Chapter 24 Going to Grandma’s House and Meeting Zhang Chunyan

Old Lady Tian’s maiden name was Cai. She was nearly sixty years old, and her health had been poor in recent years. She had emphysema, which got especially bad in autumn and winter. She wheezed and gasped for breath, and even walking a few steps was a struggle. Wang Huimin had never met her grandfather on her mother’s side—he had passed away before she was born. Her grandmother now lived with her second son, Wang Huimin’s second uncle.

This second uncle had a disability—one of his hands didn’t work, and he couldn’t speak—so he had never married. The mother and son had always relied on each other to get by.

When her grandfather was still alive, the production teams hadn’t been disbanded yet. He had been the team’s accountant, so their family had lived decently, even better than most. Their house was also nicer than others’. But they had a lot of children—seven in total, including Wang Huimin’s mother, Tian Yongmei. So naturally, there were also many grandchildren. As a granddaughter whom even her own mother didn’t like, Wang Huimin was not exactly favored by her grandmother either. The old lady mostly doted on her direct grandsons.

That said, Old Lady Tian did have a relatively upright sense of right and wrong—at least much better than Tian Yongmei’s. Wang Huimin didn’t really expect her grandmother to give her the 200 yuan; she was just making a courtesy visit.

There were two milk cows at the house. Her second uncle wasn’t home—he had gone out to pasture the cows. When Wang Huimin arrived, Old Lady Tian was sitting on the heated brick bed, reading the Bible. When she saw her granddaughter, she asked as usual, “Xiaomin, what brings you here? What’s your mom doing at home?”

Old Lady Tian couldn’t walk far due to her respiratory problems, so no one had told her what had happened recently. She didn’t know anything yet.

Wang Huimin had no intention of hiding anything. She told her grandmother everything that had happened: how her mother had essentially sold her to the Song family in exchange for bride price, and all that had happened in the past few days. She also said that she was officially married now and had come to visit her grandmother.

Among all her children, Old Lady Tian had always favored Tian Yongmei the most, which had spoiled her to the point of becoming completely unruly and unreasonable. Although both Wang Huimin and Wang Huishu were her granddaughters, when she heard that Tian Yongmei had actually sold her own daughter for money, Old Lady Tian became furious.

Clutching her chest and slapping her thigh, she cursed, “That heartless wretch! How could she do something so immoral? If she can sell her own child, what wouldn’t she do? Xiaomin, just wait—I’m going to go find her right now!”

Old Lady Tian had a loud voice. Tian Yongmei’s sharp tongue was clearly inherited from her mother, though the old lady wasn’t nearly as muddleheaded. Seeing how furious her grandmother was, Wang Huimin quickly held her back before she could head out to confront her daughter.

“Grandma, don’t be angry anymore. I’ve already registered my marriage with Song Jianjun. What’s done is done. I only came today to tell you about it, not to make you upset. Please don’t hurt yourself over this.”

Although Old Lady Tian badly wanted to go find her foolish daughter and give her a good beating, her health wouldn’t allow it. She could only look at Wang Huimin and shed tears of frustration.

“Xiaomin, I know that Song boy is decent, but he’s got a bum leg, he’s a lot older than you, and he’s got two or three kids to feed. Marrying into that family is going to be hard for you.”

“Your mom’s been a mess her whole life, never listened to a word I said. I’m just sad because I worry your future life will be full of hardship.”

At that moment, Wang Huimin felt a deep sense of genuine concern from her grandmother—something she had never felt from her own mother. In her past life, her grandmother had also tried to protect her, but due to her health and immobility, there was much she hadn’t known. Even when Wang Huimin died, her grandmother was still alive.

Thinking of all that, Wang Huimin couldn’t help but get teary-eyed.

“Grandma, really, you don’t have to worry. Song Jianjun treats me well. Being with his family is actually a relief—I don’t get beaten or scolded anymore.”

“It’s just… my mom is still falsely accusing me of stealing her money. This morning she blocked me from leaving and cursed me so loud the whole village heard. She might’ve even reported it to the village committee. I don’t know how that’s going to end.”

Old Lady Tian was so furious at her muddleheaded daughter that she was practically grinding her teeth. She held Wang Huimin’s hand to comfort her.

“Xiaomin, don’t worry. If anything happens, Grandma’s got your back. If she wants to report it, let her. She’s got so many shady dealings going on, who’s going to believe her?”

“Grandma believes you didn’t steal the money. If she lost it, it’s probably karma—serves her right for being so heartless. I just feel bad for you, child. With a mother like that, your life’s bound to be hard.”

As she spoke, she wiped her tears and leaned on the wall to get off the bed. She opened the large cabinet on the floor, rummaged through it, and pulled out a wad of ten-yuan bills.

Back then in the countryside, fifty- and hundred-yuan notes were rare. Ten-yuan bills were the largest commonly circulated denomination.

Old Lady Tian counted out a hundred yuan and shoved it into Wang Huimin’s hand.

“Xiaomin, your mom’s hopeless—she’ll never change. Don’t be like her.”

“This is your only wedding in this lifetime. Take this money. Think of it as Grandma giving you a dowry in her place. It wouldn’t be right for you to show up at someone’s house with nothing and have no dignity.”

“That Song boy seems decent—he knows how to live, used to be a soldier, and still gets a monthly stipend.”

“Now that things are the way they are, just live well with him. Have a big, healthy baby soon. That way no one in the Song family will dare say anything about you. And once you take good care of those two younger ones, they’ll even be a help to you someday.”

That was how the older generation thought—once a woman got married, her duty was to bear children early and extend the family line. Having many children was the proper path in life.

It would be best to have a son—then she could truly gain a foothold in her husband’s family and hold her head high. Wang Huimin wouldn’t argue with the elders about such things. Whatever the old lady said, she nodded in agreement.

Although the old lady wasn’t short on money, she was stingy with her words and breath. With the second uncle being disabled, their life had never been easy. Wang Huimin hadn’t planned on taking the money. She agreed verbally to wait, but when the old lady turned around and walked toward the kang bed, Wang Huimin quickly slipped the 100 yuan back where it came from.

She stayed and chatted with Granny Tian for a while, helped tidy up the house a bit, then finally got up to leave. But on the way home, just as she passed behind the Zhang family’s house, she spotted a shadowy figure acting suspiciously near the base of the wall. Judging by the shape and clothes, it looked like Zhang Chunyan.

Wang Huimin quickly found a place to hide and watched to see what she was up to.

She saw Zhang Chunyan stealthily hiding a small cloth bundle in a patch of grass, then placing several stones on top to disguise it. From the outside, it looked completely normal. Zhang Chunyan was muttering angrily under her breath as she worked.

Wang Huimin couldn’t hear clearly, but she caught a few words: “I won’t get married. If they keep pushing me, I’ll just leave.”

In that moment, Wang Huimin understood what she was planning. In her past life, Zhang Chunyan had never been someone who followed the rules—she always had her own ideas. Unlike Wang Huimin, who had been so timid, forced to marry Song Fu by her family and too scared to run, even though she hadn’t wanted to. That’s why she had lost her life.

In this regard, Zhang Chunyan was braver than her. What a pity she was so unlucky… to run into her again. Even the heavens weren’t helping her. But with such a golden opportunity, there was no way Wang Huimin would let it slip by.