In the evening, on the way home, Chen Aifang and her son also heard about this matter.
The mother and son’s expressions immediately darkened, and they hurried home.
After returning home, they first went into the room to look at Gu Yijia. Seeing that she was lying on the bed, her face pale and her spirits truly not very good, they could tell at a glance that the rumor outside was true.
Chen Aifang’s face was cold, and without saying a word, she turned around.
“Sister-in-law.” Gu Yijia opened her eyes and called out once.
Chen Aifang turned back as if nothing had happened, sat down by the bed, touched her slightly cool hand, and said softly, “Jiajia, how is your body?”
“Much better.” Gu Yijia smiled at her.
Baohua came running over with thump, thump, thump, pouting as she complained, “Big Aunt is too mean, she actually made Little Aunt faint from anger. She clearly knew Little Aunt’s body isn’t good, she must have done it on purpose.”
Beside her, Baoshan clenched his fists.
Dad wasn’t home, so as the only male in the family, he was the family’s pillar. No one could bully his family.
Although Gu Yijia did not like Gu Mingyue, she was not so vile as to want people to misunderstand her, especially her sister-in-law. Afraid that she might take a broom and go hit someone, she quickly said, “No, it’s because I sat too long today, and when I got up too quickly, I accidentally blacked out for a moment.”
At this point, she felt a little sad.
She really had already been careful and more careful, but the hot temper and quick-tempered nature she had developed over more than twenty years always made her do things in a rush, and she would always forget that her body was now this weak and frail.
Even during this period, she had already been trying hard to nurse her body back to health, but the effect could only be said to be slight.
Ever since crossing over here, Gu Yijia had consciously been exercising her body.
Of course, not exercise in the athletic sense, but insisting every day on walking a few more steps, so that her body could gradually adapt.
To put it plainly, the reason the original owner’s body was so weak was, first, premature birth. It was said that when she was born back then, she probably didn’t even weigh three jin, and being able to live was a miracle; second, premature babies had frail constitutions, and this was in an era when medical care was not developed. Moreover, this rural place was poor, and there was no money to send her to the hospital, much less money to buy nutritional supplements to help a child build up their body.
The fact that Gu Yijia could afford to drink malted milk powder and the like was only because after her older brother turned fifteen and learned how to make money, he managed to get some. It was not until her older brother joined the army at seventeen that she finally could drink malted milk powder every day.
To put it bluntly, it was just a frail constitution, poor resistance, and also accompanied by anemia and the like.
However, after recalling the original owner’s memories, Gu Yijia discovered that the original owner had never gone to a major hospital for a detailed examination. The hospitals she had gone to were all in the county seat. And county-seat hospitals had many outdated pieces of equipment, some of which they simply did not have, so they could not examine very carefully at all.
Whether there were other illnesses she did not know about was really impossible to determine.
In fact, Gu Mingcheng had also once thought of taking a long leave and bringing his younger sister to a hospital in a big city to have a look.
It was just that the original owner’s body was too weak, and she could not be too tired, nor could she take a long-distance bus. Otherwise, if she fainted halfway there and something unexpected happened, it would not be a joke.
Precisely because of this, although Gu Mingcheng’s position in the army was not low and Chen Aifang had long had the qualifications to follow him to the army, they still had not gone to live with the army.
If family members were to follow the army, Gu Mingcheng would definitely have to let his wife take his younger sister along as well.
He could not feel at ease leaving his younger sister in the old home.
But Gu Yijia’s body was frail and she could not take a long-distance bus, and moreover, the unit he was in was in the north, so they also had to consider whether she could adapt to the difference between north and south.
After Chen Aifang and her three children heard this, their expressions eased a little.
Baohua cupped her little round face and said apologetically, “So that’s how it is. Then didn’t I misunderstand Big Aunt?”
A good child should have the courage to admit her mistakes.
