Bai Su patiently explained to her, “You can’t be shortsighted in life. Brother He Yan may have a bad class background now, but who knows what the future holds? He might become quite a catch someday!”
“Xiao He is loyal and values his relationships. If our family doesn’t look down on him and treats him well now, he’ll treat us sincerely in return.”
“True friendship reveals itself in times of hardship! When people go through difficult times together, they form a bond that lasts. Understand?”
With Lu Lanhua constantly hovering around Sun Mingyuan at the educated youths’ residence, Bai Su felt she needed to teach this timid daughter of hers a lesson.
Otherwise, she might end up being deceived by some unreliable brat!
She continued instructing Hehua, “When choosing a partner, you can’t just look for someone with good prospects. While you’re choosing someone, that person is choosing you too! Your Brother He Yan stands out in both character and appearance. If it weren’t for his family class background, countless girls would be fighting to marry him. I think Xiao He is a good man. He’s a promising investment.”
Hehua didn’t understand and looked puzzled.
“Mom, what do you mean by a promising investment?”
“It means your Brother He Yan will only become better and more successful in the future…”
Lihua, who was standing outside the house, heard those words.
He Yan heard them too!
Auntie Bai had asked Lihua to prepare meat porridge for his mother. After taking the porridge home, He Yan had transferred it into another bowl and returned to give back the empty one.
When he saw Lihua standing at the kitchen doorway with a bucket, he wondered what she was doing.
He was just about to call out to her when he overheard Auntie Bai speaking to Hehua inside. Every word she said touched his heart.
So, in Auntie’s eyes, both his character and his appearance were outstanding.
Auntie was different from the other people in the brigade. She didn’t despise him because of his family’s class background, and she even taught Hehua and her sisters not to gossip about it.
Only Auntie would consider someone with his background a desirable catch. She had even said that if it weren’t for his bad class background, countless girls would be eager to marry him.
Did Auntie really think so highly of him?
He Yan felt his nose sting with emotion again!
Realizing that Auntie genuinely wanted him to date Lihua, he stood behind her with his cheeks growing hot.
Before their feelings had been openly acknowledged, he had been able to speak freely and casually, making jokes without worrying whether they were proper.
But now that Auntie Bai was willing to let Lihua date him, He Yan actually felt embarrassed.
“Lihua, I’ve come to return the bowl.”
Blushing, he hurriedly thrust the bowl into Lihua’s hands.
Lihua jumped in surprise!
When she turned around, she saw He Yan fleeing in embarrassment. He nearly tripped over the threshold, making her burst into laughter…
On Monday, when Guihua and Meihua went to school, Bai Su stuffed their food bags until they were completely full.
Their mother really was getting better and better!
But would the grain they had received after dividing the family last until the autumn harvest?
After riding the brigade’s tractor to the turnoff for their school, Guihua and Meihua looked at their bulging food bags with some concern.
Bai Su, however, wasn’t worried at all!
Only when people had enough to eat would they have the strength to earn work points and attend school. They would also be less likely to fall ill.
Her daughters had simply grown accustomed to hardship under Old Madam Lu’s harsh treatment. Now, whenever they ate a little better, they worried that if they continued living this way, they would eventually run out of food.
In fact, of the several dozen yuan Bai Su had taken after breaking open Old Madam Lu’s cabinet, she still had more than twenty yuan left after buying supplies at the town’s supply and marketing cooperative.
When the family separated, Bai Su had given up any claim to the house and demanded financial compensation from the eldest son.
Even after emptying the eldest branch’s savings and private funds, the eldest son could only produce forty yuan. He had also written her an IOU for another ten yuan.
Bai Su now had more than sixty yuan saved. As a barefoot doctor, she would also receive a monthly allowance of ten yuan from the brigade. Lihua’s maternal uncle occasionally sent money and ration coupons to help support Bai Su and her daughters.
Now that they had escaped that family, how could they possibly fail to make ends meet?
Their good days were only just beginning!
