Chapter 5 : The Grudge Between Cuihua and Yue’e

Bicycles are fast. It only took Lu Changzheng 20 minutes to ride back a distance that would have taken more than an hour to walk.

When they passed by the brigade headquarters, they saw a group of middle-aged women sitting in a circle, picking peanuts while drying rice on the threshing ground.

Square-faced Aunt Cuihua was also among them.

When Aunt Cuihua saw Lu Changzheng riding a bicycle with Su Mo, her eyes lit up, and she stood up, shouting loudly.

“Su Zhiqing, you’re back! Are you feeling better?”

Su Mo was a little stunned. Why was this aunt so enthusiastic?

In the original owner’s memory, she had never been treated so warmly. On the contrary, because she worked slowly, the villagers had looked down on her.

But since they had greeted her, she couldn’t be impolite, so she replied loudly, “Thank you, auntie. I feel much better now.”

“That’s good! When will you treat us to a banquet?” Aunt Cuihua’s eyes were shining, she was determined to make sure these two were seated.

Su Mo: …

Are all the people in the entire team waiting for her to get married to Lu Changzheng?

Su Mo didn’t reply, but Lu Changzheng did: “After a while.”

Lu Changzheng didn’t slow down, and in just a short while, they passed the brigade headquarters.

Aunt Cuihua was so happy to get a positive answer.

She had finally beaten Li Yue’e!

Aunt Cuihua and Lu Changzheng’s mother, Li Yue’e, had been sworn enemies since childhood. The two had been competing with each other since they were young, and they still wanted to compete even in their old age.

When they were young, they compared food and clothing, when they married they compared husbands, when they had children they compared children, now that they were getting older, they compared daughters-in-law and soon enough, they would be comparing grandchildren.

However, no matter what they compared, Li Cuihua was always inferior to Li Yue’e.

Both were born in the 1920s. As you can tell from their names, Li Yue’e’s family was better off than Li Cuihua’s. Li Yue’e attended a private school for two years when she was young, while Li Cuihua only eavesdropped outside the school for a few days.

As they grew up, both married into Lujia Village. Originally, the conditions of the men they married were similar, but suddenly, Li Yue’e’s father-in-law, who had gone to participate in the revolution, returned and brought back many underground party members. Later, after the country was founded, reforms were carried out, and communes were established. Li Yue’e’s father-in-law became the brigade secretary, making Li Cuihua fall further behind.

After many years, her father-in-law retired, and Li Yue’e’s husband became the branch secretary again, while Li Cuihua’s husband remained only a militia captain. Thus, Li Cuihua continued to feel inferior.

When the children grew up, both Li Cuihua’s youngest son, Lu Xingyou, and Li Yue’e’s youngest son, Lu Changzheng, joined the army. However, Lu Changzheng became an officer, while Lu Xingyou retired two years ago. This made Li Cuihua feel inferior once again.

Fortunately, after retiring, the army arranged a job for Lu Xingyou in the county transport team, with a monthly salary of 48 yuan.

For this, Li Cuihua was very proud for a long time.

Later, when she asked her son about the treatment given to people at Lu Changzheng’s level, she was so angry she stayed in bed for two days.

Fortunately, her son worked hard and got married a year ago. His wife, a city dweller, worked at the county machinery factory, earned a salary of 28 yuan a month, and ate commercial grain. Suddenly, there were two salaried people in her family.

But that wasn’t enough to boast about.

Looking at the entire brigade, who else had a daughter-in-law who worked in the city and earned a salary?

This was Li Cuihua’s unique honor.

Then she heard that Lu Changzheng was coming back to see a female soldier from the army art troupe. Wasn’t this going to make her look inferior to her daughter-in-law?

This could not be allowed!

Luckily, fate had worked in her favor, and Lu Changzheng saved Su Zhiqing.

She had to take this opportunity to secure her position.

This way, none of Li Yue’e’s three daughters-in-law could compare to her youngest daughter-in-law. She had won once.

But she heard from her eldest son that the city was in chaos, and the educated youth sent to the countryside probably wouldn’t be able to return.

So what if Su Zhi came from Qinghai City? She couldn’t go back to the city. She couldn’t contribute much in the countryside. She was no better than her granddaughter.

And seeing how delicate she looked, Su Mo was probably a sickly person. With Lu Changzheng’s health, she might die after two nights of sleep. This way, Li Yue’e’s most promising son would become a widower.

The more Li Cuihua thought about it, the better it seemed, and she couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“Cuihua, why are you so happy that Lu Changzheng is getting married?” An aunt next to her was puzzled. Li Cuihua and Li Yue’e had always been at odds with each other, so why was she so happy?

“I’m just thinking about the feast. I haven’t eaten meat for a long time. I’m happy just thinking about it,” Li Cuihua laughed.

“It’s true we haven’t had meat for a long time. I don’t know when we’ll slaughter a pig. My family has worked really hard this year, and we have more work points than last year, so we should be able to get a lot of meat.” An aunt smacked her lips.

“No, Cuihua, your family has two salaried people, with so much money each month. Why don’t you buy some meat to honor yourself as the mother?”

“Oh, this is of course filial piety. There are many people in my family, and I love my children and grandchildren, so I can eat a few bites.”

“Lu Changzheng is an officer, so the banquet for his wife will surely be great. We all have to save our stomachs for the feast.”

Under Li Cuihua’s guidance, everyone started talking about the banquet…