Chapter 74: This place is not suitable for a long stay, it's time to go home

  The old lady saw that the visitor was a osmanthus, and in her very unpleasant words, one was that her granddaughter and grandson were called thieves who stole melons, and two was to compensate.

  My grandmother was a good-tempered person, and even though the commotion had reached our doorstep, she remained very calm and composed. Lu Zhanfeng's patience had worn out, and upon hearing Liu Lianrong's mother's increasingly unpleasant words, he rushed out, and I naturally followed him. My cousin ran to He Guifang's face and said: "I respect you as an elder, so I'll call you Aunt Guifang. Now let me talk about the watermelon issue. You say we're watermelon thieves, but why don't you ask what happened yesterday? Why was Liu Lianrong crying? According to your story, your daughter saw us stealing watermelons, and she came to identify the two watermelon thieves. What's she crying for? Also, since you knew that some watermelons were missing, shouldn't you know how many were missing? My cousin and I couldn't have eaten that many, could we? How come you immediately assumed it was just my cousin and me who were the thieves? I admit I ate watermelon yesterday."

  He Guihua saw Lu Zhanfeng speaking more and more reasonably, so she quickly put on a fierce expression. She thought to herself: "I'm an adult, how can I not control this child?" Just as she managed to grab hold of Lu Zhanfeng, he said that he had eaten watermelon yesterday. He Guihua hastily added: "You just need to admit that you ate watermelon and it'll be fine. Yang Dama, did you hear that? What do you think we should do?" Liu Lianrong kept tugging at her mother's hand, but He Guihua didn't care.

  "Hey, Auntie, is that you? I've heard my cousin and Peng Yue call you that, so I'll follow the local custom. First of all, as my cousin said, it's impossible for us to eat six watermelons by ourselves. Why did you come to our house to make a fuss instead of going to someone else's? Secondly, can you really get Liu Lianrong to say in front of us that we're thieves? Even if she could, we have other people who can testify on our behalf. Do I need to go call them over? Let's clear this up in front of everyone. Otherwise, your yelling will make it impossible for my grandma to live here.

  Last but not least, even if we did eat your watermelons, couldn't we just pay you back at market price? Why are you making such a big fuss and coming to our doorstep to argue? My grandma invited you in to talk, but you didn't come. What's your intention? Are you trying to let everyone know that the Lu family has two 'watermelon thieves'? I'm telling you, Auntie, even if we did steal watermelons, we wouldn't be afraid of you. You're just trying to bully us because you think our household only consists of my grandma, my cousin, and me, and no one can help us, right?"

  I got more and more agitated, He Guihua didn't know whether she was intimidated by my momentum or her own guilty conscience, but she suddenly started crying loudly, shouting: "Everyone come out and take a look! The Lu family is bullying people, they stole our watermelon. I just came to reason with them, but they're actually threatening me, and there are two children involved too. If they're like this when they're young, what will happen when they grow up? It's true that if the beam is not straight, the house will be crooked, what kind of parents will have what kind of children, what kind of aunt will have what kind of niece...".

  It's just after lunchtime, and with He Guifang shouting like that, the neighbors all came over to take a look. That's how it is in the countryside - as soon as something happens at someone's house, word gets around quickly and before you know it, there are lots of people gathered around. Everyone was pointing and gesturing, making things really uncomfortable.

  My grandmother was originally very calm, but when He Guihua said the phrase "if the upper beam is not straight, the lower beam will be crooked", my grandmother's face suddenly turned white and her eyes became a little red. I know that my grandmother is most afraid of others mentioning my uncle's divorce, not because she is afraid of being criticized, but because she feels sorry for my uncle. At first, my uncle's marriage was arranged by my grandparents, and they thought highly of Li Xiaoyan, who came from a poor family with many children. She was very capable and hardworking, doing all the household chores without complaint. However, after marrying into our family, she changed completely, becoming lazy and spoiled. My grandmother had treated her like a daughter at first, not letting her do too much housework, but Li Xiaoyan became ungrateful and even tried to dominate my grandmother. It was as if she had become a different person after getting married. Actually, before the wedding, my grandmother had already heard some people say that Li Xiaoyan was very good at pretending, but because of the money spent on the engagement, she insisted on letting my uncle marry her, and this has always been a pain in her heart. Others can't mention it.

  Grandma Liu also came out of the house upon hearing the noise, and seeing that her mother-in-law was about to cry, she quickly supported her and comforted her. As more people gathered, Cao Qiang also came out to help. After understanding what had happened, he went to find the people who ate watermelon yesterday. Now it's a good opportunity to discuss this matter. I said loudly: "Please, uncles, aunts, grandmas, and grandpas, be quiet for a moment. We need to resolve the issue of the watermelon below. Aunt Guihua, now that all the people who ate watermelon yesterday are here, do you want to speak first about what you know is true? We, the ones who ate watermelon yesterday, have the most right to speak. Let's talk about what we know is true." I enunciated the two words "true" very clearly and heavily.

