Xiping City was 400 kilometers away from Taoyang County. The Second Sister-in-Law was a rural woman who had never been to the city, so it was impossible for her to go there.
However, there was a public telephone at the post office in town.
The Second Sister-in-Law went to town and headed straight for the post office. She held a phone number in her hand and stood among the crowd waiting to make calls, occasionally glancing at her palm. It was obvious that she was calling either Yan Xishan or his mistress.
Nowadays, as long as the area code was different, it was considered a long-distance call, costing 2 yuan per minute. It was literally burning money by the second. Taoyang and Xiping City had different area codes, so it was definitely long-distance.
The Second Sister-in-Law's voice was louder than a broken gong. As soon as the call connected, she immediately said, "Hello, is this Yanguan Primary School? I'm looking for Teacher Hu Xiaomei."
It was actually Hu Xiaomei?
"Teacher Hu, 20,000 yuan is too little. We're not satisfied. We want another 20,000 yuan," the Second Sister-in-Law said, raising her voice.
She randomly pressed a few buttons, and the call was on speakerphone. Chen Meilan could hear it from afar. The woman on the phone asked loudly, "Has Meilan remarried? Who did she marry?"
The Second Sister-in-Law raised her voice by eight degrees: "Of course she married someone in the city. Back then, my Jianjun caught you two in bed. You cried and begged us to help you. If you don't give me another 20,000 yuan, I'll go to Yanguan Primary School right now and make a scene, saying you're shameless, a prostitute... Hello? Hello?"
The other side had already hung up, but the Second Sister-in-Law kept saying "hello" to the dial tone.
After a while, the people queuing behind her to make calls started cursing and urging her to finish. She finally exclaimed, "Two yuan! That's enough to buy three jin of egg cakes. Isn't Hu Xiaomei cheating people? She made me waste three jin of egg cakes just to hear a muffled sound."
It was indeed Hu Xiaomei. Although Chen Meilan was surprised, she didn't find it unexpected.
Hu Xiaomei was a teacher at Yanguan Primary School and had been a good friend of Chen Meilan when she was in Yanguan Village.
She would become an excellent teacher at Yanguan Primary School in the future. And in her previous life, Hu Xiaomei did indeed marry Yan Xishan later, and they even had a son.
Later, they met again. By that time, Chen Meilan was already the wife of the richest man in town. Hu Xiaomei even swore that she only started dating Yan Xishan after Chen Meilan had divorced him.
Moreover, at that time, Yan Xishan had fallen on hard times due to a coal mine flooding and was in prison.
Hu Xiaomei came to her crying, wanting her to pay to get Yan Xishan out of prison.
Chen Meilan had considered Yan Xishan dead to her ever since he kicked Zhaodi and called her a money-losing goods. As for Hu Xiaomei, if it weren't for her introducing herself as an excellent teacher and an old acquaintance, she wouldn't have met her at all. When she heard that Hu Xiaomei had come to ask for money for Yan Xishan, she immediately called security and had them escort Hu Xiaomei out.
There was nothing wrong with a teacher marrying a nouveau riche, but a teacher being a mistress was purely a moral failure. Chen Meilan felt that she should do something about this matter.
However, the fact that Hu Xiaomei and Yan Xishan had once been caught in bed by her second brother could explain why the Second Sister-in-Law was afraid of her marrying into the city.
She was probably afraid that if she married into the city again and met someone from Yanguan Village, they might expose the tricks she and her second brother had played.
Very well, she was just worried about not having money to live in the city. She might as well collect the debt from her second brother and sister-in-law first.
Turning to leave first, Chen Meilan bought a jin of freshly baked egg cakes.
Nowadays, the eggs were all from free-range chickens, and the milk was rich and pure. These egg cakes had a rich milk flavor, tasted sweet, and were still steaming hot. The crust was crispy, and the inside was soft. One could never eat enough of them.
Eating the egg cakes, she walked back to the village about ten minutes ahead of the Second Sister-in-Law.
As she was walking on the road, a motorcycle suddenly rushed out. On it was a clean, fresh-looking man with handsome features and a bright smile.
This man was Lu Jingyu.
He was also Chen Meilan's second husband in her previous life.
