The old woman's heart skipped a beat. Oh no! This man and woman had grown up together since childhood. What did this have to do with her little girl? But she still wouldn't give up. Such good conditions were hard to find. She'd heard the young man had a good job too.
"Are these two kids a couple?"
Grandma Qian has a sharp eye; she knew exactly what this woman was up to the moment she asked her. She'd got her eye on her future grandson-in-law! No way, that's her Erdan's future boyfriend.
Grandma Qian's eyes darted around: "Oh dear, the two children are still young, there's no rush. Neither of our families is in a hurry."
This means that both families have reached a consensus, but the children are too young to discuss it further. The aunt's face clearly showed disappointment, which really reflects their relationship.
But she wasn't happy either. Why was she so late? And what she said wasn't nice either: "Oh, is it okay for a man and a woman to live together like this?"
Grandma Qian glared at her: "Why can't you listen to what you're saying? What do you mean by 'a lone man and a lone woman'? They're from two different families. Open your eyes wide and look at yourself. What? You think you and your neighbor are family?"
The old lady who started asking questions burst out laughing. She knew that this woman had her eye on that young man from day one. She didn't even look at her own daughter. Putting aside whether she was pretty or ugly, someone who hadn't even finished junior high school was dreaming about a college student. What a load of crap!
The old woman, her face flushed and her neck thick with anger, said, "How can you talk like that?"
"Hey, why can't I say that? You didn't say it first. You know, when a person is dirty, everything they see is dirty."
The old lady wanted to argue with the old woman, but when she saw two burly men coming out of the yard, she swallowed the curses that were on the tip of her tongue. She was the only one at home, and if a fight broke out, she wouldn't get away with it.
"I wouldn't hesitate to argue with an old woman from the countryside like you."
"Pah! So what if you're from the countryside? If you're so capable, why don't you eat the grains and vegetables grown by farmers? Three generations back, whose family wasn't made of mud? Have you washed the mud off yourself?" Grandma Qian was never one to suffer a loss.
Hearing her grandmother's voice, Qian Xiao quickly came over: "Grandma, what's wrong? Did someone bully you?"
As Qian Xiao spoke, her dark eyes looked at the old woman. The old woman, startled by her gaze, instinctively took a step back. Good heavens, how can this little brat be so scary?
"I...I...I didn't say anything."
Grandma Qian spat and said, "You dare to say that? We may not have many other things in Qianjiatun, but we have the most people from the Qian family." The implication was clear: if you dare to get angry, I'll have someone deal with you.
The old woman wanted to say something harsh, but in the end she didn't dare and slunk away. Qianjiatun was quite famous in the area; if any married-out daughter from their village was bullied, half the village would come to her door to seek justice.
Qian Xiao shook his head. How come there are so many people like this? They're incompetent and love to flirt. You should be a little tougher.
The old lady who was about to speak stopped Grandma Qian: "Old sister, don't be like her. Everyone who lives nearby knows what kind of person she is. All she does is stare at other people's things with those two eyes, like she lives in a sauerkraut jar."
"Is this your eldest granddaughter? She's so pretty, though she doesn't look very old."
"That's right. My eldest granddaughter is not even sixteen yet. She was only eleven when she was admitted to university. It was so hard for us to see her go to school so far away. What's your surname, little sister? We'll be neighbors from now on, so let's visit each other often."
The old lady's eyes widened in surprise. No, she had to do the math. Not even sixteen, only fifteen, and already a college graduate? How early did they start school?! To have a job at such a young age—how outstanding is this child!
"Sister, my husband's surname is Guo. Everyone here calls me Aunt Guo. You can just call me Sister Guo. This is your granddaughter," Aunt Guo said, giving a thumbs up. "If only she were my own child. None of my family members are good at studying."
Grandma Qian was overjoyed. She loved it when people praised her granddaughter: "This child has been smart since she was little. She skipped grades all the way through school, which saved the family money on tuition. She's so adorable."
Seeing that there was nothing else to do, Qian Xiao went back to help. If her grandmother started praising herself to others, no one could interrupt her.
A whole cartload of firewood almost filled Sun Kaicheng and Qian Xiao's little shed. Grandma Qian borrowed an axe from a neighbor, and the four of them worked together to chop it up until it was almost dark.
Luckily, it was all dry firewood, otherwise there wouldn't be anywhere to dry it in this small yard.
After dinner, Sun Kaicheng didn't go home; instead, he sat in Qian Xiao's courtyard chatting.
Uncle San looked around the yard: "Erdan, why don't you ride your bicycle over here? Or should I bring it to you next time I come over? It'll be convenient for you to go to work and come home."
"No need. It takes me less than twenty minutes to walk from here to the factory. Even if I want to go back to the village, I can take a bus. Even if I brought it here, it would just sit there unsafely when no one is home."
The houses here are not bad; at least the partition between them and the neighbors' houses is a brick wall. If it were a wooden plank wall, people could see right in, and there would be no privacy at all.
Qian Erbao glanced at the wall next to the neighbor's house and said, "This wall looks too low. Next time we come, we'll add it up. It should be at least two meters high. We should also put some wooden spikes or something on top of the wall."
It's still not reassuring to have a young girl living alone. Even though my son Erdan is very capable, tigers sometimes doze off. Can you be on guard every single moment?
Qian Xiao also glanced at it. The wall was at most 1.7 meters high. If the neighbor was even a little tall, they could see into the other people's houses just by standing on their tiptoes. It was quite annoying.
"Bricks must be hard to buy, right?" It seems that even fired bricks require a permit or something, otherwise their village wouldn't have just a few brick and tile houses.
Sun Kaicheng glanced at his own side and said, "It's okay, I'll figure something out. I'll have to trouble my second and third uncles to help me out. I'll also take care of things on my side, so we don't need to fix the wall between us."
They also raised the height in the middle, so he couldn't see Comrade Erdan anymore, and it would be inconvenient for him to pass things to others.
"Okay, then I'll trouble you. I'll get some good clay to mix with the mud later." This county town is inconvenient everywhere, unlike in the village where you can just walk a few steps to get something.
"And let's put some broken glass on the top of that wall, I can get that."
"That's great, it's better than wood, wood rots after a while."
The group whispered amongst themselves, figuring out what else needed to be packed and what was missing, because in life, you can't be without anything.
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