Chen Aifang touched her head. “If you run into Mingyue tomorrow, you should apologize to her, and then explain it to everyone. Good children can’t lie, and when they know they’re wrong, they have to change.”
“I know.” Baohua pouted. “But I still don’t like Big Aunt.”
Although she was young, that did not mean she understood nothing. If Big Aunt had not said those things, Little Aunt would not have hurried to get up and almost fainted.
Baoshan said, “Little Aunt should still be careful in the future.”
Being lectured by a child, Gu Yijia could only nod helplessly. “I know.”
After reminding Gu Yijia to rest well, Chen Aifang took the two children to make dinner.
Once she stepped out the door, her face darkened.
Gu Mingyue actually dared to come before her younger brother’s wife and say those kinds of things. What was she thinking? If Gu Mingyue herself had no thoughts about Director Jiang, she would even think that Gu Mingyue was doing this for Gu Yijia’s good, wanting to find her a good match.
But this matter could not stand up to scrutiny.
Baoshan also thought of this, and he asked in a low voice, “Mom, did Big Aunt really want to find Little Aunt a partner? What is that Director Jiang like?”
He had not seen Jiang Jingwang, and he also did not know that Gu Yijia had already turned Jiang Jingwang down, so he was not clear on these matters.
Chen Aifang had originally felt that the children were young, so she did not tell them things like this. At this moment, though, she felt it was necessary to make things clear to them, so that one day no one would run to the two children and say all kinds of things behind her back.
She had a feeling that this matter would probably not be over.
That Jiang Jingwang would probably not give up so easily.
After hearing what Chen Aifang said, Baoshan frowned and asked again, “That Director Jiang… is he really sincere toward Little Aunt?”
Chen Aifang shook her head. “Whether he’s sincere or not, if Jiajia doesn’t mean that, then it doesn’t matter.”
Baoshan nodded, showing that he understood.
If Little Aunt didn’t like him, then no matter who Jiang Jingwang was, even if he were the emperor, that wouldn’t work.
Although Baoshan was still young, he also knew that if Little Aunt wanted to find a partner, with her sickly body it would be very hard to find someone good.
He, like his parents, had already been mentally prepared to support Little Aunt for the rest of her life.
Even if that Director Jiang was sincere toward Little Aunt, so what? He might be able to accept Little Aunt’s body, but that did not mean his family could accept it. Since Little Aunt had already clearly refused and did not want to find a partner, then she wouldn’t.
Only, before Baohua could go apologize to Gu Mingyue, early the next morning, before dawn had even broken, Gu Mingyue went to the county seat.
Originally, Gu Mingyue had specially taken a day off and come back. Today she had to go back to work, and with what happened yesterday, she felt utterly humiliated and had no face to stay at the commune, so she left early in the morning.
Baohua was very disappointed.
What a waste, she had only hastily eaten two bites of breakfast, and her stomach still wasn’t full. She had specifically come to the old house side to apologize to Gu Mingyue, but she didn’t expect that she had already left.
Yu Xiaolan was especially disgusted with her, feeling that if this dead child hadn’t been shouting nonsense yesterday, her daughter would not have been misunderstood by others and cried so bitterly. She rode her bicycle away first thing in the morning.
It was just to avoid the villagers pointing and talking when they saw her again.
If Gu Mingyue had really angered that sickly Gu Yijia into fainting, she would actually have been happy. Yet it was that sickly girl who had fainted on her own, and Gu Mingyue had done nothing but was instead misunderstood.
Yu Xiaolan said in a bad mood, “What are you doing here? There’s no breakfast here that you can eat. My family eats only bran and pickled vegetables, we can’t afford fine grain.”
Baohua said embarrassedly, “Grandma, yesterday I misunderstood Big Aunt. I came to apologize to Big Aunt. Since Big Aunt isn’t here, then I’ll leave.”
“Wait!” Yu Xiaolan stopped her and said with a cold face, “Since you misunderstood Mingyue, then go explain it to everyone.”
Baohua pouted. “Of course I’ll explain it. I don’t lie.”
