The next morning, Mr. Li got up early, and Li Xianglu made some simple porridge. She brought back a basket of red dates from Mr. Lan’s house the day before, which she used with cornmeal and white flour to make red date steamed buns, and the grandfather and granddaughter had a simple meal and then started walking towards the team gate.
At that time, the production team’s mule cart was already waiting there early, and on the mule cart besides Li Dafu there was his wife Li Erfu, while Ge Sanmei’s face was so dark it looked like water could drip from it.
Li Xianglu cheerfully went up and greeted, "Uncle." She glanced at Ge Sanmei who was looking at her but didn’t talk; instead, she carefully helped Mr. Li onto the mule cart.
Ge Sanmei stared wide-eyed in disbelief. She had heard some stories before, now Xiang was supposedly living well, she bought new clothes at the county’s market, and at the neighboring Jishui Team tailor Xue made her four pairs of pants, floral shirts, and they had meat every meal at home. She almost laughed out loud; in this era, if someone said their family had saved up five or six hundred yuan she might believe it, like her maternal family who had high work points, one work point being 0.2 yuan, a strong laborer could earn at least 2000 work points a year, turning into four hundred yuan. After deducting the money for food exchange, a family with many strong laborers could easily save a few hundred yuan a year. But their Li Family Village Production Team, having less land, relatively had lower work points allocations, only five points per work point, even for a strong laborer reaching full work points it was merely hundred yuan a year; all the money was usually used in exchange for food, who would dare to keep it to buy things, wouldn’t that just be asking to starve!
Thus, she didn’t believe believing after Li Huai Ren gave Xiang six hundred yuan he could still afford to buy her food and necessities. She always thought others envied her for having an extra six hundred yuan and three hundred kilograms of fine flour, but when she actually saw her own daughter in front of her who had grown even without having to look closely, her heart soured even more.
Xiang was dressed in a fitted grey turnover collar coat, with the collar of a floral shirt inside peeking out, wearing fitted black pants which were different from the usual loose waist and leg design, the calves were rather narrow, and her originally sallow cheeks were now plumped and rosy.
Xiang, living better off at someone else’s house, did not even think about her own parents, nor did she come back to visit, truly an ungrateful wolf. Thinking this, she couldn’t stop rolling her eyes.
Li Xianglu and Mr. Li sat inside the mule cart, but they could clearly see Ge Sanmei’s expressions, they couldn’t help but sneer coldly. This Ge Sanmei, really don’t know what she was made of, at such times she could still scorn others openly with her eyes!
Three hundred kilograms of food, six hundred yuan, had already cleanly severed kinship ties. She couldn’t be bothered to bicker with such a person, and nonchalantly took out a book from her shoulder bag and started reading it on the swaying mule cart.
Mr. Li had thought they would probably end up quarreling along the way, but fortunately no one paid attention, he nodded to himself, growing even more curious about this girl.
Unacknowledged by anyone, Ge Sanmei, who had many grievances initially, started to feel dejected, but her facial expression grew even darker, her eyes constantly sizing up Li Xianglu, pondering over something.
Since they were heading straight to the county seat, they took a direct route to the county instead of entering the commune’s route; the mule cart slowly made its way and after two hours, they finally arrived.
Upon reaching the County Committee yard, Li Dafu courteously asked the old doorman outside_hdl where the Public Security Bureau’s Household Registration Department was, then turned around and walked in with Mr. Li but as they just reached the department entrance, Ge Sanmei complained of a severe stomach ache requiring a quick visit to the outhouse.
Li Dafu, somewhat disdainfully, waved his hands gesturing people to hurry up as several of them started waiting at the entrance.
Li Erfu also noticed at this moment that his daughter was dressed very nicely and cleanly, just like those city girls he saw every time he went to the city, even prettier than them.
Seeing her daughter’s face tinted with a faint blush, she couldn’t help but feel a bit ashamed inside. The child had been adopted only a little over a month ago and was already eating well, which showed how much the family had neglected her all this time.
Li Erfu didn’t speak to Li Xianglu, and Li Xianglu only glanced at him with a smile. What good was there to say at this time? "Are you doing well?" "Oh, I’m doing quite well?" Wouldn’t that just be more awkward? Better not to speak.
Li Dafu had already checked his watch twice, already twenty minutes had passed. Why hadn’t Ge Sanmei arrived yet? The county offices close at noon and don’t reopen until two in the afternoon; he still wanted to finish his business and find someone else to deal with some things. He even planned to buy a piece of fabric for his daughter-in-law as his wife had suggested, after finishing this affair. What if others left work due to his delay?
Another ten minutes passed, and not just Li Dafu; everyone began sensing that something was amiss. Li Erfu’s face darkened as he looked toward the direction of the restroom, staring intensely.
Li Dafu spoke up: "Er Fu, you and Xiang go check. Is your sister-in-law feeling unwell?" In his heart, he began to suspect. Would Ge Sanmei change her mind at such a crucial moment? It was crunch time, any mishap now would complicate everything. Initially, he had only basic respect for Li Huai Ren, but being able to transfer Li Xianglu’s registration to the county town within a month highlighted his capabilities. He needed to foster relations quickly with Li Huai Ren to make up for previously not being enthusiastic enough. If he messed this up, he wouldn’t even have the face to ask Li Huai Ren for a favor.
But just what was Ge Sanmei trying to pull? Was this her idea of death wish, having regrets only at the last moment?
It must be said, Li Dafu really overthought things.
When Li Erfu and Li Xianglu reached the women’s restroom, it was empty. Ge Sanmei was nowhere to be found.
Li Erfu’s face turned utterly grim. Upon their return, Li Dafu widened his eyes in shock as they came back alone, and asked somewhat urgently, "Er Fu, where’s your sister-in-law?"
Li Erfu, with a face dark as pitch and not uttering a word, stood there, fists clenched at his sides.
Li Xianglu spoke up: "There’s no one in the restroom, it’s completely empty."
Li Dafu was stupefied, no one there? Could it not be regret, hiding in the restroom and not coming out? What else could it be then?
Just then, loud reprimands and a woman’s piercing screams were heard. Everyone quickly turned around, drawn by the familiar woman’s voice, only to see a man and a woman, wrestling with a woman in a blue smock, her hair messy and face unrecognizable.
The woman, upon seeing them still standing at the entrance of the civil affairs office, screamed: "Uncle, help me quickly, I am not a thief, I am not a thief."
Only then did everyone realize, the scream they heard earlier was indeed Ge Sanmei. But how did she end up here?