03
Yang Qiujin was the accountant of the production brigade. Her daily work mainly involved reviewing and entering the brigade's various income and expenditure accounts. She did not have to work in the fields like other members, so she had a lot of free time.
When the team leader blew the whistle to go to work, all the team members heard the whistle and prepared to go to the team headquarters to get farm tools to work in the fields. Li Xiu'e sent Tianyou to the commune school to study, while Yang Qiujin put a few bamboo shoots that had been soaked in water in a basket, and also took a dozen eggs and two taels of white sugar, wrapped them in oil paper, put them all in the basket, covered the basket with a blue cloth, and went to her parents' home.
Yang Qiujin's parents' home was in the next-door Xinfeng Brigade, and it took less than half an hour to walk from her husband's home.
She locked the gate and walked toward the village road. When she passed a low-walled courtyard next door, a thirty-year-old woman with a normal appearance, a round face, and a slightly flat nose called out to her in a loud voice: "Hey, Third Sister-in-law, where are you going?"
This person is Yang Qiujin's second sister-in-law Tian Chunlian. She has always been at odds with Yang Qiujin. The main reason for the disagreement is that Yang Qiujin's mother-in-law Li Xiu'e is the second wife married by Mr. Chen.
Tian Chunlian’s husband Chen Shenggui and her elder sister-in-law Chen Shenghua were born to her ex-mother-in-law, and Yang Qiujin’s husband Chen Shengqing was born after Li Xiu’e got married.
The three siblings had a good relationship since they were young, but Chen Shenggui and his sister had always looked down on their timid and shy stepmother, and had always been indifferent to Li Xiu'e.
When Grandpa Chen was alive, they could still get along on the surface. But after Grandpa Chen passed away three years ago, Chen Shenggui and his sister completely broke up with Li Xiu'e and separated the family property.
Originally, the Chen family's old house was a large courtyard with eight large rooms and two livestock houses. Tian Chunlian wanted to drive Yang Qiujin, the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law out of the house and completely occupy the entire courtyard. Yang Qiujin was certainly not the kind of person who would allow herself to be bullied.
After a fierce battle, Yang Qiujin got nearly half of the house, yard and private land. On the second day after the division, she built a high wall in the middle of the courtyard of her old home and set up a separate gate. She usually kept to herself and the second wife.
When Yang Qiujin heard Tian Chunlian calling her, she walked out of her house without stopping, with an extremely cold expression: "Go back to my parents' home."
"What? Back to your parents' home again." Tian Chunlian ignored the indifference on her face and looked restlessly into the basket in her hand. Just then, a gust of wind blew up a corner of the cloth covering the basket. She saw the white eggs and sugar wrapped in oil paper inside. She couldn't help but complain, "Sister-in-law, how many times have you been back to your parents' home this month? No matter how much you feel sorry for your parents' home, you are married after all. It doesn't make sense for you to keep using your husband's family's things to support your parents' home. Aren't you afraid that the people in the team will poke your spine?"
Yang Qiujin was willing to spend money on food and drink before the family split up, because Chen Shengqing sent her money checks every month, and she was the accountant of the brigade and one of the three major cadres of the brigade. Although she did not receive much salary every month, it was considered as full work points for a cadre, and the work points could be exchanged for a lot of food at the end of the year. Basically, she paid the most for the food and drink at home, and Tian Chunlian's two sons could eat a lot of meat, eggs and fine grains with Yang Qiujin every month.
Since the separation and the complete breakup of the two families, Tian Chunlian and his wife were just ordinary members. They worked very hard to earn work points, which were barely enough to feed their family. They were reluctant to use even a drop of oil when cooking, let alone meat, eggs and other fine grains.
On the other hand, after Yang Qiujin separated from the family, Chen Shengqing sent more and more money notes every month, and the third room sent the smell of meat and eggs every now and then, which made Tian Chunlian and her two sons cry and cause a lot of trouble.
In fact, Tian Chunlian didn't want to divide the family back then. After all, she had Chen Shengqing, a cash cow, and Yang Qiujin was generous to her family and willing to buy everything for them. If their second and third wives lived together, they would only take advantage.
Unfortunately, after her father-in-law died, Li Xiu'e, perhaps because she was too heartbroken or something else, became sick and listless all day long. Finally, she fell ill in bed, refusing to eat or drink a drop of water, and it seemed that she was only breathing in but not out.
Yang Qiujin hurriedly sent her to the town's clinic, but the doctor there said she could not be saved, so she was transferred to the county hospital, then to the city hospital, and then to other famous big city hospitals. She went back and forth, and no one knew how much money she spent or how many medicines she took.
Later, Yang Qiujin asked to borrow money from their second wife. Tian Chunlian felt that there was no money to be made from the third wife, so she wanted to separate the family. She quarreled with her husband for a long time and finally divided the family.
