Linxia

Chapter 60, Carrying Firewood

Cheng Shiliang, Chai Yiwei and Fang Lin wiped Huang Di's face, helped him to the bed, and found some wood ash from the kitchen to clean up the vomit.

"It's strange. Usually when I came back from the brothel, Ogi would dislike the smell of alcohol on me. But today, why did he drink so much?" Cheng Shiliang said.

Fang Lin did not answer, but glanced at Huang Di lying on the bed, and he had the answer in his heart: wine is not delicious, and many people do not like it, but they just want to be in an unconscious state after drinking, and also want to numb the pain and bitterness in their chest so that crying does not seem abrupt.

"Brother Huang is drunk, he will be fine after a good sleep." Chai Yiwei said at this time.

"Yeah, it will be fine when you wake up tomorrow. After a good sleep, all the pain and suffering will be gone." Cheng Shiliang also said.

"Not really, it's just that the pain isn't that obvious anymore," Fang Lin said to himself.

Once a wound is healed, there will be a scar. It is just that it is heart-wrenching at the time, but when it is scabbed, it will hurt when you touch it occasionally, and it will not stop. When a person recalls it, he will burst into tears.

However, life is not easy for anyone in this world. No matter how wounded you are, the sun will rise tomorrow and life will go on.

……

Seven or eight days passed quickly.

During these seven or eight days.

After Huang Di got drunk, he seemed to have forgotten about Madam Qiu when he woke up the next day and became his usual cheerful self again.

Also on the next day, Dong Zugao came to find the money to return the clothes and wanted to give more, but Fang Lin confiscated it and said he wanted to treat him to a meal. Coincidentally, the store was busy that day, so he declined and said he would make it up next time they met. Dong Xiucai valued Fang Lin even more because of this. This showed that the man did not want anything from him and was helping him sincerely. He was a gentleman with a temperament as indifferent as water. After a few quick meetings, he had already elevated Fang Lin to the level of a close friend in his heart.

As for the rest, there is not much to say. Interesting things and lively occasions only happen occasionally, while boring work and tedious learning of characters are the daily routine.

Because tomorrow was the day off for ten days, after work that day, Fang Lin said goodbye to Manager Liu, said goodbye to Cheng Shiliang and the other two, and returned to Xixiang Hutong.

……

Come back home.

There was meat being stewed in the kitchen. It was pork ribs and radishes. The aroma spread across half the alley. Tian Xuan heard the noise in the kitchen, poked her head out, and shouted happily, "Brother Lin!"

"Are you back?" Father Fang had just returned and was soaking his feet. Not being good at expressing himself, he just moved his lips and said this.

Fang's mother was more direct. She took Fang Lin's hand and smiled: "I thought you would be back today. Oh, why do you look a little thinner?"

His tone was full of heartache.

"No way, Mom, you must have remembered it wrongly?" Fang Lin looked around and changed the subject, asking, "Mom, I see Grandma Man isn't here yet?"

"That's right, your method is still useful." Fang's mother smiled and said, "I called Geng's wife and Guihua that day, and we had people at home. Grandma Man still came over shamelessly. Geng's wife and Guihua scolded her and she left in a rage. She has not come over these days. When she sees Geng's wife and Guihua coming on the road, she avoids them!"

Fang Lin also laughed after hearing this. Geng family's daughter-in-law Su Xiaoqing was famous for her sharp tongue, and Sister Guihua was even more of a bad person. Although they looked weak and delicate, they were actually the smartest and most scheming people he had ever seen. Compared with them, Grandma Man was far inferior to them!

Ding, ding, ding! As they were talking, such a sound suddenly came from next door, accompanied by the scolding of Grandma Man: "Why are you yelling? Why are you yelling? Who hasn't been pregnant before? Others are fine, but you are delicate. You are yelling because you are afraid that others don't know you are pregnant. You want to call all the men over and spread your crotch to see, right? How shameless! Bitch! You haven't done much work recently, no wonder you have a stomachache, you deserve it!" Before Fang Lin could ask, Fang's mother sighed and said: "Chun Tao fainted two days ago, and Grandma Man didn't care. She was reluctant to spend money to let Chun Tao see a doctor. It was Madam Ou who heard about it and said that it seemed like she was pregnant, so we went to check it out and confirmed it."

