Chapter 292: You are quite cunning

Meng Jiusi: "..."

Seeing with his own eyes someone with a decent reputation in the family quarters change their face like this was, for him, a truly effective and direct template for being discouraged from remarrying.

Lin Zhao withdrew her gaze, caught a glimpse of the complexity on her brother's face, and snickered.

"What are you laughing at?" Meng Jiusi cleared his throat.

"Nothing, the weather is really nice." Lin Zhao spouted nonsense casually.

Meng Jiusi looked helpless, his gaze shifting to his brother-in-law's face, "Chenghuai, keep an eye on Zhaozhao a little."

Gu Chenghuai spread his hands, "No way, I can't control her."

Lin Zhao leaned back, her eyes and brows full of smugness.

She patted Gu Chenghuai's shoulder, "We are... a couple!"

Meng Jiusi had nothing to say and turned around.

"Are you sleepy? If you are, close your eyes for a while. I'll watch the kids." Gu Chenghuai held his wife's hand and said gently.

Lin Zhao didn't answer but asked instead, "How much longer until the bus leaves?"

Gu Chenghuai raised his wrist, checked the time, and said in a low, slow voice, "Ten more minutes."

"The bus is already packed..." Lin Zhao muttered.

The small bus had no empty seats, and the aisle was packed tight; even when the bus started moving, or braked suddenly, the people standing would surely remain standing like wooden stakes, unmoving.

"It can still squeeze a few more people on." Gu Chenghuai said, "No choice, there are few buses, if we miss this one, we'll have to walk back."

"Aren't there any ox carts?" Lin Zhao turned her head to look at him.

"Oxen are too valuable; for such a long distance, those brigades that have oxen can't bear to waste them like that."

Lin Zhao: People are not as good as oxen series.

She found a comfortable position to lean back, closed her eyes, and said, "I'll nap for a while, you keep an eye on the kids and our things, don't let anyone swipe them."

Gu Chenghuai said, "I'm here, what are you worried about? Go to sleep, I'll call you when we arrive."

Lin Zhao pinched the man's hand, faced the window, and began to brew sleepiness.

She was comfortable, but next to the driver's seat, Su Yuxian, whose face was being squashed, had jealousy leaking from the bottom of her eyes.

She had squeezed onto the bus with such difficulty, why did Lin Zhao have a seat, not even have to watch the kids or the luggage, and get to sleep comfortably!

The hatred in her heart was like a vine, wrapping tightly around her neck, making it almost impossible to breathe.

She kept exerting force while pinching Lu Baozhen's hand.

Lu Baozhen endured for a long time, but in the end, she couldn't hold back, raised her pale face, and said in a very small voice, "Mother, my hand hurts..."

Su Yuxian was immersed in her emotions and didn't hear it.

Most of the people on the bus were from the various brigades below, their voices were all loud, and everyone was spraying saliva to their heart's content; the bus was noisy.

Lu Baozhen wanted to pull her hand back, but her strength was too small, and she didn't succeed.

Gradually, her movements disturbed Su Yuxian.

Su Yuxian exerted even more force on her hand and scolded, "Can you stop being naughty? We're on the bus, no one is holding you, what will you do if you fly out when the bus starts moving? Are you annoying, you child."

Others heard this and, thinking the little girl was being unreasonable, persuaded her one after another.

"Your mother is doing this for your own good, listen to her obediently!"

"That's right, a child your age doesn't understand anything, you don't know danger at all, can you stand steady without an adult holding you? You'll fall flat on your face sooner or later!"

Lu Baozhen was terrified and lowered her head in grievance.

She wasn't being naughty, her stepmother was pinching her hand so hard it hurt.

Why were the adults' eyes all useless?

Everyone couldn't see her stepmother bullying her.

Lu Baozhen wanted to cry, but she was afraid Su Yuxian would settle the score with her when they got back, so she had to endure it.

"We're about to leave, stop chatting, hold on tight and stand steady, the road isn't flat, don't fall." The bus conductor shouted loudly.

As her voice fell, the people who had been spraying saliva everywhere stopped tacitly and found something to grab onto, holding it with both hands.

"Hiss, you're grabbing my hair!" A passenger with a seat had her hair pressed down, and her scalp felt like it was being pricked by needles; she couldn't help but shout.

The older woman who was grabbing the seat back hurriedly withdrew her hand, her words apologetic, "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I didn't notice."

Noticing that this person was quite old, Su Yuxian, in a rare moment of quiet on the bus, said without thinking, "This auntie is quite old, shouldn't the young comrades display our nation's fine traditions and give up a seat to the auntie?"

There were quite a few young people on the bus, and to grab a seat, they had given up quite a bit of their time for wandering around.

Su Yuxian's words truly made people unhappy.

"The rule is first come first served, those who arrive late don't have one; I came here early, why shouldn't I be able to sit!" A hot-tempered female comrade said unhappily, "If you feel bad for the auntie being old, you should have come earlier and given up your own seat; what kind of skill is it to be generous with other people's things..."