Only then was Yu Xiaolan somewhat satisfied.
Just then, some nearby villagers passed by, and they asked, “Baohua, what misunderstanding?”
Baohua explained in a babyish voice that yesterday Gu Mingyue had not made Little Aunt faint from anger, and then she changed the topic and said, “But Big Aunt did say something that made Little Aunt unhappy.”
“What unhappy thing?”
“My mom won’t let me say.”
“So mysterious?”
The surrounding villagers became even more curious, and at the same time they also felt that the matter of Gu Mingyue angering Gu Yijia into fainting was probably not true, but Gu Mingyue must have said something bad too.
Unfortunately, the little girl kept her mouth tight and did not reveal it.
Yu Xiaolan was almost furious to death, explain it if you want to explain it, but what was the meaning of adding that sentence afterward?
Angry, she shooed them away. “Go, go, go, don’t come around here. Seeing you gives me a headache!”
This bratty child, every time she ran into her, she felt like she would lose a few years off her life.
Baohua was not afraid of her. She said righteously, “This is my grandpa’s house, what’s wrong with me coming here? Grandpa, Grandma won’t let me in. I haven’t even had breakfast, I’m starving!”
When Yu Xiaolan heard this dead girl yelling, she got a headache. Just as she was about to say that your grandpa wasn’t home, she turned her head and saw the eldest Old Gu returning from the fields.
Because the weather was getting hotter and hotter, the production brigade leader had told the villagers to go work in the fields before the sun came up. After the sun rose and the weather got hot, they would go home to eat breakfast and rest for a bit.
At this moment, Old Gu was coming back to eat breakfast.
Seeing his little granddaughter come over, he was very happy and led his little granddaughter home by the hand.
Seeing Baohua bouncing into the house in front of her eyes, Yu Xiaolan was so angry she almost stopped breathing, and she cursed under her breath as she followed inside.
Baohua ate a boiled egg at her grandfather’s house, and when she left, she was still carrying two eggs in her hands.
She said loudly, “Little Aunt fainted yesterday, and she looked pale, so I’m taking the eggs back for Little Aunt to nourish her body.”
Yu Xiaolan opened her mouth to curse. Those were eggs she had specially saved up, to let her daughter take to the county seat to eat. Today Gu Mingyue had left too hastily and forgot to take them.
Old Gu rubbed Baohua’s head. “There’s still a basket of eggs in the house. When your brother gets out of school, have him come over and take them.”
Although he wanted his little granddaughter to take them back, she was only five years old. Worried that she wouldn’t be able to carry them, he still let his grandson come over.
Baohua happily gave her grandpa a sweet smile, and under Yu Xiaolan’s gaze that seemed like she was about to eat a child alive, she bounced away.
On the way back, whenever she met villagers, Baohua loudly explained that yesterday Gu Mingyue had not made Little Aunt faint from anger, but that Big Aunt really had said things that made Little Aunt unhappy.
When the villagers asked her what words they were, she covered her mouth and vaguely said, “Mom won’t let me say.”
The villagers were not stupid. Hearing that, they knew that some words were not suitable to say outside, just like family scandals should not be aired in public, and their impression of Gu Mingyue inevitably dropped a bit.
They would not think that Baohua was doing it on purpose. The two children of Gu Mingcheng had been taught very well by Chen Aifang, and they never lied or cheated. Compared with the other children in the village, they looked much cleaner and more proper.
There was probably also a filter because of Gu Mingcheng, so the villagers had a very good impression of the two children.
So between Baohua and Gu Mingyue, of course they believed Baohua more.
Although this misunderstanding could be considered resolved, the villagers’ impression of Gu Mingyue had dropped quite a bit.
Fortunately, soon the commune had another new matter, attracting everyone in the commune’s attention.
This matter was related to Jiang Jingwang.
Because Jiang Jingwang had actually sent a matchmaker to Gu’s family to propose marriage.