Chapter 108

Xu Yuting told Lin Tao what had happened on the island during the days when Lin Tao was away.

It is said that during the Chinese New Year, Shen Guobin's eldest son Shen Jiahao had a fight with the son of a martyr on the island. The fight was quite fierce. Shen Jiahao's front tooth was knocked out, and the martyr's son's teeth were broken.

Shen Jiahao's front teeth had already been replaced, and they would not grow back after being knocked out this time. After Lin Hui found out about this, she immediately dragged Shen Jiahao to the house to complain.

"The two families started fighting. In fact, it wasn't just Shen Jiahao who got beaten up when the children were fighting. The eldest child in Feng's family was also beaten, but they didn't say anything. However, Lin Hui still took the children to Feng's house to cause trouble." Xu Yuting said.

"Mrs. Feng's husband sacrificed his life for the country and is a martyr. Even Wang Yuanliang always told me that we should be nicer to the families of martyrs and help them more. But Lin Hui took the children to their house and started a fight. I heard from Sister Chen that after Shen Guobin came over, he beat Lin Hui directly." Xu Yuting was also quite gossipy when talking about this kind of thing.

I don't know whether he continued to beat her after returning home, but Lin Hui didn't leave the house during the New Year. So Chen Shuifen and Xu Yuting guessed that Shen Guobin beat her quite well.

As for the matter of Chen Shuifen's mother-in-law, it was because Mrs. Zheng complained that the money they gave was too little, and this time she came to take money. Chen Shuifen and her family sent five yuan to their hometown every month as pension for the old couple Zheng Youde, and in a year, they could get sixty yuan.

Sixty yuan was a good living in the countryside. Each family had its own private plot of land, and the commune would kill the New Year pig during the Spring Festival based on work points.

Actually, the old couple are not very old. In those days, people in the countryside got married very early. They got married when they were 17 or 18 years old. Now they are in their early 50s. When they are in their hometown, they usually work in the fields and earn work points.

But the old couple were very partial and had always favored Zheng Youde's younger brother. He always helped their family. The pork was distributed in the commune and was always taken to the second son's house. Zheng Youde could not see him during his family affairs. It is estimated that the old couple used all the money Chen Shuifen and the others sent home to support their younger son.

What Chen Shuifen meant was that even though the old couple were partial, they were Zheng Youde's biological parents after all, and they had raised Zheng Youde, so they would give him the share that was due to them. So even though Chen Shuifen hated them for how they treated her back then, she would still pay the five dollars a month without fail.

But it was impossible to get money from them to help Zheng Youshou and his family.

So when Old Lady Zheng came and made such a fuss this time, Chen Shuifen refused to give in. She just said, "They have no money." But Old Lady Zheng didn't believe it. She came on the 29th day of the lunar year, and now it's the 8th day of the lunar year, and she still won't leave, and she makes trouble from time to time.

She said that Chen Shuifen’s cooking was not good and she was deliberately mistreating her as the mother-in-law.

She also said that Zheng Hongxing's grandson didn't call her grandma because Chen Shuifen taught him to do so. In fact, Zheng Hongxing was born on an island. From the time Chen Shuifen was pregnant to the time she was in confinement after giving birth, Grandma Zheng never came to see her. Zheng Hongxing didn't even know her grandma.

After listening to Xu Yuting's story, Lin Tao was not interested in Lin Hui's family affairs, but was more worried about Chen Shuifen.

While the two were talking here, old lady Zheng started making a fuss again in Chen Shuifen's house next door.

"Oh, I really shouldn't have let Youde marry such a black-hearted woman like you. I am your mother-in-law, and this is how you treat your elders? You were nearly dying of illness back then. If it weren't for our family, you would have gotten better? How dare you treat me like this..."

Old Lady Zheng's voice came over. Xu Yuting looked at Lin Tao helplessly and said, "Listen, it's started again. She tries her best to make trouble every day."

"Why don't we think of an idea to help Sister Chen." Lin Tao said. It's New Year's Day, and it's not a good idea for Old Lady Zheng to keep making such a fuss.

Xu Yuting: "I do want to, but I just don't know how to help. Old Mrs. Zheng is Sister Chen's mother-in-law. This is their family affair. How can we help after we get involved? Argue with her like the shrew? Sit on the ground and vomit? When your grandmother went to the island, it was thanks to your foresight that you left the island first and sent her to Lin Hui's house to harm Lin Hui. Later, she had no choice but to go back. But the situation of Sister Chen's family is different. Their whole family is at home, and her mother-in-law has recognized her. Even if we go and have a quarrel with her, I guess she won't leave so easily without getting the money."

