The Lucky Wife of the 1980s

10

Minghao called Li Qiufang, who was in tears, "Mom" dryly.
Li Qiufang took her hand, gently parted her hair with concern, and stuffed a hot egg into her hand, "Does it still hurt? Sit down and let me roll it for you. It's such a big bump, it's all purple."
Li Qiufang was a woman in her forties, with short hair cut to her ears, a small braid tied with a hairband on her head, a navy blue dress, and patches on her elbows and knees, not much different from women of this era.
In Minghao's impression, her mother-in-law was definitely not a weak person. In her memory, when someone muttered about Minghao, a fat woman, marrying Chu Tiankuo was a blessing, and the Chu family was unlucky, Li Qiufang could retort to her face.
A widow, living alone with a pair of children, how can a weak person survive?
But she was very good to herself, and now, it was just a caring word and an egg, but Minghao felt a lump in his throat.
She was just a daughter-in-law who was totally out of her league in the eyes of outsiders, but she treated her like a daughter. Eggs were so precious at that time, how could she waste them like this?
Minghao had already agreed with Chu Tiankuo that she would continue to live here, so she naturally knew how to return the favor. "Mom, it's not that delicate. Just apply hot water. Don't worry. Leave the eggs for Ah Chu to eat."
Li Qiufang looked at this daughter-in-law and was even more satisfied. She pulled Minghao to sit down on the bench under the eaves.
"Minghao, don't worry. Eggs are precious things. We can afford them. We have also inquired about the colleague who sent Tiankuo back. Tiankuo just came back to recuperate. He was injured at work and he also gets paid every month. Ah Chu went to school and I went to work at the machinery factory. Only we live in this warehouse. I'm sorry for making you suffer." Li Qiufang said sincerely.
Minghao was stunned. She didn't know what was wrong with her. She said without thinking: "Then let's go back."
As soon as she finished speaking, she began to regret it, but words spoken out of the mouth can't be taken back.
Li Qiufang's face froze, and she said, "We are all family members. I won't hide it from you. Grandpa Tiankuo has always felt that I was the one who brought bad luck to his father, and my uncle and younger uncle are even more so... Tiankuo doesn't have much of a problem outside. Ah Chu is the granddaughter of the Chu family, not the girl of the Chu family. I will definitely let her study. We can still live well even if we don't live there!"
This sentence contained a lot of information. Minghao automatically filled in his mind. His father-in-law passed away, his mother-in-law was said to bring bad luck to her husband, and there were uncles and brothers. The biased grandparents naturally considered the other sons more. From Li Qiufang's tone, I'm afraid that if Ah Chu was not allowed to study, they would hold on to something else.
Li Qiufang was able to live like this directly away from the family.
Minghao looked at her with more admiration, and agreed, "Mom, you are right. As long as we are upright and don't rely on anyone, we can live well!"
Li Qiufang didn't expect Minghao to say that. She also knew how Minghao lived in the Shen family. It seemed that the rumors were not necessarily true.
Looking at Minghao, she became more and more satisfied.
The mother-in-law thought her daughter-in-law was sensible and reasonable, and the daughter-in-law thought her mother-in-law was independent and self-reliant. For a while, they felt a sense of sympathy for each other.
Until someone called for dinner outside.
Ming Hao roughly sorted out the situation and finally understood it completely.
The Chu family was about four kilometers away from Qingyun Town, and the Li family was nearly two kilometers away from the town. After her husband passed away, Li Qiufang was not treated equally. It was not like she couldn't survive without a centimeter. After her son went to work in another place, she took her daughter back to her parents' home to live. She worked as a temporary worker in the factory cafeteria while her daughter went to school.
The place they lived in was a warehouse before the second production team of Qingshan Village. It was also abandoned and rented one yuan a month.
With the help of her brothers from her mother's family, Li Qiufang built a roof with bamboo strips, separated it with bamboo strips and covered it with old newspapers. She lived there.
Lunch was divided into two tables.
The men of the Li family sat around one table, almost all of them were uncles and cousins, and there was wine on the table.
Minghao followed Li Qiufang and sat at the table next to the woman. There was a big bowl of rice and porridge on the table. There was still green cabbage, which was still in the shape of a vegetable seedling, and a big bowl of fried whole cabbage. There was also a bowl of golden pumpkin, and a plate of taro cubes arranged fairly neatly, with shiny bacon slices on top, and two spoons of bright red chopped peppers, which exuded a strong aroma.
Minghao felt relieved. Fortunately, he was back to the early 1980s, not the time of natural disasters, nor the time of panic afterwards.
"It's all Qiufang's skill. This child has been able to cook since he was a child! These few days, we will harvest the autumn harvest and eat together!" The one with a smile on her face was undoubtedly the old grandmother.
Minghao smiled sweetly, ate silently, and observed the people at the same table without making any noise.
The one who kept putting meat into the bowl, with a round face and crisp words, was the second aunt Ning Fengxia. She spoke a little fast and picked up the chopsticks even faster. At first glance, she was someone who would not suffer any loss.
The slightly fat one with long braids, who spoke hesitantly and looked a bit bitter, was the aunt Zhong Chunxiang, who looked at Minghao with sympathy from time to time. The one who
was whispering to Ah Chu was the cousin Li Xiaoli. The girl of seventeen or eighteen years old on the other side, who was eating calmly and remembering to go to the kitchen from time to time, was the cousin Li Xiaoling, who was obviously a quick person.
After looking around, Minghao, who was good at observing people's words and expressions, had figured out the situation.
"Minghao, what people say outside can't be true, right?" Ning Fengxia said.
Minghao looked up at her blankly.
Ning Fengxia slapped her thigh and started to talk nonstop before she even swallowed the food in her mouth. "I said this can't be true. It's spread as if it were true. They said that after you went out, you didn't go to see Tian Kuo, and you went to see that college student. People's college students have lovers. You had a fight with him and were injured. When you came back, you saw that Tian Kuo's legs were a little bit hurt, and you wanted to run away..."
"Who said that!" Li Qiufang put down her bowl and chopsticks, and her face darkened.
Ning Fengxia pouted, "Don't yell at me, I'm just listening..."
"Who said you can't slap your mouth back? You still need to come back to learn such words!" Li Qiufang snorted.
Ning Fengxia knew that her sister-in-law was powerful, so she didn't dare to say more.
Zhong Chunxiang advised from the side, "Eat well and don't say these things. How can you say these things when you are fine? What will happen if this gets out?"
As she spoke, her originally bitter face became even more bitter.
Li Qiufang's face became a little gloomy.
Ah Chu glared at Ming Hao, "It's all your fault! A fly won't bite an egg without cracks, it will just cause trouble!"
"Ah Chu!" Li Qiufang scolded.
Ming Hao raised the corner of his mouth and said nonchalantly, "Let's eat, this won't be spread tomorrow."
If you don't deal with it properly, are you going to keep it for the New Year?