Chapter 70: Breaking Up "Be gentle, my mother has sharp ears."...
Geng Yunye stood up from the bed with a splitting headache, his temples throbbing.
Cheng Xin sat up with sleepy eyes, her voice hoarse from just waking up: "Are you awake?" She wrapped herself in a cotton-padded jacket, put on her shoes, and went downstairs to pour him a cup of hot water, "Drink something hot first, your stomach will feel uncomfortable with an empty stomach."
"What time is it?" Geng Yunye took the kettle and blew into it. The sky outside the window was bluish-gray and sporadic sounds of firecrackers could be heard in the distance.
"It's almost seven o'clock." Cheng Xin shrunk back into the bed, half of her face showing through the edge of the quilt. "Yesterday afternoon, you, my dad, uncle, cousin, and grandpa finished a bottle of Moutai. After you guys left, you couldn't even walk steadily. My mom was afraid it was unsafe on the road, so she asked us to stay overnight."
Geng Yunye frowned and sniffed the collar of his clothes. Cheng Xin reached out and poked his chest: "Don't worry, you didn't vomit on me. I wiped your face in the middle of the night, and you were still dazed and told me not to get tired."
After he finished drinking the water, he pulled her into his arms and rubbed his chin against the top of her head: "Did you not sleep well last night?"
Cheng Xin gently pulled his ear: "It's okay, you're very well behaved when you're drunk, you took off your coat when I asked you to, and drank warm water when I asked you to, you were more obedient than the Ah Huang I raised before."
Geng Yunye held her in his arms and tickled her: "So in your eyes I'm treated like a dog?" The two rolled around in a ball, laughing.
Until they heard their mother coughing deliberately from next door, they quickly covered themselves with the quilt and lay down. Cheng Xin buried her face in his shoulder, shaking all over from trying to hold back her laughter.
"Be gentle, my mother has sharp ears."
Liu Cuicui carried a bamboo basket on her arm, which contained two bags of brown sugar and a bag of peach cakes, all of which were the decent things left over from her son's wedding.
Chen Ying was wearing a flowery cotton jacket and a red hairband. She pointed to the yard with smoke rising from the kitchen in the distance and said, "Mom, please walk faster. Sister Cheng Xin's house is just ahead."
"What's the hurry?" Liu Cuicui panted: "Remember to be sweet to people when you meet them, and don't forget that they took you in last year." She reached out to help her daughter tidy up her hair that was messed up by the wind, but Chen Ying impatiently dodged her hand.
"Got it." Chen Ying didn't take it to heart. She rolled her eyes and added chips to herself: "The man I like has connections in the commune and the county. He can get a wife for three transfers and one ring!"
Liu Cuicui paused and said, "Can you really give me a bicycle?"
Last year, the family emptied out their savings to raise a dowry of 200 yuan to let their son get married. The mother-in-law insisted on getting a bicycle and refused to open the door without one. In the end, they borrowed a bicycle to marry the bride. This matter still bothers her to this day.
"Why would I lie to you?" Chen Ying took out a piece of fruit candy worth two cents from her pocket and stuffed it into her mother's hand. "When I get married, I'll give the bicycle to my brother, the sewing machine to you, and I'll wear the watch. I don't even want this kind of fruit candy. I only eat chocolate and milk candy."
"There are such good things as pie in the sky?" Liu Cuicui was not as naive as her daughter. She asked cautiously, "How can a person without parents afford these things?"
Chen Ying thought her mother was stupid: "Mom, why are you so stubborn? I have served in the army for more than ten years and I get retirement benefits!" She added, "You scold me for being lazy and greedy every day. You are afraid that I will be beaten by my parents-in-law after I get married if I don't work. Without my parents-in-law to control me, I can eat whatever I want and sleep in whenever I want!"
Liu Cuicui was somewhat moved by the persuasion. She looked at the chilblains on her daughter's hands and held her daughter's hands in her palms with heartache: "Don't be fooled."
"Why would I lie to you? Besides, he has a wide network of contacts, maybe he can arrange a job for my brother in the factory." Chen Ying took the opportunity to hug her mother's arm, shaking her and acting coquettishly.
