Lin Meizhen was furious!

Niu Laihua sat in the yard cracking sunflower seeds, disdainfully glancing at Lin Meizhen washing dishes in the kitchen. She was considering when to go to the Chen family to send some pickles to Auntie Hou, asking Auntie Hou to speak to her grandson, Chief Chen, to calm him down and not really make things difficult for her son. But she couldn’t go now, she was afraid that Auntie Hou was still angry, and might not accept her pickles, and might even scold her again.

On the other side of the yard, Hua Fengzhen, having heard Lin Meizhen being scolded by her mother-in-law, got up and took down the dried clothes from the clothesline. She couldn’t help but curse at the wall again: “Damn bitch, troublemaker, shameless!”

Her neck burned with pain. She touched it and found some blood, a scratch from the fight with Lin Meizhen.

After Zhao Xiaomai washed the dishes and swept the yard, she quietly said to Hua Fengzhen with her basket on her back: “Mom, I’m going to work.”

Hua Fengzhen said without turning her head: “Go, remember to continue helping Wen Nan, but don’t be a fool and work hard, just cheat her out of half the work points.”

Zhao Xiaomai didn’t speak, turned and walked out of the yard.

She couldn’t do as her mother said, but she didn’t dare to refute her, afraid of being beaten again.

Zhao Xiaomai passed two small courtyards, stopped for a while at the door of Chief Chen’s house, thinking about how her mother had treated Wen Nan, hesitated for a while at the door and didn’t go in, and walked towards the grassland alone. When Wen Nan came out of the yard, she happened to see Zhao Xiaomai who hadn’t gone far.

Thin and small.

Walking alone on the roadside.

Wen Nan shouted into the yard: “Auntie, I’m going to cut grass.”

She closed the yard door, grabbed the straps of her basket, and caught up with Zhao Xiaomai, gently patting her shoulder: “Xiaomai, why didn’t you wait for me?”

Zhao Xiaomai was startled, turned to look at Wen Nan walking beside her, opened her mouth, didn’t know what to say, lowered her head to look at her toes, her eyes were red, tears welling up. She thought Wen Nan wouldn’t care about her anymore, but she didn’t expect her to still want to walk with her.

Wen Nan looked at the finger marks on Zhao Xiaomai’s face, which had faded somewhat. She didn’t know how her arm was. Seeing her not speaking, Wen Nan knew what she was thinking, reached out and gently squeezed Zhao Xiaomai’s hand, and smiled: “Xiaomai, I’m not angry with you, you don’t have to blame yourself.”

Zhao Xiaomai looked up at her, her eyes red. Wen Nan continued: “We didn’t do anything wrong, it was Lin Meizhen who deliberately incited your mother to find trouble with me, it has nothing to do with you.”

She squeezed Zhao Xiaomai’s hand again, her eyebrows curved, and the dimples on her cheeks were beautiful.

Zhao Xiaomai lowered her head, couldn’t help but shed tears, and whispered: “Wen Nan, will you still want to play with me in the future?”

This sentence was like a child who had been isolated, longing for other friends to look at her.

Zhao Xiaomai grew up in that kind of family, and her parents had made her timid, cowardly, and unsociable, keeping everything to herself.

Wen Nan held her hand tightly and smiled: “Of course.”

Zhao Xiaomai wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes and smiled happily.

Lin Meizhen came late to cut grass in the afternoon. Wen Nan had almost cut a basket of grass before she came, holding the sickle and working hard, as if she were cutting someone’s flesh.

The sun was hot and scorching, sweat ran down the scratched marks on her face, burning and painful. Lin Meizhen angrily clenched the sickle, fiercely turning her head to glare at Wen Nan, but she inadvertently met Wen Nan’s gaze. Those bright and beautiful eyes were full of irony, mockery, and teasing amusement.

Lin Meizhen’s anger grew even greater, but she couldn’t do anything to Wen Nan. With nowhere to vent her anger, she could only cut grass one after another.

Wen Nan lowered her eyes and continued to cut grass. On the way to the grassland, Xiaomai told her about the fight between her mother and Lin Meizhen, and Xiaomai also told her about Lin Meizhen being scolded by her mother-in-law at home.

Wen Nan thought Lin Meizhen was bringing it on herself.

Serves her right.

In the afternoon, Zhao Xiaomai finished cutting the pigweed and came to help Wen Nan cut grass, and then went back to send the pigweed.

Today, Wen Nan said in front of so many people that she would share half of her work points with her, Zhao Xiaomai felt that she should work harder to deserve the work points Wen Nan gave her.

Several other people on the grassland had started to send grass to the cattle farm. Wen Nan put down the sickle, picked up a pile of grass and put it into the basket, her white and tender hands pressing the grass hard into the basket. Suddenly, a section of wheat-colored arm brushed past her eyes and pressed into the basket. The originally protruding grass suddenly sank, Wen Nan didn’t react, the small hand pressing the grass suddenly sank, and her whole body fell forward.

If she fell, it would be a humiliating posture of head-to-basket, feet-in-the-air!

Just as she was about to fall, her arm was firmly grasped by a large hand. The man’s palm was steady and powerful, and her body was also balanced.

Chen Xu looked at the startled Wen Nan, a smile flashing in his eyes: “Are you alright?”

Wen Nan quickly shook her head: “I’m fine, I’m fine.”

Good heavens.

Almost a live broadcast of a face-plant.

