Chapter 348 - 305: The Earth Still Turns
Chapter 348: Chapter 305: The Earth Still Turns
When they got home, Grandma was waiting in the main hall. Two glasses of freshly boiled water sat cooling on the table, one for Xiao Man and one for Grandpa.
Grandpa took a couple of sips of the scalding water, shaking his head and sighing. He recounted for Grandma his visit to his sister in Shangling Village. It was only after they started arguing that he learned his sister had never given up on the idea of foisting her grandchildren on him to inherit the "family business."
Previously, Grandpa had agreed to fund Liang Xiaoju’s education and cover some of her living expenses, but he had staunchly refused to adopt any of the Liang Family’s grandsons. Because of this, Grandma Mo figured Grandpa might be thinking that girls were more docile and obedient, and that it would be easier to manage a live-in son-in-law in the future. Otherwise, why would he only sponsor Liang Xiaoju? Xiaoju was her own granddaughter, and she was the one who had sent her to Grandpa’s house in the first place. But now, Xiaoju wasn’t so obedient anymore. She took the benefits she got from Grandpa but refused to hand them over to her grandmother when she went home. Grandma Mo was very unhappy about this. On top of that, her other sons, daughters-in-law, and daughters were all demanding she "promote" their own daughters. So, Grandma Mo came up with another plan: besides Liang Xiaoju, she would send three other girls to visit Grandpa’s house often to help with chores. In the future, Grandpa’s heir would be chosen from these four girls. Of course, only the most obedient and well-behaved one would have a chance!
Just now, when Grandpa had brought the four girls back to Grandma Mo, he had made things crystal clear: she was not to send the children to his house to "help" anymore. Kids couldn’t do much anyway, and the village production team had plenty of labor. Everyone helped each other out, so no amount of farm work was a problem! Furthermore, he said that Liang Xiaoju was rude, insensible, and disrespectful to her elders. The years of tuition he’d paid for her had been a complete waste. It seemed there was no point in a girl like that getting an education. From now on, he would no longer be responsible for Liang Xiaoju’s school fees, because she wasn’t worth it!
At that, Grandma Mo had grabbed Grandpa, arguing that Xiao Man was another family’s child and a city person to boot. She would definitely not stay in the countryside in the future. Her own brother’s assets couldn’t be handed over to an outsider. She demanded that Grandpa choose another child from among her grandchildren. She even said that if he was worried about messy entanglements with the child’s parents, they could sign a formal document and he could buy the child outright with a sum of money. Grandpa firmly refused. The siblings argued for a bit before Grandpa broke free and left.
After hearing Grandpa’s account, Grandma also heaved a long sigh. The room fell silent. Outside in the courtyard, fireflies flitted about, accentuating the quiet solitude of the night.
’Xiao Man understood. Besides the trouble He Ahua and Liang Xiaoju had caused, which had upset Grandma, there was another reason for their unease: she was leaving for Beijing to study. She would be farther and farther away from her Grandpa and Grandma. Although this was what they had hoped for—who wouldn’t want their child to have a promising future?—the impending separation was inevitably unsettling.’
Just as she was about to say a few words to comfort the old couple, a CLANGING AND BANGING sound came from the courtyard gate, followed by the laughter and shouts of Mo Shuixia, Guan Ailan, and the others. "Open up! Open up!"
"Mo Xiaoman, what are you doing? Bolting the gate this early, are you trying to keep out robbers?"
Grandpa hurried to open the gate. Xiao Man walked over to Grandma, putting an arm around her shoulder to comfort her. "Don’t bother with people like that. It’s not worth getting angry. From now on, if you don’t like someone, just don’t let them in. This is our home. We run it, we enjoy it, and it’s nobody else’s business. They want to use the excuse of being family to interfere in our lives? Not a chance! Even little kids know how to say, ’The world doesn’t revolve around you!’ when they fight. We can do without ten or eight relatives with bad intentions and still live just fine!"
Grandma smiled and patted her hand. "My granddaughter understands this, so how could your Grandma not? I’m just feeling it for a little while. It’ll pass. It’s nothing, don’t you worry!"
Xiao Man nodded and pointed outside. "Grandma, look, they’re knocking down our pears again. I’ll go out and play for a bit. Otherwise they’ll be making a racket in the house, and we’ll never have enough pears for them to munch on!"
Grandma let out a puff of laughter and chided her affectionately, "This child, you say whatever comes to your mind! Don’t let people hear you and think we’re stingy! Go on. You kids aren’t that into the movie right now, so where else can you go play? Just sit in the courtyard and chat."
"Okay, I’ll go ask them."
Xiao Man ran out of the house. Out on the sunning-ground, Guan Ailan and the others were using the bamboo pole Liang Xiaoju had left leaning against the tree. They had already knocked down more than a dozen pears. The pears were large and thin-skinned, and they were all damaged from hitting the hard sunning-ground, their juices leaking out in a pitiful waste. But the girls weren’t picky. They were going to eat them right away anyway. They gathered the pears in a basket, drew a bucket of well water to rinse them, and grabbed them to eat with loud CRUNCHES.
Xiao Man grabbed a pear and started eating it too. The friends put their heads together and decided a walk would be nice. They said goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma, stuffed pears into their pockets, and left the courtyard, strolling down the road toward the center of the village.
The movie at the village elementary school was already halfway over. There was no one at the entrance guarding it or collecting tickets anymore, but it didn’t interest them. Mo Linghui, Guan Ailan, and Xiao Man studied in the county town. They could watch a movie every Saturday if they wanted, and they didn’t even have to pay. Teacher Yu knew a lot of people and often got complimentary tickets for the cinema, which she would give to them to use—only on Saturdays, of course.
Mo Shuixia went to the commune’s middle school, not far from the factory and mine’s residential complex. The factory and mine showed movies outdoors for free, so she watched them often too.
It was rare for them all to be together, and they had endless things to talk about, especially with Xiao Man leaving for Beijing to study soon. This time, they really wouldn’t see each other for half a year or even a whole year, and they were all reluctant to part. Chatting as they walked, they ambled from one end of the village to the other before finally turning toward the brigade headquarters.
Surprisingly, the light was still on in Mo Chengfu’s clinic. Three or four people were sitting there, waiting in line for acupuncture. It seemed Mo Chengfu, the future Chinese medicine doctor, was quite dedicated.
The co-op store was also open, and some people were chatting inside. Since Xiao Man and her friends weren’t buying anything, they didn’t go in. They just hovered at the entrance for a moment before turning back.
Mo Shuixia was confused. "Sister Liu Ping worked here for two or three years and did a great job. She knows the business inside and out, so why didn’t she take over the contract?"
Guan Ailan said, "This is why I say you’re all brawn and no brains, only seeing the surface of things. When this co-op store was public property, the Lin Family was already trying every trick in the book to steal from it. If Sister Liu Ping had taken the contract, they’d think the whole place belonged to her. Wouldn’t they just start looting it? Could Sister Liu Ping handle that?"
"That’s a pretty good analysis. You’re not so simple after all," Mo Shuixia said.
"Of course! Who do you think I am?" Guan Ailan said smugly.
Mo Shuixia tossed her pear core into the rice paddy by the road and, on a whim, pounded Guan Ailan’s back three times with a loud THUMP-THUMP-THUMP. "Who are you? Who cares! I’ll tell you this: an ’all brawn, no brains’ girl like me can beat you up whenever I want. What’re you gonna do about it?"
Guan Ailan let out a yelp and chased after Mo Shuixia. The two of them started roughhousing on the road, still trading insults without missing a beat. Xiao Man and Mo Shuiling watched them, laughing so hard they could barely breathe.