Chapter 421: Sun Mei Tries To Ingratiate Herself
Jiang Yingqiu was in her room, her legs covered by her blankets. Her heart filled with thankfulness when she heard the laughter and chatter from the kitchen.
What a wonderful daughter-in-law!
Her son liked her, she was good-looking and did not mind the two young children living with her. They were well aware of her background.
The Gu family were landlords and their background was not good, but if it were not so, her son would not have the good fortune to marry a girl from the Gu family. Coming from an aristocratic family like that, she had naturally been well brought up. Gu Qingyao was clearly a cut above the other girls.
She had observed them for so many years. She knew almost all the girls in the surrounding brigades, but no matter how she considered the matter, Gu Qingyao was still the most compatible with her son.
In the kitchen, Gu Qingyao was instructing the two children on how to cook. Today, she had brought the food and the two children were filled with anticipation. Gu Qingyao trimmed the chicken and simply put it on the stove to boil.
She cooked some white rice for lunch. The two children looked delighted. In these times, it was rare to eat pure white rice.
She only cooked two dishes for lunch because there was chicken soup. Everyone would certainly drink more soup, so there was no need to cook too much.
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Sure enough, at lunch, the two children were full after just drinking the chicken soup and eating the chicken meat.
Gu Qingyao cleared the bowls and chopsticks before preparing to go back.
Meanwhile, Sun Mei and Wang Li had been waiting outside the Mo house for some time. When they smelt the aroma of chicken soup wafting from the Mo house, they could not help but drool.
Even though Sun Mei came from a wealthy family, she was still greedy for these things.
She felt that what her grandfather said had made sense.
She had always liked Mo Beihan. She thought that Mo Beihan was handsome, had a job outside the village, and was a capable man.
If she married a man like that, she could live in the city with Mo Beihan in the future. Mo Beihan's salary was enough to support her, so she would not need to work in the countryside anymore.
But at the moment, the Mo family was very poor. In particular, the family had two children and an ailing woman. This greatly displeased Sun Mei.
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She knew that anyone who became the Mo family's daughter-in-law would probably have to remain at home to take care of the old woman and the children. Although she would be a newly-wed woman, it was akin to becoming the two children's stepmother. She was definitely unwilling to take this on.
So she had always been conflicted. She wanted to marry Mo Beihan, but she did not want to care for Jiang Yingqiu and the two other burdens.
So she had put it off. She was waiting for the two children to grow up a little and waiting for Jiang Yingqiu to be able to eke out a living for herself when they all lived together.
But to her surprise, Mo Beihan had suddenly gotten engaged to Gu Qingyao.
She hated Gu Qingyao because of this. She had even deliberately made trouble for Gu Qingyao in order to curry Gu Ruoqing's favor...
But the last incident involving Gu Ruoqing made her realize that it was not so easy to marry and move to the city. It was no easy matter to meet a city dweller.
At the moment, among her acquaintances, besides the Mo family, only... the Gu family had connections in the city!
She was the Sun family's only daughter, and they had doted on her since she was young. Her grandfather had high hopes for her. He had always dreamt of her marrying and moving to the city.
Because the Gu family were landlords, her grandfather had despised them as bad elements and had hesitated.
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Also, after marrying into the Mo family, she would probably have to stay home and take care of the old woman and the children. Grandfather disliked the idea of that. He wanted to send her to the city so that her young nephews could look her up in the city.
But she had grown older, year after year, and although they had spent so much effort on Gu Ruoqing, it had come to naught. So her grandfather said they had better seize whatever opportunities presented themselves.
She could either get Mo Beihan back, or choose the best of Gu Qingyao's older cousins and marry him!
Chapter 422: Find An Opportunity To Regain The Treasure That The Sun Family Took
Gu Qingyao emerged from the Mo house. She frowned when she saw Sun Mei and Wang Li. She ignored them and simply stepped around them and left.
But Sun Mei hurried to catch up with her.
“Yao Yao!”
Gu Qingyao: “…”
Had she heard wrongly? What had the girl just called her?
“Yao Yao, you’re back! I heard that you went to the city to take care of your third aunt. Did you get back yesterday? I didn’t see you come out to play.”
When Sun Mei arrived in front of Gu Qingyao, she tried her best to appear warm and friendly.
Her grandfather said that whether she got Mo Beihan back, or decided to marry Gu Qingyao’s older cousins, she must first develop a good relationship with Gu Qingyao. In that way, she would have more opportunities to interact with Mo Beihan and the Gu family boys.
