From that day on, Li Mingwei hadn't seen Ye Hui for a long time. Just when she thought Ye Hui had come to her senses, she saw her appear at the school entrance again, dressed appropriately. Li Mingwei sighed. It's not easy to persuade someone who has been oppressed since childhood and now wants to stand up.
She didn't say anything more, just smiled at her as she walked past her and then led Dong Lei home.
Xiao Yan had taken medicine for several days and wasn't coughing anymore. She just harbored some resentment towards her mother who forced her to drink medicine every day.
She snuggled up against Li Mingwei's leg pitifully, "Auntie, let's go~"
"Go?"
Li Mingwei picked her up, "Auntie just got here, and you want to drive your auntie away? Or do you want to leave with auntie?"
Xiao Yan didn't understand, she just stubbornly kept saying "go."
Wang Chunhua, who was standing on the side, was so angry her face turned dark. What an ungrateful little brat. She didn't want to be home after being taken care of and fed medicine for days.
"Alright, alright."
Li Mingwei was helpless against her and could only put Dong Lei down to carry Xiao Yan out.
Wang Chunhua called them, "Put her down to walk by herself. She's got quite some strength in her legs. Be careful or she'll kick you."
Li Mingwei led her out for a walk, bought her some snacks, and coaxed her into a good mood before bringing her back. Then she watched over Dong Lei as he did his homework.
Wang Chunhua poured her a cup of hot water and told her to warm her hands. Then she said in a low voice, "The neighbors are holding a celebration tomorrow. Are you coming over to drink?"
She said when she went out earlier, she saw many red lanterns hung outside the neighbor's house. Turns out they were preparing for a celebration. Li Mingwei didn't feel like going. Looking at the deliberately decorated yard, she was reminded of Sister Yun's flustered look when she got married, and lost her appetite.
"I'll just ask my mom to pay them a visit and give a gift tomorrow morning."
Liu Cuicui and Cui Ying were coming to play with her. She was busy and didn't have time.
Knowing she was going to eat at school at noon, the two girls came early in the morning. They also brought along several young girls they knew and made a lively ruckus standing in her yard.
When Li Mingwei opened the door, Cui Ying walked in and rubbed her hands, "It's snowing again. So cold!"
The other girls dusted the snow off themselves before entering the room.
Liu Cuicui helped bring the stove from the kitchen and put it in the middle of the main room. She closed the front door, leaving just a small gap in the window, then everyone sat around the stove together.
Cui Ying introduced the few girls to her, then said, "It's winter now, they don't have much to do, so we all came to hang out."
Seeing they had all brought sewing kits, Li Mingwei asked them to sit and took out her sewing basket to sew with them, occasionally exchanging pointers.
With so many people around, Li Mingwei worked up her courage after holding it in for a while before asking Cui Ying, "Where's your sister-in-law?"
"Don't mention her. She's not my sister-in-law anymore." Cui Ying's expression was indifferent. The other girls had known about it for a while and nodded along.
On that day, Mr. Jin didn't agree to write a divorce certificate for Cui Jian and told him to think it through carefully and not make rash decisions in anger. But Cui Jian had already made up his mind. He took money to the town to find a familiar shop owner and asked him to write a divorce certificate.
Cui Ying said, "My brother gave the divorce certificate to my sister-in-law and told her to leave. My mother couldn't stop her."
"So your brother really wants to marry Ye..."
"No." Cui Ying shook her head. Perhaps he still had feelings for her, but he couldn't possibly marry her. Mother would never agree.
She sighed, "It's not totally my sister-in-law's fault in this matter. That day, my aunt wasn't paying attention, slipped on the snow and fell. That's why my brother went to pick up Guier. But my sister-in-law insisted he went to secretly meet with Ye Hui."
Li Mingwei was anxious, "Aunt Cui fell? Haven't heard about that."
Cui Ying pressed her to sit down, "She didn't fall. Auntie is so healthy, her clothes just got dirty and wet. She didn't want to embarrass Guier."
Li Mingwei breathed a sigh of relief and said, she must be fine. Otherwise, mother-in-law would at least have brought her some eggs even if she had to crawl over.
"You don't know, sister Li. Ever since Ye Hui came back, my former sister-in-law started worrying. She picks fights with my brother over her all day long whether there is anything or not. My brother hasn't gone looking for Ye Hui at all, yet she insists on making something out of nothing. My brother really can't stand her anymore."
Even without the incident at school, Cui Ying felt that they couldn't have lasted much longer.
One young girl nodded in agreement, "I ran into them at the market before. Ye Hui didn't say anything and just walked past them, yet my former sister-in-law pinched Brother Cui right away and asked if he went to the market with her just to see Ye Hui."
Liu Cuicui found it hard to believe, "She made a fuss over that too?"
"Sure did. My former sister-in-law was so fierce then, like she wanted to eat Ye Hui up. I didn't even dare go greet Brother Cui."
In case she said something wrong and let former sister-in-law think she had ideas about Brother Cui too, that would spell trouble.
Li Mingwei shook her head gently, "Since your sister-in-law is so distrusting of your brother, it shows your brother has never cared much about her to begin with."
Because she couldn't feel his affection, she easily believed she would be abandoned and felt insecure, wanting to make trouble to prove her standing.
Too bad she indeed had no standing. All the trouble she stirred up only destroyed whatever little affection was left between them.
Cui Ying didn't disagree. She nodded, "My brother never liked her in the first place. If not for my mother holding a knife to his neck and forcing him, my brother would never have married her."
Back then, because Ye Hui got married, brother was depressed all day long, wandering around like a soulless ghost and even got into fights. So mother wanted to quickly find him a wife to keep watch over him and make him rein in his heart. Brother was unwilling, so mother lost her temper impulsively...
And that was how brother ended up forced into marrying this sister-in-law.
Cui Ying moved closer to Li Mingwei's ear, her voice tinged with some fear, "My mother looked so scary holding that knife."
She also got scared herself. That was why she kept lying that she couldn't bear to leave home and didn't want to get married.
With brother causing such a ruckus, mother hated Ye Hui and Ye family to death.
Li Mingwei couldn't help being somewhat contemptuous. "Your mother and Ye Hui's dad are really..."
At a loss for words.
"Ye Hui's dad? What about her dad?"
Li Mingwei shook her head. She didn't want to talk about Ye Hui's matters. She just told Cui Ying to focus on embroidering the flowers.
Cui Ying wasn't willing to remain ignorant about anything regarding Ye Hui. She pestered Li Mingwei to tell her, insisting she must listen.
She coaxed, "Tell me, tell me~"
Li Mingwei rejected her act, "Can't tell."
"Humph!" Cui Ying's little face drooped as she harrumphed softly. Not sure what she was thinking of again, a mischievous smile appeared on her face as she hugged Li Mingwei.
"Weiwei, if you don't tell, I won't be able to sleep!"
Everyone was taken aback for a moment before laughing loudly. Only Li Mingwei remained confused. Why did this sound familiar?
Liu Cuicui lightly coughed to remind her, "Weiwei, I can't sleep without you~"
Li Mingwei instantly recalled that this was what Liu Yizhu had said last time...
Who was it? Don't just repeat it to everyone!
She glanced at everyone's faces and saw them laughing. "So you all knew?"
They covered their mouths, "Not just us. At least half the people in town know about it already."
Liu Cuicui said in a low voice, "Sister-in-law, don't be intimate with Brother in the future unless you're sure Granny Zhao from next door won't see. She loves to gossip the most."
Li Mingwei covered her face. What was happening!
