Chen Aifang and the mother and son first looked toward Gu Yijia, and after confirming that she was fine, they then looked toward Yu Xiaolan.
It was not that they were making a mountain out of a molehill, but that Gu Yijia’s health was poor, and Yu Xiaolan was the kind of person who liked to stir up trouble. What if she bullied Gu Yijia?
This kind of thing had happened before. Fortunately, Chen Aifang had kept a close watch, and only then had she not let her little sister-in-law come to any harm.
Chen Aifang asked, “Aunt Yu, why are you here?”
Hearing this “Aunt Yu,” Yu Xiaolan felt disgusted to the core, and rolled her eyes at her.
Yu Xiaolan was resentful in her heart. Back then, when she married into the Gu family, that ungrateful wolf, Gu Mingcheng, guarded against her like she was a thief, as if he were afraid she would kill Gu Yijia, that sickly weakling. Later, because of one lapse on her part, she nearly caused the young Gu Yijia to die, and Gu Mingcheng refused even to call her mom anymore.
Who would have thought that the daughter-in-law Gu Mingcheng married would also refuse to call her mom? Truly hateful.
Yu Xiaolan said in a bad mood, “I heard Jiajia was discharged yesterday. I and the old man just came back from my parents’ home, and he asked me to come take a look.”
Hearing this, Chen Aifang said lightly, “Jiajia is doing very well, so there’s no need to worry. Tell Dad to rest easy too.”
She felt a little sarcastic inside. If her father-in-law really worried about his little daughter, he should have come in person. What was the point of sending Yu Xiaolan over?
Yu Xiaolan turned around and left.
Baohua ran to the doorway and stared at the figure of her leaving. She looked for a long while, then turned around and complained to her mother and brother.
“Grandma went to Third Aunt’s house!”
There were many households near their home, and they were also close to the Gu Third Uncle’s family, while Gu Lao-da and Yu Xiaolan lived over by the old house, which was actually farther from here.
Chen Aifang frowned and said to her daughter, “What are you little girls always butting into other people’s business for? Watch your mouth rot!”
Baohua pouted. “Anything related to Grandma doesn’t count as other people’s business!” She turned to ask her brother, “Brother, isn’t that right?”
Baoshan gave a hum of agreement, siding with his younger sister.
Chen Aifang could not help rolling her eyes, feeling that these two children were nothing like her at all, and must definitely take after their father.
Gu Yijia laughed softly. With the original owner’s memories, plus these past two days of getting along, she had already figured out the personalities of these two children.
As the older brother, Baoshan was comparatively steady and very capable, though occasionally he could be a little mischievous too.
Baohua, despite being so young, was already sly and clever, and her little mouth could chatter nonstop. She could always leave people speechless and utterly helpless.
Yu Xiaolan left the stepson’s home in indignation. When she passed by the Gu family’s third branch, a voice suddenly rang out.
“Big sister-in-law.”
Yu Xiaolan turned her head and saw Gu Third Aunt standing in the courtyard calling to her. Her eyes rolled, and with an oh-ho sound, she said, “Third younger sister-in-law, I heard Jiajia fainted here the day before yesterday. What happened?”
Gu Third Aunt’s expression stiffened, but she still kept her composure and said, “Big sister-in-law, I have something to talk to you about. Come in first and have a cup of water.”
Yu Xiaolan looked at her suspiciously.
Although she usually got along with Gu Third Aunt and could be considered to chat well with her, it was all just surface friendship. It was only because she could learn about the stepson’s family from Gu Third Aunt that she liked to come talk with her.
If she lived a little closer to the stepson’s family, why would she need to look for Gu Third Aunt to chat?
Thinking of this, Yu Xiaolan felt sick with frustration.
Back when Gu Mingcheng was building the house, he must have deliberately chosen this place, so that it was far from the old house, far from them. Besides that, there were many people living on this side, so if anything happened, the neighbors could help out in time.
Yu Xiaolan thought about it, then stepped into the third branch’s gate.
