After get off work in the afternoon, I let Ding Qiunan take Lou Xiao'e home first.
Li Chu bought stir-fried dishes and rice from a restaurant and brought them back with him.
During the meal, Lou Xiao'e exclaimed in surprise, "I knew something was missing! Where's the child? Qiu Nan, where's your child?"
"Haha," Ding Qiunan laughed so hard she almost fell over: "You just remembered? My parents took my child back with them too."
"I didn't react for a moment." Lou Xiao'e stuck out her tongue.
"Hey, Qiu Nan, let me tell you, the eldest son of Second Uncle's family ran away after getting married."
"Ran away? What do you mean?"
Li Chu also stopped eating and looked at Lou Xiao'e, waiting for her explanation.
"Liu Guangqi, the eldest son of my second uncle, got married at the beginning of the year, but recently he and his wife applied to be transferred to work in Jinshi."
They didn't even tell their father about their job transfers; their family only found out when they were about to leave.
"Huh? Why did he do that?"
Lou Xiao'e shook her head: "Who knows? All I know is that after Liu Guangqi left, his second and third sons were really unlucky. They fought every day and every three days."
"Who hit me?" Ding Qiunan felt like she couldn't close her mouth.
At this moment, Li Chu interjected, "It was definitely Second Uncle who hit him."
"Yes, they were beaten terribly. There was constant wailing and howling at home," Lou Xiao'e said while eating her food.
"Pfft," Li Chu chuckled as he imagined the scene in his mind: "Now, Guangtian and Guangfu from Second Uncle's family are really in for a rough time."
"Would Second Uncle really beat his own son to death?" Ding Qiunan didn't believe that a father could beat his son like that.
"Qiu Nan, you have to believe it. They really beat them to death. Those two brothers were covered in bruises almost every day. I was terrified listening to them at home all day."
"Are Guangtian and Guangfu the biological sons of Second Uncle?" Ding Qiunan was dumbfounded and asked blankly.
"You'll have to ask Second Auntie, who else would know?" Li Chu suddenly blurted out.
"Haha..." His words made the two women burst into laughter.
"What's so funny?" Li Chu shrugged helplessly, looking at the two women who couldn't stop laughing, and muttered to himself.
"Alright, you two, hurry up and eat, or the food will get cold," Li Chu called out, patting the table.
After finally finishing their meal, Ding Qiunan and Lou Xiao'e didn't let Li Chu do anything; they took the initiative to wash the dishes and chopsticks.
Li Chu sat on the sofa, flipping through a book casually, one ear perked up as he listened to two women gossiping about the neighborhood.
"I always felt that Qin Huairu was being a bit unfair. She didn't agree to marry He Yuzhu, and her mother-in-law was also preventing her from remarrying. The family even often ate the food that He Yuzhu brought back," Lou Xiao'e complained to Ding Qiunan.
"They're still arguing. Didn't Qin Huairu's mother-in-law cause a scene last time?"
"Once? It happens every few days, okay? Our compound has become the laughing stock in the alley."
"Then why would you eat He Yuzhu's food?"
"Yes, life has been much better these past two years than it was a few years ago. He Yuzhu's cooking skills are quite good now, and many people ask him to cook for them. He always brings back some food when he comes back. Qin Huairu waits at the door every day, and as soon as she sees He Yuzhu come back with a lunchbox, she takes it away."
"Is this even allowed? What right does she have to take it?"
"Qin Huairu said she helped He Yuzhu clean the house, and these meals are her payment."
Ding Qiunan stared wide-eyed at Lou Xiao'e in disbelief.
Lou Xiao'e took a spoonful of the fruit can that Li Chu had opened on the coffee table, and mumbled, "Don't look at me, that's what people said. I'm speechless too."
I remember back in the summer, someone introduced He Yuzhu to another girl. She seemed to work at a textile factory and came to visit He Yuzhu. I heard that things were going well at first.
As a result, Qin Huairu didn't knock, but pushed open the door and walked straight into He Yuzhu's house. Right in front of the girl, she started making the bed and even took He Yuzhu's dirty underwear to wash. Seeing this, the girl left without looking back.
Upon hearing this, Ding Qiunan was speechless; it was fair to say that her worldview had been completely shattered.
Li Chu listened with great interest, and he even wondered if he should go and take a look in the next couple of days. That compound was becoming more and more interesting.
"Qiu Nan, you're a grown man, and you're having an ambiguous relationship with a widow. What girl would want to be with you? Who would dare to be with you? You're going to be miserable every day."
"Let alone the girl, her parents wouldn't agree either."
"That's right. My Da Mao even told He Yuzhu twice to watch his step, but he didn't appreciate it and said that Da Mao was meddling in other people's business. Now Da Mao is ignoring him."
Lou Xiao'e was also furious when she talked about this. How could He Yuzhu be so ungrateful?
"Don't they care about that old man and the old lady in the backyard?"
"The old man is busy taking care of his son now, and he hardly cares about anything in the compound. But if you need anything, you can ask him, and he will still help. As for the old lady, who knows what she's thinking?"
Li Chu knew that once the old man had children, he definitely wouldn't care much about the affairs of the compound anymore, and he wouldn't have to worry about his future retirement. Who would want to do those thankless tasks?
"The Jia family should be doing alright now, so why is she still fixated on He Yuzhu?" Ding Qiunan couldn't understand this question. When she had dealt with Qin Huairu before, she thought she was a decent person.
Li Chu chimed in, "If people do too much work for free, who would want to work hard? I'm sure their family doesn't do those jobs at the towel factory anymore."
"Brother Chu, you were right. They really aren't doing it anymore. The job they were originally doing has been assigned by the neighborhood committee to the family in the next courtyard."
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Ding Qiunan shook her head repeatedly as she listened. She hadn't expected that the Jia family would change so much in such a short time. Back then, seeing that Qin Huairu's family was struggling, she had even used her influence to help them get the towel factory job, but now they were just saying they didn't want to do it anymore.
"Sigh," Ding Qiunan sighed, "Isn't it better to earn money and support your family through your own abilities? Back then, their family was better off than Uncle San's family. How did they end up like this?"
"I don't know what she's thinking." Lou Xiao'e couldn't understand it either. In the few years since she married into that family, Qin Huairu and her mother-in-law had changed so much.
The changes in so many people in the compound were so dramatic that Lou Xiao'e was overwhelmed.
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