Chapter 146: Chapter 146 Bai Song Arrives Chapter 146: Chapter 146 Bai Song Arrives “What should we do?” Bai Zhuang asked anxiously.
Li Chunhua slammed the table. Ever since she had recovered from her illness, her temper had grown sharp. She would often bang the table and glower, scolding anyone from head to toe without restraint. Recently, Bai Jianguo and Hao Fang had been frequently on the receiving end of Li Chunhua’s scoldings.
The couple had learned their lesson and tried to steer clear of Li Chunhua whenever possible, either by staying in their own room or finding excuses to check on the crops in the fields—anything to keep their distance.
“How come what I say doesn’t count?”
Bai Zhuang immediately backed down, knowing that his parents had made it clear that in this household they had to endure and accommodate Grandma. Otherwise, if she truly told them to find somewhere else to live, he wouldn’t even be able to bring his bride home.
Endure!
“Fine, what you say goes! Of course, you have the final word,” Bai Zhuang conceded defeat and promptly left the house.
Li Chunhua glanced at the items without a word and lay down to sleep.
The day after tomorrow was Bai Mei’s wedding. The day after Bai Mei’s wedding, An Zhiyuan had already purchased train tickets for Bai Xiao. Thanks to An Zhiyuan’s special status, which came with perks, he bought sleeper tickets. After all, it was a good ten-plus hours by train from their county to the provincial capital, almost twenty hours in total. To sit in a hard seat the entire time would be exhausting.
Bai Xiao had initially wanted to decline, but An Zhiyuan simply dropped the tickets off and left. He even maintained a stern expression, dropping the words, “I will drive you to the county town ahead of time.”
Bai Xiao couldn’t say anything.
Let it be. Speaking of An Zhiyuan, he didn’t really have any major faults, aside from maybe having a bit of a quick temper. In fact, he was quite decent, treating her with genuine kindness, heartfelt and sincere. He sent her money the other time, and this time a train ticket. From time to time, when he had a moment, he’d also come over to their house to help out with some work.
In this day and age, such a son-in-law was quite satisfactory, especially her eldest sister, who thought that Instructor An was the best brother-in-law possible.
Bai Xiao couldn’t really draw a clear line with Instructor An at the moment. She still hadn’t figured out what the relationship was between his special ability and her own, but at least one advantage was known: with An Zhiyuan around, she could suffer less. Maybe she wouldn’t have to worry about side effects in the future. She was aware that in her past life, as she healed more and more people, the side effects had intensified, and she wouldn’t have taken the risk with the Energy Potion if there were any other way. The slowly freezing sensation of a life worse than death made her long to feel some semblance of life.
She really couldn’t give up the relationship with An Zhiyuan at this time. Sometimes, Bai Xiao even felt a bit despicable, as if she were using An Zhiyuan.
Alas, had she become corrupted after her rebirth?
She decided to stop pondering questions that were too complex to understand at the moment. Now was not the time for such thoughts. She wouldn’t actively harm anyone, unless someone bullied her first. So she wouldn’t do anything inappropriate with An Zhiyuan.
He was indeed a good person, the best she had encountered so far, unwavering and without any demands, shouldering her as a responsibility out of sheer duty. It seemed, in that light, that she was a calamity to An Zhiyuan.
Bai Yue and Bai Xiao were going to help out today. The day after tomorrow was Bai Mei’s wedding, and their village had the custom of hosting guests and setting out feasts before marrying off a daughter. Of course, for the first two days, it simply meant serving noodles.
Although it wasn’t anything extravagant, the villagers were all delighted—to bask in the joy of the occasion and, of course, to enjoy a meal on the house. Who wouldn’t be pleased?
Even though Bai Xiao wanted to set boundaries, it truly was just a wishful thought. In today’s society, it was utterly impossible, whether from a moral or public opinion standpoint, to disassociate completely from Bai Jianguo’s family. Therefore, the sisters still had to help out.
She might not care about these things, but Bai Yue and the others still had to live in the village and absolutely could not ignore them. People are societal beings, social animals, and no one could utterly reject the constraints of common customs, to be the person you want to be, to do the things you desire. Of course, if one day you become powerful enough, so powerful that everyone has to look up to you and depend on you, then your words become the truth. You can do whatever you want.
Just as the two sisters were about to leave, they ran into Bai Song head-on.
“Brother!” Bai Xiao was the first to react with delight, quickly taking the army green duffel bag from Bai Song’s hand.
“Bro, didn’t you say you’d only get time off at the end of the year? Why are you back now?” Bai Xiao never expected her older brother to come back at this time.
Bai Yue pulled Bai Song into the yard, also looking very happy. “You’ve gotten both darker and thinner. Sit down, have you eaten? I’ll go make some food for you.” This brother was their family’s hope, especially because he was so honest and good-natured.
Bai Song nodded, “I’m hungry. Just make me something simple, sis. Why did you come home?” He didn’t yet know about his older sister’s divorce, and Bai Xiao had not told him, feeling it was pointless to mention it over the phone, it would just make him worry.
Bai Yue didn’t say anything and went into the kitchen.
“Xiao, why isn’t big sister talking? How many days has she been back?” Looking around the neatly tidied courtyard and the house that seemed to have been cleaned, Bai Song figured it must have been his sister’s doing, even the stove and the walls of the house had been rebuilt.
“Big sister and the three nephews will be living with our family from now on,” Bai Xiao said as she poured water for Bai Song to wash his face.
“What? Why? Did something happen over at the Liu Family stronghold? Did they suffer a disaster or something?” Bai Song, washing his face, wondered if Bai Yue and the others had moved because they could no longer survive at the Liu Family stronghold.
“Big sister got divorced,” Bai Xiao passed a towel to her brother.
“What? Why did she get divorced?” Bai Song was shocked. If big sister was divorced, as a woman with three sons, how would she manage to get by in the future?
“I went to see big sister a while ago and happened to come across Li Dashan hitting her. He hit her so viciously, not to mention that Little Sansan was so feverish he was delirious, yet he still refused to get him medical help. Big sister wanted to borrow money and he beat her nearly to death. That’s when she got divorced,” Bai Xiao didn’t know what Bai Song would think because in this era, a woman getting divorced was a disgrace, looked down upon by people.
She didn’t know how Bai Song would react to this.
“Li Dashan, that coward, actually dared to hit big sister. It’s good that she divorced him. A man who can’t even care for his wife and children is not worth keeping. If I had been there, I would’ve beaten Li Dashan for sure. How dare he strike my sister!” Bai Song’s eyes blazed with fierce determination.
Bai Xiao thought about how Bai Song truly supported Bai Yue. Reflecting on it, she realized that Bai Song’s life had not been easy. At just twenty-two, having been away for four years, he’d been responsible for supporting two older sisters in this household. All while considering his sisters’ maternal family in his actions and words, it was already more than what should be expected of someone his age.
“Bro, it’s really great that you’re back,” Bai Xiao said joyfully.
That feeling of someone having your back was genuinely incredible.