“Branch… Branch Secretary…”
Baldy Zhang stammered out a few words, “I! I was just joking around with Zhaodi!”
Zhou Dana’s face was darker than the ash at the bottom of a pot. Without a word, he kicked him and roared, “Get lost!”
Baldy Zhang felt as if he had been granted amnesty and ran away like a rabbit.
Zhou Dana turned his glare to Zhou Zhaodi, his voice booming, “Get back home!”
Both he and his wife, Wang Jinzhi, knew that Zhou Zhaodi had been fond of Zhou Zhijun since they were kids.
A while back, the couple had even considered setting them up. Wang Jinzhi had specifically hinted at this to Auntie Zhou, but Zhou Zhijun had no such intentions at all.
Over the past few months, the village had been buzzing with rumors about Zhou Zhijun and Li Chuntao.
Initially, Zhou Dana didn’t believe it, but with Zhou Zhijun constantly protecting Li Chuntao, he started to have his doubts. However, without any solid proof, he couldn’t say much.
He knew very well in his heart that regardless of whether there was anything going on between Zhou Zhijun and Li Chuntao, Zhou Zhijun would absolutely not want Zhou Zhaodi.
But this girl just wouldn’t give up, constantly causing trouble, making him, the branch secretary, lose face.
Just now, catching Baldy Zhang acting like a hooligan with her, Zhou Dana was so angry his lungs were about to explode.
That very night, Zhou Dana discussed it with Wang Jinzhi, “We need to marry Zhaodi off quickly, otherwise who knows what kind of embarrassing things will happen in the future!”
“This girl has high standards! She’s thirty-three and a widow, what good family can she find if she remarries?”
Wang Jinzhi sighed, “She’s been in love with Zhou Zhijun since before she was married, and after all these years she still won’t give up!”
“Don’t mention Zhou Zhijun to me!” Zhou Dana sneered inwardly. That Zhou Zhijun looked decent on the outside, but he was no good either.
He lit a pipe of dry tobacco, took two deep drags, and suddenly knocked the pipe hard against the bed leg. “I’ve got it!”
“Got what?” Wang Jinzhi looked at him in confusion.
“I’ve found a suitable family! The Wang family’s boy will do!”
Wang Jinzhi was stunned for a moment, not processing it. “Which Wang family boy are you talking about?”
“Wang Qingshan! Even though his family is a bit poor and he has a birthmark on his face, he’s young, only twenty-eight!”
Wang Jinzhi immediately got anxious, “Zhaodi is five years older than him!”
“So what if she’s five years older? In the old society, there were people fifteen years older! If she wasn’t five years older, I might not even consider him!”
The couple discussed it until midnight and finally decided to marry Zhou Zhaodi to Wang Qingshan.
“Wang Chouni just hanged herself because of the arranged exchange marriage. Old Man Wang and his wife are worrying about his marriage, they’ll definitely agree!”
“They might agree, but Zhaodi might not!”
“Talk to her tomorrow. If she doesn’t agree, she can stop living at her parents’ house!” Zhou Dana rolled over, and soon his snoring was thunderous.
Meanwhile, after Wang Xiaoming came back for the winter holiday, he had been sleeping on a floor pallet in Wang Jieshi’s room so he could help him up to use the toilet at night.
Chuntao originally wanted to sleep on the floor in that empty room, but Wang Xiaohong stopped her. “It’s too cold, and the ground is damp, you can’t sleep there!”
She gave the bed to Chuntao and went to squeeze in with Zhou Hongxia.
This bed had been thoroughly abused by Zhou Zhijun a few days ago; both bed legs had cracked, and whenever she rolled over, it would creak and wobble.
Late at night, Chuntao lay on it, completely sleepless, not daring to even move, afraid the bed legs would completely break.
The heavy snow had been falling intermittently for days, and the north wind whipped the snow pellets against the plastic film covering the window, making a continuous crackling sound.
In winter, Chuntao didn’t dare drink anything soupy at night, afraid of having to get up to use the toilet.
But tonight’s bean noodles—which were more dried vegetables and broth than actual noodles—were too tempting in the cold weather, and she couldn’t resist drinking two bowls.