What Xu Yuting said makes sense. Old Mrs. Zheng and Old Mrs. Lin are the same kind of people.

And at that time, it was really thanks to Li Chengxi who came up with the good idea of ​​the empty city plan, otherwise it would not have been so easy to deal with Old Lady Lin that time.

Lin Tao pursed her lips, thought for a while, and then came up with an idea.

She smiled and said, "Yuting, come with me to the clinic first."

"Go to the clinic? Are you feeling unwell?" Xu Yuting asked with concern. Her eyes fell on Lin Tao's whole body. Lin Tao looked fine. She had been to Shanghai. Her face was rosy and shiny. She didn't look sick. "You are not pregnant again, are you?"

This idea suddenly popped up in Xu Yuting's mind.

Lin Tao smiled helplessly and said, "No, what are you thinking about? Yueyue is still young, and I really don't want to get pregnant at this time. It's Sister Chen's business, let's talk about it while we walk."

Lin Tao said, holding Xu Yuting's hand, and the two of them went out together. They both wore thick cotton jackets, and Xu Yuting specially designed a waist belt in the middle of the jackets, which made their waists look slender, and it was impossible to tell that they were both mothers.

The two most beautiful teachers on the island walking together is a unique sight on Shengshan Island.

On the way, Lin Tao told Xu Yuting what she was thinking: "Since Sister Chen's mother-in-law is here for money, why not just make her believe that Sister Chen and her family are really broke? Didn't Sister Chen say that she was in poor health when she was young? She was so sick that she couldn't even walk. It must be really serious. So I thought, when we go to Sister Chen's house later, I will pretend to ask them to pay back the money. I will say that Sister Chen has to spend a lot of money every month on medical treatment because of her poor health, so she has spent all the allowance from Captain Zheng and has to borrow money from me. Isn't Manman a pharmacist? Let's let her cooperate with us in acting out a play."

After Lin Tao finished speaking, Xu Yuting blinked, stopped and looked at Lin Tao.

Lin Tao's cheeks were fair, and her eyes were particularly attractive, with distinct black and white, and sparkling. She looked like an innocent little white rabbit.

But I didn't expect that such a little white rabbit could actually deceive people!

Xu Yuting couldn't help laughing and said, "A Tao, I never realized that you would have such a bad idea. I always thought you were a very well-behaved girl who would never lie since you were a child. It seems that you were corrupted by Captain Li after you married him. But you are just the right kind of bad, and I like it."

Lin Tao was also amused by Xu Yuting's words and said, "You are right. I will teach Captain Li a lesson when I return. But desperate times call for desperate measures. We should think of some way to deal with people like Sister Chen and her mother-in-law."

The two arrived at the clinic. Today was already the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, and the army's clinic was already operating as normal.

When Lin Manman saw Lin Tao and Xu Yuting coming over, she immediately smiled: "Sister, you're back from Shanghai."

"Well, we came to ask you for help." Lin Tao said.

Lin Manman nodded quickly: "What kind of help do you need? Just tell me. I will definitely help if I can."

So, Lin Tao told Lin Manman her idea. As Lin Manman listened, her eyes gradually widened. She was a little worried: "Can I really do it? Will I be exposed?"

"It's okay. Sister Chen's mother-in-law is from the countryside and doesn't understand these things very well. You just need to say something to scare her when the time comes." Xu Yuting said.

"Okay, when are we going?" Lin Manman asked.

Lin Tao said: "Now."

They did what they said. Because Xu Yuting had been to Chen Shuifen's house before, it was not convenient for her to act out this scene, so she went to Lin Tao's house to wait. Lin Tao went to Chen Shuifen's house first, and waited for a few minutes before Lin Manman went.

In order to make the performance more realistic, Lin Manman also borrowed a set of blood pressure measuring tools from their clinic, intending to measure Chen Shuifen's blood pressure on the spot for Mrs. Zheng to see.

"Then I'll go." Lin Tao glanced at Xu Yuting and Lin Manman and said.

Xu Yuting and Lin Manman both nodded: "Well, go ahead."

To be honest, Lin Tao never lied before, but this time not only did she have to lie, she also had to put on a big show. It was fine when she lied before, but now that she really had to perform, she felt a little nervous.

But after she pushed open the gate of Chen Shuifen's house, she calmed down. There was nothing to be nervous about. She just said what she wanted to say: "Sister Chen? Are you home?"

