Chapter 20: When we gathered, old comrades acted as matchmakers in person

Zhai family courtyard.

My mother-in-law insisted that she had a stomachache for two days. Her voice was so sharp and piercing that it instantly broke the peace in the house.

She clamored to go to the sanitation center, and the whole family suddenly became busy.

However, the eldest daughter-in-law Liu Xiangqin was not interested in whether her mother-in-law was really sick. She just cooked in the kitchen of the hut. "The old woman is always making trouble. It seems that life is unbearable."

Inside the yard, the three sons quickly helped the old woman back to her room and carefully laid her down.

But the old woman held her third son Zhai Ximo's hand tightly and refused to let go, wailing loudly: "My son, take me to see a doctor quickly, my stomach hurts so much."

Zhai Ximo looked helpless, but did not dare to break away.

The second son, Zhai Jiahao, was very timid. Seeing this, he quickly said, "I have a lot of things to do today. I have to fix the earthen stove and go to the fields to plant rice seedlings. None of these things can be delayed."

After saying this, he hurriedly pushed his mother to the eldest and third sons.

Finally, Liu Xiangqin couldn't help herself and walked to the door. She looked at the situation in the house, rolled her eyes, and said, "I also have to go to the hillside to work. I have to dig up the field behind the Luo family to plant corn. I don't have time."

"Third brother, if you have time, you two should take Mom to town."

Liu Xiangqin's meaning was very clear. She would not take care of the old woman, nor would she allow her husband Zhai Qingsong to go to the town and delay farm work.

After saying that, he turned around and went back to the hut to continue making breakfast.

Zhai Qingsong looked embarrassed, "Third brother, let's go with you to take mom to the health center in the town."

"Well, then go to the village and borrow a cart."

"Okay, you stay and take care of her for now. I'm worried that Mom might have some problems."

Zhai Qingsong had no choice but to go find someone in the village who had a cart to borrow, so that he could take their mother to the town clinic.

After borrowing the cart, Zhai Qingsong pulled the cart laboriously back to the Zhai family's yard.

In my heart, I couldn't help but complain, "This old lady, she didn't feel any pain earlier or later, but now she feels pain."

They also have a lot of farm work waiting for them. Recently they have to turn the soil to plant corn, plow the land, and prepare everything before transplanting rice.

Unlike the third brother's family, they did not get any paddy fields, but they had a little mountain land, so they could plant crops anytime.

When the third brother, Zhai Jiahao, went out to the cowshed to get some firewood, he saw his eldest brother coming back with the borrowed cart and started to grumble, "The old lady has nothing to do all day long. She only causes trouble for us."

Zhai Qingsong was the eldest brother, so he couldn't respond and had to bite the bullet and send his mother to the town.

Finally, after a lot of trouble.

Mrs. Liu was dragged to the town by her two sons on a cart.

In fact, the town is only half an hour's walk from their village, but it is still quite tiring to carry it there on one's back.

In the yard, Wang Ziru was secretly happy when she saw the old woman go to the town clinic.

As it happened, that day was a gathering day, so she decided to go to the market and not make breakfast at home.

"Come on, baby, let's go to the street to meet up." She quickly went back to the house, found a backpack, carried it on her back, and took her son's hand and went to the town.

The boy asked excitedly: "Mom, we need to buy a lot of things when we go to the market?"

Holding her son's soft little hand, Wang Ziru was in a very good mood and said, "Go buy some delicious food and two fun toys for you."

"Mom is going to buy me a toy?!" The little guy jumped up happily.

He wanted a small windmill. The last time he saw Luo Jiumei, her father bought her a windmill. It was so beautiful.

The mother and son went to the town so early and attracted the attention of many people in the village.

Normally, only those who need to go to the town to sell some agricultural products will rush to the town early to gather, while others will mostly eat breakfast and go to the town together.

Many village women saw the mother and son carrying baskets on their backs, and knew at first glance that they were heading to the town to gather, so they made excuses to greet Wang Ziru, and some even asked openly:

"Bao'er's mom, isn't your mother-in-law sick? Why didn't you go to the clinic with her?"

"My mother-in-law has three sons! Don't you know, Aunt Liu?" Wang Ziru said deliberately.

The old woman's mouth almost split open, and she cursed Wang Ziru in her heart as a good-for-nothing.

Along the way, Wang Ziru chatted and laughed with her son, feeling particularly happy.

I don't want to bother with the gossips of those gossipy women in the village.

When we arrived at the town, villagers from nearby villages had already arrived, and the streets were bustling with people.

"Mom! I'm hungry."

Baoer held her mother's hand and shouted when she saw the white mist coming out of the bun shop in front of her.

"Mom will take you to eat buns! Okay?"

"Eat buns..."

The boy thought he had heard wrongly, until he followed his mother into the bun shop and sat down. Then he blinked his big black eyes and watched the bun maker bring two baskets of buns to the table in front of them.

Wang Ziru ordered two baskets of steamed buns and two bowls of soy milk.

"That's three dollars and five cents."

"Okay, can I continue drinking the soy milk after I finish it?"

When paying, Wang Ziru asked with a smile.

The rosy-faced lady boss smiled and nodded, "Sure, come over and get more when you're done."

Just as the mother and son were about to start eating the buns, a dark shadow enveloped the buns on the table.

Wang Ziru raised her cheeks and was surprised to see that it was her man, "Huh? Why are you..."

"Mom might have an inflammation, so the doctor prescribed an IV for her. My eldest brother is guarding the clinic. I saw you guys, so I came over to eat something first." Zhai Ximo said this, sat down, and ordered a basket of steamed buns and a bowl of soy milk from the proprietress.

The lady boss looked at Zhai Ximo twice more. Seeing that he was wearing a military coat, she guessed that he had just returned from the army to visit his family, so she smiled and said, "Brother, which army unit did you come back from?"

"Southern Province."

"Oh, there is also a person from Southern Province in our town who came back to visit relatives before the Chinese New Year."

"You are talking about Yi Xiaoqing, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes! It's him. Why, are you in the same unit?"

"Um."

Zhai Ximo nodded and ate the buns with big mouthfuls, without telling the proprietress that Yi Xiaoqing was his subordinate.

We are all from the same hometown, so we tend to take care of each other.

It's just that Yi Xiaoqing is not very motivated, so after serving in the army for several years, he is still a soldier.

Zhai Ximo bought another small basket of dumplings and prepared to take them to the health center to give to his elder brother and mother as breakfast.

However, there happened to be many customers in the bun shop at that time, so the buns would take a few more minutes to be cooked.

Zhai Ximo patted his son's head, told him to eat slowly, and then went for a walk with his mother.

Then walk out of the bun shop, stand at the door, and wait for the buns to be steamed.

As soon as he went out, he heard his old comrade Zhang Kang coming towards him and greeted him, "Hey! We really met when we were rushing to the town."

"Are you here to catch up too?" Zhai Ximo looked at his old comrade-in-arms and classmate and asked.

I didn't see his parents or anyone else around him, so I guessed he came to the town alone.

Zhang Kang nodded, walked over, and said unhappily: "If you had married my sister five years ago, wouldn't we have come together today?"

"By the way, when I went home this time, I heard that my brother-in-law is a loser and doesn't care about his family. He treats my sister very badly! So my sister wants to divorce him." After saying this, Zhang Kang patted Zhai Ximo's shoulder with one hand and said slyly: "How about you also go home and divorce that woman at home, and then marry my sister? Anyway, if that woman had played tricks on you back then, you would have been my brother-in-law by now."