Time flies, and in the blink of an eye it is already the 10th day of the twelfth lunar month. It has snowed several times again, and the weather has become much colder. The wind is still blowing as before, hurting people's faces.
After grading today's test papers and copying students' transcripts, they can go home.
The office was not warm, and the teachers were all dressed like bears. They had to rub their hands after writing a few lines with a pen.
Jiang Youtao and her colleagues have long been accustomed to this way of working. No matter how warmly they dress, they still feel cold. She only hopes that reform and opening up will come sooner, so that the school can install heating earlier and these teachers can suffer less.
At noon, the teachers packed up and left one after another. From today until the 20th of the first lunar month, it was winter vacation. When everyone thought of the upcoming vacation, their faces were filled with happy smiles.
Gu Nianwei checked the doors and windows, and Jiang Youtao locked the office door. They both felt very relaxed.
After leaving the school gate, Jiang Youtao saw Fu Shaohua standing next to a bicycle wearing a military coat.
Gu Nianwei glanced at Jiang Youtao and said, "Go ahead. He is definitely waiting for you."
Fu Shaohua now appears in front of Jiang Youtao more and more often, so frequently that Gu Nianwei no longer uses him to tease Jiang Youtao.
"Okay, then you go back first, I'll be there soon." The two of them split up into two groups, Gu Nianwei went home, and Jiang Youtao walked towards Fu Shaohua.
"Have you been waiting for a long time?"
In response to Jiang Youtao's question, Fu Shaohua shook his head like a rattle: "I just came here not long ago. Last time I heard you say that you wanted to eat offal. When I went to the commune these days, I saw that there was a pig being slaughtered, so I bought one for you. I was afraid that it was not fresh, so I sent it to you first."
Fu Shaohua pointed at the basket, and Jiang Youtao's eyes lit up: "Thank you so much for troubling you."
She had seldom eaten pig offal since she traveled through time. There was no such thing as no one eating pig offal as described in the novel.
Every time they went to the butcher's they found it was out of stock.
"You are being polite when you say that. Didn't we agree on this before? Why be so polite?" Fu Shaohua muttered, looking at Jiang Youtao with a look that was somewhat accusatory and aggrieved.
Who could stop the beautiful boy from making such an expression? Jiang Youtao couldn't stop him, she surrendered immediately: "Okay, okay, I was wrong, I won't say it again."
Fu Shaohua was happy then. He pushed his bicycle and went to Jiang Youtao's home with Jiang Youtao. Gu Nianwei was not far ahead of them, but no one quickened their pace to catch up with her.
After Fu Shaohua and Jiang Youtao chatted casually for a few words, as if he had just remembered something, he said to Jiang Youtao: "My friend is passing by Yangping County tomorrow. He will come to see me. Can we have dinner together?"
Fu Shaohua never hid the fact that he had a girl he liked from others. His family and friends had long been curious about the girl he liked.
This friend of his was one of the ones with whom he had the best relationship. His friend wants to come this time with the sole purpose of seeing Jiang Youtao. The phone call he made yesterday showed his determination to see Jiang Youtao.
Fu Shaohua was very nervous. His relationship with Jiang Youtao had not yet been settled, and he was not in a hurry. Jiang Youtao was only sixteen years old, and the legal marriage certificate in the country was only available at the age of eighteen. There was no point in him being anxious now.
Moreover, he believed that Jiang Youtao also had feelings for him, so they could just work it out naturally.
His friend's arrival really disrupted his plans, and his friend had been difficult to deal with since he was young. If he didn't get his way, who knows how many surprises he would create in the future.
Jiang Youtao raised her eyebrows and glanced at the nervous Fu Shaohua: "Then let's meet."
Fu Shaohua smiled widely, his eyes curved into crescents, his cheeks had deep dimples, and his big teeth were exposed.
He is handsome, yet has a hint of silliness that is unique to teenagers.
Jiang Youtao also laughed, and the two of them laughed together.
After sending Jiang Youtao home, when he went back to work, his bike was almost floating.
Jiang Youtao, Gu Nianwei and Xu Manqiu, who returned home, became busy.
The pig offal that Fu Shaohua bought had everything except the pig lungs, including the intestines, liver, stomach, and even four pig trotters.
The three of them cleaned the offal carefully, and while washing they also divided the ways to eat them.
"Use the small intestines to make sausages, use the large intestines, liver and pig's trotters for braising, wash the pig stomach and put it away. In two days we'll get a chicken and make pig stomach chicken." Jiang Youtao was drooling as she spoke.
Gu Nianwei has all the seasonings, and the braised food she makes tastes great.
