Chapter 98: Chapter 94: I’m Not Serving Anymore

Lin Lan came out of the old lady’s house carrying two packs of brown sugar, two bottles of liquor, salted eggs, and zongzi. She also packed the fatty pork Li Xiangyang had brought into her back-basket, said goodbye to Lin Yuezhen, and headed to Yang Liying’s house with the basket on her back.

After paying her back, the two sisters-in-law walked toward Yang Liqun’s house together.

Lexing Team was divided into three smaller squads, and the third squad was the farthest from the city.

The old couple of the Yang family had originally married all three of their daughters into the same production team. Part of the reason was that the conditions near the city were better, but it was also so the sisters could be nearby to look after their youngest brother.

They walked along a water channel for over an hour, then turned right onto a raised path between the fields. The path was just wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side.

Courtyard homes with earthen walls and thatched roofs sat facing east. Behind the houses were groves of verdant bamboo, and in front, a meter-wide ditch and an endless expanse of lush, green rice paddies.

Arriving at Yang Liqun’s front gate, Yang Liying said with a smile, “Eldest Sister may live farther from the city, but the plots of land out here are spacious, and the courtyards are bigger.”

Lin Lan nodded. “The courtyards here are all quite large.”

As the two of them reached the front of the house, they heard a commotion from inside, along with the sound of a child throwing a tantrum, screaming and crying at the top of his lungs.

“I want more meat zongzi! I want meat zongzi…”

A plaintive voice said, “Big Brother, we’re not coming next year. We come here only to get grief, not to mention being looked down on!”

A sharp, thin voice piped up, “Why shouldn’t we come?! This is my big brother’s house! So she’s allowed to empty the family’s savings to build a tomb and hold a funeral for her own brother, but we can’t even come over for a couple of meals?!”

“Exactly! Is it easy for Big Brother to save a little money?! If she dares to steal the money my brother worked so hard to save and use it to subsidize her own family, then she can’t blame us for being harsh…”

“You have no right to talk about my mom!” Wang Zhixue’s furious roar came from inside. “Get out! All of you, get out!”

“Ah!” The eldest Wang aunt pointed at Wang Zhixue. “Good heavens! A nephew trying to kick out his own aunt! The heavens should strike you down with lightning!”

SLAP! Wang Zemin slapped Wang Zhixue across the face. “You little bastard! How dare you yell at your aunt! I’m not dead yet, so it’s not your place to kick people out. Go on, bring those things out for Hong Ming to eat.”

BANG! Yang Liying forcefully pushed the courtyard gate open. She saw Yang Liqun, her face streaked with tears, leaning against her youngest son, Zhidong.

Wang Zhixue clutched his face, glaring furiously at Wang Zemin.

Wang Zhilin was also holding his face, looking with disgust at the boy sitting in the courtyard and wailing.

Three women sat opposite Yang Liqun, looking on with passive-aggressive scorn.

Everyone turned to look at the gate, and the Wang family aunts finally shut their mouths.

Yang Liqun quickly wiped away her tears and went to greet them, forcing a smile that was uglier than her crying. “Lin Lan, Liying, what are you two doing here?”

Seeing her sallow complexion, Lin Lan and Yang Liying stepped forward to support her. Lin Lan then looked coldly at the Wang siblings and said, “Eldest Sister, when my husband passed away, I was in a daze and wasn’t clear about the situation at the time.

“I only remember that you and Eldest Brother-in-law lent me the money for the funeral. So why did I just hear them say that you stole money from your home to build a tomb and hold a funeral for him? Tell me, what’s really going on?”

Tears streamed down Yang Liqun’s face as she looked at them. “I…”

“I know what happened. I was there that day.”

Yang Liying said, turning to Wang Zemin, “Eldest Brother-in-law, I remember you were the one who took the lead. You went to my Dehai and our second brother-in-law to discuss fronting the money, and we all agreed that Lin Lan would pay us back when she had the funds.

“At the time, the elders in the family all praised you for taking charge so well, calling you a man of honor and principle! Or could it be that I’m misremembering? I’ll go back and get Dehai and Second Brother-in-law right now. We can clear this up face-to-face!” With that, she turned to leave.

“Third Sister!” Wang Zemin’s face was flushed red. “I was the one who agreed to let your eldest sister take the money.”

