

Xiang Yao nodded thoughtfully, thinking that this made sense.

She asked in a low voice: "Tell me, was it really the couple who killed the child?"

Li Xudong curled his lips, hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "We think it's very likely. Although the couple refused to admit it and insisted that their daughter-in-law was crazy and talking nonsense, according to our observation, their daughter-in-law is actually very normal most of the time. The occasional appearance of her being abnormal is when the family is resorting to some superstitious trick."

According to his thinking, it was not abnormal at all. He was just using this excuse to take the opportunity to discipline this family.

He sighed, "Ah, this sister-in-law must have never had a good life since she got married. Sometimes we can hear her scolding from several houses away."

Xiang Yao leaned forward slightly and asked, "Has she never thought about divorce?"

Although divorce is a rare thing in the countryside, and people think it is shameful just to mention it, in the county town, people's ideas should be more open, and there are definitely divorced families.

But Li Xudong said, "She has no family background. She learned to sing in a theatre troupe since she was young. Later, the troupe disbanded. People like her had nowhere to go, so she was probably arranged to marry by the local Women's Federation."

Xiang Yao paused, there was indeed no way back.

She couldn't help but fall into deep thought. In this situation, her daughter-in-law was an orphan with no support, and her child was dead with no witnesses or evidence. Even if she knew that it was not a natural death, there was probably nothing she could do.

And people are often driven crazy in this way.

When her hatred cannot be vented, when the evildoers not only go unpunished but also act arrogantly, and she has no way out in this vast world, it is hard to imagine how desperate she must be.

Li Xudong continued, "I have a few good friends, two of whom live nearby. A while ago, we got together and talked about this matter, and we decided to teach that couple a lesson..."

He pinched his fingers and described how small the "little lesson" was.

But the lesson of this prank really touched the sensitive nerves of the couple, and they were so scared that they couldn't even sleep at night, for fear that something would come to take their lives.

Xiang Yao felt that this lesson was not enough. As long as the daughter-in-law of that family did not stand up, she would always be bullied.

After thinking for a moment, she said, "Although there's a high probability that we won't be able to find the truth about the child, I feel that since the daughter-in-law was introduced to this family by the Women's Federation, the Women's Federation has a responsibility to ensure that these people not only receive ideological and labor reform in their future lives, but also ensure that they have a happy life."

"So," she said with a blazing gaze, "this family who abuses their daughter-in-law like this should report it to the Women's Federation and let the women's cadres make the decision for them!"

"They arranged a new path for these women, so they have an obligation to conduct follow-up inspections to ensure they receive a true new life, rather than continuing to be enslaved and oppressed in the old society based on the family unit."

Xiang Yao's words made Li Xudong, a young man, excited and opened up a new line of thought.

Before this, Li Xudong had never thought that there was such a way. He and his friends had originally gathered together to "play a prank" to scare the family, just to vent his anger for the sister-in-law. Now that he knew there was such a way, he thought about it carefully and really felt that this was the way to go.

Just scaring people like this won't solve any problems. At most, it will just make people scared for a while. But if the Women's Federation is allowed to handle it, the nature of the matter will be different.

These days, the power and influence of the Women's Federation are very profound.

The women in these old-time opera troupes were liberated, but they were not liberated to continue working like slaves for their husbands' lazy families.

The young man's bright eyes sparkled, and he said excitedly, "Sister-in-law, you're right! This kind of thing should be dealt with seriously by the cadres of the Women's Federation!"

Xiang Yao stopped there. She was not from Quan County and would not stay here for too long. Going to the Women's Federation to report the poor living conditions of women was of course something that should be done by passionate young people like Li Xudong.

I hope it works, she thought.

"It's time to eat!"

Li Jianye brought out the dishes and directed Li Xudong to get the rice and chopsticks.

Xiang Yao and Nie Baichuan stood up to help, but he held them down. "You two are guests, and Xiang Yao is a first-time guest. How can I ask you to do anything? Come, sit down and prepare to eat."

Li Xudong had just planted a spark in his heart and was so excited that even his steps to get the dishes and chopsticks were particularly passionate.

Zhang Wan wiped her hands and walked out, brushing past him. She was very puzzled: "Why is this kid so strange? He walks like a duck pecking at insects in the fields back home..."

Li Xudong: ...

Li Xudong yelled, "Mom, if you can't speak, don't speak. What duck? I don't look like a duck!"

Xiang Yao almost died of laughter. She tried to straighten her lips and looked at Li Xudong. Sure enough, they looked a bit like each other.

This made her sigh that Aunt Zhang's description was so vivid!

Li Xudong tried hard to restrain his movements, and took out the rice with his buttocks tucked under him. He saw that not only Xiang Yao was smiling at him, but even Brother Chuan was smiling at him. He was so embarrassed that his face turned red.

He looked at his mother with resentment, thinking that it was over, this image was really going to be deeply rooted in the minds of the two guests!

However, his embarrassment did not last long, because at the dinner table, Lao Li and Xiang Yao started the topic they had not finished before, which made him prick up his ears and listen carefully.

Lao Li took a sip of wine, picked up a piece of meat with chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth boldly. He said, "Regarding the issue of planting technology, once you have solved the problem ahead, you can go to the commune's agricultural technology station for advice. It would be even better if you can get personal guidance from the technicians at the agricultural machinery station."

Xiang Yao nodded: "If we can really achieve large-scale planting, then it won't be difficult to hire technical personnel to provide guidance."

"As for pesticides and fertilizers," she looked at Nie Baichuan and said with a smile, "I believe our brother Chuan should be able to come up with a solution in this regard."

Zhang Wan also laughed: "Baichuan has been smart since he was young. If there is any problem that cannot be solved, it is very likely that he will be able to solve it."

