Chapter 3: The Unexpected Event

  Liu Xizhen was just about to enter when she bumped into Qing Sheng who was rushing out.

  Qing Shu had just returned home from the fields when he heard Bai Cui Fen's cries for help. He immediately dropped everything in his hands and rushed outside, colliding with Liu Xiu Zhen who was entering the house.

  "Where are you going? If you dare to step out of this door today, I'll die in front of you." Liu Xiuzhen grabbed Qing Sheng's sleeve and shouted angrily.

  Qing Shu slapped Liu Xiu Zhen's hand away, "You've died a hundred times and still haven't died, but others are really going to lose their lives."

  Having said that, Qing Sheng ignored Liu Xiu Zhen's frantic cries behind him and rushed out of the yard like a flying arrow.

  Seeing her cries were ineffective, Liu Xiuzhen threw the basket of vegetables in her hand to the ground, and the green vegetables scattered all over the floor.

  "You scoundrel, come back here! If you dare go today, I'll..."

  Liu Xizhen followed behind Qing Sheng and chased out of the gate of the courtyard.

  Standing outside the courtyard gate, Liu Xiu Zhen had one hand on her hip and the other pointing at Qing Sheng who was running ahead, and she scolded loudly at his back.

  "Sister-in-law, you've picked so many vegetables early in the morning, you're really virtuous! Have you eaten breakfast yet?"

  Liu Xiu Zhen was rolling up her sleeves, about to chase after Qing Sheng in front of her, when she suddenly heard someone speaking behind her.

  Turning back, it was Lin Laoshi from the small village, standing behind her with a smiling face looking at her.

  "Oh, it's Teacher Lin! You're here so early? Did you hear her shouting too?" Liu Xiuzhen turned around and saw the person speaking, quickly toning down her previous arrogant attitude, smiling awkwardly.

  The person talking to Liu Xiu Zhen was Lin Wen Hui, the father of Lin Xi, the little girl who was playing on the bridge earlier. His family lived in a small village near Liu's village, although it was only a few hundred meters away from the big village, but it was unlikely that people in the small village could hear Bai Cui Fen's cries for help earlier, so Liu Xiu Zhen asked him like this.

  Lin Wenhui, in the eyes of Liujiacun villagers, not only has a belly full of literature, but also, he doesn't have the pretentious and arrogant taste of a literati, so he is very straightforward, therefore the villagers all respect him greatly. Even the haughty Qing Sheng and the self-proclaimed noble An Bingwen treat him with extra courtesy.

  So Liu Xiu Zhen turned around to see Lin Wen Hui standing behind her, and immediately toned down her earlier haughtiness, standing up straight in front of him like a student facing their teacher, with her hands by her sides.

  Liu Xizhen took a few steps back while speaking and stood by the side of the road, making way for Lin Wenhui.

  Lin Wenhui didn't respond to Liu Xiuzhen's words, instead pointing towards the direction of Bai Cuifen's home and said: "Sister, I'll go take a look at what happened over there. With me and Shusheng going, you don't need to go, your family has old and young waiting for you to make breakfast."

  After exchanging pleasantries with Liu Xiu Zhen, Lin Wen Hui headed towards the Bai Cui Fen's residence.

  Actually, Lin Wenhui had just seen Liu Xiuzhen chasing after Qing Sheng behind his back. He knew that given Liu Xiuzhen's personality, she definitely wasn't going to help out at Bai Cuifen's house with Qing Sheng. She must have wanted to catch up to Qing Sheng and stop him from going to Bai Cuifen's house, and might even get into a big fight with him. To avoid awkwardness, Lin Wenhui deliberately said that.

  Not long after Lin Wenhui went to Bai Cuifen's home, the other villagers came over one by one. Some just stood in front of Bai Cuifen's door and looked on, while others followed him into the house, wanting to find out what had happened.

  Seeing this scene, Liu Xiu Zhen stopped shouting and didn't even pick up the vegetables that had been scattered on the ground. She stood still, craned her neck and looked in the direction of Bai Cui Fen's home.

