“He Yan! He Yan, wait!”
“We want a ride on the tractor!”
The tractor rattled noisily along, and He Yan couldn’t hear them.
Even if he had heard them, he would have treated their shouting as nothing more than dogs barking.
The tractor sped away in a cloud of dust. Lu Dajun, who had been chasing after it, got a noseful of dirt and stamped his feet in anger.
“Grandma, Auntie is on the tractor He Yan’s driving!”
“That black-hearted, poisonous woman! That worthless thing who couldn’t even give birth to a son! Just wait until we get home. I’ll teach her a lesson!”
“What kind of daughter-in-law reports her own mother-in-law and sister-in-law to the commune and gets them arrested?”
“She even took those medicinal residues to the commune as evidence, causing your mother to be sent to a labor farm for re-education, Dajun!”
Old Madam Lu had been detained for several days despite her injuries. The ordeal had nearly cost her half her life.
She simply couldn’t swallow her anger.
“Good son-in-law, you’re the most successful person in our family. You have to help me get even!”
Lu Dajun’s paternal aunt, Lu Qiushuang, glanced at her husband.
The flat-nosed man standing beside Old Madam Lu nodded in agreement.
“Second Sister-in-law has really gone too far this time. Don’t worry, Mother. I’ll stand up for you…”
Lu Qiushuang helped her mother onto the back of a bicycle and had her husband push it toward the brigade.
By then, He Yan had already driven Bai Su a considerable distance away.
When Bai Su first climbed onto the tractor, she hadn’t noticed the people behind them.
It was only when she heard Lu Dajun shouting that she turned around and saw someone supporting Old Madam Lu while trying to catch up with the tractor.
Seeing Lu Dajun’s miserable appearance as he choked on the dust, Bai Su couldn’t help blurting out, “You brat! You’re really a sly little devil.”
He Yan grew a little nervous, afraid he had made a bad impression on his future mother-in-law.
But Bai Su slapped him on the shoulder, laughing uncontrollably.
“That was wonderfully wicked! Auntie loves it.”
“Just look at the sorry state of that whole family!”
He Yan finally relaxed. So Auntie was simply pleased to see them get what they deserved.
He reminded Bai Su, “Auntie, I was waiting outside the commune office when I saw them come out of the police station. But I didn’t see Lu Dajun’s mother.”
“The police must have refused to release her!”
Bai Su explained, “When I first went to the commune to report them, I knew they wouldn’t be detained for long over Lihua’s marriage. My main purpose was to throw their family into chaos so I could separate our households.”
“After everything they did to bully us, I had to make them suffer a little. That’s why I brought along the medicinal residues from the cattle medicine they forced me to drink and then dumped behind the house.”
“They might be able to escape punishment over Lihua’s situation, but surely they can’t explain away those medicinal residues so easily?”
“From the looks of it, Old Madam Lu must have insisted that Lu Dajun’s mother was the one who forced the medicine down my throat, just so she could get herself released.”
“Trying to harm someone by forcing cattle medicine on them should be enough to get a person sent to a labor farm for several months.”
Bai Su sneered.
“Does Old Madam Lu think Lu Dajun’s maternal uncles are just there for decoration? Just wait until they come looking for trouble.”
She was deliberately shifting the trouble onto someone else!
Auntie was truly brilliant.
He Yan couldn’t help feeling that an ordinary rural woman shouldn’t possess such insight.
Especially since Auntie had never displayed any remarkable abilities in the past.
Something about it didn’t seem quite right to him.
But then he thought that only an auntie like this would refuse to look down on him and willingly allow Lihua to date him.
In the past, burdened by his family class background, he wouldn’t even have dared dream of such a thing.
He Yan was deeply grateful to Bai Su.
“Auntie, you’re amazing!”
“That pile of firewood under our eaves—you chopped all of it, didn’t you? It’s stacked so high.”
He Yan nodded, looking a little embarrassed.
Bai Su teased him.
“You brat, you’re surprisingly shy! That day when I was talking to Hehua in the kitchen, you came to return the bowl and overheard us. You’ve been avoiding me and Lihua for the past two days.”
“Lihua’s shy too. She’s easily embarrassed.”