  He Guihua made a statement, then pulled out Liu Lianrong beside her and said: "Our family's servant girl is forced by their pressure to dare not speak, I as the mother can't come out to speak, right? Lianrong, tell me if what I'm saying is true or not?" He Guihua spoke while glancing around with a fierce gaze. Liu Lianrong was frightened and nodded randomly without saying a word.

  Peng Zhenzhen couldn't take it anymore and scolded Liu Lianrong, "Liu Lianrong, how can you speak nonsense in front of so many people? No matter how your mother beats you, you can't pour dirty water on Xiao Xiao's head. This thing wasn't their idea from the beginning, how can it all be blamed on them in the end? I'll say it, we were just welcoming Feng and Xiao back for summer vacation, washing the dust off for them, who knows whose idea it was to eat watermelon, Liu Lianrong also agreed to eat her family's watermelon...

  I'm sorry, but I can't translate that text. It appears to be a jumbled collection of characters from different languages and scripts, including Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, as well as some non-standard or made-up characters.

  If you could provide the original text in a standard language or script, I would be happy to help with translation.

  On the side, Cao Qiang took the lead in saying yes, and then those people all said yes too, without even considering whether they would be scolded by their parents when they got home. It seemed like everyone was on our side now, and He Guihua saw that the situation had already turned around, so she slapped Liu Lianrong with a backhand and said: "All you know how to do is cry! Hurry up and speak! They're in cahoots with each other, we're the victims here! My watermelon! I grew them easily, didn't I? I was planning on having Old Liu take his tractor to sell watermelons in the city today, but now this has happened... who's still in the mood for that?" Liu Lianrong cried even harder and said between sobs: "Mom, let's just go home... it's so humiliating. Is it really worth it over some watermelons? Can't I just go to the garment factory downstairs and earn money by cutting threads?" He Guihua said hatefully: "How did I give birth to such an ungrateful daughter like you? You're going to regret this when we get home!"

  "My goodness, it's just six watermelons, is it worth making such a fuss? I really can't bear to look at this anymore. My grandmother also couldn't bear it and said: 'Guihua, our kids didn't tell you before eating your family's watermelon, that was their fault. My wife is here apologizing to you now. Here, take 100 yuan, I'll buy those watermelons back from you, let's just consider this matter settled. Everyone who should leave can leave now, we also need to go back and take a nap.'"

  He Guihua's face suddenly lit up with joy, saying: "Old Mrs. Yang, you are indeed a wise and understanding person, why didn't you say so earlier? It wouldn't have ended up like this if you had spoken up sooner. Lian Rong, come home with me." Liu Lianrong turned her head to look at me, her expression was very complex, with regret, sadness, and resentment... Alas, who made her end up with such a mother? Everyone probably understood He Guihua's intentions and dispersed one after another.

  After entering the house, my grandmother closed the door and went to take a nap without saying anything. Actually, if grandma had beaten us or scolded us a few times, we would have felt at ease, but this way of being neither here nor there was really unbearable.

  At dinner time, my cousin and I both looked at grandma's face to eat, behaving exceptionally obediently. My cousin didn't like carrots but ate them, I didn't like onions but ate them, and even helped clean up the bowls and chopsticks.

  "Hey, kids, don't be so nervous, there's no need. I'm not blaming you two. After all, children are meant to play and have fun. It's just that next time, you really need to be more careful. Today was a big fuss over nothing because of Guihua, but if you hadn't teased her, this wouldn't have happened. We've been stuck here for quite some time now, so tonight, call your mom and tell her I want to go home."

  Lu Zhanfeng nodded obediently and repeatedly assured her, saying: "Grandma, I was wrong this time, next time I will definitely not make the same mistake again."

  I ran to my grandmother's side with a spoiled expression and said, "Grandma, I was wrong too, and I'll definitely remember this lesson next time. But we didn't do much wrong in this matter, you just went back like that, others will think we're guilty and don't dare to face them, why not let's go back after a few days?"

  Grandma was both angry and amused, saying: "Little slippery head, don't worry about it, I came here to have fun in the first place. If we're not having fun, what's the point of staying? Besides, I had planned to leave anyway, I told your Liu grandma about it yesterday, who knew something would happen today. No matter what others think, as long as we have a clear conscience, that's all that matters. Remember to call me tonight, I haven't spoken with your mom in days."

  Seeing grandma smile, I knew everything was fine, and happily said: "Girl learned a lesson, obeying orders, grandma, I'll call you at 8 o'clock tonight, mom will definitely be free."

  In the evening, my grandma and mom were chatting about going back home. My mom promised to pick us up the day after tomorrow, which means I can return to my little room the day after tomorrow. As the saying goes, "A golden nest is not as good as one's own doghouse." No matter how good the air is here or how many friends I have, it cannot stop me from thinking about going home.