  In less than a moment, someone from the Bai Cui Fen's family came in and out, shouting: "Hurry up! Hurry up! It won't do, the situation is very bad."

  Liu Xiuzhen saw her men, Qing Sheng and Lin Wenhui, also coming out of Bai Cuifen's house, standing at the door and loudly shouting to the crowd, telling them to hurry up and prepare stretchers.

  After instructing everyone properly, Qing Sheng and Lin Wenhui went back into the house.

  People outside, hurriedly returned to their own homes, those who took bamboo beds took bamboo beds, those who took wooden beams took wooden beams, and those who took ropes took ropes. In less than a moment, the stretcher was ready, and people outside shouted at those inside the house, "Hurry up, the stretcher is ready."

  At this time, only to see Qing Shengsheng carrying An Bingwen on his back from the house, Lin Wenhui was supporting Qing Shengsheng and An Bingwen on his back, while Bai Cuifen followed behind, crying.

  After An Bingwen was put on the stretcher, four young and strong men quickly picked up the stretcher.

  Qingshu said to a slightly weaker young man beside him: "It's too far to go to the town hospital, you can't eat it, let me do it!"

  As he spoke, the burden fell on his shoulders.

  Liu Xizhen stood still in front of her own door, watching the crowd busily, waiting for the people carrying the stretcher to leave the village entrance. She then chased after them to the bridgehead, gazing at their slowly disappearing backs until they were out of sight. Only then did she return with a sense of loss and bewilderment.

  She stood at her own door for a while, saw a passerby, and hurriedly grabbed someone to ask: "That family, what's going on?" Liu Xiuzhen nodded towards the Bai Cui Fen's house with her mouth.

  "Bingwen is done for, this time he probably won't make it." The passerby shook his head and walked away.

  After that person left, Liu Xiu Zhen turned around and prepared to enter the house, only to run into Liu De Zhou who was walking out with his hands behind his back.

  "Father." Liu Xiu Zhen called out.

  Liu Dezhou nodded and continued walking forward, but suddenly turned around and shouted at Liu Xiu Zhen, pointing at her with his hand: "Da Xiu, how can you not be taught? I've told you countless times, when you walk out of this courtyard gate, no matter what men are doing outside, you mustn't shout or yell at them."

  "But, Father, he was born under our tree..." Liu Xiu Zhen looked up at her old father Liu De Zhou with a face full of grievance.

  "What's wrong with him?" Liu Dezhou raised his voice and scolded, "Men, the more you let go, the more they'll cling to you. Women should be gentle. Look at Bai Cuifen, which man in the village doesn't like her? Not only Tree Born, but also Teacher Lin treats her well. Did Jia Zhilan ever quarrel with him? If only you had half of Erxiu and Xixiu's cleverness!"

  Liu Dezhou sighed, shook his head, and walked in the direction of Bai Cuifen's home with his hands behind his back.

  Looking at Liu Dezhou's receding back, Liu Xiu Zhen snorted in discontent, "This old man, I am his own daughter, Shu Sheng, Shu Sheng, he calls out so intimately, he is your son-in-law, just half a son."

  Liu Xiuzhen muttered to herself as she walked into the house, "Hmph! This son-in-law doesn't even know if he's half a son or not! Erxiu and Xixiu are so good, why can't they let them marry in? Leaving Xixiu at home, can you handle her?" Liu Xiuzhen curled up her mouth disdainfully.

  Liu Dezhou has three daughters: Liu Xiuzhen (the eldest), Liu Xiu Ying (the second) and Liu Xiulan (the youngest).

  Qingsheng was in the spring of 1974, when he came to Liujiacun to do carpentry work, he was spotted by Liu Dezhou and was invited to be a live-in son-in-law.

  Qingsheng not only had good craftsmanship, but also looked robust and was clever. He could recognize a few characters. There were six siblings in his family. The eldest brother remained unmarried and became an old bachelor. The second, third, and fifth sisters were already married. The fourth sister had her own family and set up her own household. His mother passed away early, and his father lived with the eldest brother who was a bachelor. He was the youngest child, only just over 20 years old at that time, alone and without any burdens. Every year, except for returning home once during Chinese New Year, he almost always wandered outside.

