Aunt Hao was so frightened that she jumped up and quickly grabbed Xing Zhaozhao's hand tightly: "Child, don't scare your aunt. We can't do anything illegal or criminal."
Xing Zhaozhao giggled and said, "Sorry, I scared you, Auntie. I was just joking. I would never do anything illegal or criminal. My son Mingcheng is a soldier, and he's already a battalion commander. He'll continue to rise in rank, so I can't leave a stain on his record."
Even if you're going to do it, you can't get your hands dirty.
Aunt Hao looked into Xing Zhaozhao's dark eyes, and her heart still trembled.
She had a feeling that she wasn't joking.
Although those two old geezers in the Gao family are indeed quite despicable, it's not that bad, really not that bad.
Aunt Hao decided that she would still come to visit more often in the future, so that the child wouldn't get stuck on his own thoughts.
Aunt Hao stayed until almost lunchtime before leaving.
Xing Zhaozhao originally wanted her to stay for dinner.
She refused, saying, "You're raising three children all by yourself, and you didn't go to work today, so you won't get any food. You have to buy your daily necessities with money, so you're probably not well-off. I don't want to add to your burden here."
Xing Zhaozhao didn't insist. Although she had plenty of food, most of it was brought over from there and was indeed not suitable for public consumption.
After lunch, Xing Zhaozhao didn't go out again. She stayed at home with her three children and took a nap together.
The three children lay in a row on a kang (a heated brick bed) and quickly fell asleep.
Xing Zhaozhao propped her head up and lay down beside them, not sleepy at all. She stared intently at the three children beside her and gently stroked their little faces.
That's wonderful, they're all still alive and well.
She didn't know how much time had passed before sleepiness finally overcame her, and she drifted off to sleep.
In a daze, she suddenly heard someone banging on her front door.
"Xing Zhaozhao, get out here right now! How dare you tie up your own cousin as a thief and send him to the brigade leader? He just came here to get something, and he hasn't even gotten it yet. We're all family, what's the big deal? And you call it stealing, such a nasty thing. Get out here right now, stop pretending to be dead in there, do you hear me, Xing Zhaozhao..."
Xing Zhaozhao: "..."
A familiar voice, familiar values.
Aunt Hao was right; she really dared to come.
A shadowy glint flashed in Xing Zhaozhao's dark eyes.
They're just living too comfortably.
The noise outside grew louder and louder, soon waking the sleeping child.
Hongfei rubbed his sleepy eyes and sat up, looking at Xing Zhaozhao beside him with a puzzled expression: "Mom?"
Xing Zhaozhao smiled and patted his head, saying softly, "It's okay, Mom will go out and take a look. You stay here and watch over your younger brother and sister."
Hongfei nodded slightly: "Mm."
Xing Zhaozhao got off the kang (a heated brick bed), slipped on her shoes, and went outside.
The area in front of Xing Zhaozhao's house was particularly lively at this moment. Apart from Grandma Gao and her family from her maternal side, the Liu family, many villagers had nothing to do in the fields during the winter, so they came over to watch the excitement. Some were even cracking melon seeds on the spot.
Before Xing Zhaozhao came out, Aunt Hao, having received the news, rushed over and pulled away Old Lady Gao, who was clinging to the front door of Xing Zhaozhao's house: "Don't go too far, Liu Cuihua. It was your nephew who did something inhuman, instigating others to come to Zhaozhao's house to steal things. It was the brigade leader who made the decision to send him to the public security brigade. Now he's going to be sent to a labor camp. He deserves it. How dare you still have the nerve to come to Zhaozhao's house and cause trouble?"
The fact that her beloved nephew was being sent to a labor camp made Old Lady Gao feel like the sky was falling. With a ferocious expression, she lunged at Aunt Hao and started tearing at her: "What stealing? Why are you saying such nasty things? It's a family matter, how can that be called stealing? It's clearly that little whore Xing Zhaozhao who resented me for kicking her out of the Gao family and deliberately framed Gouzi to get revenge on me."
