“Is Comrade Song here?”
It was already the third day since Lin Dahai had been beaten.
Aunt Wang, dressed in her padded jacket and with her hands tucked in for warmth, briskly ran into the educated youth’s courtyard.
“Hurry, hurry, the Lin family is fighting again!”
Hearing her shout, Song Wei, who had just stepped outside, immediately perked up. Carrying two wolf pups in her arms, she grabbed Heidan and rushed toward the Lin family’s house.
“Wait for me! I want to see too…”
Since the snow had fallen, everyone had been staying indoors with nothing to do. With little entertainment in the village, the news of drama at the Lin household drew the other educated youth out of their rooms.
Gao Le and Zhao Su came out holding bags of sunflower seeds, and Song Wei wasn’t one to miss out either, stuffing her pockets with peanuts and sunflower seeds. After all, you can’t watch drama without snacks.
Aunt Wang, seeing the two young men joining, chuckled happily.
Li Juan, Liu Linlin, and Bai Yunjiao also tagged along. Even Xu Laidi, bundled in warm clothes, decided to join the crowd.
Aunt Wang hadn’t expected that calling Song Wei would result in bringing so many people, but she didn’t mind. After all, a lot of folks were already gathering at the Lin family’s place.
When they arrived, Song Wei and the others were stunned by the sight before them.
“So many people?”
It seemed like the whole village had shown up, with even people from neighboring villages joining in.
Inside the Lin family’s courtyard, loud arguing could be heard. Some of the voices were unfamiliar.
Excited, Song Wei considered climbing the wall for a better view and nearly dropped the wolf pups in her arms. Thankfully, she caught them just in time.
“Don’t bully my son too much, you shameless people!” old lady Lin’s familiar screech rang out. “My son’s perfectly fine, yet you come here accusing him with baseless rumors! You just want to extort us? Dream on!”
“Shameless? Ha! Your son is no saint!” A loud, unfamiliar voice bellowed back. It belonged to an older woman with a commanding tone that rivaled old lady Lin’s. “Would there be rumors if he hadn’t done anything disgraceful? My daughter ran back to her parents crying! You Lin family owe us an explanation today!”
Aunt Wang tugged at Song Wei. “What are you standing here for? I saved you a spot upstairs in the loft!”
Grinning, Song Wei thanked her and slipped through the crowd, but just as she was about to climb up, she spotted Lin Zhen arriving. She hesitated and gave Aunt Wang a pleading look.
“Auntie, can we bring one more person?”
And so, Lin Zhen joined them in the loft.
At over six feet tall, Lin Zhen had to hunch over to avoid hitting his head, looking both awkward and pitiful.
Song Wei stifled a laugh, but when Lin Zhen glanced at her with a slightly aggrieved look, she quickly changed the subject.
“How’s your leg doing?”
“It’s much better,” he replied.
“You’ve got some tough legs,” she remarked.
Unlike most people who would stay home to recover, Lin Zhen managed to hop around everywhere on his injured leg. Ever since they’d started dating, he had been showing up every morning with breakfast for her—delicious, steaming hot meals that made even the other educated youth jealous.
Their relationship had become public knowledge in the courtyard.
Once they found a spot to sit, Song Wei turned to Lin Zhen. “Why are you here? I didn’t think you’d be interested in the Lin family’s drama.”
Lin Zhen pulled two boiled eggs from his pocket. “Here, I figured you’d come, so I brought these for you.”
Though Lin Zhen wasn’t usually drawn to gossip, he knew Song Wei couldn’t resist a bit of drama. After spending some time with her, he’d learned how much she enjoyed it.
Beaming, Song Wei accepted the eggs.
Meanwhile, Heidan, sitting nearby, looked increasingly disgruntled. “I’m still here, you know! Am I invisible to you? What are those eyes on your face for, decorations?”
Aunt Wang burst into laughter at Heidan’s frustration.
“You silly boy, what are you complaining about? Your brother and Sister Song are dating! They’re so passionated that they only see each other!”
Neither Song Wei nor Lin Zhen were shy, so they simply laughed along.
“It’s better to be young. Looking at you two young people reminds me of my youth…”
Song Wei curiously listened to Aunt Wang’s nostalgic anecdotes while keeping an ear on the commotion below, multitasking with ease.
‘What happened next?’ Song Wei’s eager expression was unmistakable, prompting Aunt Wang to continue her story.
“Well, back in my day, matchmaking was usually arranged by our families, but I had high standards. I wasn’t just going to settle! I was considered one of the best-looking girls in ten villages and very capable too.
“They kept introducing me to short or plain-looking men, but I wanted someone good-looking. Then I spotted my current husband—he was quite the looker back then! I gathered my courage and told him I liked him and wanted to date him.
“Oh, you should’ve seen him! He turned bright red and couldn’t even walk straight after that. Now that I think about it, if I hadn’t made the first move, he might’ve been snatched up by someone else!”
Aunt Wang spat out a sunflower seed shell with a smug grin but kept her eyes glued to the Lin family courtyard.
Song Wei couldn’t help laughing.
“ah!”
The other ladies were interested and wanted to talk about their youth, but at this time, screams were heard from the Lin family’s yard.
Everyone suddenly lost interest in talking and stretched their necks to look down.
Below, old lady Lin and another elderly woman had escalated from arguing to physically fighting.
The two women had grabbed each other’s hair and were rolling on the ground, kicking furiously while hurling insults.
“You Lin family are a bunch of scoundrels!” the other woman shrieked. “My daughter’s suffered so much in your house. And your eldest son isn’t any better! He borrowed money from us to become a worker but hasn’t repaid a single cent. Every year, he doesn’t even bother visiting us during New Year’s. Instead, he’s off fooling around with some woman!”
Old lady Lin responded in kind, using her foot to shove the other woman’s mouth shut.
“You shameless old hag! My son has nothing to do with that woman! You just want my son gone so your daughter can remarry and take everything with her. I tell you, if anything happens to my son, I will go to your Deng family and beat you to death, you old hag!”
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