Along the way, the four children took turns teasing Zhang Hongmei with their words.
The old lady understood Zhang Hongmei's low spirits.
"Hongmei, I just received a call from Haishi. It was Xiuling calling back. She got married. Tell the family."
"Oh, marriage is a good thing. Life isn't easy for a woman either."
"I'm old, and you're all grown up. I don't care anymore, so let things be as they may."
"It would be best if you could come to terms with it."
“What else is bothering you? You brought back cloth for the village. Wang Hongxi just said that everyone wants to have a meal with your family in the canteen.”
"Okay, I'll have my uncle go buy two pigs, some grain, chickens, fish and stuff, and we'll all have a meal together."
"You don't need to worry about it. The village has money now, so this time we can let you take back the money we owed you before."
"Grandma, I have money."
"Having money is your business, but if you owe something, you have to pay it back."
"Grandma, how about this? I'll add some more money, and we can repave the village roads, widen them, and make them asphalt roads?"
"There's no need for asphalt. Instead, widen it and pave it with stone powder."
"Alright."
The mother and daughter leaned against the pile of quilts, chatting about village gossip.
That made me feel a little better.
The four children entered the house together, and it was the third child who spoke first. "Grandpa, we still want to go up the mountain, okay, Grandpa?"
"Okay, go ahead, be careful."
"Alright!" The four children rushed out, calling out to Chengzi and Xiaoli, and the six of them set off.
Liu Qiang, the little guy, sat between the two of them, sniffling and with tears in his eyes.
"Auntie, when will I grow up?"
"You'll be grown up soon. How about I take you to your house this afternoon? I'll bring my camera and take pictures of you. I'll mail them to your parents so they can be envious, okay?"
Liu Qiang, although your mother has visited our village, she has never been to your house. You see, you know the house before she does.
"Auntie, take a few more pictures, my mom must miss me."
“Great! Tomorrow, the whole village will eat together, we’ll take pictures, and mail them back to your dad so he can’t wait.”
"Okay, okay!"
Finally, after calming the little one down, Zhang Hongmei breathed a sigh of relief. Liu Qiang had never cried since he arrived, and her own four children rarely cried either, so Zhang Hongmei was really not used to children shedding tears.
"Grandma, is Chongyu coming back with me this time?"
"Okay, you can take him with you. This child is too quiet."
"Grandma, how about this? Ping An from Er Ya's family will stop practicing martial arts. I'll go home and find someone to teach them cultural knowledge, teaching them in every field."
"That would be such a waste."
"It's alright, let the younger ones learn from me. Brother Er Lengzi is hoping I can train him to become a college student."
"Heh, he only realized now that you can't get by without education, huh? If I hadn't ignored him back then, he probably wouldn't have even finished elementary school."
"It's a good thing you were assertive back then, otherwise, it would have been really difficult for him to rise to the next level. That's why I think that's why Brother Er Lengzi wanted Liu Qiang to be knowledgeable."
“Okay, I’ll tell Jingxiang and his wife to pick up the child every Saturday and Sunday.”
"Grandma, how about we send one of the family's nannies over so that Sister-in-law Ma can have another child?"
“I’ve said it before, but it just hasn’t happened.”
"Why don't we just ask Old Sun to take a look?"
"I've checked, and neither of them has any problems. Let's just wait and see; their time hasn't come yet."
"That's all we can do."
"Hongmei, why haven't you made a sound?"
A little embarrassed, Zhang Hongmei leaned close to the old lady's ear and whispered about Zhang Shouyi's tubal ligation.
The old lady felt very upset after hearing this. Now, even the last bit of resentment she felt had vanished. Wasn't this true love for Zhang Hongmei?
"It's fine if we don't need them, there are enough of the four of them already."
"Actually, I wanted a daughter, but he disagreed. Maybe he was scared when I was pregnant."
The mother and daughter had endless things to talk about, chattering away.
At this moment, Zhang Shouyi and Liu Jingze were in the study upstairs.
The two didn't chat; they just played chess. Hu Aifen thoughtfully brought them two tin stoves. They were burning brightly, making the room quite warm.
The two were evenly matched, and it was a tense period. Both considered their options carefully before taking the next step.
If Zhang Hongmei saw this scene, she would probably laugh.
Without her four children, the old lady doesn't enjoy her lunch.
Liu Aimin went out again in the afternoon. All the men in the village were busy in the canteen, slaughtering pigs and sheep, while the women were busy cleaning up, tidying up pots and pans.
The children didn't return until after dark. Seeing their excited expressions, Zhang Hongmei swallowed all her criticisms.
Liu Aimin saw that there were more than twenty prey scattered all over the ground.
"Zhenye, what are your plans for these things?"
"Grandpa, isn't the whole village eating together tomorrow? Send everything to the canteen so we can add extra dishes for everyone."
"Okay, I'll send it over right away." Liu Aimin was quite happy; this child was easygoing.
The six of them went home to change their clothes. "Uncle Li, you can tell my dad about what happened today. As for my mom, let my dad decide."
"Yes, there won't be a next time."
"Yes, we will definitely learn from this lesson and never make the same mistake again."
They had just started eating dumplings when Dashan came in.
Zhang Hongmei felt a lump in her throat as she looked at Dashan; he had a lot of gray hair.
"Dashan, quickly drink some soup and sit down to eat dumplings." Hu Aifen pulled him to sit down and served him a bowl of dumpling soup.
"Auntie, I'm starving."
"Eat as much as you want."
"Girl, why are you staring at me like that?"
"Brother Dashan, it's you?"
"It's okay. My dad called to tell me you were back, so I had to come back and see you. I'll tell you after I finish eating the dumplings."
Zhang Hongmei had no appetite at all. Zhang Shouyi was a little dissatisfied and whispered, "Eat something, or you'll feel uncomfortable."
Zhang Hongmei had no choice but to eat two more. She glanced apologetically at Zhang Shouyi, then put down her chopsticks.
After finishing the meal and cleaning up, Liu Jingze coaxed the six children, "I'll roast some sweet potatoes for you, they're sweet and delicious."
"Godfather, are you sure you can do it?"
“Son, you can’t doubt me like that. Today I’ll show you my skills.”
The children went out with Liu Jingze.
"Hongmei, I'm going home now. I'll come pick you up in two hours."
"No need, I can go back by myself."
Zhang Shouyi just smiled and didn't say anything.
The old lady called them back to her room, and the three of them sat side by side on the kang (a heated brick bed).
"Brother Dashan, why do you look so old? How could you do this? What's bothering you?"
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