In the middle of the night, the urge to pee naturally came. Fortunately, she had brought the chamber pot into the room before bed, otherwise she would have had to brave the wind and snow to go to the outhouse.
Chuntao carefully climbed out of bed, relieved herself, and then tiptoed back to lie down. But the moment she touched the bed, the wooden frame collapsed with a loud creak!
She fell heavily to the ground, unable to stop an “Ouch!” from escaping her lips.
It was all that Zhou Zhijun’s fault. He had too much energy and nowhere to spend it, not only tormenting her but making the bed suffer too!
Chuntao hurt all over from the fall. It took her a long time to get up, and her wrist was twisted, making her hiss in pain.
“Sister-in-law, what’s wrong?”
Wang Xiaoming in the next room hadn’t slept deeply. Hearing the noise, he suddenly scrambled up from his floor pallet and ran towards Chuntao’s room.
The room was dimly lit by the snow’s reflection from outside, and Wang Xiaoming could only hear Chuntao hissing in pain, unable to see her expression clearly.
Chuntao was only wearing coarse cotton underwear, shivering from the cold. She fumbled to put on her old padded jacket and whispered, “The bed… the bed collapsed…”
Wang Xiaoming hurried to Wang Jieshi’s room to light the kerosene lamp and brought it over. He saw that one of the bed legs on the small, broken wooden bed had snapped. He sighed, “This bed is ancient, it hasn’t been sturdy for a long time!”
Saying this, he started to head out. “I’ll go find some wire to tie the bed leg!”
“Don’t bother tying it. I’ll just sleep on the floor tonight and we can fix it tomorrow!” Chuntao stopped him.
Wang Xiaoming also knew there was no wire in the house, so he didn’t mention tying the bed again. He turned and helped Chuntao lay some thin wood on the floor.
Then he laid a straw mat on the wood, and finally put the thin, hard mattress on top.
“This should be a bit softer!” Wang Xiaoming patted the mattress, feeling a sourness in his heart, almost shedding tears.
Chuntao was a good person. Married into the Wang family for four years, she had suffered a lot but never had any wandering thoughts.
When his mother found Wang Haichao, she didn’t want him to study anymore. It was Chuntao who grew watermelons to earn money to support his education. Wang Xiaoming always kept this great kindness in his heart.
He studied hard at school, aiming to get into the county’s key high school next year, and eventually a good university, so he could have the ability to properly repay Chuntao.
“Sister-in-law, it’s late, hurry up and sleep!”
Chuntao lay on the floor pallet, just about to drift off to sleep when she suddenly heard a creaking sound of someone stepping on the snow outside. She woke up with a start.
Listening closely, the sound was gone.
She closed her eyes to go back to sleep, but still felt uneasy. She suddenly opened her eyes again, her heart pounding.
She stiffened her neck and looked towards the window. What she saw made her gasp, the hairs on her body standing up.
A dark shadow flashed past the window and then disappeared. Only the sound of the falling snow remained.
Chuntao tensed up, quickly wrapping the quilt tightly around herself, not daring to breathe.
Could that shadow be Zhou Zhijun?
Wang Xiaoming was still at home. If he saw him, that would be terrible! Chuntao didn’t dare think further, shrinking back under the mattress.
That night, she didn’t sleep well at all. Hearing the rooster crow in a daze, she quickly got up.
Remembering the shadow from last night, she couldn’t help but glance towards the window.
The heavy snow had fallen all night, and the footprints on the ground had long been covered by the new snow. As her gaze subconsciously shifted to the windowsill, there was a thick layer of snow on it, with one spot clearly protruding, as if there was something underneath.
Chuntao slowly walked over and brushed away the snow, revealing a small bundle wrapped in a blue handkerchief. The memory of the dark silhouette from the night before sent a sudden wave of panic through her. She hurriedly stuffed the bundle into her pocket, not daring to open it until she had retreated to the outhouse. Upon seeing what was inside, Chuntao's breath caught in her throat, and her fingertips trembled uncontrollably.
