Chapter 68

Hai Cai sat at the village entrance, waiting for Yi Bao and Er Bao to return.

He was born a month earlier than Yi Bao and Er Bao, but because they were of the same age and Yi Bao and Er Bao grew up in the old house, ever since Hai Cai could remember, they played together.

He was shy and not good at playing with other children, so he hardly had any friends.

Every time, he could only play with the village children when he followed Yi Bao and Er Bao.

If Yi Bao and Er Bao were not around, he wouldn’t play with the other village children.

Just like now, his older brothers and sisters had gone to school, leaving him with no one to play with, so he obediently sat at the village gate waiting for Yi Bao and Er Bao to return.

After sitting at the village gate for a while, Hai Cai saw a familiar figure walking towards the village.

Upon closer inspection, he realized that it wasn’t the figure that was familiar, but the clothes the person was wearing.

The color of the clothes was the same as the clothes worn by the aunt who was spanked by Zhuang Xiaopang’s father in the mountain yesterday.

Because of this, Hai Cai kept staring.

Jiang Xiaoyue was already feeling suspicious.

After yesterday afternoon’s incident spread, the more she thought about it, the more uneasy she felt.

So, after finishing work last night, she left the brigade and went to the old place to wait for Zhuang Da Ming.

However, after waiting all night and not seeing him, she took the opportunity while everyone was working to secretly come and inquire about the situation.

But when she noticed a child staring at her, she looked over, and upon seeing him, she became even more uneasy.

She didn’t necessarily know all the children in the village, but she knew Hai Cai because he was from the old Lin family, and she had some grievances with the Lin family.

More importantly, yesterday morning, when the three children from the Lin family saw someone with Zhuang Da Ming in the grove, others might not know, but she knew it was herself.

Seeing this child staring at her now, Jiang Xiao Yue couldn’t help but wonder if he recognized her.

From last night until today, Zhuang Xiaopang’s mother kept a close eye on Zhuang Da Ming, so he had no way of finding Jiang Xiao Yue, naturally he couldn’t tell her about what he learned from the Lin family yesterday.

Therefore, Jiang Xiao Yue didn’t know that the three children only knew what the other person was wearing and didn’t see their faces clearly.

So now, under Hai Cai’s scrutinizing gaze, Jiang Xiaoyue became increasingly nervous.

Therefore, Jiang Xiao Yue gritted her teeth and approached Hai Cai.

“Little friend, are you the only one sitting here?” She tried to put on a smile.

Unexpectedly, Hai Cai shifted his bottom, shrinking his body, refusing to speak to her.

Hai Cai only recognized that the clothes were the same as the aunt who was spanked yesterday, but he didn’t think it was that aunt.

But Hai Cai’s retreat made Jiang Xiao Yue even more convinced that he recognized her.

So she squinted and asked, “Little friend, yesterday morning in the grove, did you see clearly the woman with Zhuang Da Ming?”

Hai Cai blinked but remained silent.

In reality, he was thinking, who is Zhuang Da Ming?

Seeing him silent, Jiang Xiao Yue threatened, “Speak up, did you see clearly or not? If you don’t tell me, I’ll spank you.”

Hai Cai, seeing her threatening manner, suddenly stood up and then ran away, shouting, “Don’t spank my bottom, don’t spank my bottom…”

He ran with his little short legs as fast as he could, but because he was running too fast, he tripped and fell to the ground.

However, he quickly got up and ran towards the fields where his grandparents and parents were working.

Hearing him shout not to spank his bottom, Jiang Xiao Yue felt desolate.

Sure enough, they had been seen. When Zhuang Da Ming did that, he had a little quirk, he liked to spank bottoms.

No, she couldn’t stay here any longer. Nowadays, being a homewrecker could get one caught.

She didn’t want to be caught.

Hai Cai stumbled into the fields, his small figure emitting a thunderous cry, “Grandma… Mom…” His voice carried fear, startling Lin’s mother and Qian Aifen, who were working.

They hurriedly rushed to the shore.

“Hai Cai, what happened to you?” Qian Aifen ran even faster, reaching her son’s side.

She looked at his frightened little face, feeling a strong sense of heartache. “Weren’t you at your third uncle’s house? What happened? Who bullied you?”

Qian Aifen didn’t suspect the youngest uncle’s family.

She still believed in the character of her younger brother-in-law.

Even though her younger sister-in-law had ignored the children in the past, she hadn’t seen her bullying them.

“There was an aunt who wanted to hit me.” Hai Cai snuggled into his mother’s arms, trembling with fear, tears streaming down his face.

Lin’s mother, not as fast as Qian Aifen but still hearing her grandson’s words, became angry.

“Hai Cai, tell Grandma, which aunt bullied you?”

Hai Cai shook his head. He didn’t recognize the person. “I… I don’t know her.”