Since they were already taking Guihua and Meihua to school, and He Yan was driving the tractor into town to collect chemical fertilizer, Bai Su decided to visit the commune and formally separate their household registration as soon as possible.
Only then could they completely sever their ties with the Lu family.
Once their lives improved, those shameless Lu relatives could forget about attaching themselves to Bai Su and her daughters and living off them.
Bai Su still remembered the disgusting things the eldest son had said on the mountain.
He had claimed that after his younger brother died, he had helped raise Lihua and her sisters for all those years. Therefore, when Lu Dajun needed money to get married, the girls ought to contribute.
She hadn’t forgotten a single word!
The eldest branch had been benefiting from the financial support sent by Lihua’s maternal uncle, yet they still had the nerve to claim they were the ones raising Bai Su and her daughters.
The thought alone was enough to turn her stomach.
She wanted to see just how well the Lu family would manage now that they no longer had to supposedly support her and her daughters!
He Yan parked the tractor outside the commune office.
Bai Su went inside to separate their household registration. Since she had the necessary certificate issued by the brigade, the commune official didn’t make things difficult for her. The registration for Bai Su and her daughters was successfully transferred into a separate household.
While Bai Su was handling the paperwork, He Yan had already loaded the chemical fertilizer onto the tractor.
He had been the one to obtain this entire tractorload of fertilizer for the brigade.
Around ten days after rice seedlings were transplanted, the paddies needed to be weeded to remove unwanted growth.
An insufficient supply of nitrogen fertilizer could cause rice florets to degenerate, reducing yields. This was also the time when fertilizer needed to be applied.
However, obtaining chemical fertilizer from the county wasn’t easy.
When He Yan promised to secure a tractorload of fertilizer for the brigade, the brigade leader was so delighted he practically wanted to put him on a pedestal.
If it weren’t for He Yan’s bad class background, Li Zhiqiang would have considered giving him a position at brigade headquarters.
“You really are something, brat! You can even get your hands on fertilizer.”
When He Yan went to collect the brigade’s tractor, the brigade leader had given him a friendly punch.
“You’ve got abilities like this, yet you’ve been keeping them hidden from me!”
“Wouldn’t I just be drawing unwanted attention? Someone with my class background?”
“All right, all right. I understand. Your class background isn’t easy to deal with, but you and Xiangyang are practically brothers. I’ll give it some thought and see if I can find a way to help you.”
For He Yan, Auntie Bai’s refusal to look down on his family background—and her willingness to let Lihua date him—had made a profound impression.
Auntie treated him with dignity, so he couldn’t do anything that would bring shame upon her family.
He Yan had begun thinking that he couldn’t marry Lihua while still carrying the stigma of a landlord or rich-peasant class background. That would only make her suffer.
So he stopped hiding his abilities and secured this tractorload of fertilizer for the brigade.
Along with the fertilizer, another bag had been brought into town.
He Yan placed the bag beside the tractor’s driver’s seat and sat waiting outside the commune office for Bai Su to finish her business.
Then he noticed a familiar figure emerging from the police station.
It was none other than Lu Dajun, who had disappeared for several days.
Behind him was a woman in a dress supporting Old Madam Lu, accompanied by a man.
He Yan recognized the woman as Lu Dajun’s paternal aunt, who had married the workshop director of the county food-processing factory.
The man beside her was Lu Dajun and Lihua’s uncle by marriage.
Everything had happened just as He Yan and Auntie Bai had predicted.
Since Lihua hadn’t actually been sold to Liu Laizi, the Lu family’s mother and daughter-in-law would, at most, be detained for a few days.
With someone putting in a word for them at the commune, they wouldn’t face any further consequences.
That old wretch had really gotten off easy!
Just then, Bai Su emerged from the commune office.
He Yan didn’t want to upset her by letting her see the Lu family, and he was also thinking about the black bag on the tractor. He hurriedly urged her to climb aboard.
By the time Old Madam Lu, her daughter, and Lu Dajun realized that the rumbling vehicle was the brigade’s tractor and thought of asking for a ride, it had already rattled away.