Chapter 4 Night Talks

  After returning home, Qing Lan hastily ate a few mouthfuls of rice, then pushed the bowl and chopsticks to the middle of the table, jumped down from the bench, ran out, tripped over Liu Jia Wei's stool leg, stumbled, and almost fell to the ground.

  Qing Lan gritted her teeth and rubbed them with a "tsk" sound, then turned around and ran out again without caring about the pain.

  "Where are you off to again, crazy girl?" Liu Jiawei asked discontentedly as he stood up and gave Qing Lan way.

  Liu Jiawei is Qing Lan's older brother, two years older than Qing Lan.

  "It's definitely going to Lin Xi's house again, today An Shaojie is definitely eating at Lin Xi's house, and Hanhan likes to play with them two. But you see An Shaojie's behavior, he doesn't even care about Hanhan, yet Hanhan still keeps going over to talk to him." Liu Jiawei ate his meal with a disgruntled heart.

  "Eat! Where did all these words come from while eating?" Liu Dezhou, sitting directly above the main room, tapped his bowl with chopsticks.

  Liu Jiawei puffed out his chest and glared at his grandfather with discontent before lowering his head to continue eating in silence.

  At noon, several young men who had taken An Bingwen to the hospital in the morning returned with Lin Wenhui, but Qing Sheng did not return.

  Immediately, many people in the village gathered around and asked those few people questions. The young man didn't say much, but just shook his head silently, so the villagers knew that An Bingwen's situation was not very good.

  "Our family's tree is born?" Liu Xiu Zhen caught Lin Wen Hui who was lowering his head and trying to slip away.

  Lin Wenhui was worried about running into Liu Xiu Zhen before entering the village, knowing she would grab him and ask non-stop questions. He originally wanted to lower his head and pretend not to see her, but unexpectedly still got caught red-handed by her.

  "Shu Sheng Ge didn't come back, because Bingwen's condition wasn't very good, so he stayed," said Lin Wenhui. After saying this, he quickly wanted to slip away from Liu Xiu Zhen's side.

  But Liu Xiuzhen wouldn't let him go, grabbing his arm again. "He's staying? Why does he have to stay? Why don't you stay? Why doesn't everyone else stay?" Her tone was somewhat aggressive.

  Lin Wenhui scratched his head, being pressed by Liu Xiu Zhen to the point of having no way to hide, and spoke incoherently, "I... I... originally I wanted to stay behind with Shu Sheng Ge together, but Shu Sheng Ge said I have class tomorrow morning, so he insisted that I follow them back first." Lin Wenhui pointed at the others who came back with him, as if he had done something wrong.

  It's true that every time Lin Wenhui met Liu Xiu Zhen, he always had a feeling of being at a disadvantage, as if he was a scholar meeting a soldier, and no matter how hard he tried to reason with her, he couldn't get his point across.

  "Are you going to class? What about them? Are they also going to class? Why don't they stay behind?" Liu Xiu Zhen pointed at the young men who had returned earlier and asked loudly.

  "They... some of them also asked to stay, but it's not that they have elderly at home, just that there are young ones that need to be taken care of, so..." Although Lin Wenhui was a teacher and normally eloquent, whenever he encountered Liu Xiuzhen's tantrums, he became tongue-tied and couldn't come up with a proper reason after stammering for half a day.

  "So... so what? So he stayed behind, just him, no old people, no young people, no family to take care of?" Perhaps seeing Lin Wenhui's embarrassed expression, Liu Xiu Zhen felt even more justified and her voice grew louder.

  "No, no." Lin Wenhui waved his hand repeatedly. "Sister-in-law, don't misunderstand, it's not like that. Your family has you to take care of, right? You're capable and can take care of the household, so Brother Shu can be at ease."

  Lin Wenhui said as he gave a signal to one of the young men, who understood and quickly came forward, pulling Liu Xiu Zhen's hand away from Lin Wenhui's. "Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, it's like this..."

  While Liu Xiu Zhen was listening to the young man's explanation, Lin Wen Hui hastily withdrew and left.

  By the time Liu Xiu Zhen reacted, Lin Wen Hui had already walked a long distance.

  "Hey..." Liu Xiu Zhen shouted at Lin Wen Hui's back.

  Lin Wenhui turned around and waved his hand, saying: "Sister-in-law, go home and have dinner."

  Lin Wenhui went home, and several young men also returned home one after another. After Liu Xiu Zhen stood at the bridgehead for a while and said goodbye to others, she also went home.

  Liu Xiuzhen's back had just disappeared from view when a group of women who were standing on the bridge watching the commotion began to chatter and gossip among themselves.

  "Hmph!" A woman let out a disdainful snort from her nose, shaking her head.

  "Some things, you just have to believe they are like that, and that's it." Another woman continued.

  "Yes." The woman who had hummed in her nose earlier, seeing someone agreeing with her, became even more pleased, a smile of satisfaction spreading across her face, her head slightly raised. "Before marriage, An Bingwen didn't have any illness, did he? He got sick after getting married, and the previous husband was no exception."

  "Really?" Many people echoed in agreement.

