Chapter 77
When Sister Zhong learned that Gu Xi had injured her face while trying to stop child traffickers from snatching her child at the train station, she couldn't help but berate the traffickers.
She added with concern, "Comrade Shen would be so distressed to see the injuries on your face."
Gu Xi: "..."
Upon hearing Sister Zhong mention "Comrade Shen," Xu Yuansheng realized it might be his sister's husband and couldn't help but feel curious.
They hadn't met their brother-in-law yet, didn't know much about him, and didn't know if he treated their eldest sister well.
Seeing her two younger sisters looking over curiously, Gu Xi, not being thick-skinned enough, coughed lightly, took out her sisters' introduction letters and asked Sister Zhong to help register them, then quickly led her two sisters upstairs to their room to put away their luggage.
She booked a double room with two beds, enough for the three sisters to sleep in.
After putting away their luggage, Gu Xi first took her two younger sisters to a nearby state-run restaurant for a meal.
"Order whatever you want, don't worry about saving money, your sister has money now." She looked at her two younger sisters with pity, knowing that they must not have eaten or slept well during the three days in the car. "After we finish eating, we'll go back to the guesthouse to rest. Tomorrow morning I'll take you to the department store."
This was the first time the Xu sisters had ever eaten at a state-run restaurant. When they saw the menu for the day written on the blackboard, they had no idea what to order.
In the end, Gu Xi ordered them a bowl of hot soup noodles and a serving of braised pork.
It was still early, and Gu Xi wasn't very hungry. She ate a little something and watched her two younger sisters wolf down their food. Seeing how much they enjoyed their meal made her feel quite hungry herself.
She looked closely at Xu Yuansheng's face. Several days had passed, and the marks on her face had almost faded, but some traces could still be seen, though they were not very obvious and could only be seen when you got closer.
"Yuan Sheng, does it hurt?" She reached out and gently touched her sister's slapped face.
Xu Yuansheng smiled at her and said nonchalantly, "Actually, it doesn't hurt much, it just looks scary."
“Second sister is lying. It clearly hurt a lot,” Xu Huaisheng said, looking up. “You even cried back then.”
Xu Yuansheng glared at her: "I'm crying for the outside world to see. If I don't cry, how can people feel sorry for me? How can I get everyone to sympathize with me and come to help me?"
She didn't take that slap for nothing. Even if she wasn't in the brigade, everyone would side with her. No matter what Xu Dagui and his wife said in the future, no one would believe them, let alone say anything like "parents are always right."
Some parents are worse than animals.
Xu Huaisheng looked at her blankly, then said, "Second sister, you're so scary!"
"Even if I'm scary, I haven't done anything to you!" Xu Yuansheng said, feigning anger. "Eat up, or I'll sell you for money one day!"
Xu Huaisheng muttered a few words, then lowered his head to eat, of course not taking his second sister's words seriously.
No matter what her second sister did, she was always very good to her.
Gu Xi said with heartache, "Yuan Sheng, don't do this again. No matter what you do, you should protect yourself first. It's not worth hurting yourself."
Xu Yuansheng looked at her and said, "Big sister, what you're saying doesn't hold any credibility at all. Look at your own face first."
She still has injuries on her face, how dare she talk about herself?
Gu Xi: "...Well, I was stopping human traffickers, I didn't intentionally hurt myself."
At this moment, Xu Yuansheng picked up a piece of braised pork and put it into her bowl, saying, "Big sister, the braised pork is delicious, you should eat some too."
Gu Xi picked up the food again and said, "You guys eat it, I don't like fatty food."
The braised pork in this restaurant was too fatty, which wasn't her preference.
Xu Yuansheng and the other woman were taken aback; they didn't know that their eldest sister didn't like fatty meat.
The main reason is that when Gu Xi was still living in the Xu family, the three sisters never had a chance to eat meat. They could only eat meat during festivals, and even then, it wasn't much. Country folk prefer fatty meat with lots of oil, so these good things were never available to them.
