Chapter 7 Moving Back Home

The bed board, bed frame, cabinet, table, stools, chests… especially the furniture in Qian Mudan and her brother’s room, were basically used by Qian Xiaolan before. Qian Changfu loved her, and he was also a carpenter, so he slowly made a whole set of furniture for her. Unfortunately, after their accident, all the furniture was moved to Sun Honghua’s children’s room by Sun Honghua. Qian Xiaolan ignored Qian Mudan’s screams, moved all her belongings, leaving nothing for her.

 After moving the furniture from several rooms, she went to the kitchen to move things, two iron pots, several bowls and dishes, oil cans, wine jugs, kitchen knives, chopping boards, tin tea canisters… everything that belonged to Qian Xiaolan’s family was moved. Even the five-drawer chest, dining table, and several chairs that Qian Changfu had made for him when he got married, as well as the hemp rope she used to make, were all moved. The firewood in the backyard was also carried to the door by the Gu brothers, and even the vegetables in the vegetable garden were picked and taken out by the Gu wives.

Sun Honghua saw that her family’s things were being moved away one by one, she was so angry that her eyes were red, she wanted to rush in and grab them, but she was held back by the Gu wives and daughters-in-law. And Qian Changcai, who had been so angry before, was standing there with his head down, not knowing what he was thinking. Sun Honghua was so angry that she clutched her chest and cursed: “You all are helping that good-for-nothing Qian Xiaolan bully our family, you are all rotten peanuts – not good people.” Sun Honghua cursed Qian Xiaolan, then cursed the Gu family, then cursed the brigade leader and Accountant Wu and the other village cadres. The village cadres couldn’t argue with a woman, they all glared at her with black faces. When Qian Changfu and his wife died, they didn’t want to take in Qian Xiaolan.

But when they found out that the brigade would give them five hundred yuan in compensation, they happily took the person and the money. And what happened? Their so-called care was to torture an orphan to death? Qian Xiaolan’s head was still dizzy, she endured the discomfort and moved everything, then took a round-bodied, pointed pole for carrying firewood and walked to the door, she turned to Sun Honghua with a cold face and said: “A bat with feathers stuck on it – what kind of bird are you?” Sun Honghua was so angry that she suddenly broke free from Hu Guifen and her daughters-in-law, raised her hand and rushed towards Qian Xiaolan.

 Qian Xiaolan had been guarding against her, seeing her rushing straight towards her, she threw the pointed pole to the ground, kicked it with her foot, and the pole rolled to Sun Honghua’s feet. Sun Honghua saw it, but she couldn’t stop her feet, and her foot stepped on the pointed pole. “Bang” “Ah” The sound of the heavy object falling to the ground was followed by Sun Honghua’s scream. The onlookers felt a pang of pain in their hearts as they listened to the sound. “Qian Xiaolan, you bitch, I’m not done with you!

” Sun Honghua was in so much pain that she gritted her teeth and cursed at Qian Xiaolan, then turned to the man who was standing there dumbfounded: “Qian Changcai, are you dead? You didn’t see me being bullied? Why don’t you come over and help me up?” Qian Changcai looked up, his expression complex as he looked at Qian Xiaolan, he sighed and went over to help Sun Honghua up: “Let her move, those things were originally my brother’s.

” Sun Honghua raised her head in disbelief: “Are you crazy? That good-for-nothing not only took our four hundred yuan, but also moved half of the furniture!” Qian Changcai squeezed her hand hard and sighed: “You just love to worry, Xiaolan will be eighteen soon, she’s grown up, she won’t spend money randomly. Xiaolan, take the things and the money, I don’t want the one hundred yuan, I’m your uncle, it’s only right that I take care of you for a few years.

” Everyone: “…” They all lived in the same village, everyone knew that Qian Changcai was a stingy iron rooster who loved to cheat and be slippery, and they had no trust in him. Actually, everyone knew that Qian Xiaolan’s situation was not good these years, but she didn’t fight back, what could they, outsiders, say? Now that she finally fought back, everyone would help Qian Xiaolan for the sake of Qian Changfu.

 Qian Xiaolan looked at Qian Changcai, who was sincere, she twitched her lips: “Then thank you, Uncle…” Seeing that Qian Changcai was about to change his expression, she smiled and continued, “I’m not that unreasonable, I said I would compensate you, I will, I won’t ask for it back.” (Just kidding) Qian Xiaolan finished, no longer looking at them, she turned and spoke to Hu Guifen. With the help of the Gu family and other villagers, Qian Xiaolan quickly moved her things back to her own yard.

