After speaking, Aunt Lin took her basket and went to buy groceries, taking the opportunity to request leave along the way.
Song Wei and Lin Zhen stayed behind at home, snacking on peanuts and sunflower seeds.
Lin Zhen wasn’t particularly fond of these snacks, so he shelled them by hand, gathered a small handful, and passed them to Song Wei.
Song Wei tossed the entire handful of sunflower seed kernels into her mouth, eating with immense satisfaction.
“What a shame Auntie doesn’t have a well at home. We can’t chill the watermelon.”
Chilled watermelon tasted much better.
There was a well in the courtyard, but it was shared publicly. If they took the watermelon there to chill, word would spread to everyone within an hour.
“I’ll chill a watermelon for you when we get back.”
Even within their own brigade, watermelons weren’t free—except for the first one. Otherwise, if everyone could just help themselves for free, it would lead to chaos.
That said, watermelons were sold to brigade members at a much lower price. Their family wasn’t short on money, and many others had money but nowhere to spend it.
Now that their brigade grew watermelons, they could eat as many as they pleased.
As long as they didn’t overindulge and make themselves sick.
While waiting for Aunt Lin to return, a commotion suddenly broke out outside.
Song Wei’s ears perked up instantly. Clutching a handful of sunflower seeds, she scurried outside with quick, light steps.
Lin Zhen smiled helplessly and began clearing the sunflower seed shells from the table.
The shared courtyard was bustling with activity. Aunt Lin’s home was on the third floor, and Song Wei peered down through the railing. Her sharp eyesight allowed her to see everything happening below clearly.
“I can’t go on living like this! You little slut, how dare you cheat on him? You shameless bitch, how could you? What has my son ever done to wrong you?”
Ooh, a scandal with some spice to it.
Song Wei craned her neck even further.
Goodness, the people below looked somewhat familiar.
That woman—wasn’t she the one they’d accidentally run into in the alleyway last time they visited Aunt Lin’s house, the one having a secret affair?
Talk about luck—here was the follow-up drama, served up right before her eyes.
Below, an old woman was pulling the woman’s hair, hitting and cursing at her. Next to them stood a dark-skinned man with shifty, narrow eyes.
But the man’s complexion didn’t look good—it was sickly pale with a greenish tint.
The woman screamed, covering her hair.
A chubby little boy suddenly rushed out and shoved the old woman.
“Why are you bullying my mom?”
The old woman grew even angrier. “Fugui, get out of the way! Today, I’m going to beat this shameless bitch to death. She’s not your mother!”
The dark, skinny man also grabbed his son.
“Get over here, you little brat! From today on, you no longer have such a shameless mother!”
The little boy struggled incessantly.
Seeing this, the woman grew frantic. “Let go of my son!”
The man’s face darkened even further. He stepped forward and slapped her.
“How dare you even mention our son? How could you cheat on me!”
The woman stubbornly retorted, “What cheating? He’s just a male comrade I know. We were just saying hello.”
“Do you think I’m fucking blind? You were hugging and kissing him, and you call that saying hello?”
The man was furious and began fighting with the woman.
The woman was fierce herself—if she weren’t bold, she wouldn’t have done something like that in the first place.
She clawed at the man’s face with her nails.
The scene descended into chaos.
And of course, there were onlookers who enjoyed stirring the pot.
“Granny Li, that precious grandson of yours doesn’t look much like your son. Could he be the child of that other man?”
This speculation wasn’t entirely baseless. Li Fugui had very fair skin, a stark contrast to his father’s dark complexion, and his facial features didn’t resemble his father’s at all.
Granny Li couldn’t accept this possibility—this was the grandson she had doted on for so long.
Li Gui, who was in the midst of beating his wife, was now seeing red.
He had seen the other man’s face—though the man had ultimately managed to escape.
But the more he thought about it, the more he realized his son did bear some resemblance to that man.
Li Gui’s blows grew fiercer. “Tell me, is Fugui really my son?”
The woman’s nose was bleeding from the beating, but she stubbornly refused to admit it.
“He is your Li family’s child!”
Furious, Li Gui pointed at her. “Fine, fine! Just wait until I track down that lover of yours. Let’s see how you try to lie your way out of it then!”
Upon hearing this, Granny Li’s vision went dark, and she nearly collapsed.
“What sin have we committed? Why? Why did you have to cheat?”
The thought that the grandson she had doted on for so many years might not be biologically related to her made Granny Li’s heart ache with a sharp, stabbing pain.
Meanwhile, Li Fugui was throwing a tantrum on the ground, rolling around and wailing.
But perhaps he had tired himself out from crying—he suddenly sat up.
“Grandma, I’m hungry! I want to eat steamed eggs and cake.”
“Grandma, I want meat! Hurry up and make food!”
Under normal circumstances, Granny Li would have happily coaxed her “precious darling” and hurried off to make him something delicious.
But now, with the possibility that he might not be her biological grandson, she couldn’t bring herself to move.
“Eat, eat, eat! You little bastard, still thinking about eating our food? I’ll beat you to death!”
While Granny Li might still be uncertain in her heart, Li Gui was about eighty percent sure that this child they had spoiled for years was not his son.
With a twisted expression, he moved to hit the boy.
But the woman shielded him.
“Li Gui, are you even human? How could you hit a child!”
Li Fugui was only scared for a moment before his anger took over.
He pointed at Li Gui and unleashed a stream of curses. “You motherf****r! I’ll **** you!”
Song Wei gasped in shock. The child looked only eight or nine years old, but he had certainly learned quite the vocabulary of foul language!
The others in the courtyard, however, seemed accustomed to it. Clearly, Li Fugui had cursed like this many times before.
It’s just that in the past, his targets were others—now, the Li family was on the receiving end.
Li Gui flew into a rage. “Shut your mouth, you little brat!”
Some bystanders egged them on. “Hey, what’s the big deal? He’s just a child. Why are you so angry?”
“Yeah, picking on a kid—how petty can you be? You’re scaring him!”
“Oh, your kid curses so well! It just shows how clever he is!”
These were the exact same words Granny Li and Li Gui had often used to defend others in the past.
Whenever Li Gui caused trouble, they would resort to these unreasonable and shameless excuses.
Now, those who had been on the receiving end of such remarks were throwing the same words right back at them.
As much as being cheated on was tragic, the Li family clearly didn’t deserve sympathy.
Instead, everyone was watching the drama unfold with gleeful schadenfreude.
The spoiled, unreasonable child wasn’t even biologically related to them—this was sweet revenge.
Li Gui’s face contorted with rage, and Granny Li trembled all over.
It was clear they never expected that the very words they often used would feel so unbearable when turned against them.
Song Wei munched on sunflower seeds, thoroughly enjoying the spectacle, and even felt like giving a thumbs-up to the audience members who were chiming in.
Just as the chaos below escalated into a full-blown brawl, Aunt Lin returned.
Carrying her grocery basket, she almost sprinted upstairs to stand beside Song Wei.
Quite a few people were also watching the drama from the corridor, just like them.
“Serves them right. Not a single decent one in that family. This is karma.”
She wasn’t in a hurry to start cooking anymore. Still holding her basket, she joined Song Wei in enjoying the spectacle.
“That family spoiled that child rotten. Just look—even as his own family fights, that brat doesn’t care at all. Oh my, he’s even snatching food from others now!”
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