Chapter 10

Gu Qinghuan parked his bicycle to the side and began knocking on the door.

Behind him followed a group of curious onlookers, mostly local women.

Liu Guifang was in the kitchen preparing dinner. Her eldest son was going to come home to eat that night, and while collecting firewood earlier, she had found a few wild chicken eggs. She was getting ready to fry them into an egg sauce.

“Oldest son, why are you home so early?” she called as she walked to the door.

She opened the door and was taken aback—it was Gu Qinghuan standing there. Her smile froze on her face, and as she looked behind him at the crowd of people, an ominous feeling surged inside her.

“Second Son’s family, what are you doing here?” Liu Guifang forced a smile.

Gu Qinghuan said seriously: “Mom, I’m here to collect the grain. I can carry it back on my bicycle, so you don’t have to help with the delivery.”

Liu Guifang was so angry that she almost jumped up. “What grain? Your grain is at the Educated Youth Courtyard, not here with me.”

“Didn’t you tell Aunt Wang and the others? You’re giving us three hundred pounds of grain as part of the split. No need for you to worry, I’ll take it myself.”

“I knew it, how could you be so heartless, throwing Huai’an and the two kids out without a care?” Gu Qinghuan placed the blame directly on her, accusing her with a feigned sense of righteousness. If she wasn’t willing to give the grain, he would publicly tear off any pretense and make things unpleasant for her.

Liu Guifang shot a glare at Wang Xiaohua in the crowd, wishing she could slap herself. “Why did you have to let it slip?”

Earlier that morning, while chatting with her, in an attempt to appear magnanimous and show off her generosity, she had carelessly mentioned the three hundred pounds of grain. In reality, she hadn’t been willing to give a single grain.

She had thought that Gu Qinghuan, who usually kept to himself and didn’t interact much with the villagers, wouldn’t hear any of these rumors. But unexpectedly, the boast from the morning had found its way back to the source by nightfall.

If she refused, looking at the crowd behind Gu Qinghuan, Liu Guifang couldn’t afford to lose face.

If she agreed, three hundred pounds of grain—though it was just coarse grain—she still couldn’t bear to part with it.

The two of them stood frozen in silence for a moment.

“Don’t just stand at the door, come in and we’ll talk.” Liu Guifang said, reaching out to pull Gu Qinghuan into the courtyard. Once inside her territory, whether or not she gave the grain would be her decision.

“Mom, I won’t go in. We haven’t eaten or drunk anything all day at home, and I still have to go back and cook. Just weigh the grain for me, that’s all.”

It seemed Liu Guifang really did care about her face. Finding her weakness was good—maybe she could really get the three hundred pounds of grain without much trouble, making her feel a bit of pain in the process.

Liu Guifang gritted her teeth and glared at Gu Qinghuan, her anger rising. This little brat thought she was an easy pushover, but unexpectedly, he had some tricks up his sleeve.

At that moment, Xu Huaizhi came home.

He was a handsome man, after all, he was the proper Male protagonist in the book. He was good-looking and worked as a technician at the steel factory, one of the most outstanding young men in the village.

The main characters in the book “Seventies Little Darling” were Xu Huaizhi and his wife, Lin Xiaomeng.

Lin Xiaomeng was one of the first educated youth sent to the countryside. As the hope of returning to the city grew slimmer and with age catching up, she married the eldest son of the village branch secretary of Xu Family Village, Xu Huaizhi, a steel factory technician.

In her past life, she abandoned her husband and child, was deceived both financially and romantically, and ended up dying miserably in the street. However, Xu Huaizhi, whom she had abandoned, succeeded in middle age, went into business, and became a wealthy man.

In the book, Lin Xiaomeng returned after being reincarnated. After seeing the world’s splendor, she realized that her original man was the best. She decided to support him as a good wife, raise their son well, and walk with him to the peak of life.

She used her golden finger, the Fortune Space, to absorb others’ good fortune and eventually succeeded herself.