The brigade leader left Hu Guifen and her sisters-in-law to help Qian Xiaolan clean up the house, while the others went back to the fields to continue working. As Qian Xiaolan said, she had come back to clean the house from time to time, it was very clean, the roof had also been patched, and there was no sign of leakage. Hu Guifen and Hu Guihua helped Qian Xiaolan arrange the furniture neatly, and then went back without even drinking water. There were still some small items in the house that hadn’t been cleaned up, Qian Xiaolan didn’t keep them, she thanked them for their help, and would find another opportunity to cook a meal to thank them properly after the house was completely cleaned up.

She put the pots and pans in the cupboard, the knives and a small bag of rice were put into the space. In this era, there were no tickets, and it was difficult to buy food, to prevent Sun Honghua from going crazy, she only brought back a small bag of rice and half a bag of sweet potato dry. She left some green beans, cucumbers, pumpkins, tomatoes, loofahs, gourds, eggplants, etc. in the kitchen, and put the rest into the space to keep them fresh.

All these years, the vegetables in the vegetable garden were all taken care of by the original owner, Sun Honghua’s family didn’t even pull a single weed, let alone water, catch insects, or fertilize. Today, she only picked the vegetables that could be eaten and brought them back, she didn’t pull them up by the roots, it was really cheap for that family.

Qian Xiaolan was getting angrier and angrier, she decided to find an opportunity to get some compensation back. “Xiaolan!” Hearing Hu Guifen come back, Qian Xiaolan hurried out of the kitchen: “Mother-in-law, what’s wrong?” Hu Guifen handed her a bottle of medicine: “Your wound on your head has already scabbed over, but you still need to apply medicine properly, I went to the health center to buy it for you.”

 Qian Xiaolan didn’t expect her to remember this, she gratefully took it, before she could say thank you, Hu Guifen left again in a hurry. She smiled and closed the yard door, continuing to go back to the kitchen to clean up the odds and ends. When she saw the tin tea canister, Qian Xiaolan held it in her hand and looked at it for a while, then she thought about it and put it in the space. This tea canister was one of the few items her mother had taken from her grandmother when they split the family.

 Her father was clumsy and couldn’t please people, he had been in the army for a few years and came back with a limp, her grandparents disliked him even more, they only favored their youngest son. When they split the family, her grandfather had already died, her grandmother and her mother didn’t get along, and she used the excuse that her father had no son to try to make them leave with nothing. Her mother had a very bad temper, she made a scene without caring about face, and finally got fifty yuan, three sets of chopsticks, a kettle, and a tin tea canister. There was nothing more, otherwise her grandmother would have fought with her mother. Qian Xiaolan had heard her mother scold her grandmother in the house before, and she knew that her grandmother had hidden a lot of silver dollars.

There was also a gold bracelet, a gold ring, and a pair of gold earrings, these things were all given to Sun Honghua after her death. She didn’t know where Sun Honghua hid them, she didn’t even see them this time. Thinking about all sorts of things, Qian Xiaolan unknowingly finished cleaning up the house. She looked up and saw that the sun was already setting in the west, no wonder she was so hungry.

 She casually cooked some sweet potato porridge, ate some cold cucumber salad, and then picked up a bundle of straw rope from the yard and threw it into the space, then went out to fetch water. The villagers got their water from the mountain stream and the well in the village. Qian Xiaolan’s house was at the foot of the mountain, it was closer to the stream, so she walked towards the mountain.

 After about five minutes, she saw a few bamboo pipes connected to a mountain wall, dripping water, and she remembered that this was where the old people in the mule shed had set up a water collection point. She unceremoniously placed her bucket under the bamboo pipes to collect water, then got up and went into the mountain.

 Don’t look at Qian Changfu, the original owner’s father, who was always quiet, but he was a very capable person. He didn’t stay in the army for long, only three years, and he was discharged due to injuries, but he was very skilled. After returning home, he could still hunt, dig traps, fish, dig clams, and catch crabs in the sea with his injured leg.

He was much more capable than the men in the village who were all physically sound. The original owner grew up with Qian Changfu until she was eleven, and she also learned some skills from him. Later, she learned a lot of medicine from that old man, and she knew even more then. There were traps that the original owner had secretly dug in the mountains.

Qian Xiaolan followed her memory, turning left and right in the mountains, and finally came to the trap that the original owner had dug. Seeing that the dry grass on the trap was collapsing, Qian Xiaolan was overjoyed, she quickened her pace and went forward. However, when she looked into the trap, her face changed.