He Yan’s face turned bright red.
When the tractor reached the brigade, he called out to Bai Su.
“Auntie, take the things in that canvas bag with you. I asked someone to buy some fabric for me in the county town. There’s enough for you and Lihua to each have a new outfit made.”
Bai Su carried the canvas bag home and opened it.
Inside, besides the fabric He Yan had mentioned, were walnut pastries, sponge cakes, biscuits, malted milk powder, and cod liver oil.
Walnut pastries and biscuits could be purchased at the supply and marketing cooperative. But nourishing foods such as malted milk powder and cod liver oil were difficult to obtain even with ration coupons.
And he had bought several bottles!
He must have gotten them from the black market, hadn’t he?
Xiao He was showing her his cards!
Ever since Bai Su had become the mother of Lihua and her sisters, she hadn’t really done much. He Yan had been the one helping her all along.
All she had done was agree to let him date Lihua, yet he was already willing to open his heart and reveal his resources to her.
It was as though he were telling her that he would make sure she and Lihua enjoyed a good life in the future.
Bai Su couldn’t help feeling touched.
Since He Yan treated them so well, she ought to remember the kindness of this future son-in-law.
She still had some fabric left. Later, she would have an outfit made for He Yan too.
Lihua was quite skilled at sewing. In the past, she had made the family’s clothes herself, stitching every garment by hand from the fabric they bought.
That was precisely why Bai Su had set her sights on the sewing machine when dividing the family.
Bai Su kept only some walnut pastries and biscuits for her daughters to enjoy as treats. Then she gathered up all the soft sponge cakes, malted milk powder, and cod liver oil and went next door to He Yan’s house.
“Sister Liu, are you home?”
Because the He family lived next door to her maiden family’s house, Bai Su remembered that He Yan’s mother was a few years older than her.
Back when Bai Su was still unmarried and living with her parents, He Yan’s father had always affectionately called his wife “Liu’er.”
He Yan’s mother had come from a big city. His father had brought her home after meeting her while studying in Shanghai.
Apparently, her maiden family had suffered some misfortune, which was why she had married He Yan’s father and settled here with him.
She had been a fair-skinned, delicate-looking woman, as graceful and fragile as a willow swaying in the breeze.
Before Bai Su married, she had often secretly admired her, thinking she was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen.
In fact, He Yan had inherited his good looks from his mother.
Hearing coughing from inside the house, Bai Su carried the gifts into a side room.
There, she saw a sickly-looking woman lying on a bed.
When the woman recognized Bai Su, she struggled to sit up.
Seeing how badly she was coughing, Bai Su hurried forward to support her and help her lean against the headboard.
He Yan’s mother smiled weakly.
“Little Sister, He Yan told me you’ve moved back into your maiden family’s house. I should have come over to visit, but unfortunately, my health won’t allow it.”
“We’ve known each other for so many years. There’s no need for such formalities.”
Bai Su placed the things she had brought on the table and prepared a cup of malted milk for her.
“He Yan is a filial son. He asked me to bring these things over to help nourish your body.”
After drinking half a cup of malted milk, He Yan’s mother felt her throat moisten, and she was much more comfortable.
She gave Bai Su a gentle smile.
“Little Sister, you’re lying to me. I was the one who told He Yan to buy that malted milk powder and cod liver oil for you and Lihua. Yet you’ve brought it all back to me! I even asked him to buy some fabric so you could have new clothes made.”
So it turned out that He Yan’s mother had been the one who asked him to buy those things for them?
He Yan had probably told her that Bai Su had agreed to let him date Lihua.
Although she was bedridden, this woman had already begun worrying about treating her future daughter-in-law well. She had even instructed He Yan to be filial toward Bai Su.
Bai Su didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“You’re the one who’s weak. You should eat more nourishing foods to build up your strength.”
“You’re coughing and wheezing so badly. Let me examine your pulse.”
Bai Su placed her fingers on the woman’s wrist and carefully examined her pulse.
When she withdrew her hand, He Yan’s mother smiled at her.
“Little Sister, don’t trouble yourself over me. It’s an old illness. Every year, I spend several months coughing, and when it gets particularly bad, I can barely catch my breath.”