Chapter 14

Due to occupational disease, after picking out the typos, he hesitated for only a few seconds before putting the letter into his pocket.

She returned slowly and packed up all the things, and then handed the letter to her mother-in-law while eating.

Hu Xiu took it and asked curiously, "What is it?"

Tingting: "I don't know who wrote it, it's stuck on the seam of my back window."

Hearing this, Hu Xiu looked a little more serious, but after seeing the contents clearly, his face darkened at first, and then he said in disdain: "Who wrote this? There are several wrong words."

Hu Xiu had never been to a proper school, but he was determined to learn, so simple writing was not a problem for him.

Unexpectedly, her mother-in-law had the same reaction as hers. She laughed out loud: "That was my first reaction just now."

Hu Xiu: "You're not angry?"

Tingting: "What's there to be angry about? I guess it was written by some girl who likes Huo Xiao."

Frankly speaking, Ting Ting really doesn't care about the threat from the owner of the letter.

Regardless of whether the other party made an accidental mistake or really knew something, they still have to provide evidence, right?

Hu Xiu, however, was not as open-minded as Tingting. It was not that she doubted her daughter-in-law, but she was annoyed by those who were jealous of her family's well-being.

She was even more unhappy after hearing her daughter-in-law's guess: "What? Is he trying to have an affair?" This kind of behavior alone is not a good thing to do, as her son is married.

Li Ting broke open the nest, stuffed a few small pieces of pickled vegetables into it, took a bite and said, "There's no need to be angry. I showed you the letter just to prepare you mentally. After all, the other party may write to you again."

Hu Xiu slammed the table and said, "Ask her to write it. I want to see who has lost his conscience."

For the next few days, Hu Xiu didn't go anywhere.

Wo was at home preparing for the New Year, but he would glance out the back window from time to time.

Not only was she busy herself, she also made the twins become little detectives.

After persuading her twice, and seeing that she was energetic, he followed her.

After all, Laba has passed and the countdown to the New Year has officially begun, and there are so many things to do.

In addition to hiring a tailor to make new clothes, I had to do all the chores myself, like taking apart the quilt, sweeping the walls, pasting lanterns, steaming rice cakes, etc. It was a headache just thinking about it.

On this day, Ruiting and her mother-in-law prepared to sweep the wall.

This was a big project, so the two of them first covered the kang bed with the worn-out sheets they were reluctant to throw away.

He put all the odds and ends outside into the cupboard, then picked up the broom tied to the wooden stick and swept away the dust and cobwebs in every corner.

The house is newly built and is cleaned every year during the Chinese New Year, so it is not really dirty.

But both the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law love cleanliness, so after cleaning up, they are still tired with sore backs and weak arms.

Ruiting sat on the ground with her back against her mother-in-law, missing her future housekeeping job: "Mom, I'm so tired. My hands are shaking."

"Me too... this kid is lucky, he can just wait to eat the ready-made food." At this moment, no matter how much motherly love Hu Xiu had, she couldn't help but feel jealous.

Li Ting tried to hold back her laughter. Sometimes, she really thought her mother-in-law’s personality was a bit funny.

But then I thought it was normal, after all, she was only 46 years old. In the future, there are many fashionable ladies of this age...

Just when Li Ting was thinking about asking her mother-in-law to take care of her face next time, a shrill scream suddenly rang out.

The unsuspecting Rueting was startled.

Hu Xiu hurriedly patted his daughter-in-law on the back and said, "Are you scared? Don't be afraid. There's a pig slaughter in the village. Didn't I tell you this morning that there's a pig slaughter banquet today?"

Ruiting had not forgotten it, but it was the first time she heard the sound of a pig being slaughtered in real life, and it was quite scary.

After sitting for a while, Hu Xiu took the lead in untying the cloth on her head, shook off the dust on it, and instructed her daughter-in-law: "Come, stand up straight, mom will shake off the dust for you, we have to hurry up."

With a grin on his face, he climbed up and spread his hands, "I don't want to watch a pig being slaughtered."

