When Mrs. Li heard the voice, her body suddenly stiffened. She felt annoyed and wondered why she had forgotten about Song Jianshe!
She had been about to cook when she smelled a subtle aroma wafting from next door, drawing her completely away from the idea of cooking. She had smelled this same meaty aroma a few days before, and it had left her feeling incredibly sour. She smelled it again today, and couldn't resist running over to take a look.
She lay down at the gate of Old Song's house, thinking that it was dark now and no one would see her. So she moved closer and looked inside through the crack in the door.
The door of the main hall of Old Song's family was facing the main gate. The people in Old Song's family were busy serving food and running back and forth. No one would have thought that there would be someone lying at the door.
Being so far away, Mrs. Li certainly couldn't see what was being cooked, but the rich aroma was getting stronger and stronger, making her swallow her saliva.
Just when she was wondering where the meat came from in the Song family, she heard Song Jianshe's voice from behind, which scared her.
She stood up and looked at Song Jianshe, laughing awkwardly a few times: "I... I just wanted to come over and borrow a big broom. I was afraid to disturb you, so I took a look first."
Then he asked Song Jianshe again, "Why are you still out so late? What are you doing?"
"I went to my father-in-law's house today, so I came back a little late. Aunt Li, do you want to borrow a broom?"
With a creak, the door opened from the inside. Feng Guizhi stood inside the door and looked at Mrs. Li and Song Jianshe outside. She didn't need to think about it, there was nothing she didn't understand.
She didn't expose the issue, but simply asked, "Can I borrow a broom?"
Mrs. Li could only nod awkwardly, "Yes, the big broom at home is broken, I came to borrow it."
Feng Guizhi turned around and went into the yard to get it. Mrs. Li took it and left quickly, not daring to stay any longer.
After seeing the people enter the house, Song Jianshe turned around and took out the big bag from behind the haystack next to him. After making sure that Mrs. Li did not come out to peek again, he hurried into the house.
Feng Guizhi looked outside and reached out to close the door.
The two of them entered the main hall together. Feng Guizhi sat down and asked him, "What was she doing at the door just now?"
Chen Xiuxiu and Sun Suyun had also heard the noise, but they didn't know who was outside. They opened the door but couldn't see clearly from a distance. When they heard it, they asked, "Who is it?
Outside?"
"Mrs. Li." Song Jianshe also sat down and told what he had just seen: "When I arrived at the door just now, I saw someone lying on the ground at the door, looking inside. I don't know how long she had been there. When I spoke to her, she was scared."
Song Jianshe sighed, "He looks like a thief with a guilty conscience, as if no one can see it."
Chen Xiuxiu couldn't help but say, "What is she looking at at our door so late at night? She just stares at other people's houses all day long. She really has nothing better to do!"
"I don't know if he's staring at our house because he's rich or has something, but he's capable of doing something like this, even at his age, by peeping through the crack of the door. He's not ashamed of it."
Song Aiguo was also angry: "Tomorrow I will find a piece of rag and block the crack in the door. Let's see what she will look at next time she comes back."
Anyone who knows about this would feel uncomfortable. What does it mean that someone comes to your door and peeks in for no reason?
Feng Guizhi also frowned, but after hearing Song Aiguo's words, she shook her head: "It's not necessary. If you do this, people might think that there is something shameful going on in our family."
"That's it. Next time we eat, we'll run outside a couple more times and catch her again. I want to see how thick-skinned she can be." Chen Xiuxiu said.
Yang Yulan was listening on the side, looking at the fragrant bone soup in front of her, and couldn't help but say, "Mrs. Li, come here, do you smell the aroma of the food?"
Just now, everyone's attention was focused on Mrs. Li peeking through the crack of the door, and no one had thought about why she suddenly came here today. After Yang Yulan said this, they suddenly understood.
No wonder, he must have smelled the fragrance, so he came over to take a look.
When they ate meat before, they carefully found an open space and buried the bones. But the aroma was hard to control.
Feng Guizhi thought about it and decided that next time she ate there, she would have to close the door.
After talking for a while, the family put their worries aside and started eating. The fragrant bone soup, paired with delicious side dishes, was eaten with great joy.
After dinner, Song Jianshe first told Feng Guizhi what she had asked him to find out: "If you work in a textile factory, the work won't be tiring, but you will be sitting and busy all the time, especially in the summer when it's hot and in the winter when it's cold.
