As Su Xiumei spoke, she stuffed the fifty yuan she had earned into Zhou Xianye's hand, saying, "This is the money I earned. You can use it to pay the tuition fees for the two sisters."
In the end, Su Xiumei returned to the Meng family alone.
Sisters Xiaoli and Xiaojuan stayed at the Zhou family's house, preparing to go to school the next day.
The two sisters held Su Xiumei's hands, their eyes reddening, reluctant to let her go, and insisted on going back together.
Su Xiumei looked at her daughters with heartache and patiently coaxed them, "You can go back when Grandma comes back. It won't be long."
Don't you want to go to school anymore?
Tomorrow is the day to register for school.
The two sisters still cried their eyes out, and Su Xiumei couldn't bear it, so she stayed at the Zhou family's house overnight to keep her daughters company.
The next day, she watched her daughters go to school before returning to the Meng family home with peace of mind.
That evening, Zhong Shuzhen solemnly promised Zhou Xianye that she would treat the two sisters well.
But who could have imagined that the very next day, as soon as Zhou Xianye went to work and the two sisters went to school, Zhong Shuzhen would reveal her true colors.
She and her daughter-in-law Wu Fang discussed it and decided to split up: one would go and call a matchmaker, and the other would go to the school to bring the two sisters back.
Xiao Juan looked at Zhong Shuzhen warily and asked, "Grandma, didn't you say Mom was going to take me back to Grandma's house? Where are you taking us?"
Xiaoli also sensed something was wrong and chimed in, "Yeah, didn't Mom say she'd pick us up when Grandma came back? Why didn't she take us yesterday?"
Moreover, Zhong Shuzhen was not leading them in the direction of home at all.
Zhong Shuzhen clicked her tongue impatiently, inwardly complaining about how difficult these two little devils were to fool, chattering on and on, which was annoying to listen to.
She said dismissively, "Your mother is waiting for you at the station. She said she was worried you might be concerned, so she asked me to take you there. If you don't go, you won't be able to go back to your grandmother's house."
When they arrived at the station, there was no sign of Su Xiumei; there was only a strange woman with several men by her side.
The woman looked the two sisters up and down, nodded with satisfaction, and said, "Not bad, they're quite pretty, and their eyes are beautiful too."
When Xiaoli and Xiaojuan saw this, they knew something was wrong and refused to get on the bus no matter what.
But those people didn't care at all, they knocked the two sisters unconscious and carried them into the car.
Looking at her unconscious granddaughter, Zhong Shuzhen felt no pity, only endless greed, and said, "It was agreed, five hundred yuan."
"Of course, you won't be shortchanged." The other party readily handed the money to Zhong Shuzhen.
After receiving the money, Zhong Shuzhen beamed with joy and happily went home, even buying a piece of pork as a special gift.
Meanwhile, Wu Fang also invited the matchmaker to the door. The two sat in the house and spent the whole afternoon discussing which family's young wife was fertile and which family's widow was suitable, chatting enthusiastically.
Even though it was inconvenient for Zhou Xianye to travel back and forth between the two places, he always kept his daughters in his heart and insisted on going home every day. Only when he saw the two sisters could he feel at ease.
That day, when he returned home, he found that the two sisters had not yet come back. He asked in confusion, "Where are Xiaoli and Xiaojuan? They've been out of school for so long, why haven't they come back yet?"
Zhong Shuzhen coughed lightly, her eyes flickering, and said, "Those two girls went back to their parents' home with Su Xiumei. She was worried about you going to work, so she took them back with her."
"Don't you know your own wife well? Can you really leave your child? If you don't believe me, go and see for yourself."
Wu Fang chimed in, "That's right, she took them away herself, we couldn't stop her even if we wanted to. In the end, she still doesn't trust her mother and is afraid that we will mistreat the two sisters."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Xianye became suspicious. After thinking about it carefully, he realized that Su Xiumei was soft-hearted and the two sisters had never left her side, so it was quite possible that she might take the children back with her.
But he was still worried, so he went to the school the next day to ask about the situation.
The teacher said that Zhong Shuzhen came to the school and said that the child's mother wanted to take them back to her maternal grandmother's house. She took the child back and also refunded the tuition fee.
Zhou Xianye felt something was wrong the more he thought about it, so he quickly went home to pack his clothes, intending to find Su Xiumei and ask her for an explanation.
As soon as I entered the house, I saw Zhong Shuzhen talking to a matchmaker, with another woman sitting next to her.
The woman was in her thirties, with a large bottom and full breasts; she was clearly a robust woman.
Zhong Shuzhen was surprised that Zhou Xianye would return at this time. She stood up from her stool in astonishment and asked, "Why are you back? Aren't you going to work today? Did you take another day off? You've already taken so many days off this month, why are you taking another one!"
Zhou Xianye frowned, took a step back, and felt increasingly uneasy looking at the woman's gaze. He asked, "Who are they?"
Zhong Shuzhen slapped her thigh and said, "Hey!"
Come here for a moment, let me introduce you.
This is Matchmaker Li, and the woman next to her is Zhang's daughter.
This girl is a good person; she's capable both at home and outside, and most importantly, she can give birth to a son.
Her husband died, and she's been single ever since. She just wants to find a man who's good at managing a household to settle down with.
"Look, aren't you perfect? I was just thinking of introducing you two."
"Mother! What do you mean by this?" Zhou Xianye looked at Zhong Shuzhen in shock.
Just then, Su Xiumei came in from the doorway, her face pale, her lips tightly clenched, looking at the group of people in the room.
She was really worried about Xiaoli and Xiaojuan, so she thought she would come back today and pick them up together.
She knew perfectly well that Zhong Shuzhen was completely incapable of taking care of children, and Wu Fang was a lazy and gluttonous person.
But she never expected to see this scene as soon as she returned to the Zhou family.
"Zhou Xianye, so that's what you're thinking too! You want to find someone who can give you a son, and then divorce me, right? While I was away, your mother even brought widows to your door!"
Su Xiumei screamed hysterically, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably.
Zhou Xianye quickly said loudly, "No, I just got back. Mom said you took Xiaoli and Xiaojuan back home. I came back to get my clothes and was just about to look for you."
He held Su Xiumei's hand, his eyes filled with anxiety and sincerity, afraid that Su Xiumei would not believe him.
"No, I came back to pick up Xiaoli and Xiaojuan and take them back," Su Xiumei said, wiping away her tears.
Zhong Shuzhen and Wu Fang exchanged a glance, not expecting that the matter would be exposed so quickly.
Seeing that things were not going well, the matchmaker and the widow made their escape.
Seeing this, Wu Fang quickly went back to her room and slammed the door shut.
Zhong Shuzhen was a step too slow. Zhou Xianye had one foot braced against the doorframe, his hands gripping the wooden door tightly, his eyes bloodshot, and his voice trembling as he pressed for answers:
"Mother, didn't you say that Xiaoli and Xiaojuan were taken back by Xiumei? Where are they? They didn't come back last night!"
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