Chapter 24

Fortunately, the next second, she heard the postman speak.

“The recipient is Lu Chen, Educated Youth Meng. Do you know where Comrade Lu Chen from your brigade is right now?”

This letter is for Lu Chen?

But she hadn’t heard of Lu Chen having any relatives besides his uncle. Could it be from a friend?

Meng Yinyin couldn’t figure it out for the moment, so she answered the postman’s question.

“He just went to the commune’s health center.”

Upon hearing this, the postman hesitated.

He still had another letter to deliver to a different brigade, and the direction was completely opposite to the commune’s. If he took a detour to the commune, it would delay him.

He hesitated and then looked at Meng Yinyin, asking if she could help.

“Educated Youth Meng, would you mind delivering this letter to Lu Chen? Or you could give it to your brigade leader instead.”

It wasn’t uncommon for a postman to leave a letter with someone else, or even with the brigade leader, when the recipient wasn’t around. Most people were honest back then, so there was no risk of intentionally withholding the letter.

Meng Yinyin didn’t refuse. After all, she was going to meet Lu Chen soon anyway.

After handing her the letter, the postman rode off on his bicycle.

Now, Meng Yinyin finally had the time to open her own letter and see who had sent it.

Was it from her parents, or her brother?

But when she saw the return address, she quickly realized it was from her brother, Meng Xuan.

The letter had been sent from a certain military unit.

Looking at Lu Chen’s letter, she found that the return address was the same as the one from her brother’s military unit.

How could Lu Chen know people from the military?

Her curiosity was quickly replaced by a strong desire to know what her brother had written to her, so she tore open the envelope and started reading.

The letter was short, and Meng Yinyin finished reading it quickly. Afterward, she couldn’t help but show the most genuine, relaxed, and brightest smile she had since arriving at the Nanjiao Brigade.

Because her brother wrote that he had recently completed a mission and might have a few days of leave. If he could get permission to go out, he would come here to visit her!

Since the incident at home nearly a month ago, Meng Yinyin had gone from feeling lost and unable to believe it was real, to arriving at the Nanjiao Brigade in a daze. She had tried to work to support herself, only to give up eventually, and finally found a way to manage to stay.

The hardships she had faced didn’t seem as difficult on a daily basis, but now, reading her brother’s letter, her nose tingled, and she almost cried.

She had so much to share with her family, so much sadness and frustration, but they weren’t around. With the current uncertainty about her parents’ situation, Meng Yinyin had been constantly reminding herself to stay strong and not worry them.

But now, knowing that her brother might come to visit soon, life suddenly seemed to have a purpose again!

When her brother arrived, she would definitely ask him to take her to the county town, to the city center to eat well and buy new clothes!

Holding the letter in her hand, Meng Yinyin had originally planned to go back to the Educated Youth point and give Lu Chen’s letter to him tomorrow.

However, just as she started to walk, she changed her mind and turned toward Lu Chen’s house instead.

What if this letter was really important to him? Surely, he would be just as eager to know its contents as she had been to read her own letter.

So, Meng Yinyin decided to be a good person and wait for him at his house to deliver the letter.

She stood at the door of Lu Chen’s house for a while, but instead of Lu Chen returning, she was the first to see Lu Dashan and his wife coming back from work.

These days, the fact that Lu Chen and Meng Yinyin were seeing each other had become widely known. Most people were merely shocked and curious for a while before losing interest, but for Lu Dashan and his wife, this news was like a thunderbolt.

Meng Yinyin was the object of affection of the younger brother of their son-in-law, Wang Chengwu, and how could she be with Lu Chen?

Moreover, this brat Lu Chen had just specifically told them not to get closer to Meng Yinyin, yet now not only were they together, but everyone knew about it!

This was definitely a form of rebellion, a clear provocation!

Although Lu Dashan had already sensed Lu Chen’s “rebellion” from his reaction that day, he had been so obedient and honest for so many years that Lu Dashan had convinced himself that this was just a temporary lapse, and Lu Chen would return to normal in a few days.

But who knew, not only did Lu Chen not return to normal, but he had completely defied them!

Now, Meng Yinyin’s reputation was ruined, and the Wang family would never accept her. Their family had wasted an opportunity to owe the Wang family a favor!

Thinking of this, Lu Dashan’s hatred for Lu Chen and Meng Yinyin grew even stronger!

Seeing Meng Yinyin standing at the door of Lu Chen’s house made his already bad mood even worse.

Before he and Jiang Guihua could glare at her, they saw Meng Yinyin, without hiding anything, roll her eyes at them with a big white-eyed look.

The eye roll was so exaggerated it was almost to the sky.

Lu Dashan and Jiang Guihua: “???”

What did that mean? How dare she make such a face at them!

Even if they disagreed with her relationship with Lu Chen, they were still Lu Chen’s elders. Since Meng Yinyin was with him, she should at least show some respect and call them “Uncle” and “Aunt”!

But not only did she fail to greet them respectfully, she even dared to treat them like this!

Jiang Guihua could no longer hold back and immediately shouted at Meng Yinyin.

“Meng Yinyin, what do you mean by this? You’re being so disrespectful! Didn’t your family teach you any manners? We are Lu Chen’s elders. How dare you speak to us like that!”

“Our Lu family will never allow someone who disrespects their elders like you to enter our house. You can forget about it!”

