Chapter 98 Meeting Sister-in-law
"Wife...wife?"
The woman who was leading the way was shocked.
The Shen family has been sent down to the village for five years, and I've never heard of them having a daughter-in-law.
And she's so good-looking; she dares to say there's not a single woman in the surrounding villages who's this good-looking.
Doesn't being demoted implicate the whole family? How come there's still a daughter-in-law outside?
The villagers coming and going in this village are all familiar neighbors. When they see unfamiliar faces in the village, they can't help but feel a little curious.
People carrying hoes and shoulder poles stopped to exchange a few words with the woman, but their eyes couldn't help but dart towards Jiang Ning.
Jiang Ning just wanted to see Shen Mo's family as soon as possible. Listening to the people coming and going exchanging pleasantries, her delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly. "If you have something to do, just tell me your location. I can go by myself. I don't need you to lead the way."
Jiang Ning's words made the woman feel humiliated, and she pouted.
Jiang Ning didn't miss her eye roll.
The woman rolled her eyes and continued leading the way, but on the way she ran into her best friend, and the two stopped and started chatting amongst themselves.
Seeing that the other person didn't seem to want to continue leading the way, Jiang Ning looked at a villager who happened to be passing by and asked, "Excuse me, where does the Shen family, who were sent down to the countryside, live?"
The other person looked a little confused, but still pointed to a spot and said, "Over there, do you see that shed two fields away?"
Jiang Ning glanced to the side and sure enough, there was a small, dilapidated shed not far away. She said politely, "I see it, thank you."
After asking the villagers for directions, she left without looking back. After Jiang Ning left, the middle-aged woman spat and said, "What are you pretending for? You look like a fox."
She then turned to her best friend and said, "See? She bewitched Tiezhu with just a few words."
The iron pillar she mentioned was the villager Jiang Ning was questioning.
Jiang Ning walked across several paddy field ridges and finally arrived at the dilapidated cowshed. The cowshed was indeed very dilapidated, with mottled walls and a drafty roof.
You can smell an unpleasant odor from outside. There is a livestock trough next to it, and a row of wooden stakes stand next to the trough, with oxen and donkeys tied to the stakes.
It's already winter, and the odor is already so strong. Imagine how unbearable it would be in the summer, not only because it's unbearably hot and humid, but also because you have to sleep with mosquitoes and flies. Just thinking about it makes Jiang Ning feel a little uncomfortable.
She walked over and saw that the wooden door was locked.
Nobody here?
The brigade leader said there were people in the cowshed.
Just then, footsteps sounded behind me, accompanied by a woman's voice, "Who are you? Why are you knocking on my door?"
Jiang Ning turned around and saw a woman wearing slightly faded clothes walking over. Judging from her age, she should be in her thirties, but her complexion was sallow and she looked haggard.
Judging from the fact that the person lived in a cowshed and was of such an advanced age, Jiang Ning could roughly guess their identity.
Shen Mo had told her about his family on the train. His parents were named Shen Bingting and Yang Lan, and he had an older brother named Shen Ziming and a younger sister named Shen Qianqian.
My older brother is already married; his wife's name is Jin Yuyan.
The only woman in front of him who was the same age as Shen Mo's wife, Jin Yuyan.
When Jin Yuyan saw Jiang Ning, a fleeting look of amazement and jealousy crossed her eyes.
Jiang Ning looked at the other person and greeted her politely, "Hello, my name is Jiang Ning, and I am Shen Mo's wife."
"Shen Mo's wife? You are... my second brother's wife?" Jin Yuyan asked again, surprised.
Jiang Ning nodded. "Yes."
Jin Yuyan didn't know Jiang Ning, but she knew her name. "You say you are Jiang Ning, can you prove your identity?"
Jiang Ning took out her household registration page, and Jin Yuyan scanned the name and address on it. She remembered that Shen Mo's wife was from Yanghe County.
Can women from the countryside have such good skin?
Look at her again, her face is sallow, she's nowhere near as pretty as before, it's all because of the Shen family that she's been dragged down!
She knew that Shen Ziming's younger brother was a soldier, and that Shen Mo had escaped disaster because he was in the army, and that Shen Mo's wife did not have to be sent down to the countryside.
Looking at Jiang Ning's delicate face, he felt a lump in his throat.
Jin Yuyan's tone was ambiguous as she asked, "What are you doing here?"
Jiang Ning sensed a hint of hostility in her tone, but she could understand. Those who had been sent down to the countryside were all highly educated intellectuals who had endured so much mental and physical torture in these simple cowsheds for so long. No one could bear that.
"I applied for visitation permission to see my parents," Jiang Ning said, glancing up inside. "You won't let me in?"
Visitation permission?
Those who were sent down to these rural villages were seen as bad elements who needed to be criticized and struggled against by the uneducated villagers. They were to undergo ideological and labor reform, doing the heaviest work every day and receiving the fewest work points.
They also occasionally face difficulties from some unruly villagers.
She had had enough of this kind of life!
The higher-ups ordered them to go to the countryside to be criticized and denounced; how could they possibly allow people to visit them?
Did Shen Mo achieve some military merit to have such great power?
If that's the case, then she might have to change her mind and reconsider divorcing Shen Ziming.
Jin Yuyan took out a key and unlocked the door. "Come in,"
Jiang Ning walked into the house. Although there was still a slight odor inside, it was much better than outside.
Inside was a mud-brick house, which didn't look as dilapidated as the outside. It seemed to have been built little by little in recent years. The inside was very spacious, with only a few beds and a stove built in the corner for cooking with firewood.
This situation must have gradually improved over the years since the Shen family was sent to this area.
After being sent down to the village for several years, the Shen family worked hard and diligently to gradually build up this mud-brick house that could barely keep out the wind and rain.
Jiang Ning put the things she was holding on the ground and pulled up a rickety stool to sit down.
She wanted to sit on one of the beds, but she didn't know whose bed belonged to whom, and it would be impolite to suddenly sit on someone's bed.
It's called a bed, but it's really just a few blue bricks stuffed underneath, with some wooden planks pieced together and placed on top of the blue bricks.
For the first time, Jiang Ning truly felt the difference between this era and the developed world.
As soon as Jin Yuyan entered the room, she went back to her bed and lay down, looking as if she was going to take another nap.
Jiang Ning didn't want to disturb others' sleep, so she only asked when Shen's parents would finish work. Jin Yuyan gave her a rough time and then went to sleep with her back to Jiang Ning.
Looking at Jiang Ning's face, she couldn't fall asleep at all.
Jiang Ning didn't feel that the other party was being disrespectful. They were family in name only, but she couldn't bring herself to treat a stranger who suddenly appeared with such warmth.
Jiang Ning took out a medical book that Grandpa Huang had given her when she left and began to read it carefully. Before she knew it, time had passed.
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