Xu Huaisheng suddenly said, "Big sister, I'll work hard to earn money in the future and buy you lean meat to eat."
"Okay." Gu Xi smiled and patted her head. "Then you must study hard and go to university in the future."
Xu Huaisheng paused, feeling conflicted. Going to university? Was it really that difficult? What if she didn't pass? Would she disappoint her older sister? Besides, the college entrance exam had been abolished long ago; surely she wouldn't be able to get into university?
After dinner, Gu Xi took her two younger sisters back to the guesthouse.
However, Xu Yuansheng said, "It's still early, why don't we go to the hospital?"
Gu Xi: "I have medicine, I really don't need to go."
"Go, go." Xu Huaisheng threw himself into her arms, his eyes brimming with tears, and said, "Big sister, your face is so beautiful, you absolutely can't be disfigured. I don't want you to be disfigured."
My older sister has undergone a complete transformation, becoming a stunning beauty. She really loves it and doesn't want her to be disfigured.
Gu Xi: "..."
Gu Xi was ultimately defeated and had no choice but to go to the hospital with them.
By the time they returned to the guesthouse, it was already dark.
Gu Xi went to find Sister Zhong and asked her two younger sisters to take a hot shower in the bathroom downstairs.
Because she had an injury on her face, and the wound couldn't get wet, although she really wanted to take a hot bath to feel more comfortable, she could only get some hot water and go back to her room to wipe her body.
Xu Yuan was afraid that she might accidentally hurt her wound, so she personally wiped her face, carefully avoiding the injury on her face.
"Actually, there's no need to be so nervous." Gu Xi sat there, tilting her head back as her second sister wiped her face, saying, "I'm not that stupid."
Xu Yuansheng frowned and said coldly, "Of course you're not stupid, but you don't care either!"
Although the three sisters had not seen each other for five years, when they saw the vibrant Gu Xi in front of them, the familiarity of more than ten years of getting along arose spontaneously, without any sense of distance.
Some feelings will not disappear even after decades.
Xu Yuansheng's biggest frustration was that Gu Xi never cared about him, or rather, she had no reason to care.
I could let it go before, but now that I see my older sister looking completely different, she's clearly been well taken care of. I can't bear to see her with scars on her face.
"Big sister, let me comb your hair." Xu Huaisheng took out a wooden comb, climbed onto the bed, and sat behind Gu Xi to comb her hair.
Gu Xi smiled, as if she had returned to the days when she was in the Xu family.
The three sisters lived in a dark and cramped room. During their leisure time in winter, they would snuggle in bed, talking and combing each other's hair, which were their rare moments of relaxation.
After washing her face, Xu Yuansheng took the water to the bathroom outside and poured it out.
There are no toilets in the guesthouse rooms, only one at the end of each floor corner for guests to wash up.
Back in the room, Xu Yuansheng closed the door, then took out a stack of warm banknotes from his clothes and handed them to Gu Xi.
Gu Xi was stunned and asked in surprise, "Where did you get so much money?"
Xu Yuansheng sat on the bed opposite her and said calmly, "I took it from my parents' room."
Gu Xi: "..."
Xu Huaisheng stared blankly at his second sister, his mouth agape, completely unprepared for her to do such a thing.
She hesitated for a moment and said, "Second sister, won't Mom and Dad be angry if they find out the money is gone?"
Thinking of her parents' terrifying appearance when they were angry, she couldn't help but shudder. She was thankful that they weren't home, otherwise, she would definitely have been beaten to death!
I'm afraid it's not just anger, it's madness.
Gu Xi felt a headache coming on when she thought about this, but given Xu Yuansheng's personality, it wasn't surprising that she would do such things. No wonder she came to the army so readily; it turned out she had this in mind.
Xu Yuansheng didn't care at all and said coldly, "They have no proof that I took the money. What if some idle thugs in the village stole it when they weren't looking? Everyone knows they have money. When Aunt Feng took my eldest sister away, she gave them a thousand yuan. Later, after the Gu family recognized my eldest sister, they sent a thousand yuan to buy off their relationship with their other daughter..."