Hu Xiu said with a smile: "Who told you to look? We have to hurry over to eat the pig slaughter dishes, and we have to share the meat."

"Didn't the pig just get killed?"

"Once we clean up the floor and change our clothes, it will be almost time."

Hearing this, Ruiting did not ask any more questions. After she was clean, she reached out to take the towel and helped her mother-in-law clean up.

When she was walking towards the brigade headquarters with her child in her arms and locked up, she didn't realize it was too early to get out.

We met many villagers on the way. Each of them carried a basket, and in the basket were bowls and chopsticks, just like them.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law blended into the crowd very naturally. As they talked and laughed, the rich and overbearing aroma of meat wafted over.

Li Ting couldn't help but sniff, Hmm... It smells so good, I guess they added sauerkraut to it.

Sure enough, just as she was thinking this, her aunt said, "Pingshun's wife's cooking skills are really good. It tastes so delicious. It is said that in addition to pickled cabbage, she also put bean sprouts, potatoes and vermicelli."

The other auntie didn't mind: "It's like this every year. Besides, it's meat, how can it not taste good? I can cook it no worse than this."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone immediately burst into laughter.

Someone even laughed and scolded: "Forget it, if you really were allowed to cook, would we still have ours? You would have hidden a piece here and a pound there. I remember when we were having a big pot of rice, you wrapped a piece of pig liver around your waist, staining your pants with blood, and you still lied to everyone that you were having your period."

"Nonsense, I just had my period."

Seeing her blushing face and thick neck, everyone burst into laughter again.

Ruting had never seen anything like this before, so she asked her mother-in-law in a low voice, "Did they really hide the pig's liver?"

Hu Xiu nodded: "They are all poor and noisy."

Too...

Only when I was in this environment did I realize that most people can eat enough.

But wanting to eat well is a luxury. The Huo family has the best conditions in the village, but they can only see pork twice a month.

If it weren't for the eggs, fish and game provided by her mother's family to supplement the diet, she would have been drooling at the aroma.

In fact, when he arrived at the brigade headquarters and stood in front of several large iron pots emitting the aroma of meat, he couldn't help but secretly swallow his saliva.

It smells so good.

Is it freshly slaughtered pigs?

Otherwise, why would it smell so good?

Fortunately, her embarrassing behavior was not an isolated case. Compared with those people who were standing around the iron pot and unable to move, she was considered decent.

After finishing the patch for herself, she picked up a bib to wipe the corners of the two kids' mouths, and then stood with her mother-in-law in the line to distribute the meat.

The meat was measured by centimeters. Ruting was a new bride, and it would be cold before she gained a few centimeters, so she didn't get any share.

No matter how capable Hu Xiu was, he could only get about one pound. Fortunately, after delivering the supply pigs and dividing it by centimeters, there was still one and a half pounds left.

Hu Xiu, who was quite wealthy, used his banknotes to buy a few pounds of fat and lean meat.

After putting it in the vegetable basket and covering it with a cloth, both the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law were very happy.

At this moment, Ruting, who was immersed in the joy of eating meat, seemed to notice something and turned his head to look to the right front.

Then I was faced with a face that was...made up.

To be honest, she was a little surprised.

Li Ting knew that there were cosmetics in that era, after all, opera singers at temple fairs would wear makeup.

But that was a performance. It was the first time she had seen makeup in real life in this era.

But the makeup is all ruined, especially the lips, which are smudged beyond words.

Of course, none of this mattered. What concerned her most was the way the other person looked at her, evasive and filled with disgust.

There was really no way for Ruting not to bring the other party into the owner of the letter.

Hu Xiu turned the basket of meat in a different direction and placed it under her eyes, and was about to call her daughter-in-law to leave: "Tingting, have you seen your second and third aunts...what are you looking at?" As she spoke, she also looked in the direction of her daughter-in-law's sight, and then she covered her heart with a cry of "ouch", "Mom, is that Qin girl from Liujin's family? How did she become like this? She looks like a demon, and quite scary."

Fairies are beauties, monsters are scary, she complained in her heart, but asked, "Do you know him?"

