Chapter 81 : Catastrophic typhoon?

“Xiaohua, why are you here?” Su Ranran was a bit surprised.

Zhang Xiaohua seemed to have not expected her to come to the vegetable garden at this time. She was immediately startled, and her face showed a hint of panic.

“Don’t be afraid, I just came to the vegetable garden to take a look.”

Knowing that Zhang Xiaohua had grown up in a tough environment, Su Ranran tried to soften her voice every time she spoke to her.

Sure enough, Zhang Xiaohua’s face gradually relaxed, no longer as tense.

“I… I watered my aunt’s vegetables,” she said shyly.

Su Ranran felt a bit helpless seeing her face reddened from the sun.

“Aunt can do it by herself. The sun is too strong today. You should go back early and avoid heatstroke.”

But when Zhang Xiaohua heard this, the light in her eyes dimmed a little.

“I… I’ll be very careful… I won’t damage your vegetables.”

Zhang Xiaohua looked at her eagerly, with a fear of being rejected on her face.

Su Ranran felt something was off, paused, and calmly asked, “Who asked you to help aunt water the plants?”

Su Ranran’s voice softened, fearing she might scare her.

But Zhang Xiaohua pursed her lips tightly, refusing to say anything no matter how she was asked.

Although she didn’t want to tell who asked her to come, she insisted on helping water the plants.

Su Ranran didn’t know what was going on but suspected that her mother might have asked her.

Although Su Ranran didn’t know Wang Chunmei, it wasn’t hard to guess from the words of the other military wives that she was the kind of person who might do something like this.

Thinking of this, Su Ranran gently patted the little girl on the shoulder and then said, “I’m very happy that you can help me, but the sun is too strong now. You should go back first. Tomorrow morning, come to my house and call me. We’ll come together again, okay?”

Su Ranran didn’t refuse her directly but chose a more gentle approach.

For a child who had been scolded and rejected for so long, a direct refusal would likely make her worry whether she had done something wrong again.

Sure enough, hearing this, Zhang Xiaohua relaxed.

With her sunburned face, her voice was a little excited.

“Then I’ll go find my aunt tomorrow.”

“Okay, I’ll wait for you tomorrow. You go back first,” Su Ranran urged again.

The hat on her head couldn’t be given away so easily, and there were no wild grasses or trees nearby to make a straw hat for Zhang Xiaohua, so she encouraged her to leave the vegetable field quickly.

Even Su Ranran didn’t plan to stay long.

She had just come to check on her vegetables and then intended to go to the South Island base to water the sweet potato seedlings.

After Su Ranran’s persuasion, Zhang Xiaohua agreed to go back.

Su Ranran smiled and, with the cover of her pocket, took out some dried fruits and put them in her hand, saying, “Go.”

Zhang Xiaohua didn’t reach into her pocket until she had walked a long way. There was a handful of dried fruits in her palm. They looked ordinary but smelled sweet and fragrant.

Zhang Xiaohua couldn’t help swallowing.

As she was about to put them in her mouth, she suddenly saw a group of children walking not far away.

Zhang Xiaohua’s eyes filled with fear, and she froze, standing still.

“Look, it’s that morning glory,” the leading child pointed at her and said with a smile.

The others also laughed, falling forward and backward.

“Hey, morning glory, are you waiting for me here?”

The little boy had already walked up to her and, as he spoke, reached out to tug on her braids.

Zhang Xiaohua was so scared that she dared not resist. She looked around in panic, but there was no one else except the laughing child.

The fear of being bullied once again took over her, and Zhang Xiaohua began shaking violently.

“Look, she has food in her hand,” someone suddenly shouted.

As soon as they heard she had food, the others didn’t care what kind of food it was, they just grabbed it.

Zhang Xiaohua’s small body was no match for a little boy, let alone a whole group of them.

Soon, her hair was in a mess, and her pockets were rifled through!

But she didn’t even dare to cry. She feared that she would be beaten again.

In the chaos, she suddenly heard a loud shout!

“What are you doing?”

Zhang Xiaohua looked up and saw several other boys glaring at the child who was snatching things with anger.

“Grandpa, do I need to tell you what I am doing?”

The child acted like a gangster, not knowing where he had learned it.

But Huzi had been fearless since he was a child. The whole family compound was a mess because of him. Would he be afraid of these little wild kids?

In just a moment, the two groups were on the brink of a fight, as if they were going to brawl at any second.

Zhang Xiaohua, who had finally been ignored, didn’t dare to stay any longer.

Not caring whether the two groups would fight, she ran toward the family compound.

Sure enough, she hadn’t run far when she heard a fight behind her.

Zhang Xiaohua was so scared her mind went blank. She only knew to run, not caring about anything else.

Just after she rushed into the family compound, she suddenly remembered something and trembled as she walked toward the sentry on duty…

Wang Chunmei was washing at home, the pot in her hand already scrubbed and polished. But she didn’t put it down, instead rinsing it with water several times until she was satisfied.

But there was no more water in the tank.

Wang Chunmei picked up the shoulder pole in the corner and grabbed the bucket, preparing to go out and fetch water, as she did every day.

She fetched water for the family in the morning and the afternoon. But she had just reached the door when she ran into Zhang Xiaohua, who looked panicked.

Seeing her, Wang Chunmei couldn’t help but frown.

“Why are you back? Didn’t I ask you to water Aunt Su’s vegetables? How can a girl be so lazy? Why is it so difficult to ask you to do some work?”

Hearing the scolding, Zhang Xiaohua subconsciously shrank back.

Seeing this, Wang Chunmei grew even angrier.

“You still dare to look at me? If you don’t work harder, we’ll both be sent back to our hometown!”

When Zhang Xiaohua heard that she was going to be sent back to her hometown, her pale face turned even paler!

“I’ll work, don’t send me back!” she pleaded.

She couldn’t stop shaking at the thought of her hometown, where there was nothing to eat or wear, and where she was beaten all day.

Seeing that she was obedient, Wang Chunmei was satisfied. “Now that you know, why don’t you go pick up two bundles of firewood? Then cook the rice later. I need to plant sweet potatoes after fetching water.”

After that, Wang Chunmei left with the bucket on her shoulder.

It wasn’t until she had walked away that Zhang Xiaohua looked down at her bleeding hands.

On the other side, Su Ranran, who had just finished watering the sweet potato field, suddenly remembered something very important.

In her previous life, she had seen online that there had been a catastrophic typhoon on the southeast coast in the 1970s.