As soon as Lin Tao's voice appeared, Zheng Hongxing ran out first. After seeing Lin Tao, he called out, "Auntie Lin!"

Chen Shuifen followed closely behind. Just after they finished lunch, Mrs. Zheng made another fuss because she said the food she cooked was not to her taste and that she did it on purpose.

Because of the arrival of Old Lady Zheng, their family had a very miserable New Year. Seeing Lin Tao, Chen Shuifen felt better. She smiled and called out, "Teacher Lin, you're back? When did you come?"

As a result, Lin Tao said with a stern face, "Sister Chen, when will you pay me back the money you owe me? Let's talk about it before the New Year. Now it's over, you should pay me back, right? My family is not as well off as you think. I was willing to lend you money because I saw that you were in poor health and always needed medicine. You couldn't even afford the tuition for your children, but you still have to pay me back."

Chen Shuifen was stunned and completely stunned.

Zheng Hongxing was also stunned. He looked at Lin Tao, then at his mother Chen Shuifen, his eyes full of panic. His mother was in poor health and always had to see a doctor and take medicine? She couldn't even raise money for his and his brother's tuition? Wuwuwu, was their family so poor...

But before, he kept asking his mother to buy him peach cakes and picture books. Now I think he was really ignorant!

After being stunned for a moment, Chen Shuifen realized what Lin Tao was suggesting and started crying immediately, pretending to wipe away her tears: "Teacher Lin, I'm so sorry. I wanted to get the money back to you as soon as possible, but it's just the end of the Chinese New Year and I really don't have any money..."

"You know my body is so bad that I can't do without medicine... cough cough cough... I almost died of illness when I was young, and it was only after coming here that I felt better by taking medicine... I have no choice. I have used all of Mr. Zheng's allowance to buy medicine, and my two children have no money to go to school... Teacher Lin, please give me some time... Or, how about you grab a few chickens from home and eat them first?"

As she spoke, Chen Shuifen looked towards Old Lady Zheng.

Old Mrs. Zheng was holding a chicken in her hand. The reason she had quarreled with Chen Shuifen just now was that she complained that Chen Shuifen did not kill a chicken for her to eat.

Because of the arrival of Old Lady Zheng, the Chen family celebrated this year in a very simple way. Even on New Year's Eve, Chen Shuifen just killed a chicken for the sake of courtesy. Until the eighth day of the first lunar month, there was no meaty food in the house. At most, there were grilled fish and some seafood such as hairy clams because they were cheap.

It’s just that she had always told Mrs. Zheng that she had no money, but Mrs. Zheng didn’t believe anything she said, saying that her son Zheng Youde had become the head of the group and received such a large allowance every month, how could he be short of money?

Chen Shuifen said that she had two half-grown boys at home. They all said that the half-grown boys made their father poor, so how could the family have money?

But Mrs. Zheng still didn't believe it. When she saw Lin Tao say this, she immediately understood. When she was acting with Lin Tao, she even thought, why didn't she think of using her poor health as an excuse?

"Mom, you heard it too. We are really out of money at home. Give the chicken to me. I want to take it away for Teacher Lin." Chen Shuifen said, snatching the chicken from Old Lady Zheng without saying a word.

Old lady Zheng had a pair of inverted triangle eyes. The older she got, the more ferocious she looked. She stared at Lin Tao, then looked at Chen Shuifen and said, "Don't lie to me. You are so fat and strong like a bull. Do you look sick? It doesn't look like you were dying of illness before. Chen Shuifen, you don't want to give me money, so you deliberately find someone to deceive me, right?"

Chen Shuifen said, "I lied to you? How could I lie to you? Didn't I tell you that I look healthy because I take medicine every month? If I stopped taking the medicine, I would definitely not be like this now, right? But can I stop taking the medicine? What about my two sons? Are you going to raise them? Am I lying to you? You follow me every time I go out. You see, I went to see Teacher Lin and discussed with her how to lie to you? Besides, Teacher Lin just came back from Shanghai, and I just met her. How could I have the time to discuss it with her?"

Old Mrs. Zheng thought about it and agreed, but she still didn't want to believe it.

The main thing is that during the few days she was here, Chen Shuifen looked very well and there was really no sign of illness at all.

Lin Tao took the chicken from Chen Shuifen and said, "I don't have time to watch you two quarreling. Sister Chen, I'll take this chicken back first. Remember to catch all the remaining chickens and ducks from your family later. I can't get the money now, so I'll use your chickens and ducks as payment. But you have to think about paying it back, otherwise I will report it to the organization. If it affects your head Zheng, I won't care."

