Chapter 16: The Double-faced Wife
The Chen family’s houses built of rocks were getting closer and closer.
Liang Ziqiang had already imagined the scene of his future father-in-law and mother-in-law coming out of the house to greet him, or Chen Xiangbei walking out of the door to look around.
The result was a bit unexpected.
He did receive an extraordinary reception...
A large khaki dog, whose body almost blended in with the color of the house, suddenly jumped out from a small firewood shed nearby, prepared to fight, and raised its head to bark at him.
The sound was full of ferocity and threats, and the next second there was a fight between humans and dogs.
Liang Ziqiang urgently started to save himself and shouted: "Da Huang!"
It's not that he has a good memory, it's mainly because the name is so easy to remember. Just take a look at its shit-yellow color and you'll remember its name.
Dahuang had seen him several times before, and he didn't know what made him crazy this time. He even started barking at him.
Fortunately, after hearing his call, Dahuang was stunned for a moment, and there was an emergency transition from brutal to friendly in about two seconds. Then, his tense body became lively like the face-changing in Sichuan Opera.
As he got closer, his stiff tail loosened and began to shake violently.
But he didn't get too close. Liang Ziqiang vaguely felt that Dahuang was still somewhat wary.
The sound of the confrontation between the man and the dog alarmed the people in the house. Father-in-law Chen Dagang was the first to walk out of the house, and then he witnessed the whole process of the man and the dog turning their hostility into friendship.
"Stupid dog, why are you barking!" Chen Dagang scolded Da Huang and called Liang Ziqiang, "Xiao Liang, you're here quite early. Have you had breakfast yet?"
Liang Ziqiang replied as he walked into the house: "Dad, I've already eaten. It's not far from here. I can get there in a few steps."
Of course, it’s not actually that close, and it took more than half an hour to walk there.
Chen Dagang didn't bother to be polite anymore. He pointed to a pile of watermelons in the corner of the main room and said, "I just picked two more loads of watermelons from the field this morning. Your basket is too small. Why don't you run back and forth a few more times and pick up a few loads to eat slowly."
Liang Ziqiang said hurriedly: "That won't work. It's so hard to grow melons. Dad, you can keep some money and sell them. I'll carry a load back home and it will be enough for our family to eat for a long time."
As he spoke, he took out flour, sugar, dried dragon head fish, and a small bucket of fresh shrimp and yellow croaker from the basket.
The bucket was placed on the ground, and the Fuqiang powder and sugar were placed on the table. While doing this, Liang Ziqiang glanced around calmly, trying to see the figure he wanted to see the most.
Just when I was wondering why I couldn't see Chen Xiangbei, I heard footsteps behind me.
Turning around, I saw two figures walking in from the door.
It was his mother-in-law, Li Jinju, and following closely behind her was a figure who was exactly the person he was thinking about.
Li Jinju was holding a bamboo basket filled with yellow and green star fruits; Chen Xiangbei was holding another basket filled with purple dragon fruits.
The color of the dragon fruit is very bold, as if it has its own light, making the girl's face look red.
As soon as Li Jinju entered the room, she saw Liang Ziqiang, and at the same time she saw the things on the table and on the floor.
"I asked you to pick the melons, why did you bring so many things over?" Li Jinju put down the basket of carambolas in her arms while speaking.
"I didn't bring anything here, just some food. I just put the fish and shrimp in the trap net last night, so I brought them here."
As Liang Ziqiang spoke, he quickly walked up to Chen Xiangbei.
"Let me do it." He reached out and took the basket of dragon fruit from Chen Xiangbei's arms.
Chen Xiangbei's pretty oval face was indeed flushed, probably because she had just been picking fruit.
She glanced at him with her clear eyes, but pursed her lips and said nothing, giving him the basket in her arms.
To be honest, during their dating process that lasted for more than a year, Liang Ziqiang once had a misunderstanding.
He always thought that Chen Xiangbei was the kind of girl who followed her husband wherever he went. She only agreed to marry him because of her parents' advice, and she probably didn't have any feelings for him.
Because for more than a year, she rarely took the initiative to talk to him. Sometimes when they sat alone together, she would quietly leave with an excuse.
It was for this reason that after he was arrested, he no longer had any hope for this marriage.
After he was released, he found that Chen Xiangbei was still waiting for him, and in the face of rumors, she said, "If you love a thief, then marry a thief. I will marry him." It is easy to imagine how surprised Liang Ziqiang was at that time.
Some women are like this, they keep their likes deep in their hearts and are not good at talking about their unwillingness.
Using a calm face to hide the true feelings.
In a word: hypocritical.
Just like at this moment, Chen Xiangbei showed no obvious joy on her face, and handed the basket to him without saying a word.
After putting away the basket of dragon fruit, Liang Ziqiang remembered the cigarettes in his pocket and quickly took out a pack of Daqianmen cigarettes and gave it to Chen Dagang.
"Why waste this money?" Chen Dagang took the cigarette, looked at it, and felt it was a bit of a waste.
Liang Ziqiang had already taken out another pack of cigarettes to distribute, took out one and handed it to his future father-in-law again.
Chen Dagang lit a match and took a puff, then sat down to chat: "You go out to set traps every night, which delays your sleep. You must be tired, right? I heard that a few days ago you caught a net thief in the middle of the night and made him pay for it?"
Liang Ziqiang nodded. He didn't expect the news to spread so quickly. In just three or four days, everyone in Huagu Village knew about it.
But then I thought about it and understood. It must be something that Aunt Yu said casually when she met Chen Dagang when she returned to her parents' home the day before yesterday.
"I caught him in the act, so he had no choice but to accept the loss," he replied.
"Did they fight? Did they hurt you?" Chen Dagang asked again with concern.
"No, he was guilty and knew he couldn't beat me, so he didn't dare to do anything." Liang Ziqiang said lightly, directly omitting two or three hundred words full of violence.
"That's good," Chen Dagang was relieved. "These thieves, even if they die, it's a bargain. Who has an easy way to make money? We have to be on guard against their petty thefts!"
"It should be fine here. No one is stealing fruits, right?" Liang Ziqiang asked casually.
"Of course there are none! The watermelons, cantaloupes, lychees and tangerine peels in the orchard have all been stolen in the middle of the night. I am afraid of being stolen, so I pick the fruits and vegetables as soon as they are ripe and bring them home!"
Chen Dagang said somewhat angrily.
Liang Ziqiang finally understood why his family picked so many fruits and vegetables at once and brought them home, including watermelons, star fruits, and dragon fruits.
It turns out that the petty thieves here are no less serious than those internet thieves in my village!
The two chatted for a while, and Chen Dagang stood up to continue picking watermelons in the fields, motioning Liang Ziqiang to sit at home for a while and have lunch.
"Dad, I'm going to go for a walk in the fields with you." Liang Ziqiang stood up immediately and turned his head to ask, "Xiangbei, do you want to go?"
Now that I'm here, I can't just take the melons and leave. I should definitely stay here and help with the farm work for a day.
Most importantly, Chen Xiangbei was right in front of him, but he didn't even have a chance to say a few words to her! "Mom, I'm going to pick melons!"
Chen Xiangbei did not answer him directly. Instead, she shouted into the house, then grabbed a carrying pole and a pair of empty baskets and walked straight out.
Liang Ziqiang walked beside her, and for a moment it was so quiet that only the sound of their footsteps could be heard.
Just when Liang Ziqiang thought she would remain silent, she suddenly spoke.
(End of this chapter)
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