Chen Xu packed the grass quickly, filling a basket full of grass, and told Wen Nan to wait there, he would be back soon.

The man was very fast, and he finished sending it in two trips. She had run four trips today at noon, and Xiaomai had also helped her send one trip.

People are truly unequal.

When the two returned to the family quarters, it was completely dark. Every household had turned on old-fashioned light bulbs. Grandma Chen had already prepared dinner. Wen Nan went to the well to prepare to press water, Chen Xu took the lead in pressing the iron rod: “Let me do it.”

Wen Nan’s hand drooped to her side and curled up. After Chen Xu poured the water, she squatted down and put her hands into the enamel basin. The cool well water covered her hands, cooling them down, reducing the burning pain in her palms. Grandma Chen came out of the kitchen carrying a stack of bowls and put the bowls and chopsticks on the table when she heard Zhang Xiaoe’s loud voice from the wall.

“Auntie Hou, something happened to Chief Kang’s family again!”

A loud voice suddenly appeared at night, which really startled Wen Nan.

Grandma Chen seemed to be used to it, and without raising her head, she replied: “What happened?”

Wen Nan was quite curious.

The Kang family had just had a fight today, what else could happen at night?

Zhang Xiaoe lay on the wall with both hands, vividly describing: “I heard the Kang family quarreling earlier, so I went to take a look. Chief Kang was arguing with Lin Meizhen, I don’t know what they were arguing about, but it seemed that Lin Meizhen had done something that angered Chief Kang, and he told her not to work anymore, just stay at home and don’t go out to cause trouble for him. Niu Saozi was also angry, and was arguing with Chief Kang about getting a divorce.”

Then she looked at Wen Nan, her face full of gossip: “Hey, Wen Nan, you worked with Lin Meizhen, do you know what she did?”

Wen Nan almost subconsciously thought of the incident this morning when she saw Lin Meizhen and her brother-in-law pulling and pushing each other, and couldn’t help but wonder if Chief Kang was referring to this incident? But only she and Chen Xu knew about this. Thinking about Chen Xu saying at noon that he would say a few words to Chief Kang, asking him to tell his wife.

Could it be Chen Xu who said it?

She looked up at Chen Xu who was drying his hair. From her angle, she could only see the man’s long legs and strong waistline. As if sensing her gaze, the man finished drying his hair, put the towel on the clothesline, lowered his head and looked at her: “Hurry up and wash, we’ll eat after you’re done.”

“Oh.”

Wen Nan came back to her senses and shook her head at Zhang Xiaoe: “She was cutting grass with me in the grassland all afternoon, I don’t know.”

Zhang Xiaoe didn’t hear any gossip, and listlessly said to Grandma Chen: “Let’s eat.” After saying that, she jumped off the wall and went back to her room.

Grandma Chen said to Wen Nan: “It’s good that Lin Meizhen doesn’t go to work, saving her from causing you trouble.”

Wen Nan thought so too. In the past two days of working in the grassland, Lin Meizhen’s eyes were like knives, occasionally stabbing at her. Although it didn’t hurt, it was quite irritating. She picked up her bowl and took a sip of porridge, looked up at Chen Xu opposite her, wondering if Chen Xu had told Chief Kang?

If he did, how did he tell Chief Kang?

—”Chief Kang, your wife is messing around with your brother-in-law?”

—”Chief Kang, your wife is having an affair?”

Wen Nan looked up again, unexpectedly meeting Chen Xu’s gaze. She was stunned, then held her bowl and buried her head in the porridge, took two sips, and then looked up and smiled at him.

Chen Xu: …

After dinner, Grandma Chen washed the dishes and boiled a pot of bath water for Wen Nan and Chen Xu before going to bed.

The yard was lit with warm yellow lights. Wen Nan carried an enamel basin into the kitchen, scooped half a basin of hot water, carefully carried it to the well and added a little well water. She carried the almost full enamel basin, slowly stood up, entered the room and closed the door. Because of the blisters and cuts on her palms, it hurt when she touched the hot water, so she slowly washed for half an hour, turning the hot water into cold water.

There were two sets of footsteps passing by the window, and after a while, the sound of splashing water and closing the door came.

After Wen Nan finished washing, she changed into clean clothes and took the dirty clothes to the well to wash. The cold water used to wash the clothes made her injured hands feel more comfortable. After washing the clothes, her hands hurt, she couldn’t wring the clothes, so she just wrung them a few times and hung them wet beside Chen Xu’s uniform. The man’s hands were strong, and his uniform was neatly hung on the clothesline without a drop of water falling down.

She shook her sore hands, looking at the four blisters on her palms, two of which were particularly large and shocking.

Wen Nan pressed the blisters on her palms with her fingers, then looked at Chen Xu and Grandma Chen’s rooms, both of which were dark. She hesitated for a while, then lightly walked to Chen Xu’s door and knocked softly: “Brother, are you asleep?”

“What is it?”

The man’s low voice came from behind the door, sounding not sleepy at all.

Wen Nan whispered: “Do you have a needle in your room? I’ll borrow it.”

Chen Xu guessed what she wanted to do, got up, put on his trousers that were on the foot of the bed, Wen Nan heard the sound of a belt buckle outside the room, then the light in the room was turned on, the man wearing a worker’s vest opened the door, looked at Wen Nan standing outside the room, tilting her small face up at him with a smiling expression, turned around and went back into the room: “I’ll get it for you.”