The next morning, Li Guifang carried a basket and returned to her parents' home.
When I pushed the door open, I saw my elder brother Li Jianguo sitting under the crooked tree, smoking a pipe.
"Oh! So early!" Li Jianguo quickly tapped the pipe on the sole of his shoe. "Have you eaten? Your sister-in-law steamed some chive buns. They're still warm! Can I serve you some?"
"I've eaten." Li Guifang put the basket on the stone table. "I brought some egg tarts for my brother and sister-in-law. They're freshly made in the shop and haven't been sold yet. I want my family to try some first!"
My sister-in-law, wearing an apron, poked her head out of the kitchen and said, "Guifang, you're just in time. Help me pick this bunch of chives.
I'm making dumplings for lunch today, with your favorite three-fresh filling.
The three of them sat on small stools, chatting while they worked.
Li Jianguo counted the days on his fingers: "My parents' grave has been repaired. They use blue bricks, and it's even more magnificent than the one at Old Wang's house.
We'll be back to Haicheng in two days, and I've asked someone to buy the tickets."
"So fast?" Li Guifang broke several leeks in her hand.
"Of course!" said the sister-in-law, deftly sharpening the horseshoe. "They're pressing hard in Haicheng. Your eldest brother's old friend insisted on hosting him. A few of them want to go sea fishing."
Li Guifang didn’t pay much attention to what her brother and sister-in-law said next!
Many times, I wanted to say something but stopped myself and didn’t know how to start!
His fingers were occasionally plucking the chive leaves.
She kept pulling and pulling, and the good leeks were almost cut into pieces by her.
"Oh my goodness!" my sister-in-law rushed out of the kitchen, rolling pin in hand. "What did these chives do to you? If you pinch them again, you'll have to eat chive pie tonight!"
Li Jianguo then noticed that his sister was distracted and squinted his eyes, looking at her: "What's wrong? Who caused trouble again? Your soul has been taken away!"
When Li Guifang saw her, she had no intention of hiding it from her elder brother.
He simply threw the rotten leaves into the basin and said, "Don't mention it! Mingyu was tricked in the restaurant!"
She pulled the small stool closer to her eldest brother and told him the whole story in a low voice.
From Li Mingyu being wrongly accused of stealing money, to her causing a scene at the restaurant with a gong, to Manager Ma apologizing...
"What a bunch of bastards!" Li Jianguo banged his pipe on the stone bench. "So what are you going to do now?"
Li Guifang rubbed the corner of her clothes, her voice suddenly softening: "I want... to let Mingyu go to Haicheng with you..."
"Are you willing to give it up?" Li Jianguo raised an eyebrow. "You really treat your child like a treasure."
When asked this by his elder brother, Li Guifang was in a trance for a moment. In fact, after his elder brother settled down in Haicheng, he asked him whether he wanted to let Minghua go to Haicheng to develop.
At that time, Li Minghua had just graduated and couldn't even get a temporary job in a steel factory.
However, she always felt that starting a business was very hard, so she had to stay in Ji City in case she could get a job. After thinking it over again and again, she refused her eldest brother!
"I have to let him go even though I'm reluctant!" Li Guifang's eyes were red again. "Now Mingyu's job is also off the table! We can't let him, at such a young age, just hang out here on the street. He's tough and resilient..."
Li Jianguo took a puff of his cigarette, grinning so hard that the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes could kill a mosquito: "Okay! If you say that, I will really take the person away!"
Mingyu is a smart kid, he'll definitely make it big in Haicheng..."
The sister-in-law slapped the rolling pin upwards, and a cloud of flour rose up in a puff of white mist: "Haicheng is a good place!
Young people who dare to think and cause trouble, go there, there are opportunities everywhere in the street, and a falling telephone pole can destroy three businesses!
Young people should go out and make a living, it's better than staying in this small place..."
"Talk less!" Li Jianguo glared at his wife.
Zhuang Fangtao rolled her eyes at him and called out to Li Guifang, "Guifang, come and help me taste the saltiness!"
Li Guifang was dragged into the kitchen by her sister-in-law, and the two women started working around the panel.
My sister-in-law has mastered the skill of rolling dough to perfection.
The dough turned into a thin skin as it spun in her hands.
"If you ask me," the sister-in-law suddenly lowered her voice, "let Mingyu go and don't rush back.
I have a godsister who works as an accountant in a textile factory. Her daughter is 20 years old, pretty, and a high school graduate. She even asked me recently if I knew any good young men!
Li Guifang paused while kneading the dumplings. "That girl is so well-off, how could she be interested in Li Mingyu? Are her parents willing to let their child marry someone from such a distant family?"
"Ouch!" The sister-in-law banged her rolling pin on the chopping board, sending flour scattering. "People in Haicheng are so open-minded now! Last month, my friend's daughter married directly to Singapore!"
She leaned closer, the scent of chopped green onions on her body, and said, "My parents said that as long as they are willing, I can marry them to the moon!"
Li Guifang scooped more sesame oil into the filling: "That can't..."
"What can't you do?" the sister-in-law interrupted her. "Who cares about this when young people are dating these days?" She suddenly lowered her voice.
"Besides, if Mingyu can gain a foothold in Haicheng, he will be a Haicheng native!
By then..."
"You're from Haicheng!" Li Guifang slammed a dumpling onto the curtain. "You only know how to bully me!"
My sister-in-law slammed her rolling pin on the chopping board and said, "Oh my country bumpkin aunt, there's a huge sign in Haicheng hanging at the train station!
"Once you come here, you are a Haicheng person!" The red characters on the white background are more impressive than the sign of your Guifangzhai!
"Stop fooling around!" Li Guifang scooped a spoonful of lard into the stuffing. "Last time you said that Haicheng was full of cars!"
"That's right!" The sister-in-law skillfully turned the dough and threw out a piece of dumpling wrapper as thin as a cicada's wing. "I usually ask you to go to Haicheng to see the world, but you don't go. Then you should at least watch TV, right?
The news is broadcast every day, the small fishing village is changing with each passing day!
"TV?" Li Guifang squeezed the dumplings until they made a crackling sound, the dumpling skins oozing with oil in her hands. "In my alley, there's Old Chen's family who runs a small shop. They have a broken TV that was discarded from somewhere!
Eight out of ten stages are covered in snow, and the remaining two are still double images! They are singing Huangmei Opera every day!
She even started to imitate him, saying, "You keep babbling all day long, but you can't even crow as clearly as our hen!"
The eldest sister-in-law slammed the chopping board: "You! You still look down on others with that little snow-white screen!
Old Chen runs a small shop and can afford a TV, but you're content with just running a pastry shop?
She suddenly lowered her voice. "Last month, a vendor from Shanghai said even the people selling tea eggs there are wearing digital watches! Is Haicheng still far away?"
The two sisters-in-law chatted and laughed again. The old hen in the yard was frightened and started clucking. Then she flapped her wings and flew up to the bare tree.
Li Jianguo shook his head in the yard: "Well, it's started again..."
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