"Chun Tao is pregnant, but Grandma Man is not treating her any better. She still refuses to do any work. These days, Chun Tao is vomiting and has leg cramps. She can't get up from the bed and can't do any work. Grandma Man takes a bamboo pole and knocks on the wooden lattice window outside Chun Tao's room, scolding her as she knocks... This has been going on for two days."

"It's in a mess." Father Fang, who was usually taciturn, said.

"Ugh!"

Fang Lin frowned as he listened to the unbearable words from the neighbors. Which mother-in-law would treat her pregnant daughter-in-law like this? However, it was not his own business, so he didn't want to intervene, and he couldn't.

He sighed, went outside, and was about to close the door, hoping to turn a deaf ear to it.

At this time, Master Ou, supported by Madam Ou, came in and pointed at Grandma Man's nose and scolded: "What are you arguing about? I can hear it from a long distance! You, the mother-in-law, don't you know why your daughter-in-law is like this? It's because she works too much and eats too little on weekdays, and her body is weak. She is pregnant and this is why you are still scolding her. Don't you want a grandson? Or do you deliberately hope that the Man family will have no descendants? Is that right?"

He naturally knew what Grandma Man was afraid of and what she was worried about, and what she said hit the nail on the head.

At this time, Fang Lin's family and many other neighbors heard the noise and came over. They felt strange seeing Grandma Man lowering her head and being submissive after being scolded.

But they also knew that if someone from another family came to persuade them, you should give it a try! Grandma Man would definitely say, "Do you have anything to do with my daughter-in-law? Otherwise, why do you care so much?" It was because Master Ou was highly respected and she was afraid of being criticized, so she didn't dare to say anything nonsense!
Furthermore, what Master Ou said made sense. Even though Grandma Man looked down on Chuntao, she still valued the grandson in her belly.

Not only Grandma Man, but even Old Man Man, who was standing aside, remained silent, with a thoughtful look on his face. And Man Gensheng?

When this guy saw Master Ou coming, he hid inside the house like a mouse seeing a cat.

"Master Ou..." Chuntao burst into tears before she could even finish her words.

She thought that her mother-in-law would be nicer to her after she became pregnant, but she didn't expect that she would still refuse to share any of the work at home or outside. If she did a bad job despite her uncomfortable body, she would scold her - she never said those ugly words to outsiders, so why did she treat her, the daughter-in-law, like this?
"Don't cry, Chuntao. It's your mother-in-law who is wrong. Next time she does this, tell me and I will scold her!"

After Master Ou finished speaking, he looked at Master Man and said bluntly: "Master Man, you usually don't say anything, but I know you don't have any bad intentions, it's just that you have such a wife. Today I have to say something, Master Man, if you want to wipe out the whole family, just let your wife do what she wants!"

After he said this, he didn't even look at Man Gensheng who was hiding in the house and peeking outside, and left with the support of Mrs. Ou.

Fang Lin looked over and found that Mrs. Ou was just like Fang's mother had said, with a round face the size of a full moon and a pair of smiling eyes. According to the saying here, she had a blessed appearance.

At this time, as they left, a faint sound was heard.

"Old man, you speak so frankly, I'm afraid Grandma Man must hate you to death in her heart."

"Let her hate me as much as she wants. Every word I say is true to my conscience. Not to mention that they are neighbors, not to mention that I taught that kid from the Man family, but this happened under my nose, so I can't just ignore it. Besides, wasn't it you who told me that Chuntao was pregnant?"

Fang Lin looked at their backs and thought to himself that Master Ou had the character of a scholar.

He indeed could not do as well as Master Ou, but this did not prevent him from respecting Master Ou, who carried firewood for the public.

……

(End of this chapter)