As Song Jiaojiao looked at her retreating figure, her eyes revealed an undisguised gloom.
When they arrived at the gate of the educated youth compound, Zhu Guihua and her mother ran into the Party Secretary and his two companions.
"Honey, let's go home."
Ignoring the Party Secretary and the Brigade Leader, Zhu Guihua called for Song Tiezhu to follow her and quickened her pace toward the village.
The educated youth compound was built on the outskirts of the village. It was a large courtyard with two dormitories for male educated youth and two dormitories for female educated youth, all of which were large communal sleeping areas.
There is also a kitchen and a large living room.
The reason they didn't live with the villagers was to avoid conflicts between the villagers and the educated youth over time.
"They just left like that?"
The brigade leader stared wide-eyed at the back of Zhu Guihua's family.
"It seems they got the money from that girl Jiaojiao and were worried we'd make them give it back, so they just slipped away."
The Party Secretary shook his head: "Forget it, let's go back too." One party is willing to give, and the other is willing to receive; why should they care?
If Song Jiaojiao knew what the Party Secretary was thinking, she would definitely say: "Heaven and earth bear witness, who said I wanted to hit him?"
On the other side, as Song Sanhe entered his home, he heard Song Qinghui's voice: "Mom, are you sure your hand doesn't hurt?"
"I feel so relieved!"
Li Jumei replied irritably.
"So you mean your hand actually hurts quite a bit? Then why didn't you just take off one shoe and use it to hit me?"
Song Qinghui's tone was tinged with mockery: "If it were me, I definitely wouldn't let my hands suffer."
"Get out of here! Just seeing you makes me angry!"
Li Jumei shooed Song Qinghui out of the kitchen as if he were a fly.
"Mom, I didn't do anything to you, why are you treating me like this?"
Song Qinghui feigned grievance.
“I’ve never seen you skip meals. You’re not short, and while you’re not as big as an ox, you’re not exactly skinny either. How come you’re so shameless that you let your sister protect you and let a little girl like her deal with Da Wang and his five brothers?”
Li Jumei looked at him with disdain: "With your cowardly appearance, what can your father and I expect from you in the future?"
"I'm innocent! Mom, it wasn't me who asked my little sister to protect me, nor was it me who asked her to deal with Song Dawang and his brothers. It's just that my little sister acted too quickly and didn't give me a chance to do anything!"
Song Qinghui felt more wronged than Dou E. He turned his gaze to Song Lan: "Sister, talk to Mom and ask her if you didn't give your second brother a chance to perform?"
Upon hearing this, Song Lan laughed and looked at Li Jumei: "Mom, it's true that I acted too quickly, but it was just an instinctive reaction. Don't blame my second brother for not protecting me."
Upon hearing Song Lan's words, Song Qinghui realized something was amiss. After a moment's realization, he couldn't help but yell in a strange tone, "Little sister, you're trying to trick your second brother!"
"Get out of here! When did your sister ever trick you?!"
Li Jumei waved her hand as she spoke, and the next moment, she couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Song Lan also kept laughing.
"I'm back."
Song Sanhe walked to the kitchen door.
"Why didn't we see Mother and my two older brothers' families come over?"
Seeing that only Song Sanhe was standing at the kitchen door, Li Jumei couldn't help but ask a question.
"I'll go get help right away."
Before Li Jumei could react, Song Sanhe hurriedly turned and left.
"What's wrong with your dad's brain? I told him when you went up the mountain that he should remember to call your eldest uncle and second uncle in the afternoon..."
Thinking that their daughter was coming back today, Li Jumei and Song Sanhe discussed it and decided to invite Song Sanhe's two brothers and their families, as well as Song Sanhe's living mother, to their home for a meal so that they could introduce Song Lan to both families and his mother-in-law. Unexpectedly, Song Sanhe completely forgot about it.
Li Jumei harbored resentment in her heart, but naturally she didn't miss the opportunity to criticize her husband in front of her children.
“Little sister, our dad has two brothers and one sister. Our eldest uncle’s family has two sons and one daughter, and all of them are married. Our second uncle’s family only has one son, and he just got married last year. Our aunt married into the town and has two sons and two daughters. I’ll take you to meet her later.”
"good."
“My grandfather passed away three years ago, but my grandmother still looks very energetic. Let me tell you, my grandmother is amazing. She has worked with the men in the village to deliver food and other supplies to the soldiers on the front lines many times. She also makes shoes and socks for the soldiers quickly and in large quantities. Now she is highly respected in the village!”
"Hearing you say that, Grandma is really amazing."
"By the way, do you know why our village is called Shisong Village? Let me tell you, most of the people in our village are either surnamed Shi or Song. Only a very small number have other surnames. You can probably guess without me saying it. Those with other surnames either fled famine or settled in Shisong Village to escape war."
Actually, our family is also from outside the area. My dad told me that my grandparents carried loads on their shoulders as they fled famine and war, and finally settled in Shisong Village.
When the villagers learned that our family name was Song, they treated us very well from the beginning, which allowed my grandparents and their children to quickly integrate into village life.
"The villagers are very kind-hearted."
Song Lan gave a summary.
"That's right, there aren't any truly evil people in our village. Take Aunt Guihua next door, for example. Do you know who Aunt Guihua is?"
"The aunt who got beaten by our mom."
"Yes, that's her. Let me tell you, Aunt Guihua is a gossip. She always likes to argue with our mother when she sees her, but she's not a bad person. I think she's been jealous of our mother since she was a child, so she always makes sarcastic remarks to our mother and cause her trouble to achieve her own psychological balance."
"Jealous of Mom?"
Song Lan was puzzled.
“Aunt Guihua’s family and our maternal family are both in the neighboring Erdaogou Village, and they are neighbors separated by only one wall. In addition, both our mother and Aunt Guihua are only daughters in their families, but their lives have been completely different since childhood…”
Song Qinghui went on and on about the history between Li Jumei and Zhu Guihua, while Song Lan helped Li Jumei cook and listened to Song Qinghui gossip, occasionally showing a surprised expression.
"Anyway, over the years, Aunt Guihua gets angry whenever she sees our mother. I reckon she has often lamented the unfairness of heaven, feeling that our mother, who is also a woman, has taken all the advantages."
At this point, Song Qinghui smiled and added, "But Aunt Guihua has one thing she's very proud of..."
To liven things up, Song Lan said with a smile, "She gave birth to five sons in one go, two more than our mother."
Song Qinghui snapped his fingers, grinned, revealing a set of bright white teeth, and said, "Little sister, you're so smart! You got all of this right! Amazing!" He gave Song Lan a thumbs-up.
Song Lan felt her face flush.
Is this treating her like a child?
They've already explained the history between their mother and Aunt Guihua next door so clearly. If she still doesn't know that Aunt Guihua has been proud of that thing over the years (comparing it to their mother), wouldn't she be incredibly stupid?
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