"I think it's okay." Gu Nianwei silently increased the speed of her hands.
The three of them cleaned up for an hour before they finished cleaning everything. After finally braising something, Gu Nianwei always felt like something was missing. She ran to the butcher shop and took out three or four pounds of pork belly from an empty corner.
The pork belly she took out was fat and lean, and it would definitely taste delicious if used to make braised pork belly.
So throughout the afternoon, the rich aroma of braised meat wafted over Xingfu Lane, and countless children cried at home and were spanked by their parents.
The meat had been braised for more than two hours and it was almost time for dinner. Jiang Youtao asked Xu Manqiu to call Zhong Qianxi and Fu Shaohua while she went to call Su Jianing.
Su Jianing was sleeping on the kang. After hearing what Jiang Youtao said, she got up and walked outside. Passing by Lu Xiangqian's room, he was whimpering inside again. Su Jianing looked out the window and saw him lying on the kang, having eaten and drunk all the steamed buns and water on the kang.
Now Su Jianing only gives Lu Xiangqian two steamed buns every day, which is enough as long as he doesn't starve to death. As for other good things, she doesn't even want to think about them.
In just one month, he had become thinner than before, with only a thin layer of skin covering his face and his eyes sunken into two hollows.
Su Jianing and Jiang Youtao walked outside. When they passed the door, they saw an old man sweeping the street. Su Jianing called out and said, "I have to trouble the second uncle again. Xiang Qian is so sick that he won't let me change his clothes. He also keeps swearing and saying bad things about me. I am so worried."
Su Jianing's face was filled with sorrow. The old man, who was called Second Uncle, smiled so hard that his face was covered with wrinkles. "This is what happens to sick people. I'll go change it for him. Don't get involved."
The second uncle was an elderly widower in the commune, with no children, but he was kind-hearted and did not want to rely on the commune's assistance for free, so he took the job of sweeping the streets on his own initiative. Su Jianing gave him four yuan a month and asked him to help Lu Xiangqian change and wash clothes.
The second uncle was very happy. He believed that Su Jianing was a good child. When he heard Lu Xiangqian's slander against Su Jianing, he did not believe it.
Of course he didn't believe it. What Lu Xiangqian said was so outrageous. He said that Su Jianing stabbed him with a knife in the hospital, wanted to clean him with scissors, and only gave him two steamed buns to eat a day.
It's all nonsense. If what he said was true, he would have died long ago. How could he have said so much on the kang? And he said she wanted to castrate him with scissors. If he was really castrated, how could the second uncle not know when he changed his clothes?
Hearing him repeating these words again, the second uncle also became annoyed: "You should be content. Xiao Su is so good to you. You always scold and beat her, but she still cares about you so much that she asked me to change your clothes. How many people can't do what she does."
"Besides, you have no income now. You were such a jerk before that you gave your salary to your parents. She and her two children had to borrow food to eat. Now she has a rural household registration and two children. Are they going to starve and only you have to eat?"
"Xiang Qian, you are not a child anymore. Think before you speak or act." The second uncle did not think there was anything wrong with Su Jianing giving Lu Xiang Qian two steamed buns a day. He only had two steamed buns a day and there was nothing he could do about it. He was poor.
Lu Xiangqian's eyes widened when he was refuted by the second uncle: "She eats delicious food and drinks spicy drinks every day. Smell it, that teacher comes to ask her to eat delicious food again, and she never brings anything back for me."
Of course, the second uncle could smell the rich aroma of braised meat outside. He looked at Lu Xiangqian in confusion and said, "What do you mean? It's not enough to let your wife eat other people's food, but you want to bring it back for you to eat?"
The expression on the second uncle's face can be translated into five words: Why are you so shameless!
Lu Xiangqian was also a little confused. He always felt that things should not be like this. He should be held in Su Jianing's hands and be treated with all the good food and drinks. He should be taken care of by Su Jianing in every possible way, instead of just lingering on like this.
The second uncle was too lazy to pay attention to him. He just wiped his body, changed his clothes and left.
Then he couldn't hold it back, and the words Lu Xiangqian said and the shameless request he made were spread everywhere, and Su Jianing gained a lot of sympathy again.
This is why Su Jianing asked the second uncle to help him change his clothes, because the second uncle was a well-known big mouth. He swept the streets every day, and no matter what happened in any family, he could know it. If she couldn't hide it from him, she couldn't hide it from the people in the entire commune.
At this time, Su Jianing was having dinner with Jiang Youtao and others.
Zhong Qianxi has come to Jiang Youtao's place to eat frequently during this period. She felt bad about it, so she often went to the mountains near the commune. She knew how to set traps. This time, she brought a fat white rabbit, which she had just picked up from the mountain.
