Chapter 194: The Unappreciative Flower

As Xu Ning arrived, it was her family’s turn to collect their share of the grain. This year, they had received fewer work points, resulting in a smaller grain allocation.

Jianmin and Da Lin helped carry the grain onto the cart while Xu An pulled the cart, allowing the the triplets to sit on top. Xu Ning walked alongside them.

Niu Niu and Pi Pi were reluctant to leave, their small fingers pointing at the village. “Mom-ma, Mom-ma, play, play,” they urged.

Xu Ning looked at the two boys with amusement and coaxed, “We need to go home to eat. Let’s come back to play next time, okay?”

At the mention of food, the two boys immediately chimed in, “Eat, eat!”

It was always either eating or playing. When would they ever grow up?

As Xu An pulled them along, they had just reached the entrance of the youth commune when Niu Niu and Pi Pi spotted Xiao Pang and insisted on getting down to play.

Lin Miao’s daughter was still not a month old, and with Niu Niu and Pi Pi being so loud, they might scare the poor child.

But the two boys were stubborn and insisted on climbing down themselves.

Xu Ning found herself at her wits’ end with the two of them, urging Xu An to move faster so they could get home quickly.

When Wei Lanlan came out with Xiao Pang, the siblings had nearly reached their doorstep, pushing the cart along.

Xiao Pang tugged at Wei Lanlan’s hand, eager to find his playmates.

As Xu Ning and her family had just returned home, Wei Lanlan came over with Xiao Pang.

“Why did you run so fast?” she asked. “I saw you just outside, and by the time we came out, you were already at your doorstep.”

Xu Ning gestured for her to sit down and explained, “My two boys insisted on finding Xiao Pang to play. They are so loud and like to scream, and I was worried about scaring Lin Miao’s daughter, so I didn’t let them go inside.”

“My Xiao Pang is the same,” Wei Lanlan replied. “When he cries, his voice can shake the roof. Gu Wenping has come to our house two or three times, asking Chen Xiangdong to do something about it.”

“How can I manage this? When he gets a little older, if he doesn’t behave, I can just give him a good spanking. But he’s so small now; I can’t just cover his mouth when he cries,” Wei Lanlan sighed.

Talking about it, she felt quite troubled and thought that Gu Wenping and his wife were being overly fussy.

When they were raising their own children, the couple would often argue loudly in the courtyard, and they never complained.

It seemed to her like the officials could do whatever they wanted, while the common folk couldn’t even light a lamp without being scolded. Living together was truly inconvenient in so many ways.

Xu Ning comforted her, saying, “Once the children grow up a bit and become more sensible, it will be better.”

Meanwhile, Xu An moved the grain inside the house and filled a basin with water to wash the kids’ hands and face.

Xu Ning went back inside to grab some biscuits for the boys, bringing them outside to play in the yard.

Wei Lanlan said enviously, “Your younger brother is really hardworking.”

“Yeah, if it weren’t for Xu An helping me, I wouldn’t even dare to imagine raising three kids on my own,” Xu Ning replied.

She wholeheartedly agreed with Wei Lanlan’s words; her two younger brothers had indeed helped her a lot.

“Gu Wenjing is going back tomorrow. She took a month off because her family found her a match and wants her to meet him. If things go well, he’ll help her settle back in the city. I guess she’ll definitely seize this opportunity and probably won’t return,” Wei Lanlan added.

Xu Ning teased, “Isn’t that a good thing? The youth commune will be much quieter without her.”

Wei Lanlan sighed, “What quiet? Jiao Hua came back last night and is making a fuss about wanting to split from her in-laws. She even said if her husband’s family doesn’t agree, she’ll get a divorce. This morning, her husband came to pick her up, but she didn’t leave.”

Xu Ning was shocked. “Is it really that serious? She’s threatening divorce just to split from her in-laws?”

“Absolutely. This morning, Chun Hua also came over and brought some grain for her. The two of them whispered together in the house for quite a while, and Jiao Hua didn’t mention anything about going back,” Wei Lanlan explained.

“I think she just wants to split up, and her talk of divorce is probably just to scare her mother-in-law,” she added.

“During lunch, she tried to team up with a few of the male youth to eat together, but no one agreed. Now, she’s cooking by herself and even went to the mountains to gather firewood in the afternoon.”

“Since she doesn’t really want a divorce, she shouldn’t stay for too long. After all, she has kids at home. How can she leave them behind?” Xu Ning said.

“Let’s hope so! She might be frightened after what happened last time. Earlier, Chen Xiangdong was teaching Xiao Pang to recognize characters, and she told him to throw the book away quickly.

She said if someone found out, everyone would be in trouble. Chen Xiangdong got so angry that he ended up arguing with her,” Wei Lanlan recounted.

Talking about this made Wei Lanlan quite upset. She had thought that with Gu Wenjing leaving, the youth commune would finally be a bit quieter, but who would have thought Jiao Hua would come back to stay?

Xu Ning listened, dumbfounded. She thought to herself, even if you were scared, what’s it to you if others read books or teach the children a few words? Isn’t that overstepping your boundaries?

Moreover, she had already married and her household registration had been transferred. The only reason they let her stay here was out of consideration for their past relationship, yet she was still trying to control everything. It was truly inconsiderate.