Chapter 138 Three Pairs of Tiger-Head Boots

Liu Lan did not even say thank you to the police officer. Instead, she grabbed the officer's hand and asked him fiercely if she had found the 800 yuan. Secretary Zhao scolded her for this.

After sending the police away, Liu Lan, Li Qiang and Wang Guixiang questioned Li Qiaoqiao for a long time. Li Qiaoqiao's hair was messy and her eyes were confused. She was scared of being beaten and scolded, so she hid in the corner of the room and cried. Liu Lan was so angry that she slapped her hard several times.

Seeing that there was no hope for the 800 yuan, Li Qiang and Wang Guixiang and their spouses returned to their rooms with cold faces, without caring about Liu Lan and Li Qiaoqiao.

Now, in addition to taking care of her own work points and three meals a day, Liu Lan also had to take care of Li Qiaoqiao.

Moreover, with Li Qiaoqiao in this state now, everyone in the village knows that she was pregnant with a prisoner's child before she was married, and that she had been sold to a man. Her reputation has been ruined. Not to mention finding a son-in-law from the city, even an ordinary second marriage would look down on such a slut!

Liu Lan was filled with hatred and anger. When she thought of her eight hundred yuan, she beat Li Qiaoqiao severely. From time to time, Li Qiaoqiao's screams and cries could be heard from her room.

Secretary Zhao couldn't stand it and asked the village cadres to come and talk to her several times. Liu Lan was now desperate and scolded the village cadres. She also said, "You feel sorry for my daughter, why don't you let your son marry my daughter? If I say that, I will definitely not beat her!"

The village officials were so angry that they didn't care anymore.

But after a long time, it was not a big deal, so Liu Lan started asking people around to see if there were any widowed old men or bachelors in the area, planning to marry Li Qiaoqiao off to someone random, otherwise it would be a burden for her for the rest of her life!

When Wang Guixiang saw that Liu Lan was looking for a husband for Li Qiaoqiao, she privately told Li Qiang to get involved.

Even though Li Qiaoqiao was too shocked and became stupid, she was still a young woman in her teens or twenties after all. If she got married, the betrothal money would at least be ten or twenty yuan!

Li Jie was angry when he saw his mother and brother colluding with each other to bully his own daughter and sister, and he said something once or twice. However, Liu Lan and Li Qiang were determined to get rid of the burden of Li Qiaoqiao, and they scolded Li Jie and told him to mind his own business.

Li Jie just gave up and didn't care.

Not long after, the mother and son found an old widower in his fifties, borrowed twenty yuan from him as a betrothal gift, and sent Li Qiaoqiao to him on the same day. There was no wedding banquet or anything, they just registered with the commune.

Liu Lan and Li Qiang divided the twenty yuan equally.

In addition, Liu Lan probably thought that she was getting older, her third son was unwilling to support her in her old age, and her fourth son was away all year round, so she could not be relied on either. She could only rely on Li Qiang for the time being. So she gritted her teeth and bargained with Li Qiang for a long time, giving the second wife four yuan a month, which was considered as living with Li Qiang.

However, even though she lived with Li Qiang and no longer had to do farm work, the days of having everything provided for her were gone. Wang Guixiang cooked one meal out of three, but she had to cook two.

She could only bear it, and fantasized in her heart that when her fourth son came back next time, she would complain to him and ask him to take care of her in her old age...

Xia Juanjuan ignored what was happening over there and just stayed at home making clothes and shoes, preparing three meals a day, reading medical books, and preparing medicinal herbs.

Zhou Qiuhe came to visit and talked about Li Qiaoqiao. She also sighed and said, "I used to think that our mother-in-law was selfish and biased, but now I know she is so vicious. She even schemed against her own daughters! And my second brother did the same. He sold his own sister for twenty yuan in betrothal money! Even Li Jie couldn't stand it. They are still blood-thirsty. What kind of people are they! Fortunately, I divided the family with her, otherwise I would suspect that she would do something to our two daughters for money!"

After hearing what Zhou Qiuhe said, Xia Juanjuan also sighed softly, "I also never thought that Liu Lan was so cruel. It's really... Even a tiger won't eat its own cubs!"

Although Li Qiaoqiao spread rumors about her behind her back and was always arrogant in front of her, Xia Juanjuan had separated from her family right after she got married. No matter how arrogant Li Qiaoqiao was, she couldn't take advantage of her.

So, she hated Li Qiaoqiao, but as long as she didn't provoke her, she had no intention of punishing her.

When she was caught by the traffickers that night, Xia Juanjuan watched her die without helping her because she thought that the traffickers, plus Wang Dajun, were four or five strong men, and she might be able to handle them. However, Li Qiaoqiao was not worthy of her risking her life to save her.

However, she called the police promptly afterwards, and the police also responded promptly and arrested the man, which was considered to be the best they could do for Li Qiaoqiao.

It's a pity that Wang Dajun didn't confess for several days, which delayed the process. That was something she couldn't control.

Unexpectedly, after being rescued from the hands of human traffickers with great difficulty, she was still "sold" by her own mother and brother...

Xia Juanjuan thought about Zhou Qiuhe's words, and suddenly something occurred to her. She asked, "You just said... even Third Brother couldn't stand it anymore? What do you mean?"

Liu Lan, Li Qiang, and Li Qiaoqiao are blood-thicker-than-water couples, so shouldn't Li Jie be the same?