Once someone took the lead, there was no lack of people to argue for them.

"That's right, that's right, why should we? We gave up half an hour, an hour of wandering, and finally grabbed a seat, just wanting to get home comfortably; you just open your mouth and want us to give up our seats, it's easy to talk while standing."

"Ridiculous."

It wasn't that people with seats weren't willing to give them up to the elderly, it was just that the bus was truly too, too, too crowded.

They couldn't even get out, how could they give them up?

Many gazes—some dissatisfied, some watching the show, some accusing—fell on Su Yuxian; her toes curled in embarrassment, and she wished she could dig a hole in the floor of the bus and disappear from where she stood.

"I... I didn't mean that." She defended herself with difficulty.

"Then what did you mean?" The girl who had retorted first glared, unrelenting, "Are you saying that all of our ears have problems?"

Su Yuxian felt herself getting lower and lower; this person was pressing step by step.

She wasn't the type to reflect on herself, but instead started blaming Lin Zhao.

"I wasn't targeting you all." Su Yuxian's gaze flickered toward Lin Zhao and the others, "I just feel that some people who drag their families along occupy too many seats."

Xiang Yubao and the others pricked up their ears to eat the melon, not expecting themselves to become the melon growers.

"Lu Baozhen's stepmother, are you talking about us?" Gu Hangbao knelt on the seat, trying hard to look at Su Yuxian, and said loudly.

His voice was as loud as if he were carrying a megaphone.

Su Yuxian choked, caught in a dilemma, and nothing she said would end well.

Before she could react, Xiang Yubao said, "You're silent, this means Gu Hangbao guessed your heart correctly."

The noise on the bus was loud, so to make sure Su Yuxian heard what he said clearly, Xiang Yubao's volume was higher than usual.

"You are talking about my family." Xiang Yubao emphasized again.

"I've asked my father and my uncle, they both said... there is no limit to the number of people when riding the bus. If you don't believe me, ask the conductor sister."

The little boy's voice was clear and bright, and he was very polite; the conductor was confused by him calling her sister.

"There is no limit to the number of people." Her face was filled with a smile.

"Thank you sister for answering my question." Xiang Yubao nodded to the conductor and thanked her politely.

He looked at Su Yuxian again.

"Auntie Su, you heard it all, right? There's no limit to the number of people, we are allowed to have seats."

Xiang Yubao's brows were serious, stabbing a needle into Su Yuxian's heart, "Don't envy us for having seats, come earlier next time, and you can have one too."

Su Yuxian retreated step by step.

"What do I have to envy?" She changed the subject stiffly, "I'm not like your mother, having heaps of time every day to go out and stroll..."

Hearing her want to splash dirty water on Lin Zhao, Mao Dan stood up abruptly.

"Auntie Su, you have a lot of malice toward Auntie Lin!"

Su Yuxian's face froze instantly.

She said dryly, "You child, what are you saying, how could I, we are from the same place, grew up together since we were small, how could I have malice toward her."

Meng Jingmo stood next to Mao Dan, "You do, how could you not, we felt it, everyone on this bus felt it. The thing you said about giving up seats was also to target my aunt, you can't fool us, and you can't fool the smart adults."

Who would be unwilling to admit they aren't smart!

The sharp-tongued girl who had previously pushed Su Yuxian back step by step looked at the back row with admiration and supported them, "Indeed, you can't fool us! I was just wondering why you suddenly brought up giving up seats, the bus is so crowded that not even a piece of paper could squeeze through, let alone a person..."

Realizing she had gone off-topic, she hurriedly pulled the topic back.

"No wonder you suddenly brought up giving up seats, it turns out you wanted to use us as a gun." She looked at Su Yuxian, "You are quite cunning."

Su Yuxian: "..."

"You misunderstood... I was just saying it casually, I didn't mean it." She explained stiffly.

Unfortunately, no one believed her.

Gu Chenghuai looked at his two sons with satisfaction.

"Not bad, knowing how to protect your mother." He rubbed the tops of his sons' heads one by one to show his reward, "You must be like this in the future too."

After praising his sons, he also praised Mao Dan and Meng Jingmo, "You two have heart."

Meng Jingmo waved his hand, "That's my aunt, I definitely have to protect my aunt."

His father always said that they only had that one sister, and they all had to protect her a little.

Mao Dan also said, "I am my father's son, standing tall and upright, I definitely have to stand up when I encounter injustice."

Besides, he liked Auntie Lin as an elder, so of course he couldn't just watch her be bullied.

Gu Chenghuai messed up the boy's short hair, and seeing the irritable little emotion on his face, he laughed out loud.

The bus drove onto the dirt road and suddenly started to bump; the people standing couldn't stand steady, their bodies like saplings encountering a strong wind, blown swaying from side to side.

Su Yuxian was being leaned on by an older auntie and could barely breathe.

"Auntie, can you move a bit that way?" She couldn't help but ask.

The auntie glared, "The road is bumping like this, if I move over I'll just have to move back, why go to so much trouble."

