"What?!" Qiao Guilan's eyes widened in shock. "Xiao Xiaohua is Cai Xing's daughter? How is that possible!"
"You know that Cai Xing was pregnant with Xie Daguang's child back then."
"Didn't you abort the child?" Qiao Guilan asked. "The medical conditions at the health center are not good. I arranged with Qiuxue on the phone that Caixing would go to the provincial capital to find her, and she would take Caixing to a big hospital in the provincial capital for the procedure."
Qiao Guilan then realized what was happening. "Caixing didn't abort the child? She gave birth and you took her in to raise? How could you keep such a big thing from me?"
Qiao Guilan was so angry that she started wiping away tears.
She didn't care about money anymore; she wiped away her tears as she went back to find Song Caixing and ask her for an explanation.
“My third sister said that it was a little life too, and advised me to keep the child,” Song Caixing said timidly. “My third sister said she was afraid you and Dad would worry, so she told me not to tell you.”
Qiao Guilan was so angry that she grabbed Song Caixing and hit her twice, but Song Baogen and his wife pulled her away.
Li Wenxiu said cryptically, "Qiu Xue advised you to keep the child, so why did she secretly abort her own pregnancy?"
"Third sister is unexpectedly pregnant?" Song Caixing asked in surprise. "When did this happen?"
Li Wenxiu asked in surprise, "You live in the provincial capital with Qiu Xue, how come you didn't know that Qiu Xue was pregnant and secretly ran back to have an abortion?"
"Is that so?" Song Caixing asked in surprise. "I live in the provincial capital and rarely see my third sister. She said she had to go to class and didn't have time to take care of me. She helped me find a job and rent a house, but I didn't see her much after that. When I got pregnant, my employer fired me. When my rent was due at the end of the year, I rented a house on my own. When I had almost run out of money, I had no choice but to call my eldest sister."
Song Caixing recounted what happened back then.
“I asked my older sister to give the child to Brother Da Guang to raise, but I didn’t know that my older sister had adopted my daughter herself.”
-
The next morning, after finishing breakfast, Song Yinhua prepared to take her daughter and her mentally ill mother-in-law to town to buy some yarn, fabric, and cotton to knit sweaters and make cotton-padded clothes and trousers.
Winter is coming soon.
Qiao Guilan visited again.
I stood outside the courtyard for a long time before finally deciding to go in.
The black wolfhound barked a few times at the door.
When Song Yinhua saw her biological mother, she invited her in.
“Yinhua, Mom already knows about Xiaoxiaohua’s background. Caixing told us everything last night.” Qiao Guilan looked at Xiaoxiaohua. “I knew this child looked just like you! With Xiaoxiaohua by your side, Mom can rest assured.”
Qiao Guilan continued talking for a while longer, showing no sign of leaving.
"Mom, I'm taking my mother-in-law and Xiaoxiaohua to town to buy some things. If you don't have anything else to do, you can go back first. We're heading out too."
"It's nothing serious." Qiao Guilan hesitated, not moving an inch. "It's just that Xiao Si'er isn't having an easy time right now. Do you think we could share some of the money from selling fruit with her?"
Qiao Guilan quickly explained, "Anyway, your money is all going to Xiaoxiaohua anyway. Xiaoxiaohua is Caixing's daughter, so consider it as her way of showing filial piety to Caixing in advance."
"Mom, my money, my orchard, my wonton shop, everything I have will belong to Xiaoxiaohua in the future. What's the rush? You can't even wait until I die to let Xiaoxiaohua inherit it?"
“Mom doesn’t covet your money. It’s just that Cai Xing is having a hard time. The man she married is a bad man who doesn’t bring any money home. Cai Xing gave birth to a son last year and her mother-in-law is helping to take care of him. Now the family has no money and is in debt. Just help your sister and give some of your money to Cai Xing.”
"Mom, Cai Xing's husband is a drug addict. No matter how much money you give Cai Xing, she'll just squander it all on him! If I give her money, I'll only be harming her!"
When Qiao Guilan learned that her fourth daughter had married a drug addict, she felt terrible.
