Chapter 207 Relatives

The last time Lin Yue came to Luohe Brigade was on his way to the border defense force. It had been a year since he last saw Uncle Zhang and his wife.

Neither of them is young anymore, but after not seeing each other for a year, they look older than before.

Aunt Zhang and Uncle Zhang had been waiting at the door with their people early in the morning. When they saw the family finally arrive, they couldn't help but smile broadly, and the wrinkles on their faces were smoothed out a lot.

The group greeted each other and went inside together, blocking out the furtive glances from outside.

The meal had already been prepared at home, and Aunt Zhang urged everyone to wash their hands. Those who drank sat at one table, and those who did not drink sat at another.

Lin Yue instinctively sat at the table where people didn't drink, but when he looked around, he found himself surrounded by children.

The local women are generous and almost everyone, from the elderly to children, can drink a little. Some people were even fed wine by their elders when they were still wearing open-crotch pants.

Uncle Zhang took out a bottle of wine from the cabinet and poured a little for everyone. He wanted to let Lin Yue have some, but Lin Yue quickly refused. She still remembered the joke she made last time she came to Uncle Zhang's house, and she refused to drink no matter what.

Little Stone reached out to grab the bottle of wine, and said with a playful smile: "Grandpa, how about I drink a couple of cups with you?"

Uncle Zhang slapped his hand away and glared at him, "You are so brave! Be careful that your parents hear you. I will loosen up your muscles!"

Aunt Zhang brought the last dish to the table, wiped her hands on her collar, and waved, "Let him drink. If he gets drunk and makes a fool of himself, we can have some fun!"

Uncle Zhang teased him when he heard this: "Then I'll fill it up for you?"

Little Stone smiled sweetly, and immediately changed his tone and said, "Grandpa, I'm just kidding. This wine is your treasure, how can I let you drink it? My child can drink this!"

As he spoke, he picked up his malted milk, took a sip, smacked his lips like he was drinking wine, shook his head and said, "Hmm, delicious!"

Everyone in the room was amused by him and laughed out loud.

But not everyone was smiling sincerely, some people were smiling very reluctantly, just pretending. Lin Yue happened to meet his second sister-in-law Liu Cuixia's eyes, and he could clearly see that not only was there no smile in her eyes, but there was a hint of impatience.

Her reaction was somewhat strange, but Lin Yue did not say anything. After all, they were a family visiting, and it was not appropriate to meddle in other people's affairs.

Everyone was chatting and laughing, but their hands never stopped moving. Fortunately, Aunt Zhang cooked large portions, so there would be enough.

Aunt Zhang said with a smile, "Everyone, eat as much as you can! I made a lot more rice today. It may not taste as good, but it will definitely fill you up!"

The three children lived here for a period of time last year, and she still remembers how much they ate. Wanli, in particular, was worried that he ate too much and there was not enough food at home. He tightened his belt and refused to eat enough. It was only after Aunt Zhang repeatedly assured him that his parents had given them enough food coupons and money for them to eat that he dared to eat as much as he wanted.

No one paid much attention to what Aunt Zhang said, except Wanli. He still felt a little embarrassed when he thought about what happened last year.

Liu Cuixia twisted her mouth and suddenly scolded her eldest daughter: "What are you snatching? Didn't I tell you to take good care of Shulin'er? You only care about eating and don't care about other people's lives!"

Her voice was quite loud and the room fell silent. Xiaoji, who was sitting on the kang, was holding a small piece of chicken wing. He didn't know whether to eat it or put it down, and his face turned pale.

Aunt Zhang scolded him, "Everyone is eating, why are you showing off? Are you trying to show off? Shulin'er is already three years old. Other children can eat by themselves, so why is he so pretentious?"

Liu Cuixia was scolded by everyone in the room, and she felt humiliated. Her face turned red, and she lowered her head and panted. But she was unwilling to give up. She reached under the table and pinched Zhang Erge's thigh hard.

Second Brother Zhang gasped, glared at Liu Cuixia and cursed in a low voice: "What's wrong with you?" After all, considering the presence of outsiders, he still gave Liu Cuixia face and did not hit her back, nor did he yell at her.

Liu Cuixia was so angry that she kicked him hard on the calf and winked at him, almost cramping her eyes.

Zhang Erge then remembered something, laughed twice, and said, "Our family conditions are like this. The child has just been able to eat enough in the past two years, and he makes a fool of himself when he sees something different. The child has never seen the world and has never left the countryside. He is not like Xiao Shitou, who has seen everything. Don't take it to heart!"

He seemed to be trying to smooth things over, but in fact he had deeper meaning behind his words, and perhaps only the children could not hear it.

The couple thought they were doing it secretly, but in fact, everyone in the room could see their little actions clearly. The two of them made a fuss at the dinner table again and again, and lost face. No matter how good-tempered Uncle Zhang was, he couldn't help getting angry.

He slammed his chopsticks on the table and scolded, "This huge table of food can't stop you two from eating, right? Eat if you like, or not, get out! You've been living a good life for so long that you don't know how high the sky is or how deep the earth is!"

Second brother Zhang awkwardly called out "Dad", but was glared at by eldest uncle Zhang and instantly shut up.

