Chapter 44: Rebirth in the Nineties: The Tyrant Flowers Chapter 44: A Common Enemy

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Protagonist:

Chai Mi

Chai Mi's father Chai Youqing's generation had six siblings in the Chai family, while Chai Zhongxiao had several brothers...

To be precise, there were seven brothers; otherwise Liu Zhanggui wouldn't call Chai Zhongxiao Seventh Uncle.

But among Chai Zhongxiao's seven brothers, few remained. His eldest brother died of opium smoking back then; his second brother went missing after Crossing the Pass; his third and fifth brothers had been lackeys of reactionary forces—that is, traitors—and were brought to justice; only his fourth brother Chai Zhongxin and sixth brother Chai Zhongliang remained.

But Chai Zhongxiao's fourth brother Chai Zhongxin was in poor health and probably wouldn't live much longer. His sixth brother, Chai Zhongliang, was in decent health, though not a good person...

Cough cough...

Chai Mi sometimes thought that there were really very few decent people in their Old Chai Family.

Chai Zhongliang's words weren't very reliable either, and he was older... Chai Zhongliang had two sons, who weren't good people either...

Chai Mi figured she'd send some wine to these two uncles first; if a fight broke out later, they could help break it up... and give Chai Zhongliang a few bottles of wine so he'd come out and say a few words too.

These were easy to handle.

The one Chai Mi needed to work on most was her Second Uncle Chai You Fu's family.

Thinking of this gave Chai Mi a terrible headache.

Chai Mi's Second Uncle Chai You Fu was also a private school teacher, and at San Jia Xiaoxue, where he was colleagues with Che Lianyun. So Chai You Fu and Chai Youde were close.

Chai You Fu had a sharp-as-a-monkey daughter named Chai Min.

Chai Mi's impression of this seventeen-year-old female cousin had always been that she was a woman far too shrewd...

The one most likely to side with Chai You Fu's family was precisely his wife Song Qiuping, who wasn't very shrewd and had never read a book in her life.

Song Qiuping loved showing off, loved acting grand, loved dressing up, had few scruples, and was neither good nor bad—a lady of leisure...

"Lady of leisure" meant a housewife.

Song Qiuping usually did nothing at home because Chai You Fu was a teacher, they had only one daughter, expenses were low, income was decent, and they had several mu of thin fields, enough to support the family with ease, so she basically did no work, spending her days tending flowers and walking the dog, and doing nothing else.

In this era, barely in her forties, she lived the retirement life countless people dreamed of.

Those little days were lived comfortably.

Chai Mi arrived home first, but no one was home; Chai Mi frowned tightly, feeling dissatisfied: Chai Youqing was on a one-way road to self-destruction, neither at the hospital nor at home, truly no idea what he was busy with every day?

Chai Mi fed the cow herself, seeing that the cow had grown thinner these past two days, apparently not eating enough, and her dissatisfaction grew.

By evening, Chai Mi used the pressurized well to draw water and watered the vegetable plot in the courtyard.

In this era, Chai Mi's family still used a very old-fashioned self-lifting pressurized well; Chai Mi wasn't too clear on what principle it used, but anyway, even if you first dug a hole, then put a hollow iron pipe in, then filled it with stones, ensuring water could flow around the iron pipe, and put a water-drawing head on top, it would do.

Around here they called it a Yangjing, probably something invented by foreigners before.

It could flow by itself; you pressed hard on one side, and water came out the other.

So it was also called a Pressurized Well.

Actually, Chai Mi could use a centrifugal pump to draw water, but she didn't like using electricity herself, found it troublesome, and besides, too much water wasn't good for watering vegetables; a small amount was better.

Anyway, she'd been idle for a few days with nothing to do, so Chai Mi might as well exercise her body.