Aunt Xie also said, "They are her biological children. She treats the eldest and the youngest very well, and the two younger sisters well too. I don't know why, but the couple just don't like Dalin. Maybe they are just not meant to get along!"
Two old women seemed to know something and whispered in each other's ears, looking towards Li Qiuxia's house as they talked.
Li Qiuyue had seen this kind of expression from many gossipy women in the village, and she knew very well that these two people were gossiping about Gao's mother, and not anything good.
Li Qiuyue thought: Gao Dalin doesn't even like his old man, could it be that Gao's mother stole the man?
After the villagers who came to watch the fun left, Li Qiuxia closed the door and said, "Third sister, luckily you came back with me today. I used to be afraid of Dalin's mother, but now that you are here, I am not afraid anymore."
Li Qiuyue glared at her, "Why are you afraid of her? Gao Dalin was born and raised by her, but you are not. Why should you be her slave and let her bully you?"
Li Qiuxia: "After so many years, I've gotten used to it. Just like when I was at home, I was scared every time I heard my grandma's voice..."
"It's no use being afraid!" Li Qiuyue said gloomily, "Did you hear what those people in the village said just now? When Dalin gets better, if you go home and still borrow money from me like before, I won't ask you for it and won't care whether you live or die anymore."
"Third sister, I was afraid of them before, but I won't be anymore." Li Qiuxia patted her chest and said to her, "I had a quarrel with her today, and I feel much better."
After hearing this, Li Qiuyue hurriedly encouraged her, "You have to be like this in the future. The more afraid you are, the more people will bully you. They will climb on your head and shit on you, and then complain that your head is not flat."
Li Qiuxia nodded and said, "I understand." But she was still afraid. She was worried that when Dalin came back, the people in the old house would know that he had recovered and a bunch of tigers and wolves would come to make trouble. What would the couple do?
"Mom, the water in the pot is boiling." Gao Xiaobin came over and pulled her, lowering his voice like a thief, and said, "Grandma didn't win the fight today, and was chased away by Third Aunt. Third Aunt is so powerful."
Li Qiuyue squatted in front of him and said with a smile: "Xiaobin also wants your mother to be as powerful as your third aunt, right?"
"I do!" Gao Xiaobin nodded heavily. "Mom is as powerful as my third aunt. My grandma won't dare to bully us."
After hearing this, Li Qiuxia recalled how she had just protected her son like a mother hen. She felt a pain in her heart and said with difficulty, "Xiaobin, Mom was useless before. I won't be afraid of them anymore. Never again."
Gao Xiaobin clenched his fists and said, "Don't be afraid. When Xiaobin grows up, he will protect you. If they dare to come, I will kill them with a knife."
"Xiao Bin..." Li Qiuxia hugged him and burst into tears. It turned out that the child saw everything. If she and Gao Dalin continued like this, Xiao Bin would...
She didn't even dare to think about it. She only hated herself for being too weak before. She couldn't even protect her children and wanted to leave them to die. It seemed that she really couldn't stay here anymore...
Li Qiuyue was heartbroken, wiped her tears, and said, "Don't cry, hurry up and cook the porridge, eat and go to bed early, and get up early tomorrow morning to hurry back to Ning'an."
"Yes!" Li Qiuxia stood up and wiped the tears from her face with a handkerchief. "Xiaobin, help me light the fire. I'll steam some big buns for you to eat. After you eat, I'll give you a bath. Change into the clothes that your third aunt brought and have a warm sleep. Tomorrow we'll go to Ning'an to see your old man and second sister."
Gao Xiaobin obediently went to the stove and looked up and asked, "Is Ning Anyuan here?"
Li Qiuxia nodded. "It's far, it takes a long time to walk, and we have to take a car. Tomorrow, mom and third aunt will take you to take a car."
"Yeah!" Gao Xiaobin picked up the firewood and stuffed it into the stove. He liked to make fire and it was warm sitting in front of the stove. But it was a bit hot sitting here today.
Li Qiuxia used the last bit of kudzu root powder to make a bowl of paste. After steaming the dumplings and steamed buns, she took some cowpeas and pickled peppers out of the kimchi jar. The three of them sat at the small square table and started to eat.
Li Qiuyue took a big meat bun and handed it to Gao Xiaobin, "Eat. Only when you are full can you grow taller."
"Oh!" Gao Xiaobin took it and took a big bite, puffing out his cheeks and squinting his eyes with satisfaction.
Li Qiuyue drank a bowl of pueraria powder paste, "Qiuxia, there are a lot of pueraria in the mountains, pueraria powder can also be sold for money."
Li Qiuxia: "Not much. Everyone dug them up and took them home when they saw them. I found this in a valley. I was lucky. I dug more than 100 kilograms and ate them to survive."
After hearing this, Li Qiuyue thought about it and it made sense. Before the Funius Brigade was divided into different households, everyone would dig up anything that could fill their stomachs in the mountains, so there was no way there would be so many.
After eating and cleaning up, Li Qiuyue soaked her feet, and Li Qiuxia filled a bucket with hot water to give Gao Xiaobin a bath. They changed him into half-new spring and autumn clothes, picked him up and put him in front of the big bed made of wooden boards, shook the hard quilt straight, and let him sleep.
She turned around and said to Li Qiuyue embarrassedly: "Third sister, it's cold in the mountains. You will be warmer if you sleep in a sweater."
"It's okay! We were almost the same as you in the past few years." Li Qiuyue took off her woolen coat and put it on the quilt, then crawled into bed and fell asleep.
…
In the Funius Brigade, Zhou Sanba and his wife had dinner at Zhou Huaian's house. Zhou's father told them about the eldest son's borrowing of money, and what Zhou Huaian and Zhou Huaixing had said, and also told them their intentions.
