Chapter 247 The eldest sister of the Li family is back
Xia Juanjuan and Lin Yuru were making dumplings when Zhou Qiuhe came in and said, "Juanjuan, this is really a rare thing! We haven't had any contact with Lijie's eldest sister for more than ten years after she got married, but she actually came back today!"
Xia Juanjuan knew what was going on, but she still showed a surprised expression on her face: "Third brother's eldest sister? Is she the eldest sister of the 40-year-old widower who married to another county that third brother mentioned last time?"
Zhou Qiuhe said, "If it's not her, who else could it be? Come with me quickly, that place... Oh! You'll know when you get there."
Xia Juanjuan wrote the anonymous letter just to get Li Zhaodi to come back home - if the one who stayed was the stepmother who married into the Li family later, then she would be the only one who knew that Shen Wanxue had fostered the child.
So Xia Juanjuan washed her hands and followed him.
When I arrived at the courtyard where Liu Lan and Li Qiang lived, I saw Li Zhaodi sitting on the ground, crying sadly, muttering: "Xiaojun, why did you have such a miserable life? You died at such a young age? Did everyone in your family die? Why didn't you send me a message so that I could come back to see you?"
Li Zhaodi was only sixteen or seventeen years old when she got married. Now eighteen years have passed, so she is thirty-five years old this year. However, her hair has turned a lot whiter, her face is dark and old, and she is a little plump. She looks like a middle-aged rural woman.
The clothes he wore were patched up with patches, and it was obvious that he led a hard life.
Li Jie still vaguely remembered his elder sister's appearance. Seeing his elder sister, who was not even 40 years old, look so old, he felt sad. He walked over to help her up and advised her, "Sister, it's been more than two years since our elder brother passed away. Don't be sad. I feel sad when you cry."
Li Zhaodi looked up at the dull man in front of her. The year she got married and left, Li Jun was thirteen years old, Li Jie was ten years old, and Li Zhan was eight years old. Because there was not much to eat, they were all very thin. The three younger brothers followed the ox cart she was riding in for a long time, calling her "sister" and "sister" over and over again.
She hated her father for marrying her so far away, to such an old man, and she was so angry that she didn't even want to look back.
It was not until the three men could no longer chase and were getting farther and farther away that she turned around again to take a look. The small figures of the three men were standing in the desolate winter fields.
She was filled with only resentment at the time. She took one look and turned her head away, swearing to cut off all ties with this place in the future.
Soon after she got married, her brothers began to write her crooked letters. At first, she didn't even open them, but threw them into the stove to burn. After a while, she finally read the letters, but she wouldn't believe them. As time went by, the letters gradually became fewer and fewer, and finally there was no one at all.
Later, her husband fell ill and died. She became a widow, remarried, moved away, and completely lost contact with her natal family.
Now, when Li Zhaodi thought of these things, she hated herself for being so heartless. Her brothers were right. If she had replied to a letter, her relationship with this place would have been unbreakable.
It wouldn't have taken her two or three years to find out that her eldest brother Xiaojun had died in an accident!
Wang Guixiang and Li Qiang were standing aside, looking impatiently at their elder sister-in-law who had not been in contact for more than ten years and suddenly came back to her parents' home on New Year's Eve.
You said you went back to your mother's house, but why did you go there to mourn during the New Year? Weeping for your older brother in front of their door? What were you doing before?
Wang Guixiang said in a gloomy tone: "It's been two years, why are you crying now? When my father-in-law and eldest brother died, our family sent letters there. You pretended not to see them then, but now you come back to cry? I think you probably can't make ends meet anymore, so you want to come back to your parents' home to beg for money! Let me tell you, we have no one in our family..."
Before she could finish her words, there were two sudden "slaps!" sounds. Li Zhaodi jumped up, rushed to Wang Guixiang, and slapped her twice!
Although Wang Guixiang is a little stupid, she is also very powerful. Usually, few people in the village dare to mess with her. But now she was slapped twice at once and was stunned!
Li Zhaodi pointed at Wang Guixiang's nose angrily and cursed: "Who are you? When your husband and his mother were on the way to escape famine and were starving to death, if I hadn't given half of the nest to Liu Lan, your husband would have starved to death on the way to escape famine! If it weren't for the dowry I got when I got married more than ten years ago, everyone in this family would have starved to death! How can you still be here to make a fuss? I cry for my eldest brother, what's your business! And I come to your house to beg for money? Bah! No matter how poor I am, I can't eat a grain of rice from your family!"
After getting married, Li Zhaodi suffered so much injustice. When she was a man, there were many gossips around widows. If she was still thin-skinned, she would have been bullied. Therefore, over the past ten years, her temper has become more aggressive than that of men, and much more powerful than Wang Guixiang, the paper tiger.
Wang Guixiang was beaten so hard that she covered her cheeks and her eyes were red.
Li Qiang rushed over immediately and raised his hand as if he was going to hit Li Zhaodi.
