Gu Xiaoyu asked with a worried expression.
Lin Qingyue thought for a moment and felt that what she said made sense.
“But I’m about to give birth soon. It wouldn’t be convenient for me to stay at your house.”
“What’s inconvenient about that? My mom wouldn’t mind.”
Gu Xiaoyu said nonchalantly, “Besides, didn’t my mom suggest last time that you come stay with us?”
Lin Qingyue ultimately shook her head. In the eyes of the villagers, she was now a divorced woman, and going to Auntie Liu’s house would invite gossip.
“Xiao Yu, I know you mean well, but I can’t drag your family’s reputation down.”
“What reputation is there to drag down?” Auntie Liu shouted in her loud voice as she walked over.
“Sister Qingyue, I wouldn’t feel at ease with you living here alone either. Just come stay at my place.”
“Sleep with Xiao Yu for now. After you give birth, we’ll clear up the kang head and let Xiao Yu sleep there.”
The kangs in those days had a cornered head section. Back then, houses were few and people were many—one kang would house a whole family of eight or nine. The triangular kang head could sleep one person, or two children.
“This…”
“Alright, if you don’t want to be disturbed by them, come stay at my place. If you’re afraid of gossip, just take me as your godmother.”
Lin Qingyue’s nose grew even more sour. She hadn’t expected Auntie Liu to consider so much for her.
“Tears already?”
Auntie Liu and Gu Xiaoyu were both full of strength, and in two trips, they moved everything from the house over.
As for Lin Qingyue, whenever she tried to carry something, the two wouldn’t let her, saying pregnant women shouldn’t lift heavy things!
Lin Qingyue also had them take the two half-sacks of grain from the cellar in the backyard.
Not a single grain of rice would be left for the Gu family.
Bringing the grain with her, Lin Qingyue would have enough to eat for two to three months.
“Godmother, this is the five yuan you lent me last time. Please take it.”
Lin Qingyue pulled out the money to settle the debt first.
“Qingyue, you’ve already called me godmother—why pay me back?”
Auntie Liu waved her hand and didn’t accept it.
“Even brothers keep clear accounts. Godmother, just take it. And take this ten yuan too. When I’m in confinement, I’ll need your care.”
Lin Qingyue would have liked to give more, but the wage levels at the time were what they were.
An ordinary worker only made a little over twenty yuan a month. In the countryside, a whole family might not even see twenty yuan in a year.
“Qingyue, if you do this, I’ll get angry!”
Auntie Liu deliberately put on a stern face and firmly refused.
“Then keep it and buy me something nice to eat later?”
“Aiyo, Mom, just take it. My sister Qingyue has money now!”
With the hundred yuan she’d just received, Lin Qingyue was now the wealthiest person in their village.
When Gu Niancheng learned that Lin Qingyue had moved into Auntie Liu’s house, he was so angry he nearly threw a stool.
“That bitch!”
Mother Gu was also fuming, panting heavily with rage:
“Gu Niancheng, look at what kind of woman you married!”
“Now look—three days to scrape together a hundred yuan. Where are we supposed to get it?”
Father Gu, as the family patriarch, puffed on his pipe, the bowl glowing on and off.
He sighed for a long time before speaking with a heavy expression:
“Sell those three chickens and the fat pig.”
“Dad, we can’t sell the pig.” Gu Yunyun was the first to object. It was only July now—the harvest hadn’t come in yet, and the pig was only eating green grass as feed. It hadn’t put on any meat yet!
Another three or four months of raising it would be the most worthwhile time to sell.
“Besides selling the pig, do you have any other way to get money?”
Gu Yunyun immediately backed down: “It’s all that slut Lin Qingyue’s fault. She was the one who seduced my big brother. She didn’t behave herself and got herself pregnant, and now she’s playing the innocent?”
Everyone in the Gu family agreed with this, but… the villagers didn’t believe it.
“Dad, Mom, don’t worry. Once I get into college and find a job, I’ll definitely take good care of you.”
Gu Niancheng clenched his teeth so hard they creaked. He wished he could kill Lin Qingyue, but he didn’t have the guts.
“It’s enough that you have that intention.”
“By the way, what do you plan to do about Yao Hongyan?” Father Gu tapped his pipe against the ground, his brow furrowed into deep creases.
