Xiao Jiu was kept tightly sealed. When he got home, it wasn't dark yet. The village was bustling with activity as many married daughters came back to visit relatives. Before they even left, they saw Cuihua and her group return and couldn't help but stare at the little one and ask him questions.
"Hey, could this be your youngest sister? Did you find her too?"
Xiao Jiu's big eyes peeked out, and she was dressed stylishly, making it clear to anyone with eyes that her family was well-off.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Jiu felt that these villagers were too shrewd.
But Cuihua wouldn't admit it: "Auntie, no way! This is my godmother's granddaughter. We went to visit relatives today, and she insisted on coming to our house to play. Don't talk nonsense. My youngest sister is probably gone forever. The family she was given away to back then even sold their house and moved to the city. I'll probably never see her again in this lifetime."
"Really? So you've already gone to look for them?"
Cuihua looked quite distressed. "We've already looked for them. They're well-off and only have one little girl. They'll definitely cherish her. They can accept it if she doesn't come back. We sisters are only willing to come back with us because we're not doing well. Why would someone who's truly doing well want to come back?"
After Cuihua dismissed the villagers who had come to watch the commotion and returned home, Cuimei and Cuixiang pulled Xiaojiu over and stared at him intently.
"So Little Peach is our Xiao Jiu?"
"So that's why you were all covered up, you were afraid of being recognized!"
"Elder sister, why? We've already been recognized, and you have a good relationship with the Tao family, so why...?"
Tang Cuihua gave a wry smile, took off Xiaojiu's hat and scarf, and ruffled her hair.
Touching her jet-black, lustrous hair and looking into her beautiful, clear eyes, I felt a deep desire to cherish her.
“The Tao family has been kind to us. Dad and Mom are like ticking time bombs, leeches, bloodsuckers. If they knew Xiao Jiu was doing well, who knows if they would run to the Tao family? So in the past few years, we have reached a consensus with the Tao family to hide Xiao Jiu’s background. When Jiu grows up, she can’t come to our house anymore, because she will be recognized too easily.”
Upon hearing this, the sisters couldn't help but praise their eldest sister for her thoughtfulness. Indeed, there were those who had such unscrupulous parents, and those who were doing poorly, like them, were not worth mentioning. But those who were doing well definitely needed to be protected.
"Don't worry, sisters. I know everything and understand everything. I won't say anything carelessly in the future. Besides, I'll stay at home these next few days and won't go anywhere."
Cuiju was touched. "Good wine, from now on, protect yourself like this. Don't say anything carelessly outside. This is all for the good of the Tao family, understand?"
Xiao Jiu nodded sensibly, "I understand, sister."
The Tang sisters slept in bunk beds. There were five bunk beds in total. These beds were made of iron and were scrap metal bought from a junkyard. They were all discarded by the school.
All five beds are now occupied, except for three empty upper bunks.
Looking at the empty bunks, Cuihua couldn't help but sigh, "I wonder how the seventh and eighth sisters are doing. One was born in 1946 and the other in 1948. The older one is eleven years old this year, and the younger one is nine. Fifth brother, which village did you say they were in?"
"Nanwa Village and Zhao Family Village, but you should be prepared, one of them is lame, and the other has necrotic right eye. Judging by the time, they're already..."
Xiao Jiu looked at Fifth Sister in surprise, feeling that she seemed a little different. Why would her eldest sister ask her where Seventh and Eighth Sisters were?
She also said that if you calculate the time, they have already had an accident and have been left with disabilities.
Just as Xiao Jiu was having doubts, Cui Xiang spoke up. After spending these days together, she had naturally figured things out.
Without any hesitation, she said, "Actually, my condition isn't very good either. I get chilblains every year, and my wrists and legs are very weak, so I can't do heavy work. It's all because of the old injuries I've sustained over the years. My spleen and stomach are also very weak; I can't eat cold food, or I'll get diarrhea."
Judging from this, the only healthy ones are probably Cuihua, Cuiju, and Cuilian Xiaojiu. The remaining four are deaf, the fifth is disfigured, the sixth has old injuries, the seventh is lame, and the eighth has necrotic right eye. If this family didn't have the support of these transmigrators, I'm afraid none of them would have been able to make a living.
It was not surprising that the sisters had finally gathered together. It was not surprising that Cuihua had memories of her rebirth. The fourth sister brought out shrimp today, and everyone understood to some extent. Cuihua knew that the fifth sister had transmigrated into the book and was already studying medicine. The others were ambiguous. Although the sixth sister did not reveal the fact that she was a man in her previous life, she would take the initiative to go out and not watch whenever the sisters changed clothes.
She never even went to public bathhouses; if she wanted to shower, she would do so at home. She was afraid of getting a sty because she didn't dare go to public bathhouses. He wasn't a pervert; even if he was lecherous, he wouldn't make himself look sleazy. So she simply didn't actively look and upheld her moral bottom line.
Although Xiao Jiu remained silent, she gleaned some insights from the conversation among her sisters.
