Chapter 236: Chapter 236 Disappointment Chapter 236: Chapter 236 Disappointment Zhang Dezheng and his son Zhang Dongze arrived home after eleven o’clock at night.
When Wang Chunnian heard the commotion, she came out and learned that they hadn’t seen Luo Qiao at all that day, and she immediately burst into tears.
Zhang Dezheng was already exhausted and hungry; he had been beaten up that day and was feeling extremely irritable, “Stop crying, will you? It’s so annoying. Dongze and I haven’t even had dinner yet. Is there anything to eat at home?”
Wang Chunnian hadn’t prepared dinner that evening; it had been Zhou Xiaomei, her sister-in-law, who had made the food and sent it over. Hearing that the father and son hadn’t eaten yet, she felt a pang of sympathy and quickly went to the kitchen, sobbing as she started to cook for them.
In Ji City, when Yao Chengxuan got off work in the evening, he felt that the gazes of his neighbors in the family compound were strange. A friendly aunty said to him, “Chengxuan, Li Li is not young anymore; you should take good care of her in the future.
Look at what she did today. Everyone in the compound has been laughing about it all afternoon. There soon comes a time when a girl gets married, and if she makes a few more scenes like this, her reputation could be ruined, and it would be hard to find a decent family for her.”
Yao Chengxuan, not knowing what had happened at home, hurried back. He saw that all the children were there and heard the sounds of cooking coming from the kitchen.
His younger daughter carefully brought over a basin of water and said, “Daddy, wash your hands first; we’ll start dinner soon.”
Yao Chengxuan asked, “What happened at our house today?”
His second son, Yao Pengrui, glanced at his elder sister who had just entered the house, “I heard from Granny Wang next door that my big sister did something major today; she blocked Sister Luo Qiao from entering our home and said she was worried Luo Qiao would squat in our place.
Sister Luo Qiao claimed she was just passing by to visit you and mom, but my big sister said that since people from Qingshan Village had eaten our food at the farm, they should pay us back. She heard from mom at noon that Sister Luo Qiao was this year’s top scholar in the city’s middle school exams.
She must have had her eye on the prize money that Luo Qiao had. Next door, they had fish for dinner tonight, and Granny Wang also told me that originally both the fish and eggs were gifts from Luo Qiao to our family.
But big sister pressured her to pay back the grain money from eleven years ago. Luo Qiao didn’t have that much on her, so she had to sell the fish to make enough money to give to big sister.
Oh right, the main thing is, Granny Wang said that big sister ended up with twenty-two yuan and fifty cents from Luo Qiao, and they settled everything between them, now they owe each other nothing.”
After understanding what had happened, Yao Chengxuan thought about the looks he had received on his way home and shouted into the house, “Li Li, come out here.”
Yao Lili had hurried into the room when she saw her dad come back, and now hearing the call, her heart skipped a beat, thinking her little brother really couldn’t keep his mouth shut as he had spilled everything to their dad.
She came out slowly, and Yao Chengxuan yelled, “Yao Lili, you’ve really grown too bold, haven’t you? I heard that today, you, on behalf of your mother and me, settled accounts with Luo Qiao, is that right?”
Yao Lili said, “She wanted to settle accounts with us, it’s not my fault.”
Granny Wang from next door said over the wall, “Nowadays, kids can lie with such reason. I really must admire it as an old lady.”
After hearing Granny Wang’s words, Yao Chengxuan, furious, stepped forward and slapped his daughter, “Just how old are you now? In a few years, you’ll be of marriageable age. You’re destroying your own future.”
Yao Lili said, “Who am I doing this for? Didn’t you also make a call at noon? Qingshan Village’s head said that Luo Qiao came to the city for a rest. She brought a basket full of vegetables in the afternoon, so naturally, I thought she was planning on squatting at our place and not leaving.
In our family, only you and my brother earn money, and he’s just a temporary worker. It’s already hard enough supporting our whole family, so why should we have to support someone unrelated? I did it for our family; I was afraid we’d get stuck with her and couldn’t shake her off.”
Yao Chengxuan said, “Have you ever thought about, back when we were at the farm, how many treats Luo Qiao secretly gave you? Whatever the Yuan Family and Yang Family gave her, she would share with you brothers and sisters.
She shared with you a few times a month—more than twice a month, right? Have you ever calculated how many bowls of weed porridge those treats could be exchanged for that you drank at the farm?
Yao Lili, you really know how to keep accounts, having Luo Qiao compensate you. If we do the calculations, you’d probably owe Luo Qiao for the White Rabbit cream candies, beef cans, steamed wheat buns, and even on several occasions, I’ve seen you all sharing canned fruits. Why don’t you compensate her, huh?”
Yao Lili quietly said, “That stuff wasn’t hers either; it was given to her by old man Yuan and the Yang Family. So what if she shared some with us to eat? If she took it back to the Luo Family, she probably wouldn’t get a bite; at least by giving us some, she could have a taste too.”
Yao Chengxuan had not expected his eldest daughter to turn out this way, so narrow-minded and unreasonably troublesome; he was utterly disappointed.