Who would have thought that within just one week of the separation, the stepmother-in-law, who had been sick and dying, gradually recovered and became full of energy and able to do all kinds of work. The life of the third wife was also getting better and better.
Whenever Tian Chunlian smelled the aroma of meat and vegetables coming from the kitchen of the third room next door, and saw her little nephew dressed in bright and beautiful clothes while her two sons wore clothes that looked like beggars with patches all over them, she felt uncomfortable.
She always felt that her mother-in-law was pretending to be ill. Otherwise, why did Yang Qiujin agree so readily when she proposed to divide the family property? The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law must have joined forces to punish her.
Yang Qiujin didn't want to pay attention to her at first, but after hearing her sour words, she sneered: "Why do you care how many times I go back to my parents' home every month or how much I give them? I am happy to do so, why do you care? Besides, my mother-in-law didn't say anything, why are you arguing with those gossipy women in the village! And you are poking at my spine, whoever dares to poke me, I will chop her hands off and feed them to the dogs! If my second sister-in-law has nothing to do, she should work harder and earn more work points to exchange for some meat for Da Wa and the others."
This is a satire on Tian Chunlian's incompetence, her talkativeness, and her jealousy and sourness.
Tian Chunlian was so angry that she looked at Yang Qiujin's back as she left and spat on the ground in hatred, "How can you be so capable? With your shrewish behavior, if Chen Shengqing came back alive, the first thing he would do would be to kick you out and marry someone gentle and virtuous. I wonder how long you can be so proud!"
Yang Qiujin turned her back to her and curled her lips in disdain.
When Chen Shengqing was still a child, he was a well-known good boy and a good student in the Pioneer Brigade. He was not as naughty and trouble-making as those boys in the village. He did not fight or quarrel with others. He was very sensible and obedient since he was a child. He helped with housework at home and outside, and always had a good temper and smiled at everyone. He also had excellent grades in school. He was a favorite of the teachers, a good role model in the eyes of his classmates, and a three-good youth praised by all the members of the brigade.
However, only Yang Qiujin knew that Chen Shengqing was a cruel and ruthless person in private, despite his good-natured appearance.
She once saw him, who was not even seven years old, put a twelve-year-old boy who bullied him into a sack in the dark of night and beat him until the boy screamed in pain, peed and farted, and was covered in blood, but she didn't dare to report him.
I once saw him, at the age of nine, pick up a sharp knife and kill a mad dog that had mauled someone to death with an expressionless face, leaving the village streets covered with dog blood.
I saw him hiding in the crowd, saying to a woman who was beaten black and blue by her husband, 'If he hits you, stab him with a knife, or he will kill you and your child too', and the woman picked up a knife and stabbed her husband to death...
What he did was very secretive and basically no one knew about it, but unfortunately, she saw it every time.
She always saw him accidentally and hid carefully to peek every time, but he still discovered her once.
That was the time when he killed the mad dog in the middle of the night. He dragged the heavy body of the mad dog, holding a bloody knife in his hand, and walked step by step towards the bushes where she was hiding.
The bloody scene formed strange traces on the village road. Under the moonlight, his small figure looked like a demon from hell. She was so scared that her heart was pounding. She wanted to run instinctively, but her legs would not obey her and she froze in place.
Soon he walked in front of her and looked down at her. Seeing that she was trembling and about to cry, he suddenly stretched out his bloody index finger and poked her forehead. With a gentle smile on his face, he said word by word: "Next time, remember to hide well. If I find you again, I will dig out your eyes."
"Woo~" Such a gentle smile was so vicious and sinister. She was so scared that tears streamed down her face. She didn't know how she got home. She only remembered that Chen Shengqing was a devil. He was not the good guy that everyone saw. He was a liar!
From then on, she made up her mind to stay away from Chen Shengqing. But who knew that she would meet him again and again, and later married him and gave birth to his child.
Many women in the brigade envied her for marrying Chen Shengqing. First, Chen Shengqing was good-looking and had a good temper, and was the perfect man that many wives and girls wanted to marry. Second, he was educated. Unlike those illiterate men in the brigade who beat women at every turn, he never beat or scolded women. Third, he was a soldier and was willing to send her money checks every month. He never asked her to save money and did not restrict her from using money checks.
After she married Chen Shengqing, she didn't know how many women hated and cursed her behind her back. In fact, she was very wronged. If her father and that woman hadn't interfered, she would not have married Chen Shengqing.
Chen Shengqing was a smiling tiger with a warm face but a cruel heart. She was afraid that if she angered him one day, he would draw his sword and kill her like that mad dog without her knowing it.
Chen Shengqing has not been home for so many years. She is half lonely and half lucky. If Chen Shengqing really comes back and wants to divorce her, she will divorce him without saying a word.
She has the ability and strength to support herself. At worst, she can find another man to marry. It is better than facing a man with unknown intentions every day.
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