Chapter 141: The Shock of Her Family

After a long journey, they arrived at the boundary of Green Water County around 8 o’clock. By this time, the sun had risen, and the temperature was gradually rising. Xiulan and Xiaoxia had both put on hats.

“There’s a small river ahead. Let’s stop and rest for a bit, Hongzao is tired too,” Xiulan said, pointing to a small river not far ahead.

“That’s what I was thinking too,” Lin Heng nodded, noticing that Hongzao’s fur was soaked in sweat.

“Whoa!!”

He pulled on the reins, and the cart stopped under the shade of a large willow tree by the river.

“Hiss!”

Hongzao breathed heavily, panting hard. After running for nearly three hours, it was completely exhausted.

Lin Heng tied it under the tree to rest, waiting for it to cool down before allowing it to drink water, as it wasn’t good for it to drink right away.

“Daddy, where is this?” Xiaoxia got off the cart and curiously looked around with her big eyes.

“This is on the way to your grandma and grandpa’s house,” Lin Heng smiled and said.

“Grandma and grandpa? What’s that?” Xiaoxia was even more confused, as she had never met her grandparents.

“They’re your mom’s mom and dad. When we get there, you’ll know,” Lin Heng explained with a smile.

He took his daughter to the riverbank, where Xiulan had already soaked a towel in water, wrung it out, and handed it to Lin Heng.

Lin Heng first wiped Xiaoxia’s face. Since she was wearing thick clothes to prevent catching a cold, her forehead had beads of sweat.

The three of them wiped their faces and sat down under the tree to rest. Xiulan took out the soft flatbreads she had made yesterday and started dividing them up to eat.

But this time, it was just the soft flatbreads—no fermented bean curd with chili or sour and spicy shredded potatoes.

Lin Heng ate while looking at the surrounding scenery. The stream was clear and bright, and the bottom was covered with various colorful pebbles, which looked beautiful.

Xiulan looked at her watch and smiled, “It’s 8:30. We’ve already reached Meihua Stone Town. After passing two more townships, we’ll be in our Baisha Township. We should arrive before noon.”

“Definitely no problem. Hongzao is really a good horse, so fast.”

Lin Heng nodded, then looked at his wife and said, “What’s wrong? You seem a bit anxious.”

“Yes, it’s just that I haven’t been back in three years,” Xiulan nodded. She wasn’t sure what things were like at home now.

She had wanted to go back for the past two years, ever since giving birth, but had always been too busy with various things.

Lin Heng took his wife’s soft hand and held it in his palm. “We’ll see when we get back. Once we make some money, we’ll buy a pickup truck. When that happens, it’ll only take us less than two hours to visit your family.”

In these past few months, Xiulan hadn’t had to work as hard as before. She had started using hand cream, making her hands much whiter and softer.

Plus, her fingers were naturally long and beautiful, so holding her hand felt really pleasant.

Xiaoxia, seeing her parents holding hands, also extended her little hand and cheerfully said, “Let’s hold hands together!”

Xiulan couldn’t help but smile as she watched her husband and daughter. Her heart felt warm.

“Buy a car? That’ll cost a lot of money. With the horse cart, we can still come back once a year,” Xiulan said, shaking her head.

“Not just for coming back, it’ll be more convenient for going to the city. Having a vehicle will be helpful for doing business, too. It’ll be too inconvenient without one. I won’t rush; we’ll talk about it when we have enough money,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

“Alright, next year let’s both work hard to raise fish and shrimp,” Xiulan nodded in agreement.

After finishing the flatbreads, Lin Heng noticed that Hongzao had rested enough, so he walked over, untied the rope, and led it to the stream for water.

“Eh?”

Just as he was about to untie the rope, Lin Heng noticed something strange and quickly turned back to grab his bow and arrows.

“What’s wrong?” Xiulan asked, startled, thinking something had happened. There was no one around here.

“I’ll go check. It could be a wild rabbit or a wild chicken,” Lin Heng pointed towards a soybean field across the stream, near the mountain.

He saw something moving there, and the soybean plants looked unusual.

After saying that, he quietly sneaked over, taking a step and then pausing. It took him about ten minutes to reach a spot where he could somewhat shoot his bow.

The soybean leaves were blocking his view, so he couldn’t clearly see what it was, unsure whether it was a wild chicken or rabbit, but it couldn’t have been a person.

He notched an arrow and began to aim. The distance was about 20 meters, but he could no longer get any closer.

With a whoosh, he drew the bow fully, and the black arrow flew out, piercing through the soybean leaves and hitting the target.

“Rabbit?”

Lin Heng clearly heard the sound of the arrow sinking into flesh.