But Li Jie had already stood up, standing in front of Li Zhaodi, and confronted Li Qiang: "Second brother, what do you want to do? If you are angry and dare to hit even eldest sister, don't blame me for fighting you!"
Xia Juanjuan didn't care about the tense situation. She just noticed one important sentence: "When your husband and his mother were fleeing from famine and were about to die of hunger, if I hadn't given half of my home to Liu Lan, your husband would have died of hunger on the way!"
If Liu Lan was Li Zhaodi's biological mother, Li Zhaodi would definitely not have named her like that.
Therefore, her previous guess was correct! Liu Lan married into the Li family later!
Moreover, according to Li Zhaodi, Liu Lan might have become a couple with Li's father while fleeing from famine.
And Li Qiang was probably brought here by Liu Lan!
In this way, the number of children in the Li family matches the number when Shen Wanxue fostered Li Zhan, that is, Li Zhaodi, Li Jun and Li Jie!
She would find an opportunity to ask Li Zhaodi if her biological mother's name was Liang Yunxia. If this matched, then it was almost certain that Li Zhan was the child that Shen Wanxue had fostered back then!
Seeing that Li Jie was taller and stronger than him, Li Qiang dared not confront him head-on, so he pulled Wang Guixiang back into the house.
Liu Lan had been standing at the door. Seeing Li Zhaodi's fierce look, she couldn't help feeling scared.
More than ten years ago, she had forced her father to agree to this marriage because the widower from Lin County was introduced by her brother from her natal family. She took three yuan as a matchmaker's fee, and the widower gave her a lot of betrothal money, as much as twenty yuan!
Li's father originally did not agree, so she made up some lies about Li Zhaodi and deliberately let Li's father know. Li's father was angry that his daughter was not decent, and also wanted to marry someone far away so that his reputation could be preserved, so he did not object and went with Liu Lan.
At that time, although Li Zhaodi had a bad temper, she was still well-behaved and sensible. Although she was unwilling, she did not seek death. For the sake of this family, she still got married.
How come it's only been a dozen years and you've become so powerful?
Seeing how she beat Wang Guixiang just now, although she felt relieved in her heart, she was more afraid!
If Li Zhaodi knew what happened back then, she would definitely come up and slap her in the face!
She is not her biological mother, and her father is dead. Who can she expect to protect her?
Li Qiang couldn't even protect his wife, what a shame! Li Jie... must be on the side of his own sister!
The more Liu Lan thought about it, the more scared she became. This fierce Zhaodi might have come back with bad intentions this time, perhaps to seek revenge on her!
Thinking of this, Liu Lan said nothing and just curled up in the corner, pretending to be pitiful.
The villagers heard that the eldest daughter of the Li family, who had not been home for many years, had returned. They also knew that Li Zhaodi had married a poor man, so they all came to the Li family to watch the excitement.
Liu Lan thought in her heart that if Li Zhaodi and Li Jie had a quarrel, she would pretend to be aggrieved.
She is old now, and whenever she cries or makes a fuss, she is always right! Everyone else has to give in!
When Li Jie saw his elder sister coming back, he cried for his elder brother's death without even having time to drink a sip of water. He was also afraid that she would really have a conflict with Li Qiang, so he pulled Li Zhaodi back to his room first.
"Sister, you've finally come back. Come to our house first, and let's have a good chat before we talk about anything else."
Li Zhaodi glanced at the younger brother, his eyes became wet again, and he nodded and agreed.
She is now full of anger and sadness with nowhere to vent, and she might really do something out of the ordinary!
After entering the yard, Li Jie quickly asked Zhou Qiuhe to cook so that his elder sister could eat something first.
In Xia Juanjuan's letter, she first wrote that Li Qiang had secretly sold the jade for a lot of money, and then wrote that the eldest brother of the Li family had passed away.
However, Li Zhaodi just kept crying and didn't mention the money from the sale of the jade. She doesn't seem like the kind of person who is obsessed with money!
No matter if she was pretending or not, she really showed her true feelings when she cried for her older brother just now.
So she went home, and soon came back with some flour, a small piece of bacon, two bacon sausages, a dozen eggs, and dozens of freshly wrapped dumplings, and secretly gave them to Zhou Qiuhe.
Zhou Qiuhe was about to refuse: "We have plenty at home! I just made some dumplings this morning, they are more than enough!"
Xia Juanjuan knew that Zhou Qiuhe had just finished her confinement and there was a new little one in the family. In order to ensure that she had enough nutrition during her confinement period, Li Jie had almost finished eating all the refined flour in the house. The dumplings made on New Year's Eve were the only white flour dumplings she had.
Xia Juanjuan smiled and said, "Don't make excuses. The eldest sister of the three is also a fierce eldest sister, right? Your family provides meals, and my family should provide some things. It's only natural."
Besides, it was she who called Li Zhaodi back, and she was counting on her to solve the mystery and help resolve the quarrel with Liu Lan so that the truth would be revealed. It was only reasonable for her to hand over some things.