Da Bao and Bei Bei were important sources of her good fortune, and those people she used as stepping stones were simply tools for her rise.

In the book, Xu Huaizhi was portrayed as an upright gentleman, though whether that was true or not was unknown.

At this point, Gu Qinghuan squeezed her own thigh hard, forcing two tears to fall down her face.

“Mom, please just give me the grain. At least let us get through this winter.” Gu Qinghuan’s superb acting successfully caught Xu Huaizhi’s attention.

After understanding the situation, Xu Huaizhi sighed deeply. His parents had gone too far. His second brother, though he hadn’t earned much, had worked hard and sent all the money he earned back to the family. Now, how could they just let him fend for himself just because he was sick?

Winter was coming soon. If they didn’t give the grain, wasn’t that condemning his family to starvation?

However, was it reliable for his father to find a wife for his second brother?

This woman seemed even more beautiful than the girls from the city, but she was crying and asking for help.

Could she really take care of things?

No matter what, Xu Huaizhi still spoke up. “Mom, give the grain to my sister-in-law. I’ll supervise the weighing. Give her the finer grains. The two kids are still growing, and my second brother can’t work. How’s she supposed to support a family of four by herself?”

Xu Huaizhi knew full well what his mother was thinking and how she acted, but he also had his own life to deal with. He couldn’t afford to take care of his second brother and his two children. Splitting them off was fine, and he could always help them more later.

Most people in the village had the habit of living with the eldest son, and Liu Guifang was no exception. She was getting old and would rely on her eldest son in the future. So when the eldest spoke, she had no choice but to give him face.

Still, she muttered under her breath in displeasure: “Two little wild brats, and they think they deserve my fine grain.”

Gu Qinghuan heard this.

What a crazy old woman.

She originally just wanted her three hundred pounds of grain, but since she was being so rude, it was too bad for her.

Once inside, while they were busy arguing about which grain to give, Gu Qinghuan stealthily reached into the nearby grain storage and quietly moved some of every type of grain into her own space, amounting to several hundred pounds in total.

Because the warehouse was so large and the grain so plentiful, no one noticed anything at the time.

This was something Gu Qinghuan had figured out for herself—anything she touched with her fingers could be transferred into her space.

This old woman, despite having so much grain at home, couldn’t bear to give any to the Madman and his two children.

She let them starve until their skin was stretched tight over their bones. Didn’t she fear that a lightning bolt might strike her down from the sky?

Due to Xu Huaizhi’s insistence, Liu Guifang had no choice but to give in. In the end, she weighed out one hundred pounds of millet, one hundred pounds of wheat, and one hundred pounds of corn for Gu Qinghuan.

Apart from the corn, the millet and wheat were finer grains, so they weren’t too bad.

After the grains were weighed, Xu Huaizhi even intended to personally help carry them back to the Old Residence.

Gu Qinghuan was, of course, pleased. Once the grain had passed through Xu Huaizhi’s hands, it had essentially been secured for her. She would have no trouble finding food in the future.

She carried one hundred pounds of corn herself, while the remaining two hundred pounds of grain were placed on Xu Huaizhi’s bicycle.

The onlookers, having enjoyed the spectacle, dispersed. However, this incident had already given the village plenty to gossip about.

Lately, the Xu family had become a frequent topic of conversation.

As Gu Qinghuan made her way back, carrying the corn, she saw two small figures standing at the door, peering out in anticipation.

When the two little ones saw Gu Qinghuan coming back, their expressions, which had previously been blank, suddenly lit up. They quickly ran over to help her push the bicycle.

Without a word, they each took hold of the back of the bicycle and the bundled grain, pushing with all their might.

Gu Qinghuan hadn’t expected them to be so bold today. Just last night, they had been shy and afraid to approach her, but today they were willing to help. She couldn’t help but smile.

Xu Huaizhi, watching from behind, observed the scene thoughtfully. It seemed that this sister-in-law wasn’t bad after all. The two children, who were usually so wary, had actually come out on their own today to help her push the cart.