Tie Zhu truly lived up to his reputation as the gossip expert of the Unity Brigade, especially when it came to candy; he would gossip and eavesdrop on any kind of news.
Other trivial matters are fine as well.
He paid close attention to the aftermath of Aunt Xie's poisoning incident.
Compared to the vague and general statements from the brigade leader and the brigade secretary, Tiezhu's side provided much more detailed information.
According to custom, since death is a serious matter, Aunt Xie should be buried next to Uncle Xu.
But she was a murderer, and her death was not so honorable. It also caused many people in the brigade to be found to have committed illegal acts by the army. Before, the brigade turned a blind eye to it, and everyone just let it slide.
But the military ignored all that and launched a direct and forceful attack, emphasizing the principle of treating everyone equally.
During that period, some were sent to the police station and detained for a few days, some were sent to farms for labor reform for several months, some were sentenced to prison, and some were paraded through the streets. The Revolutionary Committee and the police station did not have enough police officers to handle the situation.
Among these people were members of the Xu family. They dared not resent the army, nor could they blame Xu Ningyan, whose fate was unknown. So they could only hate Aunt Xie.
She's harmed so many people, and she still wants to be buried in the Xu family ancestral graveyard? Dream on!
The Xu family was strongly opposed to it, and Xiong Mingxia, being a married-out woman and not even a member of the Xu family, had no say in the matter.
In the end, it was Xie Shupo's son from before who stepped forward, and together with Xiong Mingxia and her brother, they placed Xie Shupo's remains on the back mountain, on a solitary grave. On the day of the burial, apart from the two siblings, there was no one else to attend the funeral.
The house now belongs to the brigade secretary's family, and Xiong Mingxia has nowhere to live, so she slunk back to her husband's family home.
Her husband's family disliked her because she had such a mother, and she herself was involved in the situation. They didn't want her and wanted to kick her out of the family.
Quan Dajiang, who had been a kept man for half his life, suddenly stood up for himself and protected Xiong Mingxia, so that at least they could still make ends meet.
After saying that, Tiezhu started gossiping about other people.
Xu Ningyan didn't pay attention to the others until he mentioned Chen Fangfang.
Xu Ningyan couldn't help but ask a question.
It turns out that Chen Fangfang's hair tie business has now stabilized, and she has a fixed income every month. Although it may not seem like much to city dwellers, it is quite remarkable in the countryside.
Her in-laws were envious and wanted her to hand over all her income. Chen Fangfang hadn't been confident before, but now that she had a monthly income and earned more than the men in her family, she felt more confident and naturally refused.
We've argued about this quite a bit.
Her mother-in-law, now influenced by her other daughters-in-law, is pressuring Chen Fangfang to have a child, saying that if she refuses to hand over all her earnings to the family, then she definitely hasn't decided to wholeheartedly settle down with her son.
She needs to have a child! Once she has a child and something to hold onto, she won't be able to have a change of heart or run away!
They're urging her to have a baby now! Didn't they say before that Chen Fangfang was physically weak and didn't look like she could have children?
Her mother-in-law searched everywhere for folk remedies, such as Guanyin soil, ash, and leaves, and made Chen Fangfang eat them.
These things, I'm afraid even healthy people would get sick if they ate them.
Chen Fangfang was an educated person, so naturally she refused to eat it.
Her mother-in-law would wail and make a scene at home every day.
Anyway, their house is quite lively now.
Chen Fangfang's husband, Xu Erchun, naturally sided with his wife at first. After all, Chen Fangfang had earned money, and while she contributed some to the household, the rest was their private savings.
He's not stupid. The money he keeps is his own, but the money he hands over to his family is all given to his brothers by his parents.
However, his biological mother was really too much of a troublemaker, and Xu Erchun's biological father and several brothers nagged him every day, which annoyed him.
It's said that he also wanted to persuade Chen Fangfang to have a child so as to shut his own mother up.
Chen Fangfang really doesn't want to have a child yet. The young couple argues every few days because of this, and with her mother-in-law stirring things up, Chen Fangfang's life hasn't been easy lately.
Upon hearing this, Xu Ningyan couldn't help but ask Tie Zhu, "Where did you find out all this from?"
Tie Zhu proudly puffed out his chest: "I spent a piece of candy to get this out of Da Shitou! Da Shitou is Uncle Erchun's nephew, he knows everything! He also knows that his grandma told them a long time ago that Aunt Fangfang obviously can't have children, and there might be something wrong with her body, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to get pregnant for the past few years. If it weren't for the fact that she can earn money, they would have given up on her as a wife long ago!"
"They said Aunt Fangfang should either have a child for their family or make money for them! Anyway, Aunt Fangfang doesn't have any family backing her up, so what's there to be afraid of? They even said they'd save all the money Aunt Fangfang earns for Da Shitou to get married in the future!"
Xu Ningyan never expected that Xu Erchun's mother would have such a plan.
Thinking back to Chen Fangfang's experiences in her previous life, it's not surprising at all.
After thinking about it, he asked Tiezhu to secretly send a letter to Chen Fangfang the next day, asking her to come and find him.
Tie Zhu readily agreed, escorted Xu Ningyan to the gate of the courtyard, and then turned and went home.
The next morning, as soon as Xu Ningyan got up, Tiezhu brought her two steamed buns, some pickled vegetables, and a bowl of porridge made with corn and rice, saying it was breakfast for the day.
After delivering the goods, he told Xu Ningyan that today the brigade was settling work points and distributing rations at the end of the year.
After Xu Ningyan finished breakfast, he went to the brigade.
Xu Ningyan agreed and went to eat breakfast.
Just as he was setting the bowl down, the courtyard gate was pushed open: "Is Comrade Xu home?"
It's Chen Fangfang's voice.
Xu Ningyan and Chen Fangfang were old acquaintances, so there was no need for formalities. He called out loudly from inside the house, "Come in, I'm inside!"
Chen Fangfang pushed the door open and came in. Xu Ningyan was slurping up a mouthful of porridge, taking a bite of a steamed bun, and eating a small piece of pickled vegetable.
He then took the opportunity to ask Chen Fangfang, "Have you had breakfast yet? Would you like some more? I can't finish these two steamed buns."
The steamed buns made by the brigade leader's family were about twice the size of an adult man's fist, very dense, and an adult man could eat about two in the morning.
Although Xu Ningyan has a good appetite, he can only manage to kill one person at most.
Chen Fangfang looked somewhat haggard, and her complexion wasn't as good as before, but her expression remained relatively calm.
Hearing Xu Ningyan's invitation, she put down what she was holding and sat down casually: "Then I'll eat some more! I didn't eat enough this morning!"
She hasn't been eating enough lately. Every day at meals, her mother-in-law gives her the smallest portion of food. When she complains, her mother-in-law says things like, "She has money, so if she's so capable, she should go eat out herself."
After the weather got colder, the hair tie business wasn't as good as before. This month's income was halved, and naturally, the money she had to pay was also less. Chen Fangfang knew that her mother-in-law was giving her a warning and forcing her to back down.
But she didn't want to return it. She would rather grit her teeth and buy some cookies or something to secretly save up for later than pay the money.
This morning, knowing that Xu Ningyan was coming back, she casually drank a bowl of porridge with barely any grains of rice and then went out with the gift she had prepared for Xu Ningyan.
She took the steamed bun Xu Ningyan handed her, took a bite, and for some reason, her eyes welled up with tears.
With a stiff throat, the way Chen Fangfang chewed the steamed bun was as if she were chewing someone's flesh.
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