Lin Yue quickly tried to smooth things over: "I like children, and I've been thinking about bringing a few more children over to play, but I'm afraid you won't want to. If my second brother and sister-in-law are willing to leave the children, we'll take Xiaoji back with us this time and let him stay at my place for a while!"

Liu Cuixia didn't appreciate it at all. She pouted and whispered, "Why take a little girl with you? She's just going to help you with the work! If anyone wants to go, let little Shulin'er go. He's a boy, so he should spend more time with his brothers and sisters. He can take care of them in the future."

Uncle Zhang scolded, "What nonsense are you talking about! How old is little Shulin? If he goes, he will cause trouble! Huizi's wife is busy enough, Lingling and Wanli are both in primary school, what are they going to do? In my opinion, no one is allowed to go!"

Someone outside the door answered, "Hey, what's going on? Who has offended our father? Why is he so angry?"

Before she finished speaking, a thin woman walked in from the door. Her small body was wrapped in thick clothes. "I'll wash your clothes for you later."

She looked young, but her face was full of sorrow. As soon as she entered the room, she greeted Zhang Yuandong warmly, "Fourth brother, I am glad to see you. We haven't seen each other for many years. I heard that you were coming today, so I came to see you specially."

Zhang Yuandong was very friendly to his sister, but he was not good at expressing himself. He stood up and said dryly, "It must be Huilan, she has grown so big!"

Zhang Huilan laughed and said, "Fourth brother, you sound like you're coaxing a child!"

Zhang Yuandong smiled awkwardly, not knowing how to respond to her words. Uncle Zhang was still angry and said in a bad tone: "Okay, now that you are here, find a place to sit down. What are you doing standing at the door? Have you greeted your sister-in-law?"

Zhang Huilan moved a stool and sat down next to Zhang Yuandong. She scanned the room and her eyes fell on Lin Yue who was sitting on the kang. She was quite surprised at her change, which was like a complete transformation. However, she was obviously not willing to pay attention to him. She called out "sister-in-law" lightly and turned her head away.

Before Uncle Zhang's family moved out, Zhang Huilan looked down on Lin Yue, who was always like a bullied daughter-in-law, and was unwilling to say a word to her. Now that she could call her "sister-in-law", she was already giving her a lot of face.

So Lin Yue didn't feel too angry. He smiled at her generously and introduced her to the four children: "This is your second aunt. Go and call her."

The second aunt had a bad attitude towards their mother. The four children saw it, but out of courtesy they called people one by one and were not enthusiastic at all.

Even so, Zhang Huilan was also very surprised. She felt her pockets uncomfortably, but didn't find anything. She replied awkwardly, "Okay, okay."

Aunt Zhang thought she was ignorant and gave her sister-in-law a cold look, but she still felt sorry for this young lady and put a handful of banknotes into her pocket under the pretext of pouring water.

A smile instantly appeared on Zhang Huilan's face. She stood up confidently, took out the stack of money in her pocket, and gave a few bills to each of the four children.

Lin Yue wanted to refuse, but Zhang Huilan deliberately said with a stern face: "It's such a small amount of money, and you are pushing it back and forth with me. I'm buying candy for the children, not for you. Don't worry about it!"

Lingling and the others didn't dare to accept the money without their parents' consent. They all looked up at Lin Yue, waiting for her decision. Seeing that she couldn't refuse, Lin Yue nodded gently, indicating that the children should take the money first.

Zhang Huilan was delighted. She patted Wanli's head and said with a smile, "That's right. Second Aunt is not an outsider. Just take the money I gave you!"

After saying that, he returned to his seat with brisk steps.

Although Aunt Zhang's action of stuffing money into her pocket was covert, the people nearby still saw it clearly. Others didn't say anything, but the second brother and his wife were different. Their unhappiness was written directly on their faces. They stared at Zhang Huilan and her pocket full of money. Even the third sister-in-law's face was not very good.

Zhang Huilan was the youngest child in the family and had been spoiled since childhood. When she saw that her brother and sister-in-law were in a bad mood, she not only did not restrain herself, but also grinned at Liu Cuixia provocatively, which made Liu Cuixia so angry that she fell backwards, threw down her chopsticks, stood up and was about to walk out. Fortunately, she was pulled back to sit by her eldest sister-in-law Pan Hongzhu.

Pan Hongzhu was still feeling uncomfortable because Liu Cuixia compared herself to her son Xiao Shitou, so she just pulled Liu Cuixia back and had no intention of saying anything more.

Seeing these young men and women making such a fuss in front of the guests, Uncle Zhang and Aunt Zhang were already very angry, but they were trying hard to hold back their anger and not lose it on the spot.

Uncle Zhang knocked on the table and scolded, "What are you making so much noise for? Eat your meal! You are already grown-ups, but you are not as sensible as a child!"

Because of the patriarch's prestige, everyone stopped making trouble and ate their meal in peace.

The meal was very depressing and no one had the appetite to eat, so it was finished quickly.

Looking at this strange atmosphere, Lin Yue always felt that they came at the wrong time and delayed some important matters of his brothers and sisters-in-law.