Chapter 296: Tragic Life After Marriage (5)
The weather was turning warmer and her paternal grandparents and father had asked her to go back to the village to dig for wild vegetables. At first, they wanted her to stay at her maternal grandmother's place and dig for a few days before going back. She could even eat at her grandmother's house and save food. The best was if she could bring some food back.
But not only had she not received a mouthful of rice, she had not even been able to keep the wild vegetables she had dug up. Her maternal grandmother had taken them all.
After that, her paternal grandparents and father refused to allow her to go to her maternal grandmother's house. They made her rise early to dig wild vegetables in the village and bring them back to town after dark...
During this time, her life was like hell on earth as compared to her previous existence. This was completely unlike her dream of what a young city girl's life was like!
Up until the present, Gu Ruoqing had not figured out how she had fallen into these straits?
Gu Ruoqing remained silent, but Chen Honghua continued to smile and say fawningly, "Qing Qing, you seldom come back to play after you left for the city. I haven't seen you for a long time. I've missed you very much!
"We're good friends. Why don't you stay for the afternoon! Come to my home for lunch! We can have a good chat!"
Gu Ruoqing's hand paused. Have lunch?
"Alright, I'll come out and play today. I'll go back at night!"
Chen Honghua was delighted.
Gu Qingyao: "..."
She did not want to bother with these things now. She really looked forward to what would happen when Zhang Xiaohui's pregnancy was discovered.
One must know that in her previous life, Zhang Xiaohui and Wang Guozhu had married normally before having a child. At that time, Zhou Hong had despised Wang Guozhu and found a richer man, so she had abandoned Wang Guozhu.
Wang Guozhu was not together with Zhang Xiaohui then, so he was reluctant to let go of Zhou Hong. In order to get rid of Wang Guozhu, Zhou Hong had given him many favors.
So in her previous life, Zhang Xiaohui had lived fairly well after marrying Wang Guozhu. Later on, the era of freedom arrived and Wang Guozhu made a small fortune, so Zhang Xiaohui's life improved even further.
But later on...
After the Gu family's situation stabilized, her father had dealt with the mother-daughter duo.
In this life, matters had changed drastically. Gu Qingyao was looking forward to seeing Zhang Xiaohui's tragic future.
Gu Qingyao returned home in the afternoon in a good mood and began to make lunch.
Gu Yunshen had gone out to pick medicinal herbs and her younger aunt, Gu Yunshuang, was helping her grandparents with their work. Then she carried her basket off to dig for wild vegetables.
Only Gu Qingyao remained at home to take care of the children.
The children were all very obedient. When they returned, they washed the wild vegetables by the well.
Even Little Nine, who was the youngest, mimicked his older siblings and cousins as they worked... no, in fact, the two from the Mo family were nephews!
Gu Qingyao made chive dumplings for lunch.
She chopped up the tender chives and added some eggs. She used plenty of seasoning and oil, and when she had finished marinating everything, she went to prepare the noodles.
In these times, fine white noodles were a little too extravagant, so she added some rye noodles so that it would not be so ostentatious.
These dumplings were easy to make and Gu Qingyao made many in a short time. Gu Fangting lit the fire and when the first batch was cooked, Gu Qingyao immediately got Mo Chengrui to send a few to Jiang Yingqiu in the Southern Lake Brigade, so she could have them for lunch.
Mo Chengrui and Mo Chengxu enjoyed playing at her house. There were more children here and they would play together and study together.
Gu Qingyao selected a handful of tender wild vegetables and added eggs to make egg drop soup. Lunch would be chive dumplings and egg drop soup.
Gu Qingyao seasoned her food generously and used plenty of oil. So she could make the same ingredients taste much better than others.
Chapter 297: Freeloading Off The Unlucky Chen Family (1)
Moreover, she had great culinary skills.
The kids had a very satisfying meal.
The youngest, Gu Jinzhi, had his mouth full of oil. Even his hands had sauce and he stuck his tiny tongue out to lick them clean.
Gu Qingyao: "..."
"Elder Sister, you make delicious food. I want to follow you in the future. I will not go to my parents anymore!"
Gu Jinzhi said with a serious expression.
Gu Qingyao smiled.
Comfort washed over her suddenly as she watched the child's innocent and blissful face.
This child probably still did not have a strong concept of his parents' departure. In this period of time in the hometown, he ate well, had clothes to keep him warm and had someone to play with. He spent his days very happily and never mentioned missing his parents.
The north-east!
