She was only thirteen!
With Song Xiyun’s mouth, would anything good come out once she spread the word?
With a mother like hers who gave birth out of wedlock at seventeen, if Song Xiyun spread rumors in the village that she, at thirteen, had seduced a man, and that man’s brother even came to her door, would her reputation be any good?
Although she wasn’t too concerned about her reputation in her reborn life, that certainly didn’t mean she could be slandered ! Did they think she didn’t have enough troubles already?
Zhao Xin was so frightened by her glaring eyes and menacing expression that he stumbled over his words.
"Chiang Xiao, I, I didn’t mean to..."
He really didn’t mean it.
Chiang Xiao took a deep breath and suppressed her anger.
He had already shouted; what could she really do to Zhao Xin now?
"What exactly did you come here to do?" she asked, calming down, only then noticing that Zhao Xin’s sleeves were rolled up, his hands were covered in flour, and he held a rolling pin!
She was suddenly horrified; what was going on?
Seeing that she wasn’t angry anymore, Zhao Xin secretly breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that Chiang Xiao’s anger was rather frightening.
"I was making dumplings with Auntie! I was making them really well!" Zhao Xin said, glancing at Chiang Xiao, who had sweaty bangs on her forehead, fine sweat beads on her nose, a slightly red face, some grass bits stuck to her temples, clothes also marred with grass and dust, and she looked tired and unwell, seemingly overworked.
He immediately felt that this young girl’s life was truly not easy.
Yeah, he would have to have a good talk with the team leader when he went back; maybe the leader had a way to help her.
Chiang Xiao looked towards the table they used for cutting vegetables and rolling dough, and sure enough, she saw it was already full of plump dumplings, with two pots beside it, one filled with cabbage stuffing and the other with dough. It seemed they were almost done.
Zhao Xin really couldn’t leave; staying to watch Ge Liutao make dumplings without offering to help would have been awkward, so he pitched in.
He too came from a mountain village, and children from poor families learned to take charge at an early age. Making dumplings was a task he excelled at. Seeing that he was skilled, Ge Liutao warmed up to him, and as the three of them worked and chatted, they got along quite well.
Once he relaxed, he let his guard down upon hearing Chiang Xiao’s voice.
Chiang Xiao pressed her forehead, "I’m asking you, what did you come here to do?" Did he come over just to make dumplings at her house?
Only then did Chiang Songhai and Ge Liutao react.
"Little, Xinzi is here to deliver something for you."
"Little, you can’t be rude,"
Xu Linjiang wanted to say, wasn’t the focal point supposed to be what the term "Sister-in-law" was all about?
Zhao Xin pointed to the backpack on the chair and said to Chiang Xiao, "This is what our team leader asked me to deliver to you!" Now what? The team leader had said to deliver it and leave, not to mention anything else, and now he couldn’t leave, what should he do?
Chiang Xiao walked over and picked up the pack, intending to dump out the contents, but seeing Chiang Songhai straining to look over, she halted her movement and just peeked inside.
Though it was called a bag color, what it really was, was the kind of military green canvas side bag commonly seen in that era. Some students also used these bags for their books; they were not small, quite spacious actually. This bag was stuffed full, and she just glanced inside to see a pack of brown sugar, a pack of candy, pack of cookies, and a stack of tickets, plus a stack of Great Unity bills - probably about ten in all!
Chiang Xiao jumped in shock, then saw a note inside, which she took out. It read an address and a phone number.
The address was for the Alliance in their provincial city, and the contact person was written clearly as Meng Xinian.