Chapter 145 Change

"Have you really thought it through? It will be very difficult for a woman to raise a child in the future." The old village chief asked carefully, holding a water pipe in his mouth.

"If she hadn't wanted to give Xiaoying away, I wouldn't have done this!" Although Wu Xiulan and her husband were engaged because they fell in love with each other, her original family asked for a high price in order to pay the bride price for her brothers, which was one of the reasons why Mrs. Li disliked her so much.

Later, seeing that she was hardworking and got pregnant, Mrs. Li's attitude improved.

However, the good times did not last long. Her husband passed away unexpectedly. While she was expecting her to give birth to a son to carry on the family line, she only gave birth to a daughter. Gradually, Mrs. Li began to dislike both her and her daughter.

Although she knew that it was not easy for a married woman to return to her parents' home and that her parents' home would most likely not want to keep her, she had her hands and feet, and as long as her daughter was by her side, she would not be afraid of any hardship!

Seeing Wu Xiulan's firm words, the old village chief took a long puff of his cigarette and remained silent for a long time. Finally, based on his traditional ideas, he said that he would go with Wu Xiulan to her home to see if the issue could be resolved.

Wu Xiulan knew that this was indeed hard to accept, so she nodded slightly and stood up to go home with the old village chief.

What she didn't expect was that Mrs. Li, who was expected to come back at least until the evening, was already at home.

And she was busy cooking in the kitchen.

In contrast to the busy old lady Li, Zhang Xiaoying, who had been sent to help light the fire by the stove, was sitting leisurely on a stone bench in the yard, eating crispy candies happily.

Wu Xiulan was horrified when she saw it clearly. She hurried over to snatch the candy from her daughter's hand and whispered, "Put it away quickly. Don't let grandma see you stealing the candy!"

One year, Xiaoying, the daughter, couldn't resist her greed and secretly picked up half a piece of crispy candy that fell outside the cupboard. Grandma Li accused her of stealing and gave her a severe reprimand.

"No, this is what grandma gave me." Zhang Xiaoying said bewilderedly, "Grandma was very nice to me today. She even said she would make rice and chicken soup for me!"

"This, this is impossible!" Wu Xiulan blurted out subconsciously.

"What's impossible?! It's New Year's Day, what's wrong with my granddaughter eating some rice and drinking some chicken soup?" Old Mrs. Li came out holding a spoon and yelled unhappily.

"Mrs. Zhang, what happened to you today?" The old village chief and Old Lady Li were of the same generation, so he naturally continued to call her the same way he did when he was young, calling her Mrs. Zhang.

In the past, Mrs. Li was well-known for not liking her granddaughter Xiaoying. Why was she so abnormal today and wanted to feed her rice and chicken soup?

Could it be that what Wu Xiulan said was true, and that Grandma Li wanted to raise her granddaughter Xiaoying to be pretty, white and plump, so that she could be given to someone else to raise?

"What's the matter? My granddaughter will be the mainstay of our family in the future, so of course she should eat and drink well!" After yelling, Mrs. Li put on a smiling face and looked at Zhang Xiaoying, "Hey, grandma's sweetheart, you will have chicken soup and chicken legs soon..."

With that, she ran back to the kitchen and started busying herself.

When Wu Xiulan and the old village chief were puzzled, Zhang Xiaoying spoke up to explain: "Today, my grandma and I went to the second grandpa's house. My big cousin was so mean. He insisted on tying grandma's neck with a rope, saying that he wanted to play with a big dog. He almost strangled grandma to death!"

"I was so scared that I quickly tried to grab the rope in my cousin Dazhuang's hand to release grandma, but Dazhuang pushed me and I fell to the ground..."

"Ah? Did you fall?!" Wu Xiulan became anxious when she heard this.

"I'm fine!" After being groped by Wu Xiulan, Zhang Xiaoying quickly continued to explain: "I was smart. According to what I learned from the movie last night, I used my wits to avoid falling when I fell. Then I stepped on my big cousin's toes, which made him let go. That's how I saved grandma!"

"People from Second Grandpa's family came over and said it was just kids playing around and asked grandma not to worry about it. Grandma got really mad and had a big fight with them. They even brought back all the New Year gifts for me to eat!" Zhang Xiaoying was so happy to think that she didn't have to give away so much chicken, duck meat and rice but could take it back home to eat slowly.

In this way, her mother can also eat well and won't always be so hungry that she has to wake up at night to drink cold water, right?

What a cold weather!

"Your grandma...brought back all the New Year gifts?" Wu Xiulan was a little bit incredulous, but when she saw the pile of things in the corner of the room, she really believed that Grandma Li and Zhang Laoer's family had a big fight.

All the New Year gifts that were given out were taken back. In the rural areas, the situation has really become bitter.

If the things sent over in the past had not been basically eaten up by Zhang Laoer's family, given Old Lady Li's hot-tempered personality, she might have taken those back as well.

"Of course I took it back. There are so many good things. Why should we give them to Xiaoying? Why should we give them to those heartless ungrateful bastards?" Old Mrs. Li brought out a pot of rice and became angrier and angrier as she spoke. "That bastard almost killed me. Bah! You still want me to forgive them? Wait until next life!"

"Come on, don't just stand there like an idiot. Hurry up and eat your meal and drink your soup. Let's go watch a movie together!" After yelling at her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Li turned around and looked at the old village chief who had originally wanted to come over to mediate. "Old man, do you want to eat with us?"

“No, no, I have prepared dinner at home waiting for me to eat when I get back…” The old village chief waved his hands repeatedly.

"I know what you are thinking, but don't look at me with the same eyes as before." Old Mrs. Li scooped a bowl of rice for Wu Xiulan and Zhang Xiaoying. "I was too old and confused in the past. I thought that only a boy could take over the incense to consider the Zhang family's line extinct. It was not until today when I almost died that I realized that now is a new era. Girls can also do things, and they are no worse than boys!"

"I was an old woman who let you two down in the past, but from now on, I will change my ways. Now that I have made up my mind, I will not just talk but do nothing. You can just keep your eyes open and monitor me like they say in the movies..."

"Supervision!" the old village chief corrected.

"It's all just one sentence!" Old Mrs. Li took out a whole chicken from the soup, first tore two chicken legs for Zhang Xiaoying, then tore a pair of chicken wings for Wu Xiulan, and finally tore two large pieces of chicken breast and gave them to the old village chief.

The old village chief couldn't refuse, so he took it and started eating the meat.

After everyone's meals were distributed, Mrs. Li began to tear off the few remaining pieces of meat on the chicken skeleton bit by bit, and then poured the chicken head, neck, butt and other parts into her own bowl, eating with gusto: "Damn it, it's been a long time since I last had meat!"

Wu Xiulan was stunned, and suddenly she remembered that when the relationship between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law was still good, Mrs. Li also kept all the good things for others and only kept the leftovers for herself.

At that time, the family environment was not as good as it is now, and she was not pregnant. Old Mrs. Li was anxious all day long and took the money saved at home to find people to buy eggs and meat for her to supplement her nutrition. She was reluctant to eat a single bite and left it all for her who was pregnant.

It would be a lie to say that I wasn't moved. It's just that everything good has changed with the birth of my daughter.

On the one hand, Mrs. Li felt sorry for not giving birth to a boy, and on the other hand, she felt sorry for the Zhang family. In recent years, she has been busy with this and that, wanting to do something to "make up for it".

Then came the bad things that happened during this period of time.

After dinner, after cleaning up the dishes, Mrs. Li went into the kitchen to boil water for her bath.

"Xiaoying's mother, what do you say?" The old village chief watched Old Lady Li enter the kitchen, then he started asking Wu Xiulan.

"I, I don't know either." Wu Xiulan lowered her head: If Old Lady Li had insisted on her previous attitude, she would have gritted her teeth and taken her daughter Xiaoying away without saying a word. But after encountering something today, Old Lady Li suddenly valued Xiaoying, and even had a quarrel with Zhang Laoer. Wouldn't it be too unkind for her to leave at this time?

If Mrs. Li really values ​​Xiaoying so much, would she not give her away?

"If she really changes for the better and no longer sends Xiaoying to other families, then I don't have to take Xiaoying away..." After thinking for a while, Wu Xiulan, taking into account her late husband's bloodline and the care he gave her back then, answered.

"Well, you just wait and see for the next few days. If the eldest sister-in-law of the Zhang family has really changed, then I can rest assured." Knowing the situation of Wu Xiulan's family, the old village chief naturally prefers the side of reconciliation.

However, he changed the subject. His many years of leadership experience also gave this old man a certain domineering attitude: "Of course, you have to watch carefully. If Zhang's sister-in-law is just pretending, then I, an old man, still have some say. Anyway, as long as I am in this village, I will definitely not let you and your daughter suffer!"

Wu Xiulan and her daughter thanked the old village chief, and then they saw him off as he prepared to go home.

"Mom, what's wrong with you lately?" Zhang Xiaoying seemed to sense something strange between her grandmother and mother in recent days. After seeing off the old village chief, she finally couldn't help but ask.

"Your grandma treated you badly before, so mom wanted to take you away from here..." After thinking about it, Wu Xiulan finally did not tell the old lady Li that she had planned to give Xiaoying to someone else. She just simply said that they were not treated well at home, so they wanted to leave.

"But grandma is very good to us now. The teacher said that it is the greatest virtue to admit mistakes and correct them. Grandma was deceived by the second grandfather's family before, so she treated us badly. Now grandma knows the true colors of those people in the second grandfather's family, so she understands that we are the best!" Children's grudges come and go quickly. Zhang Xiaoying, who had changed her previous thoughts because of the good attitude of Grandma Li, imitated the tone of adults and said the words she learned from the movie, "Although I am still a little afraid of grandma, she was also bullied by the second grandfather's family. We are all 'victims'."

Wu Xiulan touched her daughter's little head, sighed, and walked back with mixed feelings.

Mrs. Li is not a bad person, but she cannot forget the resentment she has had over the years like a child erasing chalk writing...

The mother and daughter were walking back with mixed feelings in their hearts when they suddenly heard a noise in the yard.

"Hey, Xiulan, you're back. Come on, we brought a lot of delicious food to celebrate the New Year!" Seeing the puzzled faces of Wu Xiulan and her daughter, Zhang Laoer's daughter-in-law greeted them with a smile.

"What are you doing here?" Wu Xiulan frowned.

"What are you talking about? We are a family. It is normal for us to come here to pay New Year's greetings." Zhang Laoer's daughter-in-law pressed the mother and daughter on the stone bench, and then pushed the second son Zhang Dazhuang out. "I am really sorry for today. This naughty child was too playful and hurt grandma and pushed down your Xiaoying..."

Neither Wu Xiulan nor Zhang Xiaoying were good at speaking, and when the daughter-in-law of Zhang Laoer's family pretended to be affectionate and held her hands to talk, they couldn't get away for a while. They could only listen to her with a sullen face, feeling very angry.

Especially when Zhang Laoer's daughter-in-law mentioned that she wanted to bring Zhang Xiaoying to a friend, Wu Xiulan angrily threw her hand away, and was so angry that she didn't know what to say for a moment.

These people are so shameless that they snatched her daughter in front of her!

Although Zhang Xiaoying didn't know the deeper meaning of this, the child's natural sensitivity made her feel that this second aunt was not a good person. She could only hold Wu Xiulan's arm tightly and wanted to hide behind her mother.

"Get out! Don't even think about taking advantage of our family. Xiaoying will be the pillar of our Zhang family in the future. No one can take her away!" Before Wu Xiulan could react, Old Lady Li from the kitchen rushed out with a fire poker in one hand and a broom in the other, looking like an old cat protecting her cubs.

After scolding and beating Zhang Laoer and his family, Mrs. Li sat down on the ground, panting heavily: "You, look at how you act as a mother. When you see such shameless people, just take the broom directly. Why are you still giving them a good face?"

It was the same scene of her mother and daughter being scolded and sweared at, but the difference this time was that Wu Xiulan and Zhang Xiaoying both felt that Mrs. Li looked very kind.

Perhaps the views will be different depending on the standpoint.

"Grandma, let me help you up." Zhang Xiaoying stepped forward and offered her hand.

"Hey, our Xiaoying is the best." Mrs. Li smiled so hard that her whole face wrinkled into a ball. After Zhang Xiaoying led her to stand up, she said, "Let's go, the movie is about to start, the water is ready, and we can wash up after the movie!"

"Yeah." Wu Xiulan responded with extremely complicated emotions.

Old Mrs. Li nodded, then turned around and went back into the house to get the prepared New Year's goods.

When Mrs. Li came out of the house, she brought a bag full of dried fruit candies. Zhang Xiaoying exclaimed happily, "That's great! Thank you, grandma!"

"Those city people and foreigners in the movies have such a good life, our Xiaoying can't lose. From now on, whatever you want to eat, just tell grandma and she will make it for you!" said old lady Li naggingly.

"Then I want to eat fried chicken!" Being pampered, Zhang Xiaoying rarely showed her childish liveliness and innocence.

"Okay, whatever you say." Old Lady Li agreed repeatedly, "Our Xiaoying is so smart, she will definitely be able to study abroad like those smart people in the movies..."

Seeing that Old Lady Li was sincerely coaxing her daughter, Wu Xiulan finally smiled a little.

At this moment, fascinated by the prosperous life shown in the previous movies, they really thought that the moon outside was rounder.

But Su Yun put "Heartbeat" which has a lot of Chinese content added in the last part. The purpose is to tell the audience who were fascinated by the prosperity in the previous part a truth by showing how the heroine's family was ostracized in a foreign country because of their Chinese identity -

Things become valuable away from their hometown; people become worthless away from their hometown.

No matter how prosperous a foreign country may be, my hometown is the only place where my heart can feel at peace.