It would take a very long time by train from here.
There had not been any news from Eldest Uncle and everyone was unaware of the situation.
Before he left, he said that he would write back once they were settled there and everyone had been waiting.
Meanwhile, the Chen family was also having their meal at this time.
Chen Honghua brought Gu Ruoqing back home. Her mother, Wang Qiuhua, was delighted and was waiting for them after preparing all the dishes.
Truthfully speaking, Gu Ruoqing looked down on Chen Honghua completely.
She looked down on their entire family.
But now, her lips curled up as she looked at Chen Honghua and Wang Qiuhua who were smiling to curry favor with her.
The mother was called Qiuhua while the daughter Honghua. How much do they like flowers*?
*"hua" translates to flower in English
However, in a village family, there was a family of which the grandmother, daughter-in-law and granddaughter were all called Zhaodi. Only country folks were able to do such stupid and tacky things.
Weird people!
At the thought of that, Gu Ruoqing suddenly felt that she was very lofty and finally felt the superiority of being a city girl.
Ever since she entered the Wang family, she had been doubting her life everyday. But today, she felt that it was still worth it to be a city girl.
Chen Honghua brought a chair for Gu Ruoqing solicitously. Placed before Gu Ruoqing was a bowl of rice. White rice!
This was a treatment that even Chen Honghua did not have in the past. Only her ancestor-like younger brother received such treatment.
Gu Ruoqing could not help but swallow her saliva when she saw the bowl of white rice and it was only after exerting all her energy did she control herself from engulfing all the rice.
Gu Ruoqing and Chen Xiaobao had white rice while the remaining people had cornbread. Wang Qiuhua brought two dishes out. One was salted vegetables while the other was scrambled eggs with green peppers.
It was a very small portion – only a portion in the center of the plate and it was made with two eggs with lots of green pepper.
But even so, it was nothing short of a delicacy to Gu Ruoqing who had not eaten meat for a long time.
Losing restraint, she picked up her chopsticks and tossed everything into her mouth furiously. Everyone was shocked to see her wolfing down the food!
Gu Ruoqing also knew that behaving like this would lose face but she had no choice. She was ravenous and really wanted to eat. The taste of the food in her mouth made her unable to stop although she knew it was damaging to her image.
Faced with the bewildered stares of the people from the Chen family, Gu Ruoqing cleared the rice in her bowl and all the scrambled egg with green pepper in the plate in under two minutes.
"Do you have any more?" With an empty bowl in hand, she asked Chen Honghua opposite her.
Chen Honghua only returned to her senses after hearing the question. "Yes... a little more..."
She was about to reach out and refill Gu Ruoqing's bowl but Gu Ruoqing dashed into the kitchen at once after hearing the reply.
The Chens: ...
Chapter 298: Freeloading Off The Unlucky Chen Family (2)
There was indeed some rice left in the pot in the kitchen but it was not a lot – only about half a bowl. And there was extra only because Wang Qiuhua specially cooked a little more in order to ????????
Gu Ruoqing hurriedly scooped it all into her bowl and even took three cornbread from another pot, only stepping out when both hands were full.
Back in the living room, although she finished the scrambled egg with green pepper dish, there was still the salted vegetables dish on the table!
Eating salted vegetables with rice was pretty good too and Gu Ruoqing still wolfed everything down.
She had seriously been starving so bad in the past few weeks!
She burped in satisfaction after she finished all the food and looked at the people opposite her who still had not moved their chopsticks.
Gu Ruoqing: "..."
"Wa..." Chen Xiaobao bawled loudly.
Wang Qiuhua coaxed him immediately. "Baby! Don't cry! What's wrong?"
"I want to eat eggs. My eggs... Boohoo. I'll beat you up. Who allowed you to eat my eggs..."
Like a pressed and desperate little beast, Chen Xiaobao rushed forward and hit Gu Ruoqing's face.
Piak!
A slap landed. A child did not have much strength but he did use all his strength in that hit.
Chen Xiaobao was treated like an ancestor of the Chen family. Since young, no one had snatched food with him before and eggs were always for him only thus he was very protective of food.
He launched his attacks the moment he rushed forward and his dirty black paws scratched Gu Ruoqing's face viciously.
"Ah... ah, ah... Get lost..."
Gu Ruoqing never expected that she, a city girl, would be beaten by a village kid and was dumbstruck. In the end, the kid charged toward her to scratch her face. The pain on her face awakened her to her senses at once and she shrieked while pushing Chen Xiaobao out.
