Chapter 415

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Wang Xiaohua was walking outside the village to clear his head, and he felt truly depressed inside.

He really couldn't understand why that old man treated him this way.

If he were unlearned and unskilled, idle and loafing, hanging out outside and learning bad habits, then even if that old man beat him with a stick or whipped him with a bamboo whip, he would accept it — that would be deserved.

But now his grades in school were still decent, his conduct wasn't too bad either, he was honest and upright, so why did he still fail to win that old man's praise?

Not praising him was one thing, but he kept picking on him; no matter what he did, the old man had to say a couple of cutting words, or else he felt uncomfortable all over.

Just what on earth was going on inside that old man's head?

By rights, shouldn't he be proud to have a son like him?

So why did he never acknowledge his own son?

Take the small electric pulley hoist he just bought back today — it greatly improved work efficiency and reduced his mother's labor intensity considerably; it was clearly a good thing, so why was he still unwilling?

The more Wang Xiaohua thought about it, the less he understood.

He truly wanted to turn into a worm, burrow into that old man's head, and see exactly what he was thinking.

Wandering aimlessly around the village to relax.

As he walked, Wang Xiaohua arrived at the village's Cultural Room at the center.

Shanggou Village's Cultural Room was built right in the very center of the village, atop Village Heart Lake.

The Cultural Room was built very beautifully; inside was a huge activity hall, next to it a reading room, outside a basketball court, and beside that two ping-pong tables and some elderly exercise equipment.

However, these things all seemed to have become mere decorations.

In a rural place like this, who would go to a reading room to read books?

The elderly exercise equipment — no one used it either; rural people do farm work, their activity level was already enough long ago, coming back from the fields exhausted to death, who would still go exercise and keep fit? That would be a fool.

The ping-pong tables and basketball court did still have a bit of use.

During Spring Festival and holidays, young people from outside came back and might play some basketball, play some ping-pong.

Besides this use, there was another use.

The ping-pong tables were simply the best equipment for drying dried vegetables and dried bamboo shoots — right now they were covered with half-dried vegetables.

And the basketball court was a good place for drying rice straw and peanuts.

The ground was flat, and with just a sweep there was very little sand.

Village Heart Lake in front of the Cultural Room was planted with lotus roots; the lotus leaves grew very lush, blooming with pink and white lotus flowers.

But in the countryside, the beauty of lotus flowers and leaves obviously couldn't compare to the fragrance of lotus roots.

Fortunately this thing wasn't just pretty to look at, it was also delicious.

Come autumn and winter, when the lotus leaves withered, it would be time to dig lotus roots; they could be dug up and stewed with spare ribs, stewed into chicken soup.

When digging lotus roots, one might incidentally catch a few yellow eels; yellow eel, old hen, and lotus root soup would be even more delicious.

Wang Xiaohua came to a stone stele beside the Cultural Room.

The stele bore the honor roll of all villagers who donated to build the Cultural Room.

He saw his father's name on it; other villagers donated one or two hundred, but that old man actually donated eight thousand eight hundred yuan, ranking him in the top five on the honor roll.

Looking closer, he discovered the sixth name on the honor roll was actually He Dazhu, who donated eight thousand yuan.

Wang Xiaohua couldn't help but let out a cold laugh — that old man really cared about face.

This really fit his style of doing things perfectly.

He never thought about consequences, only about how to give himself face, only about contending for that one breath of pride.

His whole life seemed to be lived for that illusory breath of pride.

He thought if he won that breath of pride, he would be covered in glory and his life would be worthwhile.

Yet he didn't know that in others' eyes, the more he contended, the more he became a laughingstock in their eyes.

Wang Xiaohua walked a circle around Shanggou Village, his mood improved a little, and only then did he go home to eat lunch.

Just as he reached his front door, he discovered guests had come to his home again.

The visitor was Liang Yuanchao's wife, Zhou Aidi.

"Aunt Aidi, rest assured, my youngest brother is very capable — not only does he study well, his mind is also very sharp; when he comes back later, he'll definitely be able to help you solve the problem!"

Before he even entered the living room, Wang Xiaohua heard a voice praising him.

And this voice, surprisingly, did not come from his mother, but from his father.

Wang Xiaohua was somewhat stunned; he completely hadn't expected that old man to actually praise him in front of an outsider.

"Is that so? Then when Xiaohua comes back, I'll have to trouble him."

Zhou Aidi laughed cheerfully.

