Chapter 830

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

When she returned at noon, Liu Xiaoli had already turned into a jar of bones.

Stored inside a golden urn.

The so-called golden urn is a clay pot — narrow mouth, bulging body.

Around here, when burying the dead, they all use golden urns to hold the bones.

The crematorium burns the corpse, but it doesn't burn into powder.

Instead it burns until only bones remain, then large iron pliers are used to pick them out and place them into the golden urn the deceased's family prepared in advance.

To turn them into bone-ash powder costs extra money.

After all, a pulverizer is needed.

But most ordinary people won't spend that money.

Because the custom here is that keeping the bones intact is considered better.

The cook responsible for the flowing-water banquet for the funeral had long since made a big pot of soup, and the dishes were being stir-fried one after another, just waiting for all the guests to sit down so the food could be served.

Liu Xiaoli's golden urn jar was placed in the room where she used to sleep, then the master pasted a soul-calming talisman on it, stuck three incense sticks before the urn, and hung up the memorial portrait.

This cremation ritual was thus considered complete.

As for the burial.

That still requires choosing another auspicious day.

Wait until the day is chosen, a feng shui treasure land for burial is found, then invite the geography master to come help bury the golden urn.

And now, everything was over.

Liu Xiaoli's two older brothers both let out a huge breath of relief.

Their complexions were no longer as heavy as they had been in the morning.

They even laughed as they went to entertain the guests who had come to help.

After this noon meal was finished, Li Xiulan, Zhou Hongwei, and the others said their goodbyes and left.

They went to the town together first, then each returned to their own home.

Li Xiulan still rode back to Shanggou Village on Liang Xinghua's motorcycle.

Li Xiulan said she wanted to buy some vegetables at the market to treat her younger daughter-in-law, so she had Liang Xinghua drive the motorcycle into the market.

She bought some beef, a fish, a catty of tofu, and some fruit.

Carrying several bags of things, she returned to Liang Xinghua's place.

"Xinghua, sorry to keep you waiting."

Liang Xinghua laughed:

"No problem, why are you being polite with me."

Li Xiulan asked casually:

"Aren't you going to buy some vegetables to take back and give your wife and kids a treat?"

Liang Xinghua laughed honestly:

"Not buying, gotta save money for the renovation."

"Oh, so that's it."

Only then did Li Xiulan remember that the house Liang Xinghua bought from her family still hasn't been renovated to this day.

Additionally, that house was sold to Liang Xinghua for 100,000 yuan; Liang Xinghua only paid 50,000, and the other 50,000 has been delayed without payment.

But neither Li Xiulan nor Wang Zhanggen went to press for it.

They knew Liang Xinghua's situation.

Liang Xinghua earns money alone doing masonry work; supporting his wife and kids is already hard enough, let alone repaying debts.

Only later, when he learns to lay bricks and plaster walls and becomes a qualified masonry big-worker, might his economic situation improve.

"Sister-in-law Xiulan, look, who is that?"

Liang Xinghua's expression suddenly changed drastically; he widened his eyes and stared into the distance ahead.

Li Xiulan was stunned, then hurriedly followed Liang Xinghua's gaze.

Only to see, on the bustling main street across the market, two familiar figures buying fruit at a roadside stall.

It was none other than Zhou Zhihao and Li Yuncui.

And the two of them were holding hands, fingers interlocked.

"Good heavens, Zhou Zhihao and Li Yuncui are together?"

Liang Xinghua exclaimed, then complained:

"How come he didn't say a peep about it from start to finish? That's really not loyal enough!"

After her surprise, Li Xiulan laughed:

"This is a good thing. Wasn't Hongwei Ge always worrying over his nephew's marriage? Now that he's dating, his marriage will probably be settled too."

But Liang Xinghua frowned, disdainfully saying:

"Good my ass! That Li Yuncui already has a kid, right? Zhou Zhihao being with her means he's raising another man's kid for free! How shameful!"

Hearing this, Li Xiulan didn't know what to say for a moment.

She actually thought Li Yuncui was quite good.

Earlier she had still been thinking of matchmaking Li Yuncui with her youngest brother.

If it weren't for Li Yuncui's premarital pregnancy, and if Wang Xiaohua didn't already have someone in mind, this matter might actually have succeeded.

Liang Xinghua spoke again at this moment:

"No, I have to tell Brother Hongwei. His nephew dating anyone else would be fine, but dating a woman with a child — that's a bit shameful. His own conditions aren't that bad, so why look for someone with a child?"

Between the lines of Liang Xinghua's words, he didn't seem very optimistic about Zhou Zhihao and Li Yuncui being together.

One could even say it carried some male chauvinist prejudice.

But his prejudice was also fact.

Zhou Zhihao looked quite upright, and he was honest and dutiful, just not good with words.

If he were willing to go to the city to work, he could definitely easily find a woman who hadn't given birth.

Looking for someone like Li Yuncui who had given birth was indeed not worth it.

"Why go meddle in this matter?"

Li Xiulan hurriedly tried to stop her.

But Liang Xinghua had already taken out her mobile phone and dialed Zhou Hongwei:

"I must tell Brother Hongwei. If I hadn't seen it, I could ignore it, but now that I've seen it, I must say something. Brother Hongwei treats me well, I can't keep it from him."

Liang Xinghua insisted on calling to tell Zhou Hongwei.

Li Xiulan had no choice about it.

"Hello, Brother Hongwei, guess what I saw at the town market?"

The call had just connected when Liang Xinghua hurriedly asked.

"Saw what?"

Zhou Hongwei felt a bit baffled.

He didn't understand why Liang Xinghua was calling.

"If there's something say it, if not I'm hanging up. I was just about to take a nap."

Zhou Hongwei said impatiently.

Liang Xinghua quickly said:

"I just saw your nephew together with our village's Li Yuncui!"

"My nephew's dating? That's a good thing!" Joy appeared on Zhou Hongwei's face.

"Brother Hongwei, what are you happy about? Do you know who Li Yuncui is?"

"Who is Li Yuncui?"

Zhou Hongwei indeed didn't know who Li Yuncui was.

Inside Shanggou Village, he only knew Wang Zhanggen's family and Liang Xinghua's family.

The rest he wasn't too familiar with.

"Li Yuncui is a slut. She hasn't even married yet but already gave birth to a child. Zhihao being with her — isn't that equal to helping another man raise his child? Won't he be laughed to death by others?"

"What?" Zhou Hongwei was surprised, then angry: "This won't do. A divorced woman I wouldn't mind, but a woman with a child — that's truly shameful!"

Liang Xinghua then said:

"Then you go persuade your nephew. But don't tell him I told you! Otherwise if he blames me, that won't be good."

Zhou Hongwei then said:

"Got it. I definitely won't say you told me. I'll just say I saw it myself!"

Zhou Hongwei hung up on Liang Xinghua, lit a cigarette for himself, and smoked gloomily.

Zhou Zhihao was his younger brother's son.

His younger brother had Zhou Zhihao follow him to learn plaster work, so Zhou Zhihao would master a trade and never have to worry about starving in the future.

It wasn't so Zhou Zhihao could mess around.

If his younger brother found out Zhou Zhihao was now involved with a premaritally pregnant slut, how would he explain it to his younger brother?

His younger brother would hate him to death!

So after finishing a cigarette, stubbing out the butt, Zhou Hongwei dialed Zhou Zhihao's number.

"Beep beep beep..."

The phone rang for a good while.

Zhou Zhihao answered.

"Hello, Second Uncle, what's up?"