Qian Aifen asked, “Then how did she bully you?” as she wiped her son’s tears with her sleeve.

Hai Cai, not very articulate, said, “I… I was waiting for Yi Bao and Er Bao at the village gate, and then that aunt came and asked me… asked me if I saw clearly the aunt who was spanked on the mountain yesterday. She was very fierce, and I was scared, so… so I ran back.”

Qian Aifen and Lin’s mother exchanged glances.

They thought each other had scolded Hai Cai, but it turned out to be this.

They didn’t think much about it, assuming it was some woman gossiping.

Qian Aifen chuckled helplessly, “It’s okay, it’s okay. Sit on the shore and wait for Mom to finish work.”

“Okay.” Hai Cai nodded.

Lin’s mother was curious, “Where did Yi Bao and Er Bao go? Why were you waiting at the village gate?”

They were working in the morning, but they disappeared in the afternoon.

“They went to the county town,” Hai Cai said, sounding a bit envious. “Uncle San, Aunt San, Yi Bao, Er Bao, and San Bao all went.”

“Why did they go to the county town again? And even Third Son went?” Lin’s mother muttered, “Well, with all three children going, it’s safe with Guodong accompanying them.”

“They went to buy a house,” Hai Cai added while Lin’s mother was muttering.

“What?” Both Lin’s mother and Qian Aifen looked at him.

Because it wasn’t a secret, Ning Shu and Lin Guodong discussed the matter at noon without avoiding the children, so Hai Cai heard about it.

Hai Cai blinked, not understanding why his grandmother and mother were looking at him.

“Hai Cai, did you say your uncle went to the county town to buy a house?” Lin’s mother asked again, not quite sure.

Hai Cai replied, “I don’t know, they talked about buying a house at noon.” He didn’t catch all the details.

Lin’s mother nodded, “Don’t talk about this to anyone, okay?” Buying a house in the county town was something to celebrate, but Lin’s mother didn’t say it outright because it wasn’t confirmed yet. If it was confirmed, she would be the first to tell everyone. It would be such an honor to say that her son bought a house in the county town.

Hai Cai nodded.

Qian Aifen felt quite envious.

The third son was talented.

He was even buying a house in the county town. The third siblings were indeed fortunate.

Ning Shu and others in the county town had a lot to do today.

They first went to the post office to collect money, then handled the transfer procedures for the three houses.

Because it was handled by the Housing Management Bureau, the procedures were quite convenient.

While dealing with the procedures, Ning Shu inquired about the household registration issue, and the answer was the same as what the brigade leader had said: buying a house didn’t guarantee obtaining household registration.

After completing the formalities at the Housing Management Bureau, Lin Guodong took his three sons to install new locks in the new house, while Ning Shu went to the neighborhood committee to register relevant information.

After Ning Shu finished handling the procedures on his end, Lin Guodong also finished replacing the locks on the house.

Ning Shu said, “Finally sorted out. Oh, I also need to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to find Li Fei. It’s not practical to leave the house in the county town idle. We can rent it out to increase our income. What do you think?”

Lin Guodong naturally had no objections. “We can also inform Meng Jie. If people from his unit need to rent a house, they might be more reliable. Some government employees transferred here may need to rent a house because initially, even if the unit allocates dormitories, they’re usually single or shared dormitories, which aren’t suitable for families.”

Ning Shu nodded. “If a family rents it, the entire yard would be more suitable.” If not, they would have to rent out each room separately.

So, the family of five went to the county government again.

At the county government, Meng Jie heard their intention and clapped his hands, saying, “What a coincidence. We’re not sure if anyone in our unit needs to rent, but one of our high school classmates is looking for a house. Do you remember Zhang Bai’e?”

Lin Guodong had a good memory, especially for such distinctive nicknames. “I remember.”

Zhang Bai’e’s surname was Zhang, and the nickname “Bai’e” originated from his voice change during puberty, but also because he, a male comrade, had a very fair complexion, hence the nickname “White Goose.”

“I ran into Zhang Bai’e some time ago, and he was looking for a house. You could ask him,” Meng Jie suggested. “As for the rest, you can leave the keys with me. If someone here needs it, I’ll just bring them in, and then you can tell me about the rent?” It was a simple matter for him.

Lin Guodong looked at Ning Shu.

Ning Shu said, “Let’s go ask Comrade Zhang first. I’ll give a set of keys to Meng Jie as well. As for the rent, I’m not sure. If it’s an annual payment and considering Meng Jie’s acquaintance, we can make it five yuan cheaper per year than the market price.”

Meng Jie chimed in, “That sounds great. By the way, Zhang Bai’e works at the East Street Police Station.” There were interactions between the police station and the county government, so that’s how he encountered him. If it were ordinary high school classmates, he might not have met them.