Chapter 13

Liu Xinghua finished hitting Sun Xiaohui, rolled up her sleeves, and pointed at her, cursing: “You vicious woman with a rotten heart and lungs, you even want to harm your own niece! You want her dead, right? Today, I’ll fight you to the death!”

Her slap was heavy, and one slap left Sun Xiaohui stunned. Then, without giving Sun Xiaohui time to recover, she raised her hand and yanked off Sun Xiaohui’s hat, starting to hit her again.

The people nearby took a moment to react and quickly stepped in to pull Liu Xinghua away.

Several people separated Liu Xinghua and Sun Xiaohui, holding them back. Ruan Xi came over, holding Liu Xinghua’s arm, and placed her other hand on her back to calm her down, saying, “Grandma, anger hurts the body. Please don’t get so upset.”

Liu Xinghua rushed over upon hearing the news. She had just used all her strength to hit Sun Xiaohui and was now gasping for breath. After a moment, she said, “She deliberately wants to harm you. How can I not be angry?!”

After taking a couple of breaths, she added, “Now that I’ve hit her, I feel better.”

Ruan Xi continued to pat Liu Xinghua’s back to help her catch her breath.

Ruan Xi didn’t say anything more because she had calmed down. She then turned to look at Sun Xiaohui, whose hair was completely messed up by Liu Xinghua and had a few bruises on her face.

After coming to her senses, Sun Xiaohui was held back by others and couldn’t move. She then sat down on the ground and started crying.

She cried, saying that she was only acting out of a sense of justice, to correct the wrongs, with no selfish motives and no intention to harm anyone, let alone her own niece. She said she really didn’t know that the old tailor had taken Ruan Xi as an apprentice, and who would have thought that he would seriously teach Ruan Xi his skills? She also said she didn’t expect the old tailor to give Ruan Xi grapes.

Seeing her cry so pitifully and hearing her words, which didn’t seem like she was deliberately framing Ruan Xi, someone said to Secretary Wang and Liu Xinghua, “She’s already been beaten and scolded, let’s just leave it at that.”

Secretary Wang didn’t want to get involved in this matter anymore, as it had purely become a family affair. He waved his hand to disperse the crowd and urged everyone to get back to work. The women who were watching dispersed, with two of them helping Sun Xiaohui up.

Sun Xiaohui stood up, sniffled, and hastily tied up her hair. She took the straw hat handed to her by one of the women, put it on, and without looking at Liu Xinghua and Ruan Xi, she walked into the cornfield with her eyes and nose red from crying.

Secretary Wang then advised Liu Xinghua, saying that family matters should be resolved at home to avoid making a scene and becoming a laughingstock. After saying this, he and a few other officials went to look for the old tailor, but he was already gone.

Secretary Wang then said to Liu Xinghua, “Auntie, we have to go now. Old Master Song is old, and it’s not easy for him to come up here. Someone must watch him going down the mountain, so we need to catch up.”

Knowing that the old tailor was older than herself, Liu Xinghua understood how much effort it took for him to come up here, so she quickly nodded and said, “Go ahead, thank you.”

Ruan Xi saw that Liu Xinghua had almost caught her breath. She was also thinking about the old tailor, so she handed Liu Xinghua over to Ruan Jie and said to Liu Xinghua, “Grandma, you and Xiao Jie go home first. I’ll go check on my master.”

Liu Xinghua knew how much face the old tailor had given Ruan Xi by coming up here. He had always been cold-hearted and indifferent to others, and because of his eccentric nature, he didn’t like to interact with people. This time was truly unprecedented.

She patted Ruan Xi’s arm and said, “Hurry up and go.”

The farmland was not far from her home, and she and Ruan Jie would be home in a few steps, so Ruan Xi didn’t need to stay with them.

Carrying her backpack, Ruan Xi turned to chase after the old tailor. When she caught up, Secretary Wang and another official were already supporting him. She didn’t say anything and silently followed them to Jinguang Village.

Secretary Wang and the others safely escorted the old tailor home and left after a brief greeting.

After leaving the courtyard, one of the officials said, “What a mess!”

The old tailor was exhausted from the trip and lay motionless on the rocking chair under the grapevine.

Ruan Xi brought a small stool and sat in front of him. She looked at him and said, “Master, thank you.”

For walking so many mountain roads for her and going through all this trouble.

The old tailor didn’t respond to this, only saying, “Today’s ordeal was too tiring. I don’t have the energy to teach you. You should go back first.”

Ruan Xi stood up, removed her backpack, and placed it on the small stool behind her, “You just rest well. I won’t learn any skills from you today. I’ll stay and help you with the chores.”

The old tailor didn’t refuse, “Suit yourself.”

After all the back-and-forth, it was almost noon.

Ruan Xi tidied up the house inside and out, then went to the vegetable garden to pick some vegetables and started preparing lunch. It was still rice with two dishes, which satisfied the old tailor.

After lunch, she didn’t rest and went to help the old tailor tidy up his private plot. She casually found an old piece of clothing to wear for work, pulled out the weeds in the field, and pinched her nose to fertilize the melons and vegetables, almost feeling like her soul was leaving her body after finishing.

After finishing these tasks, the sun was already setting in the west.

