This bustling scene didn’t bring any joy to Wu Guihua; now that she was the women’s director, she finally realized that this job was a real hot potato.
No wonder no one had been willing to take it on.
All sorts of messy and troublesome matters, and she had to be the first one to step up and mediate.
Hadn’t she noticed that ever since she took this job, Tian Youfu had been walking like he was ten years younger? He walked like the wind!
Meanwhile, she herself—who had started off full of ambition—now didn’t even want to stick around for the drama.
Wu Guihua sighed and brought Wang Ying and her daughter to the scene.
Wang Ying immediately spotted Widow Yu in the crowd. It wasn’t that she was scrutinizing people for flaws, but that Widow Yu stood out prominently.
Since she was getting married tomorrow, Widow Yu was dressed in a tight-fitting red top, new trousers, and new cloth shoes. Her face was bright and vibrant, standing out sharply among the crowd.
Tian Dazhu was holding her hand, seemingly trying to persuade her to back off.
On the other side, Qian Juhua was verbally relentless, though her expression didn’t show much anger.
Wu Guihua took a deep breath and shouted loudly, “Everyone, step aside!”
She had brought Wang Ying with her, and her presence stunned everyone at the center of the conflict.
There wasn’t anyone fainting or sick, so why call a doctor?
Wang Ying stepped aside and didn’t approach proactively.
Seeing Wang Ying arrive, Widow Yu forced a smile and said, “Director Wu, why’d you call a doctor? I’m fine.”
She was the only pregnant woman in the group, so it was obvious Wang Ying was there for her.
Wu Guihua waved her hand grandly, “Just being prepared.”
Widow Yu’s mother-in-law had been coughing on the side and, seeing that Widow Yu was about to say more, tugged at her sleeve.
Widow Yu immediately fell silent, pouting without speaking.
Since she wasn’t talking, Qian Juhua did.
Qian Juhua said, “Since the women’s director is here, let’s make things clear. Da Ya, Er Ya, and Xiao Ya were agreed to be raised by me. Tian Dazhu doesn’t provide money and doesn’t care for them. Now I want to change their names—what’s it got to do with your family? Even if it concerns Tian Dazhu, it definitely has nothing to do with you, Widow Yu. You two aren’t even officially married yet. And even if you were, you wouldn’t have any say in front of me.”
Qian Juhua truly hadn’t intended to escalate things. She just felt that changing the daughters’ names was a good idea, to clearly separate them from Tian Dazhu. Who would’ve thought that the first to object wasn’t Tian Dazhu, or his younger brother’s wife, not even Tian Dazhu’s own mother—but rather this not-yet-official wife, Widow Yu, who insisted on taking the daughters back to raise them.
Qian Juhua was utterly disgusted.
Widow Yu’s calculations were practically flying into her face. She didn’t really care about the names—she just wanted to take Da Ya and Er Ya back to serve as blood bags for the child in her womb.
Qian Juhua snapped, “Wishful thinking! Want my girls to be your little handmaidens? Keep dreaming! If you keep interfering, I’ll report it to the commune and ask them whether you and Tian Dazhu having a child before marriage counts as illicit relations!”
Wang Ying had originally come to support Qian Juhua and help in case things got out of hand. But after observing for a bit, she realized she’d underestimated Qian Juhua—this woman had leveled up and was now a verbal powerhouse.
She had hit Tian Dazhu and Widow Yu right where it hurt.
Although having a child before marriage wasn’t exactly acceptable, since the man was divorced and the woman a widow, most people just gossiped about it and didn’t meddle.
But if someone raised the issue to a higher level, that changed everything.
In rural areas, things usually went like this: if no one complained, the authorities didn’t intervene. Matters between men and women were treated the same. Even if an investigation proved improper conduct, what then?
Lock Widow Yu up? She was pregnant!
As for Tian Dazhu, he was dirt-poor—punishing him wouldn’t yield anything useful.
So no one bothered with such matters, especially not the village leaders, who were all related and hesitant to draw firm lines in the sand. If they interfered now, they’d get swamped with similar gossip later. These kinds of salacious stories were everywhere in the countryside. There was no end to it. Hadn’t Tian Youfu refused to show up?
But if Qian Juhua made a formal complaint, the situation would escalate.