Gu Niancheng’s head was spinning too. His hands clenched tightly:
“Dad, that child is after all…”
“But that’s a sickly child, with a heart condition.”
Mother Gu retorted with dissatisfaction, “Hmph, she’s useless too. Can’t even take care of a child properly. Why is everyone else fine, but she had a premature birth?”
Gu Niancheng rubbed his brow: “Mom, you know, that child has great fortune ahead.”
“That’s only if he can survive.”
Mother Gu stood up angrily: “The only thing of value in this house is that pig. Tomorrow we’ll sell it to pay off the debt. Next year we won’t even have money to buy a piglet. Gu Niancheng, how are you going to raise the child? How are you going to treat his illness?”
“But, Mom, that child is after all Big Brother’s own flesh and blood.”
Gu Yunyun still couldn’t bear it. She had gone to see the child several times. He was so frail and weak that it pained her just to look at him.
“Gu Niancheng, I don’t care what feelings you have for that woman. For now, you two can’t get married, and we can’t take care of that child either.”
“If it really comes down to it, we’ll just send him away.” Father Gu had made up his mind.
“Dad, but that child will be a top scholar in the future.”
Gu Niancheng didn’t want to give up. Yao Hongyan had also said more than once that while she was pregnant, she had the same dream several times, saying the child was the Wenquxing descended from heaven.
“If he’s truly destined for that, he can become a top scholar anywhere.”
Gu Niancheng gritted his teeth stubbornly. He still didn’t want to give up.
What if… after Lin Qingyue gives birth, they swap the child back to her?
Then he’d have to keep an eye on things.
Hmph, that bitch Lin Qingyue. She wants to get rid of him? Dream on.
But still, the family couldn’t go without money. In a while, he’d need to go to college, and that would cost money too. He needed to think of other ways.
When Yao Hongyan learned that Lin Qingyue had demanded a hundred yuan from the Gu family, it hurt her more than having flesh cut from her body.
That money was hers. That bitch Lin Qingyue really was obsessed with money.
Her son’s cries were getting weaker and weaker. Sometimes she even wondered if the child was still alive.
He only cried occasionally now, and it sounded like a kitten’s mew! And she had no milk—how was she supposed to feed him?
No, she had to think of something!
A fierce look flashed in Yao Hongyan’s eyes. She patted her son gently, but the little one still whimpered occasionally.
He was hungry. With no breast milk, she could only pour some warm water for the child to drink.
The poor little thing, sensing there was something to eat, sucked desperately. But plain water had no nutrition either.
This couldn’t go on. She needed to get milk as soon as possible.
Yao Hongyan’s body still ached, but she had no choice but to get out of bed again. Leaning on a wooden stick in one hand and bracing against the wall with the other, she slowly shuffled toward the door, trying to find someone.
“Hongyan, why are you out of bed?”
Just as she reached the doorway, a figure rushed in quickly.
The newcomer was also a villager, named Gu Dazhu, twenty-one years old this year.
He had once liked Yao Hongyan and wanted to be with her. But Yao Hongyan neither agreed nor refused, just kept him hanging.
It wasn’t until she got married and pregnant that Dazhu stopped seeking her out so often.
Still, when he learned that Yao Hongyan’s man had run into trouble, Dazhu started coming around more frequently again.
After all, Yao Hongyan was just a woman, and it was only natural for her to ask for help with work she couldn’t manage on her own.
“Dazhu ge.”
Yao Hongyan’s delicate frame swayed, looking as if she was about to collapse to the ground at any moment.
Panicked, Dazhu hurried over in three quick strides, catching her just before she fell.
Yao Hongyan had recently given birth, and there was still a faint scent of milk about her. Dazhu felt a wave of fragrance wash over him as her soft body leaned entirely against his.
Especially the softness at her front, pressing right against his chest, made his breathing grow a bit ragged.
Yao Hongyan’s slender, fair hand weakly clutched at Dazhu’s clothes.
The pale little hand against the dark fabric, coupled with that faint, elusive fragrance, nearly made Dazhu, who had been single for over twenty years, lose his composure.
“Hongyan, you…” Dazhu’s voice faltered with agitation.
“What are you two doing?”