Chapter 415: Ninety's Contrast System (18)

Early the next morning, Zhou Ru urged Xie Yang to return to Zhou Family Village.

"No rush, no rush, take it slow."

Xie Yang packed her luggage in a leisurely manner.

In addition to the clothes and New Year goods bought in Shencheng and the County, she also led that goat along.

Zhou Ru was so angry her chest heaved up and down; she endured and endured before finally not erupting.

"Once back at Zhou Family Village, don't go around running up tabs like you did in He Wan Village. If you really want to eat something, pay for it yourself; don't lose face for your grandfather, grandmother, and uncles."

"Since we've moved back to the old cabin, don't complain if you aren't used to living there. For the sake of that seven thousand yuan, your Uncle Zhu had to swallow his pride and ask the foreman for a salary advance; he didn't say anything, but he certainly wasn't happy inside. If you want to come back soon, Mom won't have the face to plead for you."

Along the way, Zhou Ru kept on nagging.

Xie Yang automatically blocked out her noisy voice, carrying her luggage and leading the nanny goat while admiring the scenery along the way.

Don't look at the fact that the production brigades where the two villages are located are adjacent; because they are separated by a large mountain and a reservoir, transportation is extremely inconvenient.

To get from He Wan Village to Zhou Family Village, one has to take a car and go on a long detour through the town. Walking can take a shortcut, but it requires climbing mountains and crossing water, so in the middle of winter, villagers from the two villages rarely interact.

"I'm talking to you, are you listening?"

Zhou Ru was panting from climbing the mountain.

In the years since she married into He Wan Village, she rarely returned to her maiden home.

For one, she didn't get along with her sisters-in-law and didn't want to go back and look at their faces.

For another, every time she went back and saw those three low, dilapidated little rooms, she couldn't help but think of that failed marriage and the man who abandoned his wife and child.

In short, although Zhou Family Village was the hometown where she grew up, the memories it left her were truly not very good.

So all these years, she avoided going back whenever she could.

Today was for transferring her household registration; at the thought of the upcoming good news of demolition, Zhou Ru felt a burning heat in her heart.

Her long-winded chatter never stopped.

Xie Yang couldn't be bothered to pay her any mind; she strode forward, minding her own business.

Two hours later, they finally crossed the mountain and saw the chain of reservoirs holding water like terraced fields.

Walking along the reservoir for half an hour, they reached the territory of Zhou Family Village.

"Old Captain! Old Captain! Your daughter is back with her granddaughter! Is there some happy event at home?"

A villager carrying an iron rake passed by the Zhou house and greeted them cheerfully.

Zhou Tiehan was confused: "No happy event!"

"Then she must be here to deliver holiday gifts," the villager said with a laugh. "I saw the two of them head to the old cabin first; they'll surely come by later. Just wait to enjoy your daughter's filial piety!"

No one knows a daughter like her father.

How could Zhou Tiehan not understand his own daughter's character? It was likely something had happened again. Otherwise, it would be impossible for her to return to her maiden home at this time.

Could it be that she had a fight with her husband?

Zhou Tiehan was uneasy; he leaned on his cane and walked toward the old cabin.

He hadn't walked many steps when he met his eldest son, Zhou Anguo. Once Zhou Anguo heard that his younger sister had returned with her niece, he went home, put down his carrying pole and baskets, and followed him to the old cabin.

The conditions of the old cabin were indeed a bit poor.

It was originally built by Zhou Tiehan's grandfather's generation. When Zhou Tiehan got married, he was allotted a plot of land and moved out. After Zhou Tiehan's parents passed away, the old cabin had been empty, becoming the firewood shed for the old Zhou family.

Later, when Zhou Ru insisted on marrying Xie Lei, and Xie Lei was unwilling to live with the Zhou family—feeling it would look like he was a live-in son-in-law—Zhou Tiehan took his three sons and refurbished the old cabin to serve as a bridal chamber for his youngest daughter.

No matter how much it was refurbished, the foundation of the house was old, and the brick walls and rafters were also old. It was just that the mud walls were coated with a layer of lime, the thatched roof was replaced with tiles, and the dilapidated doors and windows were replaced with new ones.

Sixteen or seventeen years later, no matter how refurbished it was, it was old again.

However, Xie Yang was very satisfied with the area of the old cabin's foundation.