"Let me be frank. If you lie to me, don't even think about me taking you out in the future." Liu Cuicui sighed, thinking of how she hadn't seen her cousin for many years, and felt warm in her heart. She reminded her daughter again: "Don't ask around when you get to someone's house, and don't stare at the man. Be reserved, do you hear me?"
"Are you annoying? I'm not a child anymore." Chen Ying shook off her mother's hand and ran forward, with a proud smile on her face. Geng Yunye and Cheng Xin were not married yet, and as for their relationship, who would care so much after it was done?
Geng Yunye cleaned the gate early in the morning. Chen Ying stared at the man carrying firewood at the gate and introduced him to her mother: "He is the Geng Yunye I told you about!"
Her eyes lit up and she stepped forward quickly: "Brother Yunye, why are you here? My mother and I came to my cousin's house to wish New Year's greetings!" Her tone was familiar and intimate, as if the two of them had already had a tacit understanding.
Geng Yunye glanced at her with a cold expression: "Cheng Xin is boiling water in the kitchen, you guys go in and sit down."
Chen Ying didn't go into the house. She took advantage of her mother's inattention to get close to Geng Yunye and said, "Mom, why don't you talk to Brother Yunye?"
"Cheng Xin, there are guests at home." Geng Yunye ignored the mother and daughter and turned into the kitchen.
Liu Cuicui looked at his back, feeling strange: "Are you sure he and your cousin are just friends? He didn't even say a polite word to us when he saw us, how could he like you?"
Chen Ying didn't mind at all: "He is just like that, he doesn't like to talk, he just works hard, he is much better than those smooth-talking men."
Chen Ying was certain that Geng Yunye and Cheng Xin had not yet broken the last layer of window paper. She did not feel guilty about snatching her cousin's man. Anyway, with Cheng Xin's proud personality, she would definitely give him up. She knew it best.
She saw the hesitation on her mother's face: "Mom, my cousin and he are just friends, I promise."
Liu Cuicui looked at her daughter's shining eyes, and thought about how her daughter finally took the initiative to tell her that she had someone she liked, and how she kept yelling in her ear every day, so she sighed and said, "Behave yourself when you get home later."
Liu Cuicui followed her daughter into the main room, and her frozen cheeks were instantly warmed by the warmth.
Cheng Xin was adding charcoal to the brazier. She looked up and called out, "Aunt, please sit down. There are cornmeal buns steaming in the pot." She ignored Chen Ying as she didn't want to make things too awkward during the New Year.
Chen Ying wandered around the house restlessly: "Mom, I stayed in Xiaolei's room last time I came here. By the way, where is Xiaolei?"
Cheng Xin curled up the corners of her mouth and smiled: "Xiao Lei went to set off fireworks with his friends." She was curious about how Chen Ying could say one thing in front of her and another behind her back.
"Cousin, you have really good hands. The paper-cuts you make are prettier than those sold on the street." Chen Ying praised her halfheartedly. "Why doesn't Brother Yunye come in to warm himself by the fire? What is he doing outside?"
Cheng Xin said unhappily: "You will know if you go and see for yourself."
Chen Ying leaned over to the window: "Brother Yunye is back with the water!" She pushed open the window, and gusts of cold wind blew in, "Brother Yunye! Come in and warm yourself by the fire!"
Liu Cuicui twisted her arm and asked, "What did you promise me before you came in?"
Cheng Xin pushed the brazier towards Liu Cuicui, and saw Geng Yunye paused at the gate of the courtyard out of the corner of her eye, so she got up and went to the kitchen to get the thermos.
Chen Ying curled her lips in dissatisfaction: "I know."
Liu Cuicui's gaze suddenly fixed on the center of the yellowed newspaper on the wall, where a small wedding photo was pasted.
The bamboo basket fell to the ground in an instant, and the contents were scattered everywhere.
"Mom, why are you so careless?" Chen Ying was embarrassed and bent down to pick it up, but Liu Cuicui grabbed her wrist and said, "Didn't you say they were just ordinary friends?"
Liu Cuicui's voice trembled, and she dug her daughter's wrist with her nails, "What is this? The marriage certificate is pasted on the wall!"
"I, I really don't know." Chen Ying looked at the photo in horror. She retreated to the corner with a look of disbelief on her face.