At first glance, Chen Meilan felt both angry and amused. In her previous life, one of her two ex-husbands was a famous nouveau riche in Xiping City, while the other would become the future richest man in Xiping City.
When people in Xiping City mentioned her, who didn't say she was born with a destiny to bring prosperity to her husbands?
However, she had long forgotten about Yan Xishan and felt very unfamiliar with Lu Jingyu. Because in the first two years of their marriage, they saw each other every day, but later, when she was at home taking care of the children and being a housewife, and he was busy with his career outside, they grew further and further apart.
The houses they lived in became bigger and more luxurious, but the home became emptier and colder.
When asked about her outside, Lu Jingyu introduced her like this: "My wife is a rural woman. She used to be quite pretty, but as she's gotten older and doesn't care much about her appearance, she's just ordinary now. She's hardworking, honest, and good at managing the household. She's what people call a plain Jane, but I have the utmost respect for her because she's a person of impeccable moral character."
What a pleasant-sounding statement, belittling her to nothing while elevating his own moral standards to an unprecedented height.
Who wouldn't praise Lu Jingyu as a good man after hearing that?
But when Chen Meilan saw Lu Jingyu on TV saying this, she considered this man dead to her as well.
"Meilan, I heard today that you got married?" Lu Jingyu asked, trying to sound casual as his motorcycle puttered along.
"I married into the city, to a policeman," Chen Meilan said calmly, suppressing her pounding heart.
The man in front of her would become the richest man in Xiping City in the future, developing countless real estate projects, allowing her to live in luxurious mansions and villas in every corner of Xiping City. But she didn't care for that anymore. She wanted to live a different kind of life.
"A policeman is pretty good, but I heard that policeman already has two children of his own. With you bringing one more, three children, it won't be easy to make ends meet," Lu Jingyu said.
"Any kind of life is still a life to be lived," Chen Meilan said candidly.
She quickened her pace, leaving the future richest man of Xiping City far behind.
In her previous life, although he didn't have a bunch of illegitimate children and mistresses like other rich men, in his eyes, she was always a plain and vulgar housewife.
He only remembered his own glory, but not how many times her ideas had helped him overcome life-and-death crises at critical turning points in his career, nor did he remember how hard it was for her to take care of three children at home while he was busy outside.
In this life, she wished him a bright future.
Just as she reached the village entrance, Zhaodi, dressed in a pink gauze skirt like a little princess, was already dancing and jumping.
The moment she saw her mother, the little girl threw herself into Chen Meilan's arms like a cannonball.
The little girl ran up to her, first giving her mother a big hug, then suddenly turned around, picked up a stone, and threw it at Yinbao behind her, grinning, "See? My mom didn't leave me behind and go away. She's back, and she'll definitely take me with her."
She had left without saying goodbye in the morning, and Zhaodi thought she had quietly left. Look how scared the child was.
A group of children behind them looked dejected as Chen Meilan glared at them fiercely. They turned and ran into the woods like wild dogs.
Holding her mother's hand, Zhaodi bounced along like a butterfly.
"Here, have some egg cakes. Mom bought the egg cakes I promised you," Chen Meilan said with a smile, holding out the egg cakes.
How absurd! In her previous life, just because Lu Jingyu said it would be difficult for the children from two families to get along, she had actually left Zhaodi at her parents' home for a full three months. She still remembered when she finally picked up Zhaodi, the child was holding those dried-out egg cakes in her arms, her face a mix of shock and joy as she burst into tears and threw herself into her mother's arms.
The fragrance of the egg cakes was so rich and intense. The village children all wanted to snatch them, to steal her egg cakes to eat, but she was like a wolf cub, fighting anyone who tried to take them, protecting the bag of egg cakes until her mother returned.
Her craving for food was planted at that time.
"Mom, egg cakes really are better than spicy strips," Zhaodi exclaimed after taking a big bite.
This bite was worth it for the child. Her mouth and heart were filled with satisfaction.
Her mother walked slowly behind, while she ran ahead, leaping lightly like a little butterfly.
Her two cousins looked at her, enviously grinding their teeth. When Chen Meilan gave each of them an egg cake, the two little girls flanked Zhaodi and took her to play.
