"What matter is there that isn’t a bit self-interested?" The conversation between mother and daughter wasn’t hushed, making it clear that it wasn’t a private issue they wanted to keep from outsiders. Li Aiyuan, who sat beside them, couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity.
Zhao Yulan certainly didn’t keep it from her, and frankly said, "Baojuan’s family’s Dajiang always wanted to join the army, right? Regimental Commander Xiao Zhou promised to help him with a special recruitment, and now it has been arranged. But Baohe and I thought it over and decided to hold onto the draft notice for now."
"Ever since Baojuan was injured last time, she hasn’t recovered her strength. Right now, everything inside and outside the house depends on Qingshu and Dajiang. If Dajiang goes off to the army now, wouldn’t it just kill Qingshu from overwork?"
"That is true..." Li Aiyuan lowered her voice, "There’s a daughter-in-law in our village, her maternal home is from Baojuan’s village. She said that when Baojuan’s mother-in-law was young, she was so controlled by Baojuan’s grandmother-in-law that she didn’t dare to speak too much. But ever since her mother-in-law died, she has changed completely, as if she were a different person. If it wasn’t for Baojuan’s fiery nature, she would have been bullied to death long ago."
Still, even so, Baojuan used to suffer a lot from her mother-in-law. Clearly capable of doing anything, she insisted on putting on airs, spending all day sitting on the kang and expecting Baojuan to serve her in everything.
"Yulan, no matter who you forget in the future, you can’t forget Baojuan. All those things her parents did have nothing to do with her, but over the years, she pressed herself into a pit of suffering to atone for the old couple. If it weren’t for Qingshu treating her well, who knows how that old woman would have ground her down."
"Mhm, I know. She’s just too kind-hearted. When she first married into their family, her aunt by marriage and her mother-in-law weren’t on speaking terms because of a fight, so she took it upon herself to take her mother-in-law into her home to care for her."
"And once she took her in, she never sent her back. The first daughter-in-law insisted that she had already taken care of her father-in-law until his passing, and that the mother-in-law was now Laoer’s Home’s responsibility. That’s quite the soft touch, isn’t it? But I promise, I definitely couldn’t do such a thing. But she, she just accepted it, and has been caring for her for nearly twenty years."
"In the past, she would always tell me how well Qingshu treated her, how well her mother-in-law treated her, and I really believed it. Now when I think about it, she doesn’t even know how much she has suffered for us, sigh!"
"Qingshu treating her well is true, but that old woman doesn’t treat her well at all," Li Aiyuan said with a snort, "Anyway, there’s not a single good word about her mother-in-law’s character in their village."
Chuxia listened to her mother and eldest maternal aunt’s conversation for a while, realizing they had turned the topic to pure gossip, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhou Mikang had given her Luan Dajiang’s enlistment notice when she first returned home, but advised her not to reveal it unless someone asked,
It wasn’t about consciousness, but about knowing the truth and yet deliberately leading others into trouble. What if something happened? How could they face each other then?
At that time, Zhou Mikang did not know that Lin Baojuan was not Lin Baohe’s biological sister, and advised Chuxia not to hand over the enlistment notice to Luan Dajiang. Now that such a change had occurred, it was even less appropriate to hand it over.
Before coming back to her old home, Zhao Yulan and Lin Baohe did ask her about it. After all, Zhou Mikang’s integrity was something they did not wish to see disregarded.
With no other choice, Chuxia took out the draft notice. On a whim, she raised concerns about Lin Baojuan’s health and, unexpectedly, her quick thinking actually worked, convincing both Lin Baohe and Zhao Yulan.
As long as the issue could be postponed, she wouldn’t have to worry too much.
She reckoned that it wouldn’t be long before news spread of trouble at the front. By that time, if her younger aunt and uncle-in-law still wanted Luan Dajiang to enlist, she would certainly give them the notice. But if they didn’t bring it up, she would act as if the matter didn’t exist.
Though finding out sooner or later would be worrying, since Zhao Qiliang had already hidden the truth from her eldest uncle and aunt as well as her grandparents, and her parents were also not completely clear about the nature of the mission, why should she let them worry ahead of time?
At the doorway, Zhao Qihui was waving at her, so she hurriedly got up to go out, "Sister, where have you been?" She hadn’t seen her since she returned. Her grandparents and Great Aunt, Grandpa Lin and Granny Lin were deep in conversation; she didn’t want to interrupt them to ask about Old Master Li’s birthday. Besides, it wasn’t appropriate to discuss such matters in front of Grandpa Lin and the others, and as for her eldest maternal aunt, she didn’t have the courage to ask, given that the aunt was directly involved.
"Su Qin is having a matchmaking date, I went to have a look," she replied.
"A matchmaking date today?" Chuxia looked perplexed, "Didn’t she have one last time I came back? How much time has passed since then, how come the matchmaking is just happening now, or is it with someone new?"