The eldest son tugged at his wife’s sleeve and said coldly: “Shut up.” Then he looked at his gray-haired elderly father and said: “Dad, don’t be angry. As the eldest daughter-in-law, Hongxia was only thinking about the family. She didn’t mean anything else.”
Zhao Dongshan’s face darkened as he said: “If she didn’t mean anything else, then make sure next week’s family banquet is properly arranged.”
Yang Liu said: “There’s no hurry to formally acknowledge kinship yet.”
Everyone looked at Yang Liu.
Yang Liu looked at Commander Zhao and Li Huifang and said: “Niannian is a child of your Zhao Family. There’s no doubt about that. You’ve also seen Zhao Beichen’s and my marriage certificate. I don’t think there’s any need to make a big show of holding a kinship acknowledgment banquet. Given the current circumstances, I think it’s better to keep a low profile.”
Li Huifang said: “Xiao Wang, this isn’t a kinship acknowledgment banquet. It’s a welcome banquet for you and your daughter. The Zhao Family is a large family. We have many relatives just here in the capital, as well as some of your dad’s and my friends, comrades-in-arms, and colleagues, along with Beichen’s childhood friends. None of them have met you and your daughter yet!”
Of course they could not call it a kinship acknowledgment banquet. Would that not be tantamount to confirming that they were the wife and child Zhao Beichen had abandoned in the countryside?
Only by calling it a welcome banquet could they leave those with ulterior motives with nothing to say.
Li Huifang and Zhao Dongshan had good intentions, but this was not what Zhao Beichen wanted. Naturally, Yang Liu could not let them hold a welcome banquet. Once the welcome banquet was held, it would be very difficult for her to leave, and Zhao Beichen might even misunderstand and think that she simply wanted to stay in the Zhao Family.
Yang Liu said: “Thank you for your kindness! But I still don’t agree with holding this welcome banquet. The most urgent thing right now is to let Niannian get used to life here first and send her to kindergarten as soon as possible.”
Kindergarten?!
Everyone’s gazes toward Yang Liu became complicated and strange!
Nowadays, most kindergartens were called Yuhong Preschool Classes. Those affiliated with some factories were called nurseries. There were also some that were called kindergartens, but not many.
Yang Liu no longer wanted to pretend to be an ignorant village woman who had not even graduated from elementary school and had never seen the world. She would simply be herself.
As for what the Zhao Family thought of her or how they viewed her, she could not be bothered to care.
She had originally planned to work for a few more years, earn some more money, then quit her job and lie flat. But now, great, a melodramatic novel had sent her to Yang Family Village and turned her into a penniless village woman with a child in tow. Life was far too difficult for her.
Li Huifang said: “Let’s eat first! We can discuss the welcome banquet again later.”
Yang Liu said: “By the way, I think it’s necessary for me to explain what happened this afternoon.”
Zhao Dongshan glanced at Li Huifang. Li Huifang said: “You don’t need to explain. The Security Section has already questioned those two gossiping women. They’ve also realized their mistake and said they would come to the house tonight to apologize. Your dad wouldn’t let them come. He told them to apologize to you and Niannian at the front gate of our house tomorrow.”
The eldest son glanced at the second son with an extremely constipated expression. The second son and his wife did not look pleased either. At that moment, the way they looked at Yang Liu and Niannian was particularly disdainful.
“Pfft.” The second son’s wife, Wang Xiaoying, laughed.
Li Huifang glanced at Wang Xiaoying but said nothing.
Guo Hongxia looked at Wang Xiaoying and deliberately pretended to chide her, saying: “What are you laughing at?”
Wang Xiaoying continued smiling with her lips pursed. She shook her head and said: “Nothing. I just never expected our family would also end up getting involved with those women.”
The women Wang Xiaoying referred to were the notoriously loose-lipped old women in the compound, including Er Daomao, who had cursed at Yang Liu, Granny Lang, and the rest of their group. All of them had come from the countryside and were women whose husbands had not divorced them after becoming successful, but had instead brought them along to the city. Most of them were uneducated and unemployed, and nearly all had given birth to several sons.
They were a special group within the compound, and they had spontaneously gathered together to form their own circle.
Those wives with “noble” backgrounds looked down on them and ordinarily had nothing to do with them.
Among the Zhao Family’s mother-in-law and daughters-in-law, Guo Hongxia came from a worker background, while Li Huifang and Wang Xiaoying both came from respectable backgrounds. Precisely because of this, during the massive upheaval a few years earlier, the Zhao Family had nearly lost everything. Commander Zhao and Li Huifang could only sacrifice Zhao Beichen by sending him to the poorest and most remote part of the northwest to support rural development.
Guo Hongxia also pursed her lips and smiled before saying: “Let’s eat! After we’re done, we still have to discuss arranging a welcome banquet for Old Fifth’s family!”
Yang Liu had eyes as sharp as a hawk. What could possibly escape her notice, and what words could she possibly fail to understand?
Yang Liu looked at Li Huifang and said: “Tomorrow, don’t make those two women come to the front gate to apologize. How about changing the way they apologize?”
Zhao Dongshan looked at Yang Liu. “What kind of apology do you want instead?”
Yang Liu said: “Make the two of them clean the compound for a month.”
Zhao Dongshan froze for a moment, then burst into hearty laughter twice and said: “Good. That’s a good punishment. We’ll have them clean the compound.”
Nowadays, the compound no longer had pit latrines. Otherwise, she would have made the two of them clean the pit latrines.
After dinner, Guo Hongxia and Wang Xiaoying voluntarily sought out Li Huifang to discuss the welcome banquet for Yang Liu and her daughter.
Li Huifang said: “It’s thoughtful of you two, but Yang Liu doesn’t want to make a big affair of it, so we won’t hold it for the time being. We’ll talk about it again later!”
As soon as Guo Hongxia and Wang Xiaoying went upstairs, they slipped into Guo Hongxia’s room.
Guo Hongxia’s expression twisted as she said: “Have you heard? The Old Master gave that country bumpkin three thousand yuan.”
Wang Xiaoying sighed and said: “I heard. I really can’t understand the Old Master. By the way, what’s Eldest Brother’s attitude about it?”
Guo Hongxia said: “What good is his attitude?”
Wang Xiaoying said: “My Beihai is the same. He won’t even allow me to talk about Old Fifth’s family in front of the children.”
Guo Hongxia said: “Whether we talk about it or not isn’t important. From what I can see, Old Fifth doesn’t like that woman at all. That’s the important part.”
Wang Xiaoying said: “Exactly! If that child hadn’t been crying and couldn’t be coaxed, that country bumpkin would never have gotten through this door in the first place.”
The two sisters-in-law appeared to be complaining about Yang Liu and her daughter, but in reality, they were probing each other. Each wanted the other to charge ahead first.
Guo Hongxia wanted Wang Xiaoying to help her cousin Song Zhenzhen, but unfortunately, Wang Xiaoying was every bit as shrewd. No matter what she did, she always had to weigh the advantages and disadvantages first.
The next day, the compound was extremely lively. The sight of Er Daomao and Granny Lang cleaning the compound became a source of amusement.
That afternoon, an honored guest arrived at the Zhao Family.