The Bai family’s front gate had been blocked.
Bai Shuhua was still asleep. Little children need more sleep while they are growing, and on top of that it was summer vacation and there was no school, so she had gotten up a little later.
She had not expected to be woken by a burst of ghostly wailing.
Realizing something had happened, she hurriedly slipped on her shoes and ran outside.
Grandparents Bai and the others were all crowded at the front gate, and the two sides had already started cursing at each other.
She leaned directly over the mud wall to look out. Well now, there were three women at the front gate, one old one with two young ones, all sitting in the same posture in front of her family’s gate, slapping their thighs and howling.
“My Daqi is such a fool, that woman hooked up with him, fed him a drugged-up soup, wanting a silk scarf one day and ice cream the next…”
Grandmother Bai cursed the hardest. “Scram, where did this stinking beggar come from? Hurry up and get away from my family’s gate! Eldest, second, third, hurry up and drive them off.”
But before Uncle Bai could make a move, those two young women actually shouted that he was “molesting people.”
Then Uncle Bai and the others did not dare move. These days, the three words “molesting people” carried too much weight.
When Grandmother Bai saw that her three sons were not moving, she started cursing.
The old woman outside was already saying that Bai Zhenzhen and her son had been going steady, and now that her son had been taken in, Bai Zhenzhen had to go to their house and wait for her son to come out.
As soon as those words were out, Grandmother Bai was almost furious enough to explode, and she rushed straight over.
Bai Zhenzhen, who had originally been hiding inside the room and nobody knew when she had come out, also rushed up with her.
Bai Shuhua saw that her mother, very unwillingly, followed behind Aunt Bai and went up to help.
In short, they were fighting in a heap right at their own gate.
Bai Shuhua focused on her mother. She was not at a disadvantage at all, so that was fine.
The main thing was that as a kid like her, she really could not help much in this kind of fight.
Hadn’t she seen that even her own grandfather’s face had turned red with anger, and he still had not joined in?
This was also one of the local “unspoken rules”, old women fought and old men did not get involved, not that it meant old men did not hit women.
“Everyone stop! Stop!”
The production team leader did not know who had called him over.
The aunties, sisters-in-law, and women around who had come to watch the excitement also moved in to pull the two sides of the “battle” apart.
Grandmother Bai was the first to complain. “Production team leader, this stinking old woman came running to my house first thing in the morning and spouted nonsense.”
It had to be nonsense. Her daughter had never gone steady with any street loafer.
The old woman outside wiped at her tears. “Production team leader, you have to stand up for our mother and son. My family only has Daqi as a son. Because of that shameless Bai Zhenzhen, he is going to sit in prison. It is all her fault, she has to compensate me. When my son comes out, she has to marry my son and give me a grandson. Otherwise our Old Zhao family is going to be left without an heir, and then I won’t live either. I’ll find a rope and hang myself at her family’s gate!”
“You can hang yourself right now, I’m not afraid!” Grandmother Bai shot back.
The production team leader quickly barked, “All of you, shut up!”
He basically understood the matter.
He also knew about Bai Zhenzhen’s situation, and now these people had come knocking at the door.
He could not help glaring at Bai Zhenzhen, who was still hiding in the back and crying softly.
This girl had simply been spoiled rotten.
“Sister, your demand is unreasonable. Bai Zhenzhen has been to the police station. She’s fine. The public security officers were the ones who let her out.”
The production team leader still had some skill. He first made it clear that Bai Zhenzhen had not broken the law, and the rest would be easy to handle.
“Besides, this is already New China. We absolutely cannot force a girl into marriage.”
The old woman could not listen at all. “She has gone steady with my son. If she marries someone else, she is a broken shoe!”
Grandmother Bai cried out and lunged at her.
Everyone pulled them apart again in a flurry.
“Enough. You’re not from our production team, hurry up and leave. We still have to go to work!”
The production team leader’s face darkened as he drove them away, because he saw that reasoning with them was useless.
There was no need to waste time.
The three refused to leave, and were directly dragged away by the women from the team.
The production team leader did not even criticize or lecture them. He just told everyone to hurry home and eat. The gong would sound soon, and they had to go to work.
The onlookers left, but the Bai family itself had no way to leave.
Grandmother Bai started cursing again, saying the three sons and three daughters-in-law had not put in their full effort earlier.
Grandfather Bai roared for her to shut up, then went into the room with a sullen face.
Then he blocked the doorway. When Bai Zhenzhen went inside, he slapped her twice, then threw out one sentence: “Go to work in a while, and if you dare not go, I’ll beat you to death!”
Maybe his expression was too ferocious, because even Grandmother Bai got scared. When she pleaded on Bai Zhenzhen’s behalf, her voice was much quieter.
But her meaning was still that Bai Zhenzhen should not go out to work, because she was afraid those gossiping, watchful old women would talk nonsense, and her precious daughter would not be able to take it.
Grandfather Bai simply ignored her and lowered his head to drink porridge from a big bowl.
Bai’s parents followed suit.
Bai Zhenzhen covered her face and cried, and in the end she could not take it anymore and ran back into the room.
When the gong sounded, Bai Shuhua deliberately paid attention. Her old aunt did not come out at all, so she had hidden again.
But Grandfather Bai had already made up his mind. He directly kicked the door open. This time he did not use his hands, he used the fire poker.
Grandmother Bai tried to stop him and got hit quite a few times too.
Only after Uncle Bai and the others stopped him did Grandfather Bai finally stop.
But he still said the same thing, that Bai Zhenzhen had to go to work.
Grandmother Bai and Bai Zhenzhen had been hit and were obedient now. They did not dare refuse again, and went off dejectedly.
Bai Shuhua actually did not understand it very much. Why did Grandfather Bai insist that her little aunt go to work?
The family did not lack those few work points, and Bai little aunt also could not earn many anyway.
Besides, she was still the center of all the gossip. In that case, their family would definitely be talked about.
On second thought, maybe Grandfather Bai did this to show how “open and aboveboard” they were, to prove that Bai little aunt and that street loafer really had nothing going on.
As expected, the older ginger is spicier!
But the chance had already been given, and some people were just useless.
It was not even noon yet, and Bai Shuhua and her two older sisters were picking vegetables and preparing to cook, when Grandmother Bai and the others came back crying and howling.
Little Aunt Bai was carried back by Uncle Bai, because it turned out she had suffered heatstroke.
Grandfather Bai also came back from behind and scolded Grandmother Bai. “Why are you crying? Isn’t it just a heatstroke? She’s awake. Drink a couple more mouthfuls of cold water and she’ll be fine.”
Grandmother Bai would not stop, blaming him the whole time. “It’s all your fault. Our daughter has never suffered this kind of hardship, and you still made her go out to the fields.”
Grandfather Bai asked back, “If she doesn’t go to the fields, can you support her for a lifetime?”
If she could marry into the city, then not knowing farm work would not matter. But now there was no hope of marrying into the city, and her reputation was no good. If she still could not do farm work, who would want her? Which family was short of an ancestor?
Grandmother Bai did not say anything either. No matter how much she loved her daughter, she could not stop her from getting married and keep her at home for life.
After being silent for a while, she tentatively asked, “The child’s father, I heard city jobs can be bought. Why don’t we buy one for our daughter?”