Gu Nianwei killed the rabbit and made a spicy rabbit head. It had been a while since it was cooked. Jiang Youtao picked out some meat and made a bowl of broth, and sent some to both Old Lady Zhang's family and Zhang Yubing's wife's family.
That evening, Mrs. Zhang used the braised pork soup to stew cabbage and potatoes, and everyone in the family ate so much that their mouths were almost drooling.
Liang Shufen watched helplessly as Jiang Youtao delivered food to the neighbors next door and opposite door, and even invited Lu Tanzi's wife to her home for dinner. They were all neighbors, but her own family was left out. She felt very unhappy.
"Girls, you eat so well every day, aren't you afraid of shortening your lifespan?"
Liang Shufen grumbled, Gu Hanqing and her father ignored her, and she was becoming more and more left-wing. Gu Hanqing had already discussed with her girl friend that they would get married next year at the latest, and would come back less often after marriage.
Everyone at Jiang Youtao's house was very satisfied with the meal. Fu Shaohua especially liked the braised pork belly and packed a portion to take home to cook noodles with the next morning.
Zhong Qianxi also came back. Ever since the Xiao family father and son and the Zhong family father and son were beaten into hooligans, they didn't dare to bother her after they got out. Yu Huimei and Huang Tiehua didn't dare to look for her even more. They would take a detour when they saw her.
Now Zhong Qianxi spends every day in her favorite field, and gets together with Jiang Youtao and others from time to time. She lives a very comfortable life.
When Su Jianing returned, Lu Xiangqian had fallen asleep due to hunger.
Su Jianing went to another room to sleep.
The next morning, she returned to her parents' home. Su Jianing's youngest son was sleeping on Su's mother's kang, and her eldest daughter had gone out to play with her cousins.
Su Jianing and her mother were cooking in the kitchen and chatting: "Are you really not going to take them back home? It's better for them to grow up with you than with us."
Su's mother advised Su Jianing in the same way last time, and Su Jianing listened last time. But this time, Su Jianing didn't intend to listen.
"Mom, please help me take care of them." Su Jianing leaned close to Su's mother and said, "The doctor said that Lu Xiangqian's leg will not be healed. He has other problems and may not live until next summer. I plan to accompany him on his last journey."
Su Jianing emphasized the word "accompany".
Su's mother had already started to wipe away her tears: "I really want to ask, why is your life so hard? I thought marrying into the commune would bring you happiness, but Lu Xiangqian had such a personality. I thought things would get better in the future, but something like this happened again."
The Su family is a family that loves children. Almost all the warmth that Su Jianing received in her previous life came from the Su family. When she was locked up in a mental hospital by Lu Xiangqian, her mother and father, who were almost seventy years old, ran around for her every day just to make sure that she was not sick.
When she was used as a scapegoat, Su's mother, who was hospitalized, couldn't accept it and died of anger. Su's father also passed away not long after his wife passed away. Before he died, the person he was most worried about was her, and he asked his son and grandson to continue to seek justice for her.
Lu Xiangqian, what are you going to pay back to these lives?
"Okay, I'll take care of the child for you. You go back and take good care of him. After all, you are husband and wife." Su's mother sighed.
Su Jianing smiled: "Yes."
After giving some money and having lunch, Su Jianing went back. Facing the tears of the original owner's eldest daughter and the crying of the youngest son, she did not even turn her head back.
Just like in the previous life, when they walked towards Lu Xiangqian and his mistress, no matter how she called them, they did not turn back.
Maybe some people would think that the children were innocent. No matter how much they had done in their previous life, they were no longer hurt now, right? But she had experienced all that hurt. She couldn't be calm with them.
Since you know you will be betrayed sooner or later, just distance yourself from the beginning.
Lu Xiangqian did not wait until spring. He died before the Chinese New Year.
Without the meticulous care, the whole family had to sacrifice their own flesh and blood to provide him with good food and drink, and Su Jianing's occasional mental abuse, his spirit was quickly worn out.
Su Jianing knew that he was in bad condition, but she never sent him to the hospital.
This situation also happened in his previous life. During the two years when Lu Xiangqian was disabled, he tried to commit suicide several times. Every time, it was Su Jianing who cried and made a fuss and pulled him back from the brink of death.
Su Jianing didn't plan to pull it out this time. She just watched Lu Xiangqian die.
Just before he died, Lu Xiangqian suddenly opened his eyes again.
He looked around in disbelief, then laughed. When he saw Su Jianing standing by the window, he raised his eyebrows and said, "I want some water. Pour it for me quickly. You have no sense at all."