Chapter 6 Our Chunniang still has her family!
"Chunniang? Chunniang?"
"Sister's here, don't be afraid!"
When Li's mother saw her sister-in-law Zheng Meiniang, whose eyesight had been damaged by eating poisonous fruit on the way, her nose really tingled. She had just shed many tears, and now she couldn't hold back anymore, and large tears slid down from the corners of her eyes.
Li's mother let go of the hand that was holding Shitou's and the other hand that had been pulling Li Shiyue's. She jogged towards Zheng Meiniang. When she got there, Li's mother grabbed Zheng Meiniang's arm and called out "Sister" in a trembling, choked voice. After that, Li's mother could not say anything more and just held Zheng Meiniang's hand and sobbed.
Although Zheng Meiniang's eyesight was failing, she still had the strength to fight back. Just by hearing Li's mother's commotion, she knew that her aunt, who was only four years younger than her and like a sister, had suffered a great injustice.
She groped around and pulled Li's mother into her arms. Li's mother's small stature fit perfectly in Zheng Meiniang's arms, who was as tall and strong as a man. Zheng Meiniang held Li's mother with one arm and gently patted her back with the other to comfort her.
The two girls who came with Zheng Meiniang were the elder sister, Li Qiutian, who was short, and the younger sister, Li Xiatian, who was as tall as Zheng Meiniang. Although she was a year younger than Li Qiutian, she was very tall and strong, and was half a head taller than Li Qiutian.
While Li's mother was still crying, Li Shiyue pulled Shi Tou, Li Qiutian, and Li Xiatian aside and quickly told their aunt Zheng Meiniang what had just happened.
Li Youfu, the village chief of Lijia Village, and three clan elders, who had been hiding in the crowd, stepped forward.
The quick-thinking clansmen immediately found small wooden stools they had made themselves, so that Li Youfu and the clan elders could all sit down comfortably.
Listening to the villagers of Lijia Village, one after another, they told the story of how Li's father and Qin Tao had an affair in the middle of the night and were accidentally discovered by Shitou. Afterwards, Qin Tao revealed that she was pregnant and begged Li's mother to allow her to be a concubine, but Li's mother disagreed and decided to take her two children and divorce Li's father.
In fact, aside from the parts at the beginning that they didn't hear with their own ears, Li Youfu and the three elders had already been on the periphery of the crowd since Li's mother started questioning Li's father, and they had heard the whole thing.
Li Youfu listened to the villagers' comments about Li Shiyue's family situation. Some said they should get a divorce, while others said they should just make do since they had fled from famine.
Li Youfu moved his mouth slightly, and habitually reached for his pipe at his waist, only to find it empty. He then realized that he had lost it in his haste during the escape from famine.
Smacking his lips, Li Youfu glanced at his father and Qin Tao by the firelight. At this moment, his father had already pulled Qin Tao to her feet.
It wasn't that Grandmother Li felt sorry for Father Li and made him get up; Father Li got up on his own.
It's likely that Li's father was tired of kneeling, or perhaps he saw the way Li's mother and Li Shiyue were acting and knew that kneeling a couple of times wouldn't solve the problem, so he stopped pretending.
Li Youfu glanced at them and then looked at the three oldest and most senior clan elders still living in Lijia Village.
My third great-uncle is getting old. When someone wakes him up in the middle of the night, he can't even keep his eyelids open. Now that he's sat down, he just closes his eyes and goes to sleep.
Both Fifth and Eighth Uncles had their eyes open, but after exchanging a glance, they went to look at Li Youfu together.
“Good fortune! Look,” Fifth Uncle glanced sideways at Li’s father, “What do we do now?”
"What do you want to do? What else do you want to do?"
Divorce!
They must get a divorce!
Don't think that just because Wang Zheng isn't here right now, you can bully Chun Niang and her two children!
Our Chunniang still has her family!
What is that thing? Who wants such a filthy object!
Zheng Meiniang started shouting, and while shouting these words, she raised her hand and pulled out the pig-slaughtering knife that was tucked into her waistband.
Li Youfu suddenly felt a crackling sound in his ears. He looked up at Zheng Meiniang, who was wielding a pig-slaughtering knife, and quickly swallowed.
When Li Youfu saw Zheng Meiniang's butcher knife, he couldn't help but think of Erlaizi from the next village who sneaked into Li Wangzheng's house at night earlier this year. He wondered if Erlaizi wanted to steal something valuable while Li Wangzheng was away or if he wanted to harm the two young women in the Li family.
Regardless of what this scoundrel did, he ended up limping and bleeding profusely at Li Wangzheng's house, and Zheng Meiniang even chopped off three of his fingers.
Later, even Er Laizi's mother, who was used to throwing tantrums and acting crazy, didn't dare to come to his door to ask for money for medical treatment. She had to ask someone to find him and get her three broken fingers back.
Of course, you can't take that finger back. The Erlai family just wanted their descendants to have a complete corpse when they died, so that they could at least be a whole person in their next life.
To say that Zheng Meiniang's skill with the butcher's knife was truly exceptional was an understatement; she surpassed her teacher in every way.
Zheng Meiniang's home was in the town. Zheng the butcher had only had this one little girl for most of his life, and he truly taught Zheng Meiniang all his skills in butchering and butchering pigs.
Originally, Butcher Zheng was planning to find a husband for his daughter, but unexpectedly, Li Wang, who came to town looking for work, caught Zheng Meiniang's eye.
Li Wangzheng's parents had passed away long ago, leaving him with only his younger sister, Li Wangchun, who was also Li Shiyue's mother. The two of them depended on each other for survival and lived together.
When Li Wangzheng and Zheng Meiniang fell in love, he immediately went to Zheng the butcher's house and sincerely said, "Uncle, if you don't mind that I have no parents and a sister, I am willing to marry into your family."
Butcher Zheng was quite interesting. Looking at someone like Li Wangzheng, he actually disagreed with the idea of him marrying into the family and instead wanted to marry his daughter off.
At that time, Li Wangzheng was not yet thirteen, Zheng Meiniang was only fourteen, and Li's mother was only ten years old.
Zheng the butcher arranged a marriage between Zheng Meiniang and Li Wangzheng through a matchmaker, and also helped Li Wangzheng find an apprenticeship and move into the blacksmith's house.
They took Li's mother, who was still young, to their home to keep Zheng Meiniang company.
Therefore, Li's mother and Zheng Meiniang addressed each other as "elder sister" and "younger sister" from the moment they met. Even after they grew up and Zheng Meiniang married Li Wangzheng, Li's mother still called her sister-in-law "elder sister".
Two years ago, Butcher Zheng contracted a cough. Li Wangzheng sought medical treatment everywhere, spending all his savings accumulated over the years, but still could not save Butcher Zheng.
Therefore, Zheng Meiniang officially took over Zheng the butcher's pig-slaughtering knife and began to sell pork in the town.
Years ago, the Zheng family was well-off and even sent Li's mother to the town's traditional medicine shop to learn skills. That's how Li's mother learned to read quite a few characters, recognize some herbs, and know some folk remedies to treat headaches and fevers.
One of the reasons the Li family was able to take a liking to Li's mother was because she was literate, knew some medicine prescriptions, and could earn some copper coins by going in and out of women's rooms to treat illnesses.
Over the years, Li's mother has indeed brought many benefits to the Li family through her own abilities.
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