Chapter 1 Time Travel "Zhao Sulan, you must today..."
"Zhao Sulan, you have to give me an explanation today. I entrusted my daughter to you because I trusted you, but look at the match you've done! You've introduced all sorts of worthless people to my daughter. Do you think my daughter is a garbage collector?"
“Sister-in-law Zhou, what are you saying? I don’t understand. Hasn’t Xiaomei and Du Hai’s relationship already been settled? What are you saying…”
A jarring argument broke out in her ears. Mingxi opened her eyes and was stunned to see a middle-aged woman in dark blue coarse work clothes in front of her.
The old, messy courtyard, the women dressed in drab clothes, the noisy crowd—everything in front of me was utterly unfamiliar.
Mingxi's mind was filled with questions: What's going on? Where is this place? Wasn't she sleeping at home? How did she end up in this strange place?
Also, why are these people dressed like they're from the 70s or 80s?
Could it be that she time-traveled?
Suddenly, Mingxi felt a sharp pain in her head, followed by a flood of memories. The amount of information she received in an instant was too much for her to handle, and she swayed unsteadily. Fortunately, she managed to grab the door frame to keep from falling.
After a moment of reaction, Mingxi finally processed the sudden memory.
Her earlier guess was correct; she had indeed time-traveled, specifically to 1980, more than forty years ago. Coincidentally, the body she transmigrated into also belonged to someone named Mingxi.
Like Mingxi, the original owner was also a posthumous child. However, compared to Mingxi, who was abandoned in an orphanage without ever seeing her own mother, the original owner's life was better. Although her father died in a factory accident before she was born, she still had a loving mother, the middle-aged woman Mingxi saw as soon as she opened her eyes—Zhao Sulan.
When Mingxi's father died, Zhao Sulan had just discovered she was pregnant, and the baby was less than three months along. At the time, Zhao Sulan was still young, and many people around her advised her to abort the baby and find another man to marry while she was still young. But Zhao Sulan didn't listen to anyone. At Mingxi's father's funeral, wearing white mourning clothes and showing her pregnant belly, she announced in front of all her relatives and friends that she had no intention of remarrying and would spend the rest of her life taking care of the child in her womb.
Because Mingxi was born posthumously and had no father, and because she was premature and very thin and small at birth, Zhao Sulan doted on her. Mingxi was born during the worst of the famine, when many families in the courtyard couldn't even afford coarse grains and were suffering from edema, but Mingxi never stopped having milk powder and malted milk powder three times a day.
Later, life got a little better, and Mingxi became the best-off girl in the courtyard—no, I should say the whole area. Other girls were lucky if they could get a new outfit once a year, but Mingxi had new clothes to wear every quarter.
In order to improve Mingxi's living conditions, Zhao Sulan had a side job in addition to her factory work—matchmaking.
She was quick-witted, eloquent, and adept at handling relationships; she was known for her excellent interpersonal skills and knew many people. Initially, only acquaintances asked her to help them find partners, but as she helped with matchmaking more and more, she gained a reputation in the neighborhood and became a well-known matchmaker in the steel mill area. Later, not only people from the steel mill came to her for matchmaking, but people from all over the northern part of the city sought her help.
However, matchmaking isn't always smooth sailing. Sometimes you encounter difficult people, like the mother and daughter who came to their house to cause trouble today.
Mingxi looked up at the slanted-eyed middle-aged woman standing in front of Zhao Sulan and the round-faced girl behind her. She remembered the two women; the slanted-eyed woman's surname was Zhou, and she called the other woman Aunt Zhou. The round-faced girl behind her was her daughter, Wang Hongmei. Last month, Aunt Zhou gave Zhao Sulan ten yuan, asking her to help introduce Wang Hongmei to a potential partner.
Zhao Sulan took the money and carefully selected a good young man for the other party. Wang Hongmei met the man once, and both sides were very satisfied. The two dated for a while until a few days ago when Aunt Zhou sent a message to Zhao Sulan, saying that the two young people thought it was a good match and planned to get married, thanking Zhao Sulan for the introduction. Zhao Sulan was happy for them, but today the mother and daughter suddenly showed up at her door.
"Du Hai? How dare you mention Du Hai to me? Zhao Sulan, tell the truth, do you dislike our family and deliberately introduce that bastard Du Hai to my daughter to torment her?" Aunt Zhou was furious, her eyebrows furrowed.
Not only was Ming Xi confused, but even Zhao Sulan was completely baffled. She frowned and said, "Sister-in-law Zhou, what do you mean? Du Hai is such a good young man, why are you saying this?"
Du Hai was the man Zhao Sulan introduced to Wang Hongmei.
He was an employee of the steel rolling mill, and quite well-known in the area.
A few years ago, Du Hai's father passed away from illness, and his mother, heartbroken, also passed away not long after, leaving only Du Hai and his three-year-old sister in the Du family. At that time, Du Hai was only fourteen or fifteen years old, still a young boy. Since he had no other relatives, he and his sister should have been sent to an orphanage. But he went to the factory alone, knelt down before the factory leaders, and begged them to let him take over the shift early. The factory leaders took pity on him and made an exception, allowing him to take over the shift early. He took care of his sister single-handedly, like both a father and a mother, and still managed to focus on studying the technology. Within five years of joining the factory, he obtained a level four fitter's certificate, while the most skilled among the others who joined at the same time as him had only just passed the level three fitter exam.
A level four worker earns 55 yuan a month in wages alone. With various subsidies, he can take home at least 60 or 70 yuan, which is definitely a high salary these days.
In addition, Du Hai was known for being honest and upright, and was once the most popular son-in-law candidate among the older women at the steel rolling mill.