He quickly ran over, pushing aside the soybean leaves, and saw a large gray rabbit lying on the ground. Its legs were still twitching, the arrow having pierced through its back.

“The bow and arrows were right!” Lin Heng grinned, picked up the rabbit, and quickly returned.

“A rabbit this big!” Xiulan exclaimed in surprise when she saw the rabbit.

She had just watched her husband hunting and was a little impressed by how cool and decisive he was. One arrow, a quick kill—it was really impressive.

“Daddy is so amazing, such a big rabbit!!” Xiaoxia ran over happily, clapping her little hands and admiring Lin Heng.

Even though she was small, she already understood that this was something they could eat.

“Don’t touch it, be careful, the blood might spill on you.”

Lin Heng said with a laugh, handing the rabbit to his wife to hold while he led the horse to drink water.

“This rabbit is really fat, about six or seven pounds,” Xiulan said, looking at the large gray rabbit.

“Of course, everything is fat in the fall,” Lin Heng replied while loosening the horse’s reins.

Xiulan looked at the rabbit and said, “We’ll take the rabbit meat to my dad’s house. As for the fur, we can bring it back and make a hat for Xiaoxia.”

She already had enough things to bring to her parents, so she didn’t think they needed to take the rabbit’s fur as well.

“Give it to your mom. We are not lacking in that,” Lin Heng said as he led the horse to the riverbank.

Xiulan agreed without hesitation. After all, it was just a rabbit pelt, and he wasn’t too concerned about it.

He wanted Xiulan to shine, to make her parents proud of her.

Hongzao drank water for several minutes and then seemed reluctant to leave the grass by the stream.

Lin Heng patted its head and said, “Let’s go. We’ll give you a good feed when we get there.”

After that, he led the horse back to the road, put the reins back on, and continued their journey.

“Whoa!”

Lin Heng gave the horse a light pat on the rear, and it started running again.

……

……

Meanwhile, in Liulin Village, Baisha Township, Green Water County, the Chen family’s yard.

The 300-square-meter house was occupied by Xiulan’s parents, her older brother and his wife, her third brother and his wife, her fourth brother and his wife, along with five children. Among them, her older brother’s family had three children, her second brother’s family had two, and her fourth brother’s family had one.

The house, of course, was a traditional mud-brick house, and their area had more flat land and abundant water sources. In addition to farming, the locals often went fishing in the river.

Overall, their living conditions were slightly better than those in Huangtan Town.

However, with so many people in the house, relying solely on farming and fishing barely allowed them to make ends meet. As long as they didn’t go hungry, that was already considered quite good.

In these times, the poorer a family was, the more children they had. It wasn’t uncommon to have four or five children in a family, and having six or seven was not unusual.

At noon, the family returned from the fields. Xiulan’s father and three brothers had collected fish traps and nets from the river and were now sorting the catch under the eaves of the house.

The fish traps had caught a fair number of shrimp and catfish, while the large fishing net only had some small carp and crucian carp, not the big fish they had hoped for.

The finger-sized white-striped nets had done quite well, catching many white-striped horse-mouth fish and blue-tipped minnows.

While Xiulan’s father and three older brothers were sorting fish, her mother and three sisters-in-law were picking vegetables, and the grandchildren were playing in the village, making mud pies.

“Tomorrow is the 15th of August. I wonder if Xiulan will come back this year. Ever since she got married, she hasn’t thought of coming home at all,” Xiulan’s mother sighed as she picked vegetables, thinking about her youngest daughter.

Xiulan’s father glanced at his wife and mocked, “I told you back then to let Xiulan marry someone in the village, but you insisted on letting her marry whoever she liked. Now do you see?”

“I knew that Lin kid wasn’t reliable. Who knows how much your daughter might be suffering now, working all day without a moment to come back home.”

Both of Xiulan’s parents were quite good-looking. Xiulan had inherited her mother’s oval face, small mouth, and good figure, as well as her father’s big eyes, high nose, and height.

Because of this, both her parents were especially fond of their youngest daughter. When Lin Heng asked for her hand in marriage, her father strongly disagreed. It was only after her mother persuaded him that he reluctantly agreed.

“Mom, you should stop thinking about it. She probably won’t come back this year. If she does come back, she’ll probably ask us for help. She didn’t marry into a good place,” said Xiulan’s eldest sister-in-law, Zhang Shuiqin, whose loud voice and coarse manner made her sound almost like a man.

She and her mother-in-law didn’t get along, often speaking in a sarcastic manner. When Xiulan married far away, she was the first to support it because it meant Xiulan wouldn’t come back often, and that way, they wouldn’t have to share anything from home.