Once there was an official complaint, an investigation had to follow—and it had to produce results. Otherwise, if the complainant went over your head, the ones to suffer would be the lower officials who handled the matter poorly.
Qian Juhua’s words were very effective and immediately deflated Widow Yu’s arrogance.
Tian Dazhu wore a bitter expression. He didn’t understand how things had escalated like this.
At first, he thought Qian Juhua wanted to change their daughters’ names because she was mad and trying to force him not to marry Widow Yu.
He had even brooded for a while, thinking Qian Juhua was putting him in an impossible position.
How could he not marry? Widow Yu had said her belly was pointy, meaning it must be a boy.
He had longed for a son for so many years.
Tian Dazhu had wanted to persuade Qian Juhua to let go and stop making things difficult.
But once the argument between Qian Juhua and Widow Yu exploded, even someone as dense as Tian Dazhu understood—Qian Juhua wasn’t trying to stop his marriage; she wanted to cut ties completely.
Tian Dazhu was deeply conflicted. Widow Yu and her mother-in-law were still whispering about the benefits of keeping the two older daughters.
Tian Dazhu wavered back and forth, unable to make up his mind.
Now, it was clear—he didn’t need to hesitate anymore. Qian Juhua was determined to get what she wanted, and if she didn’t, she’d raise hell. Either way, she was going to change the children’s names.
Tian Dazhu lowered his head and said, “Juhua, stop making a scene… I agree, alright? Take the three girls with you—I won’t interfere. Do whatever you want.”
As for Widow Yu, she wasn’t as angry as others might’ve imagined. She shrugged indifferently. She had stirred up all this just to try her luck. If it worked out, the household would have two little helpers who could do chores and eventually bring in dowries. If it didn’t work out—well, no big deal. It wasn’t like she lost anything.
It’s just a loss of face, but it’s not a big deal. Compared to the benefits, this loss of face isn’t anything.
Qian Juhua’s chest rose and fell. She wasn’t upset when she argued with someone earlier, but now, a few words from Tian Dazhu really made her angry.
But that is his daughter!
He has three daughters, and Tian Dazhu has never asked about how the children are doing. After they separated, he didn’t even bother to look at them. Now, when the issue of the children’s names comes up, it’s just his future wife trying to take a gamble. As for Tian Dazhu, he had never considered the children’s well-being!
Qian Juhua sneered, pulling her daughter to find the village head to change the name.
This farce, which started with a loud bang but ended abruptly, left the onlookers still stunned, unable to recover from the earlier shouting match.
Before, no one in the village had divorced, so there was never such a scene of ex-wives and future wives arguing. Sigh, it’s also something to widen the horizon.
After everyone dispersed, Wang Ying thought of asking Xinghua to check the pulse of Widow Yu, after all, if Xinghua learned to be a midwife, she would eventually need to help deliver babies for the women in the village. It’s not bad for her to get some experience early.
Widow Yu’s face looked bad: “I don’t want to! I’m fine, why should I get a check-up? What if something goes wrong?”
Wang Ying: “It’s strange, illness comes on its own, what does it have to do with checking? It’s not like checking will cause a problem. If you don’t check, how will you know if you’re healthy?”
Widow Yu was determined not to go, quickly pulling her mother-in-law and running away: “I don’t want to! You’re close to Qian Juhua, who knows if you’re trying to harm me? Don’t follow me, I don’t want your help!”
Widow Yu and her mother-in-law quickly ran off, so fast that it didn’t look like she was pregnant.
Wang Ying could only shrug at Wu Guihua.
Wu Guihua thought for a moment and then said, “Let her be. If she doesn’t want to check, that’s her business. We’re not begging her.”
She didn’t really want to check either. The only reason she called Wang Ying over was to be prepared, and of course, she also wanted Xinghua to learn something.
Since the other party didn’t want it, there was no need to force it.
Wang Ying waited for Qian Juhua to come out, giving the two children, Qian Maimiao and Qian Maisui, each a piece of candy to celebrate that they finally had their official names.
Qian Maimiao smiled with her eyes squinted and thanked her, then followed Qian Juhua back to the back mountain.
The next day, Tian Dazhu and Widow Yu held a ceremony, and Widow Yu’s mother-in-law also moved into Tian Dazhu’s house to help take care of his pregnant ex-daughter-in-law.
