Chapter 29: The Liang Family’s Eldest Grandson

After the two finished eating and were about to head back, they found Wang Qiang still lying at the Liang family’s doorstep. Under the blazing sun, flies and mosquitoes swarmed around him, buzzing wildly and landing on his face and exposed skin, leaving clearly visible swollen red mosquito bites. Su Yue and Li Xiangbei exchanged a glance and shook their heads helplessly. After leaving the alley, Li Xiangbei reported the situation to the police. After all, the house hadn’t been moved into yet, and it would be awful if someone died over this.

The next day, they heard that the police had sent Wang Qiang back to his own family. But unexpectedly, before dawn, Wang Qiang was brought back to the Liang family’s doorstep again. For the next several days, the Wang and Liang families went back and forth over Wang Qiang’s placement, and the police mediated multiple times without success. Eventually, they sternly reprimanded both families. The exact details remained unknown, but the Wang family stopped sending Wang Qiang back.

A week later, Su Yue learned from Aunt Zhang next door that the Wang family had signed Wang Qiang up to go to the countryside. Somehow, Wang Qiang and his two brothers brought him to the same countryside location where Liang Xiaohong was sent. Once there, the Wang brothers gave Liang Xiaohong an ultimatum: either marry Wang Qiang or return the betrothal gifts; otherwise, they would call the police to arrest her.

After that, Wang Qiang and his two older brothers returned to the city, while Wang Qiang stayed at Liang Xiaohong’s countryside location. As for how things would develop afterward, the neighbors all speculated wildly but no one could say for sure.

For the people in the alley, though, things finally quieted down.

Usually by this season, the women would eagerly wear brightly colored clothes and skirts, dressing themselves up beautifully. But this summer, it was as if everyone had silently agreed to dress very plainly. Most people had cut their hair short to ear length, neat and refreshing.

Wang Qiuya had brought all her makeup from the dormitory home and went bare-faced every day from then on.

Su Yue keenly sensed the abnormal atmosphere and often shared with Wang Qiuya the news she had heard from her aunt and uncle.

On a day off, Su Yue went home and analyzed the current situation carefully with Shen Qiuxia. After hearing it, Shen Qiuxia took out letters from her eldest and third brothers, with the word “plain” emphasized repeatedly between the lines.

Su Yue made an immediate decision and packed away her pretty clothes. Then she stayed up all night making two sets of clothes from the homemade cloth at home. Making summer clothes was relatively simple, and to fit the current plain style, Su Yue chose the most ordinary designs and even patched the sleeves and collars of the clothes.

That afternoon, she took the two big packages of clothes and stored them in a secluded corner of Youlan Courtyard.

After starting work, she alternated between wearing these two sets of homemade clothes and the factory-issued work uniforms.

With a kind reminder from Li Shufang, Su Yue also avoided handling personal matters during work hours. If she had too much free time, she would take out the “Little Red Book” to study seriously. Influenced by the overall environment, even Wu Yuxia stopped sleeping during work hours.

At noon, when the work bell rang as usual, Su Yue picked up her lunchbox and went to get food with Wang Qiuya.

Back in the dormitory, Wang Qiuya dropped her bag and lunchbox on the table with a “bang” and sighed heavily, her face full of frustration.

Her gloomy look made it hard for Su Yue to pretend not to notice.

“What’s wrong?” Su Yue asked with concern.

Wang Qiuya frowned, looking aggrieved: “My family has started setting me up for blind dates, but the guys they introduce are all misfits.”

Su Yue was momentarily speechless, unsure how to respond.

Wang Qiuya became more agitated: “My parents know I like gentle, scholarly men, but the ones they introduce are either soldiers or factory workers doing manual labor. When I see their rough appearances, it just grosses me out. How could I live with them in the future?”

Su Yue listened while taking a bite of her dish, secretly thinking the stir-fried tomatoes with eggs tasted especially good today. She mixed the rice with the dish and ate heartily.

Seeing this, Wang Qiuya’s stomach growled too, so she imitated Su Yue and mixed her rice and food together. “Yueyue, aren’t you going to eat the braised pork?”

Su Yue smiled and shook her head: “No, it’s too hot; I don’t have much appetite.”

Wang Qiuya nodded, looking at the braised pork and feeling it was a bit greasy, then covered it up.

Before long, it was July 31st, and Su Yue received her first paycheck.

After work, Su Yue took a prepared chicken from Youlan Courtyard, bought four steamed buns from the cafeteria, and headed over to Li Xiangbei’s home.

After arriving, Su Yue lit the coal stove, chopped the chicken into small pieces, and began making potato and mushroom stewed chicken.

Before long, the enticing aroma filled the air. Seeing the ingredients sautéed enough, she added a spoonful of water, covered the pot, and let it simmer slowly.

Feeling a bit hungry during a break, Su Yue grabbed a cucumber, quickly rinsed it, and took a big bite. Suddenly, there was a rapid knocking at the door.

Su Yue was puzzled. She wasn’t close to her neighbors here — usually, they just greeted each other briefly after work. Who could be knocking at this time when she was cooking?

She put down the cucumber and went to the door.

As soon as she unlatched it, she felt a push against the door.

Su Yue braced the door with both hands and peered through the crack. Outside stood three boys. From their eyes and faces, it was clear they were brothers — their narrow eyes looked just like old Mrs. Liang’s diagonally opposite them.

“Move aside! Let us in!” the boy at the front shouted loudly.

“Yeah, hurry up and let us in!” the other two shouted in agreement.

Su Yue frowned and asked sharply, “Who are you? This is my home, why should I let you in?”

The three boys, unable to push the door open, turned and shouted to the side, “Granny, she’s not letting us in!”

At that moment, Granny Liang slowly appeared carrying a large porcelain basin. “Here’s the deal — my three eldest grandsons are craving meat and want to borrow a bowl of meat from you to nourish the kids.”

Su Yue glanced at the “bowl” in Granny Liang’s hands and couldn’t help but sneer coldly, “No.”

Then, with a “bang,” she shut the door.

The three boys, angry and humiliated, kicked and pounded on the door, shouting curses that were unpleasant to hear.

Listening to the cursing outside, a fiery anger suddenly rose in Su Yue’s heart. Just as she was about to open the door, she heard Li Xiangbei angrily shout, “What are you doing?”

Su Yue opened the door to see Li Xiangbei rushing over.
He first glanced at Su Yue, then stepped in front of her and sternly questioned the four outsiders, “What exactly do you want? In broad daylight, are you trying to break in and rob us?”

The three boys, who had been acting aggressively, suddenly looked like scared rabbits and hurriedly hid behind Granny Liang. Their behavior showed they were typical bullies who only picked on the weak.

Granny Liang gently patted the boys’ backs to soothe them but glared sideways at Li Xiangbei with displeasure. “Little Li, why do you have to shout so loudly? You scared my grandsons.”

Li Xiangbei sneered and sarcastically said, “So these ‘little tyrants’ are Granny Liang’s grandsons? I thought they were some bandits coming down from the mountains! I was just about to send them to the Public Security Bureau to teach them a lesson!”

The three boys turned pale at these words and ran inside silently, with the eldest one making sure to slam the courtyard gate shut behind them.

Seeing this, Granny Liang stomped her feet in anger, slapped her thigh, and yelled, “If you scare my grandsons and something happens to them, I won’t let you off!”

Li Xiangbei laughed and said, “Liang Daguang works at the coal yard, right? Yesterday his clothes were puffed up with something black — what was that?”

Granny Liang’s face turned ugly at that.

Cursing, she turned and stomped off.