Zhou San's father said, "They haven't taken care of the old man in the past two years. If the old man gets sick in the future, there's no need to notify the eldest wife. We old people can take care of him."
Aunt Zhou smiled and said, "We'll just send some food over, but the bulk of the expenses will still be paid by Second Brother and Second Sister-in-law."
Zhou's mother smiled and said, "We don't have any expenses. The youngest and Chunyan take care of our food and clothing."
The brothers and sisters-in-law exchanged a few polite words. Zhou Sanba looked at the old man who was frowning and smoking leaf tobacco and advised: "Old man, don't be angry. Look at your life now. Which old man and old lady in the village doesn't envy you?"
Aunt Zhou took over the conversation, "Yes, old man, you have a bicycle that the young people in the village haven't even ridden yet, and you have a woolen Zhongshan suit, a leather jacket, a cotton coat, and big cotton boots. How many old people in the three nearby villages have worn these?"
When the old man learned from Zhou Huaian that Zhou Dachun and his father had gone to Ning'an to reserve a tractor, he felt unhappy and thought that his eldest son was a good-for-nothing.
He even lied to his own old husband. When his son said that he would not support him in the future, he did not say a word. He knew everything, but he kept saying that Li Yinfu did it behind his back.
No wonder Zhou Huaixing is like this today. And Li Yinfu, as the old saying goes, people from the same family stick together. The eldest brother and she are like snakes and rats from the same nest, they are a perfect match.
Forget it, forget it! I am already over seventy years old. If I am lucky enough, I can live to eighty or ninety years old. I don’t have many years left. I can’t take care of myself.
The second son's family are all filial, so just follow them with peace of mind and help as much as you can. Don't learn from those foolish people in the village who are disloyal and hurt the children's feelings, ending up in a situation where you are neither accepted by everyone nor by everyone.
After the old man figured it out, he felt better. He took down his pipe, took out the tobacco leaves from the pipe, tapped it on the bamboo chair, and looked up at his children and grandchildren:
"I know you are all filial. As for the eldest brother, just let him be. I am too old to control him. You brothers should get along with each other and don't make fun of each other."
Zhou San's father quickly expressed his opinion, "Don't worry, old man. I have been close to my second brother since I was a child. My eldest brother is too treacherous. I have never liked to be with him since I was a child."
Father Zhou also said, "Don't worry, old man. The third son and I will discuss and handle things together. There will be no conflicts."
"Okay, I'll feel relieved if you guys discuss it." The old man stood up and said, "I'm going to bed, you guys should go to bed early too."
Father Zhou hurriedly said, "Slow down, drink a cup before going to bed, and you will sleep better."
The old man nodded and walked towards his room.
The brothers and sisters-in-law who were sitting on the steps chatted for a while, and then Zhou San's aunt and her family said goodbye and left.
Mother Zhou checked the time, walked to the main hall door, and said to Yang Chunyan's room, "Chunyan, is Xiaolong full?"
Zhou Huaian opened the door and said, "It will be ready soon. Wait for me to carry it out for you."
"Yeah!" Zhou's mother turned around and went to wash up.
Zhou Huaian closed the door, walked to the bed, and looked at the little dragon who was still nursing. "Little thing, you are such a big eater."
"He's eating rice porridge like Xiao Jiu'er now, and he eats very little." Yang Chunyan helped to coax Xiao Long to sleep, "Take him to mom and tell her that if he wakes up in the middle of the night, just feed him with milk powder."
Zhou Huaian angrily pulled Xiao Long'er's ear before taking the child over. "You little bastard, it's rare for me to get a meal, but today you robbed me of several meals..."
“Hiss~ It hurts… It hurts…”
Yang Chunyan grabbed the soft flesh on his lower back and twisted it, "Tell them everything..."
Zhou Huaian turned his head and bared his teeth to beg for mercy, "Yan'er, wife, I won't say anything, let go, this is meat, not a TV channel!"
Yang Chunyan looked at his grinning face and couldn't help but feel amused and angry. She glanced at him and said, "I don't want to bother with you. I've told you so many times not to bring up everything, but you can't control your mouth."
Zhou Huaian held the child in one hand and rubbed his lower back with the other, saying with a playful smile: "I understand, I promise to do it instead of talking about it in the future!"
"Get out!" Yang Chunyan glared at him fiercely, then lay down on her side and ignored him.
Zhou Huaian came forward with a smile and whispered into her ear, "Yan'er, don't be angry, wait for me to come back..." He blew air into her ear while speaking.
"Zhou Laoyao," Yang Chunyan pinched him, then stood up and glared at him, her pretty face as red as if she had put on rouge, "Hurry up and take the child out, I'm Shudao San, 1..."
"Run!" Zhou Huaian held Xiaolong in his arms, opened the door, and ran away.
Mother Zhou took over the little dragon who had eaten and fell asleep, "Before, I couldn't bear to let Qiuyue go even for a moment, but now she goes out and doesn't come back for a day or two."
"That's right. This kid has taken away all of Xiao Jiu'er's food." Zhou Huaian thought that Li Qiuyue would not be back until tomorrow afternoon, "Mom, kill a chicken tomorrow and stew it for Chunyan to nourish her."
Mother Zhou smiled and nodded. "There is still a small piece of Hericium erinaceus that you saved last time. Kill a chicken tomorrow and stew it with Hericium erinaceus."
Zhou Huaian: "Okay, wait until the mushrooms come out, I'll go back to my old nest to look for them. I won't sell the ones I picked this time, I'll just keep them and stew them at home." (End of this chapter)
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