Her grandfather said that although the Gu family were bad elements, they were rich. They had definitely hidden some of their wealth.
Up to now, their family had lived well because of the things they had stolen from the Gu family. If she became part of the Gu family, she could obtain even more things.
So what if they were bad elements?
It was Gu Chonghua who was a bad element. The grandchildren were not greatly affected.
She was just a girl, and the Gu family was rich. With the treasures, they could exchange them for more food and resources, and she could just stay home and enjoy life.
Sun Mei smiled brightly. “You haven’t been back for many months. Many interesting things have happened in the Qing River Brigade and the Southern Lake Brigade recently! I bet you haven’t heard about it yet. Let me tell you about it!”
Gu Qingyao: “…”
Was there something wrong with the girl’s brain?
Why did she have a feeling that the girl was trying to win her favor?
She smelt a rat!
Gu Qingyao glanced at her as if she was an idiot. She walked away without even bothering to make a perfunctory remark.
“Hey…”
Wang Li was rather shocked by Gu Qingyao’s coolness. She did not know what to say.
Even Sun Mei was taken aback.
She was used to being praised and had never tried to ingratiate herself with someone else before. Gu Ruoqing had been the exception.
She had remained proud even when she had been trying to ingratiate herself with Gu Ruoqing. Although Gu Ruoqing had been rather arrogant because of her status as a city dweller, she had been very polite to Sun Mei, and the latter had discreetly tried to please her because Gu Ruoqing wanted good stuff from her.
But this Gu Qingyao was ignoring her completely.
Wang Li glanced at Sun Mei. “What should we do? She’s just ignoring us. How can we make friends with her?
“I think we should just forget it. Mei Mei, let’s think of another plan, all right? Look at how Gu Qingyao is acting. Do we have to continue fawning on her? Who does she think she is?”
Sun Mei’s expression turned ugly as she bit her lip. She was clearly unused to this kind of treatment.
When she got back to the Gu house, Gu Qingyao went back to her room. She sat on her bed with a frown.
Why was Sun Mei acting so strangely today?
Why was she trying to ingratiate herself?
She had already lowered herself in winning Gu Ruoqing’s favor. Now that things had gone awry with Gu Ruoqing, she should be embarrassed and angry to encounter her again.
Win her favor?
How would it benefit them?
Gu Qingyao thought for a long time, but could not figure it out. She had not encountered such a situation in her previous life.
But she knew that something was definitely amiss.
Since she could not figure it out, she could not be bothered to think about it anymore. But that did not mean she could not deal with Sun Mei!
Gu Qingyao cocked her head and her lips twitched wickedly. No matter what, Sun Mei was certainly plotting against her.
You must have too much free time!
Let me find something for you to do.
Hehehe! With the Gu family’s treasures, you have plenty to eat without having to work. You must be too full and bored from having nothing to do!
She must find an opportunity to search the Sun house and get the Gu family’s treasures back!
Chapter 423: The Girls Are All Trying To Win Her Favor!
Gu Qingyao’s days were very uneventful now that she was home. Besides Sun Mei frequently coming to her home to pester her, nothing much had changed.
The girls in the brigade were acting strangely. They were clearly deeply jealous of her and obviously hated her, but few of them were openly antagonistic.
Almost no one mocked her like Chen Honghua and Gu Ruoqing had frequently done in the past!
Gu Qingyao was puzzled. What had happened?
It had started to snow that day. Gu Qingyao prepared some things and put them in the basket before she went down the hill to visit Chen Goudan.
The child had changed his name to Chen Feng, but many people in the brigade still preferred to call him Goudan.
After a year, the house at the foot of the hill had clearly been mended. It was in a visibly better condition than it had been at first. Chen Feng and his younger sister, Chen Xiaocao… actually, her older brother had also changed Chen Xiaocao’s name to Cheng Qingqing!
Chen Feng adored his younger sister and did not like other people to call her Xiaocao. In the past, his younger sister had been too young for a proper name, so his eldest uncle and aunt had called her Xiaocao, with negative implications.
But the two children were not very cultured, and did not know how to pick a new name. After thinking for a long time, he thought that since grass was green, he might as well call her Qingqing!
When Gu Qingyao arrived, Chen Feng and Chen Qingqing were sitting in front of the fire at home. Chen Qingqing was sewing while Chen Feng was adding wood to the fire.
“Elder Sister Gu!”
Chen Feng hurriedly stood up when he saw Gu Qingyao.