Even though Xu Dagui and his wife were big spenders, they hadn't spent much over the years. Besides, they were saving money for their youngest son, so they held onto it tightly. Even when their grandfather, eldest uncle, and second uncle asked them for money, they didn't give them much.
Xu Dagui and his wife were not the kind of people who blindly obeyed their parents; they were shrewd.
“I know where they hide their money. Adding the dowry money from the fool’s family, they have over two thousand. I only took half.” She sneered, “Actually, I should have taken it all. This money shouldn’t have belonged to them; it should have gone to my eldest sister…”
Even though the eldest sister isn't their biological daughter, how dare they accept the thousand yuan given to them by Feng Min?
For so many years, they have not treated my eldest sister like their own child. They even made her work like a slave to serve the whole family and didn't feed her properly. How dare they ask for money to support the family?
All this money should go to the eldest sister.
People in the countryside don't have the concept of saving money in banks; they keep it at home.
Xu Yuansheng was a cunning man. Knowing that his parents were wealthy, he had been secretly watching them for a long time and knew where they hid their money.
Since they don't treat her like a daughter, she won't treat them like her parents either. She's happy to make them angry and cause them trouble.
“I only took what should have been given to my eldest sister; what I kept was the bride price from the mentally challenged family,” Xu Yuansheng said. “When the mentally challenged family comes to ask for the bride price back, they will have money to pay them back.”
If she were any more ruthless, she would have run off with all the money.
Even if they cry and wail and go to the police station to report her, she can still deny it. After all, there's no evidence. Who can prove that she stole the money?
Gu Xi didn't know what to say. Unlike herself, who had been manipulated and made stupid, Xu Yuansheng seemed to have been cynical and rebellious since childhood, and was prone to extremes in her actions.
Of course, it's good that she's like this. In a family like the Xu family, being a little rebellious will help her survive better.
Xu Yuansheng stuffed a thousand yuan into Gu Xi's hand and said, "Big sister, keep this money. It should have been yours anyway."
Gu Xi shook her head, "You can keep it, I don't need the money."
Shen Mingzheng's savings account was in her possession. Over the years, his salary, bonuses, subsidies, and other savings had accumulated to an astonishing amount, making him a "ten-thousand-yuan household" in those days.
She also has the dowry money from the Shen family when she got married, the red envelopes from her elders, and the red envelopes from the guests at the wedding. All of these add up to nearly four thousand yuan. Even though she has spent some of it in the past few months, she hasn't spent it all.
She certainly doesn't lack money right now.
Xu Yuansheng insisted, saying, "This should have been yours to begin with, so keep it. Don't feel guilty." Then he added, "I've saved some money over the years, I have money."
She never imagined that she would rely on her eldest sister to support her after coming here; she and her younger sister were never her eldest sister's responsibility.
After arriving at the army base, I'll assess the situation first, then find a job as a tailor. That way, I can continue making clothes for others and earn enough to support her and her younger sister.
Gu Xi had no choice but to accept the money for now, thinking to herself that she would give it to them later. Girls need to have some money in their hands to live with confidence.
At this moment, Xu Huaisheng suddenly said, "Big sister, are you going to find a partner for second sister in the army?"
Gu Xi: "What?" She looked at Xu Yuansheng, "Yuansheng, you want to find a partner in the army?"
Influenced by later generations, she thought that Xu Yuansheng was only eighteen years old and had just come of age, so she was not in a hurry to get married and had not thought about finding her a partner.
However, if Xu Yuansheng wants to get married...
"Shut up!" Xu Yuansheng said angrily. "I didn't plan to find a partner so soon."
Xu Huaisheng felt somewhat aggrieved, "But you told Aunt Tian..."
