Twenty minutes later, they arrived at Liujiatun. Zhang Hongmei felt a surge of excitement; this was a sense of belonging.
Having traveled through time, I opened my eyes and saw this place: a dilapidated roof covered with a dirty, tattered quilt.
But he just felt that this was home. He had a chick complex. He looked at the low, dilapidated houses on both sides of the road, almost all of which were fenced off. He saw little boys, shirtless and tanned, running in groups of three or five towards the river.
The younger girls chased after them. Zhang Hongmei could still recognize a few of them. When the children saw the car, they all stopped by the roadside, and their laughter and playful noises ceased.
Zhang Hongmei asked Xiao Li to stop the car, took out a bag of candy, and got out of the car.
The older children all recognized Zhang Hongmei. When they saw her getting off the bus, they all ran over and said, "Sister Hongmei, Aunt Hongmei, you're back?"
Zhang Hongmei squatted down. "Yes, I came to see you. Here, have some candy."
Zhang Hongmei gave them five or six yuan each, asking, "Are you going to the river?"
"Aunt Hongmei, let's go have a water fight. Do you want to come?"
"Hehe, I'm not going. Be careful, don't go into deep water. The older kids should take care of the younger ones."
"I know, Aunt Hongmei. There's a truck parked in front of your house, and they brought over a big fat pig."
"Yes, I'll stew meat for you tomorrow."
"Great! Great! We get to eat meat!" the children cheered.
"You guys go ahead, I'm going home now."
Zhang Hongmei watched the children skip and jump away, and smiled.
He walked to the car and said, "Brother Zhang, I'll walk back."
Zhang Shouyi also got out of the car. "I'll go with you, let's walk back."
After seeing his boss get out of the car, Xiao Li quickly got into the driver's seat. However, he didn't rush to drive because he didn't know where Zhang Hongmei's house was, so he waited for his boss to get in front while he followed behind.
"Brother Zhang, let's go straight to the old lady's house. Maybe we'll get a good meal there."
"Hehe, whatever you say."
Zhang Hongmei walked ahead, with Zhang Shouyi half a step behind her. Looking at the cheerful young girl, he finally understood her feelings for Liujiatun.
Xiao Li followed at a distance in his car, watching the two figures in front of him from behind. He thought they were such a perfect match, so harmonious.
When he arrived at the old lady's door, he said, "Great-Grandma, I'm back again." After saying that, he felt something was off. Why did his tone sound so much like, "I, Hu Hansan, am back again?"
Sticking out its tongue, it happily entered the yard.
At her shout, the old lady inside came out, leaning on her cane.
The other family members also came out of their own rooms.
Hu Aifen, ever the quickest to notice, asked, "Hongmei, why are you back again? Are you going abroad?"
“Auntie, you’re still so clever. Yes, the date is set for September 8th. I must come back to see you before I leave.”
The two women talked as they walked until they reached the old woman's side.
Liu Aimin walked over to Zhang Shouyi and said, "Hehe, welcome, leader. Come on, let's have a seat at home."
"Please don't be so polite, I am a junior."
Liu Aimin just smiled, and at that moment Zhang Hongmei had already led the old lady into the house.
"Then I'll take my leave." Zhang Shouyi followed Liu Aimin into the house.
"Grandma, I'm leaving on the 8th. You'll miss me and wait for me to come back, right?"
"Yes. I'll miss you. But whether you come back is not something I can decide."
Zhang Hongmei sat with the old lady on the kang (a heated brick bed), the two holding hands.
"Why did he come back with you?" The old lady gestured with her chin toward Zhang Shouyi.
"Hehe, Grandma, let me tell you, I sold myself to him." Zhang Hongmei said without any shyness, only a little embarrassed. It wasn't about being shy, but rather the embarrassment of a girl saying such a thing.
The old lady's eyes widened immediately, and Zhang Hongmei felt that her eyebrows had stood up.
Hu Aifen was also sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed), and her heart skipped a beat when she heard the news.
"What happened?"
"That's when I got our marriage certificate."
The old lady gripped Zhang Hongmei's hand so tightly that she could feel the pain herself; she never expected someone of her age to have such a strong grip.
"Hongmei, are you stupid?" Hu Aifen said angrily from the side, her daughter-in-law had been stolen by someone else.
When the old lady saw that Zhang Hongmei looked a little frightened, she came to her senses and slowly let go of her hand.
"What exactly happened?"
The men outside came in as well. Zhang Hongmei thought about it and decided it was better to tell the truth.
"Grandma, this happened a bit suddenly, but it's for the best. It was bound to happen sooner or later, and it saves me the trouble."
The old lady let go of Zhang Hongmei and leaned against the pile of quilts.
Hu Aifen paced anxiously, "Hongmei, what happened? We're home now, everything's alright. If you were bullied or wronged, your family will back you up."
“Auntie, we weren’t bullied. Great-grandmother, this was actually something we were forced to do.”
Zhou Shixiong's grandson, Zhou Yuanqing, is completely ruined. He said he wants me to be with his grand-nephew, Zhou Jianwei.
Zhang Hongmei stopped there, saying that saying too much would be counterproductive, as there was only one person in charge of the household with a thousand mouths, and everyone was looking at the old lady.
"Jingze's mom, go cook. They haven't eaten yet when they get back."
"Yes, Grandma, I'll go cook right away. Hongmei, how about cold noodles? Tomato and egg sauce."
"Auntie, anything is fine, I'm really hungry."
"Okay, just wait and you'll get it, it'll be done in a little while."
Zhang Hongmei smiled and nodded, took out two pieces of fruit candy from her handbag, unwrapped one, put it into the old lady's mouth, and put the other into her own mouth.
The old lady didn't refuse, and somehow the candy in her mouth still tasted like peach.
The old lady squinted at Zhang Shouyi sitting in the chair, and her heart gradually calmed down.
"Hongmei, Zhou Shixiong's grandson went crazy in our village last time. Could it be because of this?"
“Grandma, how could that be? Zhou Shixiong knows that his grandson was acting strangely before he came. When I went to see him, he didn’t mention this to me. He knows what’s going on himself.”
"Oh, then why does he make such a demand of you?"
“I don’t know either, but he knows my mother’s identity and even calls himself my great-uncle.”
"Oh? That's what he said?"
"Yes, he said his aunt is my great-grandmother."
"Yes, the Zhou family produced an empress. I didn't expect you two had such a connection."
“I had no idea that my parents were killed by Zhou Yuanqing. Zhou Shixiong must have known about this for a long time. I am the only one left alive in my family. Is this because they value my bloodline? I can't think of any other reason. This is the only explanation that makes sense.”
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