A tall, slim woman about 1.7 meters tall, who was as thin as a bamboo stick, also joked, “Yeah, Mom, you’re wasting your time thinking about your little daughter. Even if she comes back, she won’t bring back anything good for you. She’ll probably want something from us instead. It’s better to think about your sons and us. At least during the holidays, we’ll bring you some meat.”

Although this woman was tall, her crooked teeth made her look much less attractive. This was Xiulan’s fourth brother’s wife, Liu Hua.

The only one who didn’t speak was Xiulan’s third sister-in-law, Liu Xue, who kept her head down and silently picked vegetables.

Xiulan’s mother glanced at her eldest and fourth daughters-in-law, her anger building.

Both of them were lazy and good-for-nothings, doing little work and constantly talking. When there was food, they were the first to grab it; when there was work, they always found ways to slack off.

Her back had been aching for the past two years from all the hard work, which was why she couldn’t stop thinking about her youngest daughter, Xiulan.

To get her sons married as quickly as possible, she had ended up with two useless women as daughters-in-law. It was enough to drive her mad.

Her two sons were equally useless, whipped by their wives and too scared to say a word.

Only her third daughter-in-law gave her some comfort. She was quiet, hardworking, and didn’t complain about the family’s poverty.

“Sigh!” She was too tired to argue with these two anymore.

Seeing their mother-in-law silent, the two women seemed pleased, as if they had won.

Xiulan’s father, Chen Changxia, gave a glance at the two daughters-in-law, and only then did they quiet down a little.

At the entrance of Liulin Village, a group of children were making mud bricks in the shape of squares. They dug a hole in the middle and then dropped them onto a stone slab, making a loud bang, like setting off fireworks. They were having a great time.

As the group of children played happily, they suddenly saw a tall, majestic red horse pulling a cart approaching from the distance.

They quickly moved aside, watching with curious eyes.

On the cart were a man, a woman, and a child. The three of them were dressed remarkably well, with the man and woman even wearing watches on their wrists.

The cart was full of things, and most notably, there was a large rabbit hanging from the side of the cart, making the children’s mouths water.

The three people were, of course, Lin Heng’s family, who had been rushing to get there.

“Are you Chen Xin? I’m your aunt. Don’t you recognize me?” Xiulan smiled and called out to an 11 or 12-year-old boy standing by the roadside. He was the child of her cousin’s family.

Lin Heng quickly stopped the cart and smiled at the boy.

“You’re Xiulan, my aunt?” The boy looked at Xiulan carefully. He had thought she looked familiar just now but hadn’t dared to speak.

“It’s me. Are my parents home?” Xiulan asked with a smile.

“Uncle and aunt are at home. Little aunt, I’ll lead the way for you,” the boy said as he ran to the front of the cart.

“My little aunt is back! My little aunt is back!”

He ran down the road with a group of children, shouting as he went, attracting the attention of many villagers, who came out to see what was happening.

“Who is this? Are they from the city?”

“They’re dressed so nicely, and they’re wearing watches. They must be from the city.”

“This is Chen Xin’s little aunt. She got married to someone in Nanping County three years ago, right? Wow, she’s even more beautiful now.”

“I thought she married into the countryside. Did she remarry or something? How did she become so wealthy?”

“No, it’s the man who married her three years ago. His surname is Lin. I’ve seen him!” said one of Lin Heng’s former rivals, shaking his head.

Seeing the woman they once liked marry someone else and live such a happy life made these people feel uncomfortable.

Just looking at her clothes and style, even if she wasn’t from the city, it was clear she had become prosperous and rich.

Whether it was the horse, the watches, or the clothes, they all seemed out of place in the rural setting.

“Go take a look, and you’ll know. It’s really the youngest daughter of the Chen family. They really found a good family for her,” someone said.

“Right, let’s go take a look!!”

The villagers of Liulin Village, discussing among themselves, walked toward the Chen family’s house.

Lin Heng, sitting in the cart, felt helpless. The kid’s voice was so loud, wasn’t it? All kids seem to be the same everywhere—big mouths, always shouting.

Luckily, he was bringing Xiulan back in style; otherwise, it would’ve been so awkward.

In the Chen family’s yard, a group of people was sorting fish nets and picking vegetables when they heard the children’s cheers from outside.

“Chen Xin is shouting again, he should be taught a lesson,” Xiulan’s eldest sister-in-law, Zhang Shuiqin, grumbled.

Xiulan’s fourth sister-in-law, Liu Hua, furrowed her brows and asked, “Sounds like they’re calling for the little aunt to come back. Which little aunt is that?”

“Chen Xin’s little aunt? Isn’t that Xiulan?” Xiulan’s third brother, Chen Zhiliang, looked up and said.

“Xiulan’s back?”

Xiulan’s mother froze for a moment, dropped what she was doing, and ran outside.

