“Ah Ping, do you have any plans this afternoon? Want to go see a movie?”
Qiu Chengcai had come to Xu Jiannan’s wedding banquet with the plan to eat the feast in the morning and take Bai Ping to the movies in the afternoon. Lately, over the past half month, Bai Ping seemed to be busy with something. Qiu Chengcai often asked her out, but she always had something going on.
Fortunately, they both worked at the department store, so they didn’t lack opportunities to see each other. Still, Qiu Chengcai preferred spending more time with Bai Ping after work.
Bai Ping had just freed herself from the children when Qiu Chengcai walked over and launched into his spiel. She wanted to say something, but with Bai Li and Bai Lan present, she held her tongue.
Just then, Qiu Chengcai noticed Bai Li and Bai Lan. He grinned sheepishly and scratched his head. “Second Sister, Little Sister—hello! Sorry, I didn’t notice you both there.”
Bai Lan nearly burst out laughing. From what she remembered of the few times she’d met Qiu Chengcai, the guy seemed a bit dim.
Bai Li was more good-natured. She shook her head with a smile. “You two chat. Little Sister and I are heading to the front courtyard…”
For Xu Jiannan’s banquet today, the Bai family certainly couldn’t all sit at the table. Mother Bai was the family representative. Father Bai, as the head chef, was expected to sit at the table as well.
So the three sisters planned to eat lunch at a nearby state-owned restaurant. But now that Qiu Chengcai had arrived, they didn’t want to be a third wheel.
But just as Bai Li finished speaking, she heard her little sister say quietly, “Second Sister, I have something to do too. Why don’t you head to the front courtyard and wait for me?”
Following her little sister’s gaze, Bai Li saw the tall, handsome Xu Jianbei. Of course she recognized him—she was just curious what connection her younger sister had with him.
—
Bai Li went to the front courtyard, but the back courtyard was bustling with people. Bai Ping and Qiu Chengcai were standing nearby, so Bai Lan couldn’t say much. She simply looked at Xu Jianbei, using her eyes to ask why he’d come.
Xu Jianbei had walked over behind Qiu Chengcai.
Once he arrived, he realized the lively courtyard wasn’t a good place to talk. He gave Bai Lan an apologetic smile and was about to say something when suddenly, a woman’s yelling erupted from the west wing.
It was loud enough to quiet the entire back courtyard for a moment.
Seeing this, Bai Lan and Xu Jianbei exchanged a glance. They nodded to each other in tacit understanding and walked toward the west wing together.
The two west wing rooms plus the side room were all occupied by the Xu family.
A crowd had gathered at the doorway, all staring into the room with its open door. If Bai Lan remembered correctly, this room, which had been divided into two small rooms, housed Xu Jiandong (the eldest) on one side and Xu Jiannan (the third) on the other. Thanks to the wedding, Xu Jiannan’s room looked especially bright and festive.
And the yelling was coming from that very room.
“I told you to be careful! I told you to be careful! You went and dirtied your Third Uncle’s quilt.” The familiar voice of the woman yelling appeared again, followed immediately by the sound of a child being spanked, then the child’s cries.
Bai Lan immediately guessed what had happened.
—
No one else was stupid either. One of the Liu family relatives who had come to see the bride off immediately shouted, “Sister-in-law, why weren’t you watching the child? A perfectly good new quilt, ruined by your little brat.”
“I think she did it on purpose. Ever since we arrived today, this woman has been saying nasty things.” Another Liu family relative said indignantly.
“Hey, why are you being so vicious? It’s normal for a little kid to lose control and wet his pants! Didn’t I just punish the little brat? The groom and bride haven’t said a word, but you bridal escorts sure have sharp tongues!”
When Bai Lan heard “wet his pants,” she was speechless.
So not only had the child dirtied the new quilt in the newlyweds’ room, but he’d also peed on it. Completely unacceptable.
Many of the onlookers frowned. Everyone felt that Xu Jiandong’s wife spoke too harshly and hadn’t raised her child well.
Su Xiaomei wasn’t slow to react either. She hit her youngest son, whom she was holding, even harder.
This youngest son was only three years old. Being spanked repeatedly by his own mother, of course his crying grew louder and louder. On such a joyous day, with this kind of disruption, Xu Jiannan and Liu Meiling’s expressions were particularly grim.
To make matters worse, the person in the family who could best control Su Xiaomei—her mother-in-law, Miao Daju—had just gone to the neighboring courtyard to borrow bowls and chopsticks.
Some of those present began trying to persuade Su Xiaomei to stop hitting the child, while others advised the newlyweds not to hold it against a little kid. The widow Hu, for instance, started saying that a child’s waste was harmless—maybe wetting their new bed meant they’d have a big healthy son soon.
Watching from the sidelines, Bai Lan was completely exasperated. The widow Hu really is a troublemaker, she thought. But the female lead, Liu Meiling, was portrayed in the short drama clips as someone who got things done decisively. There was no way Liu Meiling would quietly swallow this loss.
—
Sure enough, Liu Meiling reached out and stopped Xu Jiannan from speaking. Smiling, she stepped forward and, in a flash, snatched the child from Su Xiaomei’s hands. Her movements were so quick that Bai Lan wanted to applaud.