Gu Qingyao smiled and said, “Chen Feng, how have you been? I’ve been away for months, so I’m here to visit you now that I’m home.”
Chen Feng smiled. “We’re doing well. Elder Sister Gu, you don’t need to worry about us.”
Gu Qingyao put down the basket and took out its contents.
There was a side of bacon, about five kilograms in weight, two dried fish, a few links of sausages, and twenty over eggs. There was also five kilograms of fine dried noodles.
She had plenty of this type of noodles in her interspace. In modern times, they were packaged in small portions. After she took them out, she removed the packaging and it was somewhat like the kind that was sold loose in later times.
She had about five kilograms of it, packed in a small cloth bag.
This was a rare item. In these times, they could not be found in a typical village. Even if they wanted to eat noodles, they would make it themselves from flour. Such fine noodles were very rare.
“I didn’t bring any vegetables for you. I know you have plenty of such things put away. These are for you. Keep them and eat them slowly. Both of you are growing now, don’t shortchange yourself.”
Chen Feng pursed his lips when he looked at the items. He was deeply moved.
“Elder Sister Gu, you’ve been good enough to us. Now that I’ve brought my sister to live by ourselves, our lives have improved greatly. I managed to earn many work points this year. Our food rations should be enough for my sister and me. We have also preserved plenty of wild herbs, and we’ve planted lots of cabbage, carrots and potatoes in our own plot. We won’t go hungry.”
Gu Qingyao glanced at him. “Are you sure you won’t go hungry? The grain you obtained can at most ensure you won’t starve, right?”
Chen Feng bowed his head. “Actually, we’ll be doing pretty well to just avoid starvation.”
Indeed, this was quite a feat. In these times, plenty of poor people had no food.
Gu Qingyao sat down by the fire. “How about your sister? She’s so young. She must have some nutritious food or she won’t grow tall. Since I’m giving you these things, you should just accept them. If you are really too embarrassed to take them, you can repay me when you’ve grown up and truly have the capability to do so.
“The new year is almost here. Don’t you want to give your younger sister some nicer food?”
Chapter 424: They’re Eying Your Older Cousins!
Of course, he wanted to!
Chen Feng looked at the things. The meat added up to almost twenty kilograms. Gu Qingyao had given them some food before she left, and now that she was back, she was giving them some more. He was really embarrassed.
There was so much meat. Most households might not eat that much meat in an entire year.
Gu Qingyao was not just helping them a little. She was ensuring that they had a better life.
It was the end of the year, and the meat would be distributed soon. Their Qing River Brigade had plenty of meat. They kept pigs, chickens, and ducks on the mountain, and all these would be shared.
Chen Feng looked at Gu Qingyao. “Thank you, Elder Sister Gu. I will accept the things and I will certainly repay you when I grow up.”
He would definitely remember his debt.
Gu Qingyao smiled. “That’s a good boy!”
Chen Feng handed the things to his younger sister, Chen Qingqing, who immediately hid them.
She was just a child. She was delighted to see meat.
At first, her older brother had not said that they would accept the things, so she had looked at them with wide eyes. She desperately wanted them but dared not say anything without her older brother’s permission. Now that her older brother said they would accept it, she could not hide her joy.
“Come over here and sit. I have something to ask you,” Gu Qingyao said.
Gu Qingyao only spoke after Chen Feng was seated. “Has something happened in the brigade recently? Why are the girls behaving so strangely? In the past, they liked to make fun of me whenever they saw me, and make sarcastic remarks. Especially Chen Honghua’s clique. But recently, they have been much more polite to me, even… some of the girls are even trying to please me. What’s going on?”
Chen Feng laughed cynically. “What do you think? They all want to gain your favor!”
Er…
Gu Qingyao was somewhat startled. “Gain my favor?”
Chen Feng nodded. “That’s right, gain your favor!”
Gu Qingyao did not understand. “Why do they want my favor? They’ve always looked down on me in the past. The Gus are bad elements. They…”
Chen Feng smiled. “That was in the past. It is true that they always thought of the Gus as bad elements, and that they would suffer if they married into the Gu family. They think that the Gu family’s status is lowly, that you will be considered bad people for the rest of your lives, and will never be able to hold your heads up high again.
“But it’s different now, primarily because of what happened to Gu Ruoqing.
“You know how much the people here envy city dwellers. When Gu Ruoqing became a city girl, the girls were wild with envy. All of them wanted to ingratiate themselves with Gu Ruoqing. You know how they fawned on Gu Ruoqing then.