When she heard that it would affect Zheng Youde, Mrs. Zheng's face turned a little ugly, and she didn't dare to say anything. She watched Lin Tao take away the chicken she was going to kill and eat.

Not long after Lin Tao left, Lin Manman came to the door.

"Sister, let me measure your blood pressure and see how your physical condition is now." Lin Manman said.

With Lin Tao, when Lin Manman said this again, Chen Shuifen already knew what was going on, so she said without hesitation, "Okay, come on, let's go in and check."

The two sat down, and Lin Manman measured Chen Shuifen's blood pressure. Old Lady Zheng hurried over to take a look, but she couldn't understand it either. She saw Lin Manman wrapping Chen Shuifen's hand with something, and then she put on something and finally took it off, frowned, and shook her head very seriously.

"Sister, your physical condition is not very optimistic. Didn't I tell you? You can't stand being bullied for your illness. You have to maintain an optimistic attitude, otherwise it will be easy to get into trouble. Look, is your heartbeat particularly fast now? Is your breathing a little difficult?"

Chen Shuifen listened to Lin Manman's serious words and expression. If she hadn't known she was acting, she would have taken it seriously and thought she was seriously ill. She nodded hurriedly, "Yes, I feel uncomfortable here, my chest is stuffy..."

Lin Manman: "When did you start to have these symptoms?"

Chen Shuifen glanced at Old Lady Zheng and said, "It starts on the 29th."

Old Mrs. Zheng frowned, gnashing her teeth as she looked at Lin Manman. She still didn't quite believe it in her heart, and muttered, "Don't blame everything on me. You were fine before I came, but you felt chest tightness when I came? You didn't say you felt chest tightness before, and this doctor, why didn't you come before but only today?"

Lin Manman glanced at her and said, "Old lady, our clinic just officially started working today, the eighth day of the Lunar New Year. What? Do you think our doctors would deliberately lie to people?"

Mrs. Zheng remained silent when she asked. Lin Manman was wearing a navy uniform and brought instruments to examine Chen Shuifen. She didn't look like she was just bluffing...

Lin Manman put away the blood pressure measuring device and said to Chen Shuifen, "Sister, your condition is very serious. If you continue like this, you will have to have a checkup every day. Also, you must not stop taking the medicine."

After explaining things to Chen Shuifen, Lin Manman left with the instruments on her back.

Afraid that Old Lady Zheng was watching her from behind, Lin Manman walked towards the clinic for a few minutes before turning back and quietly entering Lin Tao's home.

On the other side, Lin Tao put the chicken that Chen Shuifen gave her into the chicken coop, and waited for Lin Manman with Xu Yuting.

After Lin Manman entered the house, the three of them gathered together to discuss.

Lin Tao: "Manman, how is it?"

Lin Manman: "She probably didn't notice it, but when I left, I didn't hear her say she was leaving."

Xu Yuting frowned: "What should I do if she still refuses to leave after doing this?"

Lin Tao pursed her lips, glanced at the next door, and could only shake her head and said, "If this is the case, and she still refuses to leave, then it may be difficult to deal with."

The three of them were chatting when Yueyue woke up. The key point is that after waking up, the little guy didn't cry or make a fuss, but got up by himself. Seeing that his father was also sleeping next to him, he reached out to poke his father's eyebrows and pull his father's ears.

Li Chengxi was also awakened by the noise. He slowly opened his eyes and met Yueyue's pink little face. He smiled and picked up Yueyue.

The father and daughter got up and just walked out the door, they saw Lin Tao and the other two who were discussing something important. It happened that they had almost finished talking, so Xu Yuting and Lin Manman saw Li Chengxi, greeted him, and went to tease Yueyue.

The two of them haven't seen Yueyue for half a month and miss her very much.

Yueyue didn't forget about them just because she went back to Shanghai to celebrate the New Year. She even remembered to call them.

After Xu Yuting and Lin Manman left, Li Chengxi asked, "What were you discussing just now?"

"Big thing." Lin Tao said seriously. Seeing Li Chengxi looking at her, waiting for her to tell him what the big thing was, she didn't hide the drama they just performed from him. She looked at Li Chengxi expectantly, as if to say: What do you think? My idea is not bad, right?

Li Chengxi wanted to laugh when he heard this: "You are quite good at giving advice."

"Do you know what Yuting said after she heard me say this?" Lin Tao asked.

Li Chengxi smiled dotingly: "What do you mean?"

Lin Tao said: "She said I really am worthy of being your wife, and she also said that you have corrupted me."