Her expression was dissatisfied, "When you brought up giving up seats earlier, I thought you were someone who respected the old and loved the young, but this... you're not even willing to let an old person lean on you, you really are a cunning one."

Su Yuxian's face turned black instantly.

"I am cunning... if you have the guts, don't lean on me, lest you be corrupted by proximity, move further away!" She said irritably, wishing she could kick this person off the bus; it had been so hard for the people on the bus to forget about that matter!

The auntie was also angry, "You girl, how are you talking! You look like a stranger, you're from out of town, right? Are you here to follow your husband? I want to find your leader..."

"I'm not." Su Yuxian hurriedly denied.

Because she wrote a letter to Meng Jiusi's former unit, the military district leaders' impression of her and Lu Yizhou had hit rock bottom, and her man said that if she caused trouble again, he would send her back to her hometown.

That wouldn't do.

How could she go back to her hometown!

Not daring to provoke the auntie with amazing combat power again, Su Yuxian turned her back, and no matter what the auntie said, or how she leaned on her, she endured it all.

Su Yuxian bit her teeth, her expression enduring.

This scene was seen by Lin Zhao, and her expression was faint.

Without the protection of the female lead halo, Su Yuxian seemed to be possessed by a broom star, her luck even worse than an ordinary person's.

"Why aren't you sleeping anymore?" Gu Chenghuai massaged Lin Zhao's neck.

"It's so bumpy, how can I sleep." Lin Zhao could endure noise, but couldn't endure bumping.

"Endure a little longer, we're almost there." Gu Chenghuai had no choice either; unless they paved the road, travel was always like this, "Are you dizzy? Shall I peel an orange for you?"

"Okay." Lin Zhao responded.

She quietly opened the cloth bag she carried with her to look at the gift Juan'er's mother had given her.

It was an extremely exquisite ornament, half an arm long, with beautiful patterns on both square sides; it felt uneven to the touch, as if it had been embroidered.

"Is this embroidered?" Her lips pressed against Gu Chenghuai's ear, she said quietly.

"Yes." Gu Chenghuai held Lin Zhao's hand and tightened it slightly, "Do you like it?"

"It's even better looking than the one embroidered by that someone in the brigade, I want to keep it." Lin Zhao liked to collect such exquisite art pieces.

Gu Chenghuai knew who she was talking about, the wife of Zhang Yongqiang, the captain of the brigade's security committee.

"If you want to keep it, then keep it." Gu Chenghuai said, "You must hide it well."

Lin Zhao blinked, "You know, I have a knack for hiding things."

Gu Chenghuai gave her face and praised, "Amazing."

His wife was amazing no matter what.

After eating the sour orange, Lin Zhao felt a bit better, and her whole person was energized.

"Mother, are you awake?" The clingy Xiang Yubao twisted his head hard, wishing he could hang his little body on the back of the seat.

"Sit properly." Lin Zhao poked her son's little hand, "You have to sit obediently when riding in a car, you've forgotten what I taught you again."

"I didn't forget, I wanted to look at you." Xiang Yubao said.

"... Look at me when we get back."

The bus stopped and went; some people got off, some people got on, swaying and shaking, Lin Zhao and the others got off the bus.

Su Yuxian and they had the same destination, and also got off here.

Having suffered a muffled loss on the bus, she didn't want to stay in the same place as Lin Zhao for a short time, so she pulled Lu Baozhen and left quickly.

"Why are you walking so fast, are you feeling guilty, or do you want to spread bad words about our family?" Gu Hangbao stared at Su Yuxian's back, wrinkling his little brows.

"Definitely not brewing anything good!" Meng Jingmo snorted.

Lin Zhao looked at him, "Did she provoke you? Why do I feel like your resentment is very heavy."

Meng Jingmo smiled.

This smile looked strange no matter how you looked at it.

How could it not be heavy? Lu Baozhen's stepmother called his mother over with a letter, causing his father to become the protagonist of other people's gossip, and even worse, causing his own family to be watched for fun; it was all her fault. If it weren't for his father warning him not to act rashly, Su Yuxian would have at least fallen into the latrine!

Meng Jiusi was afraid his sister would ask in depth, so he spoke up: "Let's go, we'll talk when we get home."

Distracted by this, Lin Zhao forgot the question she was going to ask.

"Let's go."

The family returned to the military district and came to the family quarters.

Under the lush, thick tree, several people were talking.

Seeing Lin Zhao and the others, they suddenly fell silent.

Lin Zhao's expression didn't change, and she said impolitely: "What are you chatting about, why did you stop as soon as we arrived."

She said in a joking tone: "You wouldn't be talking about me, would you?"

Adults talking, how could they be so direct? Lin Zhao's one sentence made everyone's brains go blank.

"No... we were just chatting casually, we weren't talking about you." Auntie Zhang, who had chatted with Lin Zhao yesterday, had her face piled with smiles.

Auntie Wang glanced at a certain person who was painting and powdering herself in the crowd, excitement flashing in the bottom of her eyes as she watched the show.

It's on, it's on, aren't they going to fight?! ===== CHAPTER 293 =====