"Mom, from now on, I’ll take you with wherever I go. I absolutely won’t let you be all alone."
"Alright, bring the food, I’m hungry."
Once they talked things through, the mother and daughter were as before, neither holding grudges overnight.
In the evening, Lin Xiang brought a basin of hot water and asked Mrs. Lin to roll up her sleeves to clean the injured area with the hot water and applied a layer of red dicine.
"She really went all out. Even with such thick clothing, there are marks left behind. If she had really hit you with a brick on your head, you’d surely beco a fool."
Lin Xiang: ...
"It’s late, you should go to sleep."
The next morning, the weather was clear.
Fifth Uncle was bustling around, starting to build the house again.
Mrs. Lin had nothing to do, so she sat at the doorway on a small stool.
Soone ca carrying a basket of bricks and, upon seeing Mrs. Lin, couldn’t help but ask, "Sister-in-law, are you here to supervise, afraid we might not do the job well?"
"How could that be? I’m just worried about those who don’t have eyes, and might wreck my house again!"
Both ways need quite a bit of money.
But Aunt Lin’s family was very quiet today and didn’t co over to wreak havoc on her house. Until the afternoon, when it was ti to finish work, Mrs. Lin was just about to tidy up with Fifth Aunt and head ho, Aunt Lin suddenly appeared from sowhere and knelt down in front of Mrs. Lin.
"Xiuli, sister knows she’s treated you badly before and did a lot of hateful things. Sister now realizes her mistakes. From now on, I’ll definitely treat you well, not like before. Is that okay?"
Aunt Lin’s sudden action surprised Mrs. Lin, causing her to instinctively step back a few steps and lean against Fifth Aunt.
"What are you doing?"
Their family ties had broken when Yu Yuan was arrested by the police, hadn’t they? Aunt Lin must have a hidden agenda!
"Xiuli, can you please have Niuniu talk to the leader to plead for my Yuanyuan? Although he’s made mistakes, he wasn’t the one who hard Smartie Huang. Please ask Niuniu to plead and let Yuanyuan go, okay?"
Mrs. Lin had an expression that seed to say "As expected."
She crossed her arms and looked at Aunt Lin still kneeling on the ground.
Surely Aunt Lin hasn’t had it easy these days; her clothes and pants are muddy, and her hair is ssy. How could she have lived these past days?
"Sister, my dear sister, the police have arrested him, which ans they have found evidence of his cri. Even though my Niuniu has good relations with the leadership, the issue of murder—can she plead for that? My Niuniu can’t help you, give up on that idea."
"Yuanyuan is your nephew, are you really going to watch him die without saving him? Xiuli, you only have one daughter, Niuniu. To put it bluntly, when your ti cos, without a son to carry the funeral jar, you’ll still have to rely on your nephew."
"If you go before Niuniu, she’d be all alone. If you save Yuanyuan this ti, he would certainly repay the favor and take good care of Niuniu."
In the past, if Aunt Lin had said this, Mrs. Lin would have been moved.
Because she was most worried about these two matters.
But the Mrs. Lin of today is no longer the Mrs. Lin of last night.
"Who says Niuniu is my only child? I have Lin Yun too!"
"How can he compare to Yuanyuan? Yuanyuan is at least your own nephew!"
"Lin Yun may not be biological, but he’s on the sa household register as , how is it any different from being biological? Besides, with soone like Yu Yuan, how could I trust to leave Niuniu in his care? It’s good enough if he doesn’t bully her! There’s nothing to discuss here—I’m not going to let my daughter sacrifice herself for your son!"
Is this kind of favor so easy to ask for?
Better be careful or else the leadership might even arrest Niuniu along with him!
Mrs. Lin grabbed Fifth Aunt’s arm, "Let’s go, let’s go, we’d better not let her catch up."
The two walked quickly forward and ran into Lin Xiang halfway.
"Mom, what’s wrong? Why are you walking so fast?"
"Don’t ntion it, your aunt just ca to find , asking to plead for Yu Yuan. But rest assured, I definitely did not agree! I firmly told her my Niuniu would not do such a thing, where right and wrong are confused!"
Lin Xiang glanced at Aunt Lin; she was still kneeling there, and did not, as Mrs. Lin suspected, suddenly stand up and give chase.
If one didn’t know the cause and effect of things, just looking at Aunt Lin kneeling there with ssy hair, it would be easy to feel compassion.
But knowing the things Yu Yuan had done afterward, Lin Xiang couldn’t bring herself to sympathize!
"Those in pitiable circumstances are bound to have despicable qualities. She failed to properly educate Yu Yuan, leading him down the wrong path, ruining a young and beautiful life. Mom, you did the right thing; neither she nor Yu Yuan are worthy of sympathy. Let’s go ho."
After dinner, Fifth Uncle brought the brazier into the main room and put a few potatoes by the edge of the brazier. Soon the room was filled with the fragrant aroma of roasted potatoes.
Dong Sheng was the first to take a potato and, peeling it, he said, "Sis, are we going to start selling powder again tomorrow?"
Lin Xiang looked at the calendar, "In twelve days, it will be New Year’s Eve. If it doesn’t rain, we’ll keep selling until the twenty-eighth of the lunar month, and then leave two days to prepare for the new year. How about it?"
Chunya and Dong Sheng naturally had no objections, as long as they kept selling sweet potato starch, they would have wages.
Sitting around at ho is idle anyway, better to go out and earn so money.
After the twentieth of the lunar month, the big fairs are no longer held alternately by the communes but are hosted by every commune, making it convenient for the mbers who have worked hard all year to prepare for the new year.
So in the last few days, the mbers of the Li Hua Team stopped running outside and would occupy a spot at the fair early to sell spicy powder.
The state-owned restaurant’s assistants aren’t from the sa commune as Lin Xiang, so in the last few days, only Lin Xiang’s family sold spicy powder, and the business was unprecedentedly booming, selling over one hundred and fifty bowls daily.
After Fifth Uncle finished building the house, he also ca over to help, until the afternoon of the twenty-seventh of the lunar month, when Lin Xiang packed up her stall and no longer sold spicy powder.
The Lin Family’s house had been completely constructed, and with Fifth Uncle already having heated it earlier, they could move in directly.
On the twenty-eighth of the lunar month, the mother and daughter finally moved with the help of Fifth Uncle and Fifth Aunt.
The new house wasn’t much bigger than before, but the layout was more reasonable, and Lin Xiang finally had her own dedicated space.
The room left for Lin Yun was used to store so sundries. If Lin Yun returned, they could just move the sundries out.
That night, Lin Xiang lay on a wooden bed, covered with a quilt that carried the scent of the sun, and contentedly fell asleep.
Because she didn’t need to rush to the fair the next day, Lin Xiang enjoyed sleeping in for once.
Sleeping soundly, Lin Xiang suddenly heard a frantic knocking on the door.
User Comments
0 comments from readers