Ruan Xi was so tired that her waist and arms ached, so she didn’t stay at the old tailor’s house any longer. She took off the old clothes she used for work, washed her hands and face with soap, and greeted the old tailor before heading home.

She walked slowly on the way and then saw Ling Yao herding pigs on the hillside. The gloomy mood and messy things of the day suddenly dissipated a lot when she saw the boy on the hillside. She felt that living like Ling Yao was also quite good, burying himself in his own little world, with the outside disturbances never affecting him.

She stepped on the grass on the hillside, walked up to Ling Yao, and casually greeted him with a nickname: “Yao Yao?”

Ling Yao heard the voice, looked up, squinted his eyes against the sunlight, and gave her a heartfelt smile.

Seeing his smiling face, Ruan Xi felt quite healed. Her mood relaxed even more, and she took a deep breath, bent down, and sat beside him. She looked at the piece of wood in his hand and asked with a smile, “Why aren’t you reading today?”

Ling Yao replied gently, “I don’t read every day.”

He had a small knife and a piece of wood in his hand, and he was carving the wood today.

Ruan Xi asked again, “What are you carving?”

Ling Yao lightly curled the corner of his mouth, “I’ll show you when it’s done.”

Ruan Xi then sat beside him, watching him carefully carve the wood. She watched as a shapeless piece of wood in his hand turned into a small airplane with double wings.

After carving the last cut, Ling Yao handed the model to Ruan Xi and said, “Airplane.”

Ruan Xi took the airplane with a smile, looked at it from all angles, and said, “You can even do this. You’re really amazing…” After thinking for a moment, she added, “I’ve never seen an airplane in my life.”

Ling Yao replied, “It’s not amazing, just carving for fun.”

Ruan Xi looked at the airplane in her hand for a while and asked, “Can you give it to me?”

Ling Yao nodded directly, “Sure, what do you want? I’ll carve it for you.”

Ruan Xi held the airplane, looked at the sky, thought for a moment, and then looked at Ling Yao, “A pig, I’m a pig in the Chinese zodiac.”

Ling Yao nodded again and responded, “Okay.”

Ruan Xi felt very relaxed with Ling Yao, so she stayed with him until dusk. When Ling Yao saw the sun setting and started herding the pigs home, she also got up and headed home with her backpack.

That night, the Ruan family was destined to be restless. At noon, someone from the production team cooked a big pot of food and sent lunch to the copper mine. Ruan Zhigao, Ruan Changgui, and Ruan Changsheng didn’t come back at noon, but they all heard about the day’s events from others.

After returning home from work in the evening, the faces of the three men were all gloomy, and the atmosphere was so tense that a single spark could ignite a war. The only one with a particularly hostile expression was Ruan Changsheng.

However, Ruan Zhigao didn’t want to continue being a laughingstock. He learned that Sun Xiaohui had already been taught a lesson by Liu Xinghua and had been beaten badly, so he forbade Ruan Changsheng from causing more trouble for Sun Xiaohui.

Ruan Changgui, on the other hand, was extremely frustrated. With a furrowed brow, he called Sun Xiaohui into the room and asked her, “What are you doing? Didn’t I tell you last night not to interfere? Why did you still go and expose it?!”

Sun Xiaohui, feeling guilty, almost buried her head in her chest.

She stammered, “I just… I just can’t stand sneaky people…”

Ruan Changgui, furious, slapped the camphor wood box beside him. “Are you satisfied now? Xiao Xi didn’t steal anything; the old tailor gave it to her himself. The old tailor not only took her as an apprentice but also stood up for her. You made a big scene today, making the whole team laugh at us. Who knows what people will say about us behind our backs now? Are you satisfied?”

Thinking about the events in the cornfield today, Sun Xiaohui felt so aggrieved that she couldn’t speak.

Ruan Changgui didn’t care about the injuries on her face and continued with a frown, “Before, it was just about splitting the family and living separately, which wasn’t a big deal. But now, with this mess, it’s a complete break. How are we supposed to get along with my parents, Changsheng and Xiaoxi, in the future?”

Sun Xiaohui lowered her head and muttered, “What’s the benefit…”

Ruan Changgui, furious, slapped the box again, “What do you think? How did I get so foolish to believe your nonsense and split the family? You said Xiao Wu and Xiao Xi were both wastrels. Now look, Xiao Wu works harder than us on the construction site, with the strength of an ox, earning a lot of work points. And look at Xiao Xi, the old tailor not only teaches her skills but also stands up for her. She’s going to be the next tailor of Fengming Mountain!”

Everyone knew what being the next tailor meant—it was something to be envious of!

But Sun Xiaohui didn’t see it that way. She looked at Ruan Changgui and said, “Xiao Wu works hard to get himself a wife, and it doesn’t benefit us. Xiao Xi can’t even handle needlework; she wasn’t born to be a tailor. Even if she manages to coax the old tailor into teaching her patiently, she won’t succeed.”

Ruan Changgui looked at Sun Xiaohui, feeling that she was both right and wrong. He took a deep breath, lost his temper, and fell silent.

Sun Xiaohui went over to massage his shoulders and said sweetly, “This time, I didn’t get it right. I was wrong, and I’ve learned my lesson. From now on, I’ll listen to you in everything.”

Ruan Changgui snorted, “You better remember this lesson, or I won’t care if you get beaten to death!”