Yang Liying shot back, “Then why didn’t you just explain the situation to the Wang aunts and their children? You just let them think my sister has sticky fingers!

“Zhixue and his brothers are growing up and will need to find wives. If you ruin my sister’s reputation like this, how are they supposed to find partners and get married in the future?”

Knowing he was in the wrong, Wang Zemin’s facial muscles twitched. He stammered, unable to get a single word out.

’Back then,’ he thought, ’when I saw my young brother-in-law had died with not even enough money for a burial, I was the one who took the initiative to borrow money for his funeral.’

’My sisters had found out about it from somewhere and, assuming my family had a lot of money, all came asking to borrow some.’

’I had already given out all the money we had; we even had to borrow money from my second younger brother’s family just to buy salt. Where would I find the money to lend to them?’

’My sisters then started crying and making a scene, calling me heartless and biased.’

’They argued until I couldn’t take it anymore, so I shifted the blame, claiming that Yang Liqun had stolen all our money for her brother’s funeral without my permission.’

’Who knew that from then on, my sisters would mock and ridicule Yang Liqun every time they saw her, calling her a thief and a spendthrift who was ruining the family.’

Seeing that her brother was in the wrong and didn’t dare to respond, the eldest Wang aunt looked at Yang Liying with dissatisfaction and sneered, “Whether it was borrowed or stolen, you can’t deny the fact that my big brother spent money to hold a funeral for your Yang family.”

“Ma’am, borrowing and taking are two different things. Besides, the Yang family always repays what we borrow. We’ve never thought of stiffing any of our relatives.” As Lin Lan spoke, she took the money owed to the Wang family from her pocket and handed it to Wang Zemin. “Eldest Brother-in-law, thank you for your help. Here is the eighty yuan we borrowed from your family. Please count it.”

Wang Zemin stared at the ’Great Unity’ bills in Lin Lan’s hand, then at the gazes of his three sons. He just couldn’t bring himself to extend his hand.

Yang Liqun reached out, took the money from Lin Lan, and stuffed it into his hand. She looked at him, finally able to hold her head high. “Wang Zemin, take this, count it carefully, and hide it well. In the future, if you lend money to anyone, you’d better keep a record so you don’t go around accusing people of stealing from you again.”

Wang Zemin looked at the money in his hand and listened to Yang Liqun’s words, wishing the ground would open up and swallow him whole.

The eldest Wang aunt’s eyes gleamed as she stared at the ’Great Unity’ bills in Wang Zemin’s hand.

Lin Lan glanced at them and decided not to give them the festival gifts she had in her back-basket. She smiled at Yang Liqun and her three sons. “Eldest Sister, bring Zhixue and the others home with us to celebrate the festival.”

Ever since he had tasted the zongzi and pastries his older brother brought back from their aunt’s house, Wang Zhilin had been eager to visit his uncle’s home. Upon hearing this, he looked at Yang Liqun. “Mom, let’s go to Uncle’s house.”

Yang Liqun had no desire to stay home and wait on her three sisters-in-law. She untied her apron, placed it on a tall stool, and said to her three sons with a smile, “Go inside and change your clothes. We’ll all go to your uncle’s house for the festival. Youngest, bring your schoolbag. You can go to school from your uncle’s house.”

Wang Zhixue nodded, and the three brothers headed into their room.

Lin Lan smiled and said to Wang Zemin, “Eldest Brother-in-law, I’m taking Eldest Sister back with me for a few days.”

Wang Zemin gave Yang Liqun an embarrassed look and nodded in agreement.

A short while later, the three brothers came out in clean clothes. Yang Liqun picked up a basket, glanced at Wang Zemin, and left with her sons, following Lin Lan and Yang Liying.

They had just stepped out of the courtyard when the eldest Wang aunt came forward and asked, “Big Brother, isn’t your wife’s family dirt poor? That youngest brother of theirs has only been dead a few months. Where did his wife get the money to pay you back?”

“Her maiden family has money,” Wang Zemin said after a moment’s hesitation. In the end, he didn’t tell his sister about Lin Lan setting up a market stall.

Second Aunt Wang stepped forward, her eyes fixed on the money in his hand. “Brother, lend me twenty so I can pay back the money I owe the production team. How about it?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep