Chapter 142 Argument
Upon hearing this, the students fell silent. Someone whispered, "That's right, Leilei has a younger sister, so he has someone to play with."
Leilei became even more proud, holding up his paper airplane and saying, "And yesterday my dad taught me how to fold a paper airplane that can fly very far. Today I'm going to have a competition with Niu Niu, and if I win, I'll bring Yao Yao some candy back with me."
Just then, the school bell rang, and the students returned to their seats.
Leilei put the paper airplane into his schoolbag, still thinking about what had just happened.
He felt that Yao Yao was the best younger sister. They had eaten and slept together since they were little, but he wouldn't object to having another younger brother or sister in the family.
After sending Leilei to school, Lu Mingyue took advantage of the nice weather to bring out the quilts at home to air them out. She beat them vigorously with a wooden mallet to remove some of the dust and make the cotton softer.
Lu Mingyue was sitting in the yard airing out the winter quilts when Xia Qinghe stormed in from outside, her vegetable basket wobbling precariously. She muttered, "These people are so idle. They never stop gossiping about family matters, even about whether someone has children or not."
Lu Mingyue put down the wooden fork in her hand and greeted her with a smile: "What's wrong? Why are you so angry?"
"It's all for you." Xia Qinghe put the vegetable basket on the stone table, her voice rising slightly.
"I went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy salt just now, and I heard those people in the family compound gossiping. They were talking about stepmothers and biological mothers, and it sounded really strange. Can you believe it? These gossipy people can't even manage their own affairs, but they're meddling in other people's business."
As she spoke, Xia Qinghe began to complain again: "It's all my fault. I didn't stop them from talking last time. I should have stood up for them. Otherwise, the rumors would have reached your ears."
Lu Mingyue wasn't angry. She picked up the quilt hanging on the rope and shook it. "Don't worry, it's no big deal. People can say whatever they want. We'll just keep living our lives as usual. There's no need to make ourselves angry."
"You're quite open-minded."
Xia Qinghe was taken aback by her calm expression. "If it were me, I would have gone to argue with them long ago. Aren't you angry at all? Or do you actually not want to have children?"
The question was direct, but Lu Mingyue didn't shy away from it. She sat on the stool, looked into the distance, and said softly, "Whether or not to have children is not a matter of wanting or not; it has to be done naturally."
Huo Zheng and I aren't in a rush to have children. We feel that life is good enough now. Leilei and Yaoyao are by my side, Huo Zheng dotes on me, and I have hot meals and money to spend every day. That's enough.
She paused, then said, "Besides, whether I have biological children or not has nothing to do with whether I love Leilei and Yaoyao. I can't just have children against my will just to shut others up, can I? It's my life, and being comfortable is the most important thing."
As Xia Qinghe listened, her anger gradually subsided. She picked up the cotton quilt that Lu Mingyue had just dried and touched it, then sighed, "You are just too insightful. If it were anyone else, they would have been disturbed by these gossips."
Lu Mingyue smiled, picked up the radishes from the vegetable basket, and walked into the house: "Come on, help me pick the vegetables. I'll make radish soup for you tonight, and I'll serve you a big bowl."
"Well, it seems I worried for nothing." Xia Qinghe affectionately took her arm.
Before the two even entered the house, they heard a commotion outside.
Lu Mingyue looked over curiously, "What's wrong?"
Xia Qinghe also stood on tiptoe to look outside, the two of them looking exactly the same as gossipers.
"Let's go see what's going on."
In winter, with nothing to do, most people stay at home sewing insoles and rarely go out to watch the excitement.
The weather was nice today, and many people came out. People automatically gathered when they heard the excitement; perhaps this is the gossip gene ingrained in the bones of Chinese people.
Yan Huajing looked helplessly at the person opposite her, "Mom, what are you trying to do?"
Zhang Guixiang, carrying her bundle and looking aggrieved, became even more indignant upon hearing what she said. "Why are you talking about me? If I, who was incompetent back then, weren't here getting in your way, I would have gone to the countryside to be an old woman."
Yan Huajing grew anxious. Seeing more and more people approaching, she went forward and pulled Zhang Guixiang up, but the other woman was like a weight, and she wouldn't budge no matter how hard she tried.
"Oh, what are you doing, Auntie?" Lu Mingyue asked deliberately.
Upon hearing a response, Zhang Guixiang immediately raised her head, her eyes glistening with tears. She deliberately wiped away her tears, her voice trembling with sobs: "This old woman of mine is truly useless. I kindly made a pair of cloth shoes for Hua Jing, and this morning I even specially stewed some egg custard and sent it over. But she wouldn't even let me in the door, and said I was meddling in other people's business."
As she spoke, she opened the cloth bag, revealing a pair of tightly stitched cloth shoes with simple embroidered patterns on the soles.
“Look, I spent three nights making these shoes, thinking that she would wear out shoes taking care of the baby. But what happened? I was met with indifference. I feel so upset. I feel like I'm just a burden to my child, and she doesn't even appreciate the little things I do for her.”
"No, Mom, how could you say that?" Yan Huajing hurriedly waved her hands to explain. With such a huge accusation, she would be drowned in everyone's spittle within two hours.
"It's not that I'm ungrateful, it's just that the smell of steamed egg custard makes me nauseous. It's been like this for so many years. It's not just you, but even my own parents and Zhiheng, I feel the same way."
Besides, the insoles you made are two sizes smaller than mine. If they're too big, I can cut them off; if they're too small, they're hard to mend. All of you ladies have made insoles before, you know what the situation is like, so I have no reason to lie through my teeth.”
Zhang Guixiang was furious, her tone tinged with resentment, "What kind of daughter-in-law talks to her mother-in-law like this, turning black into white? She says it's not that I'm being unreasonable, she's so spoiled."
She can't lift heavy objects with her hands or shoulders. Last time I asked her to help me carry half a bucket of water, she said her arms were sore. When I asked her to chop some firewood, she said she wasn't strong enough. I never agreed to marry her in the first place; I didn't think she was capable of managing a household.
Lu Mingyue looked at Zhang Guixiang and said in a clearer voice, "I think Comrade Yan is right. You always said that you didn't agree to marry her back then because you thought she couldn't live a good life with you."
"But when Liang Zhiheng wasn't home, I heard you talking about her in the yard several times, saying she was clumsy and slow at cooking. Hua Jing never mentioned any of this to Liang Zhiheng, afraid of distracting him in the army. Isn't that being sensible?"
Zhang Guixiang's face turned red with anger. She pointed at Lu Mingyue and said, "You're favoring her. How could I, as her mother-in-law, wrong her? If she were truly sensible, would she have kicked me out?"
“She was really angry when she chased you away,” Lu Mingyue continued. “When you’re angry, you can’t help but speak without thinking, but can you guarantee that you didn’t say anything offensive, Auntie?”
Zhang Guixiang could not guarantee it, because Lu Mingyue's words were true. She did scold Yan Huajing when her son was not around, but she was telling the truth.
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