"Instead of worrying so much about my family’s affairs, why don’t you mind your own Er Shuanzi?"
Aunt Zhang’s grandson, Er Shuanzi, is in his twenties this year and hangs around with a bunch of young, half-grown kids from a few villages, doing some petty thievery and shady activities. He’s been in and out of the labor camp quite a few times.
Aunt Zhang left in embarrassment after being snapped at by Liang Hongmei.
Liang Hongmei was also angry. They were doing proper business, the children worked desperately hard to earn some money to live on, yet they ended up being gossiped about by others. Liang Hongmei was fuming at home, quietly stewing in her anger.
After Little Grandmother learned about the matter, she brought the couple of her eldest uncle to their house to talk some sense.
"I told you before, don’t do those speculative and illegal businesses, but you wouldn’t listen. There’s no wall that doesn’t have holes. No matter how tightly you cover it, there will still be people who’ll find out. Now, look, everyone in the village is hostile towards you," Little Grandmother said, with a mix of frustration and heartache.
Liang Hongmei was unconvinced, "What age is it now? The country encourages us to get rich. Our Xiao Wan is earning honest money through hard work, what does it have to do with them?"
"Sister, regardless of how much you earn, you did make money, and they’re just envious, squeezing you , aren’t they?" Liang Jian Country squatted nearby, holding a long tobacco pipe.
"Ah Hui needs living expenses every month for university, and our Xiao Wan is doing well in her studies. I’m thinking of having Xiao Wan take the exam this year. We only have those three acres of land, how are us widows and orphans supposed to live?"
"Sigh... isn’t it just as you say," Aunt sat nearby, sighing mournfully.
"Little Grandmother, Uncle and Aunt, you don’t need to worry, I don’t care what they say. My mom and I will live life solidly. Nowadays, whoever has money in the future will be respected. They can talk all they want, but what can they do to us?"
"This girl," Little Grandmother cast her a glance.
"Grandma, little sister is right. People doing business now make good money. Like that clothing shop in our town, they’ve only been running it for half a year and they’ve already built a new house. Heard they made quite a bit," Liang Zhi chimed in, full of admiration. He worked himself to the bone at the lumber factory, only earning a few bucks a month.
When he helped Aunt buy rice a few times earlier, he heard her mention Xiao Wan’s daily income, and he was tempted.
Little Grandmother glared at him, "Mind your own business," she said before turning to Liang Hongmei and her daughter, "Starting tomorrow, you don’t need to go anymore."
"What?" Lin Wan furrowed her delicate brows.
"What do you mean, ’what’?"
"Little Grandmother, we still have half a sack of glutinous rice at home. It won’t be finished. Let me use up this half sack first, and then I’ll stop. Is that okay?"
Little Grandmother opened her mouth but couldn’t bear to waste food, eventually nodding in agreement.
The villagers only gossip for a day or two. These days, Lin Wan Yi just walks around the village with her bamboo basket.
She’s been going to the nearby villages these days. Since they all know already, she doesn’t need to hide.
"Xiaoqing, Aunt, are you going out too?" Today, when Lin Wan was on her way out, she met Ye Qing and her mom at the village entrance, pushing a wheelbarrow with a big basin covered with an old quilt, hiding what was inside.
"Xiao Wan, I’m going to Nana’s house with my mom," Ye Qing said casually, smiling. Her mom nodded with a smile too, but avoided looking at Lin Wan, appearing a bit uneasy.
Ye Qing’s mom later, after consideration from the family, married Ye Qing’s dad from the same village.
Ye Qing’s dad was five or six years older than Qiu Hualan, and his family was quite poor. He’d had a wife before, who died during a difficult childbirth.
Because the family was poor, he couldn’t afford to look for another wife. Later, through the village’s arrangement, Qiu Hualan, despite her reluctance, quietly married him. A perfectly good flower was pitifully placed in cow dung because of Wu Guodong.