Li Xudong believed this unconditionally: "Yes, yes, when I was little I loved playing with Brother Chuan. He knows everything!"

Zhang Wan said angrily, "You're the one who causes the most trouble, and Baichuan always cleans it up for you. How dare you say that?"

Xiang Yao burst into laughter and winked at Li Xudong, signaling to him - wasn't it Nie Baichuan who dealt with him in this fight again?

Li Xudong made a begging expression, fearing that his sister-in-law would reveal the fight he had been involved in.

Of course, Xiang Yao is very loyal, so she wouldn't say it, but it's also very fun to suddenly hint at it in her words and make this guy nervous a few times!

After dinner, they had asked almost all the questions they needed, so Zhang Wan asked the young couple to stay at her house for one night, but Xiang Yao and Nie Baichuan declined.

"I have already booked a room in the guesthouse and my luggage is all there. I'd better not bother you tonight." Xiang Yao said with a smile.

Zhang Wan invited again: "Then come to dinner tomorrow!"

Xiang Yao smiled again, but he had to leave early tomorrow morning, so he would not eat.

Zhang Wan still felt a little regretful, because she really liked this lovely little girl.

But these days, going out is time-limited. The number of days written on the letter of introduction is the number of days. There is nothing that can be done about it. The family can only watch the young couple leave on their bicycles.

We didn’t go to the guesthouse immediately, but found a small river, stopped the car and took a walk.

The wind in this season was already quite cold. Xiang Yao shivered slightly, and Nie Baichuan took off his coat and put it on her.

Xiang Yao was not shy. She knew that her man was strong and not afraid of the cold, so she calmly put on his clothes.

Wrapped in a big coat, the remaining warmth instantly covered my entire upper body and thighs, and I no longer felt cold at all.

Looking at the jagged rocks sticking out of the river, Xiang asked, "If I propose collectively planting peanuts and tomatoes, would the brigade agree?"

Nie Baichuan put his arm around her shoulders, squeezed them gently, and said, "It will probably be difficult. For the first year, my personal suggestion is to plant small, scattered plots of land for private use. Anyone who wants to make some extra money should be willing to do so with more persuasion."

But if it is planted on a large scale, it will inevitably occupy farmland, which is a difficulty.

Before seeing the benefits, most people tend to be conservative.

Xiang Yao nodded. She also understood that they were afraid of hunger in previous years and did not dare to take risks.

But, she smiled slyly and said, "Do you know there's a saying called the anti-entry threshold effect?"

Nie Baichuan showed a puzzled expression and waited quietly for her answer.

Xiang Yao blinked and said, "For example, if you want to open a window on the wall, you can tell others that you want to tear down the roof of this house."

Nie Baichuan pondered for two seconds and smiled, "Well, if you first propose large-scale planting, which is difficult, and then move on to small-scale planting on private plots, everyone will be more likely to agree. Is that what you mean?"

Xiang Yao gave a thumbs up: "Smart!"

Nie Baichuan wrapped his large palm around hers and said seriously, "You're smart."

Xiang Yao chuckled, "If anyone heard us bragging about our business dealings, they would laugh their heads off."

Nie Baichuan heard a completely new word from her mouth, and after savoring it carefully, he understood its meaning.

He stared at Xiang Yao, a dark light flashing in his eyes.

His little girl always inadvertently came up with a few words that he had never heard of before but could understand after thinking about it carefully. He didn't know where she learned them from.

It seemed like a secret, and not because of his own lack of vocabulary.

Of course, he wouldn't ask any further questions, just as he didn't ask where she got her fruits from.

Xiang Yao never thought that he had inadvertently revealed his true identity.

Nie Baichuan had never pointed out such a problem, so she had never been wary of it.

Perhaps the quiet atmosphere at dusk was very suitable for thinking, Xiang Yao seemed to be talking to himself, sorting out his thoughts in a rambling manner.

Nie Baichuan would occasionally talk to her, but most of the time he would remain silent, letting her wander in her own thoughts.

Xiang Yao thought about it for a long time, and finally felt that even if she had thought through every link clearly and thoroughly, she might still have to deal with it according to the circumstances when facing practical problems.

I just don't want to think about it anymore.

She raised her head and squinted her eyes: "Nie Baichuan, let's go back to sleep?"

Nie Baichuan nodded: "Okay, let's go back."

Xiang Yao said again: "Pull me."

Nie Baichuan calmly took her hand, and the two of them entered the pre-booked guesthouse before it got completely dark.

The staff member was still going to verify the marriage certificate and letter of introduction, but she was so impressed by the young couple that she skipped this process and let them in directly.

The men are good-looking, the women are good-looking too, it’s hard not to remember them.

Xiang Yao was a little disgusted with the bedding in the guesthouse, but since she was away from home and had not prepared anything in advance, she had no choice but to sleep on it.

She had originally thought that she would have to toss and turn to fall asleep in such an unfamiliar environment, but unexpectedly, she fell asleep within a few breaths after just touching the bed...

After Nie Baichuan came out after washing up, he saw Xiang Yao sleeping soundly with his eyes closed.

She was probably too tired, and because she was alone in the bed, she curled up unconsciously in a very insecure position.

When he got on the bed, perhaps feeling the familiar warmth and breath, she stretched out her body and rolled into his arms very consciously, hugged his waist, rubbed her head affectionately on his chest, and then fell asleep very peacefully.

There were electric lights installed in the guesthouse. In the light, Nie Baichuan gently hugged Xiang Yao, his eyes lingering on her eyelashes, carefully counting how many clusters there were and how many there were.

Finally, he gently kissed the hair on top of her head, then turned off the lights, closed his eyes, and fell into a deep sleep.