"Does being a family member not count as stealing?" Aunt Hao couldn't help but roll her eyes, grabbing Old Lady Gao's hand that was about to swing at her face, and said, "Then I'll have to take Zhaozhao to your house to take things, after all, isn't being a family member not stealing?"
"You dare!" Old Mrs. Gao panicked upon hearing this and struggled desperately, trying to break free from Aunt Hao's grasp and scratch her face, but unfortunately, she was no match for her strength and ultimately failed.
Aunt Hao scoffed dismissively and shoved Old Lady Gao aside: "Going to someone else's house to steal isn't stealing, it's a family matter. But it's not allowed to go to your house? Isn't it a family matter? Have you no shame?"
"You're framing her? It was your Liu Gouzi who came to Zhao Zhao's place in the middle of the night on his own, and there were nine of them in total. They were arrested together and could all be witnesses to each other. How is that framing her? The police brigade didn't object, so why are you all talking so much nonsense? If you're so capable, go make a scene at the police brigade. What are you doing here looking for Zhao Zhao? Do you think she's an easy woman to bully?"
"I won't allow that," Aunt Hao said loudly, crossing her arms and standing like a guardian deity at Xing Zhaozhao's door.
When the men from the Liu family who had come along saw that things weren't going well, they gave a wink to the women in their own families.
Old Lady Gao's sisters-in-law, brothers' wives, and nieces-in-law immediately understood and rolled up their sleeves to pull Aunt Hao away, saying, "This is a family matter between Old Liu and Old Gao. What does it have to do with an outsider like you? Get out of here."
Aunt Hao struggled: "What are you doing? You can't argue with me, so you want to fight? Do you think we people from Xiaogaozhuang are easy to bully?"
Upon hearing that Aunt Hao had lifted up their Xiaogaozhuang village, the people who had been watching the commotion couldn't sit still any longer.
That won't do. How can we let people from Xiaogaozhuang be bullied by outsiders?
Some people started rolling up their sleeves, ready to get to work.
Just then, the door to Xing Zhaozhao's house, which had been tightly closed, creaked open, and Xing Zhaozhao came out and gently pressed Aunt Hao's shoulder.
Aunt Hao, outnumbered, was about to be dragged away by the Liu family women, but she immediately stood still.
The women in the Liu family suddenly felt that Aunt Hao had become incredibly heavy, and when they tried to pull her up, she wouldn't budge. They were stunned for a moment.
"Let's talk things out, why resort to violence?" Xing Zhaozhao said as she pulled away the hands of the Liu family women who were holding onto Aunt Hao.
The women from the Liu family didn't want to let go, not wanting to appear weak, but unexpectedly, the hand that Xing Zhaozhao was holding suddenly felt a sharp pain, so they had no choice but to let go.
Xing Zhaozhao pulled Aunt Hao behind her, looked at Old Lady Gao and the Liu family, and asked, "What do you want to see me about?"
When Old Lady Gao saw Xing Zhaozhao, her old and new grudges combined, and she became furious. She cursed and tried to attack her again: "You little whore, you've finally come out."
At this moment, Uncle Liu, who had been hiding behind the Liu family women from the beginning, came out, glared at Old Lady Gao, and scolded, "Enough, Cuihua, we came to discuss things with Mingcheng's wife and solve problems, not to quarrel."
Grandma Gao felt wronged and looked at her older brother, as if she wanted to say something: "But older brother..."
They were quickly stopped by a look from Uncle Liu and retreated pitifully.
"He said he wasn't here to argue. Liu Cuihua was making such a fuss just now, but he didn't say a word. Now he knows how to play the good guy." Aunt Hao muttered behind Xing Zhaozhao.
"Zhao Zhao, be careful of this old man. One of them is playing the good cop, and the other is playing the bad cop. There's not a single good person in the Liu family, especially this one. He's full of tricks." Aunt Hao reminded Xing Zhao Zhao.
Xing Zhaozhao nodded and responded softly, "Mm."
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