"Xiufen, no wonder you're so good to this daughter-in-law, if I had such a sensible daughter-in-law, I'd dote on her like a little ancestor too!"
"Look at Miaomiao, she's as beautiful as a fairy from a painting, she's good at studying, can earn money, and is filial to her mother-in-law! Xiufen, if I were you, I'd be laughing in my sleep~"
Li Xiufen was beaming, about to respond humbly, when she suddenly heard a sarcastic voice from outside the door.
"I was wondering why Mom didn't come back to see you when she was sick. So you have a mother-in-law now and you've forgotten the adoptive mother who raised you with so much hardship..."
"Brother! Am I wrong? Gu Chunmiao is a completely ungrateful white-eyed wolf!"
The laughter in the courtyard instantly felt like it had been paused.
Gu Chunmiao's expression darkened.
Outside the door, a man and a woman in green military uniforms walked in.
Gu Chunmiao subconsciously walked to Li Xiufen's side and introduced them with a cold face:
"Mother, this is her biological daughter that my adoptive parents found, Gu Sisi."
"Next to her is my adoptive parents' biological son, Gu Yongping."
Gu Yongping's sharp gaze swept over, and he sneered, "Gu Chunmiao, you're not even willing to call me 'brother' now, are you?"
Gu Chunmiao gave a bitter smile, "Didn't you say it yourselves? Once I leave the Gu family, I'm no longer a Gu. And outside, I can't use Commander Gu's or your name to get things done anymore..."
"You..." Gu Yongping's face was filled with anger.
Just as he was about to erupt, a tall, sturdy auntie in a patched apron rushed over.
"What 'you'? You were the ones who kicked Miaomiao out of the Military Compound back then. What now? Regretting it? Wanting her back?"
Gu Sisi didn't want Gu Chunmiao to return to the compound at all. Hearing this, she immediately became anxious, "Who wants to take her back? If my mom wasn't so angry with Gu Chunmiao that she got sick, my brother and I wouldn't have come to this godforsaken place!"
Li Xiulan gave a sarcastic smile, "Oh~ Your mom is sick, and you and your brother aren't by her side serving her, but you're wandering around in our godforsaken place? You and your brother are truly such great~ filial~ sons~ ah~"
Gu Sisi was so angry her face turned pale, "Who do you think you are? I'm here to find Gu Chunmiao!"
Gu Chunmiao walked over and shielded Li Xiulan behind her.
"She's my Second Great Aunt, do you have a problem with that?"
Gu Sisi stomped her feet in anger, "Brother, look at her! She doesn't even acknowledge our mother, but treats some outside Second Great Aunt or Third Maternal Aunt as a real relative! If you ask me, when they kicked her out, they should have made her change her surname too, so she wouldn't have to carry the Gu surname anymore."
Gu Yongping's face darkened as he walked step by step in front of Gu Chunmiao.
"Gu Chunmiao, do you know that because of one phone call from you, Mom was so angry she had to be hospitalized?"
"If you still want to keep the Gu surname and return to the compound in the future, now, immediately! Come back with me and apologize to Mom!"
Gu Chunmiao clenched her fists tightly, tears welling up in her eyes, about to speak, when a warm, large hand pulled her behind.
Li Xiufen yanked off her sleevelets, rolled up her sleeves, and rushed in front of Gu Yongping.
"Come, come, come, you take me back to apologize to your mother?"
"I told Miaomiao to make that call, and it was me who argued with your mother on the phone. Your mother is slow-witted and couldn't win the argument with me, so she got angry and sick herself. Are you going to blame me for that?"
Li Xiulan said sarcastically from the side, "Sister, of course, they blame you. She's a Commander's Wife, how can we argue with a Commander's Wife? It's best to not fight back when hit and not retort when scolded. Otherwise, if she has you arrested, I'll have to bring you food at the detention center..."
Li Xiufen and her sister had been cooperating for half their lives, their chemistry was perfect. Hearing this, she immediately raised her hands in front of Gu Yongping.
"Alright, alright, I admit I made your mother sick. If your family can't stand it, then handcuff me now and take me to jail!"
Gu Yongping was forced to retreat repeatedly by Li Xiufen, his face looking embarrassed as he turned to the production team leader who had guided him.
"Team Leader, are all the people in your production team like this? Can't you manage them?"
Unexpectedly, the production team leader retreated even faster than he did.
"I can manage others, but her, Li Xiufen? I wouldn't dare!"
Gu Yongping's handsome face darkened, "What do you mean? Is she acting lawlessly in the village because her son is an official in the military? Even the production team leader can't control her?"
Production team leader He Jianqiang waved his hands frantically, "It has nothing to do with her son. It's Li Xiufen herself... Oh my! If you go ask around, you'll know. Her sisters, in the several production teams around us, who dares to provoke them?"
Gu Yongping frowned, "Are they thugs? If that's the case, how did He Zhanjun pass his political review to join the army?"
He Jianqiang's scalp tingled at this remark.
Looking at Gu Yongping, his eyes were filled with only four words: Are you crazy?
Gu Yongping gave him a suspicious look. Before he could react, two loud wails suddenly exploded in his ears.
Li Xiulan sat down on the ground, patting her thighs and crying as if her in-laws had died.
"Father! Mother! Open your eyes and see! Our family has been poor peasants for eight generations, and now people are pointing at our noses and calling us landlords. They're leaving us no way to live!"
Li Xiufen grabbed the hemp rope from the wall and ran towards the production team.
As she ran, she shouted, "My grandfather was beaten to death by landlords in the old society. My father carried a rifle and fought devils. My mother sewed quilts and made shoes for the base areas... I even sent my son to the military. Now people are coming to our door, calling us landlord brats, thugs... This life is unbearable!"
"Father! Mother! I'll hang myself at the entrance of the production team! I won't admit to this crime even if I die!"
Saying this, she threw the hemp rope over the door frame, stepped onto a stool, and climbed up.
He Jianqiang was so scared he almost lost his soul, his voice cracking as he yelled, "Quick! Someone, get Auntie Xiu Fen down!"
Li Xiufen tightly gripped the hanging rope in her hand, her expression firm, like the White Haired Girl persecuted by the old society in a model opera.
"He Jianqiang, after I die, remember to tell my brother that I, Li Xiufen, am not a coward!"
With that, she put her head into the hanging rope.
Gu Yongping stiffened, looking at the scene before him in disbelief.
Gu Sisi was even more terrified, trembling all over, wishing she could run away.
Just then, He Zhanjun returned.
"What's going on?"
He Zhanjun saw his mother holding the hanging rope, her head dangling from the door frame, but her expression showed no panic at all.
Gu Yongping finally found someone he thought he could communicate with normally. He quickly pointed at Li Xiufen, who was attempting to hang herself, and sternly rebuked He Zhanjun:
"Deputy Battalion Commander He, quickly control your mother!"
"Threatening to die or live at the drop of a hat, what kind of behavior is that?"
He Zhanjun's face showed panic, "Commander Gu, please spare me!"
"When my mother threatens to die or live, anyone who dares to stop her will be beaten half to death!"
"Try it if you don't believe me?"
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