It's cold, and it's hard work. But the salary is okay, about 20 yuan a month. The textile factory has dormitories to live in, and they also provide a meal at noon.
"As for schools, elementary school teachers earn a bit less, around 18 yuan a month. They also have school dormitories to live in, but meals aren't provided. The upside is that you don't have to teach all day, so you have more freedom to do what you want."
"However, school starts in September, so if you want to apply for a teaching position, you might have to go earlier so you have less time to prepare."
Feng Guizhi nodded, and she had a rough idea in her mind: "Have you bought everything I asked you to buy?"
"I bought it." Song Jianshe brought over the large bag, which contained some books and other things he had bought with money. However, he had also traded some of the items with dealers he knew, so he hadn't spent too much.
"Here are textbooks for several grades, some explanatory materials, and some books that might be useful."
Feng Guizhi glanced through it briefly. Song Jianshe was very considerate, so she didn't ask any more questions. She told him what they had agreed on at the dinner table a few days ago:
"It's already been decided. Let Qingyan go to the city to take the exam for a formal job. Give all these to her and let her look carefully. It would be best if she could apply for a teaching position."
Song Jianshe didn't ask any more questions and nodded.
"Okay, go back." Feng Guizhi waved her hand and let Song Jianshe go. She turned around and sat back on the bed, fanning herself slowly with a palm-leaf fan, not knowing what she was thinking about.
Song Jianshe took out the food and took the rest that Li Qingyan could use to the east room. He gave the books to Li Qingyan and said with a smile:
"Mother asked me to give it to you, saying that you should study hard."
Song Jianshe was of course happy that his wife could get a formal job in the city. Then they would be closer to each other and would not have to be apart so often, only seeing each other once every two weeks.
That is, if Li Qingyan went to the county town to be a teacher, Yuanbao and Tiantian would most likely have to stay at home. The thought of this dampened their joy a little.
He was reluctant to leave his child, especially since his parents were not around. But even so, he had no intention of not letting Li Qingyan go. He supported all her decisions.
Li Qingyan took the book in her hand and flipped through it.
There was a look of surprise on his face: "Where did these come from?"
After she explained the matter a few days ago, she looked through the textbooks of Bowen Boyu and his classmates, but textbooks are just textbooks after all, and the content is very limited. Moreover, several children in the higher grades have not yet started, so she didn't even have a chance to look at them.
But what Song Jianshe had given her earlier was not only some useful study materials, but also textbooks for grades four and five. Although they were a bit old, they didn't affect her reading. Li Qingyan flipped through them several times, feeling very happy and a little more confident.
Although everyone said she was educated, she had not studied for many years after all, and the knowledge she had learned before was not enough to be a teacher. She was a little worried at first, but now those worries had disappeared by more than half.
"My mother asked me to buy them in the city, and some of them were exchanged by me. I guessed you might need them, so I brought them all for you." Seeing Li Qingyan's happy look, Song Jianshe also said with a smile.
"If you still need anything, just tell me and I'll definitely get it back for you so you can study and review well."
Li Qingyan looked at Song Jianshe with sparkling eyes and a bright smile on her face. She nodded: "Okay."
Seeing Li Qingyan's appearance, Song Jianshe's heart warmed up. He looked at Yuanbao and Tiantian beside him and saw that they were already asleep. He took Li Qingyan's hand and bent down to hug her.
Li Qingyan blushed, but her heart suddenly felt at ease.
It was already dark outside, and everyone in the Song family had gone to bed. However, the Zhang family in the Pingyuan Production Brigade still had their kerosene lamps lit.
"Did he hit you again?" Xu Laiying looked at the bruises on Zhang Hongli's waist, feeling both distressed and angry.
In less than two months, Zhang Hongli came back three times, and she was injured twice.
The last time she bought the girl, she saw Zhang Hongli bundled up so tightly in the scorching heat, and she felt something was wrong. When she asked about it, Zhang Hongli burst into tears. What else could she not understand? She felt heartbroken and angry, but there was nothing she could do.
Who made her daughter unable to have children? Xu Laiying wiped the tears from her eyes, feeling heartbroken.
Zhang Hongli turned her face away, feeling a little embarrassed. But she nodded, and said with a sob, "Every time he drinks, he beats me. If someone talks about the child, he will get angry and take it out on me when he comes home. Mother, because of
I can’t give birth to a child…”
Zhang Hongli burst into tears as she spoke: "Just because I can't have children, I... am I going to have to endure this forever?"