As the weather warmed up, Wang Ying went up the mountain to check her medicinal herb field. Cheng Yu had taken great care of it, and the herbs were growing well.
Wang Ying also gathered a batch of medicinal herbs, planning to go to the city before the hottest part of summer. One reason was to deliver the herbs, and the other was to buy more herbs.
Yes, buy herbs. Wang Ying planned to try making some summer herbal patches.
Previously, the face masks she made worked very well, and over time, her skin had become a few shades lighter, looking even whiter than the girls in the city.
So, Wang Ying decided to try making summer patches and use them on her family when summer came.
Wang Ying rode her bike into the city, as usual, first going to the hospital and then to the restaurant to deliver some dried vegetables to Chen Dong.
Chen Dong looked around to make sure no one was around, then pulled Wang Ying into a corner and asked, “Ying girl, did your village suffer from hail this spring?”
Wang Ying nodded: “Yes, several surrounding communes were affected. Our village was okay, the houses didn’t get much damage, and the crops were replanted.”
Chen Dong furrowed his brows tightly: “I heard that some of the surrounding communes didn’t replant the crops in time?”
Wang Ying: “That’s true. I heard that because of the layers of reporting, by the time the seeds for replanting were distributed, it was already too late. Some villages were heavily damaged by the hail and couldn’t make up the deficit.”
Chen Dong rubbed his hands and paced in place: “That’s not good. You tell Xu Shuang to send me more dried vegetables and dried goods during the wheat harvest. After July, don’t send any more. We can’t do it like this this year.”
Wang Ying: “Why?”
Chen Dong sighed: “You don’t understand this, doing shady deals is risky even in normal times. We’ve been doing it discreetly, but that was with some convenience. But when there’s a disaster, we can’t do it. You see, when there’s a disaster, the price in the black market will rise. If we don’t raise prices, then there’ll be more buyers, and the people who can’t get it will report us. If they report us, we’ll definitely be in trouble. But if we raise prices, first, it’s bad for our reputation, and second, if the price is too high, don’t think they won’t investigate. Food is a critical area, and if there’s a famine, the first thing they’ll check is the black market.”
Chen Dong made his decision: “Tell Xu Shuang not to worry about anything else. We’re not dealing with grain, just dried vegetables and dried goods. At most, we’ll do it until the summer wheat harvest.”
Wang Ying understood the urgency of the situation. Thinking about disease prevention, she could grasp that, but when it came to food sensitivity, she was not as sharp as these older folks who had lived through hunger. They had a very accurate understanding of the annual harvest.
Wang Ying: “Okay, Master, then write me a note with what you need, and I’ll have Xu Shuang prepare it for you.”
If the harvest is bad, even the city will be affected. There could be a month or two when food is scarce.
Chen Dong patted his large belly: “No need, I don’t lack anything. Besides, mine isn’t urgent. If I run out, I’ll ask Xu Shuang for it. By the way, since you’re here, I’ll give you this.”
Wang Ying took it and smiled. It was a sewing machine ticket.
Chen Dong kept talking: “This time, I won’t be giving Xu Shuang any commission. This ticket was so hard to get. I had to ask so many people, even went to the provincial capital to get it.”
Wang Ying knew how precious this sewing machine ticket was and thanked him repeatedly. She had been wanting to buy a sewing machine but hadn’t been able to find a ticket until now.
First, she heard some bad news, and then some good news. Wang Ying rode her bike back with her heart full of thoughts about the sewing machine.
Old Mrs. Xu seemed to really like sewing. With this machine, they no longer had to spend time hand-stitching clothes at home. They could even make a few more sets of bed sheets and quilts.
Everything was fine now, but the problem was that the family only had one set of bed sheets. They didn’t even dare to change them often. Whenever the weather was good, they would wash them quickly and hang them out to dry, leaving them in the sun for a day before putting them back on the bed.
Wang Ying thought about this as she rode her bicycle on the way home.
As she was riding, she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye, quickly slipping into a small alley.
Wang Ying applied the foot brake and waited. Before long, that person came out of the alley again, followed by a man pushing a bicycle.
The two of them were walking one after the other, looking just like an ordinary couple. The man had a large bundle in a backpack that seemed to contain quite a lot of things, causing the bike to lean to one side.
Wang Ying didn’t follow them, but she was still quite puzzled.
What was Wang Lingling doing in the county town? And who was that man?