Chen Xiaobao was still a child but Gu Ruoqing was already sixteen. The sudden push caused Chen Xiaobao to stumble backwards and hit a stool behind him. He fell on the ground and his hands scraped the ground which grazed his skin.
"Ah..."
The pain caused Chen Xiaobao to break out into tears.
"Xiaobao!"
"Xiaobao!"
Wang Qiuhua and Chen Ergui exclaimed and hurriedly went to pacify him.
On the other side, Gu Ruoqing instinctively stood up and touched her scratched face. She shouted furiously after pushing Chen Xiaobao, "How dare you hit me? Young brat, I am a city girl and my father is the department head of a textile factory. I want your whole family to have a bad life. Ahh, my face..."
Everyone in the Chen family was shocked. They had a reflexive fear toward city people and thought that Gu Ruoqing's father was a capable man as he was working in the city and was a powerful figure whom small characters like them could not afford to offend.
Chen Honghua was still thinking of enlisting Gu Ruoqing's help to let her work in the city as well! Anxious, she hurriedly came to placate her.
"Qing Qing, Qing Qing, don't get angry! My younger brother is still young and immature. Don't bother arguing with the likes of him."
Although Wang Qiuhua's heart ached for her son, she dared not offend Gu Ruoqing and piled smiles on her face. "That's right! Qing Qing! Xiaobao is still young and immature. Don't argue with him."
Facing their fawns, Gu Ruoqing's vanity was finally gratified. A certain sentiment struck her suddenly – through the Chen family, she seemed to have finally found a way to make her live a little better...
Chapter 299: Freeloading Off The Unlucky Chen Family (3)
Gu Ruoqing lifted her chin highly and snorted. "Humph! This is the first time so I will not fuss about it. But if it still happens the next time, just wait and see how I will deal with you all!"
"Yes, yes, yes. Qing Qing, don't be angry. There will not be a next time. Don't worry!"
Chen Honghua coaxed Gu Ruoqing frantically in fear that she would be annoyed.
It was well-known in the Qing River Brigade that Zhang Xiaohui married a guy in the city and everyone was discussing it. In this age, villagers yearned to be a city resident as they were supplied with food and need not labor in the fields. A requirement to work in factories was to be a city resident and this was simply heavenly days to these villagers.
Thus, it was truly unbelievable that Zhang Xiaohui was able to marry a city man when she was in her middle age and had a child from her previous marriage. In the eyes of Chen Honghua and similar other people, Zhang Xiaohui was more than capable.
Even Gu Ruoqing could also follow her mother and enter the city and they, too, wanted to enter the city.
Without eating her meal, Chen Honghua led Gu Ruoqing into her room and Gu Ruoqing fell asleep in there that afternoon.
Chen Honghua sneaked out quietly. Her mother, Wang Qiuhua, was cleaning up the kitchen while Chen Ergui brought Chen Xiaobao out to play in fear that he would disturb Gu Ruoqing.
In the kitchen, Wang Qiuhua kept sighing as she looked at the pot of which contents were emptied cleanly. Chen Honghua went over and persuaded, "Mother, are you sad over those rice?"
Wang Qiuhua said, "Can I not be? Look how much she ate. It's enough for Xiaobao to eat for a day. And those eggs. Two whole eggs. She actually finished them all without leaving any for Xiaobao. No wonder Xiaobao would be so angry."
Chen Honghua said, "Mother, I know that it pains you and it's the same for me too. But there's no choice. Think about it, are we going to spend the rest of our lives in this village? There's no pay nor coupons and it's extremely difficult to even buy items. What about Zhang Xiaohui? The Zhang family is so disgusting and shameless but even she can marry into the city.
"Gu Ruoqing was inferior to me last time! The Zhang family did not even care about her while the Gu family only dotes on Gu Qingyao. But look, Gu Ruoqing has become a city girl now and she would definitely marry someone in the city next time. Mother, I'm unwilling to resign to this!"
Wang Qiuhua frowned. "But will this really work?"
Chen Honghua said, "We have to try regardless of whether it will work or not. Apart from Gu Ruoqing, can we still find anyone else?"
Wang Qiuhua had nothing to say then. They were all peasants who had nothing and did not know anyone from the city.
Chen Honghua said, "Mother, I've been close to Gu Ruoqing since the past. Now, if we placate her and treat her well, we can ask her father to let me work in the textile factory in the city and I will have pay then! It's thirty to forty yuan a month! By then, I will have money and coupons to buy things for you and Xiaobao.