Xiulan’s father, Chen Changxia, also hurried out of the yard and walked toward the road.

The others quickly put down their work and followed. Whether they liked it or not, it had been three years since they last saw Xiulan, and they all wanted to know how she was doing now.

“Uncle and Aunt, my little aunt is back!” Chen Xin, leading a group of children, ran ahead.

Soon, the large, majestic red horse pulling the cart appeared in their view.

As the horse drew closer, the people saw the people in the cart and froze.

Everything about their appearance, from their clothing to their accessories, was strikingly beautiful. The style and quality of their clothes looked extraordinary, not to mention the watches on their wrists. The three people in the cart were dressed even more splendidly than the city people.

“Is this really Xiulan and her husband?” Xiulan’s eldest sister-in-law, Zhang Shuiqin, was stunned, unable to believe it.

She glanced at herself, covered in dust with patched clothes, then at Xiulan and Lin Heng in the distance, and couldn’t believe her eyes.

Three years ago, they hadn’t been dressed any better. How had they gone from that to wearing watches now? They must have gotten incredibly rich.

“Could it be that Xiulan remarried to someone in the city?” Xiulan’s fourth sister-in-law, Liu Hua, stuttered.

Although Xiulan’s father, Chen Changxia, also found it hard to believe, he shook his head and said, “That’s Xiulan and Lin Heng. She hasn’t remarried.”

He couldn’t help but feel happy. He had thought Lin Heng was unreliable back then, but it seemed like his daughter had married the right man after all.

“Whoa!!”

As Lin Heng pulled the reins, Hongzao stopped. He jumped off the cart, helped Xiulan and his daughter down, and walked toward his in-laws.

“Mom!!”

Xiulan quickly ran up and grabbed her mother’s hand, her eyes brimming with tears. From afar, she could already see how much her mother’s back had bent over the years.

“Xiulan, it’s good you’re back, good you’re back,” Xiulan’s mother, Wang Zhi, held her hand tightly, tears flowing uncontrollably.

“Mom, don’t cry!” Xiulan quickly grabbed a towel to dry her mother’s tears, her heart aching with the thought of all her mother had endured over the years.

“I won’t cry, and you shouldn’t either!” Wang Zhi, her mother, wiped her own tears away before reaching out to gently dab at Xiulan’s.

“Dad, big brother, big sister-in-law, third brother, and fourth brother!”

Xiulan then went over and took her father’s hand, greeting her three brothers. She didn’t know her new sisters-in-law and didn’t dare to greet them casually.

“Good to have you back. This is your third sister-in-law, Liu Xue, and your fourth sister-in-law, Liu Hua,” Lin Heng’s father said, smiling at his daughter.

“Dad, Mom, big brother… this is our daughter, Xiaoxia,” Lin Heng also came over with a smile, greeting them, then looking at Xiaoxia, he said, “Say hello to Grandpa and Grandma!”

“Grandpa, Grandma!” With Lin Heng there, Xiaoxia wasn’t shy at all and called out crisply.

“Haha, very good!” Chen Changxia, Xiulan’s father, replied happily.

Wang Zhi, Xiulan’s mother, smiled and asked, “Xiaoxia is really beautiful, how old is she?”

“One and a half!” Xiaoxia, with her big eyes, said sweetly.

“Such a smart little girl, speaking at this age!” Wang Zhi smiled, rubbing Xiaoxia’s face. She grew fonder of her with every glance, reminded of how Xiulan had been when she was young.

“Stop reminiscing here, let’s all go inside,” Chen Changxia, Xiulan’s father, said with a smile.

“Oh, right, Mom and Dad, there is the clothing, wine, mooncakes, and candy we brought for you. This rabbit was caught by Lin Heng on the way here.”

Xiulan turned and handed the gifts to her parents.

“So many things, you child…”

Lin Heng’s father was surprised by the gifts. Just the bottles of wine—Sanliangye—cost twelve yuan each.

“Right, how much did all this cost? Too extravagant,” Wang Zhi, Xiulan’s mother, said, her mouth agape. The gifts were overwhelming.

Xiulan’s brothers were also stunned. When Lin Heng came to marry Xiulan, he had been just a poor boy. How had he become so wealthy now?

The sisters-in-law standing by couldn’t help but drool with envy. How rich must they be to bring back so many gifts for the holiday?

Even just the two bags of sugar made them envious. Not to mention the clothes and wine.

Compared to all that, the rabbit Lin Heng had caught on the way seemed trivial.

“It’s not that much, just take it, Mom and Dad. Let’s go inside quickly. It’s not good to stand here and be stared at,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

“Alright, let’s go inside,” Chen Changxia nodded eagerly.

(End of Chapter)