MMB Chapter 15 She still has me as her mother
Chapter 15 She still has me as her mother
The hand holding the scissors froze in mid-air.
Chen Xiulan stood there, holding the old cotton-padded jacket sleeve, stunned.
The pheasant soup on the stove was still bubbling, steam rising from the pot lid.
Outside the courtyard gate, Tian Guizhi's voice rose higher and higher, "Chen Shi, don't pretend you can't hear me! Open the door!"
Ya Ya stood by the stove with a few thin pieces of firewood in her hand, a bit of hazelnut skin still stuck to the corner of her mouth from eating them earlier.
She glanced at the courtyard gate a few times, then slowly crept up in front of Chen Xiulan.
Chen Shi wasn't in a hurry. He put the spoon on the side of the pot and then casually lifted the lid a crack.
"Yaya, don't be afraid."
"uncle......"
She's noticed it in the last couple of days.
Her uncle is different now. When her father was alive, she was only afraid. Now that her uncle is standing in front of her, she may be afraid, but she can stand timidly behind him and accompany him.
Hearing Tian Guizhi's commotion, Aunt Wang's anger flared up instantly, and she grabbed a fire stick, ready to go outside.
Chen Shi stopped her, "Second Aunt, let me do it."
"That woman deserves a good slap across the face, but you, a grown man, can't do it yourself."
"She didn't just come here to rant."
Chen Shi didn't explain much to Aunt Wang.
The red ribbon is in Zhao Defa's hands. She didn't ask for it back yesterday. If she really came looking for that note, she should have gone to the brigade, not blocked the Chen family's gate.
On that half-piece of paper, besides the deposit and the timber, there was also a date written on it: the sixth day of the first lunar month. Today is already the fourth day of the twelfth lunar month.
Tian Guizhi was anxious, not necessarily to go inside and get something, but to find out how much the Chen family knew and whether Chen Xiulan had heard Han Changgui mention anything.
She's not here to reason with people.
What she wanted was to cry to Chen Xiulan as soon as she entered the door, using Han Changgui's name.
Given Chen Xiulan's personality, she could tell whether the matter could be concealed after just a few tricks.
Chen Shi walked to the courtyard gate without unlatching the bolt. "Aunt Tian, what's wrong? Tell me."
Tian Guizhi hadn't expected him to actually refuse to open the door. She slammed her hand on the door again. "I'm looking for your sister! Han Changgui was just buried. Can't I even say a few words to her?"
"My sister is in postpartum confinement and can't be exposed to drafts or idle people. Don't worry, you won't see her."
"Am I a freeloader?"
Chen Shi didn't reply, but his meaning was clear.
After holding back for a while, Tian Guizhi resorted to her old tricks again, "Han Changgui owes me things and hasn't returned them, and now he's disappeared. Can't I ask his wife about it?"
What do I owe you?
"You...you owe me money!"
"I haven't heard of that. What proof do you have?"
"Didn't you see the IOU? It's with Zhao Defa. I've come to discuss how your family plans to repay the money."
"The IOU was given to Han Changgui, so didn't he pay it off?" Chen Shi said. "Of course, maybe it's money you owe Han Changgui."
Chen Shi placed his hand on the door latch and did not ask any further questions.
Footsteps could already be heard outside the courtyard gate.
Kaoshantun is only so big, so if you raise your voice, you can be heard even several houses away.
When Tian Guizhi heard someone coming, she cried even harder. Even through the crack in the door, Chen Shi could see her wiping her face, but there wasn't a single wet mark.
"That bundle in Han Changgui's waistband is mine. Now that he's dead, your Chen family can't just swallow this shameful act."
Chen Shi's gaze darkened.
At first, she said there was a roll of money in her waistband and an IOU at the back, but now that she's in a hurry, she says it's just a roll of something.
After thinking it over, Chen Shi understood and realized he couldn't blame her for coming to cause trouble.
Judging from Tian Guizhi's words, Han Changgui must have received money from the kidnapper, but no one knows where the money went.
What's worse, the half-paper wrapped in the red cloth should have had her name on it, so she can't get away with this.
Aunt Wang heard everything clearly at the doorway and couldn't help but curse, "Tian Guizhi, do you have any shame? Han Changgui is already dead in your pants, and now you still come here to make trouble for Xiulan."
"Wang Dahua! Stop meddling! What business is it of yours?"