Although the house only had three very small rooms, the total foundation was not small; the three small rooms plus the open space in front and behind the house amounted to at least an acre and a half, if not two.

Xie Yang tied the goat to the fence behind the house and rubbed her chin in thought: If she planted some fruit trees or other economic trees in the open space now, would it be in time to get more money when the demolition started in the spring?

Just then, Zhou Tiehan and his son arrived.

"Dad, Big Brother, you came just in time; I'm here to transfer my household registration." As soon as Zhou Ru saw them, she immediately stated the reason for her return, "Dad, you accompany me to the brigade; you're the old captain, if you speak up, transferring the registration shouldn't be difficult, right?"

"Everything is fine, why would you think of transferring your household registration?" Zhou Tiehan frowned, puzzled.

"Oh, Dad, don't ask; in short, it's a good thing."

Zhou Ru was in a hurry to finish the transfer and leave; she didn't want to stay overnight in this dilapidated little cabin.

Zhou Anguo glanced at the inner room: "Where is my niece? Didn't you say she came with you? Does her registration need to be transferred too?"

"She's not transferring; after all, she isn't from He Wan Village."

Zhou Anguo laughed in anger upon hearing this: "She isn't, but you are? Don't forget your surname is Zhou."

"Oh, Big Brother, I don't have time to bicker with you; there's a pile of things at home, I'll leave once the registration is transferred."

Zhou Tiehan looked at Zhou Ru deeply: "Fine, if you want to transfer to He Wan Village that much, then transfer. But I'll say this first: once you transfer out now, it won't be so simple to transfer back in the future."

"I know, I know," Zhou Ru replied perfunctorily.

She didn't feel at all that there was anything in Zhou Family Village worth her transferring back for.

Xie Yang walked from behind the house to the front and took the initiative to greet Zhou Tiehan and his son: "Grandfather, Uncle."

"Yang Yang hasn't been back to see us for almost a year. Since you're rarely back, stay for a few more days; if your mom is in a rush to go back, let her go," Zhou Anguo said with a smile. "This house isn't fit for people to live in; come stay at your uncle's house. Your little cousin rarely comes back since she started working in town, so you can just stay in her room; the bedding is all ready."

Xie Yang pretended not to see Zhou Ru's awkward expression and said with a smile: "Uncle, I don't plan on leaving this time, so I intend to fix up the old cabin."

"Huh?" Zhou Anguo was stunned.

Zhou Ru hurriedly smoothed things over: "It's she herself who insists on coming back; I couldn't talk her out of it."

After saying this, she changed the subject and urged Zhou Tiehan: "Oh, Dad, I'm in a rush to go back, hurry and accompany me to the brigade office."

Once Zhou Tiehan heard this, he guessed there must be something going on, so he exchanged a look with his eldest son; one accompanied Zhou Ru to the brigade office, and the other took Xie Yang back to the old Zhou house.

Winter had set in, and there wasn't much work in the fields, especially with the New Year approaching; every household was basically busy with dusting, washing, and preparing New Year goods, and the old Zhou family was no exception.

Zhou Tiehan was a man of great foresight; when choosing his homestead, he specifically selected an open plot surrounded by fields on all sides.

Sure enough, once his three sons grew up and he had some spare money in hand, Zhou Tiehan successively incorporated the empty land next to his home into the Lao Zhou family's homestead, and when his three sons married, he built them three identical bungalows as wedding houses.

Because there was enough homestead land left, as the three brothers Zhou Anguo, Zhou Anbang, and Zhou Anmin had their own children one after another, they successively added Ear Rooms and Side Rooms to the sides of the three bungalows so the children would have more room to live.

Nowadays, counting the house belonging to the old couple Zhou Tiehan, a long row of over twenty rooms is all the territory of the Lao Zhou family.

When Xie Yang saw the long string of houses belonging to the Lao Zhou family, even she, having seen the world, could not help but exclaim: "So much money!"

Once demolition and relocation began, the Lao Zhou family would become the wealthiest family in the entire village in a matter of minutes.

No wonder in her past life, when Zhou Ru took away the demolition compensation for those three old, dilapidated, and small rooms, no one from the Lao Zhou family jumped out to bicker with her.

Was there even a need to bicker?

The Relocation Housing allocated to the three Zhou brothers was so plentiful they couldn't even live in it all.