“But what happened? All of them suffered heavy losses. You know that there aren’t many good things among the village families. They all scrimped and saved to squeeze out a little food that they used to curry Gu Ruoqing’s favor. But in the end, it came to nothing. Those people are all heartsick over what happened.
“Because of the incident, the brigade leader held a meeting to talk about it. He told everyone they should learn their lesson. It’s not easy to move to the city. To work is glorious, and everyone should concentrate on working the fields instead of spending their time thinking about all these things.”
Gu Qingyao was stunned. “Really? There was really a meeting?”
Chen Qingqing smiled. “Really. Older Brother and I also attended. Eldest Aunt and her family were livid. Elder Sister Gu, you may not know this, but after Gu Ruoqing ran away, the entire brigade mocked Eldest Aunt and her family. It was the same for the Zhang family.
“Also at the Southern Lake Brigade, that Sun Mei, Wang Li, Liu Zao and the rest were all objects of mockery. The brigade leader even reprimanded Eldest Aunt’s family by name. It felt so good.”
Gu Qingyao: “…”
Chapter 425: My Older Cousins Are In Danger, I Must Protect Them!
She had not expected something like that to happen.
Chen Feng said, “After that incident, everyone realized how difficult it is to move to the city, so they slowly came to their senses. But around that time, you went to the city and did not return for a few months. This became known when an older lady was quarreling with Old Madam Zhang.
“She said something about how the Zhang family’s dream to move to the city was just a fantasy, and that Gu Ruoqing had acted foolishly. She said that the Gu family had so many city dwellers. If she just waited for your uncles or older brothers to introduce someone to her, she could have married and moved to the city. But she foolishly refused to rely on her own uncles and cousins but depended on her stepfather instead and that was stupid of her.
“But it’s different for you because you stayed with the Gu family. You got to go to the city and in the future, Mo Beihan will also move to the city. Gu Ruoqing must have been blind to choose the Zhang family.
“Later as time went on, everyone slowly figured it out. They realized that only the Gu family has connections to the city. They want to use your connections to marry a city dweller. Or perhaps… they have their eye on your older cousins. They’re all in the city.”
Gu Qingyao: “…”
Gu Qingyao felt rather stupefied!
“Surely… surely not? They’re eyeing my older cousins? I… no… haven’t they always looked down on my family for being bad elements? Aren’t they afraid to marry into my family…”
“Gosh, I’ve already said that’s all in the past.” Chen Feng interrupted Gu Qingyao.
“Elder Sister, the truth is that, right now, they despise the Gu family for being bad elements, but they still want to marry and move to the city. My guess is that they plan to marry your older cousins and simply move to the city to live, without ever coming back again. What happens here in their hometown won’t affect them much. Think about it. No matter who they marry, it won’t be as good as marrying the Gu family boys. Now that their dreams of moving to the city have been crushed, they have thought about it and decided that your older cousins are the best choice!
“Also, all your older cousins are so handsome.”
Gu Qingyao: “…”
This was truly surprising!
Her older cousins had become hot property?
In her previous life, none of her older cousins had married someone from her hometown!
Chen Feng said, “Elder Sister Gu, I’m telling you in advance. When your older cousins come back, you must warn them to be careful. They usually come back around the new year, and all the girls here are lying in wait for them! In these times, you must tell them to be wary. Chen Honghua also has her eye on your older cousins!”
Gu Qingyao’s eyes widened. “What? What are you talking about? Don’t scare me!”
“Hee…” Chen Qingqing giggled.
Chen Feng smiled, “Trust me. I’m telling you the truth. One day, I was walking by my eldest uncle’s house and happened to spot Eldest Aunt and Chen Honghua acting secretively. I saw that no one was around, so I eavesdropped. They were discussing how to marry your older cousin!
“They were saying that your second uncle’s family is the richest. They have no young children and no burdens. The best would be to marry your second brother or your fourth brother. Zhang Xiaohui is a classic example. When she was with your family, she did not need to work much and often brought things back for her family. So she was finished the moment she left the Gu family.
“Eldest Aunt said that if Chen Honghua can marry into the Gu family, she can be like Zhang Xiaohui. She can help her own family and can even move to the city.”
Gu Qingyao: “…”
Oh my!
Her older cousins were in danger. She must save them!
Gu Qingyao chatted with them for a while longer before running back home.
When she asked her father if it was true, her father looked grim and said, “Is that so?”
Gu Qingyao: “…”