"How is this none of my business? Xiulan calls me Second Aunt, so it's my business. You're a widow from another family, blocking the door of the postpartum woman's home and demanding things from the men. Tell me, what business is it of yours?"
Someone outside chuckled, then quickly stifled it.
"My relationship with Han Changgui is completely innocent. What's there to be ashamed of?"
Chen Shi said through the door, "There are rules for asking for money. If you're really in the right, you'll be in the right even if you go to the commune or the police station."
As soon as the word "police" was uttered, the knocking on the door stopped.
Tian Guizhi stopped crying.
After a while, she softened her voice, "Shizi, you're young and don't understand things here. Open the door, and I'll explain it to you slowly. Changgui is a scoundrel; the things he left behind will only make your hands burn."
"If it's too hot to handle, it should be sent to the corps."
"That thing can't be sent to the brigade!"
After saying that, Tian Guizhi quickly tried to backtrack, "What I meant was, there are a lot of people in the group, and it wouldn't sound good if word got out."
"Does it sound good now that you're blocking my sister's door?"
Tian Guizhi grew anxious again, "Chen Shi, don't think you can protect them forever. There are plenty of capable people out there, and that girl..."
Her words abruptly stopped.
Chen Shi stood motionless, his calm expression even more frightening. "Which girl?"
Tian Guizhi gave a dry laugh. "Which other girl could it be? Ya Ya, of course. She's pitiful, I mean, don't scare the child with adult matters."
"She has a mother and an uncle; she doesn't need your pity."
"And then there's me, your mother."
Chen Xiulan's voice came from behind.
Chen Shi turned around and saw Chen Xiulan wearing a cotton-padded coat, still clutching the scissors in her hand. Her face was deathly pale; it was hard to tell whether it was from the cold or from anger.
Ya Ya was still holding that thin stick of firewood in her hand, and she was standing close to Chen Xiulan.
"sister."
"I'll say a few words to her," Chen Xiulan stopped Chen Shi and gestured for him to open the door.
"Tian Guizhi, I know what you're afraid of, and I know what you're worried about. Put away your little schemes. I didn't take Han Changgui's money, and I don't care about money from that kind of background. As for anything else, don't even think about it."
Chen Xiulan, after speaking so fiercely in one breath, was a little out of breath. She took a couple of breaths, then gripped the scissors to her chest. "If you want to say he owes you money, go to the brigade. If you're still thinking about that dirty thing you two did before, I'd rather die than let you get away with it!"
Tian Guizhi seemed stunned by these words.
After a while, she suddenly laughed, pointing at Chen Xiulan as she said, "You knew? How did you know? Chen Xiulan, did you already know?"
This time, even the onlookers dared not laugh; the more they thought about it, the more something seemed amiss.
The more Tian Guizhi thought about it, the more panicked she became, and the louder her voice grew, "I know! It was you! Did you kill Han Changgui? You know everything, you hate him. So you let him kill you!"
Ya Ya shuddered in fright.
Chen Xiulan swayed and almost fell over, but luckily Aunt Wang caught her.
Looking at the scene before him, something seemed to snap in Chen Shi's mind.
In his past life, he longed for his family his whole life, and in this life, they are finally standing before him again.
His older sister is still alive, Ya Ya can still call him "uncle," and Xiao Man will slowly grow up. He painstakingly retrieved the soup and firewood, barely managing to drag this family back from the pile of corpses.
With just one sentence from Tian Guizhi, they were about to be pushed back into the mud.
She hasn't given up on selling Ya Ya; she still wants to mess with her older sister.
The latch was pulled open with a "clatter".
Behind the door was the wood-chopping knife he used when hiking in the mountains; he had placed it there specifically so that Ya Ya wouldn't accidentally touch it.
Chen Shi picked up his wood-chopping knife and took a few steps to get close to Tian Guizhi.
The crying expression on Tian Guizhi's face vanished instantly. She staggered backward and plopped down in the snow.
The next moment, the machete came down.
I used all my strength.
With a "crack," the blade pierced the frozen ground just a few inches from the toe of her shoe, and snowflakes flew onto her face.
Tian Guizhi froze.
Chen Shi leaned down and stared at her fiercely, "If you smear another word about my sister and the others, I'll make you never forget it for the rest of your life. What does it mean to say something carelessly?"
The sound of a cane tapping the ground came from afar, the rhythm a little hurried.
Zhao Defa's voice followed, "Chen Shi! Put the knife down!"