"Hello, are you Sister Zhang's sister? Why is Sister Zhang gone today?" Xuemei saw that there was a new person sitting in Zhang Aiping's seat today. This person looked 50% like Zhang Aiping, but was thinner and darker than Zhang Aiping, and looked very honest and decent.
"Are you Comrade Liu Xuemei? My sister mentioned you to me. I am Zhang Meiping. My sister gave birth to a boy yesterday afternoon, so I'm here to take over her duty today." Zhang Meiping stood up awkwardly and kept rubbing her hands.
"Sister Zhang is about to give birth, isn't it still ten days away? Isn't the due date yet?" Xuemei asked doubtfully.
"Comrade Liu Xuemei, as long as the due date is met, it's normal for the baby to be born a few days early or late."
"Oh, so that's the case. Then I will go to congratulate Sister Zhang on the birth of her baby boy tomorrow. By the way, Comrade Zhang, from now on you can just call me Xuemei, and I can call you Sister Meiping, okay?" Xuemei said gently.
Zhang Meiping looked at the kind Xuemei and nodded.
Xuemei looked at Zhang Meiping and continued, "Sister Meiping, if you have any questions while you're filling in for Sister Zhang, just ask me and I'll help you."
"Thank you, Xuemei." Zhang Meiping said gratefully.
The next day at noon, Xuemei took advantage of her lunch break to take the six eggs she brought from home to Zhang Aiping's house. Zhang Aiping's house was located in the northwest of the commune, and Li Supply and Marketing Cooperative was more than ten minutes away.
Zhang Aiping's home covers a total area of about 130 square meters, of which the house is a blue brick bungalow covering about 80 square meters. In addition to the main hall, there are three other rooms. They also built a kitchen and toilet with mud bricks and built mud walls about 1.5 meters high.
As Xuemei entered the yard, she saw a five or six-year-old girl scrubbing diapers in a wooden tub, her hands red from the cold. This was Zhang Aiping's youngest daughter, Liu Xiulan. Xuemei walked over, touched her head, and said, "Xiulan, do you remember me?"
"Aunt Xuemei, are you here to see my mother and my brother?" Xiulan stood up, wiped her hands on her clothes, and said.
"Yes, which room is your mother in? Can you take me there?" Xuemei said.
Xiulan immediately brought Xuemei to Zhang Aiping's room. As soon as she opened the door, Liu Xiulan called out, "Mom, Aunt Xuemei is here to see you and your brother."
"Xuemei, why are you here?" Zhang Aiping said as he sat up in bed and leaned against the headboard.
"Sister Zhang, I heard yesterday that Sister Meiping gave birth, so I came to see you specially. Wow! My little nephew is so strong." Xuemei said as she looked at the little boy who looked like a little old man and was kicking his feet non-stop.
"This kid is very powerful and noisy in my belly." Zhang Aiping said with a smile, and then took the egg from Xuemei.
Zhang Aiping looked at Xuemei and continued, "Xiu Lan, where's your grandmother? Ask her to make a cup of sugar water for your Aunt Xuemei."
"Mom, grandma went out to visit friends after bringing you lunch." Xiulan replied.
Zhang Aiping straightened up and looked at Xiulan. She found her hands were red and said angrily, "Did your grandma ask you to wash diapers with cold water again? I told you to wash diapers with hot water in such a cold weather. If you get frozen, who will have time to take care of you?"
"Mom, grandma doesn't allow me to boil water. She said that my uncle's family has a hard time chopping wood. Or she always used cold water to wash clothes when she was a child. I shouldn't be so pampered." Xiulan said aggrievedly.
Zhang Aiping became even angrier when she heard this. "Why would you believe her? Your uncle and his men chopped the firewood for us, and your father paid for it. This old woman is always torturing people. Why doesn't she torture her own daughter? She doesn't even look at what a mess her daughter and her granddaughter have become."
She would come to my house to bother my two daughters, asking them to come and take care of me after the baby is born. Every day, as soon as she brings in the food, she would come out and make a scene. She thought that she came to my house just to rest well and not have to worry about anything. At my sister-in-law's house, she would just be a workhorse for them. This old hag... old woman." Zhang Aiping had just cursed when she realized Xuemei was still there and quickly changed her tone.
Just when they were feeling awkward, they heard Xiulan's stomach growling. Zhang Aiping was so angry that she yelled, "This damn old woman, did you not eat anything at noon?"
Xiulan was a little frightened and cried, "Grandma said that now that we have a younger brother, we don't have enough food at home, so she asked me to save some of my food for him. But I'm really hungry. I only had a sweet potato this morning."
Zhang Aiping looked at her crying daughter, feeling distressed and angry. She also cried and said, "This damn old woman is always making trouble. Your brother is only a little boy now. It's enough for him to drink my milk every day. Why do you want her to save food? Why doesn't she save food herself? My daughter can't eat my own food."
After saying that, she wiped her tears and said to Xuemei, "Xuemei, I'll make you laugh."
"Sister Zhang, what are you talking about? Every family has unhappy things. You are in confinement now, you can't cry because of these things?" Xuemei comforted her.
"You're right. You don't even know how to cry for such an old woman. Xuemei, please help me pour some boiling water from the thermos and use the bowl on the table to make a cup of egg water for Xiulan." After saying this, Zhang Aiping took out an egg from the one Xuemei was holding and handed it to Xuemei.
Xuemei waited for Xiulan to finish drinking the egg water, then felt it was about time and said, "Sister Zhang, lunch break is almost up. I'll go back to work first. You should take good care of yourself during the confinement period."
"Xuemei, I didn't treat you well this time. Please forgive me!" Zhang Aiping said embarrassedly.
"Sister Zhang, look at what you said. We still have to say these polite words to each other." Xuemei said in a pretended angry tone.
…
Xuemei had just married Zhang Aiping when she met an old lady who looked very kind. When the old lady saw her coming out, she hurried over and said, "Are you my daughter-in-law's colleague, young lady?"
"Aunt, is your daughter-in-law Sister Zhang Aiping?" Xuemei asked.
When the old lady heard this, she took Xuemei's hand and said with a smile, "That's her! Aiping is my daughter-in-law. You are so pretty! Do you have a boyfriend? I have some good young men. Can I introduce you to some?"
Xuemei quickly pulled her hand away when she heard this and said politely, "Aunt, my work schedule is almost up. I'll be leaving first."
Xuemei left quickly after she finished speaking. On the way back to the supply and marketing cooperative, she was thinking about Zhang Aiping's mother-in-law. She couldn't believe that Zhang's mother-in-law, who looked so kind and easy to get along with, was actually a harsh daughter-in-law, favored sons over daughters, and abused her granddaughter. Xuemei couldn't see it at all.
Xuemei decided that before she started dating someone in the future, her parents would have to do a thorough investigation into the man's parents. If the man didn't have any parents, it didn't matter if his conditions were a little worse, as long as he had good character and was willing to make progress.
Xuemei patted her head and shook it, hastily dismissing these strange thoughts. It was too early for her to start looking for a partner; she wasn't even 18 yet. She must have been influenced by Zhang Aiping's mother-in-law.
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