"Mother, look at me. My looks are pretty decent too and I can marry in two years. I can bring Xiaobao into the city only if I go to the city. Otherwise, are you going to let our intelligent Xiaobao labor in the village fields for his entire life? Can you bear to?"
Of course not!
Wang Qiuhua was completely persuaded. At the thought of her precious son, she immediately thought that what her daughter said made a lot of sense. It was only if her daughter married a city man would their family have hope and Xiaobao have a promising future.
"Alright. It's settled. You must win Gu Ruoqing's favor!"
"Mhm!"
...
All of this was still temporarily unknown to Gu Qingyao but she guessed it very quickly.
Chapter 300: You Were Called Only To Carry Things (1)
In the afternoon, Gu Qingyao was teaching the kids to read and write at home while Gu Ruoqing regained her energy after a full meal and good nap in the Chen family's house.
Ever since she entered the Wang family, she had never led such comfortable days.
In the afternoon, Gu Ruoqing still had to go out to dig for wild vegetables and Chen Honghua followed along as part of fawning her. When they returned in the evening, Chen Honghua gave all the vegetables that she dug to Gu Ruoqing.
Gu Ruoqing smiled. "Thank you, Honghua. In the city, we have to spend money to buy everything and can't even eat wild vegetables when we want to. The conditions in the city is amazing. There's fish and meat everyday and it's easy to get tired of them. My mother wants to eat wild vegetables but there's none available so I have to come back while it's spring to dig some and store them."
There's fish and meat everyday and it's easy to get tired of them...
Chen Honghua could not help but swallow her saliva. She really yearned to lead such a city life.
Immediately, she flattered Gu Ruoqing with a smile to please her, "Qing Qing, you're really blissful now. No wonder you can become chubby. What good fortune!
"It would be great if I could be like you!"
Gu Ruoqing only smiled in return.
Chen Honghua only let Gu Ruoqing leave after making her stay for dinner. Before leaving, Gu Ruoqing even took two cornbreads from the Chen family and said that there's no such food in the city and that she wanted to bring it back for her mother to try.
Chen Honghua sent Gu Ruoqing off and only returned when she saw Gu Ruoqing's figure disappearing in the distance.
Gu Qingyao was on the waist of the mountain as she watched both of them leave the brigade and walk in the direction that led to town. When Gu Ruoqing left, Chen Honghua still stood there for a long time.
They looked very close when they walked together!
Gu Qingyao tapped her chin while thinking.
She remembered that in the previous lifetime, Chen Honghua and Gu Ruoqing had always been on good terms, especially after Gu Ruoqing followed Zhang Xiaohui into the city.
The Chen family wanted to marry Chen Honghua into the city as it was the only way to help her younger brother, Chen Xiaobao, enter the city as well.
Thus, Chen Honghua did not marry for a long time. Countryside girls married earlier but Chen Honghua had not been able to find a city man. Over time, people near the brigade knew about her and her family's morals and no one was willing to marry Chen Honghua then.
It was the same for Gu Ruoqing as well. No one in the Gu family managed her and thus she would not be matchmade.
Back then, she remained in the house the whole day and dared not leave the house. Afterward, Third Elder Brother took pity on her and brought her to the provincial capital. However, she could not live in the city as she needed her father.
She did not have any motherly love since young and was thus even more reliant on her father. She had nightmares frequently when she was in the Third Uncle's house and, left with no choice, Third Elder Brother had to send her back.
This time further strengthened Gu Ruoqing's will to marry into the city.
Back then, Zhang Xiaohui wanted the uncles to bring Gu Ruoqing into the city to marry someone but the Gu family did not agree.
Afterward, Zhang Xiaohui married Wang Guozhu and Gu Ruoqing followed them to town.
Then, Chen Honghua kept fawning on Gu Ruoqing as she saw her as her hope. Wang Guozhu got Gu Ruoqing to work in the textile factory and Chen Honghua finally entered the textile factory after currying favor with her for two years.
A large portion of Chen Honghua's salary entered Gu Ruoqing's pockets.
What about this life?
Gu Qingyao scoffed silently with a tilted head.
In the previous lifetime, Chen Honghua often stirred troubles for her in order to win Gu Ruoqing's favor. The both of them even returned to the countryside at a fixed timing to mock her. In this lifetime, she will make them fight each other. It would definitely be very fun when it happens!
After Gu Ruoqing returned, she hid the cornbread and most of the wild vegetables instead of bringing them back.