The happiest way for northerners to spend the winter is to sit around with family and friends, roasting sweet potatoes, chestnuts, peanuts, potatoes...
Eating while chatting and warming yourself by the fire is incredibly relaxing.
If you include the steamed buns and mantou that Xiaojiu brought, baking them together would be even more delicious.
Sure enough, the gluttonous eighth sister, Cuilan, forgot to cut open the chestnuts. No one saw her put the chestnuts in to roast, and before she knew it, they exploded with a bang.
The sisters were so startled that they instinctively screamed, and Xiao Jiu clutched her chest and said...
"Oh dear, thank goodness we didn't fry it while we were eating, or your mouth would have been in real trouble!"
It was just a perfectly normal joke, but Tang Cuilan unexpectedly replied with something else.
"Why didn't you remind me sooner! You were the one who brought it over, weren't you? You should have reminded me before you brought it over."
As soon as Cuilan finished speaking, everyone stared at her in shock, and there was even a moment of silence in the room.
However, she seemed oblivious to this and continued, "Knowing my eyesight is bad, aren't you just trying to harm me?"
After a moment of stunned silence, Xiao Jiu quickly tried to make amends: "Yes, I'm sorry, Eighth Sister, it's my fault. I thought everyone knew!"
"You're lucky to have eaten this stuff. I'm not as lucky as you; I've never eaten it in my life. You think you're entitled to it? You think you're entitled to it?"
Although Tang Cuihua never explicitly revealed Xiao Jiu's true identity, her face, which resembled theirs, and the way she called her "Xiao Jiu" and "Xiao Jiu," led the newly returned Cui Feng and Cui Lan to guess her identity. Looking at her clothes, her lifestyle, and their own circumstances...
In just a few days, Cuilan's mentality underwent a complete transformation. Even the lame Cuifeng would sometimes become silent and feel inferior. At first, Cuilan didn't like to talk either. She would just smile along when everyone else was talking. But for some reason, she just couldn't stand this little wine-loving girl.
They're practically the same, so why is she so lucky to have been adopted by a good family and to be able to read and go to school, while the rest of them are either blind, lame, or deaf? Why is that?
So when she blasted Xiaojiu like a machine gun, everyone guessed the reason for her sudden outburst. Cuihua, as the eldest sister, was the first to stand up.
"Xiao Ba, what are you saying?"
"Did I say something wrong? Look at the nine of us, whose life is better than hers? I don't believe you can accept that. We were all given away, but what kind of life did I live, and what kind of life did she live?"
Faced with Cui Feng's roar, Cui Hua could no longer hold back and stood up abruptly.
"What does this have to do with her? Why are you targeting her? Is she the one who caused your miserable lives? If we're really talking about responsibility, shouldn't we blame our parents, our grandmother, our maternal grandmother, or even me? She's younger than all of you, so why are you blaming her? She was just lucky to be married into a kind family. What did she do wrong that makes you say such things about her?"
Seeing that Cuihua was getting more and more agitated, with tears in her eyes and her voice starting to choke, Xiaojiu quickly stood up.
"Big sister, don't be angry. Eighth sister is upset, I understand. Don't worry about me, I'm fine. Besides, what she said isn't wrong. I didn't think things through. I didn't consider her feelings beforehand."
At this moment, Tang Cuihua was already crying, lamenting her own uselessness. She had sent so many younger sisters away, yet she couldn't remember which family each of them had gone to, and she hadn't even thought to visit them all these years, causing them to suffer so much.
Cuiju was also upset, and continued what Xiaojiu had said.
“Jiu’er, what did you do wrong? Haven’t you helped us enough? Without your influence, would the Tao family have helped us? Without the Tao family’s help, how could they have returned so easily? Haven’t you given us enough food, supplies, and even money over the years? Just because she doesn’t know doesn’t mean we don’t know, so don’t take your eighth sister’s words to heart.”
Cuifeng never expected that her casual words would lead to this situation. Seeing her elder sister crying her eyes out, she also panicked a little.
"Big sister, I was wrong, big sister, please don't cry, I didn't know,"
Cuilian looked at Cuifeng and sighed, then said softly.
"You really don't know, and it's our fault for not telling you in time how we've become independent and left that family all these years. It's given you the illusion that Xiao Jiu enjoyed a blessing we could never have in our entire lives from the moment she was born. Seventh brother, eighth brother, since we've come this far, I'll just tell you everything clearly. Jiu was born in 1950. Back then, she was sold by our parents for two million. Our eldest sister and grandmother took her to the Tao family in town who sold wine..."
...
By the time Cuilian finished recounting the events of the past nine years in detail, it was already dark outside. Everyone was silent, with occasional soft sobs heard, including Xiaojiu herself. Recalling the bits and pieces of these years, she would sigh and say that it had not been easy.
"So, what did Xiaojiu do wrong? Ever since she can remember, she's always been on our side. All the good food we eat is thanks to her. She even brought eggs and duck eggs to help you get better. We're sorry to the people in Taoyuan Village, not our youngest sister!"
After listening to the accounts of Cui Lian, Cui Hua, and Cui Ju, everyone except Cui Hong, who lived in her own world, had their eyes turn red uncontrollably.
Especially the four sisters, Wu, Liu, Qi, and Ba, who knew the least about Xiao Jiu. Even though Wu and Liu returned early, they didn't actually have much contact with Xiao Jiu because of school. So when they heard what the three sisters said, they felt extremely guilty.
"I'm sorry, Xiao Jiu. I haven't paid much attention to you before. I didn't know you had done so much for us. Thank you."
"And me, I'm not good with words, and I never knew how much my little sister sacrificed for us. I'm sorry, Jiu'er. If you need any help from your older sister in the future, be sure to tell your sixth sister loudly!"
The seventh brother was a timid and hesitant person. Even after coming to Xihe Village, he couldn't change his old personality. His voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz.
"Jiu'er, Seventh Sister thanks you, thank you so much."
Finally, only Lao Ba was left. She blushed and looked flustered, and apologized for what she had just said.
It was clear that she genuinely felt she had made a mistake, so Xiao Jiu generously took the hands of Lao Qi and Lao Ba.
"Oh dear, look at what you're saying. It's nothing serious. It's all good to talk it out. We're sisters, and we'll be there for each other through thick and thin. Seventh and Eighth Sisters, don't feel inferior or think we'll look down on you. Look how good Fourth Sister is. She never cares about these things. As long as she works hard, eats, sleeps, and is happy every day, she's already better than many of her peers, isn't she?"
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