She stormed home and lashed out at Song Caixing: "Little Si'er, your eldest sister said the man you married is a drug addict?"
Song Caixing lowered her head and remained silent.
"Is what Yinhua said true? Xiao Si'er, how many things are you hiding from your mother?" Qiao Guilan asked anxiously. "How could you marry a drug addict?"
"My third sister said that because I've been pregnant before, no one wants to marry me. Besides my husband, who else can I marry? Am I supposed to become a nun in the mountains?"
Li Wenxiu ate melon seeds on the side.
When Song Baogen came home from get off work that evening, she gossiped about the matter with him.
"Why did Qiu Xue coax Cai Xing into having the baby so she could marry Guo Rui?" Li Wenxiu was also an old classmate of Guo Rui. "Back then, Guo Rui wanted to introduce the girls in our class to his cousin who was addicted to drugs. After he found out, he tried to introduce his cousin to your older sister, but that didn't work out either. I heard that Guo Rui and his cousin had a falling out. I didn't expect that after so many years, he would become an addict like his cousin and even become your brother-in-law."
Li Wenxiu asked Song Baogen, "I don't know what Qiu Xue was thinking. She knew that Guo Rui's cousin was a drug addict, but she still introduced him to my older sister. After that failed, she introduced Guo Rui, who was also addicted to drugs, to Cai Xing. She said that Cai Xing had been pregnant but no one wanted her. But didn't she herself have a pregnancy and suffered a major hemorrhage that almost made her unable to have children for the rest of her life? Didn't she still marry a man from a well-connected family in the provincial capital?"
Song Baogen did not respond.
Why aren't you saying anything?
"What do you want me to say?" Song Baogen asked impatiently. "Qiuxue is my great-uncle's granddaughter now, what can I say?"
“Qiu Xue is really ruthless. Your parents raised her, and she treats your older sister and Cai Xing like this. Fortunately, she didn’t intend to harm you.” As Li Wenxiu said this, she vaguely realized something.
She met Song Baogen through Song Qiuxue's matchmaking.
Song Baogen was tall, thin, and handsome. Several of his female classmates were interested in him. These female classmates all came from well-off families, but Song Baogen was the least attractive and came from the most ordinary family.
She never expected that Song Qiuxue would try to match her up with Song Baogen.
She knew that Song Baogen hadn't initially been interested in her, and it was only after Song Qiuxue persuaded him that he agreed to date her.
Li Wenxiu now realized why Song Qiuxue had tried to match her with Song Baogen.
She deliberately introduced drug addicts to her older and younger sisters, while she herself only sought out rich and handsome men with powerful backgrounds to marry.
In terms of appearance, Song Qiuxue was the most ordinary-looking among the four sisters.
Cai Xing was the prettiest and had the best figure. In the past, in order to curry favor with Song Qiuxue, the villagers would deliberately say that Qiuxue and Cai Xing looked alike, using Cai Xing to flatter Qiuxue.
In reality, Song Qiuxue was jealous of Caixing's beauty, which is why she schemed against Caixing.
Li Wenxiu suddenly felt a chill. She remembered when she was in high school, Qiu Xue became best friends with a female classmate who was not only academically excellent but also beautiful. The two even held hands when they went to the toilet together.
One day, this best friend slapped Song Qiuxue in front of the whole class, which aroused the indignation of the whole class.
Everyone thought that girl had a bad temper, was willful, and bullied others.
Not long after, news spread that her best friend was pregnant, and then her best friend dropped out of school and went home.
At that moment, Li Wenxiu felt that the girl's sudden pregnancy and dropping out of school was likely related to Song Qiuxue, which is why she was so angry that she slapped Song Qiuxue.
At the time, all of them were indignant about the girl's act of hitting someone. Seeing Song Qiuxue's innocent expression as she spoke up for her best friend, they felt even more sorry for Song Qiuxue. They thought Song Qiuxue was too kind and good-hearted, speaking up for someone even after being slapped.
Looking back now, it seems there wasn't such a simple matter.
...
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