As soon as Qin Youde was about to speak, he was severely pinched by Second Aunt Qin.
"It’s the Cuifen girl, back when my brother passed away, the child lost her father and mother. I’ve raised her through all kinds of hardships, from the cradle to the present, it was not easy."
"Where is she? Hurry up and call her here for me to see." Su Yun’s heart, which had been hung up high, finally settled down upon hearing that her daughter hadn’t died, that nothing had happened.
"She’s at the General Union!"
"Which union? What does she do?"
"General Union Dance Troupe."
Su Yun was overjoyed upon hearing this, she grabbed Su Hai’s hand, excitedly saying, "Xiao Hai did you hear? My daughter isn’t dead, your niece hasn’t had any mishap. That’s great, that’s really great..."
"Sister, calm down a bit." Su Hai’s expression had been rather grim all along, his entire demeanor gloomy.
But Su Yun, caught up in her joy, didn’t notice at all. She kept pulling on Second Aunt Qin, asking about her daughter’s past years: What hasn’t she done for you, what does she like to eat, what does she like to wear. What does she look like? Is she tall, has she gotten fat, or is she thin?
When she found out her daughter was under Yang Wenying’s supervision, she immediately felt so heartbroken she wanted to cry. She had always been at odds with Yang Wenying; she must transfer her daughter to Qianjin Dance Troupe when she went back to the city—only then could she give her a better future.
"Come out for a second." Su Hai felt so stifled that it was hard to breathe in the room; he called the Head of the Office outside with him.
Outside, Su Hai pulled out a packet of cigarettes, lit one for himself and passed the rest to the Head of the Office.
"What do you think?" He took a deep drag and asked somberly.
"This Second Aunt Qin’s reputation in the village has always been somewhat bad, but her daughter seems to have a fairly good reputation," the Head of the Office replied earnestly.
"Keep looking into it, I feel this matter isn’t so simple."
"What do we do now?" he asked, tilting his chin toward the house.
"Don’t worry about my sister, listen to me." Dad was right, sister’s judgment was clouded by her anxiety. An old country woman could make her go around in circles.
Su Hai broke out in a cold sweat, hardly daring to believe it. If he hadn’t personally come along this time, would his sister really have acknowledged the girl as her daughter?
It was simply maddening.
It was the first time Xu Qigang’s house had ever been so lively, with neighbors from left and right coming over to join in the excitement.
By noon, Zhao Lanzi gave each of the children who came to visit a handful of peanuts, and thus the crowd dispersed in high spirits.
"Ah, my in-laws, you have seen a laughable scene at our home," Zhao Lanzi said, embarrassed.
Xu Xianxiong and Little Yama had a reputation that wasn’t too good; even relatives and neighbors were scared of them and normally even during the New Year celebrations, it wasn’t as lively as today.
"Don’t mention it, most of these reputational things are exaggerated," Shen Luhua spoke from experience. Her daughter Ningning was a kind girl, and yet she was slandered by Second Aunt Qin, Cuifen, and Widow Zhang.
"Exactly!" The more the two talked, the more they hit it off. After eating lunch, they moved on from personal relationships to discussing the wedding preparations for Sheng Ning and Xu Qigang and what patterns to use for the face cover of the cotton quilts.
"I’ll tell you, this autumn I kept a lot of cotton, all the very best. Just yesterday I sent it to town to have it fluffed into two cotton quilts; imagine how warm it would be for the kids to be covered with new cotton quilts when they get married," Zhao Lanzi said, her smile blooming like a flower.
"Absolutely, I’ve saved some too. I’m planning to get it made into cotton quilts soon, for Ningning’s dowry."
"Is that so? That’s wonderful."
Sheng An listened as the two of them talked and became happier, he smirked and stealthily slipped out of the