Hu Xiu: "Why don't you know her? We're from the same brigade. Her mother is Zhao Sanni, who sent us rice cakes the day before yesterday. Remember?"

Ruting suddenly realized whose family it was and looked away.

She didn't plan to tell her mother-in-law about her doubts for the time being.

One is that she really doesn't care about this matter. Just like she said before, there must be evidence for everything.

The other is...she has no evidence either.

So...let's wait and eat the pig slaughter food first.

There's nothing I can do. It smells so good.

the other side.

Ever since she sent the letter a few days ago, Wang Xiuqin has been anxiously waiting for Tingting's reaction.

She didn't dare to go to their house to inquire, for fear of exposing herself, so she could only ask her parents a few questions in a roundabout way every day.

After making sure that the other party did not escape, Wang Xiuqin felt as if her heart was burning.

Why hasn't that bad woman left yet? When will she leave?

Wang Xiuqin, who was about to go crazy, felt it necessary to see the other party's attitude in person.

So, she finally made it to the day of the pig-killing feast. She spent 20 cents early in the morning to borrow an eyebrow pencil from the old secretary's educated youth granddaughter-in-law to draw her eyebrows, and also painted her lips red with red paper.

After dressing up, she felt that she looked even more charming than that bad woman, Lu Ting, and so she went out in front of her family's shocked ("hell, what the hell") eyes.

Before meeting that bad woman, Li Ting, Wang Xiuqin had guessed a lot about her condition.

But it's never like this.

Who could tell her why, after just a few days of not seeing her, Tingting not only did not look guilty and haggard, but became even more beautiful.

If he wasn't wearing an old cotton jacket, just looking at his face, who would believe he was a country boy?

Didn’t you see those arrogant educated youth staring at her? Before Ruting came, those educated youth were smiling at her.

No, Wang Xiuqin bit her lip in anger and secretly encouraged herself.

If one trick doesn't work, I'll think of another one. I don't believe I can't drive her away.

At this moment, a clean-looking male educated youth from the educated youth team walked towards Wang Xiuqin and said, "Comrade Wang, you..."

Wang Xiuqin's heart skipped a beat when the other party came over.

Now he was sure that the person was coming for him, so he rolled his eyes and turned away.

God knows, most of these educated youth cannot carry anything on their shoulders or lift anything with their hands, and some even have difficulty supporting themselves.

And until ten years later, in early 1977, when she died, these educated youth were unable to return to the city.

She didn't want to date someone like that. What would she eat? Mud and dirt?

Seeing this, the male educated youth who was about to remind Comrade Wang that she had overdone her makeup touched his nose awkwardly.

"I told you not to meddle in other's business. Are you stupid? Many fellow villagers in the brigade don't want to pay attention to us..." At this time, several educated youths gathered together, and one of them put his arm around his brother's neck and said jokingly.

The young man coughed and said, "Forget it. I guess they just misunderstood something."

"No matter what misunderstanding she made, the one wearing the navy blue shirt must be the wife of the military officer who went to the army a while ago. This is the first time I have seen someone so close. Wow, she is so pretty..."

“I heard he’s a college student.”

"University... There is no university anymore..."

"......"

The weather was too cold, and there were two three-year-old children.

So after killing the pig, they fed each of the twins two pieces of blood sausage. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law also ate a few bites to satisfy their hunger, and then hurried home with their baskets.

After arriving home, the two did not rest but poured the frozen vegetables into the pot to heat them up. Then they indulged themselves again and made chicken and egg white pancakes with chopped green onions.

This meal was so delicious that not only the two adults, but even the twins could not lift their heads to eat.

Because it was so delicious, even after a few days, I still couldn't forget it.

Hu Xiu said, "Wait another five days and Xiao will be home. Mom has stocked up on some blood sausages. We'll add two pounds of meat and give him a good meal."

Verbena...suddenly I don't feel like eating it that much.

At the same time, Huo Xiao, who was on a train from Chengdu to Shanghai, sneezed without any warning.

After a moment, the handsome man raised his lips in a good mood...someone must be missing him.