Aunt Zhou had just finished shaping a steamed bun and was about to light the fire when she turned and saw Zhou Hongxia carrying a cloth bag and getting ready to leave. She hurriedly called out to her.
“Hongxia, come in. Grandma has something to ask you,” she said in a lowered voice.
Zhou Hongxia’s heart tightened, but she went into the kitchen.
“Tell Grandma the truth. Is there someone you like? Which family’s boy is lucky enough to have caught our Hongxia’s eye?”
Zhou Hongxia’s cheeks instantly flushed. She lowered her head and pressed her lips together. “Grandma, there’s no such thing.”
“Don’t worry. Grandma won’t tell anyone.” Aunt Zhou leaned closer with a smile. “I’ll keep it a secret for you.”
Han Wenke already had someone he was seeing. Even if she liked him, it would be pointless. All she could do was repeat, “Grandma, really, there’s no one.”
Seeing her flushed face and burning ears, Aunt Zhou understood. Since the girl was unwilling to say anything, she stopped pressing her.
She turned, brought over a shallow tray, and picked out several vegetable buns that were still warm. “They’re still hot. Take them home for your parents to try.”
Just as Zhou Hongxia carried the tray out the gate, she ran into Huang Meili and Wang Chunxiao, who were returning from the small road with half a cloth sack of goods each.
The two women were notorious in the village for their loose tongues and love of gossip. Zhou Hongxia disliked them from the bottom of her heart and only wanted to walk around them.
“Hongxia!” Wang Chunxiao shouted from far away. “Look at you! People who eat state-supplied grain really are different. You’re dressed just like a city girl!”
They were neighbors, after all. If she ignored them, people would accuse her of being arrogant and looking down on others, so she had no choice but to stop. Politely, she called out, “Aunt Chunxiao, Third Aunt, did you go to the market?”
Then she turned to leave.
Huang Meili’s eyes immediately fixed on the soft, fluffy vegetable buns in the tray. Her chest tightened, and jealousy surged through her.
The moment she stepped into her own yard, Huang Meili began shouting, “Zhou Zhimin, you’re not even human!”
Zhou Zhimin, who was tending the stove in the kitchen, looked up in confusion. “Huang Meili, what are you going crazy about now?”
“You know perfectly well! The old woman favors the eldest son. She pours her heart and soul into his family, but when it comes to you, she treats you like some stray she picked up! Your father doesn’t love you, your mother doesn’t care about you—what’s the point of you being alive?”
The moment Zhou Zhimin heard this, he knew she had seen or heard something again. Frowning, he hurried over to take the bag from her shoulder.
In a subdued voice, he coaxed her, “The New Year is almost here. Why are you making such a racket? What if outsiders hear and laugh at us? Come inside and warm up. I made some vegetable soup. It’ll be ready soon.”
Huang Meili flung his hand away, even angrier. “Zhou Zhimin, you might as well stay useless for the rest of your life!
“Our child went to ask for a bun, and you wouldn’t give him one, but hot buns were sent over to the eldest son’s house!
“And that Li Chun Tao woman—the old woman’s bracelet must have gone to her!”
“Come inside and talk. Don’t yell out here!” Zhou Zhimin said as he reached for her again.
“Get lost! Don’t touch me!” Huang Meili stormed into the main room and threw herself onto the bed, continuing to curse under her breath.
She clearly hated Li Chun Tao, but as she cursed, all her anger somehow turned toward Zhou Dana and Shi Yanhua instead.
She had thought that, by holding their secret over them, she could keep them under her thumb and occasionally extort some spending money.
But when she went to Zhou Dana for money a few days earlier, he not only refused her, he had coldly threatened her instead.
“Huang Meili, you’d better behave yourself. Otherwise, you’ll regret it.”
“So you won’t give me money? Then I’ll tell everyone about you and Shi Yanhua!”
“Go ahead.”
Zhou Dana was completely unafraid.
She then went to look for Shi Yanhua and put on a flattering smile. “Director Shi, the New Year is almost here. I’d like to borrow a little money to buy some New Year’s goods.”
“I don’t have any.” Shi Yanhua’s face was dark, and she did not even raise her eyes.
“Director Shi, if you won’t lend me any, there’s nothing I can do. But I can’t always keep my mouth shut. Your precious son, Zhou Jinzhu…”
Before she could finish, Shi Yanhua suddenly grabbed a hemp rope and viciously tightened it around her neck. Her eyes were filled with murderous intent.
“Huang Meili, are you tired of living?”
