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Chapter 676: Chapter 666 Who’s causing trouble?
The group found the horse-drawn cart, and by the time they set off, it had been over ten minutes.
The cart indeed had a quilt spread over it, and there was another one on top, which could cover people. In the village, this was treatment worthy of honored guests.
After getting on the cart, Shen Yunfang and Li Hongjun each held a child on their laps and then wrapped them up with the cotton quilt. Combined with the thick down jackets they were wearing, it wasn’t too cold even in the dead of winter.
Liu Jianjun cracked his whip, snapping it on the horse’s backside, and the big horse started to stride forward with clopping hooves.
As they continued on, the road became even more remote. Li Jianjun, feeling the silence was getting awkward, started to talk with Li Hongjun about matters back home.
"Hongjun, you have no idea, ever since Dad came back from the Capital, there’s been non-stop chaos at home," Liu Jianjun said with a sigh.
Li Hongjun understood. His brother-in-law was referring to old man Li’s place.
"Who’s causing trouble?" Li Hongjun frowned and asked.
"Who else? It’s Hongxing’s wife and Xianghe," Liu Jianjun thought to himself that he had a good eye back then. He had picked the only two decent people in the Li Family. The other one being Li Hongjun, the rest were hopeless.
"What’s the issue with my sister-in-law and Xianghe?" Shen Yunfang couldn’t help asking.
"Haha, Dad’s moved back home, right? Xianghe somehow found out about Mom’s situation and insisted on living with Dad. She even brought her daughter and moved in. You know how your sister-in-law is; if she doesn’t begrudge someone their meal, it’s already a mercy. Now that she provides Dad with food, it’s all thanks to the hundred yuan in pension money Hongjun sends every year. Xianghe hasn’t given her any money, so of course she objected, and that’s why they ended up fighting," Liu Jianjun briefly explained the conflict between the two.
"So Xianghe just brought her child back to her parental home? Did her in-laws have nothing to say about this?" Li Hongjun asked.
"What would they say? I heard that Xianghe’s in-laws don’t care much about her, and her son-in-law is no good either. He’s rarely home over the years since he’s in the military, and he doesn’t bother even when his mother and wife are at each other’s throats. Now, with Xianghe being frowned upon over there, she said she wanted to live with Dad, and her in-laws fully supported it. Why wouldn’t they agree if they don’t have to take care of the child?"
"Dad agreed to let her stay?" Shen Yunfang asked.
It didn’t seem like old man Li. On the surface, he was quite concerned about these traditions. If a married daughter lived at her parents’ home for an extended period, wouldn’t that invite gossip?
"Xianghe is quite persuasive. She told Dad that with Mom not at home, she was worried about him being alone. She wanted to come over to keep him company for a while, and by doing so, someone would be around to tidy up the house and wash clothes. Dad was moved when he heard this and refrained from turning her away," Liu Jianjun said.
"What’s Xianghe’s angle? She has her own house to live in; why the urgency to stay with Dad? I never saw her as that dutiful before," Shen Yunfang asked straightforwardly.
"Haha, what’s she after? She’s after the little money Dad has, the pension he receives each year. Why does she insist on living there despite clashing with Hongxing’s wife? It’s because she wants to get her hands on that pension money and then take over the house," Liu Jianjun saw right through it.
"Well, talk about being audacious," Shen Yunfang glanced at Li Hongjun.
"Stop talking about that for now, just check on the child. I think Manman is about to fall asleep. Call out to her; don’t let her sleep or she’ll catch a cold." Li Hongjun grunted and said sternly to his wife.
Shen Yunfang knew he was just changing the subject, so she ignored him and looked down at the child in her arms, whose little eyes had already closed.
On the train, the child was already tired, but since they were about to get off and it was cold outside, they didn’t dare let the child sleep, afraid that the sudden change from warm to cold would catch the wind and result in a cold, which would be bad. Therefore, they kept the child awake by playing with her. Who knew that the carriage ride, bumping up and down, would be more rhythmic than the train, and the child couldn’t resist closing her eyes.
Shen Yunfang hurriedly reached into the quilt to touch her child’s hands and legs to see if they were cold. Fortunately, all she felt was warmth.
She knew it was very cold here, so before coming back, she specifically found a tailor in the city to make four down trousers, one for each member of the family. For adults, they were like cotton trousers that fit close to the skin and weren’t too bulky. What she and Li Hongjun wore on their legs were those, while the child’s were big and baggy overalls, with room inside for a thin layer of cotton pants.
Looking at it now, this preparation was very professional, and the child wasn’t cold at all.
"Manman, wake up a bit, don’t sleep, okay? We’ll be home soon and then you can sleep. If you sleep outside, you’ll get sick, and then you’ll have to take medicine, which is bitter. Manman, you don’t like that, do you?" Shen Yunfang leaned down, bringing her face close to her daughter’s, and softly coaxed, hoping the child would open her eyes.
But perhaps Manman was just too sleepy, and after a few unhappy grunts, she leaned her little head and buried it in her mother’s arms, remaining still.
Just as Shen Yunfang was about to pull her daughter’s head out to continue coaxing, Li Hongjun changed his mind, "Alright, the child is too tired to bear it anymore, stop calling out to her. Check the luggage for a blanket or something, wrap the child up more so she doesn’t catch the wind.
Shen Yunfang gave Li Hongjun a glare. Isn’t he consistent? Acting like a dad one moment and then telling her to be the stepmother and then the mother the next, can he not make up his mind?
However, she still followed his suggestion, tugged over the nearby luggage bag, and pulled out a blanket they had used on the train. She wrapped it around where the child’s face was. Then, reaching into the quilt, she stealthily brought out two steaming hot water bottles from their space and placed them at the feet of the two children. Over there, Pangpang had also fallen asleep in his father’s arms.
After taking good care of the children, the adults resumed their conversation.
Now, knowing the cause of the situation, they could guess what happened in the middle without it being said, but why Li’s patriarch ended up staying at his oldest daughter’s house was something Li Hongjun and his wife couldn’t understand. So Shen Yunfang asked.
"Haha, what else could it be? Hongxing’s wife wasn’t happy to feed the old dad and bear the burden of another two, and besides, Hongjun, did you not send your pension money back this year? Afraid of being at a loss, Hongxing’s wife said she would feed Li’s patriarch once your pension money was in her hands. Now that dad had no food, he could only come to our place," said Liu Jianjun with a teasing tone.
In fact, with his family’s current situation, they could still afford a few more mouths to feed, but because of the previous incident with his daughter’s medical treatment, Liu Jianjun already had a rift with his wife’s family. Now, having to support the troublemaking mother and daughter duo from Xianghe, it was natural for him as the son-in-law to be reluctant.
"You didn’t send money this year?" Shen Yunfang asked Li Hongjun. Now, pension payments were for the next year, as Qiu Shuping had stipulated: Send the pension first, and then live your life.
In the past, Li Hongjun always sent money back to his hometown himself.
"I was thinking of coming back for the New Year, so there was no need to send it over. I could just give it in person when I arrived," coughed Li Hongjun. Of course, he couldn’t mention that recently his comrade-in-arms had had an emergency and borrowed all his salary, leaving him with no money to send. It was only just before leaving that the friend had repaid him; otherwise, he would have had to shamelessly ask his wife for money.
"Hmm, I think it’s safer to mail the money," Shen Yunfang muttered. Mailing it provides a receipt, and if given in person, knowing the nature of his parents’ family, they could very likely later claim with a twist of the mouth that they never received the money.
