Old Lady Xia was a little unhappy about taking in two homeless people during Chinese New Year. She had been skeptical about Yu Hongzhen kidnapping her daughter to begin with, and she had just urged herself to respect her child, only to be followed by these two in the blink of an eye. Anyone would be unhappy.
But since he had already come, and looked so pitiful, even if Old Lady Xia had a heart of stone, she couldn't drive him away under such circumstances. If she did so, then what was the difference between her and those beasts, Yu's father and mother.
Old Mrs. Xia reluctantly let them stay. One was her future son-in-law, and the other was her daughter's future sister-in-law. Chen Xianghong had already made up her mind. In the absence of other conflicts, Old Mrs. Xia could only welcome them with a smile.
Because there were no extra rooms, the room Chen Xiangdong used to live in was used by Old Lady Xia to store miscellaneous items, and it was difficult to clean it out for the time being, so she let Yu Hongzhen and Chen Xiangbei sleep in one room, and Yu Qingqing and Chen Xianghong sleep in another.
After the three of them washed their faces, Chen Xianghong put down her things and started helping. Old Lady Xia was barking orders, one moment directing them to hang lanterns, the next to post Spring Festival couplets, and the next to asking Chen Xianghong to cut window paper-cuts. The whole house was filled with her loud voice.
Yu Hongzhen was a little uncomfortable with such a lively New Year's Eve, and Yu Qingqing was even more uncomfortable than him. The two of them sat obediently on the stools, with their eyes open, not knowing what to do. Yu Qingqing wanted to help, but she was clumsy and didn't know how to do anything. She was even frightened by Old Lady Xia's shout. When she came to her senses, Chen Xianghong had already gone to work.
The two of them were like two little quails, just watching them work.
Old Lady Xia had just scolded Old Chen outside, blaming him for not knowing how to stick the Chinese character "Fu" upside down. The man who entered was startled by the way they stared at him, and after noticing their discomfort, he mentally cursed Chen Xianghong.
She wondered how Chen Xianghong, who had been a salesperson for so long, could still not understand other people's minds. Yu Hongzhen and Yu Qingqing had come here shamelessly to begin with, and they were already feeling embarrassed. Now Chen Xianghong wouldn't even ask them to do anything, and they were too embarrassed to even eat snacks while sitting here. How miserable!
It would be better to let them do something openly and equally, so that they may be able to integrate better.
Thinking of this, Old Lady Xia glared at her, "What are you two doing sitting here? Xiao Yu, go out and help your uncle put up the Spring Festival couplets. He's clumsy and old, and his eyesight is very poor. He always puts them up crookedly. Go help him put them up, and I'll come out to check later. If you don't put them up well, I'll scold you."
Yu Hongzhen's eyes lit up, and after agreeing loudly, he immediately ran out to help, his figure as fast as the wind.
Old Lady Xia looked at Yu Qingqing again. This child was even more uncomfortable and sensitive than her brother. Old Lady Xia also loudly assigned her a task and asked her to take a rag and wipe the cabinet.
"Don't be lazy, do you hear me?" Old Mrs. Xia said fiercely.
Yu Qingqing's eyes lit up, "I will ensure that the task is completed."
Chen Xianghong was cutting paper-cuts in the courtyard. When she saw Old Lady Xia assigning two tasks to them in the house, she didn't mind. After all, they would be a family in the future, so it was okay for her to do some work.
She used to think that the two of them were also guests, and that guests would not come to work at home. She was not as shameless as her second uncle and aunt. But when she saw that after Old Lady Xia asked them to work, the two of them looked even happier, so she just let go of them. Since they were happy to work, then let them do it. There would be plenty of work to do in the future.
Chen Xianghong smiled secretly when she thought about how Yu Hongzhen would be ordered around by their family in the future.
Yu Qingqing wrung out the water from the rag and began to clean the cabinets in the living room. She was focused and relaxed. When she was in the countryside, her family would make her do chores, but because the marriage was forced, she didn't want to do it. The more they pushed, the less she would do it. Later, they started beating her, and only then did she slowly learn to work.
She lived cautiously there, fearing she would make mistakes and get beaten. Even though many times she did nothing wrong, she would still be used as a target for their family's anger because they were in a bad mood.
Later, after returning to her home in Hai City, although Yu Qingqing did not work, she was not well fed and was scolded by her father and mother. She also heard questions every day asking her why she didn't die or why she didn't die in the countryside. She did not live like a human being.
Although she does not have any expectations for her parents, she will be very sad even if a stranger tells her to die every day. After a long time, she will be brainwashed and wonder whether she really should die.
Once this thought appears, as long as the outside world is a little unfriendly to her, this thought will continue to appear until she really dies.
She was locked in a dark room, with no one talking to her except for scolding. This thought became more and more frequent. Even if she tried not to think about it, it would still pop up. Sometimes, she couldn't sleep all night and really thought that maybe death would be better, and death would not be so painful.
But today, when I came here, I heard the children running and shouting outside, setting off small firecrackers everywhere, and the constant popping sounds. Some people in the compound were discussing the dinner, some were discussing the new picture books, and Old Mrs. Xia was scolding her husband and children. The warm sun shone on her body, the water was warm, and Yu Qingqing felt that being alive was good.
She wiped the cabinet carefully and slowly, watching the dust being wiped away, leaving behind traces of water. The water marks sparkled in the refraction of the sunlight, and Yu Qingqing inexplicably felt warm all over.
She looked up and saw her future sister-in-law happily pasting window paper-cuts. Her eldest brother was helping her, but he pasted it upside down and was looked down upon by her sister-in-law. She smiled with a smile on her face.
Chen Xiangbei finished his work halfway and ran into the house to slack off. Since everyone else was outside, he was no longer needed.
He wanted to steal some sweet candies. The candies were placed under the cabinet at the kitchen door. The cabinet was locked, but that didn't stop him.
He took out a piece of wire from somewhere and poked it a few times. The lock was opened and he stuffed candy into his pocket. He only put the cheapest fruit candy and didn't dare to touch the expensive and delicious candy, but he was satisfied with the hard candy.
After he had half filled his pockets, he sorted the contents of the cabinet and locked it again.
He thought he had done this perfectly, and no one would notice if he took a little of the candy he had bought. But when he turned around, he found Yu Qingqing wiping the cabinet in another corner of the living room with a rag, her eyes fixed on him.
He was scared to death. Chen Xiangbei patted his chest as if to comfort himself. This man was silent and really scary at first sight.
He felt the candy in his pocket, feeling a little distressed. But since they had been caught, he had to share it with her to keep her quiet.
He grabbed a small handful, walked over secretly and stuffed it into Yu Qingqing's pocket, and whispered, "You took my candy, but you are not allowed to tell anyone about this."
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