Chapter 306: Eyebrows like green mountains, eyes like silk

Yue Bai's house still had the same layout. The only change was the portrait of Zhao Deliang hanging on the wall in the center of the main room, which was already covered with a thick layer of dust. A musty smell hit my nose, indicating that this house had long been uninhabited.

After Yue Bai was made a martyr's widow by the tree, her life underwent earth-shaking changes. She transformed from a farmer into a state cadre, and she viewed Laoyingzui Village as a place of sorrow. She moved her whole family to the township government and became a real township cadre.

This time, the proposal for Laoyingzui Village to hold a Hundred-Family Banquet had existed since the beginning of the twelfth lunar month. Zhao Dequan's proposal received a warm response from the whole village. After all, this century-old rule had been suspended for decades, and suddenly being brought out to be redone, naturally, Yue Bai's family could not be left out. Zhao Deliang was gone, but his bloodline remained. The people of Laoyingzui Village had never treated his son as an outsider.

Wild geese fly a thousand miles, and return the following year!

Zhao Dequan told Yue Bai the news that Laoyingzui was going to hold a Hundred-Family Banquet, and Yue Bai was very happy when she heard it. Yue Bai had good skills and could cook; this was known to all the women and children in Laoyingzui Village. Yue Bai became a cadre and suddenly distanced herself from the villagers, which made the people of Laoyingzui very uncomfortable. Some people whispered behind her back, saying that she had stepped on her husband's blood to get benefits.

Yue Bai wanted to cry; her husband suddenly left, leaving behind two children. How to raise them became her biggest headache. No matter how capable a rural woman is, when it comes to farm work, she will always feel powerless. Moreover, there are many rights and wrongs in front of a widow's door! Especially in the isolated countryside, like a widow as beautiful as her, even if she had the ability to fly to heaven, she couldn't stop the gossip.

More importantly, Yue Bai knew better than anyone how many men were coveting her beauty.

Once she became a cadre, her status was different. No matter how bold the rural men were, they would still feel ashamed in front of a beautiful female cadre. In this way, she could protect herself and give her son a good future. After receiving the care of the policy, Yue Bai left her home in Laoyingzui without hesitation, and didn't even say hello to anyone when she left.

Rural people can't stand others living better than themselves. Once Yue Bai became a township cadre, the people of Laoyingzui would shake their heads and sigh whenever they talked about her, and some would even roll their eyes, seemingly disdainful of her background as a cadre.

This time Zhao Dequan came to tell her about the Hundred-Family Banquet, and Yue Bai realized that the people of Laoyingzui hadn't forgotten her. So she was moved to the point of almost crying—she was still a Laoyingzui person after all! Although people talked behind her back, at critical moments, they hadn't forgotten her family. Yue Bai would be buried in the ancestral grave of the Zhao family after she died.

Yue Bai was the first to return to the village to organize the Hundred-Family Banquet. She spent a day thoroughly cleaning the house covered in spider webs, but in the end, she couldn't clear away the musty smell. When she picked up a rag to wipe Zhao Deliang's portrait, looking at Zhao Deliang's piercing eyes, she trembled, feeling a spasm in her lower body for no reason, and felt something flow out. She couldn't help but hold the portrait and cry for a long time, but in the end, she didn't wipe the dust off the portrait.

She didn't dare to look into his eyes; she felt that Zhao Deliang was watching her every moment in this room. So she used a tattered cloth, seemingly indifferent, to cover it, just enough to cover his eyes.

Yue Bai was prepared to return to Laoyingzui for the New Year. She had sent her two sons to her mother's house, and she wanted to pick them up before the New Year.

It was also at this time that I took Qian Youyu, that Hu Hansan, out of the detention center, and brought all the people involved back to the village.

Zhao Dequan decided to advance the Hundred-Family Banquet. After all, in the process of this incident, he, Zhao Dequan, was the leader, but he had escaped the disaster of prison. He deeply felt sorry for these brothers who had stayed in the detention center, and he wanted to welcome their return in the most grand way.

All of this, I was kept in the dark.

"Come in, it's cold outside." Yue Bai greeted me, went into the kitchen herself, and made a clattering sound inside.

I lowered my head, not daring to look at Zhao Deliang's eyes on the wall. I hurriedly followed Yue Bai into the kitchen.

Yue Bai squatted in front of the stove, lowering her head to stuff dry firewood inside.

The flames came out, and the small kitchen suddenly became warm.

"How many days have you been back?" I asked, looking around, absent-minded.

"Three days," Yue Bai said, looking up at me, her eyes sparkling, very much like the purity only a young girl could have.

"Come over and warm yourself by the fire." She made a small space, moved a small stool from under her buttocks, and squatted to the side, looking at the roaring flames with a dazed look.

I rubbed my hands, squatted down, and stuffed the stool under her buttocks. She was in a panic, wanting to refuse, but our hands touched, and we looked at each other, her face turning red for no reason.

Suddenly, her eyebrows jumped, she stared straight at me, and said with a smile that wasn't a smile, "Should I call you Town Mayor Chen, or should you call me sister-in-law?"

I took her hand, kissed it on my lips, and said with a grin, "Of course I call you sister-in-law."

She pulled her hand back, shyly rolled her eyes at me.

"You have no good intentions!" she said, turned her head, and giggled.

"What are you laughing at?" I said sternly, "We are an old married couple, are you still shy?"

"Who is an old married couple with you?" She slanted her eyes at me, picked up a piece of dry firewood, and stuffed it into the stove.

I bent down, hugged her in my arms like a baby, and strode toward her room... ===== CHAPTER 307 =====