  Qing Sheng was born with all these good or bad conditions, which met the conditions for Liu Dezhou to recruit a son-in-law. So Liu Dezhou took advantage of his superior position at that time - the secretary of the village branch of the commune, and successfully persuaded Qing Sheng to become the son-in-law of his eldest daughter Liu Xiuzhen.

  Because of his good education and extensive travel experience, he is also a shrewd and astute person who values loyalty. With the support of Liu Dezhou, although he married into the family, he has a very high status in the household and even in the entire Liu village.

  So the green tree gave birth to a pair of children, although the son Liu Jiawei followed the surname Liu, but the daughter Qinglan followed his surname. Moreover, the names of the twins were taken after Liu Dezhou consulted with him.

  Liu Dezhou elevated the status of Qing Sheng in his home and village to keep him, because he felt that his daughter Liu Xiuzhen was not worthy of him. However, Liu Xiuzhen did not understand Liu Dezhou's intentions and often complained at home that he was biased.

  Liu Dezhou left, Liu Xiu Zhen entered the house, picked up the scattered vegetables on the ground and started preparing breakfast.

  Just as a family was having breakfast around the table, An Shaojie came back with a bamboo basket on his back.

  When he passed by Liu Xiuzhen's house, Qing Lan suddenly put down her bowl and chopsticks.

  Actually, throughout the whole breakfast process, Qing Lan's eyes were fixed on the outside of the door. She knew that An Shaojie would definitely pass by their house entrance when he came home, so as soon as she saw his figure appear, she subconsciously put down her bowl and chopsticks.

  "Where are you going?" Liu Xiu Zhen knew what Qing Lan was about to do and couldn't help but shout loudly.

  Qing Lan jumped down from the stool and ran out quickly, as if she hadn't heard Liu Xiu Zhen's words.

  But An Shaojie was like he hadn't seen Qing Lan at all, and didn't stop his footsteps because of seeing her come out. He continued to walk towards his own home with the same pace, calmly and steadily.

  "Shao Jie Ge." Qing Lan called out as she jogged to keep up with An Shao Jie, even though she knew he had never responded to her before.

  Qing Lan followed him all the way to their home, where Iron General blocked the door.

  An Shaojie was stunned.

  "Shao Jie Ge, your father is ill again. My father and the villagers took him to the town hospital. Your mother also went. Why don't you come to our house for dinner?" Qing Lan looked up at An Shao Jie with an expectant and pleading gaze, as if she was the one in distress, not An Shao Jie, and it was she who was begging An Shao Jie to take her in.

  "Xiaolan!" Someone suddenly called out in front of her.

  Qing Lan turned her head and saw it was WaWa, Lin Xi.

  "Shao Jie, your father is ill. Your mother and my father, as well as Lan's father, have taken him to the hospital in town. Your sister has been at my house all along. My mother asked me to come call you over for dinner."

  Lin Xi's voice was tender and crisp, like freshly steamed bamboo shoots, fragrant to the nose and crunchy in the mouth. And because she was eager to finish this long string of words in one breath, her speech was inevitably a bit uneven, with her chubby body rising and falling with each word, giving her voice a rhythmic, melodious flavor.

  Her bright and shiny eyes kept glancing at An Shaojie, afraid that he would refuse.

  Qing Lan turned her head to look at Lin Xi, pouting and looking a bit spoiled and wronged. "Lin sister, I asked Shao Jie brother to come to our house for dinner, our house is closer, your house is so far away, why go to your house for dinner? Besides, his older sister is at your house, can't he just come to our house for dinner?"

  "Lan Lan, my mother said that there are many people in your family and your father and grandfather often help other villagers, so the food is not enough for everyone to eat. So let Shao Jie go to our house for dinner instead."

  Qing Lan glared at Lin Xi and turned her face away in anger.

  When Qing Lan turned her head again, An Shaojie was already following Lin Xi and had walked a long distance.

  Looking at their backs, Qing Lan's tears fell down uncontrollably, and she stood there for a long time before dejectedly heading home.

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