After entering, Gu Third Aunt enthusiastically poured her water, which made Yu Xiaolan even more suspicious, not knowing what this sister-in-law was up to.
Gu Third Aunt said, “Big sister-in-law, you were just going to see Jiajia, right? Our Jiajia ah, is truly the prettiest girl in the whole Gu family, even my Mingli is a little inferior to her.”
Yu Xiaolan could not help rolling her eyes.
Although she did not like her stepdaughter, she also knew that her stepdaughter’s face was indeed beautiful. They said she had inherited her dead mother’s good looks, no, she looked even better than her mother.
And as for the Gu Third Aunt’s Gu Mingli, well, not to be rude, but she did not know how she had been raised, because that build was huge, her complexion was also dark, and she ate a lot too. Put her own daughter Gu Mingyue in front of Gu Mingli, and her daughter would be a fairy.
What made her even angrier was that Gu Third Aunt also said, “It’s a pity Jiajia’s health is poor… But my Mingli and your Mingyue are about the same, both are fair- and fine-featured girls who are easy to bear children, and their bodies are healthy too. Men like this type.”
Yu Xiaolan’s face darkened.
She had two children in total. Gu Mingyue was born with her first husband and was twenty-two this year. Later, after she married into the Gu family, she and Gu Lao-da had her younger son Gu Minghui, who was already sixteen this year.
In Yu Xiaolan’s eyes, her own children were wonderful in every way. How could Gu Mingli, that silly glutton, compare to her beautiful daughter?
Gu Third Aunt completely did not know about the anger in Yu Xiaolan’s heart. After praising her own daughter, she then steered the conversation back to Gu Yijia.
She said mysteriously, “Big sister-in-law, you definitely don’t know this, but I heard some city person has taken a liking to our Jiajia. If nothing unexpected happens, Jiajia is sure to marry into the city.”
Yu Xiaolan was shocked. Which sucker would actually be willing to marry a sickly weakling?
“Who is it?”
Gu Third Aunt smiled. “You know him too. It’s the son of Director Jiang from that steel factory in the county seat. That person is the director of the factory’s revolutionary committee…”
Yu Xiaolan could no longer hear the rest. She only knew that her disliked stepdaughter had been taken a liking to by a city person with an iron rice bowl, and was going to marry into the city and eat state grain.
Even her Mingyue had not been able to marry into the city. Why should a stepdaughter be able to marry there?
In order to let Mingyue marry into the city, over the past few years, she had swallowed her pride to curry favor with her older sister who lived in the city, hoping that her older sister would help her daughter make connections and introduce her to a city match. For that reason, she had suffered who knew how many grievances.
Yu Xiaolan gritted her teeth in hatred. “Does that Director Jiang not know Jiajia’s health is poor?”
“He knows, but Director Jiang just likes Jiajia. Our Jiajia looks so good, what man wouldn’t like her, right?” Gu Third Aunt deliberately said.
Not to mention Director Jiang, even those sent-down youths, after seeing Gu Yijia, had all suspected that she was actually not from the countryside.
How could the village have raised such a beautiful girl.
Yu Xiaolan’s face was gloomy.
Yes, Gu Yijia’s face was indeed beautiful, like a celestial fairy. Men all liked that.
But liking could not fill a stomach. Bringing home a sickly weakling, not to mention having children, she might not even be able to do that thing in bed. What was the point of marrying her back? She was not even as good as her Mingyue. Mingyue was pretty, healthy, and had a big butt. At a glance you could tell she was easy to bear children.
In the end Yu Xiaolan left with a dark face.
Gu Third Aunt watched her back and could not help smiling.
This Yu Xiaolan was shrewd, with high aspirations, and had always compared her own daughter to Gu Yijia, wanting her daughter to crush Gu Yijia. Now that she knew Director Jiang had taken a liking to Gu Yijia, with her personality, she would definitely make a fuss, perhaps even try to ruin this matter.