Wang Zhanggen said generously:

"No need for politeness; for him this is just a small matter, he'll definitely help you!"

Zhou Aidi nodded and said:

"That's right, this child Xiaohua is the kindest; last time I went to Shenzhen, I happened to run into him on the public bus, he was afraid I wouldn't know how to ride, so he specially escorted me to the bus station and helped me buy a ticket."

Wang Xiaohua walked in, only to see Zhou Aidi and Wang Zhanggen talking.

"How come you're only back now? Aunt Aidi has something she needs your help with — are you going to make her wait until dark before you come back?"

The moment Wang Xiaohua stepped through the door, Wang Zhanggen acted like a completely different person, pulling a long face and scolding him.

Wang Xiaohua really couldn't understand why he changed his expression, but he didn't want to get to the bottom of it either.

"Aidi Grandaunt, didn't you go to Shenzhen to your son's place not long ago? How come you're back again?"

Wang Xiaohua asked Zhou Aidi with concern.

Zhou Aidi sighed:

"Ai, don't mention it. They have their own little family now, they don't want this old woman anymore."

As soon as these words came out, not only was Wang Xiaohua surprised, even Wang Zhanggen was surprised.

"Aidi Aunt, Liang Xinghua doesn't want you anymore? If that's really the case, then he's too heartless. When he comes back, I'll bring Zhang Zhongtian along, and we'll go teach him a lesson together!"

Wang Zhanggen spoke up for Zhou Aidi.

Zhou Aidi sighed again, and started pouring out her grievances:

"It's not that he doesn't want me. It's just that I can't get along with his wife. Isn't she doing postpartum confinement? I went down to help out, originally with nothing but good intentions, but his wife, for some reason, is full of hostility towards me. I admit I'm not too good at cooking, the dishes I make aren't too tasty. If she doesn't want to eat, that's fine, I wouldn't force her. But she even told Xinghua that I put poison in the food, wanting to poison her and her daughter to death. This made me so angry, ai, my heart could barely take it. She's my daughter-in-law, how could I possibly do such a thing? But she just insists on thinking this way. No matter how I explain, she won't listen."

"Why would she think like that? What dishes did you make for her?" Wang Xiaohua asked curiously.

"I just made a chicken soup. I added a bit of yellow ginger to the chicken soup. She said yellow ginger is poisonous. She just gave birth and can't eat yellow ginger, otherwise she'll have no milk. She also said I put yellow ginger in on purpose. I'm so wronged I could die. How would I know if yellow ginger is poisonous or not? I just thought yellow ginger is more expensive, the ginger flavor is stronger, it can better remove the fishy smell, so I bought it back. Usually when I eat it myself, I'm still reluctant to eat yellow ginger. Besides, I've lived a great many years, I've really never heard the saying that yellow ginger is poisonous. But she insists it's poisonous, insists I put it in on purpose. She also says I favor sons over daughters, that seeing she gave birth to a daughter, I want to poison her and her daughter to death. This really makes me so angry, my heart trembles."

"Maybe every place's customs are different." Wang Zhanggen said, "Some places' people might really think yellow ginger is poisonous. For example, we don't really eat spicy food, but people from Sichuan and Chongqing, almost every meal can't do without spice."

Zhou Aidi still sighed and groaned:

"I know every place's people have different customs. Wouldn't it be fine if we just talked it out? She doesn't eat yellow ginger, so next time I stew soup or stir-fry dishes I just won't put it in, wouldn't that be fine? I explained it all, but she still doesn't believe me. She insists on saying I want to harm her. She even told me to get lost. Xinghua actually wanted to keep me, but that woman forced him to choose one of two. She also said if I don't leave, then she'll leave. I didn't want to make things difficult for Xinghua, so I took the initiative to come back..."

As she spoke, Zhou Aidi couldn't help but wipe away tears.

It's said the hardest thing to handle in this world is mother-in-law and daughter-in-law conflict.

These words are truly not false.

Wang Xiaohua's heart was full of sighs, and he felt deep sympathy for Zhou Aidi.

"Aidi Aunt (husband's aunt), you came looking for me — what do you want me to help you with?"

Zhou Aidi hurriedly wiped dry her tears, took out an old mobile phone:

"I just got home today. Originally wanted to give Xinghua a call to report I'm safe. Don't know what's wrong, this phone can't make calls anymore. No matter how I fiddle with it, there's no sound. Maybe it's broken. You help me take a look, can it still be fixed?"