Zhang Hongli really thought that if Chen Dazhi drank too much one day, he would beat her to death. Did she not deserve to live just because she couldn't have children?
Xu Laiying wiped the tears from her eyes. She felt sorry for Zhang Hongli, but she was trying to persuade her: "Hongli, mother knows it's not easy for you. But life still has to go on. If it really doesn't work out, we can adopt another one. Dazhi is usually a very good child. He is honest and treats you well. He may...maybe he just can't get over it for a while. You...well, don't blame him..."
Hearing this, Zhang Hongli's heart felt as if it had fallen into an ice cellar, and she was shivering from the cold. She suddenly realized that the pain in her body was far less than the pain in her heart.
Although she had thought about these endings before, she still couldn't help but feel a pang of pain when she heard it. She bit her lip tightly, tears streaming down her face.
Zhang Hongli wanted to loudly refute Xu Laiying's words, but it seemed as if there was a piece of cotton blocking her throat, preventing her from making any sound. Only drops of tears fell to the ground and soaked into the soil.
Xu Laiying sighed: "Hongli, why don't you stay at home for two more days now that you're back, okay? You can calm down here and let Dazhi reflect on himself over there." After saying that, Xu Laiying couldn't help but sigh again, with a somewhat dejected expression on her face.
Zhang Hongli didn't say anything. She closed her eyes but still asked unwillingly, her voice trembling slightly: "Mom, if I want a divorce..."
Before she could finish her words, she was interrupted by Xu Laiying. Xu Laiying said anxiously: "Hongli, you can't leave, you can't leave!"
"Mom is not against your divorce, but if you divorce, what will you do if you can't find anyone better than Dazhi? Although he sometimes does bad things when he's drunk, he's usually very good to you. If you divorce, Dazhi may find someone to marry quickly, but you can't, my girl!"
What Xu Laiying didn't mention was that Zhang Hongli was already quite old, and if she divorced and couldn't have children, she would definitely not be able to find a good family. So she was determined not to let Zhang Hongli get divorced.
Zhang Hongli said nothing more and turned her face away.
........
The end of July is over,
The hot August has arrived.
The watermelons planted by the little ones in the vegetable garden have sprouted and grown small vines. Although they are still a little far from being able to bear watermelons, the little ones are still very excited and go to check on them several times a day.
Baoya also treated it more carefully, watering it carefully every day. I don't know if it was for this reason, but the ones planted by Baoya did grow better than the other smaller ones.
In the afternoon, the little ones ran out again, and Song Jianshe went to the back mountain to look for Shen Yibei. This time he was lucky, and he soon found someone.
"This is the money from the sale of matsutake mushrooms this time. It's a total of sixteen dollars and seventy cents. If you want four, I'll make it a whole seven dollars for you. Take it." Song Jianshe gave the money to Shen Yibei.
However, Shen Yibei did not accept it, “Last time I bought cicada shells from Xiao Baoer, I said I would give her money, so you can give these to her on my behalf.”
Song Jianshe couldn't help but be surprised: "This... the cicada shells you bought shouldn't be worth so much. The two matsutake mushrooms last time were enough. I'll give the money back to Baoya girl. Take these."
Shen Yibei still didn't take it: "I promised to give her more than double the money, just give it to her directly. Besides." He paused and said: "It is indeed not convenient for me to take this money, including the future. You don't have to give it to me. Just keep it with you for the time being. If I need it, I will come to you for it."
He still trusts the people in the Song family.
Song Jianshe wanted to say something, but when he thought about their situation, he agreed. At least, he could guarantee that he would not touch his money.
After he finished speaking, Song Jianshe went back and gave the money that Shen Yibei had just given him to Song Jianye, asking him to keep it for Baoya.
"So many? No, this is too much." Song Jianye was a little hesitant to accept it. After all, this was indeed a bit too much.
Song Jianshe told Shen Yibei what he said, and then said: "This child values integrity, so you can give it to Baoya girl first. If we have anything in our family later, we can send some over."
Song Jianye thought about it and decided not to refuse. After all, this was money for Baoya.
In the afternoon, the sun gradually set over the western hills. The adults in the Song family returned from work, and the children also arrived home.
While they were busy, a woman suddenly came to Old Song's house.
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