Dong Yusheng looked at his father and smiled, but he couldn't speak because his little mouth was stuffed full of mutton.
Li Yuzhu smiled as she watched her son eat. There is a difference between how boys and girls eat. Her two daughters only ate one piece of meat at a time, chewing slowly and carefully, unlike their son who wolfed it down.
Dongqing and his wife each took a skewer of meat and put it in their mouths.
As the family was eating meat skewers, a woman suddenly said behind them, "Oh, it's you family! You're here for barbecue too!"
Dong Qing and his wife turned to look at the woman who had spoken. This woman was none other than Su Guifang, a widow who was Li Yuzhu's neighbor.
Su Guifang has been working in a bean product factory, earning piece-rate wages. She now earns more than 100 yuan a month. She initially lived in the factory's female workers' dormitory, but later rented a room in the city and goes back to the city to live after get off work.
Li Yuzhu often saw her at the bean product factory and had always addressed her as "sister-in-law." They were neighbors from her maternal family, and this title would never change as long as Su Guifang didn't remarry. She never expected to see her here tonight.
Li Yuzhu didn't dislike her. No matter what the villagers talked about about her, she had been very virtuous during her two years working at the bean product factory, and no one had ever heard any gossip about her.
Li Yuzhu said, "Oh, it's Sister Guifang! You're here for barbecue too! Come sit down and eat with us."
Su Guifang said, "My boyfriend and I came together. He went to the cinema to buy movie tickets. He'll be back soon so we can eat together, and then watch a movie."
Li Yuzhu said with a smile, "You finally have a boyfriend! Bring him over so we can meet him and get some advice from the girls!"
"I'll be back soon after buying the tickets." Su Guifang finished speaking and looked towards the movie theater. She pointed to a man and said, "He's back."
Dong Qing and his wife looked in the direction Su Guifang pointed, and a man with movie tickets in his hand walked towards them. What they saw stunned them. This man was none other than Yi Xiaofan, the scum who had framed Dong Qing and bullied Li Yuzhu and Su Wei back then.
Yi Xiaofan was also surprised when he walked up to them. He said, "So it's you."
Dong Qing and his wife ignored him and had no interest in dealing with such a scumbag. They felt more sorry for the widow Su Guifang, wondering how she could have married such a scoundrel after so many years of widowhood.
The two of them lowered their heads and continued eating the meat skewers, as if they were ignoring Yi Xiaofan.
Su Guifang asked, "You two know each other?"
Before Yi Xiaofan could speak, Li Yuzhu said, "I don't know him."
Yi Xiaofan said, "Yuzhu..."
Before he could finish speaking, Dong Qing slammed the meat skewers on the table, stood up, and angrily said, "Can't you stay away from me, you brat?"
Li Yuzhu quickly stood up and pulled her husband aside, afraid he would cause trouble. Fighting with such scum would be beneath her dignity. She said, "Sit down and eat."
The widow Su Guifang had no idea about all the things between them. She apologized and pulled Yi Xiaofan away.
How did Yi Xiaofan and the widow Su Guifang meet?
Yi Xiaofan was just released after a six-month reduction in his sentence. His more than two years in prison had certainly taught him a lesson, and he has become much more stable since his release.
His mother and sister also asked people to introduce him to potential partners, but after all, he was a convict.
In the 1980s, people were very superstitious about these things, and no one wanted to marry him after his divorce. In those days, it was very difficult for a man with a stain on his record to find a wife.
Su Guifang finds walking to work from the city to the factory too inconvenient and wants to buy herself a bicycle. She just withdrew more than 200 yuan from the bank to buy herself a bicycle.
Little did she know that she was being targeted by a young man at the bank, and when they went to a secluded spot, he snatched her bag.
The 200-plus yuan was her hard-earned money from the past two months. After the man snatched her bag, she chased after him, crying and shouting.
Just then, Yi Xiaofan happened to pass by. Su Guifang cried and said, "Brother, help me catch that person! He stole my bag!"
The criminals assumed that passersby wouldn't interfere in her affairs and were therefore unprepared for Yi Xiaofan's presence.
Just then, the man ran up to Yi Xiaofan and kicked at the man's legs.
A kick to the leg while the man was running in a hurry would have been disastrous; the man fell to the ground due to the momentum. The bag slipped from his hand.
Yi Xiaofan hurriedly grabbed the man's arm and pulled it behind his back. Then, she asked Su Guifang, who had caught up, to help her untie the man's shoelaces and use them to tie his hands together.
Su Guifang picked up her purse from the ground, checked that the money inside was untouched, and then the two of them took the man to the police station.
This was the first good deed Yi Xiaofan did after his release from prison, and he also received praise from the police, the first honor he had ever received in his life.
Later, the two gradually became familiar with each other through long-term interaction. Yi Xiaofan was finding it difficult to find a wife these days, and he didn't care that Su Guifang was a widow. Later, the two became boyfriend and girlfriend.
Su Guifang pulled Yi Xiaofan out of the night market and asked, "How did you two meet? Can you tell me what your conflict is?"
Yi Xiaofan didn't hide anything and recounted what he had done to Li Yuzhu and Dong Qing a few years ago. Later, when he talked about Su Wei, he said, "I was such a bastard before, and I did a lot of things that I was sorry to the three of them. After serving more than two years in prison, I have finally understood the principles of being a good person."
"Why is it so hard to be a good person after I got out? Nobody sees me as a good person. I wanted to apologize to them just now, but Dongqing wouldn't even give me a chance to speak."
Su Guifang was unaware that Yi Xiaofan was a convict. She asked, "Why didn't you tell me beforehand that you were a convict?"
Yi Xiaofan said, "Do you think being a convict is something to be proud of? Just because I'm not telling you now doesn't mean I'll never tell you. At least I would have told you before our engagement. I didn't expect that I wouldn't even get to tell you before our engagement. If you care about my past, let's break up."
They had been dating for several months. Yi Xiaofan worked on a construction site every day, and judging from his spending habits, he had never done anything dishonest or thieving. He was very frugal in both clothing and food.
Su Guifang said, "I believe you've completely changed. I'm looking for a husband to spend my life with, not your past flaws. Tell me, can you really change completely?"
Yi Xiaofan said, "If you catch me taking out my wallet to play cards again, you won't even have to lift a finger; I'll chop my own hand off."
"I trust you."
After Su Guifang finished speaking, she reached out and pulled Yi Xiaofan toward the night market.
She pulled Yi Xiaofan to Dong Qing and his wife, saying, "Xiaofan just told me everything. He did many things to wrong you a few years ago, and he should face you and apologize."
Su Guifang recounted what had happened between her and Yi Xiaofan over the past few months, saying, "I believe he has changed for the better. Can you give him a chance to be a normal person?"
Dong Qing said, "I'm not the kind of person who condemns someone outright. I hope he can change for the better, but can he?"
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