"It seems these sisters all met tragic ends in their previous lives. Did the system make a mistake in distributing them this time? How come so many cheat codes appear at the same time? This must be the biggest bug ever!"
But looking at it from another perspective, it's actually a good thing. At least it proves that the family is full of hope, and that if they can fight for one person, they will succeed.
A daughter's self-reliance will be fully demonstrated in this family; men and such can be considered insignificant.
Ning Meng had never been in a relationship, but she once asked her mother to explain the benefits of marriage.
As a result, she couldn't answer. Not only her, but all the female elders she had asked seemed unable to answer either.
It's not that she's selling anxiety about marriage here, but rather that women in later generations have become so aware that marriage and childbirth will affect their quality of life and family relationships. So why get married?
Sometimes even she couldn't help but feel tempted to become a celibate person in the new century.
Perhaps Grandpa, Dad, and my brothers are all doing well now; at least Grandpa and Dad's marriage is fulfilling and joyful, but my brothers may not be.
Right now, the siblings are united and still a family, but if they bring her a sister-in-law in the future, then it won't be a family anymore, but four families.
If she continues to live with her parents, that's five families; if she gets married, that's six families.
As a tree grows taller, it will eventually branch out; this is the principle behind the saying "spreading branches and leaves."
The situation of the Tang sisters is similar. If these sisters have some flaws, they are more likely to remain unmarried in the future.
Regardless of where this sixth sister's soul came from, she has already made it clear that she cannot do heavy work and that she used to be a cook, so in the future, studying is indeed the only way out.
If you can study well, you won't need to carry a pot or be surrounded by cooking fumes all day long. That's why she taught her fourth sister.
Fourth Sister rarely speaks and lives in her own world, but she seems very interested in Sixth Sister teaching her to cook. The key is that she has plenty of strength and is meticulous in her work. She has even mastered knife skills. Sixth Sister even joked that she has a successor.
That's where the magic of blood ties lies. Sometimes, without saying a word, a single glance or a utterance of the other person is enough to understand each other's meaning.
That night, the sisters talked a lot. Apart from the fourth sister, Cuihong, who was fast asleep and the ninth sister, Xiaojiu, who was drowsy, the others all shared their visions for the future.
Xiao Jiu didn't even know when she fell asleep; she was woken up the next day by her fourth sister's big face.
When Xiao Jiu sat up, rubbing her eyes, she noticed that her fourth sister was also sitting there with her fluffy hair sticking up, yawning and looking adorable. She was clearly still half asleep, but it was already daylight, and only the two of them were left in the house.
Tang Cuihong's vocal cords were fine, and she could speak. She had developed a skill to try to identify pronunciation by reading the other person's lip movements, so she could roughly guess the relationship between Xiaojiu and them. After shaking her awake, she sat on the side of the bed and tilted her head to look at her.
"It's getting late, shall we get up?"
Xiao Jiu nodded vigorously and obediently got up. Afraid that she would be cold, her eldest sister covered her with two quilts, with her cotton-padded jacket and trousers sandwiched between the two quilts. Her fourth sister took them out for her and wanted to help her put them on, but she smiled and shook her head, "Sister, I can do it myself."
Cuihong nodded without saying anything, then climbed back onto her bed, folded the quilt, and tidied up the room as well.
Following her example, Xiao Jiu dressed herself, made her bed, and cleaned it up. The two sisters then went out hand in hand.
Fifth and sixth sisters were studying in the main room. When they saw the two of them get up, they said something without even looking up.
"The food is still in the pot, it's hot, you two should eat quickly."
As they spoke, their breath turned into white mist. They had thought the outside was covered in snow, but it turned out that the ground was just wet. It seemed that the snow last night was not heavy and had turned into sleet. Now the ground was sticky and their feet would stick to the ground.
On the morning of the third day of the Lunar New Year, the eldest and second eldest sisters were tidying up the grain in the east room, while the third sister was chopping firewood outside. The happiest people in the whole family were probably the deaf fourth sister and her, who were still very young.
There was still some corn porridge left in the iron pot, it was sticky and gooey, and there were also chunks of sweet potato in it, it looked very appetizing.
There's also pickled shredded radish, which is their breakfast in the morning.
"You two hurry up and eat. We're not leaving anytime soon. We'll be making lunch in two hours. There's not much left, but it'll be enough for you to have a little something to eat."
"Yes, we'll have dumplings for lunch. This year, we made pork lard and radish dumplings. We'll also have some wine to try our cooking."
The eldest and second eldest sisters gave instructions one after another. Xiao Jiu and the fourth brother went into the house to serve rice. Seeing that the fourth sister had served her too much, she quickly blocked it with her hand.
"Sis, that's enough. I don't eat much this morning. You eat more. Just give me a spoonful."
There was corn grits and sweet potato porridge, and one spoonful was enough for her. Sister Hong didn't stand on ceremony with her. After serving her the porridge, she pulled her to sit on a small stool outside. There were pickled vegetables on a small table in the middle. The two sisters looked at the gray sky outside and slurped up the sweet corn and sweet potato porridge, enjoying it immensely.
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