Chen Chunhua smiled, "I understand, Uncle Shen, don't worry that Shen Xiasheng will cause trouble, it won't happen. When relatives and friends see this kind of gambler, they don't even have time to hide, how could they possibly come to help him?
This isn't the old society anymore. You can still mortgage your land to someone else. If a bunch of people show up and make a fuss, they can only tear down his bricks and take nothing away."
Secretary Shen thought about it and realized that this was indeed the case.
"I just happened to run into you, so I wanted to talk to you about this. After all, he's your brother... But I haven't seen him for a while. I asked him for public grain after the autumn harvest, but he didn't give it to me, and then I disappeared..."
"He's probably off to gamble somewhere again. You don't have to pay any attention to him."
…
The two chatted for a while and then dispersed because Liang Shengdi said she was thirsty and wanted to buy some water. She saw someone selling fish ball soup a little further away... Lin Guoqing called her to hurry up and follow.
Chen Chunhua didn't want to comment too much about Chen Xiasheng's life. It had nothing to do with them anyway. But Lin Guoqing would think more about it.
"I'm afraid that by then he'll be in debt and his creditors will pressure him, so he'll come to our family to borrow money."
"...Am I very familiar with him? Should I lend him money just because he comes to me?" Chen Chunhua was speechless.
"When a gambler is pushed to the limit, he's likely to do anything, and it doesn't necessarily have to be borrowing money..."
Lin Guoqing didn't say too much in the end. It was the first day of the Lunar New Year, so it was a bit unlucky to say such things. He just said that he would go back and remind the children to be careful when going to and from school.
Chen Chunhua frowned, as if thinking about something.
***
During the Spring Festival in the past two years, the material conditions have become much richer than before the reform and opening up. The village-run enterprises are profitable, and the village will also set aside some money to hire a theatrical troupe.
On the second day of the Chinese New Year, Da Ni and Er Ni returned to Sihe Village with their family. On the third day of the New Year, they came again. This time, Er Ni also brought her parents-in-law, sister-in-law, and uncle's family.
The opera on the stage was full of twists and turns, and little Lili was half asleep and half awake in her cradle below the stage. Little Lili was Erni's daughter, whose full name was Zhao Lili.
"You are so good! You brought a three-month-old baby out to watch an opera!" Lin Yulan scolded her second daughter in a low voice, and reached out to take the child.
"I'm sheltered from the wind here. Let me hold her. If she gets hungry later, you can go back and feed her. It's cold outside."
Dani sat next to Lin Yulan, touching her not-so-big belly, and looking at her second sister who was becoming more and more silly after becoming a mother, she couldn't help but complain, "Doesn't your mother-in-law say anything about you? The child is still so young."
Erni just laughed, "My mother-in-law said, 'You can't let me stay home and watch others go out to have fun during Chinese New Year, right? It's a rare opportunity to see a show, so I have to come!'"
He pointed diagonally ahead and said, "Look, they're all over there! Just shout if anything happens. It's so close, what can happen?"
Dani was really angry and amused. She envied her sister for having such a good in-law family, but she was also glad that she and Wang Yong did not make a wrong choice.
The stage was still set up in the threshing ground, and all the snacks and candies that were not eaten yesterday were moved here. Liang Shengdi even directed a few children to bring in a table, and the food on it was soon asked for by children from each family by saying auspicious words.
After a while, my parents would come over and put their snacks on the table, and the cycle would start again.
Seeing Sanni still sewing a sweater during the New Year's Day, Liang Shengdi couldn't help but snatch her sewing basket and stuffed a handful of fried peanuts sent by someone into her hand.
"We don't even hire an opera troupe once a year. Erni even wants to come with her kids to watch, but you're still thinking about making money. Didn't I give you New Year's money yesterday? What? You want to save money to build a house too? Or should grandma give you another two dollars?"
Sanni didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "Enough is enough! I have so much time on my hands!"
"I can't sit still and eat peanuts!"
Liang Shengdi glared at her and put the basket under her feet to prevent the girl from doing it again.
Shumei, holding a little crispy candy wrapped in oil paper, moved back and forth in the crowd. She first found her eldest sister who was sitting with Sister Yinchun playing twirling rope, stuffed a piece into her mouth and ran away. Then she found her second brother who was standing next to Erniu and talking about something, picked up two small pieces and put them in his hand, saying that they would each have one piece.
She looked around and saw her third brother showing off his gun to a group of kids who looked several years younger than her. He probably had no time to eat. Her father didn't like candy and was busy watching others play cards, so the little girl didn't hesitate and ran back to the table where her grandmother and mother were sitting.
"Where did the crispy candies come from? A whole bag?" asked Chen Chunhua.
"I traded the sesame candy with Xiaohua's family. It wasn't a whole bag," Lin Shumei said, gesturing with her hands to indicate the size. "Just these. We compared them, and the sesame candy and crispy candy are the same size."
"Who is Xiaohua?"
"My classmate!" Lin Shumei said, "She lives at the end of the village. Her father is a barrel maker..."
"Is it Shouchang's family?" There was only one cooper in the village, and he didn't have much contact with Shen Chunhua's family.
"Yes, yes, yes!" In fact, Lin Shumei didn't know whether it was right or not, but she just did it. She picked up a piece of candy and wanted to stuff it into her mouth.
"Mom, try it, it's so fragrant and crispy! It melts in your mouth!" Why was there no one selling at the roadside stall yesterday?
"What you are exchanging is just candy, isn't it?" Although Chen Chunhua said this, she still opened her mouth and ate the candy.
Although the crispy candy is made from malt sugar, it's not sticky at all. It contains osmanthus flowers, fragrant sticks, and sesame seeds. It's really sweet and crispy, dissolving into powder as soon as it enters your mouth, and then sticking to your throat...
"It's different!" After eating too much sesame candy, you always need to change the taste.
"Cough cough!" Liang Shengdi, who was sitting on the side, coughed twice heavily, but her eyes were still fixed on the stage in the front. The play at that moment was "Eighteen Farewells", and the stage was performing the lingering "I can't bear to leave you, I can't bear to leave me".
When Liang Shengdi went to every household to solicit opinions on the play list, she actually chose Xianglin Sao, but everyone disliked it. They thought, "Watching Xianglin Sao during the New Year, do you want to suffer this year?"
As a result, the show that took the stage today was either "The Peacock Flies Southeast," "Meng Lijun," or "Eighteen Farewells." Zhu Yingtai and Liang Shanbo didn't have a happy ending, did they? Is this just for Chinese New Year?
Old Mrs. Liang got angry whenever she thought about it, but she still couldn't bear to take her eyes off the stage. She didn't even have time to ask her granddaughter for a piece of candy, she could only cough loudly.
Lin Shumei approached her grandmother with a playful smile and held the oil paper bag high up to show her grandmother.
"Grandma! I saved the biggest pieces for you!"
Liang Shengdi lost her composure in a second, and finally took her eyes off the food. She picked up the largest piece from the largest ones and put it in her mouth, mumbling,
"Then I'll leave the most for you!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