Meng Yinyin originally didn’t want to stoop to their level, intending to roll her eyes and just ignore them. But Jiang Guihua had to come forward and provoke her!

Naturally, Meng Yinyin wasn’t going to back down.

Moreover, she had long wanted to scold this couple on Lu Chen’s behalf!

What do you mean by elders? Where do you get the face to do that?

With a shocked expression, Meng Yinyin immediately addressed Lu Dashan and Jiang Guihua.

“What? Did I just disrespect my elders? Where are they? I don’t see any elders around.”

As she said this, Meng Yinyin pretended to look around as though searching for these so-called “elders.”

Jiang Guihua was so angry she nearly exploded.

“What are you pretending for? The whole Nanjiao Brigade knows that Lu Chen is my nephew. My husband is his uncle, and I’m his aunt. You were even at our house for a meal last time. I don’t believe you didn’t know the relationship between us and Lu Chen!”

Jiang Guihua thought Meng Yinyin was pretending not to know their connection to Lu Chen in order to avoid being scolded.

But to her surprise, Meng Yinyin’s expression seemed even more shocked after hearing her.

“What! You’re actually Lu Chen’s uncle and aunt? Sorry, I really didn’t know you two were his blood relatives. I thought Lu Chen was just some hired servant in your family, that’s why he was running around doing your bidding, working all morning without even a meal. Otherwise, I would’ve thought he owed you money.”

At that moment, many workers who had just finished their shifts overheard Meng Yinyin’s words and couldn’t help but slow down, casting subtle glances at Lu Dashan and Jiang Guihua.

In fact, everyone knew that Lu Dashan and Jiang Guihua weren’t exactly good to their nephew, Lu Chen. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been living in such a nice house while sending Lu Chen to the old house next door after the old lady of the Lu family passed away.

But they understood that Lu Chen wasn’t their biological child, so there was always a gap between him and their own family members, even though they didn’t torment him.

What no one expected was that Lu Dashan and Jiang Guihua actually did such a thing, calling Lu Chen to help them for so long, yet not even letting him eat. This wasn’t just inappropriate for a relative, it was downright rude to any stranger!

Lu Dashan and Jiang Guihua were furious when they realized Meng Yinyin had exposed their treatment of Lu Chen. Their faces alternated between red and pale, and they nearly wanted to tear her mouth apart.

Of course, Jiang Guihua wasn’t about to admit it. She snapped back, “You… What nonsense are you spouting! When have we ever used Lu Chen? We just asked him for a little help!”

Meng Yinyin spoke calmly, “Yes, you like to open that small door in the wall all the time and have Lu Chen run errands for you, don’t you? It’s so convenient, and no one knows about it. Whether it’s helping or exploiting him, no one can see it.”

Because of the small door between the two courtyards, no one had known about how they used Lu Chen over the years. But now, all of it was being exposed by Meng Yinyin!

As Meng Yinyin spoke, others around them began to react, realizing what was going on.

They had always found it strange that there was a small door in the wall of Lu Dashan’s house, but their family’s explanation was that it was to conveniently look after Lu Chen. Although it seemed a bit odd, no one thought much of it.

But after hearing Meng Yinyin, they instantly understood.

It wasn’t just about “looking after” Lu Chen. It was most likely an excuse to exploit him!

Who didn’t know that although Lu Chen had a bad reputation and a peculiar temper, his strength and work ethic were exceptional? People didn’t interact with him, but no one could deny his impressive abilities!

Now, to find out that Lu Dashan and Jiang Guihua treated him this way, despite being his relatives, only used him for their own gain, was appalling.

How dare they!

These two were living comfortably, not even considering helping their nephew, yet they kept exploiting him for their own benefit. This couple was truly shameless!

In an instant, the way people looked at Lu Dashan and Jiang Guihua changed, with many of them showing nothing but disdain.

Lu Dashan and Jiang Guihua could no longer maintain their façade of being kind-hearted. After pretending for so many years, they couldn’t possibly let their masks slip now!

Lu Dashan finally couldn’t hold it in any longer. His face darkened as he spoke to Meng Yinyin.

“Educated Youth Meng, I don’t know who you’ve been listening to, or if it’s because we don’t want you with Lu Chen, but are you deliberately slandering us like this?”

“Lu Chen is my nephew. He hasn’t said anything, so who do you think will believe your words?”

Lu Dashan’s words made some sense. If Meng Yinyin was just trying to slander them because they didn’t approve of her relationship with Lu Chen, then it might be understandable.

But the key point was that Lu Chen never spoke about being mistreated by Lu Dashan and Jiang Guihua. Could it be that Meng Yinyin was making it all up?

Meng Yinyin didn’t expect this shameless old man to have the audacity to say something like that. She was so angry she could barely bite her teeth together.

Just as she was thinking of how to rebut Lu Dashan, a deep voice suddenly came from outside the crowd.

“Why didn’t I say anything? Wasn’t it because my uncle hadn’t returned my parents’ belongings to me?”

As soon as the crowd heard these words, they immediately turned to look, and sure enough, they saw Lu Chen.

Before anyone could process the shock of hearing Lu Chen speak, they were stunned by the cold expression on his face.

His face remained unchanged, but the way he looked at Lu Dashan and Jiang Guihua was as cold as the winter wind.

What was going on with Lu Dashan withholding his parents’ belongings? Why did Lu Chen say that?