Cheng Xin came out of the kitchen with a thermos in her hand. Seeing Liu Cuicui staring at the photo on the wall in a daze, her face suddenly turned red. "We got the certificate before the New Year. At that time, my father had just become the captain. He said he wanted to set an example, so we didn't have a big ceremony. So we just sat together and had a meal."
Geng Yunye followed her out and added, "Dad is a new official, and he was afraid that someone would give him money in the name of gifts, so he only held a banquet in our brigade."
Blood suddenly rushed to the top of her head. Liu Cuicui felt that all the blood in her body was rushing to her face. Such an embarrassing scene made her feel even more ashamed than being slapped in public. She grabbed her daughter's ears and said, "I treat you like my own sister, but you stare at my man and make up lies!"
"Mom, let go! It hurts!" Chen Ying screamed and struggled. Her hairband slipped off and her long hair spread all over her head. She instantly looked like a mad woman. She collapsed and shouted, "How would I know they were married?"
"You don't know?" Liu Cuicui raised her hand and slapped her. "Their wedding photos are already hanging on the wall. Do you still have any shame?"
Chen Ying covered her face and subconsciously looked at Cheng Xin, her eyes full of hatred. She couldn't believe that Cheng Xin actually lied to her. She clearly didn't say that in her previous life!
At this time, Xu Fengxia came back from outside. She looked at Chen Ying who was crying with her hands covering her face, and then looked at Liu Cuicui whose face was ashen. She didn't know how to start for a moment.
"Sister Cuicui, why is Chen Ying crying like this?" She glanced at her daughter, and Cheng Xin gently shook her head at her mother.
"I'm sorry, Fengxia," Liu Cuicui tried to pick up the things on the ground with shaking hands, feeling ashamed, "It's my fault for not educating me properly and raising such a shameless person. I don't know how to face you."
"Aunt Liu, don't say that," Cheng Xin helped Liu Cuicui put the things scattered on the ground back into the bamboo basket, "She is young and may not understand anything." Liu Cuicui beat and scolded Chen Ying in front of them, but she was angry but couldn't vent it.
"You're not young anymore!" Liu Cuicui stood up and stuffed the bamboo basket into Cheng's arms. "You're already eighteen years old. Even if you're not sensible, you should know that you can't touch other people's men."
Chen Ying huddled in the corner, tying her hair. Geng Yunye stood behind Cheng Xin without even glancing at her. Despair overwhelmed her. She frantically yelled at the system in her mind, but the only response she got was her mother's hysteria.
Liu Cuicui dragged Chen Ying to the door, and Cheng Xin chased after her, holding a pair of new cotton shoes in her hand: "Aunt Liu, my mother said that the soles of your shoes are thin, so she asked you to change into a pair of cotton shoes before leaving."
"Let your mother keep her." Liu Cuicui didn't even turn her head. She didn't have the face to continue facing her cousin's family: "Don't let Chen Ying into your house in the future. If she dares to come, beat her away, even if you beat her to death, just pretend that I never raised her."
Chen Ying hung her head without saying a word, digging her fingernails into her palms, and she also felt resentful towards her mother for not speaking up for her at this moment.
Cheng Xin stood at the door and watched Liu Cuicui and her daughter walk away. She knew her mother must be upset, after all, they were sisters who grew up together. However, she felt upset about today's situation, as decades of friendship were broken up.
After a long time, Liu Cuicui finally couldn't help but look back, and finally took a look at the small courtyard of the Cheng family in the distance. Her cousin was still doing things decently as always. She knew in her heart that sending shoes was not a concern, but a gift to break up with her. The thicker the soles of the shoes, the farther you can walk. From now on, there will be no chance for you to step into the threshold of the Cheng family.
In a trance, she seemed to see two little girls with pigtails running and laughing on the edge of the field. At that time, they weaved rings out of grass stems and put them on each other's fingers, vowing to be best friends who could talk about anything for life.
The cold wind wrapped in snowflakes hit her face, but she was completely unaware. The melancholy in her heart was even colder than the ice and snow. The gate in the distance closed, like a heavy gate that locked her and her cousin's youth forever inside.
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