  "Just one look at her and you can tell she's a widow in the making. She's got that weak and timid look, like she doesn't have any bones in her body. Her eyebrows are thin, her eyes are small, and her shoulders are gaunt. One glance and you can see it - she's a beauty destined to be a young widow. And think back to when they first got married, Bingwen treated her like a precious treasure! Hmph!" Seeing someone nodding in agreement, a stout woman spoke up even more directly, without any reserve or tact.

  "Yes! Previously, so many matches were introduced to Biao Wen, but he didn't want any of them. One was a widow who died with her previous husband, and another was a second-hand goods with a pregnancy, but he agreed to meet this one at once. Ah! Everyone has their own fate, this is Biao Wen's fate, in his previous life, he owed her." Another woman wearing a big red jacket said with schadenfreude.

  "Everyone has reached this point, what's the point of idle chit-chat about her?" A big man carrying a hoe passed by the bridgehead, heard their conversation, threw out a sentence and walked away.

  Everyone then realized that they had indeed spoken out of turn, exchanged a glance with each other, smiled awkwardly, and dispersed.

  At night, the early spring mountain village was cool as water. As soon as it got dark, every household closed their doors tightly. The orange-red light that seeped out from each window enveloped the entire Liu Village in a dreamy and hazy night color.

  There are several households whose doors occasionally make a creaking sound, which is some lively villagers visiting each other after dinner.

  An Shaojie and An Shaomin sat stupidly in the main room of Lin Xue's house.

  Lin Wenhui's lover, Jia Zhilan, was washing dishes at the kitchen stove, next to a large pot of hot water for the family's foot and face washing, with steam rising from the pot.

  "Wen Hui, the water is ready, come in and first fetch a basin of water for Shao Jie, Shao Min and Lin Xi to wash up, after washing, settle them down to sleep." Zhilan shouted loudly from inside the house.

  Lin Wenhui, who was preparing lessons in his room, heard the shout, put down his pen, responded with a sound and then entered the kitchen.

  "How's the situation?" Lin Wenhui was standing inside the stove, scooping water, and Zhi Lan leaned her body outward, carefully glancing at the kitchen door and asked in a low voice.

  Zhilan had long wanted to ask Lin Wenhui about An Bingwen's situation, but was hesitant with Shaojie and Shaomin always around, so she took the opportunity to pull Lin Wenhui aside and ask.

  Lin Wenhui held the scoop in one hand and gestured with the other, leaning close to Zilan's ear and saying, "The situation is not good, it's about tonight."

  "What?!" Zhi Lan was startled and raised her voice, her hands stopping involuntarily from washing the dishes.

  "Keep your voice down, keep it down." Lin Wenhui was anxious and almost stomped his foot while pointing to the outside of the kitchen.

  The orchid has bloomed.

  Jia Zhiran had fair skin and a slender figure. Her family's home was next to the Liu family village. Her father was originally an accountant in the village, so he knew a few characters, and Zhiran also studied and recognized characters. She was considered one of the local beauties.

  Although she and Lin Wenhui were not in a free love relationship, the two people had admired each other before they got married, so the feelings between the couple were naturally different from those of other couples in the village. The two respected each other like guests, and occasionally they would have some romantic and playful interactions like urban couples.

  Especially when it comes to Xi Lan, although Lin Xie is almost six years old, sometimes in front of Lin Wen Hui, she still acts like a young girl in her first love, showing off her shyness and anger.

  Lin Wen Hui raised his arm, made a gesture of knocking on Zhi Lan's forehead, but when it actually landed on her forehead, he just pressed down lightly.

  Zhilan smiled coquettishly and Lin Wenhui hastily put his index finger to his lips and hushed her.

  After holding back her smile, she sighed and said: "Alas! If things really don't go well, what about these two kids? It's enough to make one worry."

  The one referred to by Zhi Lan is indeed Bai Cuifen.

  "Yes." Lin Wenhui fetched some water and then went out to invite Shaojie and the others to wash their feet, wash their faces, and get them settled in for sleep.

  "If Bingwen can't get over this hurdle, these two kids will still have to rely on us more in the future. It's not enough for Shusheng to help alone, he won't be able to cope either. Moreover, there has been gossip between him and Cuifen all along, if Bingwen leaves, their family will be shouldered by him alone, the gossip will only get worse. If we also lend a hand, the villagers will at least restrain themselves a bit." After washing up, Zhilan and Lin Wenhui sat on the bed in their clothes, still chatting about family matters.

  "Hmm!" Lin Wenhui nodded thoughtfully.

  "Alas!" Zhi Lan sighed, and then said: "You, Shu Sheng Ge, and Bing Wen, are all outsiders, it's not easy for you in Liu Jia Village, especially Bing Wen and her, both of whom are also outsiders from other provinces. Let's sympathize with each other!" After finishing speaking, Zhi Lan took off her clothes and lay down.

  "Yes, sometimes Shu Sheng is also very capable but can't use his strength. Xiuzhen is not an easy person to deal with, if you provoke her, you'll be arguing for ten days or half a month! Ah, speaking of which, although the village has been saying this, to be honest, Shu Sheng and Cui Fen are really like a couple, while Xiuzhen is completely incompatible with him." Lin Wenhui said as he helped Zhi Lan adjust the pillow on her back, making her lean more comfortably.

  Zhilan smiled at him warmly.