Only then did Zhou Qiuhe realize that she had let the cat out of the bag.

However, she believed in Xia Juanjuan's character, so she lowered her voice and said, "I'm telling you, you must not tell anyone. In fact... Li Qiaoqiao was born by Liu Lan's cheating man outside, not your father-in-law's child..."

When Xia Juanjuan heard this, she was stunned.

Is there such a thing?

Zhou Qiuhe continued, "This happened not long after my eldest brother got into trouble a year ago. In the middle of the night, Li Jie woke up and heard a noise behind the house. He went to see an old man grinning and asking my mother-in-law for money. He also said that if she didn't give him money, he would tell everyone that she had an affair with him and had a daughter, Li Qiaoqiao... My mother-in-law was scared, so she gave him ten yuan and sent him away. Li Jie was so angry that his face turned blue, but because of the reputation of his deceased father-in-law and the Li family, he didn't make it public. The next day he resolutely separated from my mother-in-law. It was only after a long time that Li Jie secretly told me about this..."

Xia Juanjuan was dumbfounded and almost couldn't believe her ears.

Liu Lan is still making up rumors about her behind her back every day. It turns out she is so dirty!

Zhou Qiuhe repeatedly told Xia Juanjuan not to tell anyone about this, otherwise Li Jie would definitely be angry with her, and then she went back.

Of course Xia Juanjuan would not tell anyone about this. She just took these things as jokes and put them aside.

Instead of spending her time gossiping, she might as well do more sewing!

The work points she was supposed to do in the spring plowing had already been completed by her comrades who had fought in the last battle, so she concentrated on making clothes at home.

She had to make cotton-padded clothes, cotton pants and boots for the baby in her belly, as well as small quilts for swaddling, spring and summer clothes for Xiaowen, Xiaowu and Beibei, and thinner shoes. She also had to add some spring and summer clothes for herself, as well as loose clothes for pregnant women. She was very busy every day.

Fortunately, there was enough cloth in the space, so she bought some and took some out of the space to mix and use.

Because she was busy with needlework, Xia Juanjuan only went to the cowshed once every half a month.

After the busy spring ploughing period during the Grain Rain season, there was some free time for farm work, and Aunt Wu's second son's marriage was also settled. She took advantage of this time to bring the new bride home.

At weddings or funerals in rural areas, neighbors usually go to help, such as receiving guests and serving dishes to the host who is unable to help. Women go to the kitchen to help prepare meals, and the host will usually arrange additional meals as a thank you to the neighbors.

But giving gifts in exchange for a meal is something that only happens between relatives and close friends.

Gifts are exchanged. Generally, when someone receives a gift at a wedding, the one who gave the gift has to give a gift in return if he or she gets married again or has a child. Sometimes, the arguments get so entangled that even the marriages of children and grandchildren are affected.

The Li family and Aunt Wu's family were not related, but Xia Juanjuan was grateful to Aunt Wu for always speaking for her in front of the gossips in the village, so she also gave a gift.

Aunt Wu was so moved when she saw this that she insisted on asking Xia Juanjuan to stay for the meal. Xia Juanjuan had no choice but to accept the request, and was also afraid that Aunt Wu would feel bad, so she sat down and ate some dishes just to show her respect.

After a while, the bride and groom came over to toast with wine brewed by the village themselves using sorghum. Xia Juanjuan couldn't drink alcohol, so she drank tea instead.

The bride's name was Chen Qi. She was pretty and had a rosy face. Aunt Wu introduced her as Xia Juanjuan, the sister-in-law of the Li family. She blushed and asked Xia Juanjuan if she could call her "sister-in-law".

Xia Juanjuan entertained for a while. It was a wedding, and it would be bad to leave in the middle of it. She felt a little regretful. If she had known that she would have to attend the banquet, she would not have given a gift today, and would have given it to Aunt Wu later...

Just when she was feeling bored, she suddenly spotted a familiar face. It turned out to be the old lady she had met in the black market before who had exchanged her jade bracelet for medicinal herbs.

Although Xia Juanjuan put on makeup when she went to the black market, she was still afraid of being recognized, so she found Aunt Wu, said she was feeling a little unwell, and went back first.

When I was leaving, I heard from other guests that the bride was the granddaughter of that old lady.

However, she rarely goes to the black market in town anymore, and probably won't have to deal with this old lady anymore in the future.

In the evening, Xia Juanjuan went to the cowshed and brought some food, meat, eggs, etc. She also asked Yang Qiushi about some things she didn't understand in the medical books.

Seeing that her belly was getting bigger, Shen Wanxue smiled and said, "You can already see a little bit of it. It's still dark at night and it's not safe to walk at night. If you can, don't come to see us. The wheat harvest will be here soon. After the wheat is harvested, we should be able to share some food. There are more things to eat in the summer and we won't be hungry..."

Xia Juanjuan thought about it and realized that it was unsafe to walk at night. It would be bad if she fell. She smiled and said, "Okay. Then I won't come over in person later. Let our kid bring the things over."

She believed in the three little brats. Xiaowen would be turning six in half a month. He was precocious and sensible, so it should be okay for him to come and give her gifts.

As Shen Wanxue spoke, she took out three pairs of exquisite tiger-head boots from a worn-out bundle at the head of her bed and gave them to Xia Juanjuan, saying with a smile, "Juanjuan, these are made for the kids when I was free. Don't think my craftsmanship is crude, it is also a token of my love for the kids."