However, Yu Xiaolan was only a bully at home. She would not dare to make trouble in front of Jiang Jinwang and the Jiang family, so she could only start from Gu Yijia’s side.
Gu Yijia’s temperament was soft. If she were tormented badly by her stepmother, she would feel annoyed, and perhaps she would let up, willing to hurry and marry into the Jiang family just to avoid her difficult stepmother.
In that way, she would count as having completed the task.
A little later, Chen Aifang made a trip to the Gu family’s third branch to talk with Gu Third Aunt.
Seeing her, Gu Third Aunt’s heart tightened. “Aifang, why have you come? Come, come, have a cup of water.”
Chen Aifang refused, and went straight to the point. “Third Aunt, the day before yesterday Jiajia fainted here. What did you call her over for? Jiajia fainting had nothing to do with you, right?”
As she spoke, a pair of sharp eyes swept toward Gu Third Aunt.
Gu Third Aunt was so looked at that her heart trembled.
The wife Gu Mingcheng married was not a good one. She had heard that even before she was married, she dared to go against her parents and refused to marry the man her parents arranged for her. At the time, she packed a set of old clothes for herself, brought nothing else, and married Gu Mingcheng directly, not even asking for betrothal gifts, simply as if she had thrown herself at Gu Mingcheng.
Which girl had her kind of boldness? Which girl had her kind of shamelessness?
Later, when her parents came to make trouble and demanded that Gu Mingcheng give betrothal gifts, otherwise they would take their daughter away, she also directly sent them packing.
This woman was just a formidable tigress.
Once Gu Mingcheng’s position in the army grew higher and higher, she became even more confident, and every time she returned to her parents’ home she was full of swagger. Now no one in her parents’ home dared bully her anymore, and instead they had to curry favor with her.
Gu Third Aunt smiled with her face. “I just called Jiajia over to chat…”
“Is that so?” Chen Aifang looked at her with a smile that did not reach her eyes, and said leisurely, “Third Aunt, you know my temper. If there really is nothing, that’s fine. But if there is something…”
She drew out the last part, looking at her with deep meaning.
Gu Third Aunt’s heart skipped a beat. Thinking of Chen Aifang’s past glorious record, she shivered. How could she still dare hide anything, and quickly told the whole story, only leaving out the thirty yuan she had gotten from the matchmaker.
After Chen Aifang heard it, her pretty face turned cold, and she stared at Gu Third Aunt with a sinister look.
Gu Third Aunt almost dropped to her knees for her, and hurriedly looked around to see whether there was a broom or something nearby, afraid she would pick up a broom and smash her house.
After Chen Aifang left, Baohua began stretching her head out to look outside.
Baoshan was in fourth grade at elementary school this year, sitting at the table doing homework. Gu Yijia was tutoring him from the side, explaining the parts he did not understand.
Seeing his little sister like that, Baoshan could not stand it. “Baohua, come here. You should be doing your homework too.”
Country children started school relatively late. Although Baohua still had not started school, Chen Aifang and Gu Yijia were already teaching her to read and write at home, and they also gave her homework every day.
Baohua had no choice but to sit down unwillingly, pick up her workbook, and write distractedly.
She had only written a few characters when she saw her mother return, and her eyes lit up as she looked over.
Chen Aifang’s expression was calm. No one could tell how furious she had just been at Gu Third Aunt’s place. She sat down as if nothing had happened and continued tutoring her children’s schoolwork.
This disappointed Baohua greatly.
Before bedtime that night, Chen Aifang suddenly thought of something, went to find Gu Yijia, and said, “Tomorrow is Saturday. Let’s go to the brigade office together and make a phone call to your brother.”
After hearing this, Gu Yijia’s heart gave a small jump, then she silently nodded.
Every Saturday, Chen Aifang would take her sister-in-law and the two children to call the husband who was in the army. No matter whether Gu Mingcheng could answer or not, they would make that call on schedule and report the family’s situation to him.
Of course, the main thing was to let him know that everyone at home was fine, especially that Gu Yijia was fine.