"That's to avoid trouble!" Xu Yuansheng said helplessly to his simple-minded sister, poking her forehead. "If I didn't say that, how could the battalion commander feel comfortable giving me a letter of introduction to come to the army? If I come to the army to find a partner, they'll think I should come here, that it's much better than staying in Xujiatun. In the future, even if Mom and Dad want to do something, everyone will think they're hindering my future and that they're doing something wrong..."
There are many things involved, which Xu Yuansheng didn't go into too much detail about, nor was it necessary.
Xu Huaisheng is different from her; she is simple-minded and will protect her younger sister in the future. She doesn't need her to be as cunning as she is.
Gu Xi suddenly realized what Xu Yuansheng meant.
This is indeed a good idea. Whether or not he finds a partner is another matter. As long as everyone in the brigade believes that Xu Yuansheng came to the army to find a partner, no matter what Xu Dagui and the others think in the future, it will be a waste of their time.
The three sisters chatted for a while, and seeing that the two younger sisters were very tired, Gu Xi told them to go to sleep.
Gu Xi slept in one bed by herself, while Xu Yuansheng and Xu Huaisheng slept in another bed.
Five years later, the three sisters finally met. Although Xu Yuansheng and Xu Huaisheng longed to sleep in one bed together like before, they held back because they were afraid of accidentally touching the injury on Gu Xi's face while she was sleeping.
I slept soundly until dawn.
Xu Yuansheng and Xu Huaisheng got plenty of rest and are in good spirits.
After washing up, Gu Xi took them to have breakfast, and then they went to the department store to buy things.
"Take a look and see if there's anything you want to buy," Gu Xi said. "There's a supply and marketing cooperative at the military base, but they don't have as many items as the department stores. Since we're all in the city, we can buy more to take back with us."
It was the first time that Xu Yuansheng and her sister had shopped in such a large department store. Their eyes were dazzled by all the sights, and they didn't know what to buy.
In the end, Gu Xi took the initiative and led them to go shopping.
Gu Xi first took them to buy clothes, including warm clothes such as cotton-padded coats, overcoats, and wool sweaters. Before they could pick out a few items, the two sisters quickly pulled them away.
"Big sister, I can make clothes. I'll make them myself. They're too expensive." Xu Yuansheng's face turned pale. Seeing the prices of those clothes, she felt it would be better to buy the fabric and make them herself.
Xu Huaisheng nodded hurriedly. It was too expensive; it would be too much of a shock for a little girl who grew up in the countryside.
Xu Yuansheng pulled Gu Xi to the fabric shop next door and bought some fabric with money and fabric coupons.
She had saved up these cloth coupons herself. Before she left, the old tailor gave her some as well, enough to make two sets of clothes for the three sisters.
Gu Xi didn't let her buy more: "We have fabric at home. Go back and see if you like it. If you do, take it and make clothes."
The fabric was obtained from the textile factory in town, and I also bought it whenever I saw a fabric I liked at the supply and marketing cooperative. I have quite a lot of fabric in stock.
She has a hoarding tendency; she buys anything she sees.
After buying the fabric, Gu Xi took them to buy shoes. Each of them bought a pair of leather shoes and a pair of warm cotton shoes.
Then I went to buy skincare products, and bought more than a dozen bottles of face cream in one go. These were for the people in the family compound. Neither the military nor the town's supply and marketing cooperative sold face cream, so I had to come to the city to buy it.
I bought all sorts of things on this trip, including quite a lot of candy and snacks.
Finally, all three sisters had their hands full of things.
This was the first time Xu Yuansheng and Xu Huaisheng had experienced such a large-scale purchase. Watching the money and vouchers being thrown out one by one, they felt their hearts pounding.
They never imagined that their eldest sister would spend money so extravagantly; did she really have enough money?
Gu Xi didn't care at all. When she passed the counter selling sewing machines, she looked at it and said to Xu Yuansheng, "Once we're settled, I'll buy you a sewing machine. Then you can make clothes for people and earn money."
Xu Yuansheng smiled and replied, "I still have money on me, I can buy it myself."
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