Li Chengxi held Yueyue in one hand and Lin Tao's waist with the other, and said seriously, "It is not called bad to be good at using military tactics."

******************************

That day, Mrs. Zheng didn't say anything and continued to do her job. Her reaction gave Chen Shuifen a headache. She wondered if she really wanted to live in their house forever.

As a result, the next morning, Mrs. Zheng went to find Zheng Youde and asked him to buy her a boat ticket and a train ticket as she planned to go back to her hometown.

This made Chen Shuifen very happy. She wanted to find Lin Tao and tell her about it right away.

But now Old Lady Zheng is still around, and the show has to go on, so Chen Shuifen can only hold it in for the time being. Even when Zheng Hongxing wanted to go next door to play with Yueyue, Chen Shuifen wouldn't let him.

Zheng Youde bought Chen Shuifen a train ticket for the tenth day of the first lunar month and took her directly to the pier and back.

As soon as Mrs. Zheng left, Chen Shuifen went to Lin Tao's house. Xu Yuting was there too. It was not time for school to start yet, so she and Lin Tao were quite free. However, Lin Manman was not there because she had to go to work.

When the two saw Chen Shuifen coming in, they smiled and said, "Leaving?"

Chen Shuifen nodded and said, "Finally she left. I never thought she would come. She made my New Year so messed up that it wasn't a happy one at all."

Lin Tao: "It's good that she left. Yuting and I were worried that this trick wouldn't work on her either. Then we would be really helpless."

Chen Shuifen wanted to laugh when she talked about this: "How did you come up with this idea? Teacher Lin, you don't even know. When you first came in and said that, I was stunned. Fortunately, I reacted quickly, otherwise I would have been exposed. Teacher Xu, this idea should be yours, right?"

Judging from Lin Tao and Xu Yuting's personalities, Chen Shuifen felt that it was more likely that Xu Yuting came up with this idea.

Xu Yuting smiled and said, "You are wrong, this idea was proposed by Ah Tao."

"It was written by Teacher Lin?" Chen Shuifen was shocked.

Speaking of her mother-in-law, Chen Shuifen said unhappily, "It's because her daughter-in-law is about to give birth again. I guess she said something to her again, so she came to ask for money. Anyway, I only give them five yuan a month for their retirement, which is the most I can do for them. I won't give them a penny more, so don't even think about taking it from me."

The three women chatted about something else and couldn't help laughing.

Lin Tao took out the fabric she brought for Chen Shuifen. Chen Shuifen touched the fabric and exclaimed, "This fabric is really good. It feels comfortable to the touch. Shanghai is so big, and the fabrics are all so good."

The three of them chatted for a while, all talking about their respective Chinese New Year events. It had been a while since they had been together, and now that they were meeting again after the Chinese New Year, they had to chat for a while longer, right?

When Chen Shuifen returned home with the fabric and the chickens, Zheng Hongxing asked in surprise, "Mom, didn't you give all these chickens to Aunt Lin's family to pay off the debt? Why are you taking them back?"

After Aunt Lin came over that day, Zheng Hongxing had a new understanding of his family's situation for the first time in his life. He always thought that his family was OK. Although they were not particularly rich, they could still eat good food from time to time. He never thought that his mother was sick, and so seriously ill, and that his family owed Aunt Lin's family so much money!

During these two days, Zheng Hongxing, with tears in his eyes, took out all the picture books he had bought before, as well as his marbles, and exchanged them all for money with his classmates.

Although his classmates were extremely poor and could only find a few dimes after searching their pockets, Zheng Hongxing reluctantly parted with the items with the mentality of getting as much as he could.

As a result, as soon as he asked the question, his brother Zheng Xiangyang rolled his eyes at him, looked at him like he was an idiot, and said, "Zheng Hongxing, can you stop being so stupid? Aunt Lin and mother were obviously acting for grandma that day, don't you know? If you are so stupid again in the future, don't tell anyone that you are my brother."

Zheng Hongxing was confused and scratched his head: "Brother, what do you mean?"

Chen Shuifen smiled, stretched out her hand and slapped Zheng Hongxing on the back of his head: "You are really stupid, are you? Your brother has seen it, but you don't know. Mom is not sick, and she doesn't owe your Aunt Lin's family any money. Your Aunt Lin saw that your grandma was staying in our house and refused to leave, and wanted to take our money, so she said this on purpose. Otherwise, why do you think your grandma was willing to leave suddenly without getting any money?"

Zheng Hongxing was stunned, then howled: "My comic books and marbles——"