What Liu Meiling did next made all the onlookers cheer.
Liu Meiling popped a piece of candy into the child’s mouth. The sweet taste immediately stopped the child’s crying, and he smiled through his tears.
Seeing this, everyone began praising Liu Meiling for being both beautiful and kind-hearted. The child had wet her new bed, and yet she wasn’t angry—she even gave him candy.
In contrast, Su Xiaomei, the child’s own mother, had not only failed to watch him properly but had also spanked him until he wailed.
But in Su Xiaomei’s mind, Liu Meiling was simply helpless against her, so she’d resorted to using candy to shut the child up. This made Su Xiaomei feel quite smug.
But the very next second, she was proven wrong. Liu Meiling asked the child calmly, “Didn’t Grandma tell you and your brother today not to go into the new room? How did you get in there and climb onto the bed by yourself?”
The three-year-old was old enough to think. Plus, Liu Meiling’s tone was gentle, and she was the one who’d given him candy. So the child answered directly, “Mom carried me… Needed to pee, looked for Mom, Mom carried me…”
Everyone around stared at Su Xiaomei in disbelief. They’d seen plenty of eccentric people, but someone who deliberately caused trouble on another person’s happy day like this—that was rare.
Just then, Miao Daju returned. After hearing what had happened, she was furious. She grabbed Xu Laoda and Su Xiaomei and dragged them outside.
As she walked, she smiled at the guests and said, “Sorry, sorry. Please excuse this little family matter. Everyone, please eat. The food is ready.”
Xu Jiannan also called out for everyone to sit down at the tables. The guests gradually took their seats. Most of the neighbors from the alley followed along to continue watching the drama. Needless to say, Miao Daju dragging Xu Laoda and his wife outside meant she was going to give them a piece of her mind.
Bai Lan had watched the whole scene. She looked at Liu Meiling, who was now smiling warmly and inviting guests to eat, and wanted to applaud. She thought to herself, There’s going to be plenty of entertainment in this courtyard from now on!
By this point, she’d nearly forgotten Xu Jianbei was still standing nearby.
And what could Xu Jianbei say?
He’d originally planned to talk with Bai Lan today. But it clearly wasn’t the right time. So he had no choice but to set aside what he wanted to say and bring up something else instead.
—
“I really didn’t expect Jiannan’s wife to react so quickly. She shut Su Xiaomei down in no time.”
By evening, the bustle of the courtyard had long since faded. The tables, chairs, pots, pans, and bowls had all been put away. The courtyard had returned to its usual state—except, of course, for the addition of a new bride, Liu Meiling.
Everyone’s impression of her before had been that she was a pretty young woman. But after the morning’s events, people now also thought she was formidable. After all, someone like Su Xiaomei had been put in her place almost instantly.
Hadn’t everyone seen that as soon as the guests left, Su Xiaomei and Xu Laoda were forced to apologize to Liu Meiling and her husband? And the bedding from their new room—they’d have to buy the newlyweds an entirely new set. The peed-on bedding had already been washed and was now hanging under the eaves.
Bai Lan ate her dinner while listening to her mother talk about what the courtyard residents were saying about Liu Meiling. She nodded along from time to time.
But she didn’t join the conversation. Her mind was still on what Xu Jianbei had told her that morning.
—
“Little sister, little sister…”
Just then, her third sister’s voice sounded in her ear.
“What is it?” Bai Lan looked up at Bai Ping, wondering why her third sister, who had gone out to see a movie that afternoon, was suddenly calling her.
Bai Ping said, “I’m asking you—since when did you get so close to Xu Jianbei?”
Father Bai and Mother Bai immediately looked at their youngest daughter. Clearly, they’d been busy all day and had no idea about this.
Bai Lan frowned at Bai Ping, wondering why she’d suddenly ask such a question. Then she turned to her parents and directly repeated what Xu Jianbei had told her.
“Fourth Brother Xu came to talk to me about our eldest sister.”
Because of his work, Xu Jianbei had dealings with the steel mill. Moreover, a friend of his at the steel mill lived in the same apartment building as their eldest sister. He said that the last two times he’d been to the steel mill, he’d seen their eldest sister eating in the cafeteria with her two daughters.
This might seem like a small thing, but because Xu Jianbei knew the full story behind Bai Lan’s engagement to the Song family, and given their eldest sister’s unusual behavior, he was concerned that the Song family might be pulling strings behind the scenes.
“Jianbei’s concern makes sense,” Father Bai said immediately after hearing Bai Lan’s account.
Mother Bai was even more worried. “If nothing were wrong, your eldest sister wouldn’t take the two children to eat at the cafeteria on her own.”
The eldest Bai sister was someone who was always frugal. Though the cafeteria wasn’t expensive, eating at home with the whole family was clearly more economical. And for this to happen multiple times—it just didn’t seem right.
“Perfect timing—we got a portion of pork from the banquet today. Aihong, you’ll take it to Xiaolian tomorrow. And while you’re there, you can find out what’s really going on.” Father Bai made the decision immediately.
Their eldest daughter was the type who only reported good news and hid the bad. Father Bai was worried she was keeping something from the family.
But they didn’t have to wait until the next day for Mother Bai to go to the steel mill. That very evening, their eldest sister showed up at the door with her two daughters.
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