Huang Meili could not breathe. She desperately clawed at the rope around her neck, her face turning purple.
Shi Yanhua released her and spoke in a voice cold as ice. “I’m warning you one last time. Keep your mouth shut. If you can’t, I have plenty of ways to help you do it.”
Shi Yanhua truly was capable of killing her. Only then did Huang Meili become afraid.
No matter how miserable her life was, she did not want to die. Even less did she want to end up like Baldy Zhang, dead and abandoned in the wilderness.
That day at the market, she had run into Shi Yanhua and felt both fear and hatred. Then she had come home to see Zhou Hongxia carrying buns back to her family. One troublesome thing after another had pressed down on her until she could hardly breathe.
Now, lying on the bed, she wished she could rush outside and cause a huge uproar, exposing the entire scandal between those two.
“Meili, get up and drink some vegetable soup.” Zhou Zhimin carried a bowl of hot soup to the bedside and coaxed her gently. “Mother favors the others, and I’m bitter about it too.
“The eldest family has one son in the army and another who eats state-supplied grain. We have nothing.
“Let’s stop fighting with everyone else and work together to make a better life. Then we’ll show them.
“You’re always saying I’m useless, but I’ve been thinking about ways to make money…”
Huang Meili threw off the quilt covering her head and glared at him. “What good is thinking? Why don’t you actually do something?”
“I’m trying to come up with a way, aren’t I?” Zhou Zhimin said even more gently. “Get up. The soup will be cold. Drink it before you go back to sleep.”
As he spoke, he reached out to help her. Pouting, Huang Meili reluctantly sat up.
Zhou Zhimin had a fairly mild temper. He gave in to her and indulged her in almost everything.
The heat of the soup softened some of the anger in Huang Meili’s heart.
“Zhou Zhimin, if it weren’t for the sake of our three children, I would’ve left you long ago. After the New Year, you must go out and earn money. Stop hiding at home every day!”
“All right, all right. I’ll definitely think of something,” Zhou Zhimin agreed repeatedly.
Meanwhile, Zhou Hongxia carried the vegetable buns home. A strange woman was sitting inside. When she saw Hongxia enter, the woman hurriedly stood up and smiled as she looked her over.
“So this is Hongxia? What a beautiful girl! She looks like someone out of a painting!”
The woman was her grandaunt.
When Zhou Hongxia was little, she had followed her older brother to visit the woman during the New Year. After she grew older, only her brother continued making the trip. Several years had passed since she had last seen her.
“Grandaunt, please sit,” Zhou Hongxia said.
Zhou Zhiguo and his wife were sitting with the visitor and chatting. When Zhou Hongxia returned, they told her to keep the woman company, then turned and went into the kitchen to prepare lunch.
Her grandaunt smiled warmly and chatted with her about a few ordinary family matters before getting straight to the point.
She had come to arrange a match for Zhou Hongxia. In fact, Hongxia had already guessed it the moment she entered the room.
To her, going on blind dates was merely a formality.
But it was the New Year, and a relative had made a special trip for her. Refusing to meet the man would have been difficult to explain.
“Grandaunt, I’m sorry to trouble you.”
“What are you talking about? You’re my own niece. If I don’t look out for you, who will?” Her grandaunt beamed.
After lunch, her grandaunt got up to leave. Before going, she arranged with Wang Haiying to bring Hongxia to her home the next morning to meet the man.
She kept praising him. “He eats state-supplied grain and works at the commune office. He’s handsome, has a respectable manner, and comes from a well-off family.”
Zhou Hongxia did not take it to heart at all. Of all the men she had met over the past few days, every one of them had seemed to come from a decent family.
Early the next morning, Wang Haiying prepared breakfast. After mother and daughter ate a simple meal, they set out.
Her grandaunt’s home was not far from Qingshan Street, only seven or eight li away. The road was slippery in winter, so the two of them walked slowly and did not arrive until more than two hours later.
When they entered, the man was already sitting inside, chatting with her grandaunt.
Hearing the commotion, he immediately stood up and greeted them politely.
Zhou Hongxia looked up at the man’s face, and her whole body instantly froze. Her cheeks flushed hot, and her heart seemed to miss a beat.
How could it be him?
For a moment, she was startled and flustered, yet sweetly and bitterly moved, with nowhere to put her hands or feet.
She had never dreamed that the two of them would meet again in this way.
Standing in the doorway, she could neither go in nor retreat. Her heart hung suspended, pounding wildly in her chest.