In the northern countryside, as July's midsummer arrived, the scorching sun became a fireball, blazing in the sky. Various crops rapidly matured, and people worked from dawn to dusk, hastily eating a few bites before burying themselves in the fields again. By the time they looked up, it was another starry night.
Not to mention how Chen Degong and his wife had to do the work of two families, making them even more exhausted.
Seeing Meilan enter the millet field, Zhou Qiaofang, who was busy harvesting millet, smiled and said, "Our Meilan is about to get married again. You shouldn't work anymore. Go home and rest for a couple of days, take care of your skin. You're returning to the city this time, we can't let the city folks think you look too rural."
Looking at how beautiful her sister-in-law had become, Zhou Qiaofang thought about how that Yan Xishan didn't want her anymore. He must be blind.
Zhou Qiaofang wanted to nurture her sister-in-law to be fair-skinned and beautiful, to marry a police officer and return to Yanguan Village, making that bastard Yan Xishan regret his decision.
Chen Jiangong also said, "There's nothing much for you to do in the fields. Go, go home and rest."
Chen Meilan picked up a sickle and started harvesting millet on her own.
As she worked, she said with a smile, "Brother, when our family built the new house while I was still in the city, I paid for it. My second brother hasn't built a new house yet. He must be unhappy about it, right? Has he said anything to you?"
Chen Degong's face, already purple-red from the sun, darkened further. "You've done enough by helping your eldest brother build a house. I'm grateful in my heart, even if I don't say it out loud. Your second brother isn't your real brother. You didn't build him any house. If he's unhappy about this, he's got a heart of stone."
"That's right, you helping us build a house is a huge favor. We'll pay you back sooner or later. If your Second Sister-in-Law makes a fuss about it, I'll scold her for you," the eldest sister-in-law chimed in.
Chen Meilan said calmly, "I found 10,000 yuan in Second Sister-in-Law's clothes chest. Today at the market, I happened to overhear her making a phone call to a woman... It seems that my second brother and his wife have been scheming against me together with Yan Xishan and his mistress."
Before Chen Meilan could finish, Chen Degong immediately said, "Are you saying your second brother only pretended to be beaten by Yan Xishan, that he wasn't actually beaten and is just faking being sick? That's impossible. Your second brother isn't that kind of person."
Really not?
Of course, the eldest brother didn't believe it. After all, they were brothers who grew up together. Though they didn't share the same father, they were cousins, grandchildren of the same grandfather. How could the second brother do such a deceitful thing?
The eldest brother was honest and refused to believe it.
But Zhou Qiaofang remembered Second Sister-in-Law's gold bracelet and the leather shoes on Yinbao's feet. A surge of anger suddenly rose in her heart. She grabbed a sickle and headed straight for the second brother's house.
Entering the door, Zhou Qiaofang stormed in fiercely, heading straight for the clothes chest. With two loud bangs, she smashed the locks.
Not to mention how the second brother, pretending to be sick in bed, was startled and jumped up, trying to stop her. The eldest sister-in-law had already found a stack of hundred-yuan bills in the chest.
That wasn't all. Among the bills was a folded paper. When she opened it, the eldest sister-in-law was stunned. The amount written on it was 9,700.
How could a family of farmers who relied on the weather for their livelihood save up so much money?
Soon after, the eldest brother also entered. He happened to see Chen Dejun, frightened, jump to the ground, shaking like a sieve. Seeing his elder brother enter with a sickle, Chen Dejun ran off.
Chen Degong, holding a sickle, saw Chen Dejun run out and chased after him.
Back then, if it wasn't for the second brother saying he had his kidney damaged by someone Yan Xishan sent, and Meilan being so frightened that she chose to swallow her anger, would Chen Degong have let it go? Would he not have helped Meilan fight for more compensation?
It had been several months now.
Meilan, the two of them, and even their son Jinbao, who was only twelve this year, had their shoulders worn raw. They worked on the farm every day, helping the second brother and his wife harvest crops. After wheat, they harvested millet, then potatoes, then buckwheat.
So it turned out that the second brother and his wife had taken money from Yan Xishan and sold out their own sister.
The second brother's wife was one thing - stupid, shrewish, and unreasonable, a shrew.
But the second brother was an honest man. How could he do such a thing? If Chen Degong didn't draw his blood today, he would change his surname from Chen.
