Bai Jianguo tugged at the old lady in difficulty, "Mom, please don't say anymore. We are all family, and as the uncle, I can't watch the child starve. I'll help however I can. Anyway, I managed to support this child until she graduated from high school, which is fair to my older brother and sister-in-law. The child is naive, but we adults shouldn't hold it against her."
With a generous look, he turned to Bai Xiao and said, "Xiao, I know you didn't get into high school, and your grandma wants you to go out and work, you feel unwilling, but your uncle has done his best. I no longer have the means to let you repeat a year. Our family are farmers and rely on farming to make a living. Your younger uncle makes just a few dozen yuan a year working in the fields. Your older brothers and sisters have grown up too; it's time for them to get married and we need to prepare their dowries. Your younger uncle really can't help you anymore. I believe your parents, if they knew, wouldn't blame me."
This speech was righteous, standing on a moral high ground. Bai Xiao immediately saw the villagers sitting around and listening nodding their heads.
You should know Bai Jianguo was known in the village as a genuinely decent man.
Li Chunhua glared, walked forward, and pinched Bai Xiao's arm fiercely.
"Look, look, this is what it means to raise an ingrate. Eating what her younger uncle provides, drinking what he offers, just because he couldn't sponsor her for school anymore. And she turns her back on us. I just lost my temper and hit you yesterday—it's common for parents to hit their kids. It's not like it wasn't justified when your grandma hit you in anger. And today you even talk about going to the infirmary for medicine. Do you just want the villagers to point at our spines and curse, saying we haven't looked after you well in your parents' stead? How can you be so malicious?"
This grandmother immediately took the opportunity to smear her own granddaughter while defending her son.
The villagers' gazes toward Bai Xiao began to change. Bai Xiao had never been influential in the village. People always saw her as a quiet and reserved girl. No one really knew her true nature, nor did she have friends who would defend her. If you don't stand up for yourself, what the Bai Family says goes.
People started trying to persuade Li Chunhua, "Auntie, don't be mad. The kid is young; teach her slowly. Once she grows up, she'll recognize your goodness. Without parents, kids just can't be brought up well."
"Yes, we all know that. It's true that it's now every household for themselves, but Jianguo still has two young men and a young lady to support. It's hard enough to provide for themselves, let alone having to also take care of a niece. Everyone understands these hardships."
Li Chunhua felt vindicated, lowered her head to feign sadness, and wiped her eyes, instantly garnering much sympathy. People began advising Bai Xiao, "Xiao, you can't be like this. She's your grandma, and without your parents around, it's been your grandma and younger uncle looking after you these years. As a human being, you mustn't be heartless."
"Exactly, even if your grandma hit you a few times, it was for your own good. When children misbehave, all parents might spank them. Your grandma loves you. You're already 18, and look, not many in our village can afford to finish high school. It's not your grandma's or younger uncle's fault you didn't get into college."
"Exactly, exactly!"
Bai Jianguo smiled simply, "Everybody, let's not speak of it. After all, this is my niece, my own brother's daughter. Even if my own kids couldn't afford to go to school or eat, I couldn't fail my brother's child."
Immediately, a chorus of praise filled the air, everyone commending Bai Jianguo as a man of integrity.
Bai Xiao scoffed, lowered her head, and after a silent moment, said, "Uncle, grandma, so the money for my school was indeed saved by my uncle. It seems I got it wrong. I will now go to my older sister to find out. To all the uncles and aunts here today, it's my fault, I misunderstood grandma and uncle, it's because when my older brother came back and my older sister came to see me, they clearly told me. My brother sends grandma fifteen yuan every month for allowance, and my older sister and second sister each try to save two yuan from their in-laws to send over each month. My brother told me that since the day he joined the army and entrusted me to grandma and uncle, he has been sending money back to grandma and uncle every month."
"It's because he felt it was already a burden for grandma and uncle to look after me. It wouldn't be right for me to just eat and study for free at their expense. My brother, older sister, and second sister said even if they were suffering and tired, they would save money for my education. This time, when the admission letter hadn't even arrived yet, I don't know where grandma got the news that I didn't pass and insisted on making me go out to work."
"My brother also told me to focus on my exams and that he would arrange everything after the results came out. I didn't expect that my brother and sisters hadn't given any money to grandma and uncle at all. I'm just going to ask my older sister what's really going on, where all the money they sent each month has gone." As Bai Xiao spoke, the entire village was stunned.
Li Chunhua and Bai Jianguo were dumbfounded as well. They hadn't expected Bai Xiao to be aware of the money.
Li Chunhua and Bai Jianguo had pressed Bai Xiao several times, and since she never said anything, they thought this foolish girl had no idea about the money, but here she was, waiting all this time.
The aunts who had been on Li Chunhua's side felt uncomfortable now. In the villages, unless there was someone who was a soldier or a worker, it would only be possible to have some external income every month to supplement the household. Otherwise, aside from ensuring food to eat by working in the fields and raising some poultry to sell eggs or slaughtering pigs for extra cash during the New Year, households would rely on just that little bit of money to get by.
Who knew Li Chunhua's household was so rich, receiving up to nineteen yuan a month from her grandchildren. My goodness! Over the course of a year, that would total 228 yuan, a fortune in this village!
If that's the case, since Xiaobai's high school education was funded by a brother and sisters, it was only natural. Considering how much care her parents had taken of her, and thinking about the years Bai Xiao had spent in Bai Jianguo's household, even if she went to school during the day, she had to get up early in the morning to chop wood, cut grass for the pigs, after school hurry home to fetch water, prepare meals, wash clothes—everyone saw this.
Not to mention weekends or school vacations; Bai Xiao was treated like a strong laborer working in the fields.