Therefore, Zhao Sulan couldn't understand why Aunt Zhou and Wang Meihua had anything to complain about.
Zhao Sulan frowned: "Sister-in-law Zhou, isn't there some misunderstanding here?"
Hearing this, Aunt Zhou became even angrier. She pointed her finger at Zhao Sulan's nose, almost poking into Zhao Sulan's eye, and said gesticulating wildly, "Misunderstanding, misunderstanding my ass! I think you're deliberately trying to harm my daughter!"
As she spoke, she noticed a broken brick on the ground not far away. She bent down, picked it up, and casually threw it towards Zhao Sulan.
Mingxi, with her sharp eyes, knew something was wrong when she saw Aunt Zhou squat down. The moment the brick was thrown, she stepped forward, grabbed Zhao Sulan's clothes, and moved her to the left, allowing Zhao Sulan to dodge the brick's attack.
The brick grazed Zhao Sulan's cheek and landed on the ground behind her with a "thud," kicking up a cloud of yellow dust.
Even with her good temper, Zhao Sulan couldn't stand seeing Aunt Zhou hitting her with a brick. She frowned, strode over to Aunt Zhou, and before Mingxi could pull her away, Zhao Sulan grabbed Aunt Zhou's hair and slapped her twice across the face.
"Just because I'm not showing my teeth doesn't mean I'm a pushover! I tried to talk to you nicely, but you wouldn't listen, did you? You paid me to introduce your daughter to someone, and I did. You two met, things went smoothly, and just a few days ago you were telling me you were getting married soon. Now you suddenly come to my house and cause trouble. Isn't it natural for me to ask what's going on? You whine and scream for ages without explaining anything, and then you just start hitting me? Do you really think I'm easy to bully?"
Zhao Sulan showed no mercy whatsoever.
She became a widow in her early twenties and raised her child alone all these years. If she were truly gentle, she would have been bullied to the point of being nothing.
"Ouch!! How dare you hit me!" Aunt Zhou covered her face in disbelief.
Zhao Sulan raised her head: "That's exactly what I'm going to do!"
Mingxi: How arrogant! She likes it.
Her eyes sparkled as she looked at Zhao Sulan. No kidding, she was really falling in love with this mother she had only known for a short time.
The more Mingxi admired Zhao Sulan, the more resentful Aunt Zhou became. She glared at Zhao Sulan with her slanted eyes. She had come to demand an explanation, but instead of getting one, she had been beaten by Zhao Sulan.
How can you bully people like this!
Aunt Zhou was both angry and annoyed, and she started tearing at Zhao Sulan. Noticing her actions, Mingxi's heart skipped a beat. Just as she was about to step forward to help, she saw Zhao Sulan press down on Aunt Zhou and beat her mercilessly.
In terms of physique, Aunt Zhou was actually taller and stronger, but Zhao Sulan knew how to use her skill. Her calves pressed hard against Aunt Zhou's knees, and Aunt Zhou couldn't exert any strength at all.
Unable to gain the upper hand in a fight, Aunt Zhou could only try to win verbally.
She cursed filthyly, "Oh God, open your eyes! Open your eyes and see how much this heartless Zhao Sulan bullies people! If you have eyes, God, strike her dead with lightning!"
When her gaze fell on Mingxi, who was watching the commotion from the sidelines, Aunt Zhou started cursing her along with her.
"And that little bastard of theirs, let's just chop him up too!"
Those watching the commotion in the courtyard gasped in shock upon hearing this.
Mingxi was Zhao Sulan's precious darling; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that she was treated with utmost care and affection.
Did Zhou Cuihua eat bear gall or leopard gall to dare to scold Mingxi?
Aunt Zhou hadn't realized what terrible things she had said, but she suddenly felt that everyone in the yard was looking at her strangely.
The next second, a chill suddenly rose up the back of her neck, followed by a sharp pain on her face, accompanied by Zhao Sulan's cold, emotionless voice.
"Zhou Cuihua, have I been too kind to you?"
Zhou Cuihua: "Waaaaah..."
It wasn't that Zhou Cuihua didn't want to talk, but rather that she couldn't say anything at all.
This time, Zhao Sulan showed no mercy, slapping Zhou Cuihua hard across the face several times, causing her face to swell immediately. At this point, Zhou Cuihua no longer had the courage to fight back. She twisted her body with all her might, like a dying fish on a chopping board, trying to break free from Zhao Sulan's grasp.
But Zhao Sulan didn't give her a chance at all. She grabbed Zhou Cuihua by the collar and kept slapping her repeatedly, one slap after another, until Zhou Cuihua was completely stunned.
Wang Hongmei, who came with Zhou Cuihua, had never seen anything like this before.
She had seen her mother argue with others before, and she had even seen her mother get physical, but usually her mother was the one who had the upper hand. She had never been pinned down and beaten like this before.
Seeing her mother's face swollen like a pig's head, with blood seeping from her nose and mouth, Wang Meihua panicked completely. Tears and snot streamed down her face as she cried out, "Aunt Zhao, please, please spare my mother! Waaah, I beg you! My mother was wrong, she shouldn't have spoken to Mingxi. Please let her go, I'll make her apologize to Mingxi..."
Mingxi stepped forward and said, "Mom...Mom, please let Aunt Zhou go."
The title "Mom" was completely unfamiliar to Mingxi, and she felt extremely awkward the moment she uttered it.
However, she still reached out and tugged at Zhao Sulan's sleeve.
She was genuinely afraid that if she didn't stop her, Zhao Sulan would beat Aunt Zhou to death.
A note from the author:
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I've started a new story! The last one had some issues with the plot and setting, so I had to temporarily stop updating. I've started this new story to continue enjoying the gossip in the courtyard, hehe. Feel free to bookmark it if you're interested!
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